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
Monday, 14 January 2008
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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