St. Lucia

Sunday, May 22, 2011

We took the outboard engine off the dinghy and put the dinghy up on Blue Horizon's deck preparing to sail to St. Lucia, the next island south. Though it looked like rain, we only had one real shower the whole trip. The closer to St. Lucia we got the sunnier it became. The wind was forecast to be from the east, but of course it was from SE, almost our preferred course heading.

So the wind which was 15-22 knts kept pushing us further west. If we tacked, we would be going back to Martinique, so we waited until we were well south of Rodney Bay to tack towards it. Rodney Bay is on the NW side of St. Lucia. It is a nice wide bay and had many resort hotels along the sandy beaches and a large number of sailboats anchored in the bay. Since we needed water and could top off our fuel,

we chose to go into the very modern Rodney Bay Marina with floating docks. We have electrical hookups, wifi, water and many services and re

staurants closeby. A mini Mart and larger grocery as well as a chandlery and another huge hardware store are a short walk away.

Monday , May 23, 2011

We checked into the Marina office and the customs nearby. We then went exploring to the chandlery and nearby grocery store. We finally found the regulator for our Bar-B-Q grill. We bought two of them. We were able to find some other boat supplies which we needed. This grocery store was not nearly as good as others. We were able to buy a new water hose from a local very large hardware store before we washed down the boat. We plan to stay in St. Lucia until our medications arrive from the US.

The Saga of Barnett Medications

On Friday May 20th, before we left Martinique, we had called our Mt. Pleasant Walgreens and ordered 5 subscriptions refills. We told them to mail it directly to our mail drop in Charleston. When our mail drop, Pak and Mail, did not receive it on Tuesday, we called Walgreens again ( sat phone). They told us that one of the subscriptions was not be filled until Monday and then shipped. We waited several more days and it still had not been received. When we called Walgreens again they said it had come back due to insufficient postage and was remailed. We waited each day expecting a e-mail from Pak and Mail that they had received our meds. When they still had not received them by Friday morning , June 3rd, we called Walgreens again. They discovered that they had never been mailed the second time. they then switched the prescriptions to the Folly Road (James IS) store which is in the same shopping strip with the Pak and Mail. Walgreens walked the prescriptions to the Pak and Mail. they were shipped out via FedEx on Friday. We have been tracking the shipment and we should receive it today ( June 6). However, we received a message from Walgreens telling us that one of the 5 prescriptions was not filled on Friday and could not be filled until Monday (June 6). Now we have to figure out where the best place to ship this one prescription. We are not staying here in St. Lucia to receive it!!! Hooray! They arrived this afternoon June 6th at 4:45! The last one will be shipped today to Bequia in the Grenadines,

Rodney Bay is a very pleasant location on St. Lucia.

There are 4-5 restaurants along the edge of the Marina. Several serve breakfast as well as lunch and dinner. There is a Boardwalk Bar where many cruisers meet for cocktail hour. Several of the restaurants also bake breads and sweetrolls. Unfortunately the bread does not last long in this heat and humidity. there is a wine and liquor store as well as several gift shops. We also discovered two good sized malls accessible by dinghy at the other end of Rodney Bay Lagoon. There are two wonderful grocery stores which have anything I might want or need to buy. There are two pharmacies and another hardware store. There is a Casino, numerous clothing stores, gift shops, and small snack restaurants. However on that side of the Rodney Bay area there are many more larger restaurants along the road that is inland from the beach. we took a walk over that way and had a cocktail in a very large two-story Mexican Restaurant and had dinner at the Red Snapper, another restaurant. later during our stay we had dinner at the expensive The Edge restaurant.

The beaches at Rodney Bay area are long, wide and white sand. Several resorts line the beaches. We took the dinghy over to the

Sandals but they required all guests to pay $100 US per person just to land at their dinghy dock, enjoy their part of the beach, and pay for food. We declined. There was plenty of

other beach other than their small area. We went to the beaches just south of the Lagoon entrance and had lunch at

Spinnaker's Bar and Grill. There must have been a Cruise ship nearby because the beach was packed. The locals hang out there during the weekends too. there are many condos in this area. The houses are usually brightly-colored stucco.

Pigeon IS is a National Park and it has its own beaches. we spent part of a day over there as well. It really is no longer an Island as the land has silted in to make a land bridge. There were many old trees, ruins from the fort, several beaches, and two hills to climb. We just enjoyed some of the ruins and the beaches. There is also a run down bar adjacent, so we had a drink there before retuning to the boat.

