Helen: Unusually for me, I'm pretty lost for words this time, and don't really know where to begin. C and I started this big adventure partly to see the world and have fun, and partly to see what life would throw at us. So far it's been pretty challenging, and we didn't think it could get much worse. It did on Monday night. The skipper of our boat died on board in his sleep. He was only 30 and was on his honeymoon - he and his wife had taken a year off to sail the world. It doesn't get much more unfair than that. I'm glad I don't believe in God, because I'd have a hard time reconcilling his existence with a situation like this. There's so much more I'd like to write about this, but time is short, and, it all seems a bit unreal still. I think that's the only way my brain can really cope just now. On Monday, C and I were stoked that we'd seen a turtle diving, and the most pressing thing that we had to do was some homework for our diving exam. The four of us had a lovely evening together - we never thought we'd never see him again. I hope we've helped Hannah by being here until her family arrived - this whole thing has been traumatic enough without having to cope on alone and so far from home. On Tuesday I was pretty ready to pack up and come home, until Hannah said 'don't be daft, Matt would be really unimpressed by that - you've got to carry on'. So we will. We're talking about him now, and laughing, and crying, and trying to remember all the good times. He was such a wonderful skipper and a lovely bloke. ITS SO FUCKING UNFAIR.
Anyway, the sailing community has really rallied around, and we're staying with a couple until we can find a lift to Panama with another boat. The kindness of strangers over the last few days has been the silver lining, and restored my faith in humanity - one lady said that C and I are the same age as her kids, and she couldn't bear to think of them so far from home with no one to look after them, so she's putting us up. Right now, all I'd really like to do is talk to my Mummy.
I think that's enough for now.
Hx
Thursday 31 January 2008
Wednesday 23 January 2008
Helen: Today is Tuesday - it's a good thing I couldn't get to a computer earlier than this as this blog post would've been really irate and ranty on Sunday...but now we have our passports back and the world is a better place. Let me explain...
They call St Martin 'The Friendly Island' which is like calling Alcatraz 'a charming seaside resort' in as much as it's a complete lie. We arrived in Sint Maarten airport on Sunday morning, having been delayed AGAIN by LIAT (called 'Late If AT all' by some of the other travellers we've met). We were supposed to arrive on Saturday night, but spent all of Saturday afternoon waiting in St Lucia airport for our plane to materialise - this is a particularly gauling thing to do as just outside the departure lounge there is a gorgeous white sand/turquoise blue sea beach - at least if we'd been allowed to wait out there we could've got away from all the whinging Brits who were also waiting for the plane. It starts its journey in Trinidad and then stops at Grenada and St Vincent before getting to St Lucia and continuing to Antigua. Well, this time, it stopped in Grenada. For good. So, LIAT sent us on a later flight to Antigua and then put us up in a hotel there over night to get a connection to St Martin on Sunday morning. I thought the hotel was actually quite good...but all the other 'distressed' passengers were complaining - felt like telling them that was the last hot, presurized shower we were likely to get for a few months so they should consider themselves lucky.
So, having got only 4 hours sleep (we arrived at 23.30, but couldln't go to sleep for at least half an hour as there was cable TV in the room which is a bit of a luxury for us sea gypsies - then we had to be up at 4 for a 6am flight) we finally arrived in Sint Maarten at some ungodly early hour on Sunday morning only to be met by the most unfriendly Immigration officer in the world. We didn't have a letter from our next skippers to say that we'd be joining their boat, so she took our passports and gave us 3 days to come back with an appropriate letter. When C pointed out that it's illegal for her to keep our passports she told us it was illegal to enter St M without evidence of onward and that if we didn't want her to keep our passports that was fine, but we'd have to get back on the plane. Ah. OK. She won. But, as C pointed out when we were safely out of earshot, this is a daft protocol - when you enter their country illegally, the one thing they want you to do is leave, which is the one thing you can't do without a passport. Anyway, we went back to the airport today with as many documents and pieces of paper as we could muster and asked very politely if, possibly, maybe we might, please, be allowed to have our passports back so that we could leave their god-awful inhospitable country. (They nearly said no, we'd have to come back another day as the Immigration Officer who'd been on duty on Sunday wasn't on duty today so couldn't stamp our passports. Honestly, if they were going to bend the rules and back date the stamp in our passports, couldn't they bend them some more and get someone else to stamp the damn things? As it turned out there was someone on duty today who was also on on Sunday so the passports were dutifully stamped and we went on our way.)
We haven't managed a huge amount since we got here - although we have participated in the island's main pass-time - shopping! We both got new duty free sunglasses and C got a watch (unfortunately, it's not like the other islands where if you have ship's papers you get a discount on the price on the ticket - in St Martin there just isn't any tax at all, so the price you see is the price you pay. So, not as cheap as we were hoping, but still, cheaper than home.) We have been to Marigot though, on the French side of the island (one side is French, and the other is Dutch). V strange as it's just like being in France - we had lunch in a cafe with tables on the pavement and half a bottle of red wine and a cockerl just strutting around by our feet. C has been practising his best French - haven't had any embarrassing misunderstandings yet.
Our new boat is great - she's called Nooka after a character in Noggin the Nog :) - and the couple who own her are also lovely - Hannah and Matt - turns out they're both from Oxford and we have several friends in common! The boat is brand new so not only is everything v clean, it all works!! What a wonderful experience :) We've also had a briefing on how stuff works and have been promised a safety briefing when we set off in earnest tomorrow. Yesterday we moved the boat from Phillipsburg to Simpson Bay Lagoon, but that only took half an hour, and we motored (as the boat doesn't have a boom just now) so that doesn't really count. This lagoon is crazy - it's full to bursting of gin palaces and superyachts all trying to out do each other - think it costs upwards of $50k per week to hire those sorts of boats. Bonkers. Especially as there's bugger all to do here if you don't like beaches. (C and I decided we ought to start playing 'Caribbean Island bingo' - we tried it with tourist attraction gift shops in the UK and it was great - you have to come up with a list of 5 things you think you're going to find somewhere and then you get points if you see them. So far, I have: 17th century fort on a hill, minibuses as public buses and cruise ships (extra points if they are Ocean Village 2 or Windsurf). C has: Rastas offering him weed and people trying to rip him off. Hope I win bingo as I think C is currently winning Horse.
