Travels To Grenada

Prickly Bay, Grenada

We have had a pretty fast trip down to Grenada from the Virgin Islands, we finally left Virgin Gorda on 6th May, with a goal of getting here in time to do a few boat chores before heading off on our various land trips in July/August.

First stop was St Martin and the long awaited reunion with French supermarkets. 

In conjunction with Bleu Marie we organised a blind taste testing evening of 12 wines, 4 saucisson and countless cheeses – what decadence, what gluttony, what joy! 

We set a self imposed target of a maximum of 4.50 Euros a bottle to compare with the various US chateau cardboards we have been drinking while in the Bahamas and Virgin Islands. 

We managed to remain sober enough to write down the details of the wines, most drinkable, the odd horrible and a couple that were very good – so the next day we returned to the shops to buy a couple of cases of the good stuff!

Even Charlie got to do his own taste test!  Although he prefers the posh US vet only food to the crappy French cat biscuits!

Next stop is St Barts, one of our favourites, we spend a few days in the superb Anse Colombier enjoying the weather and the water, some great hiking and a fabulous lunch in sophisticated Gustavia to celebrate 15 years together.

Onwards ever onwards we sailed from St Barts to Guadeloupe stopping overnight for a sleep at Montserrat, the anchorage there was very comfortable and we must go back soon to do the volcano tours.

A few days in Des Haies doing some sightseeing, a trip to Carrefour to stock up on French delicacies for hurricane season, and for Linda some busy days as she makes some stunning cockpit cushions for Bleu Marie.  When we bought Matsu Linda got an industrial sewing machine and has gradually pushed back the boundaries of yacht sewing starting with some simple covers and through to our dodger that she made so well in 2011.  The combination of Michelle’s artistic eye for colours and Linda’s sewing making for a stunning addition to Bleu Marie.

From Des Haies a long and superb sail to Roseau Dominica for the night and then on to Grand Anse D’Arlet in Martinique, where we ran into our long lost cruising friends Sam and John on Imagine, last seen in early 2009. 

We found them in great form and sailed with them on to Rodney Bay St Lucia for a few days of exploring that area.  Highlight being a superb hike up to the old fort and gun placements with spectacular views back over Rodney Bay.

We also got our first Roti of the trip at the excellent Jambe De Bois on Pigeon Island – heaven.

Another great but long sail took us from Rodney Bay direct to Bequia via the Pitons of St Lucia, great views and safely anchored before sunset at Bequia.  We celebrated Linda’s birthday there before a final leg to Carriacou and Grenada our home for hurricane season.

US & British Virgin Islands

Bitter End, Virgin Gorda

We noticed today that we have been in the Virgin islands for nearly 2 months now, so consider ourselves very lucky!  Previous trips here were much shorter and it has been great to explore some different places.

St John has been a real favourite, most of the island is national park and is covered in hiking trails. The trails wind through the forest and up and over the mountains taking in old sugar plantations, petroglyphs and stunning views over the islands.

The other highlight has been sailing once more, after hundred of miles of head winds and seas it has been so good to hoist the sails, slipping silently from place to place in sheltered waters.

It has also been a very sociable few months, guests on board, catching up with sailing buddies we haven’t seen for years and waving sad farewells to Chandelle and Bella as they turn round and head for the USA.

		Virgin Islands VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

Puerto Rico & Spanish Virgins

Culebrita, Puerto Rico

Hola, Buenos Dias y Mucho Fun from Puerto Rico!

We have had a great 3 weeks travelling along the coast, seeing the sights and making the most of our last chance at US style shopping for a while.

Almost the first thing we did on arriving in Puerto Rico was to buy the plentiful and delicious fresh fruit and veg, after 4 months in the Bahamas subsisting on whatever scraps are left in the stores we went mad at the first sight of a supermarket!

We would normally have spent more time in Boqueron and many of the anchorages on the south coast but with incredibly calm weather forecast and the opportunity to make easy miles eastward we decided to get going.  We did stay long enough to empty Boqueron of mojitos and have one of the best meals we have had for a long long time in a great new restaurant for Valentines Day but soon we were off for Salinas.

We hadn’t been here before as the charts show only 7 feet at the entrance but we had heard that there is more water than charted and Merlin kindly agreed to lead us in so we gave it a try.   All went well and we were soon anchored in this delightful little harbour.  Surrounded by mangroves on all sides, with towering mountains as a back drop it’s hard to beat.

