Fwd: Ruins

Checking out a failed building project here in Nevis. Looks like a hurricane may have dashed the dreams of a developer as these condos were having drywall hung when they were last worked on. 

Just one step from the beach!

volcano hike

Just made arrangements for a guide for the hike to the top of the volcano on Nevis. Everyone we talked to said Reggie was the guy to get. Unfortunately when we called he was booked. He referred us to Baba but he was also booked, but said his nephew is available. He assured us his nephew was ok since he is Rasta. So confidence is high (literally). We are scheduled to be in Charlestown at 7:30am to begin our adventure. We have heard through internet research that it can be quite a challenge so we will see.

Nevis

We made it to Nevis at 4am and waited offshore for daylight. It was a bit of a slog to get here due to the wave action but it sure was nice having too much rather than too little wind. Next we will go ashore to Charlestown to clear in with the port authority, customs, and immigration. 

Nevis

We made it to Nevis at 4am and waited offshore for daylight. It was a bit of a slog to get here due to the wave action but it sure was nice having too much rather than too little wind. Next we will go ashore to clear in with the port authority, customs, and immigration.

Monserrat

It's 11pm and all is well. We are sailing past Monserrat right now. We have all the wind that I had been wishing for while crossing the Atlantic. Of course the ride isn't as nice as the waves are coming from the side instead of the stern so it's been a bit like being in the agitation cycle of a washing machine:-)
We are 29NM from Nevis (pronounced nay-vis). I've been trying to slow the boat down so we arrive at first light but I'm struggling to get the boat slower than 6 knots. We're down to an intentionally poorly trimmed triple-reefed main and a small patch of jib left unfurled (for sail balance). But still going 6.3.
The stars are out but we're both inside as there is a fair amount spray and also some rain coming from the clouds that are formed as the moist ocean air goes over the island.

no room in the inn

We tried to go to Ile de Saintes but all the mooring balls were taken as were the good anchoring locations. So by 1:30 PM we had snapped a few pictures and headed out on our way to Nevis.
It looks like an idyllic little village. I hope to return some day to see it in person (from land next time).
We currently have 20-25 knots of wind and are sailing under a second-reefed main and a single-reefed genoa making 8.5 knots. Partly sunny skies with some puffy white clouds. I'm trying to stay in the shade as it's too hot even with the strong wind.

Saintes

Iles des Saintes in the foreground and Guadeloupe behind with its peaks in the clouds.

Terre de Haute

We will be approaching from the south and going to the central part of Terra de Haute where the anchor symbol is.

cruisers radio net

We participated in the cruisers radio net that is held on the VHF radio Channel 72 every morning at 8:00 in Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica. This is an informal information exchange for cruisers for a variety of things such as spare parts needed, weather, social events, etc.
it was a bit humorous that a new sailboat announced that they had just arrived to seek shelter from the weather. The host of the radio net said they would likely need to stay several days.
I then announced that we were departing and thanked them for the hospitality.

Toward Guadeloupe...

We have left Dominica and are in our way to Iles des Saintes, a small island off Guadeloupe. We plan to spend the afternoon there then head out toward Nevis.
Lots of wind today from our beam. Currently making 8 knots under genoa and triple-reefed main in 6-8ft short period waves/swells. A slightly uncomfortable ride but making good time.

Boiling lake

We made a trek to the boiling lake here in Dominica today. First we had to find a ride to get to the base at Titou Gorge. Easier said than done as it was Sunday and most transportation doesn't run on Sundays. We found a taxi (large Toyota van) though that would take us the 1.5 hours to the south for $270EC (about $100 US). We stopped along the way for some sandwich fixings and water.
Once we got there we again the 6 hour round trip trek. We both tried to keep our feet dry by avoiding many puddles on the well maintained trail. About two hours in as we lost the protection of the jungle canopy and entered the Valley of Desolation, the sky opened up and drenched us. So all our puddle avoidance was for naught.
The Valley of Desolation is named so because of the many sulfur vents and boiling water welling up from underground. We eventually made it to the boiling lake. Quite an amazing sight. The trail ends at a plateau about 100ft high overlooking the boiling lake. The lake is about 100yards in circumference and an area about 50 ft in diameter is on "rapid boil". We eventually made it back to the base camp and then had to find transport to Roseau, the capital city, then back to Portsmouth.
We made it back just in time for a beach BBQ for the cruising boat people from the harbor - that's us! Had a great chicken/fish/rice/salad/rum punch dinner, then headed back to the boat to rest our (still) wet feet.

