Bequai, South African Style

        The winds or lack there of sometime necessitate a change in sail plan. (Doesn’t it seem as though that’s a reoccurring theme in our blog?)  We were aiming to sail from Laborie, St. Lucia to the southernmost Grenadine island of Petite St. Vincent. However, after encountering a squall with winds gusting to 30 knots that was instantly followed by slight winds on our nose, we cut the distance of the trip in half by stopping at the Grenadine island of Bequai.
         We’d been to Bequai before, but this time it was with the South Africans and that made it a nonstop blast. Please refer back to my post “The People You Meet” in Nov.2012 in which I described the South Africans as “those who are always organizing a party.” Our dearest South African cruising friends are John and Joann on their aptly named vessel Out of Africa.   

John and Joann of s/v Out of Africa

        Our stay in Bequai’s Admiralty Bay entailed constant socializing through which we met quite a few new cruising friends. There is a daily cruisers’ net on VHF Channel 68 at 8 am.  Most mornings, when the net controller asked, “Are there any social activities for the net?” John would announce an outing and off we’d go.  Then while were were involved in that activity, he’d casually survey the attendees as to what event might be planned for later that evening or the next day.  Sometimes, John would instigate a get-together and then delegate the organizing to someone in the group who expressed a degree more enthusiasm than the average cruiser, (i.e., I was assigned the implementation of a snorkeling venture to Devil’s Table.) Some of the daytime activities included: wandering around the town of Port Elizabeth and walking the hilly road north, then east to the Turtle Sanctuary.  As the sun set, there were sundowner gatherings on various boats, a BBQ potluck dinner on Out of Africa, a pizza birthday party on another vessel, and a sortie ashore to check out Bequai’s Carnival “Jump Up”.

Brother King is caretaker of the Turtle Sanctuary.

Lunching goats after touring the Turtle Sanctuary
Harry & Melinda s/v Sea Schell are on far right.

         My favorite outing, though, was suggested by Melinda and Harry on s/v Sea Schell and spurred on by John.  It seems that they learned about the hike to Peggy’s Rock from Devi and Hunter of s/v Artic Tern.  There were about a dozen cruisers who gathered at the dock at Princess Margaret Beach. Harry said he knew the way, so we all followed him up the hill to the main road toward Friendship Bay on the other side of the island. We traipsed along chatting with one another as cruisers do, sharing boat maintentance and sailing stories.  Harry noted that we were supposed to take a path up the mountain once we got to the Whaling Museum, so we kept a lookout for the path because we knew that most island hiking trails were unmarked (EXCEPT on the FRENCH islands).
        We carried on…a few buckets of sweat later, Harry and I were walking mid-group and I asked for specifics on finding the path.  His answer was a bit sketchy.  There happened to be a boy standing on his porch near us, so I asked him if he could direct us to the trail.  The boy indicated that we had just missed it, so we back tracked a short distance and began the ascent.


Grazers on one of the grassy knolls

  
   The initial incline was enough to separate the men from the boys, BUT not the cruisers from the namby pamby.  We carried on…here and there were grassy knolls in the open sun followed by a nicely cleared trail through shady bush. I kept looking up, thinking that we must almost be there, but no.  During the strenuous climb, I got separated from Dan and thought he was behind me nursing a badly bruised big toe he had stubbed on deck.  I waited for him in a shady spot a few times (mainly to catch my breath), and then- SURPRISE!-  I saw him well ahead of me in the small cluster of hikers who were in the lead! 

Peggy's Rock (I still wonder how she found it...)

All our vessels are anchored below in Admiralty Bay

        After a few more buckets of sweat, the view from on top of Peggy’s Rock was overwhelming.  We were so relieved to have reached it without casualties, although a few in the group did stop about two-thirds of the way up.  They missed out on the cooling breeze and the birds eye view of our anchorage below that revealed the varied topography of the ocean floor.  We’ll share the photos taken with them, but it’s just not the same.
       And I swear-  if I ever take this hike again, I’m going to mark the entrance to the trail on the main road!

