June 2, 2006
The girls are on their cell phones telling business associates and relatives that they are off on a Walkabout with Captain Mark. They also both accepted nice job offers with Sacha now the new events planner for the 2007 St. Martin Heineken Regatta.
{mosimage}After a nice swim and snorkel on the west side of the Anse Marcel, we sailed off the anchor at 10:30 am and beat our way east then south passing between Tintamarre and Orient Bay on a 170 degree close hauled heading until arriving at the uninhabited Il Forche at 2:45pm. We picked up a free mooring in the St. Barths Marine Park known for its snorkeling. Il Forche was once inhabitied by goats that ate all of the vegetation and had to be removed from the barren rocky atoll. It was a bit rolly on the ball but we managed a great snorkel on the northwest side of the bay and John, who is an executive chef, prepared a tasty salmon pasta dish. Sailing off the mooring we arrived in Gustavia, St. Barths, at 5:15 pm having to motor the last 40 minutes in the lee of the island.
St. Barths is a Mediterranean looking port with numerous upscale boutiques and restaurants outlining the docks with a multitude of yachts and cruising boats. In the middle of the end of the harbor, rows of moorings are placed with fore and aft ties for yachts of various sizes. I obtained two 100 ft lines from Sunsail before my departure for just this reason and we began cocktail hour while the high pitched sounds of mopeds and scooters zoomed by onshore. The overnight mooring charge was a cheap $13 and there were no cruising taxes or park fees….Anguilla, take note!
The 2005 Doyle Cruising Guide says that La Cantina is an inexpensive eatery along the wharf. However, gazpacho soup, for example, was $16 and entrees averaged $30 so we moved on. Instead, we wandered over to Le Select an inside/outside local beer garden originally owned by Swedes, at least when I was last there in 1981, and had a drink. Here a beer is $2.50 and a drink about $4, ridiculously cheap compared to any other place on island. We ended up having dinner at the Open Your Heart Restaurant and Blue Coconut Bar, a smokey blue lit place frequented by locals where you can get a cheeseburger for $12, a personal pizza for about $15, and a flank steak entrée for $20. There a French local told me that St. Barths is TOO French and that only two types of people live there: The rich, spoiled celebrities and those that serve them. The locals, many who live on anchored derelict boats outside the inner harbor, voice similar sentiments to the French Revolution in the late 1700’s except this time, it’s “Let them drink beer” as they seem to be able to afford the high café and bar prices found here.{mosimage}
June 3, 2006
We dropped John off at the ferry at 9:30 am so he could get back to work on St. Martin. After a quick provision stop at the AMC Market, a well stocked and high quality supermarche where we purchased gorgeous rib eye steaks, soft drinks, a 1999 Pomerol Bordeaux for only $19 and this chocolate coconut candy bar called Bounty that I have become quite fond of, we left for St. Eustatius, better known as Statia.
Leaving at 10:30 am we set the sails for the close reach on a compass heading of 200 degrees and averaged over 6 knots in the 16-18 kt SE breeze. A glorious 30 mile sail that concluded with a wing and wing finish around the southwest side of Statia to our anchoring spot on sandy bottom just behind the breakwater at Oranje Baai in 17 feet of water. There are about five yellow with blue striped moorings available but I opted to anchor closer to the breakwater to avoid the swells that were rolling in. There is a $10 Marine Park fee for the moorings and another fee for customs but we left before anyone was around to collect.
So on to shore we went, where a quiet uneventful island town called Oranjestad rested among the chickens and abandoned cars and two well appointed shore side hotels, one called the Old Gin House. There are no sandy beaches on Statia and we decided against hiking the volcano as it was late after the 6+ hour sail. We ate goat (tasty) and chicken wings at Franky’s Bar and Restaurant where we and the flies waited over an hour for the food to arrive, probably because we were the only ones there. A brief stroll through the five blocks that make up the town ending in an internet café to check emails, etc.