My thoughts exactly.

A picture from the fort overlooking Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica:

Notthward

1:48am: We actually had quite a nice run up the coast of Martinique under gennaker and single-reefed main. At times we were going 9+ knots which felt unusually smooth since the ocean swell was being blocked by the island. As we cleared the north end of the island we lost all our wind and picked up the ocean swell :-( This wind lull is due to Mt.Pelée as it is directly upwind from us. The general rule of thumb is that a vertical object blocking the wind will create a disturbance downwind of 50 times its height. Since Mt.Pelée is over two miles tall it will have effects 100 miles downstream. I remember sailing past here (way off the coast - 50 miles?) to Grenada from the BVI's four years ago and being a bit incredulous that islands so far off could be causing the wind disturbance.
Currently we are motoring northward to find the wind in relatively small ocean swells.

FDF

We are currently sailing past the port of Fort de France, this boat's home (registered) port. She used to be named Divinci when she used to sail these waters as a short term charter cat but is now named Pouplier II after the owner.
The wind has picked up a bit and we are ghosting along at 6.5 knots under a sky full of stars. The wind keeps varying as the wind is coming over the island and its many mountain peaks. It will take us about 4 hours to get far enough north to minimize these effects.
We've seen a little phosphorescence in the water tonight. Nothing as magical as Cartagena but still pretty cool to watch.

onward

We waited (impatiently) for our new MDI part to be delivered today. Unfortunately we burnt the whole day waiting for the part to show up instead of exploring the island. The guy with the part was less than 100yards away but we didn't know which boat he was on. Late in the day we started walking the docks asking anyone we saw but to no avail. Kind of like waiting for a delivery at home. They tell you they'll be there in an hour but 8 hours later they still haven't shown up. When they do arrive there are no apologies...
I grabbed the part and had it installed 5 minutes later. Fired up the engine and voila! Success!!
I also changed the oil in both engines today. Took less than an hour. Also found the location to recycle it properly.
We are on the move - departed Cul du sac du Marin at sunset, planning to sail overnight. Next stop Portsmouth, Dominique.
Very little wind at the moment but sheltered behind the island still. Hopefully it will pick up as we proceed North (sound familiar?).
Since we scrubbed barnacles the other day the boat has much better performance under power. What a nice difference. Carlos & I both have barnacle scars from accidentally brushing against them whilst swimming as we scraped them of with a kitchen knife but at least we got a real benefit.

Mt Pelée

Carlos and I hiked to the top of Mt. Pelée today, the highest point in Martinique, and around the caldera from the 1902 eruption which devastated the town of 30,000 people in Saint Pierre. This eruption has been dubbed the worst volcanic eruption of the 20th century.
Quite the awesome views from up top; lots of sweat equity though. My knees aren't as young as they used to be :-)

Lunch st Indigo

Had a great view of kids learning how to sail in the marina as we ate lunch.

Keyboard

The French have figured out how to do efficient check in with customs & immigration. There are computer terminals at various places around the island. You simply fill out the online form and the employees at the establishment print it out and stamp it. They collect a fee and "Bob's your uncle!"
But check out the keyboard! Look for the A,W & M for instance.

MDI

I ended up talking to several people yesterday that know tons about the problem I'm having with that part on the engine (called an MDI). My engines are 2016 Volvo D2-40's. It's a technical problem that Volvo hasn't figured out how to fix even though they've had the problem for years. I spoke with the manager of Dream Yacht Charters here. He's been through many of these on his boats. A month ago he had a team of 5 people from Volvo engineering here for a week to try to resolve the problem in his fleet of boats with new engines but no success. He continues to be plagued with the problem.
I also ran into Michel from the French boat "Spica", which was part of the rally. He has a new Outremer 45 and has had the same troubles. He was carrying a spare MDI and needed to have his replaced here in Martinique as he could no longer start one of his engines. They have a switch wired in to allow them to start their engine if it fails again. I was planning to do the same.
Now that I know how to work around the problem I'm not worried about it anymore. It's only a pain because I need to go into the engine room to start and stop the engine. I'll solve that next :-)

