After 5 1/2 months we are more than ready to get going, get sailing, visit new islands, meet new people.
Grenada has been great, lovely welcoming locals, always with a ready smile a good morning/afternoon greeting, plenty of locally grown fresh fruit, mangoes, bananas, papaya, passionfruit but where to go ?
A few of the islands we sailed straight past on the way here are starting to open up, there was a “sort” of “Caribbean bubble” but it only lasted a week or so before it was reduced by increased covid cases.
We watched with interest as the US struggled with overwhelming Covid-19 cases and a tense presidential election even with no intention of returning or going anywhere near the US these news items will affect these islands, these islands including Grenada rely heavily on American tourists and even though we have been lucky to have the beaches and bays all to ourselves without the cruise ships and boat charters and normal land based tourists the businesses are really hurting.
We initially thought we would follow our friends and head to St Vincent and the Grenadines only a day sail away but by the time we were ready to leave the entry requirements had changed and they now required an additional PCR test done before we departed Grenada instead of just one on arrival, this seemed to be getting really expensive, not forgetting the normal visa and cruising permit fees.
Our friends On Breakaweigh spent $400 US on the pre departure test, then another $150 upon arrival for another test, plus the mooring ball fee $20 a day while they awaited their results. So we decided to skip St Vincent and head straight to Saint Martin.
We had spent 45 days in Prickly Bay, so much for not wanting to get stuck there but we did have an injury and fitted our new Lithium batteries and all the alternator drama.
Before we left Millennial Falcon had sailed around to join us for a few days, it’s always lovely to see Adam and Khiara and to be around people who you are the most comfortable with.
We had a night at Grand Mal, stopping over at the big pink bar for a couple of Caribs and to say goodbye to the owner Tosh.
And the next morning walking up the hill to the little grocery store to see what other local herbs and spices we could pick up before departing “the spice island” I have a bag of nutmegs still in their shells and huge containers of cinnamon bark and ground cinnamon that will probably last my lifetime.
Our plan was to cruise back up to Carriacou stopping in at Rhonde Island on the way.
Well what started off as a nice light upwind sail, on the beam ended up with our nose in the water and me high in the air as a squall pushed and knocked us around.
I was sitting at the starboard stern, holding on to the line that pulls out the main sheet, I hold onto it as we pull the main sail back in, to keep an even tension on it so the sail doesn’t bunch up as it’s furling back into the mast.
We were furling in the mainsail as we could see the water coming downwind towards us start to smoke as the wind ripped over it causing spray to be whipped off the top, it makes the water look like it has steam or smoke rising from it !!
I was sitting there holding on when whoops we were hit violently by the wind and big confused waves, Adriana dug her nose in, the wind pushed us over so her port side rails were in the water and where I was sitting ended up being high out of the water, it was like being on a roller coaster ride. She righted herself just fine and continued on as if nothing had happened moments later we were pelted by heavy rain. I already had my life jacket on but I asked Craig to get his one on too.
It rained the whole way, heavy rain and at one point we could only see a few feet in front of us, but as usual in the Caribbean it did ease off ... only to pick up again as we were motoring around the anchorage looking for a suitable spot to drop the anchor, I had to venture out in the wind and pelting rain to press the down button, we had both travelled for the wet day in our undies and tshirt, mine was long enough that my pattered briefs could be mistaken for bathers, talking to friends I’ve since discovered this is normal attire onboard in the rain or anytime really.
Our stop at Rhonde was abandoned it looked so bleak and choppy we didn’t even go over close to the area to have a look, coming from Grenada island to Carriacou island involves navigating around Kick Em Jenny the underwater active volcano, so Rhonde wasn’t in our direct path, it’s a shame we missed getting back there it was one of our favourite stops.
We settled back into Tyrrel Bay to wait for Millennial Falcon, Craig had promised to give them a hand fixing their mainstay, you can watch what they were up to,
Craig has a cameo roll in episode 114
We did up anchor for a night and head around to Hillsborough for a chicken and chips fix returning the next morning when MF headed in to the dock to get their repairs started.
Tyrrel Bay is full of cruisers, mostly French flagged boats, the big marina is French owned and the Froggs Bar and Restaurant above the dive shop is very French serving fresh home made Croissants and Baguettes on Tuesday and Fridays.
Nawal and I had a lovely day, walking Zeuss and hanging out at Froggs, Zeuss is so little no one really minds him being inside and most places are semi outdoors anyway with local dogs in and out.