       PS:  When he arrived at the top, Harry publically thanked me for having the good sense to ask directions.

St. Vincent and Its Boat Boys

Many mountainsides have terraced gardens.

The cave at Kearton's Bay was a filming sight for The Black Pearl.
 

     
        During last season’s trip down island we took a pass on St. Vincent after hearing about incidents of theft and assaults on cruisers. Marijuana is the biggest cash crop on the island, although it is indeed illegal there, and that added an element of danger. There are so many beautiful, safe anchorages in the Caribbean making it an easy choice to skip those with security issues.  However, for more than a year, not a single report was made to detour us any longer, so there we went to enjoy the deep bays, exquisite and lively reefs, lush vegetation and the tropical fruits of St. Vincent.
        We walked to a nearby waterfall and ate our fill of luscious rose apples in the adjoining garden. Another day, we took a bus ride into the capitol city of Kingstown.  There we toured the Botanical Garden and learned more about tropical plants species from our knowledgeable guide, Sammy.  Alone in the anchorage of Petit Byahaut, we hiked the deserted ruins of a once popular resort and harvested a huge bag of mangos. Fishing is how many earn a living on St. Vincent and we marveled at the varied methods they used near dawn and dusk daily in Kearton’s, Barrouallie, and Buccament Bays.  We snorkeled often around the rocky shoreline that suddenly dropped off to dark depths and were rewarded with a splendid display of wide-ranging corals and sea creatures.

This one's for Lilly- The Cannonball Tree flowers exude
 a rose sent before its huge "cannonball" inedible fruits form.

Under one of St. Vincent's many waterfalls
 

     
















       What we did NOT enjoy were the numerous boat boys in select bays who would not take our polite “No, thank you” for an answer.  Walliabou Bay is one such location and, unfortunately,  it is the bay we chose to clear into customs and immigration. Walliabou is one of the filming sites used in the film Pirates of the Caribbean, so many boats stop there.  It seems the boat boys think that anyone who cruises must certainly be rich and able to buy whatever they are selling. Quite the contrary is true, of course. We know that most cruisers are a frugal lot and some, in fact, are down right cheap.  We sailed into St. Vincent knowing that the island was hurting for tourist dollars and decided to spend some money while there.  But we aimed to spend it on tangible items like goods and services.

Another filming location just outside of Walliabou Bay;
three corpses hung from this rock in the movie.

This movie set also houses memorabilia from Pirates of the Caribbean.

     
      We did pay for one man to help secure our stern to a piling, but all the others who were merely touching the boat thought they should also get a tip.  We promised one boat boy named Julian (who balanced a crate of fruit on an old surf board as he paddled) that we’d buy some fruit when we needed it in a few days, but three others continued to hound us.  We bought fresh tuna from Ronald who cleaned it and gave us tips on fishing around the island.  One afternoon a man rowed up to the boat and asked the Captain for rice- we gave him half of what we had on board.  Another day, a fisherman paused at the stern and asked for a soft drink which we gave him.


The boat boys were momentarily distracted away from our boat...

Ronald, a pleasant boat boy and a darn good fisherman!

        But one afternoon we were returning from town and a young boy stopped his bike at the dock where we were unlocking our dinghy.  When I smiled at him and said hello, he said, “You tip me?”
        I thought I misheard him and asked, “What?”
       He repeated his request.  I said, “Tip you for what?  What did you do?”
       He hesitated momentarily, then said, “For going to school.”
       WELL- the teacher in me politely let him have it- “Going to school is YOUR JOB. You’re supposed to do that and do it well.  I hope you keep going to school and grow up to be an intelligent man.”
     “What intelligent?” he queried.
     “Smart,” I said as we left the dock. “Smart enough to get a job and support your family when you grow up.”