Right, think that's plenty enough from me. Won't be any posts for a few more days I'm afraid as we're off sailing tomorrow - heading to Bonaire, just off the Venezulan coast. Might even try some diving there.
Hx
PS. Bob, if you want to know where we are just now, here's the GPS reading: 18 Degrees 02.024 Minutes North
63 Degrees 05.111 Minutes West (had to write it in words rather than using symbols, as this laptop was bought in Spain so the whole operating system and keyboard is in Spanish - we're navigating it better than the Swedish version Joel had last week though!)
They call St Martin 'The Friendly Island' which is like calling Alcatraz 'a charming seaside resort' in as much as it's a complete lie. We arrived in Sint Maarten airport on Sunday morning, having been delayed AGAIN by LIAT (called 'Late If AT all' by some of the other travellers we've met). We were supposed to arrive on Saturday night, but spent all of Saturday afternoon waiting in St Lucia airport for our plane to materialise - this is a particularly gauling thing to do as just outside the departure lounge there is a gorgeous white sand/turquoise blue sea beach - at least if we'd been allowed to wait out there we could've got away from all the whinging Brits who were also waiting for the plane. It starts its journey in Trinidad and then stops at Grenada and St Vincent before getting to St Lucia and continuing to Antigua. Well, this time, it stopped in Grenada. For good. So, LIAT sent us on a later flight to Antigua and then put us up in a hotel there over night to get a connection to St Martin on Sunday morning. I thought the hotel was actually quite good...but all the other 'distressed' passengers were complaining - felt like telling them that was the last hot, presurized shower we were likely to get for a few months so they should consider themselves lucky.
So, having got only 4 hours sleep (we arrived at 23.30, but couldln't go to sleep for at least half an hour as there was cable TV in the room which is a bit of a luxury for us sea gypsies - then we had to be up at 4 for a 6am flight) we finally arrived in Sint Maarten at some ungodly early hour on Sunday morning only to be met by the most unfriendly Immigration officer in the world. We didn't have a letter from our next skippers to say that we'd be joining their boat, so she took our passports and gave us 3 days to come back with an appropriate letter. When C pointed out that it's illegal for her to keep our passports she told us it was illegal to enter St M without evidence of onward and that if we didn't want her to keep our passports that was fine, but we'd have to get back on the plane. Ah. OK. She won. But, as C pointed out when we were safely out of earshot, this is a daft protocol - when you enter their country illegally, the one thing they want you to do is leave, which is the one thing you can't do without a passport. Anyway, we went back to the airport today with as many documents and pieces of paper as we could muster and asked very politely if, possibly, maybe we might, please, be allowed to have our passports back so that we could leave their god-awful inhospitable country. (They nearly said no, we'd have to come back another day as the Immigration Officer who'd been on duty on Sunday wasn't on duty today so couldn't stamp our passports. Honestly, if they were going to bend the rules and back date the stamp in our passports, couldn't they bend them some more and get someone else to stamp the damn things? As it turned out there was someone on duty today who was also on on Sunday so the passports were dutifully stamped and we went on our way.)
We haven't managed a huge amount since we got here - although we have participated in the island's main pass-time - shopping! We both got new duty free sunglasses and C got a watch (unfortunately, it's not like the other islands where if you have ship's papers you get a discount on the price on the ticket - in St Martin there just isn't any tax at all, so the price you see is the price you pay. So, not as cheap as we were hoping, but still, cheaper than home.) We have been to Marigot though, on the French side of the island (one side is French, and the other is Dutch). V strange as it's just like being in France - we had lunch in a cafe with tables on the pavement and half a bottle of red wine and a cockerl just strutting around by our feet. C has been practising his best French - haven't had any embarrassing misunderstandings yet.
Our new boat is great - she's called Nooka after a character in Noggin the Nog :) - and the couple who own her are also lovely - Hannah and Matt - turns out they're both from Oxford and we have several friends in common! The boat is brand new so not only is everything v clean, it all works!! What a wonderful experience :) We've also had a briefing on how stuff works and have been promised a safety briefing when we set off in earnest tomorrow. Yesterday we moved the boat from Phillipsburg to Simpson Bay Lagoon, but that only took half an hour, and we motored (as the boat doesn't have a boom just now) so that doesn't really count. This lagoon is crazy - it's full to bursting of gin palaces and superyachts all trying to out do each other - think it costs upwards of $50k per week to hire those sorts of boats. Bonkers. Especially as there's bugger all to do here if you don't like beaches. (C and I decided we ought to start playing 'Caribbean Island bingo' - we tried it with tourist attraction gift shops in the UK and it was great - you have to come up with a list of 5 things you think you're going to find somewhere and then you get points if you see them. So far, I have: 17th century fort on a hill, minibuses as public buses and cruise ships (extra points if they are Ocean Village 2 or Windsurf). C has: Rastas offering him weed and people trying to rip him off. Hope I win bingo as I think C is currently winning Horse.
Right, think that's plenty enough from me. Won't be any posts for a few more days I'm afraid as we're off sailing tomorrow - heading to Bonaire, just off the Venezulan coast. Might even try some diving there.
