OFF COURSE to St. Lucia

St. Lucia was not listed on our ES Float Plan 2012 for a few reasons:

ü  We had vacationed there before. 

ü  We were concerned about reported safety issues.
ü  We had read about arrogant boat vendors.

ü  SKIPPING St. Lucia and sailing southeasterly toward BARBADOS (on our float plan) from Martinique would give us a better angle on the wind.  (We’ve wanted to go to Barbados for years and jokingly call it “BAH-BAH-dose.”)

However, when it was time to leave Martinique, the winds were largely coming FROM the EAST-SOUTHEAST, so we decided to set sail in a southwesterly direction to join our friends on s/v Tiger Lilly in St. Lucia for some more fun.

Resting at the pond up on Mt. Pinard with Lilly (s/v Tiger Lilly) and Joanne (s/v Out of Africa).

The winds were brisk with intermittent gusts measuring up to 25 knots as we sailed away from Martinique.  When we reached the northwestern tip of St. Lucia they became even more erratic, so the captain reefed both the main and the foresail.  Alas, it was too little too late- the hard winds had ripped our tired genoa once again.  Luckily, one can get just about anything you need for your yacht in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia, our first anchorage. 




Rodney Bay, St. Lucia as seen from the peaks of pigeon Island National Park.

Rodney Bay has a large modern marina with  homes resembling those along the US Intercoastal Waterway lining the harbor. It has all sorts of yacht services and two large shopping malls, yet the malls were small-no, MINUSCULE by US standards.  I finally found two grocery items I’d been searching for since we were in Puerto Rico: Dream Whip and TWIZZLERS!!!!!  I also could not find brown sugar since we left the USVI/BVI and there it was on the shelf (but only LIGHT brown sugar). Provisioning in Rodney Bay was a dream! We topped up our groceries often because we seemed to do a lot of on board socializing with friends, as Tiger Lilly had introduced us to another wonderful cruising couple from South Africa- John & Joanne of s/v Out of Africa.  For some reason, I was always delegated to bring the dessert.  I suppose I earned the reputation after sharing some Caribbean Banana Bread, followed by Pineapple Flambé over cream cheese, Fudgy Brownies, Coconut Custard Pie, Oatmeal Chocolate Chip Bars.

Gregory said HE was the ORIGINAL fruit boat vendor and came by often to our delight.

To work off the desserts, we took hikes through the northern tip of the island where there is a golf course with neighboring posh developments.  We climbed the peaks on Pigeon Island where we stopped to chat with a honeymooning couple from the Chicago area.  On other days, we were happy to power walk the rolling terrain around Rodney Bay.  We snorkeled the point at Pigeon Island and Cuti Cove in hopes of spotting a seahorse in the reef, but none were found.

The women always seem to take the lead when hiking through the bush.

One day, a group of us hired a bus driver to tour around the southern 2/3 of the island, thanks to John of s/v Out of Africa for negotiating a fair and affordable price.  Tom of s/v Tiger Lilly kept advising our driver, Darren, “We’re SAILORS!  We’re not nimbi pimbi cruise ship tourists.  Take us to see places in St. Lucia that are not tourist hotspots.”  Darren obliged and took us to a lunch spot frequented by locals and we each devoured a plateful of BBQ (chicken or pork) surrounded by mounds of local veggies, rice, provisions for 15 EC ($6 US).  We were impressed with how colorful and clean St. Lucia was and how beautiful and welcoming its people were.

Our tour group in front of Petit Piton: (L to R) Joanne and me, with Gosia & Chris (s/v Aldebaran),
Tom & Lilly and our bus driver, Darren.               

Soufriere; Gros Piton (2,619') & Petit Piton (2,460') in background

 Captain Dan & I moved on to our second anchorage alone, knowing that we would surely meet up with our friends "down the road.” We took a mooring along the coast just south of Soufriere near Harmony Beach.  There we walked the shore and the mountainous roads just north of Petit Piton.  One paved road turned into a footpath as we neared town. We learned from a dreadlocked man along the way that Hurricane Tomas caused landslides that covered the road.  On another bright morning we hiked in the opposite direction to the Hot Springs Baths & Waterfall and lounged there for a spell.  We dinghied over to snorkel the rich reef between the Petit and Gros Pitons, venturing beyond the marked area far enough to realize that the buoyed spot keeps one safely out of the strong current that cuts around Petit Piton. (Boy, did we get a work out swimming back…I grabbed onto large boulders three times to catch my breath!)

Captain Dan at the Hot Springs Waterfall

Saved By the DIAPERS

What are the odds of finding punctured plastic containers in different lockers within days of each other?