Since we were staying in Rodney Bay much longer than we had planned, we rented a car for two days. That was an experience! The Canadian couple ( Elizabeth and Rick) on a trawler next to us had rented a car to pick up their guest at the airport all the way on the south end of St. Lucia. The had told us that some of the roadway had been washed out. The trip took them two hours one way. The next day they took a drive to the east side of St. Lucia to do a zipline in the rain forest. More of the roadway had been washed out on this trip and huge holes were in the road, so I decided I would not even suggest that route to Charlie! We did drive south down the coast a short way to Marigot Bay because the cruising guide said it had a beautiful beach. It is also has a marina and a resort. On the way, we got lost in St. Lucia's largest city Castries. a man on the street tried to help us by telling us to follow a bus (van)driver, but he was going home and his street was blocked by parked cars. Several men helped us back down the street and turn around, then the bus driver actually did lead us back toward the main road.

The road to Marigot Bay off of the main road looked like a one lane country road but it did get us there.

We had a drink at the Resort Bar and watched some of the French Open Tennis tournament. To get to the beach, you have to take a short ferry ride. There were several small kiosks selling jewelry and clothing. There was also a small bar. The beach was practically deserted with only a mother and small child .

We obtained two beach chairs and a palm umbrella and sat down to relax. After awhile we decided to go to the larger restaurant "Doolittles" also on the island. Evidently it may have been used for the movie. I had a wonderful seafood pasta with lots of scollops, shrimp and fish. Several vendors approached us. One was a fruit and vegetable guy and the other was making baskets and hats out of palm leaves. They kept bugging us so much, we eventually bought something to get rid of them! That was the only uncomfortable thing about Marigot Beach. Charlie did say it was underwhelming instead of spectacular like the cruising guide led us to believe. On the wa
y back, we made all the correct turns to stay on the main road, however the traffic was so heavy and we were slowed down by a wreck. the posted speed is 30 or 40 but all the cars go 50-60 instead. they use roundabouts but they are too small for the traffic. At the airport roundabout there were 4 lanes of traffic and some had to cross each other to go to the airport. That was where the wreck was. Another problem is the busses (vans) which just pull off to the side of the road to let off or pick up passengers. In many places the roads have no shoulder but a deep drop off for drainage! There are many hills and the roads are narrow with these deep drop offs instead of a shoulder. They also drive on the left.

The next day we went down the

road to find Choc Beach. We discovered that it was alongside the main road. We missed it the first time and had to go to the roundabout to return to it. Evidently it is used by many of the locals. It had two volleyball nets. Since there was such a small area to park, I imagine that many walk or take the bus (vans). The beach has two large bars/restaurants. At the south end it looked like one could rent hobie cats and wave runners. The beach is very wide and long. At the back

from the sand are trees for shade.

There were several families there while we were at the beach. Some of the trees have tire or rope swings. We spent several pleasant hours before we packed up to return to the marina. We were glad to turn the car back in. I can see why visitors use the taxi system for personal tours!

While we have been waiting for our package to arrive, we have done some maintenance work to the boat. Saturday, there was a promotion for Stella Bright beer with two bands along the waterfront. The first was good jazz band. The local restaurants provided dinner. the second band was a rock band. We enjoyed meeting some cruisers we had met along the way: Vickie and Ed whom we met in Port de Pitre.

Martinique

May 18, 2011

Martinique is a large island. St. Pierre on it NW coast was quaint and looked typically French with two story buildings with tiny doors to access the upstairs living quarters. The Town Hall was pretty though in need of painting.It had a large clock which rang the hours. They actually had a computer driven self serve laundramat. If we had stayed, I would have used it. As you put the money into the machine you indicate which machine you are going to use. There is no way to put money or tokens into an individual machine. The dryers work the same way. since we could not check in we left the next day.