Hx
PS. Bob, if you want to know where we are just now, here's the GPS reading: 18 Degrees 02.024 Minutes North
63 Degrees 05.111 Minutes West (had to write it in words rather than using symbols, as this laptop was bought in Spain so the whole operating system and keyboard is in Spanish - we're navigating it better than the Swedish version Joel had last week though!)
Friday 18 January 2008
International Batchelors Club of Rodney Bay
Helen: Spent today not doing too much - hanging out with the members of the International Batchelors Club of Rodney Marina (basically 7 or 8 guys (from all over the world, Sweden, UK, South Africa) who did the ARC and then never left the marina here - they just hang out on each other's boats (while the owners are away) drinking beer! Joel is a founder member...
So, today we managed laundry (some of Joel's clothes hadn't been washed since Las Palmas and were beginning to grow mould...), bought another case of Piton beer (they give you a discount if you take the old bottles back - why don't they do that everywhere? It'd be an incentive not to litter - perhaps even an incentive to pick up other people's litter), had a lesson in the dinghy (C and Joel both look shell shocked - it took me a couple of attempts to land the dinghy on the dock and to get the hang of reverse. While I was trying this, several people on the dock offered to help - I was all for batting my eyelashes and looking as pathetic as possible to get them to help me...but C said I had to learn for myself so round and round we went til I got it right!), and the last thing we did today was, of all things, call the bloody Inland Revenue and pay them several hundred quid. Honestly, even when you're thousands of miles away they still catch up with you!
Yesterday, however, was a different matter - we hiked the Petit Piton - have a look on google earth - it's an awesome looking mountain - just like you would've drawn when you were a kid (except without the snow) - a really steep triangle covered in lush rain forrest - we were wearing our walking boots, while our guide was in trainers, but I'm glad we were - it's only 2600ft (not even a Munro!) but it was a pretty hard climb - most of the last quarter was vertical using ropes (but no harnesses or safety clips! Wonderful views from the top, but difficult to enjoy them as I was so worried about getting down! It was great to get some exercise...but my legs are paying for it today! After that, Joel drove us home (he's Swedish, and had never driven on the left before - we had to keep reminding him to stay on the left. Interestingly, Sweden used to drive on the left but then one day in the 60s they just changed to drive on the right - how mad is that - wonder if there were many accidents that day!?) We drove past a great sign 'Drive Refreshed' sponsored by Piton beer! Our trusty rental car had the windscreen wipers and indicators on the wrong sides so every time Joel tried to indicate to turn he turned on the wipers - was amusing every time!
One of the most amazing things we saw on the hike was a hummingbird nest - was only about an inch long and an inch deep and had the most minute egg in it - about the size of my little finger nail, or maybe smaller. When we got home, I cooked roast chicken and Christmas pud - decided we'd missed out on a proper Christmas dinner so we had it on Jan 17th. Better late than never!
Right, think that's everything - C's just finished supper - off to St Maarten tomorrow - C just booked a place in St Martin in his best French - glad we don't have to spend long there (just one night before we get on our next boat) as it's v v expensive. Will be sad to leave If Only and Joel (but not all the broken bits on this boat - to flush our toilet you have to join two bare wires together - lots of sparks and smoke!!)
OK, more later
Hxxx
So, today we managed laundry (some of Joel's clothes hadn't been washed since Las Palmas and were beginning to grow mould...), bought another case of Piton beer (they give you a discount if you take the old bottles back - why don't they do that everywhere? It'd be an incentive not to litter - perhaps even an incentive to pick up other people's litter), had a lesson in the dinghy (C and Joel both look shell shocked - it took me a couple of attempts to land the dinghy on the dock and to get the hang of reverse. While I was trying this, several people on the dock offered to help - I was all for batting my eyelashes and looking as pathetic as possible to get them to help me...but C said I had to learn for myself so round and round we went til I got it right!), and the last thing we did today was, of all things, call the bloody Inland Revenue and pay them several hundred quid. Honestly, even when you're thousands of miles away they still catch up with you!
Yesterday, however, was a different matter - we hiked the Petit Piton - have a look on google earth - it's an awesome looking mountain - just like you would've drawn when you were a kid (except without the snow) - a really steep triangle covered in lush rain forrest - we were wearing our walking boots, while our guide was in trainers, but I'm glad we were - it's only 2600ft (not even a Munro!) but it was a pretty hard climb - most of the last quarter was vertical using ropes (but no harnesses or safety clips! Wonderful views from the top, but difficult to enjoy them as I was so worried about getting down! It was great to get some exercise...but my legs are paying for it today! After that, Joel drove us home (he's Swedish, and had never driven on the left before - we had to keep reminding him to stay on the left. Interestingly, Sweden used to drive on the left but then one day in the 60s they just changed to drive on the right - how mad is that - wonder if there were many accidents that day!?) We drove past a great sign 'Drive Refreshed' sponsored by Piton beer! Our trusty rental car had the windscreen wipers and indicators on the wrong sides so every time Joel tried to indicate to turn he turned on the wipers - was amusing every time!
One of the most amazing things we saw on the hike was a hummingbird nest - was only about an inch long and an inch deep and had the most minute egg in it - about the size of my little finger nail, or maybe smaller. When we got home, I cooked roast chicken and Christmas pud - decided we'd missed out on a proper Christmas dinner so we had it on Jan 17th. Better late than never!
Right, think that's everything - C's just finished supper - off to St Maarten tomorrow - C just booked a place in St Martin in his best French - glad we don't have to spend long there (just one night before we get on our next boat) as it's v v expensive. Will be sad to leave If Only and Joel (but not all the broken bits on this boat - to flush our toilet you have to join two bare wires together - lots of sparks and smoke!!)
