June 25, 2006
We awoke at 6 AM and managed to leave at 7:07AM, motoring for the first hour to charge the frig. The wind didn’t pick up til about 9 so we kept motoring then went full main and jib in the 12-14 kt winds, averaging 5 kts. The course was 275 degrees and we had an amazingly pleasant sail, punctuated by a late sighting of two dolphin and an hour of motoring at 6.7 kts to speed things up for Cody who wasn’t feeling good for a portion of the trip. We arrived in Charleston, in front of Sunshine’s Restaurant, at 3:30PM, 8.5 hours later, an average of 5.5 kts. The last hour, in the lee of Nevis, was flat fast and everyone finally took a turn driving as Otto and I have been doing all of it until then.
Everyone swam (except me and Laurie who took the dinghy) to the beach and had some cocktails and wings at the water’s edge from Chevy’s Restaurant where I tried some rum from St. Lucia. I also talked the bartender into giving me this rasta ashtray for Keith, as part of his 50th birthday celebration, which I will present to him later. We returned to the boat and got ready for dinner as the sun set next to St. Kitts.
Keith has developed a rash under his armpits and Jill did some energy work to help alleviate his condition. We enjoyed some Mt. Gay Mango Rum with pineapple juice with the last of our ice obtained from Chevy’s and then had dinner at Sunshine’s. They were only serving platters, of ribs, shrimp and boneless chicken, with rice and tomato with mozzarella. The food was superb, Sunshine, returning from New York the same day where he was interviewed on the Kelly and Regis Show, was our gracious host and we had plenty to eat at $20 per person. The Shrimp dish, with vegetables, was outstanding.
June 26, 2006
I sent Keith’s family on an island tour so Jill and I could move the boat two miles north to Tamarind Bay, a bit more secluded and obstensibly less rolly, with better snorkeling as well. First we had to clear customs ashore and Keith had to send out some work at the Downtown Internet Café. At customs we met Dennis and Laura, from Key West, delivering Dennis’ 1989 Catalina 42 to Venezuela to satisfy insurance hurricane requirements of being south of 12 degrees, 40’ latitude. They had just met before leaving but seemed to be getting along well.
Jill and I then found a take out window that sold chicken roti, the Caribeean burrito with curried chicken, mango chutney, potato and carrots in a thin flour wrap. They were small but tasty as we ate them in the cute garden just off the ferry dock in Charletown. We found a small store called Knick Knacks and bought some necklaces and bracelets as gifts for Jill, Keith and his family, and two stained Nevis tank tops for me. A cab ride back to the boat followed when Dennis and Laura dropped by to chat, delaying our move to Tamarind Bay.
Just as they left, the family returned so we all moved the boat together. They had gone to the Golden Rock Hotel and walked the nature trail as I had earlier, seeing one monkey.
Anchoring in a sand and grass bottom in 9 feet, we then snorkeled around the north side of the bay and saw a lobster, a turtle nestled under the coral stacks, a small octopus, amidst hundreds of long black spiny sea urchins. Scores of Conch shells were piled on the shore and the visibility was better outside of the bay. Laurie took a snooze in front of the closed Galipot restaurant and we barbequed hamburgers for dinner with Mango Rum and Passionfruit cocktails. A beautiful star lit night concluded a great day in Nevis.
June 27, 2006
We motored to White House Bay seven miles away, anchored in the exact same sandy spot in 14 feet, and dove the wreck in the middle of the bay which featured a large turtle out in the open which hung around for awhile.
Jill needed to get a hotel room for the night before leaving the next day so I suggested the Marriot on the Atlantic side. We locked up the boat, locked up the dinghy ashore to a tree and hitchhiked a ride the 5 miles or so. Our driver was a freshman at FAU, in Boca Raton, about 5 miles from my house, who grew up in St. Kitts.
Arriving at the hotel, I managed to get her a room for the Caribbean citizen rate of $117, about 60% of the normal rate. Keith was so impressed he got a room for the family as we decided to get a night of luxury and my first hot shower in 31 days. I took a nap, snorkeled a bit in the man made breakwater, and had a couple of Miami Vice frozen drinks. Keith took the family horseback riding up to the rain forest with Trinity stables, at $76 per person for almost 3 hours, which he described as the best ride they have ever taken. They plowed through sugar cane fields and galloped at will.
