St. Kitts to Nevis

Our next destinations, St. Kitts and Nevis, are an independent state with a British tradition and 50,000 inhabitants (Saba has 1500 and Statia 2700 in contrast). The anchorage at St. Kitts was too open to the waves so we stayed in the marina there for three nights. This was a nice change and we enjoyed plugging in and using our air conditioning.
We've anchored all but a few days since our return March 1. That night three boats came over for drinks in our cockpit; two that we've been traveling with off and on; Dreamtime and September Song (they have a 15 month old son, Matis) and a couple we just met, Gretchen and Frank on Infinity. The next day was Mother's Day and it was so wonderful to talk to all four of our children! Luckily our "international" cell phone was working for a change!

St. Kitts has a steep central mountain range rising 3750 feet high but the land, covered with sugar cane plantations, now mostly charming Inns, slopes up gradually from the sea. We rented a car on Monday and drove all around this lovely island - on the left side of the road. Rows of gnarly trees line many of them, leaning away from the sea winds. Two pictures illustrate this, better seen by double clicking on the photos. Brimstone Hill Fortress, a World Heritage Site, is a enormous series of fortifications built on a old volcanic eruption which rises straight out of the sea. This reminded me of the Tolkien's City of Gondor - a series of walled terraced fortifications with the road twisting up and through deep arched gates. One thousand British soldiers held out for some months against eight thousand French there, surrendering eventually with full honors. The fort is being painstakingly restored and is already in great shape. While we were there a tropical downpour occurred cooling everything off nicely.
We also visited two lovely old plantation locations. The first Romney Manor was once the home of Jefferson's great grandfather and although the old manor house has burned down, it is now home to Caribelle Batiks and their charming workshops are scattered in the beautifully landscaped gardens where we saw some of the monkeys which populate this island. The second, Rawlins Plantation Inn, appears like magic after a long narrow card track between fields of sugar cane in a wonderful oasis of lawn, trees and flowers. We had a West Indian buffet lunch sitting on their veranda with a view of the sea and in the distance, Statia.
As each diner completed their luncheon, the birds moved in for the last dregs of the drinks! After that we met the present descendant of the past owners, Philip Walwyn, a renowned yachtsmen who is building a First Rule Twelve Metre - a class of boat used for the America's Cup from 1958 to 1987. It is the only one to be built since 1917 and gorgeous. .His wife, Kate Spencer, is a wonderful artist and her studio and shop is in their home. The boat is being built out in the yard. We really enjoyed her work and bought a signed numbered print of hers.

After the necessary and with the car, easier, tasks of laundry and shopping, we drove down the lovely but almost deserted south end of the island. Newly constructed roads over the hillsides indicate that next time we visit this island, new homes will have sprouted up. We returned the car this morning, checked out with customs and now we're off to Nevis.

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Hiking Saba and then on to St. Eustatius or Statia

The next morning, still at Saba, we arranged for taxi driver Eddie to pick us up at 8:30 AM at the dinghy landing. We started the hike up the old volcano, Scenery Mt., at 9:30 and visited all three viewing spots at the top and in the crater. The clouds parted long enough at each one - great luck. The flowers and vegetation were worth the trip alone. Some sections required ropes to help you climb up! In the pictures here you can see how spectacular the scenery is! Happily the dense vegetation and the clouds which hang over the summit most of the time kept the temperature down and our walk was very pleasantly cool. Pictures here show the trail with Scott and I, plus the views down to a boat traveling by and to Bottom,
one of the small villages on the island. Later we visited the charming museum detailing their history. Men on this island have sailed all over the world and many rose to captain their own ships. The women then and now made lace! Their beautiful lace pieces are famous and they're still tatting on today.


Our next island, Statia, was very attractive but not in the same league. It's a quiet rather sweet place and the walk up the volcano, called The Quill, was nice but very hot. It is drier and has less variety in it's vegetation until you get in the volcano itself and there are only a few distant views. This island has a big history however During the mid to late 1700s Statia was the
trade capital of the Indies. From one to two hundred sailing ships lay at anchor off the shore where a sea wall protected a long street of shops and warehouses. All this is gone now, destroyed by war and hurricanes. The beautifully paved roads leading down to the shore are still in perfect shape however and many of the walls higher up in the now existing town center. The snorkeling over the old sea wall, now under water, was excellent. The moorings at the town are rather open and we had lots of swells. This sets the boat rocking - an uncomfortable feeling. We set a stern anchor to face us into them and that really helped.
Several years ago rogue waves from a storm way across the Atlantic came suddenly in the middle of the night here and several boats out on these very moorings were thrown up onto the rocks in just minutes - a scary thought! We try not to dwell on stories like these and those of pirate incidents. The chances of this happening to us are about the same as an uncoming car on the highway crossing the medium strip and hitting you head on. What's the sense of worrying about that? Besides, see that rainbow over the island below - always a good sign!