Froggs is upstairs It’s front is totally open to catch the breeze with only bamboo blinds that pull down for shade to keep the afternoon sun out. There are 3 walls full of books mostly French but one bookcase has English titles so I took advantage and offloaded some of the books I had already read picking up some new ones to keep me going.
I actually spread my book swapping between 3 business that held space for swapping libraries.
Monday 16th November 2020
We departed Hillsborough, saying goodbye to Carriacou and Grenada at 6.30 am
but by 10am .....we had caught a fish, a smallish wahoo that was pulled in filleted and popped in the freezer within 15 minutes of it biting
......reefed in and weathered a squall, .........then let the sails back out again
put the engine on and tried to outrun another big nasty squall, this one seemed to want to run parallel with us so we had to hove to, and let it pass
AND then we had something big grab our line that just totally yanked the fishing rod out of the holder, luckily it was tied to the rail but whatever it was was huge and it chomped half the fringes off the lure.
What a morning and we still had two and a half days to go.
Oh and we got soaked by the rain as well.
Craig said the weather was exactly as predicted 12-15 knots off the beam, rain showers and squalls, we are learning what to look for to help avoid these squalls, the dark overhead clouds are not always the only indicator, the smoking water, blurred horizon and whitecaps are more accurate signs.
Just after lunch we were visited by a pod of dolphins, they were so fast, they approached on our port side, swimming through the water in unison, checking us out as they lift out of the waves, I turned to put my plate down and Craig’s yelling “your missing them” as about 12 flew right out of the water in front of us, maybe 6 of them stayed with us for 10 minutes or so zooming alongside Adriana, man they were so sleek and fast, it’s funny they looked quite small as they arched in the air but became quite long as they elongated just under the surface of the metallic blue water. I could see their grey bodies streaking just below the surface.
We got pooped
The trade winds are almost always constant, they were hitting us side on and pushing us steadily along in what should have been perfect conditions except the fairly big swell was hitting us side on too, making the ride bumpy and uncomfortable.
I had pulled out the side window from under the pile of dodger windows stashed away in the bedroom next to the kitchen, I attached it back on for the trip, only the starboard side where the prevailing wind and rain were coming from. And I’m so glad I did, a huge wave hit us throwing salt water into the cockpit from behind, we must have been in the dip of a wave at just that exact second as normally we are really dry in Adriana’s deep sided cockpit, this wave sent water into the cockpit and over the canvas above our heads, where it then also poured in the other side too, I was fairly sheltered as I was sitting forward under the dodger but Craig got drenched, head to toe in salt water, he had to change into dry clothes, we haven’t been pooped like that before.
Breakfast had been slices of home made banana bread, toasted in the pan and smothered in butter, then a bit later an apple and some almonds along with a piece of the Anzac slice very kindly given to us by Adriana and the kids on Cirrus.
So funny, as we were leaving Tyrell Bay we discovered that we could buy fuel from Carriacou Marine tax exempt, if we filled out a C14 form
and it was quite a saving, after we had fuelled up and paid, we get back onboard to find a plate of still warm, yummy, sweet, oaty Anzac slice sitting on the cockpit table, smelling divine, where did they come from?
Craig and I were literally scratching our heads, surely we would have noticed them earlier when we got back from the supermarket and lifted the anchor?
We guessed It had to be an Australian who dropped them of :)
Turns out Adriana and the kids dingied over and snuck them on board while we were busy sorting out paperwork and paying the bill.
I can just see them giggling all the way back to their boat.
For lunch Craig had a couple of pre made salmon patties, (salmon, potato and sweet corn mashed together then crumbed and pan fried) reheated in the microwave and topped w tomato sauce, I had a couple of falafels on pita bread with a spread of peanut butter and sweet chilli sauce.
We had prepared the fillings earlier knowing things might be rough underway and knowing we would definitely be heeled over, there was an avocado and carrots, that could have been grated to make a small salad if the conditions were easier to work in but we were happy to eat the easiest option. Lettuce or spinach the main ingredient for a salad had been impossible to find on the street or in the supermarket before we left.
I had made a huge pot of spaghetti bolognese sauce that I have to admit we ate both nights. But next time I’ll pre cook the pasta, with the amount of heel we had I couldn’t fit enough water in the pot to cook enough pasta for the two of us, I was using the big pot but the gimble wasn’t working properly on the stove top, it was tilting too far then jamming, and I nearly did myself some damage when boiling water seeped out between the pot and the lid as we sped along, running over the edge, just missing my bare legs and toes.