Engine problems

I don't think I mentioned previously (but maybe I did) that I have had recurring engine problems. Sporadically I haven't had the ability to start the engine. I've done quite a bit of troubleshooting but the problem persists. This got worse on the way to Martinique. Once I got the port engine started I left it running but eventually got concerned that there wasn't enough fuel to keep it going all the way to Martinique so I decided to turn it off. Unfortunately it didn't like that idea and wouldn't allow me to turn it off. There is always the option on a diesel to manually shut off the fuel supply to force it off but I have to get into the engine compartment from the stern steps which I don't like to do at night when at sea. Shortly after I was in procrastination mode we hit a big wave which caused the fuel to slosh in the tank and some air to get in the fuel line. Diesel engines HATE air in their fuel supply so it decided it was time to go to sleep.
As we approached Martinique I tried to restart the engine but to no avail.
Since I have limited maneuverability with one engine I decided to anchor out for the night instead of trying to make it to the fuel dock in a busy port.
The next morning I got up before the sun to start troubleshooting. I eventually narrowed it down to the MDI block (an electrical part). I also figured out how to start the engine by hot wiring it. This was a big breakthrough.
In the meantime, Carlos jumped in to start scrubbing barnacles off the starboard prop and rudder. Once I had my hotwiring process figured out I scrubbed the barnacles from the port side.
The barnacles on the prop had a very deleterious effect on performance; it was immediately apparent once I did a test run after the scrubbing. It felt like a new boat once again.
We then ran down to the fuel dock and put in 310 liters of fuel and found a berth in the marina. What a difference a day makes!!!

a little protection

Here's our little spit of land that protected us from the weather yesterday. It's so calm and peaceful today - hard to imagine. We were glad to not be one of the fifty boats riding it out on the other side yesterday.

Good morning Martinique (part deaux)

As soon as we started walking down the dock it started raining. We stopped and asked what looked to be another yachtie about clearing in and he said they had already closed for the day. Interesting, considering it was 4:15 on a weekday. So we decided to find some dinner. We walked in a couple places by the water and they were each trying to deal with the heavy wind as they were open to the sea. We eventually found a little restaurant across the narrow street, which also had an open front but at least had a bit of protection from the shops across the road. There were no other customers so we took the most interior table to not get any more wet while we ate. We had a nice mystery lunch (the menu was in French and they only spoke French - Antoine, where are you?)
We then grabbed a few groceries (including ice cream) from the local market and headed back to the boat. We had a dicey ride getting back around the point but the weather settled down at dusk and we had a quiet evening aboard. By dark it was almost eerily quiet on the boat compared to the craziness of our dinghy ride.
I woke up this morning to this view out my window:

Good morning Martinique

The wind continued to build yesterday and we had boat speeds of 8-10knots. The wind and waves today near Martinique were coming from the west which is quite unusual. Also there were squalls rolling through about every 30 minutes as we got close to Martinique. That made our destination, a bay which is normally calm and protected, exposed to the full waves and wind. Fortunately we found a little point of land to anchor behind as did several other boats.
After we anchored (my first time with this boat) we needed to clear in with customs. Another squall was rolling in so we jumped in the dinghy as it might be getting dark by time this squall was through. We motored around the little point and into the full onslaught of 20knot winds and 3-5 ft waves and went down to the town about a mile down the shore. A really dark squall line was almost on top of us as we reached the town jetty which was a bit challenging to climb up on since the dinghy was all over the place due to the wave action. We made it up successfully though and tied the dinghy with a little slack in the line so hopefully it would be bashed against the pier too badly.

fly by

"Permission requested for a low altitude pass"
not sure if I have the quote from Top Gun correct but we just had a small twin engine plane approach us at less than 100 feet AGL.
We had just had a close encounter, 1/3 of a mile, with the freighter, Palona, when the plane flew very close to the freighter then turned directly We toward us. I assume it was a sightseeing plane from St Lucia and the pilot was making sure they got their money's worth by startling an unsuspecting sailor.
We finally found some real wind and are now cruising along between 6-8 knots. We should be in around 4pm if the wind holds.

St. Lucia to port

The mountainous peaks of St. Lucia can now be seen on the horizon off our port beam. The sun is out; another beautiful day here in the Caribbean; just a few small puffy white clouds. The wind has increased a little bit during the last hour or so and we are now making 5.5knots running wing on wing on a course of 344M.

slow going

Soon after we got underway I came to the realization that we were going much slower than I expected. We were motor-sailing at 2000 rpm (on one engine) but only going about 5 knots. I would have expected 6. So I increased the rpm's but in the process realized it wouldn't go over 2200. Normally the engine can turn at over 2600rpm. Our props must be really fouled with barnacles. I checked the other engine - same situation. Tomorrow we will have to scrub the props.
Since we don't have much fuel we will have to just deal with the low winds.