Both these islands are Dutch and pictures of the royal family decorate many homes. They are part of the Netherlands Antilles, part of a commenwealth group with Holland, Curacao, Bonaire and Saba. Recent votes were held in all of these countries and Statia, Saba and Bonaire decided to become part of Holland. Curacao voted to become independent like Aruba. Recently they've been reconsidering that opinion and may have another vote.

Saba

It was somewhat rolly on our mooring off Saba but not too bad. We got there late the first day and planed to check in with customs at the little harbor the next morning. We first tried to land our dinghy at Ladder Bay Beach, but couldn't see how steep it was, and when we landed, the waves crashed over the transom and swamped the boat.



Luckily Scott managed to push it beyond the waves and hold it there chest deep in water while I spent a half hour pumping the water out. Our outboard was OK thank goodness.
We were exhausted so we snorkeled around Wells Bay to recover and cool off - beautiful with caves and tunnels. - and after lunch went back to the harbor.

The road from there was hand-built and only finished in 1958 - like all the roads on Saba, it is very steep and narrow. People stopped and picked us up several times on our journey up through the small charming towns of Bottom and Windwardside. Two were medical students at the International School of Medicine, rated, we were told, fourth out of the 32 Medical schools in the Caribbean.
Imagine! We then walked all the way back to the landing, around 3 miles, mostly straight down, as it was late in the afternoon and there were very few cars. Our legs were protesting! The homes are almost all white with red roofs and with either green or soft red shutters and somewhat Victorian in style. We stopped at a small museum to pick up a trail map. We hoped to hike up to the top of the volcano and into the crater. The volunteer there suggested we have her husband, a cab driver, pick us up in the morning and take us to the trailhead, an excellent plan. More about the hike on our next posting!

St. Martin to Saba

We had great luck in the Anegada passage (the stretch of water between the British Virgin Islands and Saint Martin), sailing all the way. For a change our biggest problem was slowing the boat down so we didn't get there in the dark. The first part of our trip, down Drake's Passage between the Virgin islands to Virgin Gorda was one of the prettiest we've seen. We had our motor on 1/2 hour out of 20! During the night we talked to Dreamtime, Vagamundo, September Song and Evening Star. We anchored at Marigot Bay on the French side and it's lovely.

That first morning, still early, Scott was in heaven when he noticed our neighbors skinny dipping. His clothes were off in a flash and he was overboard!
Everything is colorful and combines the Caribbean and French culture to perfection. Our French is so rusty but unlike the Parisians, everyone is very kind and encouraging. An inlet with a small draw bridge leads into a huge totally protected lagoon. This picture shows a small marina with boats permenantly on the hard. Many had families and retired couples living on them. We went into the open air market Saturday morning, shopped and took lots of pictures. Clothing, fruits, vegetables, every kind of fresh spices in profusion, meat, fish, and unbelievable bread and pastries - all in very attractive and clean stalls along the waterfront. And the supermarket has a wall of cheeses, pates etc. that make picnics inevitable.

Sunday we rented a car for the day and circled the island. The weather wasn't great, mostly overcast, but our lunch at a beachside French resterant was fabulous! On another note, it's true that "naturalists" (nudists to us) are everywhere - including our own boat. We, of course, visited the nude beach after that wonderful lunch.


We also drove over to Philipsberg on the Dutch side of the island. There's a big difference between the two halfs. The Dutch side is packed with condos, high rise resorts and the capital city, although charming too, is frantically busy with tourists. The cruise ships land on this side!
As soon as the weather calmed down - it has been very squally - we headed southwest to Saba.The island is so small and yet so tall that it seemed to take forever to get there - we saw it from far away! We had an amazing time in Saba - this is my favorite island so far. It's a fantasy novel setting - a real Shangri-La. We spent two nights on a mooring at Wells Bay - gorgeous site, cliffs straight up around us. Saba is only 5 square mile but reaches 3000 feet. Houses perch in seemingly impossible positions on the edges of precipices. Until the early 40s Saba was almost inaccessible. Everything had to come and go via a set of 800 steps cut into the rock face.
Men stood chest deep in water to unload cargo, including a bishop and a piano (fun fact). In this last picture, especially if you double click on it to enlarge, the stairs run diagonally right about two thirds of the way below the white customs house, then drop straight down. That customs house is half way up the stairs! Until a small harbor was built in the 50's where you can land your dinghy, very few boats came there. Even today there are only five moorings in deep water off the island for cruisers. We tried to land our dinghy at that rocky beach shown in this picture but it was so steep the waves swamped it. Scott stood in that chest deep water holding the dinghy while I pumped out the water. It took a long time.