We didn’t end up having the custard and fruit for dessert as we had eaten so much during the day.
There was more Anzac slice and chocolate for midnight snacks to keep us going through the night.
It was only the next day after Craig lost the frying pan down behind the cooktop when he went to toast a bun and reheat himself a burger (meat and onions pre cooked) did we work out why the gimble wasn’t doing what it should, it will just need a small screw to keep it from swinging too far.
My first job once we dropped anchor was to sit on the bench and get my whole arm down behind the oven to retrieve the pan, Craig had to hold the whole thing forward to stop it from swinging back and breaking my arm.
Our passage was 350 miles and it took us 2 days, 2 nights and 2 hours (60 hours) we had everything from big waves and rain, windy squalls to absolute calm - when we had to motor, our two night passages were thankfully uneventful with a steady wind pushing us along.
Craig put a couple of little film clips of the passage on his Facebook page if you haven’t already seen them.
https://www.facebook.com/craig.baker.5876
A new country, it’s so exciting to see land on the horizon, as we got closer to our destination we came further inland, we had stayed out around 50 miles as we had heard a fishing boat had been boarded by pirates only a couple of weeks ago, close to where we were traveling.
We were passing other islands that are actually different countries, their steep volcanic shaped mountains climbing out of the sea, Saba Island was one that we passed just as dawn was breaking, there are lights all down one small section of the island and the rest was in darkness, as dawn broke we could see that that’s where the houses and roads were just one thin strip of hillside, the rest had incredibly steep inclines, it had only a few lights so probably a very small population.
Saba, a Caribbean island in the Lesser Antilles chain, is a special municipality of the Netherlands. Measuring just 13 square kilometres, it consists essentially of the top of the dormant Mount Scenery volcano. Its surrounding Saba Marine Park, a renowned dive site, is home to coral formations, dolphins, sharks and turtles. There are also offshore seamounts, or underwater mountains created by volcanic activity. ― Google
Area: 13 km²
Population: 1,915 (Jan 1, 2019) Sourced from Google.
As Sint Maarten came into view we could see the shoreline lined with white high rise buildings, it looked like the approach to Miami except for the volcanic mountains in the background.
We are headed to Simpson Bay on the Dutch Side of the island of Sint Maarten, the other side is French, Saint Martin.
We dropped the anchor around 8am in what we thought was a lovely sheltered bay turns out It’s rolly, constantly rolly, the movement doesn’t stop, we have the option of going into the inner harbour, accessed by a small channel with a bridge that lifts vertically twice a day but once inside - the water will be dirty, stopping us from swimming and making water, so we decide to put up with the swell, eventually we did lift the anchor and moved a bit closer in towards the beach after a couple of days, still staying outside of the lagoon, it did make things more comfortable.
It’s only a 5 minute dingy ride to the inside where it’s calm and we can access supermarkets, cafes and bars.
Our first priority is to check in, we thought our Grenada Digicel SIM card would work here in Sint Maarten, well it did, after the lovely dark skinned, French accented girl in the Digicel office, that Craig thought was just gorgeous fixed it but that didn’t help us on arrival.
We couldn’t even find free wifi with our bad boy antenna so we had no other option but to drop the dingy and for Craig go to find the agent, our paperwork for Dutch st Maarten was done through an agent, we had submitted a visa application and a health declaration to him via email and he processed it with customs, for a fee of course.
His address was out of a marina so off Craig went while I had a shower and tidied up, there was stuff everywhere pillows and blankets, wet and dirty clothes, hats, our grab bag to empty and stash away and a sink full of dishes.
On Craig’s return he had found customs by himself and they contacted the agent, he arrived and took our boat papers and passports, Craig had to return to Adriana and wait for him to bring our paperwork back.
That allowed Craig time to have some lunch and a rest.
Eventually the agent returned our passports and entry permit, he motored out to us in a super fast power boat, we were checked in and free to go ashore, no tests no restrictions, but it did dawn on us that we had arrived untested and so would lots of other people on boats and the ones arriving by plane, would arrive with and without covid tests, depending on country of departure.
We still could access the internet using wifi we just had to find some so we piled into the dingy and headed for the inner harbour, (the lagoon) we have to go under the lift bridge which is easy in the dingy.
Inside it’s like a huge lake lined with lots of marinas, and dingy docks for the restaurants, cafes and bars.
There is a huge bridge that crosses the water this bridge is literally the border between the Dutch and French sides it sits maybe about a third of the way closer to the Dutch side, but it’s only a short dingy ride to the French side.