Our “Neighborhood” Keeps Changing

We were at anchor in Falmouth Harbor, Antigua and the Captain got quite philosophical during his cocktail hour(s) today.  He said, You know, our neighborhood keeps changing, but our neighbors don’t.”  I was just waking from a catnap in the cockpit and didn’t quite understand what he mean.  I urged him to explain more.  He said, “We keep sailing around to different islands, but we hear the same boats being hailed on the radio no matter where we go.”

John (s/v Out of Africa) with us after walking a hash.

One race of Antigua's Annual Regatta

  
His observation was dead on.  In fact, when entering an anchorage one of the first things we do is use the binoculars to scan the vessels before us and locate our friends.  In my opinion, living aboard and cruising is much more fun with time to socialize through hiking, shopping, water aerobics, and of course sundowners.

Out come the spinnakers and A-sails

John's S. African poitje on board s/v Nirvana

  
During stretches of time when we haven’t seen anyone for a while, we tune into the Coconut Telegraph on the SSB at 8am to hear where everyone else is and let them know where we are.  We can also use the SSB to try to contact others.  Three weeks ago one of my FB cruiser friends let me know that Tiger Lilly was asking about us on the Coconut Telegraph, so we made a point to tune in the very next day. Sure enough, they called in again and so did we.  I spoke with our good friends Lilly and Tom on s/v Tiger Lilly.  They were in Venezuela near the mouth of the Orinoco River.  We’ve kept in touch through FB, but hadn’t spoken to each other since we parted ways in Tobago last November. And now that they are cruising in sparsely populated areas, their access to wifi is very limited.   Lilly & I were so happy to reconnect and Tom helped us set a weekly time to try to contact each other via a particular SSB frequency.  Dan keyed it in on our radio and I looked forward to our next chat…

Dave (s/v Persephone) & Lee (s/v Allegro) digging the poitje!

The next week on the appointed day and at the appointed time, we tuned in… N O T H I N G but static!  So we dialed into the Coconut Telegraph again and Lee (s/v Allegro) helped us connect on a different frequency.  However, the next week the use of that frequency was short-lived due to sunspots or some other mumbo jumbo in the atmosphere that interrupts the radio waves. (Can you tell I don’t understand the technology?) So Lee suggested that we try to contact each other daily on yet another SSB channel to increase the odds of us talking every now and then. 

Weather like this can mess up SSB transmits.

We listen to George’s Weather Report on the SSB every morning and on some days we can hear Tom or Lilly check in because they are licensed ham operators.  On those days, I’m happy to hear my friend Lilly’s voice even if we can’t carry on a conversation. 

Lilly & me when last together in Tobago.

The Cruisers’ Red Hat Society

      Most cruisers wear hats to protect themselves from the sun or sudden bursts of rain. It’s sort of part of our uniform, along with a pair of well-worn shorts and t-shirt.  Some folks wear a sailor type hat with a brim that extends all around, while others wear the standard baseball cap.  Old salts don a washed-out red ball cap whose logo is so faded that it can barely be deciphered. We learned that this red hat is much coveted and after seeing so many crusty cruisers wear them, I was sucked into being a coveter. We knew that this red hat was not acquired easily.  Last night we discovered exactly how one can earn his or her very own red hat here on the island of Antigua.

       We arrived a few days ago just as Antigua’s Annual Classic Regatta was wrapping up. Friends urged us to go to the Red Hat Party that concluded the event. Free rum drinks for the first hour drew a huge crowd, as the rhythms of a steel pan band was rocking (or should I say, “plinking”) the party goers.  We bumped into a cruiser friend (who shall remain nameless for reasons you’ll understand as you read on) who had seven earned red hats in his bag.
      
        I asked where they were selling them and he said in his South Floridian drawl, “Oh, you can’t buy them and it’s too late to earn one.” 

       “What do you mean?” I queried further.

