Guadeloupe Part 1

     We have spent the last few days cruising the coast of Guadeloupe, which is a French Overseas Dependency (think Guam or sort of Hawaii for Americans).  The island is very French, which is a good way to learn a language, but a bit tougher for daily life!  All is well, though, baguettes are within arm's reach at all times.

 Starting before dawn, we had favorable conditions for a fast sail of 45 miles from Antigua.  We arrived in Le Riviere Salee, which is a narrow mangrove river which splits Guadeloupe into two halves.  We spent the night anchored just north of a bridge which was scheduled to open at 0430 and allow us to reach our destination of Pointe-a-Pitre.  Alas, we found out the bridge would not be opening for us, because it is apparently not opening "this year." So we changed plans. 

    Due to the bridge closure, we needed to cover about 75 miles "the long way" around Basse-Terre, the western half of Guadeloupe.  This was not a bad thing at all, just a few extra days we didn't plan on.  It also enabled us to make two really cool stops, the town of Deshaies, and the Pigeon Island Marine Reserve. 

    The first stop was in Deshaies, where we completed customs in a cafe, and met a cool sailor named Rich.  He is cruising the eastern Caribbean in a Pacific Seacraft 34' sailboat named KELLY RAE.  Yes, that is the exact same model boat as us!  He rowed over to say hello, since "it's nice to see other beautiful boats in the anchorage."  He has sailed over 30,000 miles in his boat over the years, and it was nice to see he still loved it as much as we love NAVIGATOR.  We met up later for a hike/river scramble up the Deshaies River.

    

    The river was cool and clean, and the little waterfalls along the way were really neat to check out, especially since it is dry-season in the eastern Caribbean, and there is not too much flowing water on the islands we have been visiting so far. At the end of the hike, the river narrows to a mini-slot canyon with a 30 foot waterfall at the head and a pool for swimming.

   The second stop was Pigeon Island Marine Reserve, which is also the area of Cousteau Underwater Park.  That's Cousteau as in Jacques Cousteau, everyone's favorite marine biologist and the reason all life-science majors start out as marine biology majors in college.  

   Pigeon Island was definitely in our top 5 or 10 snorkels/dives of all time - the coral was extremely diverse, the water was super clear, and the reef was very healthy.  We were able to get in the water early, before the dive-charter boats arrived, so we pretty much had it to ourselves, and we swam about 1.5 miles around each island, watching the underwater world go by. 

Today, we arrived in Pointe-a-Pitre, where there is a relatively inexpensive (for Euro standards) marina which we are using as our mid-patrol maintenance period...nothing major, just a few jobs that have stacked up.  We also look forward to our friend, Erin, arriving in a few days, when we can catch up on Coast Guard news and laugh about snowballs.  

  

Antigua

   With a previously mentioned one-week interlude in Barbuda, we ended up spending about 2 weeks in Antigua, which is a busy island with lots to see and do.

   We arrived into Jolly Harbor, on the west coast, and used that area as a base while we explored central and northern Antigua, including going to our very first cricket match, between the Leeward Islands and Guyana.  It's kind of the AAA league of cricket - international, but regional, and still entertaining.  The match we went to was part of the 4 day series, so we only watched a bit, but got to learn all about the game (the bowler took 5 wickets), as well as eat some great stadium food such as skittles and johnny cakes.

   We also did a long bike ride around the island, checking out the north portion of the island and a valley which housed tons of fruit trees and bushes.  We partook of some local pineapple, which was rediculicous (ridiculously delicious).  There was quite a variety of local animals that like to congregate in the road, as well - chickens, goats, wild donkeys, mongoose, humans etc.

  After leaving Jolly Harbor, we took the boat up to the seldom visited North Sound, where we anchored and snorkeled amongst the reefs.  However the wind was howling, so we spent more time on the boat working on projects, jumping in the water as the weather permitted.

  We just returned to Antigua after our Barbuda interlude, and are now visiting the southern portion of the island, Falmouth and English Harbours, where Nelson hid his fleet during the Napoleonic Wars.  There is tons of history to check out, as well as a good selection of grocery stores and cheap food.

  Tomorrow we set sail for Guadeloupe, a French Overseas Dependency.  We will spend 3 weeks or so there - we have a "mid-patrol dockside," which means we have to do a few projects on the boat.  But we also want to try hanging out in one place for a little while and getting the sense of a French inspired locale, and we look forward to the arrival of our friend Erin in a couple weeks for a much deserved Spring Break!

  Antigua and Barbuda have been a great stop and come highly recommended for anyone seeking a Caribbean vacation!  We also uploaded a few more pictures onto Flickr (under "pictures" above).

