St. John, St. Thomas, USVI and Culebra

After Sean and Courtney left I did a lot of laundry. In fact this was my second day at the Simpson Bay Marina doing laundry and both times it took all day. There are drop off laundries around but only one do it yourself location. It had two washers working and ONE dryer. The laundry opened at 8:30 and by that time a number of people were already lined up - with several loads of laundry each. The first time I went the power was off on the entire island and didn't go back on till 12 Noon. I needed clean sheets for our visitors so I just hunkered down and waited (and waited and waited...). The only consolation was a really nice woman from Australia who waited with me. The second time I brought my computer and caught up on email and blog entries.
We had been going over to the Turtle Pier for our internet service. There isn't any internet service available in the lagoon or out in the bay that you can sign up for online. This place has an unusual collection of parrots. They are beautiful but can make quite a racket. There are several photos here. Scott had his sewing machine out (he's the one who does the sewing as you can see from the photo here) to make a cover for our steering pedestal.
We had much more fun over on the French side one morning walking around Marigot and eating amazing croissants and drinking french coffee. Mmmm.... But soon the weather report looked great and we were off for an overnight passage to St. John, USVI. It was a text book trip; nice reach off the beam and 2-3 foot waves.
We had some really good friends waiting for us there, Hilary and Tony on "Miss Charlotte". We've had wonderful times with them in the past in Bonaire, Curacao and the Aves and we've missed them recently.
My mind was a bit on trying to schedule doctor visits and then coming medical procedures so I'm horrified now to discover I took almost no pictures during our time with them. Just one shot remains of the two of them waving good-bye from the stern of their beautiful Halbery Rassey so I've aslo included a photo from a year ago in Bonaire of them with Scott above left.
We had in fact, as always, a super time being with them. We had dinner on each other's boats and on shore at the Wahoo Bay Campground. We played a lot of great bridge, changing partners around. We spent one night anchored outside Cruz Bay and then moved to a much nicer mooring in St. Francis Bay. Hilary, Scott and I went diving twice and snorkeling once, all out at a small island off St. Francis Bay. Unfortunately for me the first time I wasn't able to submerge! My new wet suit Scott gave me for my birthday was much more buoyant than my last one. We didn't have extra weights with us, so I just waited in the dinghy. The second time all was well and it was a really beautiful dive, through and around some great rocks with nice coral and fish. The visability was great.
We also had a chance to visit our old friends Bill and Suzanne Osborn who have lived on St. John for many years and also have a home on Cape Cod. They invited us to their home for dinner and we stayed the night. Their good friends Laurie, Alex and daughter Maya joined us and it was an amazingly delicious meal. That's left to right Alex, Maya, Scott, Suzanne, Bill and Laurie. The other shot shows the view from their pool. It was my 65th birthday and a lovely celebration! It was really nice the next morning to sit and talk with them over a leisurely pancake breakfast.
Scott and I then sailed over to St. Thomas were we spent several days while I had some medical procedures (a separate blog entry) and it was a surprisingly comfortable anchorage in Charlotte Amalie off the Yacht Haven Marina. Every type of shopping is available here and there is public transportation by small vans. After everything was complete we filled up with diesel and water at the Yacht Haven and took off for Culebra on April 24.
Unexpectedly we found two boats we knew. We saw "Toujours" as we arrived and went over to their boat for drinks and then the next morning heard "Kayana" on the SSB with Chris Parker. Paul and Lynn (the last photo above) raced over in their dinghy and we were able to visit for awhile that morning. Paul is working on his American citizenship so they are staying in U.S. territory for the necessary time period.
On our first afternoon Scott and I dinghied ashore and tried to see Customs and Immigration to check out but they had closed up early. The next morning they came in late. Luckily Scott got a telephone number to call and so didn't go there until they arrived. So if you are in Culebra don't expect the officials to be there during office hours. Call first!
We finally pulled our anchor up after lunch and headed off for the long passage ahead. We had a good weather window and were hoping to go straight to the Bahamas - four nights off shore. More on what happened in the next blog entry!

St. Martin; Sean & Courtney arrive

We arrived in St. Martin's with plenty of time before Sean and Courtney's arrival. Our good friends Linda and Ed (shown here below right) were there on "Dreamtime" already. It had been years since we've seen them and had been planning to get together for some time so it was a lovely reunion.

We left Georgetown in the Bahamas together almost five years ago and sailed down the eastern Caribbean with them the first time. We had several days of visiting and then they came over for breakfast the first morning of Sean and Courtney's visit to meet them.
We anchored at Simpson's Bay on the dutch side just in front of the drawbridge to the Lagoon and then entered the next day.