       “Well,” he continued, “to get one hat, you’ve got to give them two tickets, and you get those two tickets by drinking three rum drinks at any event during the previous week’s race events.” 

       “So, G.” I said, “YOU drank quite a lot of rum!”

       “Oh, no-“ he responded in his best lawyer defense voice.  “Four of these hats belong to my friend and his wife.”

        After that explanation, I had no choice but to beg, “Will you please sell me one of yours?”

        He smiled sweetly, “No, sorry.  I’ve got one for each of my sons and one for me. You’ll just have to be here next year for the Classics Regatta week and earn your own.”

THAT sounds like a plan.

St. Kitts with Kiddles

Our second trip to the island of St. Kitts was much more fun than our first mainly due to spending time with two of our grandchildren there.  Our son Bob’s family flew to St. Kitts with their Disciple Training School Team to spend most of April working on a service project with the Antioch Baptist Church in Basseterre, St. Kitts’ capital city.  Bob and Joy asked us to meet them there to lend a hand with 6-year old Aslan and 5-year old Lyla. It was a rare pleasure for us to have Lyla and Aslan on board Exit strategy for weekly sleepovers, as the following photos will attest.


Lyla was a great washing machine!

Racing Daddy on South Friars Beach

Fishing off the dock with Grandpa

School work time

Searching for treasures and shells on Whitehouse Bay

Swimming off the back of boat
and desperately trying to avoid drifting off to Cuba

Aslan outsmarts Grandpa best moves...

Stringing shells and Job's Tears to make jewelry

Love notes and love notes and more love notes!

“HELP! HELP! I’m stuck in the mud!”

I remember well the day our son Bob spoke these lines in his début performance in a third grade skit. And that is exactly what came to mind after our second grounding within twenty minutes..  Yes, I said second grounding.  But wait- there’s more.  You’ll soon discover that there was a total of three- count them, 3- groundings in less than three hours. 

We had cruised the waters of St. Martin, FWI/St. Maarten, NA several times before and felt familiar enough with the main anchorages to make the crossing under sail during the day (for a change) and arrived in Simpson Bay on the Dutch side around 6PM.  We were looking forward to spending a few weeks on both sides of the island to relax a bit on the beach, indulge in fine French wines and baguettes, and catch some bargains on a waterproof camera and bikinis on the Dutch side, as well as B.O.A.T. (Break Out Another Thousand) for Exit Strategy’s maintenance.

One day at the chandlery, we happened upon a few friends who were anchored inside the lagoon on the French side. There was an ugly North swell affecting most of the Caribbean at the time and they encouraged us to come into the sheltered waters of the lagoon and drop our hook near them. Captain Dan and I had never ventured into the lagoon because the guidebook’s description made it sound too shallow for our 6’9” draft.  Our friends said that the channel had been dredged to 12’ and we should have no problem.  They even drew a map to indicate where they were located within the French waters of the lagoon.

We proceeded around to the bridge on the French side to await it’s scheduled 2:30 pm opening.  Our place in line was behind a catamaran. We saw it pass to the LEFT of a GREEN channel marker and noticed that there was NO RED marker.  Figuring that cats-shallow drafted vessels could go anywhere- Dan followed the learned "KEEP RED on RIGHT" navigational standard and Exit Strategy went BUMPH right into the mud!  Our worse fear was finally realized, having gone aground for the very first time!  We felt sick as we watched as the monohull boat after us keep the GREEN to his RIGHT, passing without a hitch.

What should we do?  What could we do? Dan threw the boat into hard reverse. The engine raced, yet we didn’t budge. Just then a dinghy zipped by, abruptly stopped, and turned around to lend an experienced hand, informing us that he had gone aground at that very same spot only days before.  Chris of s/v Mr. Mac was a Godsend!  He positioned his dinghy perpendicular to the bow and began to push as Dan kept powering ES in reverse. Nothing. So Dan got in our dinghy and both dinghies were able to shove our boat out of the mud with me manning the helm in hard reverse. Chris aimed us toward the next set of channel markers and we inched along with great caution as our depth meter was reading between 0.1-2.0 feet.