We ate at the hotel restaurant, La Cucina, and had an excellent meal with good reasonably priced Italian wine. The kids had burgers in the room and watched movies so Jill’s final night was pleasant and relaxing.
June 28, 2006
We got back to the boat about an hour later than I wanted to but managed to leave at 9:30AM for the 46 mile trip to St. Barths. Yesterday I saw on windguru.com, a weather forecast for a day of rain for June 29 so I want to make sure we are in St. Barth’s on a mooring before it hits. Remy showed us her seventh different bathing suit, she brought eight, and we caught a nice SE breeze down the west side of St. Kitts, topping off on the speedo at 8.7 kts. By the way, the Barometer has been steady the entire trip at 1020 millibars.
The wind lasted, though went ENE, until about two hours after rounding the north point of St. Kitts and we averaged 6.5 kts on a heading of 20 degrees. Then it dropped to 13-14 kts and we did some motor sailing through a couple of very heavy rain squalls with lots of rain and wind only rising to 22 kts. I went below to get out of the rain but the family huddled with towels to protect them and had fun while being pelted by the horizontal drops. Keith wasn’t feeling so hot and Cody had his moments so the increased speed and stability helped get us there faster. Laurie was the star as she grinned from ear to ear the entire trip. It was a truly wonderful close reach sail that we completed in 7.45 hours averaging 6 kts.
Now that Jill was gone and I was without a roommate for the first time in 20 days, I relinquished the large and spacious forward cabin to Keith and Laurie. Keith really needs some sleep. We switched spaces and cleaned up the boat a bit, then relaxed with the bottle of Mango wine I purchased for $8 in Nevis. Once again, I tied up to the bow and stern moorings in the middle of the harbor so everyone could enjoy the Mediterranean feel of Gustavia. Next to us was a wooden 34’ sailboat without its mast or standing rigging. Instead, blue tarps held down with pint sized water bottles designed to protect it from the rain, though the wind knocked the tarps over the side which made it have a somewhat annoying rustling sound all day and night.
Then we visited Bacchus, the wine and spirit boutique, where Keith, with his fluent French, learned about wines in St. Barth’s. The man there told us that France subsidizes the wines by not charging any import taxes and they pay a 10% incentive fee as well. I bought a smooth 2003 Bordeaux for $9, instead of the $1150 bottle of 1987 Petrus, and off to Le Select we went for cheeseburgers and to drink the wine. As we walked through the north part of town, a huge rain shower pinned us to a small mall where a small dog joined us. Everyone was tired from the long sail so we all crashed about 9:30PM. I tried to make the wind scoops fit the two aft hatches but they collapsed with the first gust and I gave up.
June 29, 2006
That dam rooster has followed me again and is crowing non stop as we sit quietly in a cloud covered and cool harbor. Most of the moorings are occupied as today is supposed to be rainy and cloudy, and not clearing until Saturday morning. Today we will explore St. Barth’s, once and perhaps still the elitist island of the Caribbean. It rained a couple of times last night indicating our day would probably be fairly wet.
It seems that most of the cars on the island are rentals so we joined the masses in a small four door Suzuki. First we drove North towards Anse Columbine but the road was under construction so we headed for Flamandes, a secluded and wide yellow sandy beach on the Northeast side. Keith and Cody went for a swim while Laurie, Remy and I walked down the beach stretching our legs a bit while the weather was still behaving.
Our drive continued into Baie St. Jean where we stopped to admire and explore the Eden Rock Hotel and Resort. Extremely impressive, very high quality service, with comfortable accommodations and all of the people working there were gorgeous. It had started raining so we decided to explore a bit more then look for a place to eat lunch. We drove out of town south a bit enjoying the amazing views then returned to eat at Bacardi Café in the Creole Center. The rain picked up and was a deluge right about the time the food came.