All vessels have limited storage space and we feel that our s/v Exit Strategy has more than ample areas to stow items, as we have not exhausted all the available lockers and dry nooks below the floor boards.   We try to stash things in places that make it convenient to use the item. For example: our laundry products are tucked into the port side cockpit locker near the buckets and cooler that the First & Last Mate uses to occasionally hand launder items.  The Captain also keeps his BBQ utensils in that locker because it is near the grill.

So guess what happens when a pointy BBQ fork runs into a large bottle of Tide AND the Captain subsequently picks the fountaining  jug up and wonders, “What the ----?”  You are absolutely right- a puddle of liquid detergent immediately settles in the bottom of the locker!  The First Mate started to sop up the soap with items from the dirty laundry bag in an effort to not waste the soap.  BIG MISTAKE.  It took multiple rinses to get the residue out of everything.  So, OK, after hours of sloshing that got squared away with no casualties except for the First Mate getting very pruney fingers and toes.

THEN, a few days later while preparing dinner, the First Mate opened a bilge area where canned goods are stored and discovered an oily substance in and around it.  But no oil was stowed in that particular compartment, so the Captain commenced to search for the source.  (“No ----ing way this is happening!”)  He soon found a punctured gallon of 10W-30 in the locker below the sink in his bathroom that is next to the canned goods spot. Much oil had seeped into the grooves under the floor of the shower.  More oil was found in the nearby bilge areas upon lifting all the floor boards, although nothing is stored in them.  The Captain issued the perfect order- “Get the diapers!” (ES has had a stash of disposal diapers on board that were left over from a sailing trip with the grand babies.)   Diapers were shoved under the shower floor.  They were squeezed into grooves.  More were tamped into oily puddles. Then the areas were washed down with vinegar a few times, and once again ES was squeaky clean. 

As luck would have it, the First Mate had cleaned the bilge areas a week before making this clean up less of a mess.  And she is still waiting patiently for the Captain to relocate the other gallons of 10W-30 to another compartment that is self contained and convenient to the engine.

Martinique- FWI

Martinique was not just another French Island. Yes, there were tempting baguette and pastry shops found along every street.  Fresh seafood, fruit, and vegetables markets could be bought daily at very reasonable prices.  Bells tolled every quarter hour from chapels in each village.  And yet, something was quite different about Martinique.  Voila!  The French residents there actually seemed happy to practice their English and were very welcoming to us!  I suspect that I’m still “murdering” their language because a few people even asked me to “Speak English, please.” 

Upon entering our first anchorage in Martinique, we were elated to find s/v Tiger Lilly bobbing gently on her anchor with our cruiser friends Tom and Lilly on board. We first met them in Dominica, but they sailed on and we hadn’t seen them for over a week. We thought we wouldn’t  see them until we got way down island to Grenada for hurricane season.  Tom and Lilly are GOOD people who enjoy having fun and exploring the islands. Lilly is a super people person and stops to talk to islanders along the way while we’re passing through the villages or hiking around the countryside.  And because of her out going nature, we were able to see parts of Martinique that were 'totally OFF the typical tourist track. For example:

We did NOT tour the local rum distillery, but DID hike through their cane fields...
Here Lilly and Tom of s/v Tiger Lilly rest for 2 seconds to snap a photo among the bamboo.

Ever been to a cock fight?  Tom & Lilly got us in gratis...

Lilly was in a local grocery trying to figure out which French labeled flour to buy
and she got us a private tour of Martinique's Volcano Monitoring Facility. This is the original seismometer. 

THE Nature Island

We had heard and read many things about Dominica that peeked our interest and fueled our desire to sail here.  It is aptly nicknamed “The Nature Island” and we were heartily welcomed into Portsmouth’s harbor by Martin in his service boat, Providence.  Standing in his boat as we both motored into the bay, Martin began touting the history and natural wonders of Dominica even.  We appreciated his genuine enthusiasm for his island and easily connected with him during our two week stay.

 (Martin- you had us at “Hello!”  Besides, you gifted us with that luscious bunch of finger fig bananas and we would have followed you anywhere after that.)

Our hike to the "Hot Tub" with (L to R) Phillip, Rose, Heather, Peter, and Florence.

And so our Dominican adventures with Martin began. He stopped by most mornings to see if we needed anything.  Some days he suggested hiking routes nearby that we could do on our own.  Others days he took us on personally guided tours offered at very reasonable rates.  We’d be gone for hours without packing a lunch or drinks and Martin would always manage to find a tree with ripe fruit (like mango, grapefruit, banana, cocoa) to satisfy us.  Or he’d find coconuts to hack open for us to enjoy the water.  Martin also had a wealth of knowledge in natural healing remedies that he spoke of freely.  (I wish I’d taken a notebook!) 