May 19, 2011

Fort du France is the largest city we have seen since leaving Charleston. All along the coast of Martinique one sees large and medium size apartment buildings. Fort du France is located on the NW side of Martinique. The bay is huge and there are several communities around it. Fort du France has the port and is the capital of Martinique. It is a bustling city

with all kinds of stores where the locals shop. There are many high rise apartment buildings. Fort du France has three ferry docks and a cruise

ship dock. They also have a huge dinghy dock all along the harbor all along a huge pretty waterfront park with kiosks and a large gazebo. We found the chandlery

where one checks in for Customs and shopped in the chandlery. Then we went down a block to a very clean air conditioned cyber cafe. Charlie saw the Norwegians from our tour in Dominica and had a beer with them while I was doing the blog. We also saw the couple from PA/Chesapeake in town and met them for a dinner in an outside sidewalk cafe which had delicious food. The French don't believe in rushing any meal so it was dark when we finished. We saw what we guessed was a dress rehearsal being held in the large park. There were costumed dancers and a band on the stage. We followed the PA couple back to the boat since they had a light and we had left ours on the boat. It rained off and on all afternoon and evening.

May 20, 2011

We explored more of Fort du France trying to

find a closer wifi cafe but the ones listed in the guide were no longer in business.We did see some nice squares, gardens, pedestrian malls. We stopped for a cool drink at one of the many kiosks in town along squares which abound throughout. There was even a large mall in the center of town with restaurants and a Carrefour supermarket

I went in to check it out while Charlie rested. I will have to go back later to shop before we go back in the dinghy. We need a few things as well as more beer, wine, liquor and cokes. There are many small food shops and small clothing stores. A number of shops have hundreds of pairs of shoes.

We walked back to the cybercafe we knew of especially since it is air conditioned. It was hot and muggy all day. I felt like I was walking around in a sauna. We decided to have lunch at The Crew which was recommended in the Cruising Guide. The guide said it was very popular with businessmen for lunch.

We went late hoping most would have finished lunch and had a great meal. The owner or manager collects models of Ford Mustangs and had a Route 66 sign up and a picture of himself and a Mustang on Route 66. Since he spoke good English, he helped wait on us. The interior was dark wood in the bar and throughout the restaurant they had ship models, paintings of lighthouses and sea captains, and fishing nets. I walked back to the large supermarket while Charlie read in the park and shopped for souveniers. I was disappointed in the supermarket. I only bought bread ( white ug), cokes and beer. They did not have the veggies I needed nor crackers. I guess the French just use French bagettes instead of

crackers. Charlie had met a young couple from France who were working in Fort du France earning money to continue sailing. Their boat was anchored where ours was, but their dinghy had disappeared recently. They did recover it and get it back to their boat but did not yet know if it was damaged as it had been deflated. We offered to take them to their boat in our dinghy so they could try to inflate it. Charlie would pick them up and take them to shore after they checked it out. This is typical cruiser behaviour of helping each other out.

Saturday, May 21, 2011

Charlie took me to shore so I could go to the Vegetable Market which was a long walk from the dinghy dock. I was also going to try to buy ice. It had rained most of the night and was still raining. I was able to buy some little carrots, some lovely lettuce, tomatoes, and two small pineapples. I could not find ice anywhere. While I was shopping, Charlie visited the "Golden Hind", a recent arrival at the anchorage. It was built as a replica to Sir Francis Drake's boat in British Columbia, Canada. Somewhere along the line, they had lost two of the three masts. The crew were Czech Republic who could speak only a little English. Charlie was invited aboard and given a tour. One mate offered to draw a picture of our boat for $50. Charlie also changed the oil in our generator. It rained most of the day. I did watch some sailboat races

out in the bay. They went around a nearby red buoy so we had a good view. During a lull in the rain, we decided to try to find ice around the end of the Fort in the next inlet where fuel, water and ice were reported to be available. We were not totally sure of where this was. We only had a picture in the Cruising Guide. We did succeed in finding it and we bought ice at the fuel dock tucked away in the back. We had to wait until another shower dropped its rain before setting back to the boat. Charlie then picked up his drawing/watercolor of our boat in front of the Fort from the Golden Hind boat.

The Saints and Dominica

May 11-12, 2011

We left Pointe de Pitre in Guadeloupe and immediately went aground! One of the guys from the marina who helps boats get docked came to our aid. Using the Spiniker halyard + another line he heeled us over enough that we could push ourselves off the sand bar. We proceeded to sail to The Saints which is group of islands south of Guadeloupe. We anchored off the largest of these islands. We went ashore to explore and check in at the Marie. We walked down the main street taking in the

sights and browsing through the shops. They do have a ferry dock and small square. The Streets are very narrow and many use scooters to get around. We ate in a ice restaurant called La Fringale which had nature murals painted on the walls and a waterfall in its open interior patio. The first night was very noisy as many catamarands were anchored with many young persons on board who went into

the town for loud music at one of the bars along the harbor. We spent some time exploring the nearby beaches using the dinghy. None were very large and all had ugly dark sand. The

last day we walked to the nearby Pompierre Beach which was wider and was more of a park. Many others were also present. At the entrance several vendors were selling food and drinks

. We met a nice couple , David and Michelle, on an Island Packet 40 "Daniel's Story" and joined them for cocktails and dinner. Other friends of their on a trawler "Bodacious" were there for cocktails. They suggested that we stop in Portsmouth on the north end of Dominica and take a tour of the National Park there.