OK, more later
Hxxx
Wednesday 16 January 2008
Charlie: Well here we are back on If Only for few days. It's good to be able to unwind. We've now got passage oranised from St Maarten to Panama with Hannah and Matt - they were on the ARC and we've met them a couple of times, and most importantly they did the Atlantic crossing quickly with no reported breakages and 'ate well, caught fish and relaxed'. Their boat's called Nooka and we're meeting them on Monday the 21st. We're planning to top in Bonaire so they can go diving and I may have even pursuaded H to do some too!
When we get to Panama we've arranged (via www.findacrew.net) to meet Stuart and sail through the Canal and on to NZ by November. Having been twice bitten by terrible skippers/boats we produced a LONG list of questions which he was kind enough to answer...
- Can you tell us a bit about your background and experience, specifically what significant journeys have you skippered on?
- When was the boat last sailed by you (not motored)?
- How old are the sails and the running rigging?
- What preparations are you making for a long ocean passage in terms of equipment, avoiding wear on sails & spreaders, halyards etc... and provisioning, cooking rotas, watch rotas etc.. ?
- Can you / do you cook?
- How many people are you expecting to have on board for the Pacific crossing?
- What equipment do you have on board? Liferaft, SSB, Watermaker, EPIRB etc..
If you have SSB, do you have experience using it - there is an SSB on the boat we're currently on, but no-one on board knows how to use it! If no water maker, how large are the water tanks?
- Are you planning to cross the Pacific as part of an SSB radio net?
- Where are you planning to visit in the Pacific, what's the planned route and how long do you want to take? We'd really like to see the Galapagos and take our time crusing the islands...
- How do you normally plot your course? GPS chart plotter? GPS + Paper charts etc...?
- How much do you expect things to cost and what are we expected to pay for?
- Do you have a slot booked for going through the Canal, when do you need to leave and how flexible is your timing?
I feel encouraged by the fact that he was actually able to answer these questions, our previous two skippers (read idiots) would not have been able to do so.
I felt pretty guilty leaving David on Santana in Union Island. Without a crew he couldn't move the boat - especially as the engine was bust. So he was stuck at anchor there until he either got more crew or got his engine fixed (or both). Helen said he treated us badly and took advantage so I shouldn't feel bad, but I just don't like to see people stuck, no matter how revolting they are or how much he took advantage. Anyway, I voted with my feet so I was fed up enough to overcome my guilt! Our progress had been so slow, every time we did even a short passage we'd have to stop for days for repairs! - First time it was the gear selecor mechanism for the engine, second time it was the mainsail, third time it was the engine overheating and setting fire to all the oil that had been spilled all over it! This was on top of the rest of the massive list of stuff that needed to be done - fix the outboard, fix the dinghy punctures, fix the leaks in the forepeak hatch, fix the log, fix the depth gauge, fix the wind gauge (I could go on...). Plus he didn't shower for many days even when he had the opportunity and had really started to smell, the cat walked its litter over all the surfaces - he thought it was cute and did nothing to prevent it, he left open tins of catfood in the fridge (bear in mind that sailing fridges are normally top-opening hatches in kitchen surfaces, so stuff is normally stacked inside. If you leave open things in there they almost always get upset and pour their contents over everything else in the fridge.)
He was frail enough that when he went forward whilst at sea, he nearly fell overboard, had to be told what charts to buy, didn't navigate, couldn't operate the sails, didn't cook (except when we were out!), so on our last passage the ONLY useful function he performed was steering! Again I could go on, but I think that's enough ranting and complaining for now!!
When we get to Panama we've arranged (via www.findacrew.net) to meet Stuart and sail through the Canal and on to NZ by November. Having been twice bitten by terrible skippers/boats we produced a LONG list of questions which he was kind enough to answer...
- Can you tell us a bit about your background and experience, specifically what significant journeys have you skippered on?
- When was the boat last sailed by you (not motored)?
- How old are the sails and the running rigging?
- What preparations are you making for a long ocean passage in terms of equipment, avoiding wear on sails & spreaders, halyards etc... and provisioning, cooking rotas, watch rotas etc.. ?
- Can you / do you cook?
- How many people are you expecting to have on board for the Pacific crossing?
- What equipment do you have on board? Liferaft, SSB, Watermaker, EPIRB etc..
If you have SSB, do you have experience using it - there is an SSB on the boat we're currently on, but no-one on board knows how to use it! If no water maker, how large are the water tanks?
- Are you planning to cross the Pacific as part of an SSB radio net?
- Where are you planning to visit in the Pacific, what's the planned route and how long do you want to take? We'd really like to see the Galapagos and take our time crusing the islands...
- How do you normally plot your course? GPS chart plotter? GPS + Paper charts etc...?
- How much do you expect things to cost and what are we expected to pay for?
- Do you have a slot booked for going through the Canal, when do you need to leave and how flexible is your timing?
I feel encouraged by the fact that he was actually able to answer these questions, our previous two skippers (read idiots) would not have been able to do so.
I felt pretty guilty leaving David on Santana in Union Island. Without a crew he couldn't move the boat - especially as the engine was bust. So he was stuck at anchor there until he either got more crew or got his engine fixed (or both). Helen said he treated us badly and took advantage so I shouldn't feel bad, but I just don't like to see people stuck, no matter how revolting they are or how much he took advantage. Anyway, I voted with my feet so I was fed up enough to overcome my guilt! Our progress had been so slow, every time we did even a short passage we'd have to stop for days for repairs! - First time it was the gear selecor mechanism for the engine, second time it was the mainsail, third time it was the engine overheating and setting fire to all the oil that had been spilled all over it! This was on top of the rest of the massive list of stuff that needed to be done - fix the outboard, fix the dinghy punctures, fix the leaks in the forepeak hatch, fix the log, fix the depth gauge, fix the wind gauge (I could go on...). Plus he didn't shower for many days even when he had the opportunity and had really started to smell, the cat walked its litter over all the surfaces - he thought it was cute and did nothing to prevent it, he left open tins of catfood in the fridge (bear in mind that sailing fridges are normally top-opening hatches in kitchen surfaces, so stuff is normally stacked inside. If you leave open things in there they almost always get upset and pour their contents over everything else in the fridge.)