We based ourselves here, hiring a car with Merlin and North Bound to see the sights and replenish the freezer and spares lockers.  Old San Juan, coffee plantations, climbing El Yunque, Sam’s Club, Home Depot, scenic drive along the mountain spine all best covered by a photo montage rather than my paltry descriptive powers:

		Puerto Rico 2012 VIEW SLIDE SHOW DOWNLOAD ALL

With the exploring and shopping done it was time to head for the Virgin Islands and the long awaited reunion with Chandelle and Bella who we left Annapolis with all those months ago as well as Bleu Marie who we haven’t seen since the Bahamas last year.

By now the trade winds had filled in so we were back to the usual Puerto Rico strategy of an early start before they get too strong, and the other tested strategy of suck it up and pretend your whole boat isn’t being shaken to pieces by bashing into 10’ waves!

Two ordinary trips later and here we are safely anchored in Culebrita and ready to head onward to the US Virgin islands.  Culebrita is possibly our favourite spot in the whole Caribbean but certainly in the top 10, a gorgeous bay on the north side with sand and palms and the views from the lighthouse of the BVI’s and USVI’s.

 

 

bash along rest of PR coast

Culebra/Culebrita

“Thorny Path” Complete

Boqueron, Puerto Rico

The winds finally relented and we left Mayaguana on 8th February with a good forecast for getting across the Turks and Caicos banks and onward to Puerto Rico.

The day before leaving I did something very, very stupid - I tipped 5 gallons of gasoline into the port diesel tank!  The sound of swearing was heard as far away as Nassau I would imagine, and the last afternoon before departure was spent pumping 70 gallons of contaminated diesel out of the tank and into jerry cans, spare containers, holding tanks etc ready to refill with nice clean diesel in the Turks and hopefully to be able to dispose of it there too! 

An annoying and expensive mistake, but thankfully I noticed before running any engines/generators!  Luckily we have a completely full and uncontaminated starboard tank so we can catch the weather window rather than having to stay here any longer!

The first leg of our trip takes us to Sapodilla Bay in the Caicos Islands, it’s only 60  miles but with the wind 30 degrees off the bow it meant motor sailing rather than sailing in order to arrive in daylight, which with a coral head strewn last 8 miles onto the banks and into the anchorage was essential.

It was basically a boring day of chugga chugga from the engine, a few waves over the deck but as the winds dropped off to under 15 knots by lunch time even that didn’t happen too often.  The new engine did a great job of powering us into the wind at 7.5 knots plus and really that’s all you can ask for on a trip like that – uneventful!

The next day we went across the Caicos Banks in near perfect conditions, we had a lovely sail for the first ten miles down to our waypoint and then another fast but flat motor all the way across to Six Hills Cays.  The coral heads were easy to see and frequent enough to keep you alert without it being too stressful.  It took a little under 7 hours to complete the 52 miles into the anchorage at South Caicos. 

Once cleared in with Customs I get to spend a smelly, tiring, sweaty few hours offloading contaminated diesel for disposal and refilling the tank with fresh clean nice $6.60 a gallon diesel – why did I choose the most expensive country for diesel in the whole Caribbean to do this?

We spend a rolly night in the South Caicos anchorage, finalise the diesel refill and then move round to the gorgeous Six Hills Cays to await the weather for the trip to Puerto Rico.  We are swimming in crystal clear water over a sandy bottom wondering why we are leaving!

Saturday morning we awake to SE15 and the forecast of that dropping to near zero by night fall.  We wait for a few hours, so that we will arrive in Puerto Rico in daylight and then up the anchor wave goodbye to the shallows of the Bahamas and Turks and make our way out into the ocean.

The first 12 hours takes us across towards Great Sand cay and then to the south around the Mouchoir Bank, the first of 3 huge sand banks in the middle of nowhere that for a breeding ground for whales at this time of year, so it is no surprise to see a big humpback quite close up just before sunset.

Just before sunset the course changes and we are able to sail for 2 glorious hours, but then the wind dies almost completely and that is it, we don’t see a breath of wind for the next 36 hours!

So basically we just motor, in a flat calm sea straight to Puerto Rico, we get distant views of the Dominican Republic, I have to change a fuel filter that has become clogged and we see three very mysterious floating cubes with buoys attached – obviously a drug drop, luckily we don’t encounter the collectors or customs while we are near them, and in fact most luckily we don’t hit the first one as it is not easy to see and in a huge calm sea with no land or boats in sight not what you are really keeping watch for!

325 miles and 45 hours later we drop anchor off the customs dock in Mayaguana just after sunrise, two nights at sea $450 of diesel and here we are.  Still a few miles to go to get to the Virgin Islands but the hard yards done.

Customs clearance is easy and the we move down to Boqueron for a mojito or two and dinner with Merlin to celebrate what feels like the end of a long trip to the Caribbean.