Barbuda

     As indicated in our last posts, we weathered the "winter storm" in Antigua, and then headed up to Barbuda for a week.  We're back in Antigua now, and we'll catch you up on Antigua later.

    Barbuda is an amazing place. We sailed north about 35 miles and dropped anchor in cliche turquoise water just off "11-mile Beach," which is literally 11 miles of perfect beach with no humans.  We spent two nights there, before a big northerly swell (from the northeast's blizzard last week) arrived and forced us to move to a better protected location.

    We moved down to Spanish Point, which is on the south side of Barbuda, and is seldom travelled because of the uncharted coral heads all over the place.  However, with the sun in the right location (behind you) and some good eyeballs, you can pick your way through and have the area nearly to yourselves.  The chart for the area just has a bunch of "shoal water" marked, with a note that says "transiting to the east through Gravenor Bay is possible, but put a man in the rig and eyeball it."  Nice.

    Our anchorage in south Barbuda was amazing because with the nearly full moon, the water still looked turquoise, and that in turn reflected up into the clouds to make a pretty neat scene after the sun when down.

    While in this area, a couple of kite surfers came over, and when they saw us taking pictures, decided to show off a bit.  They were very talented and the pictures show just how much air they were able to get.  Apparently "kite" is a verb now, since they came over to ask..."Hey, do you kite?"  Unfortunately we don't.

    Ashore, there is not much to do in Barbuda, which is part of the appeal, but we did take a tour of the world's largest frigate bird sanctuary.  These are the birds with the big red bag on their neck that they blow up to attract a mate.  It was a neat trip.  We also rode our bikes about 30 miles along dirt trails to end up on the Atlantic side of the island at some caves and a nice beach.

   Barbuda was awesome, but the weather indicated it was time to move, so we are back in Antigua now for 3 more days before we head to the french island of Guadeloupe for some boat work and croissants.

Winter Storm Status Update 3 and Final

Well it looks like we made it through ok here in Antigua.  We do have over 3ft of water in the pool, but the skies are clear and the wind is light.  Time to head out and play in the powdery stuff!

Winter Storm Status Update 2

It looks like we are now starting to get some accumulation from the precipitation...luckily this squall only lasted 45 seconds and we are back to sun, but the worst is expected overnight into tomorrow. 

The temperature remains 80F and the winds are steady.  It does look like we are seeing some stranded vehicles and possibly some blowing sanddrifts.

 Stay safe out there!

Winter Storm Status Update 1

The news is abuzz with NEMO forecasts, so we've battened down the hatches for the impending storm.

LATEST UPDATE:
It looks like it is starting to come down here in Antigua. We are getting 1 to 2 raindrops per hour here in Jolly Harbor, but thankfully no accumulation yet.  The pool temperature remains 80F and the winds are starting to veer east at 15knots.


Visibility is good and the only road hazards so far are stray goats and chickens.  Stand by for further updates as the storm progresses. Stay safe!

Montserrat

  We spent three days in the lee of Montserrat, an island which was devastated by the eruption of the Soufriere Hills volcano in the mid nineties.  The volcano is still active and belches sulfur dioxide daily, and periodically erupts with lava and pyroclastic flows every couple years.

  Luckily, there is a mountain range which protects the northern third of the island from the ash flow, and we found a decent anchorage in Little Bay.  Most of the island's population departed after the main eruption, but a few thousand remain, and it is a beautiful spot.
  We took a taxi/tour of the island, including a visit to the destroyed city of Plymouth, it was amazing to see how quickly nature took over.  We walked inside a hotel which had been abandoned in haste when the volcano blew it's top - there were still notes and receipts on the desks, untouched for years.  In most places, the island is still quite lush - we were able to harvest mangoes and tamarind from abandoned trees to complement our supplies.

  Tomorrow we set sail for Antigua, which is back on the main track of cruising sailboats and cruise ships.  We've had a great time the past three weeks or so sailing in the less-developed western leeward islands, but Antigua will give us a chance to get some repair parts, provisions, and possibly catch a cricket match between Guyana and the Leeward team...should be cool.

  We've got a backlog of videos to upload when a strong internet connection comes our way, so hopefully look for those this weekend...it should give those of you in the northeast something to do besides shovel snow!

Nevis

We journeyed over to St. Kitts' sister island of Nevis, and spent a couple days in the lee of Nevis Peak.  We circled the island (23 miles or so) on our folding bikes, including a couple insanely steep hills which required us to dismount and push our bikes...but it made for a good downhill ride on the other side.  Nevis was pretty neat to see, we saw the botanical gardens, lots of goats, and had a cheap roti/jerk pork lunch at an old plantation with a great view of the neighboring islands.  