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Viequez, Puerto Rico to the Virgin Islands

We then sailed to Sun Bay on the south coast of the PR island, Vieques in the Spanish Virgin Islands. On the way we caught a four foot Dolphin Fish, a brilliant bright green and blue color and delicious eating. This was another overnight sail, livened up by conversations with Diesel Duck and Dreamtime. Nearby phosphorescent Mosquito Bay was spectacular! Dreamtime (that's them below with Scott) and ourselves took our dinghies over there, had drinks and a picnic supper on the beach. Impromptu sculptures made of flotsam and jetsam are a fun happening on many beaches (see above).
After dark we took our dingies into the bay and swam. Amazing! We lit up like fluorescent bulbs as we moved through the water and when you lifted your arm, the drops of water ran off sparkling back to the sea.

At that point the gremlins arrived. Our transmission oil cooler sprung a leak so we had salt water in the transmission and the impeller on the gen set went too. Then the engine itself wouldn't pump water; it turned out it was sucking air through from the generator, but we didn't figure that out for a few days. So we were without power and were worrying about our batteries. Luckily, we found parts over the phone in Fajardo on the main island and the shop drove them to the air port where the little airline flew them in for $5. It turned out that one needed an adaptor so Scott got up a 4:30 AM to catch a local bus to the 6:30 ferry to Fajardo, got the adaptor and then rather than waiting for the 3 pm ferry flew back for $23. We at least got the engine working then and took off. On the way a whale passed in front of us, evidently on a mission because it didn't slow down or pause - we sure did - it was only 50 feet away. Our boat brakes for whales! Once in St. Thomas, USVI, with much help from Benno on Diesel Duck, the generator went back together and all is now well.

We spent two nights in St Thomas provisioning and doing laundry, and three nights seeing friends on St John. Bill and Suzanne Osborne have been living and working there since we last visited them in 1987 with our family.
They have built a spectacular home high in the hills overlooking the British Virgins (see photo just above showing their hot tub and the view). They treated us to dinner two nights and came on board for a sail one day (Bill and Scott above) - a lovely visit.

Puerto Rico

We left just before dawn the next morning and had flat seas until we turned down the coast past Punta Nisabon, DR. The wind came up that afternoon and the seas were a little rough but calmed down as the sun set. We were able to keep the main up the whole way and shut the motor off for a while. We angled across the hourglass shoals and took one tack to get out across the narrow section. The next morning we were off Cabo Rojo, the southwest corner of Puerto Rico, motor sailing in calm seas all the way to Ponce. Thirty two hours to do just over 200 miles!

Ponce is a terrific provisioning spot. Benno and Marlene on "Diesel Duck" (that's it above) were already anchored so we arranged for a one day car rental from Popular Car Rentals for $39 (they picked us up at the Yacht Club and dropped us off) and shopped at Sam's, Wal-Mart and Pueblo Supermarkets.

We had to make two trips we got so much stuff! That night there was a sundowners party for boaters in the harbor at a small park. At least twenty boat crews were there - great food.
Diesel Duck and ourselves left Friday morning at 4:30 AM and had a beautiful sail down the coast to Salinas. This is a lovely protected spot but if we'd followed our charts' advice, we would have had
to skip it - they all showed much to shallow water The Salinas Marina has a Laundromat ($1 per machine), pool and snack bar which they let all the anchored boats use.We met up with friends from Columbia, Luis and Natalia, on Vagamundo and rented a car with them for two days to see some of the island. Ponce on the south coast was very different from San Juan. We appeared to be the only non Puerto Ricans in the city. The Museum of Art there was world class! The Castillo, built in the 50's for a prominent family that is now available for a tour is build high up on the mountain overlooking the city. The gardens and view were worth the trip alone.

San Juan was beautiful and at least until later in the day, not crowded. Once the cruise ships empty, the streets load with
tourists. We walked all around the city and toured the fort. Unfortunately I had a bad case of the stomach flu and was a bit of a party pooper. We found a very nice restaurant however with something for everyone. We drove through the island on the way there and back along the east coast - a very twisty road with lovely views.

