SV Inishnee: Bequia to St. Thomas Virgin Islands

Bequia to St Martin (Dutch Side) and St. Thomas, Virgin Islands

We left Bequia for Martinique, overnight passage. The best sail we have had in months. I had a solo 4 hour watch and managed 2 sail changes by myself! The big dipper guiding overhead, a shooting star with a sparkling tail. Lots of flying fish; by morning we would tally 10, 2 returned to swim again. The bioluminescence sparks breaking away from the hull seemed to reflect the moonless sky lit by countless stars. We landed in Le Marin, a French island just after sunrise. After scouting through the aluminum forest, 300 plus boats, we found a bit of sand in 17 feet of water and called it good. The harbor is huge and surrounded in mangroves making it a great hurricane hole for yachties.

With a list of ‘to do’s’ we went ashore and started the hunt for craftsman and and chandleries. As good as Jim is at keeping the boat in good repair, the salt air and constant forces on a flexing vessel, the list never concludes. Here our challenge will be language.

Sail repair. The sail loft has a hoist you can dinghy up to. Bundle up your sail, tie up under the I beam, a line is lowered, attached to the sail and it is lifted skyward then swung into the upper story loft. The stitching for the UV protective covering had degraded and was disintegrating. The repair would be straight forward and finished promptly.

The Fridge. The French repair man came, took one look and with “French flair” tossed his hands up and said… “no, no…” We have an old R12 unit. They didn't want anything to do with it. We asked for a quote for new unit which we never got. Just as well since their english and our French conversations were going to be limited to a lot of hand gesturing and assumptions.

Watermaker. We found an english speaking dealer and purchased the very expensive membrane filter for our really old (obsolete) unit and installed it. No good. We then had it tested by the dealer and found damaged parts… too old to replace / fix. Very reluctantly he refunded our money… after charging a hefty fee for inspection. grrrr

Shopping. The french islands are great for shopping. Decent deals on clothing ‘direct from Paris’. Decathlon a spring goods store caring, equipment and clothing for various sports activities and incredibly low prices: *running, boating, soccer, aquatic, polo and equestrian!

Food. The french knowledge of culinary delights is fantastic. We sampled a good deal of sweets, dinner and luncheon offerings as well as the infamous Ti Punch; agricole rum, a spoon of sugar and a squeeze of lime… severed in a petite glass with an even petite’r stirring spoon…slowly sipped in the afternoon.

They even have the ‘best’ toilet paper with the very appropriate name… Duo Duo(pronounced do do…ha! )

Pasquel and FrauFrau

We took a small island tour, Sabrina and Tom (s/v Honey Rider) accompanying us. We located several rummeries where we partook in a few free samples, some to our liking. A few bottles now deposited in our larder. We ended the night in St. Anne a picturesque little village a few miles from Le Marin. Pizza for dinner. A slice left over I asked for aluminum foil…because of the language barrier it took a lot of pointing and gesturing to procure. The foil tube was unceremoniously tossed on the counter where TWO cockroaches slid out of container and lay spread eagle on the counter, dead. In any language… YUCK! The young lady preceded to tear off my foil and handed it to me ignoring the specimens on the counter … a politely took it, wrapped my pizza and left . It was deposited in the first bin… I know the little vermin are there but seeing them so near my food source, unsettling.

We met up with friends also enjoying Martinique. Shared happy hours, and dinners and of course stories. Silken sea, Haven and Tumbayo.