May 15-16, 2011

We left The Saints for Dominica. We did stop at Portsmouth. The anchorage was very rolly at least 20% heeling. A Belgium couple we met at the customs dock said they might have a tour group for us to join the next day. Our driver was Robert "Boa" and our rainforest guide was "Cobra". A charter captain, Tom, who knew Cobra transported us all to the dock in several trips in his dinghy. We left at about 10a.m. and did not return until 7p.m. We drove along the coast and then into the rainforest. Many stops were made along the way at small bars for beer, rum, etc. We stopped at Manny's bar where we sampled some Dasheen (Taro) and "stepups" a type of rum and ginger wine drink popular among the Dominicans. cobra took us on a hike to

Spanny's Waterfall where we all took a dip in the cold mountain water. Cobra was very knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of the rainforest. we then went to a friend's bar along a mountain stream where we had rum and a Dominican meal of smoked chicken and fish with dumplings ( think knochi) and breadfruit ( like a potato) in an herbal broth. Not bad really. The setting was beautiful with many lovely flowers. When we arrived back at our starting place, Tom,was still in the mountains with Cobra so we were stranded on shore, making our poor driver and us quite angry with irresponsible Tom! Finally someone at the restaurant where we met took us out to our boat in Tom's dinghy. We spent another rolly night on the boat at anchor. most of the homes in dominica are made of concrete blocks covered with smooth concrete and painted vivid colors many with white trim. They all seem to have gardens . Though the economic status may be low, they show pride in what they have.

Sunday, May 15, 2011

We left Portsmouth and motor sailed down the coast through showers to Roseau, Dominica. The cruising guide spoke of many mooring balls but we did not see very many. Finally a Sea Cats boat approached us and helped us get a mooring in the rain. We ate on board. The next morning we went to the Fort Young Hotel because our friends, the Reynolds, from Montserrat were expected to arrive in Roseau for part of their vacation. They were seated at the patio bar as we walked into the hotel. We enjoyed lunch together before taking a walk around Roseau. Since they had waken at 4 a.m, they went to rest as we walked trying to identify some restaurants in town. Unfortunately, most of the restaurants listed in the Cruising Guide were no longer open. We ended up having pizza at the hotel. The next day we met the Reynolds at the hotel to take a taxi up into the hills to a garden restaurant for lunch. It was raining during our drive and while we were there except for a short time during lunch. We were the only customers. Our taxi driver was also a very good guide during our drive to and from the restaurant. We had an early cocktail hour with the Reynolds and went back to the boat for dinner. Unfortunately it had been raining most of the day and started again heavily as we were taking the dinghy back to the boat.

Wednesday, May 18, 2011

We sailed from Roseau, Dominica to the northern port of St. Pierre, on Martinique. there was a lovely large town dock where we took our dinghy in. We identified the place the Cruising Guide said to check into customs, but it was not open again until 6 p.m. We were able to take our trash to shore and then we walked around. It had a nice park next to the dock and a lovely old Town Hall. We sat down at an open sidewalk bar to wait. We tried to chat with some of the patrons. We met a couple from PA who keep their boat in the Chesapeake as we docked. They had come to the Caribbean with the 2010 Caribbean 1500. They came by and waited with us, We then walked down to the restaurant where the guide said we should check in and discovered that they no longer check in there but at the tourist office which the Chesapeake couple said was closed when they walked by it. We went back to the boat for dinner since none of the restaurants in town seemed to be open yet. We would check in at Fort du France the next day.