Barbados in the rearview

The bridge guys showed up shortly after 4 as Carlos and I were releasing the many lines that had held the boat secure for the last 3 weeks in this surging little port. By 4:15 we were gliding under the bridge and on our way.
The sun has just set and Martinique is about 100 nautical miles ahead at a course of 333M.
We have very little wind so are currently motor sailing. Hopefully once we pass the wind shadow of the island the wind will pick up.

sayonara Barbados!

We managed to meet our contact,Terry, whose services were contracted by the Cornell rally, at the deep water port (cruise ship port). He efficiently got us through the paperwork required to check out and dropped us back at our boat.
Carlos dashed off to find a few groceries while I readied the boat for the noon bridge opening. I started the port engine...no prob; started right up. Pushed the "on" button on the starboard engine...no response. The on button is like turning your car ignition to the first position. It doesn't turn the starter, just powers the system in. I started troubleshooting. The battery wasn't dead. There was 13.9v of power where there should be. Tried swapping out the start button with the port engine...no joy. Then I got more invasive and started swapping more major electrical components. After a few hours of sweat equity I eventually got both engines started without really finding the culprit. My best guess is that the ground fault error we had previously received when plugged into shore power was preventing the system from resetting properly.
While I was sweating both figuratively and literally, Carlos had convinced the bridge opening staff to come back at 4 pm. The issue was "resolved" a little after 2 so we grabbed some lunch then ran the dinghy down the beach a few miles and filled two gas cans with diesel. So we now have 40liters in reserve.

clearing out

Carlos and I will be clearing out of Barbados with customs and immigration tomorrow morning (Monday) at the Bridgetown (aka B'town) deep water port then we need to get someone to open the bridge for us and we will be on our way to Martinique.

Back aboard

I arrived back in Barbados tonight to find that Carlos "the Spanish tornado" had struck. The boat looks immaculate; everything's been washed, folded, straightened both inside and out.
The laundry I left in a pile on my floor intending to wash upon my return has miraculously been done:

Where to next?

Here's the planned itinerary for the next leg (subject to change based on the literal and figurative "direction the wind blows")

You can see zoom in better on this version

I've been doing a bit of research, apologies once again to Pranav (the proper word is investigation), of all the various islands have to offer. There's so much to see and do it seems a shame to pass by any of the islands but I need to be in the Virgin Islands by March 11th to pick up Paige & Sal for our Spring Break trip around the BVI's. I hope to find a couple of mountains to climb along the way and hopefully visit a few out-of-the-way places like Nevis and Saba.

This is about 500 miles of downwind sailing so it should be quite pleasant. Carlos will be joining me once again, he last sailed with me from Porto Santo to Santa Cruz, Tenerife (via Madeira).

Gone fishin'

Fishing


Fishing #2

Dolphins

I spoke with Paige last night, she was asking about dolphin videos. She's spent many hours sitting on the bows of boats looking for dolphins but somehow has never had the experience. So this one's for you Paige: Dolphins


Hopefully on our trip in March you'll have the experience first hand.

What's next??

I've now had several days on solid ground. These last two days really feel like the first two days of my (semi) retirement as they were the first days that I have been at home while Sallie went to work and my time wasn't over committed. It's really an odd feeling. Of course I have plenty to do between catching up on things I've neglected over the last 30 days (e.g. pool maintenance, car maintenance, raking leaves, finances, etc.) and upcoming trip planning. I recently looked at this blog and realized that there's an issue when I post text using white space as a separator, that it excludes the text after the extra carriage return. So I'm working on correcting that.

So what's next??

My plan as of a few days ago was to sail with my former crewmate Carlos northward up the remaining windward islands of the Lesser Antilles and then through the leeward islands to the Virgin Islands. Unfortunately Carlos had a serious family issue and had to rush back home to support his family. Family issues definitely put the triviality of this boondoggle into perspective. My thoughts are with you Carlos.

As we were sailing across, I frequently performed sail changes and maintenance items by myself to determine if I could handle this size boat by myself. The answer is a definite "maybe". The short sails between Caribbean islands would minimize any sleep deprivation issues and just leave two primary concerns: sudden bad weather and close-in maneuvering. Sudden bad weather, aka squalls, are a real concern as they show up with minimal warning (not shown on weather prediction software as they are too localized) so keeping a vigilant eye out is important to be sure the boat isn't caught with too much sail up. Also, reefing much sooner and taking the gennaker down at the first sign of too much wind is critical. The other concern is maneuvering in ports. That is most easily solved by finding ports where there is sufficient room to anchor. So my task now is to plan ports up the island chain that are conducive to that.