 

It was easy to fall in love with Dominica.  It is by far the least spoiled by industrialism and big business of all the Caribbean that we’ve seen.  The bulk of the people seem to work at farming or at fishing.  The soil is rich and many fruits and vegetables grow well in Dominica, BUT most of the terrain is a steep grade, so the farmers’ work is extraordinarily hard.   Martin said that because Dominica's land is so productive, no one should starve unless they are lazy.

MARIE GALANTE-FWI

(More pictures to come)

We sailed the last leg of our zigzag course southwest about 12 miles to reach the lovely island of Marie Galante.  Upon nearing the island, we were force to weave in and out off multiple "mine fields" of fish traps.  The number of traps we had to avoid were unbelievable!  There were so many that the Captain has given the First & Last Mate the new pretrip assignment of notifying all fisherman of the island to which we will travel that they should make a clear path for Exit Strategy.

We rented a scooter for the day and that’s all it took to see the entire island.  Driving along many of the sugarcane lined roads felt very much like rambling down the corn fields of the Midwest.  And just like when we were kids living on our quiet farm road, when we passed someone out in their yard, they smiled and waved at us.  No fences around the island either, but we did pass cattle, pigs, goats, and horses that were tethered to individual posts allowing them to graze in circular patterns. 

What I LOVED most about these French islands is that there were trees, vines, fields full of ripening tropical fruits and vegetables!  I could barely stand to walk by yards without picking something that’s hanging over the fence and popping it in my mouth, but I didn’t.  (And it’s been killing me!)

The other thing we find irresistible are the plentiful creamy-colored sandy beaches.

What do I HATE about the French West Indies?  I hate that we don’t speak fluent French.

GRANDE TERRE, Guadeloupe-FWI

Downtown Pointe A Pitre
(where you can buy 4 French cut swim suits for 16 Euros)

Next, the winds took us northeast 16 miles or so see some of the other half of Guadeloupe called Grande Terre.  Our course led us to the “crotch” of the butterfly island to the metropolitan port of Pointe a Pitre.  We anchored just outside the multiservice Marina Du Fort Burt and their ENGLISH SPEAKING STAFF were extremely helpful.  We ended up doing what big cities are made for- we shopped.

Guadeloupe is known for its madras fabric (see tablecloth) 

Dan managed to take a few photos at the huge market before a lady firmly told him in FRENCH that it wasn't polite for him to photograph them.   One little boy was selling small mangos and we were his first customers. He was so thrilled that he kept filling our bag with more and more.  At one point, he scurried over to his mother's table and got a few more for us- all for 1 Euro. The fish market was extensive and impressive with theprice of their catch posted as 10 Euros per kilo, translating to less than $5 US per pound. 

  We were going on day number 10 in the French West Indies when I realized that my French was NOT getting any better. One day I told a shop keeper that I was looking for a swim suit for “mon mairie.”  He looked at me funny and directed me to another store. I should have said “mon mari,” as in “husband” not “city hall.”  A few days later while ordering at lunch at a beachside café, I asked for a “gras” bottle of water…I should have said, “grande,” as in “tall” not “fat.”  Dan is doing much better than me because he mainly sticks with only “Bonjour” or “Merci” and flashes his million dollar smile.  And oh, yeah- “Heineken” and “rhum” roll off his tongue pretty easily also.

On this occasion, I spoke French to order a Rhum Punch. 
I got a shot of rum with a squeeze of lime, no ice.
 It took me about an hour to finish it...  

ILES DES SAINTES- FWI

Although we had not yet exhausted the list of all we wanted to see and do in Guadeloupe, we set sail for its sister island group- Iles des Saintes also known as The Saints.  At the time, making the 10 mile trip was a better point of sail and ES made good time.  We dropped anchor in a small bay on the eastern side of Terre d’en Bas that was unmarked as such, although three boats were there.  The Saints are largely a fishing area and this bay was next to a lesser bay with fleet of small French fishing skiffs. 

Many tropicals were loaded with fruit like this breadfruit tree.



Very cool playground (notice CONCH)

 The next day we made our way around the island to Anse De Fideling where we were able to hike the roads around the quiet villages a bit and have a wonderful dinner ashore.  There was no written menu… we were given the choice of a “whole fish or a filet” in broken English IF we returned after 7 pm. (Getting used to eating LATE is another subject altogether!)  We feasted on platters of rice, veggies, fruit and grouper while finishing a bottle of white wine for only 60 Euros!

View of The Saints from Fort Napoleon

The islands that comprise The Saints are a stone’s throw from one another, so the next day we motored on to Bourg de Saintes on the main isle of Terre d’en Haut.  Here we found it increasingly easier to find an islander who spoke a little English.  The Saints, we learned, are where many Guadeloupeans have their “cottage” and multiple ferries can get them there pretty quickly inexpensively. (For almost less that a round trip toll on the Chicago Skyway, with much less traffic.)  The islands are relatively small and easy enough to walk around IF you can handle the mountains and we did.