June 4, 2006
Hoping to make St. Kitts on one tack, then motor in as the wind dies behind the island, didn’t work out as planned. We left Statia about 9 am and motored into the channel into the wind with the dual purpose of charging the frig and trying to get a more favorable angle on the SE wind. After an hour we tried sailing but were able to maintain a course of 165 degrees on a desired heading of 145 degrees. Then the wind got fickle approaching St. Kitts, so we ended up motor sailing the final 18 miles, tacking so close to shore that the GPS showed our course track as being on the coast road. We tacked when within 50 yards of shore or when the depth showed 14 feet or when there were visible rocks which did not become prevalent until rounding Palmetto Point just before the capital city Basse Terre. The girls slept most of the way.
Clearing customs there at the commercial dock was fairly quick though there was no real place to tie the dinghy so I “beached” it on a concrete ramp covered in crabs. The hassle is that while customs could clear us, for $12, immigration is at the airport a couple miles away. Passports had to be stamped there so I decided to do that later.
We anchored about 4 pm in White House Bay, which has no houses on the surrounding hills much less a white one. Among the coral bottom we found a patch of sand in 14 feet of water and set the hook in front of a small destroyed concrete dock. Off to the south of us are some magnificent coral heads and a wreck in shallow water though the visibility continues to be low to average. There is very little rolling here, however, and there are no other boats as far as the eye can see. Just numerous pelicans and an occasional turtle. We opened the 1999 Chateau La Fleur des Ormes Pomerol and enjoyed our idyllic surroundings after over 5 hours of motoring.
About 6 pm we hitchhiked north with the first car picking us up, I thought because of the two lovelies but they turned out to be Jehovah’s Witnesses hoping for a captive prey. They dropped the girls off at a bar called the Shiggedy Shack in the Frigate Bay area and then took me to the airport. After Immigration, I grabbed a cab and joined them back at the bar and we ate and drank with some of their Dutch friends and some new American ones til midnight. A very fun place, with $3 drinks and a solo singing act, the Shiggidy Shack was rockin! I finished off their St. Kitian rum and had a Bastard Fish sandwich, though the $22 BBQ lobster looked great. Locals mixed with workers from the huge Marriot Hotel and tourists danced with them all. Two overweight local women were dancing extremely provocatively so I took a turn with the one called Veronica with gold teeth, tight bright blue pants and a white beret.
The Frigate Bay Area has many hotels and restaurants nice beaches and even a casino. Mr. X owns the Shiggidy Shack as well as the water sports rentals featuring Hobie Getaways and water skiing. Other colorful restaurants nearby include the Rock Lobster, Sunset Café, Monkey Bar and PJ’s Bar. The evening ended with a taxi ride back to the dinghy and a final cognac on board before a nice gentle sleep.
June 5, 2006
Waking up with a fuzzy head, I declined the offer to join my Dutch friends with their island buddies who were going spear fishing and beaching on the south side of the island at Cockleshell Bay. After making some calls and reading about St. Kitts, I hitched a ride towards town with a taxi, yes I said hitched, he didn’t charge me anything. He dropped me off at Frigate Bay where the first passing car picked me up and took me to the marina.
There I learned that boats can stay for $.75 / foot / day including water but not electricity. I also learned that if you anchor outside of the marina, it will cost you $5/day to bring your dinghy to their dinghy dock. It is a small marina with about 40 slips but is well protected and located in the center of town. Unfortunately for me, today is a national holiday and everything was closed including the popular Ballahoo restaurant.
I then hitched a ride with another taxi who said “just give me something” back to Frigate Bay. On the way, he made a stop in what they call “the ghetto” where a dread locked local named Ziggy came along for the ride. Ziggy was a likeable guy who kept slapping your arm or chest when he spoke to you and often announced that he was high and drunk. He owns a small beach bar in Frigate Bay among several other shack bars that line the beach between Islands Bar and the Monkey Bar. The cab driver was known as Chatter Box because, “if you want the whole island to know something, tell him,” said Ziggy.
Ziggy offered to buy me a beer, which he never paid for, and we met his friend named Trevor who was there with two of his three ex wives and his two children, one from each. His third ex wife, he said, was murdered by the government because she owned 30 acres on the south end where the new marina and hotel complex is being built and the government, he said, had absconded 800 acres to suit their needs for this project. A spiritual man, he introduced me to his ex wives, one of whom was openly sexual about things which I learned is very common among St. Kittian women.