After rounding the next bend, we BUMPHED and stuck again. Dan jumped into the dinghy immediately and I powered ES in reverse. The vessel slowly slipped out of the muck and the Captain ordered me to turn back toward the bridge to await the 5:30 pm opening to make our EXIT!!! (Enough was enough.)

We dropped anchor near the bridge in 4’ and began to wait. A German couple we’d been trying to connect with for over a year saw us there and stopped by to chat.  That visit was the highlight of our afternoon. Around 5:15 pm,  we raised the anchor to make ready for our escape from the shallows of the lagoon. Unfortunately,  as soon as the anchor came up, WE WENT AGROUND for the third time!  This time Dan only had to gun the boat in reverse for a short while- just in time for us to slip into line and exit the lagoon forever more when the bridge opened.

[ Glass Half Empty view:  We will NEVER go into the lagoon in St. Martin again! 
                  Glass ALWAYS brimming view:  We are no longer VIRGINS of the MUD! ]

PS: When we related our mishap to our friends anchored in the lagoon, they said THEY CAME IN THROUGH THE DUTCH SIDE whose channel is well dredged…

Livin’ the DREAM…

Our "neighborhood"

 We have been preparing to head down island to spend another stretch of hurricane season in Grenada.  Last year, we didn’t know quite what we’d find available in grocery stores as we traveled. So we talked to other cruisers and kept their suggestions in mind while provisioning. Although the Captain did lose a few more pounds last year, we never went hungry; however, a list of “must have” items before sailing south did surface. These items made the list either because they were NOT available or way too HIGH-PRICED down island:  brown sugar, tortilla chips, canned veggies, Oil of Olay products, caffeine free diet coke, XXL bags of gummy bears and Twizzlers, rum, coffee.
This time we bought and stored large quantities of food and maintenance items before leaving the land of K-Mart, Cost-U-Less and PriceSmart (a.k.a. the USVI).  The extra provisions necessitated stowing much of it below the floorboards in the bilge and strong shallow plastic tubs were purchased to protect our stash.  We said our “Good-byes!” to our friends around Honeymoon Bay, Water Island-USVI and headed over to Nanny Cay, Tortola-BVI to do the same to friends there.


Our "front yard"

 We had dinner ashore at Pussers in Sopers Hole, Tortola-BVI and chatted a bit with four American couples after they admired our Potato Chip-Bleu Cheese Tree appetizer. They were chartering a boat and stood in awe with mouths agape (literally) when we said we lived on ours. The next morning as we visited with Andrew, the director of our previous charter company (Horizon Yachts), he sighed and said, “You’re livin’ the dream.”  We’ve gotten used to getting that reaction since we moved onto Exit Strategy over two and a half years ago and feel blessed to have made it happen for us.

But a short sail across the Sir Francis Drake Channel to anchor off of Cooper Island for the night brought the other side of “livin’ the dream” into full focus…


Yes, we have Grey Poupon.

 After dropping the hook, the captain went below and heard the hum of the water pump- only no faucets were turned on.  (! @ # *) He immediately opened the compartment that holds the water heater and found that a hose fitting had broken open, spilling 55 gallons of fresh water into the bilge.  Yes- the bilge. That’s the lowest part of the vessel under the floorboards- our newest storage area filled almost to the brim! (* % @ # ) 

Luckily (my cup is ALWAYS 3/4 full) we chose to stow only provisions in noncorrosive containers in tubs in the bilge AND only six sections had water.  We spent hours sopping and siphoning about two inches of water from the affected sections, finally leaving a Shamwow or two in places we could hear sloshing, but couldn’t reach. Today, about a week later, I can report that there’s no more sloshing, no mildew, and no lasting damage found.



The galley is ship shape once again.