Dominica

Oh what a beautiful green island!

Leeward coast line

Mango trees everywhere!

Mangos Mangos everywhere

The wind was blowing 30 knots coming into the harbour. Thank goodness for the Dominican boat boy, Alexis who greeted us, as soon as we neared the bay.

Alexis, Our favourite boat guy!

We said we wanted a mooring ball and he said he’d meet us in farther. He obviously had other boats to greet coming in behind us. We spotted a mooring ball, Randy steered Moorahme gently toward it so I could hand Alexis our bridle.  Easy peasy – in 30 knot winds – securely fastened.

Raising the Dominican flag

It was still so windy that we didn’t want to take the dinghy down and try to attach the motor. So, our boat guy came back to get us and took us to customs and immigration. It appeared to be in the fellows home – fridge, stove,  couch and a couple of rooms. We went to The Purple Turtle for dinner. There was a cultural group dancing.

Traditional Dominican dance and culture

And a truck full of music went down the street. We knew right away we were going to like Dominica!

Sandy Feet arrived the following day. It was great to see them. Andy helped cut down on the invasive Lion fish population.

Beautiful dangerous invasive Lion Fish.

It takes some talent to spear fish. Thanks Andy, it was delicious.

We went on a tour of the island with the Sandy Feet crew and another Canadian couple. I think we covered the whole island but not all of the sights. Our first stop was a typical little village where our tour guide had grown up.

Church in a little village

Then on to the rum factor. The factory has had to stop production because a large area of sugar cane was washed away in the last hurricane. The sugar cane press was in need of repair. Randy was checking it out and we could practically see the wheels turning as he inspected what might need fixing.

Rum Factory -broken press

The old building provided a bit of shade while we listened to how rum is made.

Rum Factory

Then we got to sample the rum. 75% – 150 proof was knock you on your…… The 65% was much more palatable .

Rum Factory tasting room

Next stop – snorkelling one of the many reefs and a stop for lunch.

Lunch after our snorkel on the reef

Most of the islands have goats roaming all over.

Goats do roam

Randy and I went on a cruise years ago where one of the stops was Dominica. We went on a tour that took us to the same waterfalls that we stopped at on this tour. We tried to recreate the picture we took back then.

Falls

We also found a hot springs. And I mean hot – literally boiling out of the rock. You definitely didn’t want to put your feet in!

hot springs – and I mean boiling!!

There was so much more to see and do but the calander was running down to our June 1 bossy insurance deadline. So off we go.

 

St Kitts & Nevis, and Guadeloupe

We had a brisk sail to St Kitts. We had to bypass Saba Island but hope to see it this coming winter.

Saba Island

Our plan, once we arrived in St. Kitts, was to anchor, eat sleep and go. But we needed fuel. So we had to go to a marina and once we were tied up at a marina we had to clear in.

Port Zante Marina at Basseterre in St. Kitts

Well, we might as well stay a few days. While Randy was at Customs, a dingy with our friends, Mary and Peter on Neko stopped by. They had just cleared in and were heading to an anchorage at White House Bay, about an hour away where our other friends Kathy and Ken on Sol Searching were anchored. We stayed the night At the marina and left the next morning for White House Bay.

Raising the St. Kitts & Nevis flag

What a beautiful anchorage. There was a ship wreck that we were able to snorkel and a lovely restaurant.

At The Salt Flats Restaurant

The restaurant is part of the resort that is being developed on the site of the old salt flats, along with a marina just around the point from the anchorage. The night we went to the restaurant there was a photo shoot going on. I rather suspect that Moorahmes  silhouette will be in the brochures.

Next stop, Nevis to clear out of the country at Charestown. Where we finally catch up to Bonnie and Craig on Odin the Wanderer.

Beer me

A few beer and a great lunch later it was time to go back to the boat to get ready for a pre-dawn start for our sail to Guadeloupe.

Nevis, almost always shrouded in clouds

Nevis sunset after the rain

Monserrat

We left well before dawn and sailed past the Kingdom of Redonda. It is an uninhabitable island and has an interesting history. The next island we passed was Monserrat.

Lush and green

A large area of Monserrat  was destroyed by a still active volcano. Sometimes it’s safe to stop there and sometimes it’s ” not advised”. If we hadn’t been in a hurry to make our insurance company happy, we’d have stopped. This winter we hope to stop there. As we passed the area that was destroyed,  you can see the path of the lava flow and smell the sulphur in the air. Volcanic rock is very fertile. The vegetation is lush and green.