We left, while it still rained, and took a quick glimpse at the spectacular Saline Beach on the south side of the island, where nude sunbathing is permitted. Today, however, we were the only people there as the rain was near horizontal and our visit lasted only long enough to snap a few photos and retreat to the car. An up and down drive back to Gustavia ended at the ABC Market to replenish the galley, those kids eat all day, highlighted by steaks of filet, New York and Cote Beouf.
The rain had diminished somewhat as we returned the rental car ($60) and opened up the boat. The girls read in the forward cabin while the boys played a spirited game of gin Rummy as we sipped some French and California red wine. I demolished the Raphaels in the card game as the rain stopped completely. Then we BBQ’d the steaks with Cajun spiced green zucchini as Laurie slept and missed dinner.
June 30, 2006
Laurie and Remy were primed to do some shopping, so they dressed the part and hit the stores. Keith had to complete some work on the computer and email it out to his clients so we charged his computer on the boat then went to a local café taking advantage of the local wireless internet connection. When Cody grew tired of shopping with the girls, he found a bar showing the World Cup and the boys watched Germany beat Argentina in a shootout. We made sandwiches on the boat and enjoyed them at the dockside gazebo.
The girls continued to shop and the boys walked around town finding Cody his first bottle of wine so he could drink it when he turned 21 and remember fondly his time in St. Barth’s. My guess is that it will be consumed well before that but it makes for a good story for him either way. We watched some of the Italy versus Ukraine match then met up at the local creperie so Keith could get his taste of a crepe. I bought two cotton Hawaii style shirts for $10 each at LouLou’s Marine, which no longer is owned by LouLou and is now a clothing store.
All in all, it was a very uneventful day as we stayed in town and eschewed sailing with the heavy cloud cover keeping us in port. That night Keith and Laurie went out on a romantic date to La Marine restaurant where they raved about the food. I hung out with the kids and BBQ’s ribs and steak then we played Gin Rummy until the parents came back. When they did, the kids and I left the boat without saying a word and gave the parents 45 minutes to complete their romantic evening. Keith was very grateful the next morning.
Some thoughts on St. Barths: A lot has changed since I first came here in 1981 to race in the St. Barth’s regatta on the Swan 57 I was maintaining. Back then, Le Select and a hamburger place were the main eateries in Gustavia and LouLou’s Marine store was the main sailors hangout. Eden Rock and Chez Francine’s Lobster restaurant in Baie St. Jean were popular, though Francine’s was blown away by a hurricane in 1999. The island is very steep with winding narrow well built roads and houses that have no yards due to the incline of their properties. The beaches are gorgeous, some nearly deserted with others, principally Baie St. Jean, now lined with commercial enterprises and strip malls. Eden Rock and Le Hotel St. Barths (on Baie Allamandes) are very chic and the restaurants are classy though expensive as the average appetizer is $15 and the average main course is over $30. According to the women, the clothes and accessory selections were expensive though there were many sales due to the low season. There is a distinct Meditteranean feel here, with many chain smoking French and a few visiting foreigners, like us, who stick out quite obviously. The snorkeling is good, I am told, though the seas were a bit rough, not easily accessible by boat, and with the cloudy weather we did not attempt any snorkeling here.
July 1, 2006
We awoke early to our familiar rooster crowing and to find a huge orange cargo vessel filling the view to the harbor entrance. A quick stop to top off the water tanks for the last time, pay for the additional mooring night ($12) and to shop for more food for the next segment and we departed at 9 AM, right on schedule. Hold the presses, as I wrote that last sentence, Keith emerged from the forward head and proclaimed that it stopped functioning correctly as the waste would not pump out. A sailor’s worse nightmare, having to take apart a clogged head, had finally arrived.
We called the local Sunsail maintenance rep but he was unavailable until 11 AM, so Keith and I began dismantling the head. A dirty stinking mess no doubt but we had no choice as we had to leave by 11 AM to make it to Anguilla before dark. After cleaning out everything we could see, we put it all back together and tried it again. No change. Apparently, there is a clog in the line or valve that separates the holding tank from the seacock and even a coat hanger could not reach or dislodge the problem. So we cleaned up and headed for the customs dock to get water and pay for the last night on the mooring, taking on 400 liters of water. Can five people survive with only one head?