Guadeloupe: Pointe de Pitre

Monday, May 9, 2011

We sat in the cockpit late last night just to stay cool. We had a crescent moon and stars instead of rain showers. Today is is hot, sunny and muggy. We still do not have any electricity for our boat. We dropped off our laundry. One load will cost 9.8 Euros which is not nearly as bad as in St. Kitts! Some boaters even hand wash out their sheets. I cannot imagine that. We went to the other chandlery and did find two items we were looking for. I bought some sweet rolls at the patisserie for breakfast tomorrow. We have returned to Pirate Caribeen restaurant to use their wifi to catch up on d-mail and weather. I don't guess we will make it to Carrefours. I will make a stew tonight from my leftovers from lunch at the Pirate Caribeen for dinner tonight. Here are some pictures

from the Pirate Caribeen Restaurant which has "pirates" hanging around. Some look so lifelike, I keep thinking they are real.

Guadeloupe

Tues-Wed, May 3-4 , 2011

We left Montserrat with low winds and had a great sail to Guadeloupe where we reached the northwest coast site of Deshaies as previously reported. We checked in at Le Pelican, a shop where one can check in to Guadeloupe. We also got wifi password to use on the boat. It worked for Charlie but not for me. We ate in town at La Kaz. Charlie had the fish so

up which came with rice and salad plus a huge fish in a broth. I had salad with all kinds of other appetizers includded. They had bird feeders with sugar in them for the banana quints birds.

We walked around a bit and went to their grocery store which was fairly small. I did not buy much because they

did not have much of what I wanted.

We ate at another restaurant called Hemmingways to which we arrived by dinghy. They did not start serving until 7:30 p.m. Their music started with Brubeck's "Take Five". the dinner was typically French.

Thursday, May 5, 2011

We went ashore to go to the dinghy dock and to the tourist center to get a ride to the botanical garden near

by. After arriving, we walked around a bit past the lovely lilly pond but we decided to eat at their outdoor restaurant before

exploring this lovely garden. Charlie had

linguine de mer and I had fricassee of lambi which I assumed was lamb but is is conch. I also had breadfruit which tastes like mashed potatoes, rice, a vegetable saute and mango. This botanical garden had a wandering serpentine path which wound back and forth with a small stream going down the hill. It was a very pleasant and we saw many beautiful flowers from many countries. The hibiscus and bougevilia were lush. I found the banana palm flower and fruit fascinating. They had colorful parachetes and parrots. After we returned to Deshaies, we checked into Le Pelican to see why I could not download pictures for the blog. I discovered that the text I had done the day before had not been so I had to type it all back in. I still did not have time to do the pictures. this was very frustrating. While I was working on the blog at lLe Pelican, Chaswas drinking beer with some Brits who had a boat near ours in the harbor. We went back to the boat and intended to leave early in the next morning to get to our next destination: Pointe de Pitre, Guadeloupe.

Friday May 6, 2011

We put the dinghy on the top of the boat and left Desaheis by 7a.m. heading for Pointe de Pitre which was almost 50 miles away. We sailed down the West coast of Guadeloupe. The wind was very light, under 8 knots so we had to use the engine until we were about half way down the coast. When we reached the southern tip of the island the wind picked up as we tacked back and forth around the south part of the western part of the island which is in the shape of a butterfly. The closer we got to our destination, the more cloudy, hazy and foggy it got. we got into the Marina Bas du Fort by 4:30-5p.m. They use the Mediterrian mooring using buoys at the stern in our case and two bow lines to the dock. We have to climb over the bow pulpit to get onto the dock. It rained all night and most of the next day. Charlie met some Brits on the dock who invited him to join them for drinks ashore.

Saturday, May 7, 2011

We walked around the Marina area checking out the chandlery which the guide said was good but we did not find anything on our list at this store. The other one was closed on Sat. We ate a nice lunch at the Route de Rhone restaurant for lunch. We discovered several other restaurants close by. Basically, we tried to stay out of the rain which came down most of the day and night.

Sunday. May 8, 2011

The weather was a bit better this morning. The rain had cleaned of the boat so we did not have to hose it down. We did get a necessary hose connector from the Marina office to allow us to obtain water for the boat. We filled the water tanks so now we have 150 gallons of water again. About 11a.m. the 110 power on the dock went out as we discovered talking to other American boats using it. The European boats use a different system which was still working. This huge marina has space for 1080 boats but if has no working wifi. They told us of two restaurants which had free wifi: Pirate Caribbean and Le Fregate. We had lunch at Pirate Caribbean...a huge lunch and used their wifi. I don't have many pictures of Pointe de Pitre yet to add. We will probably be here tomorrow to do laundry and maybe explore the main city or big mall Carrefours.