As we aproached Guadeloupe the water became rough and the wind picked up. We were looking forward to a nice calm anchorage. And I was looking forward to seeing the place where on of my favourite shows, Death In Paradise, is filmed. I got out the guide book and read the information on the town and anchorage at Deshais. It said the whole island of Guadeloupe acts like a wind funnel and Deshais is the vent. And we thought, yeah but it’ll be calm in the harbour, right? Wrong. We were reading 32 knots.

Our friends on Sandy Feet had radioed us earlier to say they were snorkelling in a bay farther down the island and that it was fairly calm. So off we went to Pidgeon Island. Sandy Feet had moved on by the time we got there but it was nice and calm so we anchored for the night, ate,  slept and carried on the next morning.

St Marten – finally a French island!

As students in Ontario, Canada, a long, long time ago, we were forced to take French language lessons up to and including grade 10, or the second year of high school. Perhaps I should have paid more attention while in class……

Marigot Bay, St. Martin

Marigot Bay is a great place to anchor. While passing s/v Kelly Nicole on the way out, we discovered that s/v Sandy Feet was still at anchor, but just about to make way. We hailed them on the VHF, and after exchanging excited pleasantries, the captain and crew of Sandy Feet told us that they would love to join us for a cup of coffee before heading out! Alright!!! Coffee grinder on, get the BIG cups out, and lets get caught up! Andy, Laura, Natalie and Alexa soon joined us on Moorahme. These people are awesome, I’ve told you that before, and you can look them google them – “Sandy Feet – Voyages of Adventure”….swimming with sharks, exploring old Caribbean forts…they are the bomb! We had a great hour with these folks, Andy and Laura ensured that we had some wifi passwords to use with our wifi extender to give us onboard wifi, and boom! they were off ahead of us again!

Customs was not available until Monday morning. So, first thing Monday morning we headed ashore to fill out the appropriate paperwork on a computer..with a French keyboard, which made things challenging. Finally, paperwork complete, no charges…free….no fees…….yahooooooo! Back to Moorahme, raise the courtesy flag now we are legal…and off we go!

Raising the French flag

Fresh baguettes, fresh croissants….French wine, cold beer, French women..ooops, didn’t mean to mention that<grin>

Coffee and a crepe – mmm, French food

We dinghied in to the inside lagoon, had a nice but somewhat pricey breakfast, and then a walking tour of the downtown area. Formidable! Hey, that’s French for wow! We tried to enter a higher end wine store..but it was closed. And speaking of closed…don’t try to really do anything from 11:30 a.m. until at least 3:30 p.m., everything is closed…for lunch, nooners…whatever. What a wonderful lifestyle!

We discovered that a buddy boat from the Dominican Republic had discovered a great deal on bottom paint on the Dutch side…..Phillipsburg..of this island which is divided….French and Dutch. Once checked in on either side, you can easily travel back and forth between the two. S/V Neko was in the lagoon on the Dutch side, and we joined them for dinner one night. Peter and Mary are awesome hosts, and we had quite a time finding our way back to Moorahme in the dark…..lol….but we did find our way home eventually. More tours of the downtown area of St. Marten, a few trips to the

at Lagoonies with Kathy and Ken

Dutch side to purchase our bottom paint and other such “boatie” items, and of course, a trip to the airport.

Plane landing – seemed close enough to touch!

My goodness, what fun! Too bad that the area at the end of the runway has been fenced off, because I was truly looking forward to hanging on to the chain link fence such as you see on youtube.com when a large transatlantic jet was taking off. Not to be…I was satisfied with great food and cold beer and watching the frolickers on the beach.

Waiting to get blown down the sand bank by jet plane exhaust

Our tour of the fort overlooking St. Marten and Marigot Bay was pretty cool…it is disappointing that more care and $$$ are not spent on keeping this historic fort in good condition, but it is what it is.

Climbing the stairs to the fort

That’s our boat down there

I am just very happy that we were not the tourists that were robbed on a Saturday afternoon at 3 p.m. while viewing this splendid old fort. Another couple were not so fortunate.

It’s quite a view up here!!

St. Marten/Phillipsburg quickly became one of our favourite locations to visit, and we can’t wait to return there once hurrycame season is over.

Keep your stick on the ice!