Los Haites National Park, Dominican Republic

We left Luperon Thursday night April 13 in marginal conditions with our friends Ed and Linda on "Dreamtime" around 5:30 PM with northeast swells around 5 - 6 ft. and NE winds 10 knots. We were able to keep the main up most of the night and the waves moderated as the night went on. The winds shifted more to the west by morning and we were downwind sailing as we approached Escondido where we had thought to anchor. We had made such good time that it was only 8 AM and we talked it over after speaking to Chris and decided to go directly to Samana. The cliffs of Cabron were so beautiful and the scenery down the east coast lovely. Added to that, after making the turn south, we were on a beam reach and of course that's a sailor's definition of perfect. Jurassic Park was filmed in this area and it does look like that.

We anchored in Samana Bay at 3 PM and were almost immediately boarded by four men; the "Harbor master" who spoke very good English, the assistant commandant, and two other "officials". They asked for drinks (we gave them fruit juice and soda) and tips. There is a $15 port fee. The harbor master came back out with another "dispachio" and receipt for the $15. We were very annoyed by the whole process but talking about it together with other boats we learned a lot from the experience.

We thought the harbor was very pretty with lots of room to anchor. Steep hills with multi color homes surround the anchorage on two sides and on the other was a long footbridge connecting a series of islands. We took our dinghy in the next morning and hired a motorcycle with two person carriage to take us to the market. He waited and took us back. The open air market was really interesting and we got some vegetables and fruit. We took a nice walk along the harbor too. A boy "watched" our dinghy for a small tip.

We sailed across the bay to Los Haites National Park at Bahia San Lorenzo and that was a really beautiful location. This was one of our trip highlights so far. The anchorage was gorgeous and unique.
Lumpy green hills with caves and cliffs line the bay. Our guide book said it was as similar to Bora Bora as you can get in this hemisphere. A ranger hut with one official who comes in by boat each day is on a small beach. There are interesting caves nearby that he took us through which were extensive and had Taino Indian carvings.

The next day all six of the boats in the anchorage took our dinghies up the narrow (at times only 12 feet across) winding Rio Chiquita, an amazing and lovely trip, to the end. This felt a bit like a Disney ride but much prettier and without the animatronic animal figures. There is a substantial dock to leave the dinghies with an armed guard, then we walked to Paraiso Cano Hondo, a eco-resort with a series of little waterfalls made from a stream diverted throughout the facility.
As it was Easter Day lots of families were spending the day here swimming in the pools. We wished we had worn our suits. The food was good. You chose your meat/fish and then the side dishes came family style. Natural materials are used very artistically in the construction and the twelve of us had a great lunch. We met the owner, a Cuban American from NJ who has a ranch nearby.

After lunch there we climbed a steep path and staircase up the mountain behind the last hotel units to a pretty view. The construction of all this is amazing. We all agreed that this was what cruising was all about!

The other four boats left on Monday night but another boat we're traveling with, "Diesel Duck", and ourselves waited for the light and variable conditions on Tuesday to cross the dreaded Mona Passage. Monday was my birthday and Benno and Marlene came over with some fabulous food for a celebration.

The Dominican Republic

We really enjoyed the Dominican Republic and it was great seeing it with Mitch (shown here with Scott and looking like he's enjoying life!) and Diane Korbey. We did the famous all day waterfall trip out of Luperon and that was really fun. The first part of the day was really a glorified shopping expedition but the wood/stone carving cooperative was interesting, we did buy one, - and the villages on the trip up into the mountains were a trip back in time, even in the DR. Later in Santo Domingo we went to the Museum of Anthropology and what was in the exhibits was on display in reality in the mountain villages.

Picture below show us at the museum and a carnival costumer. The falls themselves were very exciting and challenging. There are 16 different levels of falls to climb and on the way down you slide or jump the up to 20 foot drops. The women in our group made it to 4 and the men to 7. This attraction couldn't exist in the States, the liability issues would be too great!

Our trip to Santo Domingo was great. The Zona Colonial is mostly 1500's buildings and churches and reminded us of Rome and San Juan. We ate at two great restaurants in the evening and saw several interesting museums. Mostly we just walked around and took it in. We stayed at the Duc de Wellington, Bruce's favorite. After we upgraded our rooms, it was very nice ($61 cash), but the standard rooms were small and dark. We took the local buses both directions. They pack these buses like Japanese trains - seats fold down to load the aisle. Diane and Mitch flew back home from Santo Domingo. We were so sorry to see them go.