We can go to the French side by car or bus or dingy but we have to wait two weeks before we can take the boat there.
There are two huge marine stores, branches of the Caribbean marine shops, Island Water World and Budget Marine we head towards the Island Water World store and tie up to their free dock.
Our legs are always a bit wobbly when we first step back on land but much more so after a multiple day/overnight passage it takes a good half hour or so before the floor stops moving it’s quite disconcerting. The staff are super friendly and the store is amazingly well stocked.
We have been told that the digicel SIM card sold on the French side will work in all the European islands plus in Europe, so this is the card we want to buy.
The Digicel shop is on the French side, we can catch a local bus for $2 or dingy over there it will take about 20 minutes but weighing up our options we decide it’s too late in the day and we are a bit delirious from lack of sleep, we decide just to find a bar and use their wifi and tackle finding a bus in the morning.
The nice chatty salesperson in IWW had told us about a great bar 2 buildings down from there called Lagoonies and they have a happy hour 4-6 we were just in time.
Logging on to the bar wifi we let family and friends know we had arrived safely.
We started chatting to Chris and Katie an American couple who have just purchased their boat a 49 foot Hanse, and along with their two dogs they have just this week moved onboard to live and travel full time.
Turns out they have a hire car and offer to drive us to the French side the next day, how nice is that !!
We finish our big day by eating dinner at Lagoonies I had pork medallions and Craig had a steak, It was sooo good to eat something other than fried chicken or a hamburger and it wasn’t too expensive.
Next morning we are in the dingy by 10am over to meet Kate and Chris, we feel really bad as the two dogs have to be left locked in the boat as there’s not enough room for all of us in the car, but they are left in air conditioned comfort.
The island was devastated by Hurricane Irma in 2017, a category 5 hurricane, it’s frightening to think of the over 200km winds battering the island for over 2 hours, you can see evidence everywhere of the damage, in fact where we are anchored should be protected by a rock wall but it’s at sea level now destroyed by the hurricane. The Lagoon is littered with wrecked yachts, upside down hulls, boats pushed up onto the land around the edges, one sunken wreck just has the top of the mast sticking out of the water.
Here is some footage of the devastation - it’s devastating but also fascinating
After driving up and down what was obviously the wrong road, we pull over to ask directions, the lady answers in a flurry of French all 4 of us just go quiet oops this might be harder than we think. Eventually we track down the Digicel store and purchase our SIM card, next stop Carrafours supermarket, omg we have not seen a supermarket like this since we left USA.
So much choice, so much fresh produce, all reasonably priced and even store specials.
Craig throws things into the trolley like tinned pate, pork sausage w lentils, tinned scalloped potatoes all French, I’m a bit concerned just because it’s French doesn’t mean it’s going to taste good but he is having fun.
We bought flour, the writing is all French using google translate when we got home, what we thought was a packet of plain flour and a packet of self raising flour turns out to be a packet of plain and a packet of extra fine flour, we bought potato chips - sans sel ajoute (no salt added), we bought 00.00 alcohol Heineken beer ah well we live and learn, oh well we will either return them or add some whiskey or in my case vodka to give them a kick. Some of the American beer we brought previously had a higher alcohol content and that’s just what it tasted like watery beer with a little drop of whiskey.
Returning them does mean carrying a box of 2 dozen bottles about 2km uphill. This was later solved by borrowing Chris and Katie’s little four wheel shopping trolley.
Craig lost his phone halfway through the shop, thank goodness he found it slipped into the shopping basket alongside the chocolate bars, easily done, they are all the same shape.
In his panic looking for his phone he had talked to a shop security guard who later came to find us to see how we were going, Craig had said to him that “our friends had dropped us off” the security guard was like “ you only met these people yesterday” “ they are not your friends” “ this is the Caribbean MON“ “please be careful”
The Dutch side of the island works in Dutch Gilders, the French side in Euros but everyone prefers US Dollars, I took out some Gilders from the ATM but it got so confusing I’d pay for the beer or baguette in gilders and get given change in US$, we took out some Euros and same thing change in US $ I think they pretend to play with the calculator and then just give you two US “one” dollars notes, as change I swear it happened every time.
The local yacht club and the bar at Lagoonies have a happy hour 4-6 where it’s a buck a beer or a rum punch for two dollars so we have spent a couple of early evenings sitting chatting with Chris and Katie.