The round Martinique sail race took place while we were there. Le Marin hosted a small festival; music, food and crafts. The race entries were of the modern and sporty sailboats, however Le Marin is home to a few local boats that look like a sprits. All wooden, the mast is located all the way forward with no running rigging (rope or cable for supports). The sails are attached to short spars with two lines for control by hand, no winches. There in nothing much of a keel or center board. The boats carry poles that are used for balance with one or more occupants crawling out and hanging from them off the side and over the water. It is great fun to watch these boats sail and even more fun to see them race. Several young adults were sailing around in one the afternoon of our departure. I quick grabbed my camera from our dry bag (we were in the dinghy) and started snapping… The kids seemed quite enthused to have us using them for a photo op… Unfortunately we may have lead to their demise! Just after passing us their boat took a gust of wind they could not recover from… over they went, all 4 int he water. The heavy wooden boat swamped. We immediately returned to see what we could do. The language thing again got in the way by with a lot of hand gesturing, thumbs up and head shaking or nodding we were able to be of some help. They (ages 10 -14) dislodged the water logged mast and sail which we towed to shore with quite a bit of difficulty maneuvering our dinghy with its 6 horse motor. Several teens on shore grabbed the sodden mess and we returned to the soggy crew. They took turns bailing the boat, while the others held onto the sides of the floundering ship. It took a good long time but the kids were able to float the boat enough to paddle her back to shore. Confident they were safe were continued on… they smiled and waved us goodbye.

The calendar dates have been etching away and we have been dawdling along so is was time to move on. We readied the boat and left Le Marin’s reef laden anchorage for an outer harbor where we could make an easy and early departure in the morning…

We spent the night in Grand Anse at anchor. Up and off by 4 am heading to Dominica. Just after sun rise a small pod of dolphins joined us for a quick look. A few hours latter whales! Their spouts clearly seen off to port, their large backs surfacing and plunging back under the waves. This was the 2nd time in nearly 2 years out that we have seen whales; both times in the same area, south of Dominica.

We had hoped for a mooring ball in Dominica but all were taken so we dropped the anchor in the bay amongst many, many other masts and motors. PAYS was hosting ‘cruisers week’, a big draw to boaters if in the area. Great food, music and camaraderie in one venue. PAYs is the local organization that instals and maintains the moorings and assists boaters with tours, transportation ashore and many other social activities. The yellow flag went up. A good rest was had and we were off after sunrise, only 30 miles to go today.

Guadalupe. Another French island. We stayed 2 nights in Basse Terre then moved on to Deshaise (pronounced Day -Ay) for our final night in Guadalupe.

Antigua next. We set off early again. Gentle seas. Good wind. As we approached Antigua, we a mass of boiling water off the port bow caught my eye… A fish feeding frenzying? Yes, but…… Dolphins too! A huge pod, very large, dark backs, on a dead beat toward us surfacing 8-10 at a time. As they neared the hull they rolled and turned, their white underbellies ghosting under the side of boat. They surfaced and dove in and around the bow. but soon tired of our too slow craft…they diverted all to quickly for us and returned to their breakfast… Another treat delivered from the salty depths and we were grateful.

With our pulses racing, we continued on and made Falmouth Harbor, Antigua early afternoon. A small island with a big racing problem… We took a mooring ball, not wanting to use the windless to recover the anchor, having discovered some of the bolts holding it to the deck were rusting off… not good. ( Falmouth’s small chandlery did not have the highly specialized bolts we needed so that project was put on hold… )

We spent 2 days acquainting ourselves with Falmouth and English Harbors, connected by a short easy walk between the 2 bays. English Harbor was home to the British Sailing Fleet in the 18 -1900’s. The Nelson Shipyard, a small village, has been restored / repurposed. The buildings now house tee shirt / gift shops, a hotel, restaurants and bars. The rich and richer of the sail / racing yacht world use Antigua as a base. It has capitalized on the location, a safe harbor, and cater to this crowd. The yachties we encountered were regular folks; living, working and crewing on the super yachts. The happy hours were plentiful and reasonable. The restaurants the same… though you could choose to spend your time and money at some of the exclusive establishments if your pocketbook was deep enough.

Our visit coincided with the RORC, Royal Oceanic Racing Club. A 600 mile race, nonstop around several of the nearby islands. Competing boats ranged from 30+ foot production racers, to high performance trimarans and the classics… lovely wooden luxury yachts with a racing addiction. We departed before the races started but were entertained daily with the comings and goings of the race fleets practicing.

But, as I said before, we have to keep moving so we released from the mooring late afternoon and motored out into lovely flat seas with a gentle breeze that built quickly. We set the sails and settled in for another overnight passage.