For example, when I returned to White House Bay, three local couples were engaged in various sexual positions in the shallow water nearby my dinghy. They looked up sheepishly when I approached but didn’t break stride as I waved and motored back to the boat. Another startling anomaly was that instead of having the bay to myself, now there were six other sailboats anchored outside of the PISANG. There goes the neighborhood!
After a swim and hamburger, I finished my Guiness beer and Trevor gave me a wild ride back to White House Bay around 4:30 pm. After snorkeling the wreck, I barbequed a huge cote de boeuf from St. Barths. The girls are nowhere to be found so I figure they are off somewhere tantalizing the local folk, which turned out to be at the Shipwreck Bar in South Friar’s Bay. I told them that they had to be back at the bay by 10 pm or they would have to swim to the boat because I was going to bed by then. Ingeborg returned about 10:30pm but Sacha got lucky and stayed over night and I picked her up the next morning.
St. Kitts has a little of everything, from high ground to low land and miles of unspoiled and unblemished land and shoreline which will be developed in the upcoming years especially the southern area. Tomorrow we leave for Nevis, about 8 miles away.
June 6, 2006
Left St. Kitts at 9:30 am and faced a strong wind up to 25 knots occasionally but it soon died to under 15 as we motorsailed most of the way to Nevis. We saw the Four Seasons complex almost immediately and headed for that, continuing down the coast to Charlestown where I cleared customs about 11 am. Then I arranged a taxi to take us to the Golden Rock Hotel at 1 pm and strolled down the street to the Downtown Cyber Café where it took 1.5 hours for us to figure out how to send emails from my laptop as it turned out none had been sent from Anguilla on June 1. Shelly, the owner, was very helpful in determining the problem and helping me transfer my 12 emails from the laptop to her computer and then getting the proper info from Caribe Surf.
Back to the boat, which the girls cleaned up in my long absence and we motored to just off of Sunshine Restaurant and went for a quick swim before meeting our cabbie, Samuel who took us to the Golden Rock in his van called Cinderella. Nevis is very lush with trees and flowers everywhere and our nature hike up behind the hotel was gorgeous. We saw pigs and monkeys and met a local among some very plantation looking homes above the hotel.
Back at the hotel, we had a very nice lunch and spoke to the owner who took over the place from her grandfather in 1978. Leaving about 4pm we stopped at a supermarket and drove through the cute old town and then back to the boat. That is when Sacha complained that her appendix area was in pain and she might need medical help. So we took her to the Four Seasons for assistance and they were very helpful in calling a local doctor who came out and diagnosed the problem as a urinary tract infection (probably from her activity the previous night). He said it would be ok for her to make the long upwind Antigua leg as long as she took medication.
Sacha, a very vibrant and cocky 23 year old with dazzling blue eyes and slender figure, nevertheless has some issues in accepting the extent of her medical problems and dealing with her personal health. Here is a typical day for her: wake up, cough a bunch, smoke a couple of cigarettes, have a cup or two of strong coffee with another cigarette. Then drink 2-5 energy drinks during the day, smoking at least after every meal and definitely when she drinks alcohol, most often vodka and Red Bull. This abuse was occurring, I eventually discovered, while she was popping antibiotics for another stomach issue she has had for awhile, including the fact that she has had diarrhea for several years straight. Now you and me would think it obvious that if she quit smoking, quit the massive caffeine intake and stopped binge drinking that her body might have a chance at repairing itself. The young is wasted on the young isn’t it?
After Dr. Jacobs “fixed” Sacha and emphasized not to do these things so she could heal, we had a very nice dinner at Sunshines, $16 ribs, $17 shrimp, and $25 lobster and we tried his famous “killer bee” rum drink. We are all going to bed early tonight as we must wake at 4 am for the rough sail to Jolly Harbor, Antigua, approx. 50 miles away.