He was frail enough that when he went forward whilst at sea, he nearly fell overboard, had to be told what charts to buy, didn't navigate, couldn't operate the sails, didn't cook (except when we were out!), so on our last passage the ONLY useful function he performed was steering! Again I could go on, but I think that's enough ranting and complaining for now!!
Tuesday 15 January 2008
Glad to be back in St Lucia
Helen: In St Lucia now - met up with Joel - had a couple of beers - just gonna have supper - all's well :)
Monday 14 January 2008
Giants' fans...
Helen: Seems like, finally, our luck might be changing! We now have two passages sorted out, hopefully all the way til Nov - first one is with friends of friends of Helen's, from St Maarten to Bonaire to Panama, and the second is from Panama to NZ via the Pacific islands. We've tried (fairly half heartedly admittedly) to get a yacht to St Maarten from here...but it's a long way (and we have to be there by next Monday) and we were thwarted by a lack of sticky tape to put up our crew adverts yesterday, so we think we're just going to fly instead, and stop off in St Lucia en route, to see Joel and climb the Pitons.
At the moment, we're in Bequia, which is lovely. V relaxing, v pretty - everyone's really helpful, and there are lots of very well stocked delis too. We even managed to find some chilli powder for the first time in 2 months. It has a different feel from the other Caribbean islands we've been at so far, as most of the business seems to be run by expats...
So, we are enjoying not being on a boat for the moment, not living in squalor, having free time to read books, and having an en suite shower. We walked to the beach yesterday, and then met a couple of New Yorkers in a bar (called 'Can't Remember The Name' - what a great name for a bar!) - we ended up spending the rest of the night with them, watching the NFL playoffs on cable TV in a sports bar with a load of other Americans. The Giants (NY team) were playing Dallas - seeing as we were with New Yorkers, we decided we really ought to be Giants fans...which is just as well as they won. Even if we had understood the rules, it still would have been very difficult to follow the game as it stops every 10 mins for adverts. Apparently you have to wait 28 years to get a Giants' season ticket. 28 years!! And they're rebuilding the stadium...with less seats!
Two small soundbites to share with you before I go - one is a sign on the high street outside, which is a no entry sign that says 'No entry - except for religious processions'. The other was from a local lady called Stephanie who we met while waiting for the ferry on Union Island - she told us St Vincent was 'same shit, different island' - afraid we have to concur!
Think that's all for now - off to see turtles at the turtle sanctuary this afternoon...
xx
At the moment, we're in Bequia, which is lovely. V relaxing, v pretty - everyone's really helpful, and there are lots of very well stocked delis too. We even managed to find some chilli powder for the first time in 2 months. It has a different feel from the other Caribbean islands we've been at so far, as most of the business seems to be run by expats...
So, we are enjoying not being on a boat for the moment, not living in squalor, having free time to read books, and having an en suite shower. We walked to the beach yesterday, and then met a couple of New Yorkers in a bar (called 'Can't Remember The Name' - what a great name for a bar!) - we ended up spending the rest of the night with them, watching the NFL playoffs on cable TV in a sports bar with a load of other Americans. The Giants (NY team) were playing Dallas - seeing as we were with New Yorkers, we decided we really ought to be Giants fans...which is just as well as they won. Even if we had understood the rules, it still would have been very difficult to follow the game as it stops every 10 mins for adverts. Apparently you have to wait 28 years to get a Giants' season ticket. 28 years!! And they're rebuilding the stadium...with less seats!
Two small soundbites to share with you before I go - one is a sign on the high street outside, which is a no entry sign that says 'No entry - except for religious processions'. The other was from a local lady called Stephanie who we met while waiting for the ferry on Union Island - she told us St Vincent was 'same shit, different island' - afraid we have to concur!
Think that's all for now - off to see turtles at the turtle sanctuary this afternoon...
xx
Friday 11 January 2008
Leaving soon!!!
Helen: We're leaving the god-awful boat tomorrow. Hurrah!!! We have found another boat and are going to meet the new guy in Panama in mid Feb. This time we have done our homework. We asked him sooo many questions about him and his experience and the boat, and he gave us really really detailed responses which made us v v happy. Really wanted to make sure we weren't jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. And, to make things even better, he's sailed in the Scillies :) (We'd still love to have our own boat, but the lazy Swede isn't so keen just now - watch this space though, we might still get our own yacht sometime this trip...)
Anyway, the plan is to leave the boat we're on tomorrow, and take the MV Barracuda to St Vincent (this is the mail boat that comes 3 times a week to Union Island - the locals have been telling us that the captain has a v bad temper. He has been known to get all the way here (5 hours) and then turn around and go straight home again if someone has blocked the entrance to the harbour (now, who would do a thing like that? Surely not - anchoring in the middle of the harbour entrance - you'd have to have a numpty of a skipper to do that.... The Barracuda captain has also left his wife ashore, apparently, when she took too long at the bakery, and she's had to take a speedboat to catch up with the ferry...on more than one occasion!)
So, after that, we'll head to St Lucia to see the lazy Swede and try to pick up a lift to Panama/Central America. Then, if all goes according to plan (ha ha ha), we should get a few weeks sight seeing in C America and then it's off to the Galapagos/the Cook Islands etc... to be in NZ by Nov.