Nevis is also the birthplace of Alexander Hamilton, an American founding father and generally all-around good guy (though he perished in a duel).  He is also credited with founding the Coast Guard, hence our interest in the museum.  Yes (Heather) we can hear you snicker from here.

Right now we are at Montserrat, and will write more after we finish exploring this island with it's active volcano...

Sunset from the boat.

Kellee jumping in the water.

Nevis Peak, our view from the boat.

 Montserrat, still spewing ash and smoke.

St. Kitts Adventures (and a new video)

Tomorrow we wrap up a wonderful week in St. Kitts at the marina and head out for a few days of coast cruising the southern part of the island and Nevis (pronounced Nee-vis, as we learned).  After that, depending on wind, we'll head to our next island.

The weather has of course been beautiful here and we both agree that so far, this is our favorite island.  The people are truly friendly and the atmosphere grabs hold of you and makes you feel welcome everywhere.

The first day, we settled in, met Wayne, who is the most helpful person around.  He took our laundry and directed us to the offices to check in.  We didn't have local currency, and with 5 cruise ships in, ALL the local ATMs were out of service, but Chris finally tracked down a working one and we paid our fees.  Our marina check in went well, with a couple of local croissant bakers sharing their wares...the ham and cheese filled one was delicious.  We dined at the Ballahoo restaurant, over looking the Circus square, a cute town center with a clock tower in the middle of the roundabout.

The next day we broke out our folding bikes for the first time since NC, and rode 14 miles round trip to Brimstone Hill Fortress, a world heritage site with the ruins and partially reconstructed fort from the 1700s.  This island was controlled by both French and British at the same time then, and the fort came to fame when the French stormed up the quite steep hill and overwhelmed the British.  It's the second largest fort in the islands, second to one I think in Haiti. We had lunch at the snack bar, choosing the club sandwich, which we were surprised to find out included ham, cheese, lettuce, tomato, cucumber and a fried egg...combined with the locally bottled juice, it was surprisingly quite yummy.  On the way down, we caught sight of the elusive monkeys that run rampant on the island, they are pretty shy though and we couldn't get a good picture.  It was unnerving to know that they were undoubtedly watching us.  The chicken wing trailer just down the street from the boat provided a tasty dinner, complete with sweet potato fries and several unique dipping sauces like citrus lime and and mango.

The following day we took it easy, walked a bit around town, relaxed, and ate pizza.  Then on Friday, we succumbed to the tourist in us and took the scenic railway tour on the the narrow gauge railroad that runs along the entire east side of the island.  The trains were used to move sugar cane from the fields to the factories, but after the last sugar factory closed in 2005, they turned it over to tourism.  Free drinks and great views along the ride made for a most enjoyable trip.  We were lucky enough to be in the very last car, all the way in back.  When we got back in the late afternoon, we were hungry and sought out one of the many street vendors just outside the marina gate.  The gyro and chicken roti were phenomenal...we have kept looking for the stand for another sample, but haven't seen him since.

Saturday we puttered around the boat, Chris did some maintenance and we laid out our plans for overland travel.  Our credit cards took a hit this week with flights to Paris, Johannesburg, Sydney, and finally back to Trinidad.  We made reservations for storing the boat and for our Europe car rental.  The safari trip details are just about worked out, and we are getting excited for the next legs of this grand adventure, but are happy that we still have 5 more months to explore the Caribbean.  Friday night is big in St. Kitts, everyone gets paid and are glad the weekend has arrived and the main street outside the marina is party central.  Lots of street food venders, bar shacks and people just looking to take a load off and relax.  The music went well into the night, but we listened from the boat, safe from the mosquitoes that have incited the hunter in Chris.  Dinner was bbq chicken cooked right there on the street...grilled chicken never tasted so good.

Sunday we ponied up and took a taxi to the west end of the island to hike Mt. Liamuiga...previously named Mt. Misery.  It was not an easy hike, but well marked, albeit wet from the previous night's rain.  The top was shrouded in mist and reeked from the sulphur lake inside the volcano crater, but we had a great time.  We were starving when we got back and ended up eating chinese food...this port of call has undone all of our recent good eating habits it seems!

Today we got a late start, but were surprisingly productive, did some hand laundry, which dried in about 45 minutes in the sun.  Filled the water tanks, waxed the starboard side of the boat (Chris had done the other side earlier in the week) and cleaned both interior and exterior of the boat.  Tomorrow morning we'll restock provisions and we'll be all set for another couple of weeks of self sufficiency!