We had a remarkable sail heading north west in the leeward islands to St. Martin, although quite chilly, the overnight lows at the bottom end of 60… long pants and sleeves, foulies too. We made excellent time again making Simpson Bay by daybreak. We anchored while waiting for the bridge to open: 8:30 outbound traffic. 9:30 inbound. Anchor up, the windlass held and we were safely re-anchored in Simpson Bay Lagoon by 10:00am. Only a few other cruisers in this part of the bay, we had no trouble finding a spot. Everything shipshape, we took a nap before going to customs. A rap on the hull later that afternoon by Canadian friends aboard s.v Seranada, Diane and Gill. We shared a few stories with a reunion cocktail.

Major projects for the next 2 weeks while in St. Martin:

Windlass: 6 new bolts to hold the windlass secure it to the deck. fkg fabricating made the new bolts; 85 dollars EACH!

Refrigerator: After inspecting our system, Titon Marine Air recommend replacement. It was ordered and installed and running properly… so far. and using less energy. It took a significant bite out of the cruising kitty.

Our Edson helm needed new bolts and bushings for the shifting mechanism. The Edson company was happy to send them free of charge!

Watermaker. Listening to the morning Net (local information sharing over vhf radio) a fellow cruiser was selling a used unit… after inspection we made the purchase, cha-ching $, cha-chig$. Jim was able to install it and we are now making potable water from the sea!

and while all these projects were in full swing... the SXM Coast Guard came aboard for an inspection...

These projects kept the boat in disarray the entire time… tools out, shifting of contents in bins and lockers but whew! what a good feeling to have these major issues behind us.

In between ordering and installing we found time to enjoy Carnival on the French side and the Heineken Regatta.

Carnival. A smorgasbord for the eyes, an assault on the ears. The adult parade began with the queen and court waving to the crowd from their convertible motor chariots. Next came the semi’s hauling the enormous sound systems for the band or DJ, with ginormass speakers powered by gargantuan generators. The colorful dance troops follow their respective semi and performed their well practiced routines. All troops have different, very elaborate costumes. Feathers, spandex, fishnet, glitter, and sequins make up a majority of the costume while exposing plenty of flesh. All ages and sizes compete, mostly women, shaking and wiggling and gyrating … The dancers continue this for 3-4 hours along the parade route, constantly inundated by the pounding of their musical selection.

The 37th annual Heineken Regatta. A major sailing evet sponsored by Heineken. 3 days of racing off Simpson Bay. Professional race crews (and even a few cruising boats) compete for cash prizes and of course trophies. Among some of the drama on the high seas, one boat de-masted another shredded their head sail… The parade out to the race course goes through the narrow bridge is interesting to watch. Many spectators choosing the deck of The Saint Martin Yacht Club. The boats line up as the time approaches then wait their turn following the transom in front. In the harbor are many anchored boats and small dinghies scooting around trying to get a glimpse of the action as well. Even the Maltese Falcon chose to be here. It is one of the biggest sailing vessels in the world. It is so tall it can not go into San Fransisco harbor, the Golden Gate bridge is too low for its 3 masts.

We were able to catch up briefly with friends: Jackson and Rico, Jim and Michelle and Bill and Sharron.

The weather has been quite unsettled in the caribbean for nearly 2 weeks. Winds gusting to 30 knots daily, rain squalls in the dry season and cool temps dipping into the 60’s.

Jim and Chris in the morning...

Chris the weather router says there is one weather window for travel this Saturday, March 4th. We have to take it or be stuck in St. Martin for at least another week. Our first of 3 sets of guest arrive this Friday in St. Thomas Virgin Islands so we ready the boat; jack lines out, loose objects stowed, groceries purchased and we leave with the 4 o’clock bridge along with LOTS of other sailors and mega yachts.

By 5pm the sails were set, wing and wind. Following seas gave us a nice push to help us along. We sailed through the night and made St. Thomas, Lindberg Bay just after 10 am.

Next, make the boat ready for our guests.