It really is raining outside. Can't even see the boat its raining so much. Feel v smug that I'm in an internet cafe and not out there just now.
Oh, I wanted to tell you all about pelicans. Saw some today for the first time. They are odd looking creatures. And when they land on the sea they seem to plummet head first into the water! God knows how they don't break their necks. And then they lift their heads up and glug a whole load of fresh fish down. We nearly bought some fresh fish this morning on the quay side (the fishermen blow on a conch when they have a fresh catch) but while we were arguing about whether or not C knew how to gut/cook a whole fish (so fresh they kept leaping off the scales!) they sold out...
Think that's all our news - waiting for the rain to stop then got to head back to the boat to tell the skipper we're off. Not looking forward to that - we both feel really bad about leaving him in the lurch...but we didn' t give up our jobs and our lives just so that we could look after him and his boat. He is not our responsibility and, awkward as it might be, we have to get on with our adventure...
Ok, more later
H &Cxx
Anyway, the plan is to leave the boat we're on tomorrow, and take the MV Barracuda to St Vincent (this is the mail boat that comes 3 times a week to Union Island - the locals have been telling us that the captain has a v bad temper. He has been known to get all the way here (5 hours) and then turn around and go straight home again if someone has blocked the entrance to the harbour (now, who would do a thing like that? Surely not - anchoring in the middle of the harbour entrance - you'd have to have a numpty of a skipper to do that.... The Barracuda captain has also left his wife ashore, apparently, when she took too long at the bakery, and she's had to take a speedboat to catch up with the ferry...on more than one occasion!)
So, after that, we'll head to St Lucia to see the lazy Swede and try to pick up a lift to Panama/Central America. Then, if all goes according to plan (ha ha ha), we should get a few weeks sight seeing in C America and then it's off to the Galapagos/the Cook Islands etc... to be in NZ by Nov.
It really is raining outside. Can't even see the boat its raining so much. Feel v smug that I'm in an internet cafe and not out there just now.
Oh, I wanted to tell you all about pelicans. Saw some today for the first time. They are odd looking creatures. And when they land on the sea they seem to plummet head first into the water! God knows how they don't break their necks. And then they lift their heads up and glug a whole load of fresh fish down. We nearly bought some fresh fish this morning on the quay side (the fishermen blow on a conch when they have a fresh catch) but while we were arguing about whether or not C knew how to gut/cook a whole fish (so fresh they kept leaping off the scales!) they sold out...
Think that's all our news - waiting for the rain to stop then got to head back to the boat to tell the skipper we're off. Not looking forward to that - we both feel really bad about leaving him in the lurch...but we didn' t give up our jobs and our lives just so that we could look after him and his boat. He is not our responsibility and, awkward as it might be, we have to get on with our adventure...
Ok, more later
H &Cxx
Wednesday 9 January 2008
19 mosquito bites - ITCHY!!
Helen: Union Island isn't as friendly as Carriacou - people look at you a bit oddly if you say hello to them in the street... Also, there's loads of litter. In fact, C is really upset by all the rubbish. You really get the feeling that there are areas where the tourists are supposed to go which are kept nice (in Grenada they raked the beach outside the fancy hotels), and then there are places which you're not meant to see, with litter and open sewers and derelict buildings.
But...there is one ray of light - it's called 'Captain Gourmet' and it's the yummiest place in the world :) We're all up for trying the local food, and have been eating chicken and rice/peas till it comes out of our ears...but eating on the boat is a different matter, and lunch, for as long as we can remember, has been uninspiring bread, bendy (not crumbly) unidentified yellow cheese and reclaimed 'meat', with little or no salad. Captain Gourmet is run by a French lady and is jammed full of the yummiest looking food - fresh pain au chocolat, olives, real salami, museli, marmite - so yesterday we had a picnic with cucumber, fresh french bread, chorizo and camenbert. Yum. Would've been better if we hadn't had to have sat by a huge pile of rubbish (Lambi (conch) shells), but hey, can't have everything.
Gotta run now and meet the Skank Meister... Will keep you all posted of developments - we have decided we are definitly leaving this boat in a week or so, as we're totally fed up - either to go direct to panama to sail with another guy, or buy our red hulled boat in Grenada... Sounds like a win win situation to us, so things are looking up :)
Hx
But...there is one ray of light - it's called 'Captain Gourmet' and it's the yummiest place in the world :) We're all up for trying the local food, and have been eating chicken and rice/peas till it comes out of our ears...but eating on the boat is a different matter, and lunch, for as long as we can remember, has been uninspiring bread, bendy (not crumbly) unidentified yellow cheese and reclaimed 'meat', with little or no salad. Captain Gourmet is run by a French lady and is jammed full of the yummiest looking food - fresh pain au chocolat, olives, real salami, museli, marmite - so yesterday we had a picnic with cucumber, fresh french bread, chorizo and camenbert. Yum. Would've been better if we hadn't had to have sat by a huge pile of rubbish (Lambi (conch) shells), but hey, can't have everything.
Gotta run now and meet the Skank Meister... Will keep you all posted of developments - we have decided we are definitly leaving this boat in a week or so, as we're totally fed up - either to go direct to panama to sail with another guy, or buy our red hulled boat in Grenada... Sounds like a win win situation to us, so things are looking up :)
Hx
Monday 7 January 2008
Things I do NOT like
Charlie:
Anchoring in the dark
Anchoring in an unfamiliar harbour
Anchoring between 2 reefs
Anchoring with a broken depth sounder
Anchoring under sail because your engine broke and caught fire
I particularly don't like doing all those things at once.
Oh yeah, I'm getting pretty sick of fixing other people's boats for them too.