PS. We had previously discovered an issue with our marine toilet, i.e. the uric acid in our pee was slowly calcifying the hoses and valves, slowly constricting the ability for effluent to flow through.  This entire experience felt as odd as a Stanley Kubric film, so we got inspired again...check out the "videos" link above, or go directly there at this link...https://vimeo.com/58409666

An HDR photo of the crater showing the vegetation and the sulphur lake at the bottom.  Quite a view.

Saba and St. Eustatias

   We spent the past 5 or 6 days exploring the Dutch Indian islands of Saba ("Say-Bah") and St. Eustatias ("Stay-Sha").  As described in the editorial below from a couple days ago, the sea conditions were not very enjoyable...not really rough, but just annoying enough to make us roll all day and night, for 7 days, from gunwale to gunwale.  Not awesome for relaxation.

  However, the islands were pretty cool.  Saba was too rough to go ashore, but we did manage to get in the water and snorkel.  We saw about 10 sea turtles and tons of fish and lobsters.  The water was unbelievably clear, even for Caribbean standards. Saba is well off the beaten track for tourists, so we were the only visiting boat on the island for a while.

   The neighbor island of St. Eustatias is also off the cruising track, so we were only one of two or three boats on the whole island over the weekend.  The island has a big fuel refinery, so there were plenty of tugs and oil tankers, but no tourists, which was great.  We got some really inexpensive food and supplies from the Chinese Mini-Market and did a great hike to the top of Mount Mazinga, otherwise known as "The Quill."  The hike was to the crater rim of a dormant volcano, and the views were great.

  Today we arrived in St. Kitts (St. Christopher), which is very beautiful from the sea.  We are doing our monthly marina visit to top off on water, groceries, and to clean the boat, but since the marina only charges 50 cents per foot for the night (about 15 dollars for us), we decided to splurge and spend four nights in the marina, with access to wifi, running water showers, and flushing toilets - ah the sweet lap of luxury!

  Here are a few pictures of our latest trips, when bandwidth improves we'll post full versions of them on Flickr, under "Pictures" above.  Should be done in a couple days, latest.

 We caught a big Dorado (Mahi Mahi) along the way.

Checking out the view from the top of a barren island.

 Kellee posing on the crater rim of Mount Mazinga on Statia.

 This feral chicken came up to us while Kellee was posing.  The chicken decided to pose too, so we took it's picture.  I can't say I've ever seen a chicken on a volcano before.

 St. Eustatias had a fort on it, which was restored a few years ago and has some great views and artifacts.

On the hike down we got hit by some rain, but luckily the local vegetation was big enough to shelter under.

On Seasickness...

  By Chris

   There are those who get seasick, and those who say they don't.  The problem is, people automatically equate "seasick" with "puking."  That couldn't be further from the truth.  I know many fine sailors who never puke or turn any shade of green when the seas get up.  It's not that they are liars, it's just that they are uninformed.

  Humans are not meant to stir the waters of the world's great oceans. Originally designed for arboreal life, we descended to the savannah a couple million years ago, started hunting, speaking, and gradually grew bigger brains.  Around 50,000 years ago, anatomically modern humans departed Africa, most likely by crossing the southern portion of the Red Sea (when sea levels were much lower due to glaciation).  And thus began our love-hate relationship with the sea, an environment we were clearly not designed for.

  I've been traditionally "seasick" several times.  I guess I'm proud to say it doesn't happen often. In fact I can recall each time I puked in 9 years at sea.  There was the time on POLAR SEA in 35 foot rollers just north of Antarctica.  There was the time on ALEX HALEY in the Gulf of Alaska in winter while trailing the fishing fleet.  There was the time on DORADO getting airborne off 14 foot waves near the Lost Coast of California while our sewage system backed up onto the deck.  And there was the time on JEFFERSON ISLAND when we were getting battered by the steep seas of the Gulf of Maine in February (although I attribute that more to Jon Larson's serving eggs and sausage for dinner on our way out to the search and rescue case).

  However, seasickness is not just puking.  It's a spectrum of behavioral and physical differences that remind us of our ancient past on the plains of Africa.  As soon as we go down to the sea on ships, our inner ears start speaking to our brains, providing data inputs that say "something's wrong!!"  As  sea conditions worsen, or the time exposed to them increases, the human body starts to show signs of wear.

   Chief among them are fatigue and malaise, followed by dehydration and limited cognitive response, then nausea, vomiting, and a general wish to leave the world of the living.  I've seen the spectrum in my shipmates over the years, and I'm just glad that I was not the guy we had to airlift of ALEX HALEY for unrelenting seasickness - after he had been stuck in sickbay for 2 weeks barfing his intestines out.