We left at 11:05 AM and had what has to be one of the Caribbean’s most beautiful and comfortable sails. With the wind from the East and blowing around 15 kts, we had a steady 120 degree reach in small seas. Leaving Gustavia, we then pass numerous small islands named mostly after food items, e.g. beef, bakery, fork, table, and then pass between St. Martin and the low lying Tintamarre Island in the Northeast corner of St. Martin. A swift crossing of the Anguillan channel on a similar or slightly broader reach then wing and wing for the final 5 miles passing Blowing Rock, Rendezvous Bay and the famous Cap Juluca and then a rounding of the leeward mark of Anguillita to starboard. An upwind six mile leg, with 5 or 6 tacks, passing the marvelous beaches on Meads and Barnes Bay, and a final motor into Sandy Ground, in part to charge the frig, where we anchored in 11 feet of clear light green water at 5:30PM, 32 miles later.
The kids and Laurie read books or slept on the bow and I gave Otto a rest most of the time, taking the helm to help settle the boat especially during the wing and wing, while Keith enjoyed the upwind steering. There is only one other visiting boat in the harbor besides us. Keith, Laurie and I went ashore for a walk and a cocktail at Johnno’s while the kids played Gin Rummy, with which they seem to have become addicted. Despite the head fiasco, the day turned out to be just about perfect as we finally left the city life and got back to sailing and swimming.
July 2, 2006
I awoke and went for a morning swim but spotted the sand shark under my butt again so stayed close to the boat. Later, we all saw two of them breaking the surface and frolicking back and forth behind the boat, each about 3-4 feet long. We would see more later.
I went in to clear customs and of course the two ladies there remembered me as “Lonely Boy” from sailing solo when I was there a month before. Peggy joined us for the day after customs and we left Sandy Ground for Prickly Pear Island at 10:45 AM. A nice broad reach got us there in no time. Packing a picnic lunch then taking the dinghy into the lagoon like area was next and everyone loved the clear water and white sandy beach. Unfortunately, Scoobie Too, the 75 ft catamaran I had seen in Anse Marcel earlier in the trip, unloaded their 30 or so passengers about the same time we arrived. Snorkeling was ok, not great, but the environment was gorgeous and we had a nice day picnicking and hanging out in the water. Keith and Laurie took a walk and saw two more sand sharks, and a turtle, near the water’s edge. I had never heard or seen so many of these sharks before in my travels in the Caribbean.
At the closed Prickly Pear Restaurant, there were scores of finches that landed on your hand or shoulder and ate crackers from you at will. Cody especially enjoyed this and we got a good laugh watching them cover him harmlessly.
We left around 4:30pm and sailed back, arriving around 6pm, braving a bit of a rain storm with gusts to 28kts on the way back. We said good bye to Peggy and got the keys to the rental car she arranged for us. Soon we were driving around looking for food as the kids and Keith were noshing at the bit for something to eat. We ended up at Rafe’s, a ramshackle barbeque restaurant that offered ribs, chicken, fries and garlic bread, nothing else. This was perfect for the tired bunch and with the make your own drinks and view over Sandy Ground, it was a nice simple end to a great day sailing, beaching, snorkeling and eating. By nine o’clock, everyone but me was in bed as I wrote this entry and admired the stars overhead. The moon is just less than half and is very pretty as I grow tired from the three mount gay and mango drinks I prepared at Rafe’s earlier tonight.
July 3, 2006
Awake again at 6am, very early for me, but I have been going to bed much earlier than when at home. Went for a swim and to take care of morning business but kept a sharp eye out for the sharks that seem to like to hang out under the boat. All of a sudden, a sand shark cruised inches from my butt attacking my release. They truly gave accurate and profound meaning to the phrase, “scared the crap out of me”.
I then put on one of my new shirts from St. Barth’s and off to Rendezvous Bay we went. I wanted to say hello to Bart, the General Manager of the hotel there, as he was keeping two bottles of 1994 Freemark Abbey Cabernet for me that the restaurant sells for only $35 per bottle. Keith’s family ended up having breakfast then went to Mead’s Bay to enjoy the crystal clear blue waters and soft white sand beach as I tended to a meeting in town.