 My other concern, regardless of having crew or not, is how so many Caribbean islands are overrun by cruise ship people. Many years ago, while hiking in the BVI's, we came across a large flock of extremely white people mostly sporting Bermuda shorts, flower-print shirts and wearing white socks with their sandals. We coined the term "sheeple" for them. Yes, it's a real word but we didn't know it at the time. These masses of people overrunning these small islands in waves completely change the complexion of the town while they are there. It's quite amazing to watch. You can walk an almost-empty white crescent beach for days, then suddenly, hundreds of beach chairs and umbrellas are set side-by-side along the whole beach. Tables of jewelry and knickknacks are put on display. An hour later the beach is overtaken by throngs of tourists like a tidal wave crashing over it. A half-day later they disappear just as quickly as they arrived and the cleanup effort begins. So my goal is to stay away from the circus as much as possible. My next few days will be dedicated to researching (my apologies to Pranav) to discover places that have safe anchorages that do not have surges of sheeple but are still accepting of a single lost sheep :-)

Ship-shape

They say if you look at puffy clouds you can see lots of different shapes in them. I spy the shape of a ship. Maybe I've just been at sea for too long...



Spent a good chunk of yesterday cleaning up the boat and preparing to leave on Friday morning. Fortunately Antoine's sticking around Barbados for awhile so the boat will still look lived-in. I'm preparing to land in Dallas in a few minutes  and trying to sort out all that's happened. It's been 28 days since I've been home. When I used to work for Andersen Consulting I occasionally was away for up to 14 days but communication with Sallie was so much simpler. Between AT&T screwing up my account (no voice or data service) and the antenna problems with the sat phone, I was hard pressed to communicate via voice when on land or at sea. Of course, as those that followed the blog could tell based on the image quality improvement, it got significantly better when I moved the antenna, but voice calls still weren't great as we often had to redial a couple of times to have a 10 minute conversation. I'm going to research alternative antennas to see if I can improve the quality further. But staying in touch is difficult when comms are shoddy and you know the other person is a quarter of a work away. I can't wait to get back on my "home turf".  This is a bigger landing than tying up in Barbados! We just pulled up to the jetway at DFW. Someone throw the ground crew a line  and make it fast (tie it to a cleat). I'm home!!!Time for celebration!On Sunday I get to celebrate again when the Pats are victorious in the Superbowl!!

(for some reason all of this didn't post on my first or second attempt)

Closing ceremony

Jimmy Cornell MC's the finishing ceremony for the Blue Planet Odyssey (BPO) and the 2017 Caribbean Odyssey. The BPO boats, of which three completed the full course, circumnavigated  over the last two years. Congrats to them actually finishing out of an original field of, I believe, 15 boats. What an amazing feat!!

Starting out right...

The newest batch of TransAtlantic sailors. 

Jimmy Cornell gave them an award declaring them "Junior Argonauts"

The ride back

Barbados has a shared ride system where you can hop on a bus or van for 2 Barbados dollars ($1 US) and go as far as that bus/van goes. Great price. The downside is they really pack you in. We had 22 people in this van on the way back from the beach.

Pictures 1

We spent the afternoon yesterday at a beach just southeast of Dover Beach and did a little surfing with boards supplied by Barry's Surf shop.

This is a shot of Paddy showing his stuff.

After a somewhat unsuccessful first attempt at surfing, I tried out a SUP (standup paddle board). I've only SUP'd in calm water previously so it was a bit of a challenge made more so by the fairly strong winds but I had a great time. 

Bird's eye view

Our boat looked sharp all decked out in signal flags, the VirginTransAtlantic pennant, and Cornell "Barbados 50" rally flag. This rally was part of Barbados' 50th year celebration of its independence. The rally organizers had requested we come in fully decorated.

As we were arriving two days ago I needed to go up the mast once again (only halfway though) as our flag halyard on the starboard spreader had parted. This is where the Q flag is supposed to be hoisted when arriving in a new country so I needed to resolve that.



Antoine did the grinding (looking up in the photo above) assisted by Anthony (sitting on the tramp) 

Beach selfie