   Luckily, time tends to dull the body's response to the stimulus and most people get over it quickly, including the crew of NAVIGATOR.  However, the past couple days near the Dutch island of Saba have reminded me of the nefarious side of the ocean...it's ability to turn me into a raging lunatic.

   My shipmates on EAGLE may have caught a glimpse of the banged up clothes locker above my computer station...the banged up portion was caused by my fist repeatedly colliding with it in my frustration of trying to work on my computer in gunwale to gunwale 45 degree rolls.  The ceaseless rolling of that cursed vessel would interrupt me as I tried to send emails or coordinate port events...left...right...left...right...for hours, days, and weeks on end.  After a while, I just couldn't take any more, and my clothes locker got a new impact crater.

   As we sat aboard NAVIGATOR in the "lee" of Saba, a 3000 foot high island with no harbors, we rolled...and rolled...and rolled.  I could feel the rage building.  There was no sleep. Instead it was a fitful night spent wedged into a corner trying to find some relief.  Lay one way and it felt like an endless ride on the pirate ship at the amusement park.  Turn the other way and I changed venues to the teacup ride.  Head aft into the cockpit and I was on the trampoline getting launched. The foc'sle was a dunk tank, taking green water over the bow...at anchor! Luckily I didn't rage against any inanimate objects this time - just noted a good reminder of how seasickness can manifest itself in a variety of ways.

  So, we cut our visit to Saba short and are now in the lee of St. Eustatius, in the Dutch West Indies...named for the Christian martyr who was tempted by his God on a sea voyage.  Thankfully, the rolling is much diminished.

Rage Against the Potatoes.

St. Barth

The weather has finally abated.  A week of strong trades followed directly by a gnarly north swell has had us hunkered down since we arrived in St. Barts almost two weeks ago.  We looked but did not find a decent surf break within walking/swimming distance, but I'm sure the North Atlantic will spin up more swell before the winter ends.  After our pleasant stay in Anse de Columbier, we made a pit stop in Gustavia for showers, water and groceries...and a fresh baguette of course, then headed back to Ile de Forchue.  Definitely the coolest island of the trip so far, totally uninhabited, and a great spot for some night photography.  Unfortunately, the first night the swell was so big, we couldn't land the dinghy, but that didn't stop Chris from swimming ashore with the gopro to capture some neat sun movement time lapse footage while Kellee lounged in the sun and read, she's up to almost 100 books read on the trip.

Last night we packed up chili and homemade bread and ate dinner ashore as the sun went down, then spent a couple of hours taking pictures.  This morning we got up a bit late after watching some Downton Abbey on the computer, so we opted to spend one more night in Gustavia before heading out to Saba.  We'll grab showers and some more provisions and finish up our list of "what to look up on the internet when we have a connection" and sail the 30 miles to Saba tomorrow.  Saba is seldom visited because it has no harbor, but it's a 4600' high rock with some unspoiled reef surrounding it, so we figure it will be worth the wait, we'll see.  We are still finalizing our plans for the hurricane season and will be sure to post our tentative schedule when we decide...and we can do that without worrying about opsec! After Saba is Eustatia, followed by St. Kitts/Nevis.  We don't expect to have internet until St. Kitts, so we'll have lots to update in a week or two.

St. Barth

Quick hello from St. Barth while we dodge raindrops and try to hold onto a stolen wifi signal...we are holed up in Anse de Columbier, a secluded, protected bay, only accessible by boat or mile long hike along the cliff.  St. Barth is a picturesque island, but we can't afford to do much here.  We've been taking lots of pictures, Chris has been experimenting with some night sky exposures, see below. we'll post more pictures when we have better signal.  we rented a four-wheeler and toured the island, there are some VERY nice houses here!  the wind has made it difficult to do much, but we still swim, carefully launch the dinghy and go ashore.  The wind kicks up the sand and it gets everywhere, but it's supposed to let up this weekend and we'll reprovision in the town of Gustavia, and then (weather permitting) start making our way to Saba, with a stop at Ile' Forchue, which we think means "the fork" since that's how it's shaped.  We stopped there on our way here, it's a neat, uninhabited island with trails all over it, and awesome views.  It used to be overrun with goats, so there is little vegetation, but the goats are gone and it's easy to walk around.  Privately owned, but there is no infrastructure, the owners are okay with sailors taking a stroll.  I write this from the lobby of a super swanky hotel, we definitely don't look like guests, but they haven't kicked us out yet, better make tracks before they get on to us! Au revoir!