We were in a line up of many boats, many of them super yachts (that's Heather skippering through the drawbridge above). The previous time we anchored in Marigot Bay on the French side, a cheaper alternative, but as Sean & Courtney were flying in to St. Maartin, we made the decision to pay up, about $70 including the bridge fees.
We anchored not far off the airport. During our whole time there we had many mostly short showers and a number of beautiful rainbows (see above left). Scott brought the dinghy into the Turtle Pier bar/restaurant and walked over to pick them up. It was an unusual experience for them to walk out of the airport with their baggage and into a dinghy!

Luckily it was a nice night and they were soon at the boat eating a good dinner. This was a four day holiday Easter weekend and we thought Customs & Immigration wouldn't be open so the next day we exited the drawbridge and anchored in Simpson Bay so we could swim and snorkel. The water wasn't very clear but we got to see quite a few fish and some fun squid! Of course our very pale guests slathered themselves with sun tan lotion but even that couldn't protect Sean totally. The curse of being a red head. Good news the next day when we found Customs open and were able to clear out. The anchor was right up and we were off.

We had planned to head to St. Bart's but the weather was looking so good as we set sail that we turned the wheel around and headed for Saba. Boats can only visit Saba when it's relatively calm as there is no protected harbor on the island. The land basically goes straight up from the ocean. Only about 30 years ago the islanders built a small protected landing

spot and built a road from there up to the four small villages; Bottom, Windwardside, Hells Gate and St. John's. Most visiting boats pick up one of the deep water moorings either off the landing or on the west side near the old customs house. Saba can be seen from St. Martin on a clear day

and it looks like you're going to get there any minute until you finally realize how tall and steep it is - and how far away. You can see the rugged cliffs here in the two photos. In the second look in the water on the left and see how small the super yacht looks in contrast. We anchored in the second area at first and in two shifts dinghied down

to the landing. This turned out to be a little too exciting! Going downwind wasn't too bad but the trip back was rough. By this time too the boat was bouncing around pretty wildly. We decided to move the boat down to the area off the landing site. Courtney and I waited on land while Scott and Sean went back to move the boat. There was only one mooring left and after they left we noticed two boats sailing over from Stacia. It was a race to the mooring.
We stared at the edge of the cliff willing "Scott Free" to show herself. The other boats were clearly winning. Oh no!
And then they passed the mooring by! Thank goodness they decided to check out the other moorings first - poor guys. Our men charged around the island (that's them passing the breakwater here) and grabbed that empty mooring. It was a much more protected spot and much closer for the dinghy.
More about Saba and the rest of our trip in another posting!

Deshais, Guadeloupe

We checked out of Les Saintes and filled up with water at the Yacht Club before leaving. This is the only place we've actually done this (did it also four years ago) but it's quite easy. You tie up at their distinctive mooring, dinghy ashore to pay, and then fill your tanks from the hose tied to the mooring. Our sail today took us down the west coast of Guadeloupe to Deshais, a wonderful little town at the northwest end. On the way we were buzzed by hundreds of jet skis!

It looked like a scene from a James Bond Movie. Waves of people standing hunched over their machines raced down the coast. After one group of twenty or so passed we'd look back and there on the horizon was another approaching. A helicopter flew up and down watching them and taking photos. We felt sorry for the few stragglers that struggled along after, most with engine problems but seemingly determined to finish whatever the timing.

This is a large harbor with good holding and pretty good protection. We had strong memories of coffee and croissants in the morning there watching the town wake up. This time we couldn't find that cafe but the food was just as good in the more modern version on the main street. Unfortunately there was no view but lots of friendly local habitues. One fun coincidence was the Ben & Jerry's Ice Cream freezer prominent in the cafe (see the picture).

We had another morning hike planned and wanted an early start. Chris Doyle had recommended it (the hike not the early start). You go north along the waterside street to the end and find a path leading up the hill, over it and down the other side to a very long white crescent beach waiting there. We walked about half way and spent hours swimming and reading in the shade of the trees. There is one beach bar on the south end and a whole village of them at the north end. It looked like a good place to have lunch but it was too early as we passed through.

At this end also was the end of a fresh water river that was at that moment dammed up by the beach. A group of young people were swimming and kyacking there. Instead of retracing our steps along the beach we passed through the restaurants, out the narrow road to the main highway. It was a pleasant walk back along it and over the hill into Deshais. That's a map of the area above on the left. The trail is in yellow, the white is the road and the "You are here" the restaurant court.

That evening we strolled along the beach road looking at the restaurants and their menus. It wasn't the menu or the ambience that made us make our decision. It was a charming 8 year old girl who lured us in, played games with us and made us laugh a lot! The lobster was a little dry but the evening was a hit!

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.

----------
radio email processed by SailMail
for information see: http://www.sailmail.com