When I was finished, I got a ride to the area but couldn’t find them so I had some lunch at Banana’s on the beach. I had a crab and shrimp wrap with caeser pesto sauce that was excellent for $16. Around 3pm I wandered to the north side of the beach where they had parked and had short swim. They checked out the Dolphin adventure park at the south end where a baby dolphin was born two weeks ago and they were able to view it swimming with its mom. The options to swim and touch the dolphin there cost from $99 to $169 depending on how much contact you have with the mammal. The family declined all options.
Soon, I noticed the menacing rain cloud approaching from the east and decided to take cover. I changed back into my clothes and went up to the lobby of the Maloulihana Hotel to look for the sommelier who I knew from an earlier trip to Anguilla.
He had already left so I went back to the beach and retrieve the family then took them up to see the West Indies style hotel perched above the beach. From there we had a snack at the local market and then went for a tour of Cap Juluca at Maunday’s Bay. I had stayed here early last year and wanted Keith and Laurie to see the beauty of this resort.
We returned to the boat around 6pm for cocktails and grilled boneless chicken, the last barbeque for the trip. I estimate that the grill was used about 20 times in 38 days and held up well until the last week when the top rack adjusting nut broke its weld and forced us to cook with the grill sitting directly on the coals. A bottle of the Mark West Pinot Noir to complement the meal and a cognac before bed ended another day in paradise.
I stayed up later than everyone else and gazed at the stars and thought about the long trip that was near its end. While I really wished my father could have been along for some or all of it, there was nothing I could imagine went missing during my voyage. I saw old friends, made new ones, sailed up wind, sailed down wind, snorkeled in many new places and saw sea life I had never seen before. Each new crew that came aboard added their own personality to the boat and everyone got along perfectly. The boat sailed well for a charter boat and was quite comfortable, with its large cockpit and ample beam, at anchor and at sea with very little repair necessary along the way. I blended meals aboard with meals ashore with provisioning stops perfectly and was able to sample a good deal of local fare.
The weather was really ideal and the low turn out of other boats made the cruising wide open and trouble free. Early summer usually offers 12-14 kt winds and hot balmy nights where the crew flips to see who gets the windscoops. Other than a few days in late June, I had winds generally in the 18-24 kt range. As I sit here in Sandy Ground, Anguilla, writing this, there is a steady wind with scattered clouds, keeping the boat cool. While the nightly 20 second rain sprinkle was expected and on schedule, the breeze was the story as I never had to motor at any time, only if I wanted to make up time or had to charge the frig.
Would I do this again, or for longer periods? In a heart beat. My only thoughts would be to keep the crew size small, 2-3 people or two couples total, on a boat of this or similar size and I would definitely try to limit my anchorages to those that offered snorkeling and swimming and avoid those with wake boarding, city front beaches and bright lights. The final ten days had too many stops where the on land activities dominated for my taste.
July 4, 2006
I cleared customs at the commercial dock, forgetting my boat’s papers, and got one more goodbye of “Lonely Boy”. A final wave goodbye to Garfield of Gotcha boat trips and we sailed off the anchor in a nice puff of wind at 9:30am.
The six mile downwind cruise along Anguilla’s northwest coast was smooth and fast, about an hour, as the wind blew 20 kts and the seas were smooth behind the island. Then we turned the corner at Anguillita Island and we went close hauled with a 95% jib and full main in the 20-24 kt breeze. Instead of tacking up the Anguilla coast as I did a month earlier, this time I cut across the channel on port tack ending up at northwest St. Martin, just west of Marigot Bay, about an hour later. The sky was covered in dark menacing clouds all day though it never rained.
We then tacked and skirted, as close as possible, the coast of St. Martin, battling 4 ft seas and gusts as high as 30 kts. The kids enjoyed sitting near the bow and riding the seas with the occasional spray eliciting cries of delight. Eventually I decided to motor sail the final port tack into Grand Case and we arrived three hours since we departed Sandy Ground and anchored in 13 feet on a sand and grass bottom. Everyone was hungry, again, so we showered and took the dinghy into town to eat at Calmos Café, a cute eatery with beach chairs, picnic tables and really good food. We learned that the World Cup semifinal between Italy and Germany started at 3pm so after lunch and a stroll through the charming, restaurant laden town, we returned to watch the game.