Millennial Falcon arrived a week after us then Fruit Bat so yay we have friends again.
I have to admit Craig and I just sat and looked at each other that first day, what have we done, we are all alone again in a new country the first time since The Bahamas.
We have travelled from anchorage to anchorage on our own even island to island in Grenada but there was usually always someone we knew close by or on their way.
So it was great to see our old friends again.
We also met another Aussie, Paul he’s from Balina NSW and is currently waiting on his girlfriend (Holly) joining him here, he and a friend purchased a 40ft catamaran in Florida and have been living onboard sailing and working remotely for the last couple of years. Again it’s so nice and easy chatting to another Australian we enjoyed Paul’s company.
I spent US$33 on getting our sheets and towels washed plus a small pile of Craig’s heavier T-shirts and shorts that’s about $45 Australian dollars.
I must admit they smell beautiful and the whites are so much cleaner than I ever get them but gee that’s a lot of money!!
We are spending our time doing maintenance on the boat, keeping her clean inside and out, feeding ourselves and generally just hanging around.
We had a lovely dinner onboard Fruit Bat with Scott and Sam and Adam and Khiara to celebrate American Thanksgiving. The highlight was homemade pumpkin pie.
Chris and Katie have the same brand of water-maker as us, so Craig spent a day helping them get it working, seems the previous owners hadn’t used it.
Now they are awaiting parts to finish the job.
One day we walked up the hill to the supermarket, as we were showing Fruit Bat and Millennial Falcon the way via the hidden dingy dock, quite an easy shortcut, there were seven of us including Paul whom we picked up in the supermarket, he just happened to be there.
As we left we walked past an electrical appliance/kitchenware store that had just opened, they were having a family fun day and we could smell the BBQ chicken cooking, they invited us to partake in their free bbq, Khiara did buy a couple of items from the store so we didn’t feel quite so guilty.
There was delicious chicken straight off the grill, then all the usual sides mac cheese, scalloped potato, coleslaw and a new one, potato croquette.
Free cans of soft drink and even fairy floss, I was too full to sample the cupcakes, there was more food than what we had paid US$10 for a few days earlier from a local bbq place and we thought that had been good value.
Chris and Katie had a huge fright the other night, after returning from happy hour Chris was getting both dogs into the dingy for a quick walk ashore, Elvis the bigger dog jumped into the dingy but Cash misjudged his distances and fell in the water, As Chris was leaning over to pull Cash into the dingy, Chris fell in the water too, this left Elvis alone in the dingy sitting up proud as punch, but the motor was running and he was heading on his own over to the French side.
Chris grabbed Cash and Katie pulled him aboard the mother ship then he started swimming towards his dingy.
Maybe the dog bumped the helm or runaway dingies automatically start going in circles after a certain time, we are not sure but luckily the dingy was circling now and Chris was able to grab a hold of it as it motored past him, but, he was by this time, too exhausted to pull himself aboard.
Meanwhile Katie had yelled “help help” to Scott and Sam on Fruitbat who thankfully were anchored not far behind them and thankfully heard Katie shouting. Scott mentioned later that Katie did absolutely the right thing, that once she had their attention she pointed straight at the circling dingy, indicating where the emergency was rather than trying to explain the situation and wasting valuable time.
Scott and Sam unlocked their dingy and jumped aboard heading straight to Chris who was still holding on to his circling dingy, Sam jumped from one dingy to the other, stopped it and hauled Chris back onboard.
Scott headed his dingy back to Katie to reassure her that Chris and Elvis were safe.
Wow what a predicament Chris says he has learnt his lesson and will NEVER start his dingy without the trip cord wrapped around his wrist, this device is on all outboard motors, so that if the driver falls out the cord will displace and the motor will stop, we should all do this every time we start the dingy engine but very few sailors do.
The dogs were no worse for their dip and probably don’t even know the chaos they caused.
We are settling in to this new Island, planning on heading over to the French side, once our friends Scott and Sam on Fruitbat depart, they are heading home back to Beaufort, South Carolina. Sam will return to her architecture practice after their 18 month sailing adventure.
We worked out that 12 months ago when we went to the St Augustine’s cruisers net thanksgiving lunch, they were there too, but we sat at different tables and didn’t meet, there is even photo evidence. We met them in The Bahamas and they were part of the Quara-tilla in the DR.
There is another birthday celebration coming up It’s Adam on Millennial Falcon birthday so that’s something to look forward to, meanwhile we are finding out what is required to move to the French side, I’ll let you know how we go....