Still the sun is shining, the sea is clear, and I have a nice big bag of fresh fruit under the desk in this internet cafe. I really hope Joel decides he likes Pilgrim, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlieandhelen/ - look at the folder marked Pilgrim, it's the boat we'd like to buy)I'm not sure how much more of sailing for numpties I can take!
C
Anchoring in the dark
Anchoring in an unfamiliar harbour
Anchoring between 2 reefs
Anchoring with a broken depth sounder
Anchoring under sail because your engine broke and caught fire
I particularly don't like doing all those things at once.
Oh yeah, I'm getting pretty sick of fixing other people's boats for them too.
Still the sun is shining, the sea is clear, and I have a nice big bag of fresh fruit under the desk in this internet cafe. I really hope Joel decides he likes Pilgrim, (http://www.flickr.com/photos/charlieandhelen/ - look at the folder marked Pilgrim, it's the boat we'd like to buy)I'm not sure how much more of sailing for numpties I can take!
C
SVG
Helen: What a disappointment - we made it to another country (St Vincent and the Grenadines) and didn't even get another passport stamp! We did, on the other hand, physically have to go to the house of the customs' officer in Carriacou yesterday to get him to sign us out of Grenada. He was supposed to be working at the dock, but apparently couldn't be bothered to go, so stayed at home with his stamps!!
But...here we are now. The guide book says SVG is one of the lushest places in the Caribbean and where lots of the region's fresh produce comes from - which is good, cos I think I'm in danger of getting scurvy. It's not easy finding fresh fruit/veg and once you've found it it's not easy keeping it fresh in this heat without a real fridge. We found a lovely veg stall about 100m from the dinghy dock today and stocked up - unusually for me, I even tried an odd knobly green thing that I didn't know the name of - looked vile inside too - all white and fleshy - but was actually v yummy.
What else to tell you? Well, yesterday's little sailing drama was a fire in the engine bay - the engine overheated and when C lifted up the floorboards horrid acrid smoke filled the saloon. Now, I'm not a mechanic, but even I know that lots of black stinky smoke = a bad thing. (C reckons most electrical things work by the smoke drive - when the the smoke escapes they stop working...). So...we had to anchor in the near dark, under sail, trying to avoid the reefs. Not an easy manoeuvre, but we made it :) The engine bay is now covered in powder (the automatic fire extinguisher went off) and a nasty oily goo in the bilges. I had an hour or so in 'deisel engine 101' this morning, with C using a boat hook as a pointer. I managed to identify the fuel injection pipes (on the second attempt), but thought the starter motor was the alternator. S'abit like playing Operation...but with slightly more serious consequences. BUT...I did stop the skipper from 'fixing' the problem by connecting the oil system with the cooling system - feeling v smug about that!
C and I went for a romantic dinner for 2 the other night, which was lovely (well, by, 'romantic dinner for two' I mean we didn't take our skanky skipper with us, and we 'dressed up' ie: actually had a shower and wore our only clean clothes!) Turns out the skipper stayed on the boat and cooked for himself! He hasn't cooked once in the 3 weeks we've been on the boat. Bloody cheek!
Oh, last thing to tell you, as it will have some of you in fits of laughter, is that we went for a bike ride the other day. Don't fall off your chairs, yes, I, Helen, actually rode a mountain bike. Up two hills, and on some v bumpy ground. And I put the chain back on twice (after a small child by the side of the road showed me how the first time!) By the end of the day, I was sweaty, bright red in the face, and had oil and grease and bruises all up my leg. But still got chatted up by blokes! The men here will try to sleep with anything that moves. Even if you look half dead and point to your husband. Well, ok, so I couldn't actually point at C, as he was always at least 10 minutes ahead of me, but you get the idea.
Right, that's all folks, off to investigate. (For those who want to know, we're at Union Island just now, in a place called Clifton).
Lots of love
Hxx
But...here we are now. The guide book says SVG is one of the lushest places in the Caribbean and where lots of the region's fresh produce comes from - which is good, cos I think I'm in danger of getting scurvy. It's not easy finding fresh fruit/veg and once you've found it it's not easy keeping it fresh in this heat without a real fridge. We found a lovely veg stall about 100m from the dinghy dock today and stocked up - unusually for me, I even tried an odd knobly green thing that I didn't know the name of - looked vile inside too - all white and fleshy - but was actually v yummy.
What else to tell you? Well, yesterday's little sailing drama was a fire in the engine bay - the engine overheated and when C lifted up the floorboards horrid acrid smoke filled the saloon. Now, I'm not a mechanic, but even I know that lots of black stinky smoke = a bad thing. (C reckons most electrical things work by the smoke drive - when the the smoke escapes they stop working...). So...we had to anchor in the near dark, under sail, trying to avoid the reefs. Not an easy manoeuvre, but we made it :) The engine bay is now covered in powder (the automatic fire extinguisher went off) and a nasty oily goo in the bilges. I had an hour or so in 'deisel engine 101' this morning, with C using a boat hook as a pointer. I managed to identify the fuel injection pipes (on the second attempt), but thought the starter motor was the alternator. S'abit like playing Operation...but with slightly more serious consequences. BUT...I did stop the skipper from 'fixing' the problem by connecting the oil system with the cooling system - feeling v smug about that!
C and I went for a romantic dinner for 2 the other night, which was lovely (well, by, 'romantic dinner for two' I mean we didn't take our skanky skipper with us, and we 'dressed up' ie: actually had a shower and wore our only clean clothes!) Turns out the skipper stayed on the boat and cooked for himself! He hasn't cooked once in the 3 weeks we've been on the boat. Bloody cheek!