June 7, 2006
{mosimage}It was a tough night sleeping anticipating the early wake up, which occurred at just before 4 am. We motored in moonless darkness and rounded the town of Charlestown, then the commercial dock 1.5 miles south until we encountered the ESE 18 kt winds at the SW corner of Nevis. A tack out south to clear the island then, at 2200 RPM, we set a course of 105 degrees for Antigua. With the wind at 115 degrees the main would not fill so after clearing Nevis I altered course to 90 degrees at 0605 motor sailing in choppy 3-4 swells until 1015 and averaged a steady 5 kts. After a couple of half hour short tacks as the wind shifted between SE and ESE, we set course of 130 degrees at 1145 and hit our target of Jolly Harbor at 1410, almost exactly 10 hours from departure. The trip was bouncy, bangy and slightly wet but the girls took some naps and we read and managed to get through the monotony and diesel fumes without a problem.
I was concerned by the duration of the trip as I thought we would arrive with almost no fuel since there would be just over 40 hours on the engine and we have a 39 gallon tank. Over and over I calculated, in both gallons and liters, our approximate fuel consumption. This became necessary as during check out the service man told me not to rely on the fuel gauge but to use 4 liters/hour at 2500 RPM and 3 liters at 1400-1800 RPM as guidelines.
We had to clear customs etc at Jolly Harbor, just south of Five Islands, where we also topped off all tanks and hosed down the boat. When the fuel stopped at 20 gallons I was both relieved and shocked especially since the gauge was on ½ when we arrived. By the time we finished at the fuel dock, and the girls went to the Cyber Café to arrange plane tickets back to St. Martin, it was past 5 pm and we decided to stay at the dock (only $0.55/ft/night) instead of motoring around the point to Five Island Harbor. After the long day, we also felt we deserved a dinner out so after some wine to celebrate our crossing and a short nap by me, Sacha and Ingeborg treated me to Melini’s Restaurant where we had some really good and reasonably priced Italian food.
June 8, 2006
While the girls made some calls, etc. I paid for the slip ($23) and got a free weather report (www.windguru.com) from the marina office that forecast winds in the mid 20’s for the middle of next week. Then I went to the grocery store and bought food and drink for the week ahead with Karen aboard. The chicken was very inexpensive and the other meats and veggies were normal per the USA pricing and quality. After getting four bags of ice from the fuel dock, we left Jolly Harbor at 10:25 AM.
We were able to sail in the strong winds for half an hour but then we had to turn east back into the ESE winds that were now 22-25 kts. Back to motor sailing from 90 to 140 degrees missing Johnson’s reef which extends across the south coast of Antigua arriving at English Harbor at 1:15 PM. We had just enough time for a swim after having to anchor three times before getting a hold, and I took the girls to the Admiral’s Inn so they could try to find a ride to the airport. There we learned that you can take a bus for only EC$3.75 (about US$1.50) to St. John’s then another to the airport. So I said my goodbyes to two great girls who really enjoyed the sailing and partying without complaint and with extreme enthusiasm….and they looked good in a bikini!!
At the dock was the magnificent and perfectly maintained yacht Endeavor, a J boat from the 1930’s in ocean blue hull and a crew of five scrubbing and polishing from bow to stern while I watched. Another boat, a custom Swan 77 was making last minute preparations for their departure for Maine the next day. Walking around the dockyard, and visiting the Antigua Slipway Marine Store for a roll of duct tape, brought back so many memories from when I ran a Swan 57 here back in 1980-81 and the 2 or 3 Sailing Weeks I did in the 80’s. What a marvelous yachting tradition English Harbor exudes!
In the harbor anchored behind me is a 1970 Choey Lee Clipper 42, same color as my father’s 36 which he owned from 1979 to 1992. I visited with them for several minutes and we swapped stories regarding the boats. A nice couple from Canada, they had just returned from an aborted attempt to sail to Guadeloupe due to the steering gear bolt backing out. Luckily, they just had made an emergency tiller last week so they were able to return to Antigua and repair it.
After flushing the holding tank in an attempt to finally rid the boat of the lingering smell, I barbequed some burgers and a steak left over from St. Barths and settled into a nice early dinner alone as the sun set and the boats floated aimlessly about the harbor in the fickle light evening winds.While motor tacking from Nevis, I decided that it would be too much distance to cover in the next two weeks to sail to St. Lucia and back and have a chance to enjoy the places we would see. So I called my guests for the next two weeks, Karen and Jill, and asked them to change their flights from St. Lucia to Dominica. St. Lucia will just have to wait for another trip!!