Actually, I went to the boat for a quick nap and to get my bathing suit since I really didn’t want to watch TV on the last full day of my trip. The match went into double overtime so I did join them to watch the last two frames until it ended at 5:30pm. The family then went shopping in Grand Case and took a cab to Marigot, but they found most things were closed and came back mostly empty handed. I laid in a beach chair until 7pm waiting for their return and finally gave up and was heading back to the boat when they showed up.
We then did some packing on the boat and returned to town looking for a suitable restaurant, and we found plenty to choose from. Grand Case has so many excellent places, with delicious menus with many on or overlooking the water. Most restaurants were offering an exchange rate of $1 to 1 Euro if using cash which was about a 30% discount! The prices were fairly high, averaging from 20 Euro to 35 Euro, but when we finally selected California Restaurant, partly because they had kid friendly fare as well, it was all worth it. Great service and unique meals, I had Monk Fish and Shrimp with couscous, Keith had Perch, and our salads were fresh and full of savory items. The kids had carbonara and lasagna and crepes (10 Euros each!) for desert and we were presented with free coconut or pineapple rum for a digestif. Unfortunately, we had no cash so Keith used his credit card when buying us all dinner.
We returned to the boat, full and tired and went to sleep around 11pm. I stayed in the cockpit a few minutes reflecting on this being the last night in the Caribbean for who knows how long. It was still windy and there were three bright lights on the shore nearest the boat, but the familiar feel of the cockpit and gentle slapping sound of the dinghy tied astern was a welcome and bittersweet reminder of all of the previous nights aboard the Pisang Goreng and how I will miss living here.
July 5, 2006
I woke up first again and started packing up my things. We were able to all take showers and be ready for an 8:30am departure. Motoring out of Grand Case I expected to be hit with wind on the nose for at least the first hour and was not disappointed. 20 + kt winds again hit us as we passed by Anse Marcel and rounded St. Martin, easing the main when along side Pinel Island and motor sailing the full eight mile leg back to the charter base in Oyster Pond. The kids were back on the bow for the first half but eventually started feeling bad again.
We pulled into the base about 10:15am and parked on a slip next to the fuel dock as it was occupied already. Sunsail sent out a representative to move the boat to refuel but after he moved the boat the 20 yards and tied along side, I noticed a burning smell coming from the engine compartment. It turned out that the ignition key did not return to the “On” position, instead it was stuck on “Start” and the starter motor burned up in the few minutes it was there. After 40 days under my command, with me knowing that the key can’t stay in that position, the proud yacht was immobilized by the next hands that took over. I gathered up my belongings and thanked her again for taking good care of me and my guests while she waited for a new starter motor to be installed.
My Dutch friend John picked me up so we could discuss some business. He informed me that since I left him in St. Barth’s a month earlier, he no longer worked at The Wharf, he had broken up with Ingeborg because she had an affair, he had just moved out of her apartment, and he was diagnosed with a cancerous growth on his ass. An unfortunate and stark contrast to the month I had just had! He also told me that Sacha had returned to Holland so my Heineken regatta connection is gone.
The family got a cab and we all went to the airport and checked in. Then John drove us to the Sunset Beach Grill, just next to the airport runway and we had the best burgers of the entire trip, and with these kids, we had a lot of burgers! I caught my plane at 2pm and arrived in San Juan in time to watch France defeat Portugal 1-0 in the World Cup. I am now writing this on the plane heading for Ft. Lauderdale and have decided that the trip is officially over. 40 days and 40 nights, the Caribbean Walkabout, has finally ended.
I hope to return to the Caribbean soon, probably to look at buying a piece of land somewhere for an investment or to build a villa to rent or live in from time to time. But as I stated at the beginning of this rambling memoir, the one thing about making plans that is certain is that they are due to change. We will have to see what happens next, stay tuned.
Cheers,
Captain Mark
What a great adventure 😉😉