Oh, last thing to tell you, as it will have some of you in fits of laughter, is that we went for a bike ride the other day. Don't fall off your chairs, yes, I, Helen, actually rode a mountain bike. Up two hills, and on some v bumpy ground. And I put the chain back on twice (after a small child by the side of the road showed me how the first time!) By the end of the day, I was sweaty, bright red in the face, and had oil and grease and bruises all up my leg. But still got chatted up by blokes! The men here will try to sleep with anything that moves. Even if you look half dead and point to your husband. Well, ok, so I couldn't actually point at C, as he was always at least 10 minutes ahead of me, but you get the idea.
Right, that's all folks, off to investigate. (For those who want to know, we're at Union Island just now, in a place called Clifton).
Lots of love
Hxx
Wednesday 2 January 2008
Now in Carriacou
Charlie: In a break with tradition, I thought I might write something. Our trip from Grenada to Carriacou was far better than the one from Trinidad to Grenada. Neither of us was seasick, the cat litter didn't explode all over the interior of the boat and we had enough to eat.
On the downside, we did tear the main sail in a huge squall (but Helen and I are experienced sail-sewers now so this should not be a problem). It still took us a LONG time to get to Carriacou, longer than it should have done. I think it was mostly because we didn't take the advice from other yachties and spent too long tacking up the lee side of Grenada when we should have motored.
Helen had to tell off our 'skipper' (I use the term loosely, as I have to issue most of the instructions on the boat) for not wearing his lifeline or lifejacket while steering through the squall. (The squall was big enough for us to reef the main as much as possible, and then decide to take it down entirely).
Carriacou seems really nice and much more like a Caribbean island than the others that we have encountered so far. Helen is always intent on 'Seeing the island' until we get ashore when it becomes far more important to find her a halterneck top. Well, we're going to have a wander down the beach and catch the bus back to Tyrell bay for a beer and a look at a boat. Hopefully by the time we get back to Santana (anchored) the skipper will have fixed the outboard so that I don't have to row everyone to shore all the time...
On the downside, we did tear the main sail in a huge squall (but Helen and I are experienced sail-sewers now so this should not be a problem). It still took us a LONG time to get to Carriacou, longer than it should have done. I think it was mostly because we didn't take the advice from other yachties and spent too long tacking up the lee side of Grenada when we should have motored.
Helen had to tell off our 'skipper' (I use the term loosely, as I have to issue most of the instructions on the boat) for not wearing his lifeline or lifejacket while steering through the squall. (The squall was big enough for us to reef the main as much as possible, and then decide to take it down entirely).
Carriacou seems really nice and much more like a Caribbean island than the others that we have encountered so far. Helen is always intent on 'Seeing the island' until we get ashore when it becomes far more important to find her a halterneck top. Well, we're going to have a wander down the beach and catch the bus back to Tyrell bay for a beer and a look at a boat. Hopefully by the time we get back to Santana (anchored) the skipper will have fixed the outboard so that I don't have to row everyone to shore all the time...
Sun, sea, sand - all going well in Carriacou :)
Helen: I'm sitting in an internet cafe just now (wherelse would I be I guess?) and I'm watching the telly out of the corner of my eye. Can't help it. It's CNN and all the newsreaders look so plastic. Like their faces will crack any minute if they stop smiling. Normal people don't look like that do they? Well, not the ones we've been around for the last 2 months!
I've decided that my favourite smell in the whole world is warm land smell. When you've been at sea and see land, and then you get close enough and you can smell it -all earthy and warm - I know saying that something smells warm is a bit daft, like saying it looks sweet or tastes orange, but it does smell warm. That's the perfect description, and it means you're nearly there. Nearly at the point where you can stop worrying and take off your wet clothes and have a drink and relax. :).
The sail from Grenada to Carriacou was ok - still not perfect, but way way better than previous sails, cos we'd made sure that everything was as shipshape as possible before starting. We tore the mainsail a little, but nothing irreparable. So, all's well! Did get caught up in a big squall yesterday which was quite frightening...but we'd seen it coming - great big mass of greyness looming on the horizon that just crept across the land land and gradually hid all the islands from sight - and we were prepared, so it was fine. And the cat wasn't sick this time which is a real bonus.
We're in Carriacou now, an island off the north of Grenada, and it's lovely - no cruise ships, and if it's possible to imagine, life just went down another gear or two! We spent NYE in a lovely little locals bar, just talking to people who were all really keen to make sure we enjoyed their island.
Ok, off to see another boat - the one we looked at in Grenada was v homely...but even I could see that it wasn't very seaworthy, so no good :(
Lots of love to everyone
Hxx
I've decided that my favourite smell in the whole world is warm land smell. When you've been at sea and see land, and then you get close enough and you can smell it -all earthy and warm - I know saying that something smells warm is a bit daft, like saying it looks sweet or tastes orange, but it does smell warm. That's the perfect description, and it means you're nearly there. Nearly at the point where you can stop worrying and take off your wet clothes and have a drink and relax. :).
The sail from Grenada to Carriacou was ok - still not perfect, but way way better than previous sails, cos we'd made sure that everything was as shipshape as possible before starting. We tore the mainsail a little, but nothing irreparable. So, all's well! Did get caught up in a big squall yesterday which was quite frightening...but we'd seen it coming - great big mass of greyness looming on the horizon that just crept across the land land and gradually hid all the islands from sight - and we were prepared, so it was fine. And the cat wasn't sick this time which is a real bonus.
We're in Carriacou now, an island off the north of Grenada, and it's lovely - no cruise ships, and if it's possible to imagine, life just went down another gear or two! We spent NYE in a lovely little locals bar, just talking to people who were all really keen to make sure we enjoyed their island.
Ok, off to see another boat - the one we looked at in Grenada was v homely...but even I could see that it wasn't very seaworthy, so no good :(
Lots of love to everyone
Hxx
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