Dominica - 2/2/03 - 2/5/03
Portsmouth
Dominica was the first island we visited that had "boat boys" or boat vendors as the guide book refers to them. These are "helpful" locals in small boats that come out to your boat as you approach the harbor and offer to do everything- i.e. take your trash, take you to town, arrange for tours of the island.  We've talked with folks before coming here, so we knew what to expect.  Its best to hook up with one, otherwise you'll have all of them coming around, if you know what I mean.  Once people know you've hooked up with someone, no one else comes by.  We called Martin - aka Providence.  Several folks we knew had used him in the past and were very happy.  We called him several miles outside the harbor and he instructed us on the best place to anchor.  It wasn't seconds before we got off the radio with him that someone in a boat approached us.  We told him we already called Martin and the guy went away unhappy that we weren't using him.  After anchoring, Martin came aboard and shared a drink with us while telling us about his beautiful island and going over the service he provides and what tours we might be interested in.  He's a very nice guy and really works hard to help the cruisers with whatever they need.  He's grown up on the island and has a great appreciation of it.

We had Martin take us on the Indian River Tour.  The guide - which in our case was Martin, rows you in a small boat up the river.  On our tour, there were actually 8 of us in the boat.  The width of the river starts out at a couple boat lengths, then narrows to a little over one.   At first its pretty sunny, but then the vegetation starts to thicken as the river narrows and soon overhanging trees and vines cut off most of the sunlight.  Along the river one gets an appreciation of the massive roots of the bloodwood trees that spread out above and below the water.  The design of the roots is so different from one tree to the next which is quite fascinating.   We also saw several different species of fish and crab.  Martin stopped at a garden along the way.  We exited the boat and briefly went ashore where he did an excellent job explaining the different vegetation and all its uses.  On Dominica they rarely use medicine like we do.  They believe in using herbs.  He went on to say they rarely have any illness or cancer here.  In fact earlier this year the island celebrated the birthday of the oldest lady on the island - and I believe in the world - if I remember right, she is 125.  Hee said he attributes the long life to hard work and of course, the herbs and fresh, clean water.   Dominica may not be a rich island economically, but its very rich in beauty.  Of the islands I've seen so far, I believe Dominica has the most lush vegetation.  Everywhere you'll see greenery - from trees to vines, shrubs and ferns.  Its very mountainous with lots of hills and valleys which makes planting anything a challenge.  Not much level land available.  So you end up seeing many banana, avocado, mango and other plants along hillsides.  In addition to its many rain forests and waterfalls, it has well over 365 rivers and averages around 350 inches of rainfall a year.

Martin, our guide - at the beginning of our tour of the Indian River
 
 

The next day the four of us opted to take a tour of the island in a van. Called Martin on the VHF and he arranged for a driver to meet us at 8 AM along with 3 other couples that were interested.  We all piled into the van and off we went. First past some typical Dominican homes. Our driver, Desmond, did a nice job explaining how the houses were built and how most of them have a separate building for cooking. He was a little nervous at first with such a big group and he was relatively new to doing tours of the island. But once he got going he did very well.
 

Typical house on Dominica

We went past several coconut plantations and stopped at one. We were able to see first hand how they harvest and process the coconuts before they go to the buyer.  After taking the outside shell off, a couple ladies pull off the brown "fuzz", for lack of better words, with a knife which they later use in bedding, etc.  Then we watched as a couple older ladies took a machete in one hand and the coconut in the other and break it in half without hurting themselves - very impressive.  After they were brroke in half, they get moved to where their "cooked" which makes it softer and eventually it becomes soap or oil.  The ladies gathering the coconuts would simply walk amongst the trees and pickup the ones on the ground. That is how you know it's ripe - when it falls out of the tree. Anyway, they would pick them up and put them in a huge basket that they balanced on their heads.  They must have great knees and balance!  Unfortunately many, especially the older folks, on the island won't let you take their picture because of their beliefs so we weren't able to get a picture of the ladies working with the coconuts which was quite fascinating.  They did share with us some of the coconut juice.

He was cleaning the coconut meat out of the shell after being cooked
 

Back in the van and off to see more.  Next stop took us on a short walk thru the forest to the Red Rocks.  It's the only area on the island where you see red clay and stone.  Very interesting contrast to the blue water and rocky cliffs that lined the shore.  Another beautiful site.  Snack time - Desmond had some bananas in his van that he shared with us.  Its funny, I never thought much about how different one banana could taste from another.  But the bananas here are so sweet.  Definitely much better than the ones I've been eating back home!
 

Red Rock on the eastern side of Dominica

Next we went through the Carib Indian Reservation.   Desmond stopped at a roadside stand.  There we were introduced to two new kinds of fruit, star fruit and soursop.  Both were very delicious.  I purchased a couple grapefruits and oranges to enjoy later.  This part of the tour was a little disappointing as we were hoping to see the Carib Indians in their native environment.   The reservation is land that only the Caribs can own, but it didn't appear very different than the villages in Dominica.  We saw several Caribs while driving around.  But by now, most Caribs are "mixed" - they greatly resemble the locals only with a more oriental look - slanted eyes in particular.

After that, we went see the Emerald Pool. From the picture it looked like the perfect tropical waterfall with a pool of fresh water at the bottom where you can go swimming. We were looking forward to this but it wasn't meant to be. When in a rain forest, always expect rain. We walked about ten minutes in the pouring rain to get there and it was beautiful, even in the rain. But the water was a little muddy from all the ground run off in the forest.  We passed on the swimming, but did enjoy the beauty of the falls and surrounding rain forest.  After over 8 hours of touring, we arrived back at the boat.  It was another great day in paradise!!!

Another day we took about a 6 mile hike over to Fort Shirley which is on the northwestern side of the bay.  They've done a great job restoring the fort and have incorporated nice trails thru the forest.   Ran into several students from the UK - one group studying  hummingbirds, the other lizards.  Very interesting to talk with.

One of the many beautiful trees we saw while at the Fort.  I think this is a banyon tree.

Weather is looking good to make a run for Martinique tomorrow, so we plan to head out early.  Mike & Jan want to stop by Roseau first, so they plan to meet up with us in Martinique the next day.
 

Martinique - 2/6/03 - 2/18/03>
St. Pierre
Arrived after a very windy, but awesome close hauled sail from Dominica to Martinique where we had 25-30 knots from a good direction.  We didn't have to tack and our heading took us right to our mark.   Can't get much better than that.  Had two fishing lines out, but I think the 4-6 ft. waves were not ideal for fishing.  At least that's what we're telling ourselves since we didn't catch anything!

One of the many colorful rainbows we've seen - this one, over St. Pierre

The next day I decided to catch up on laundry while Fred checked into customs.   I'm really enjoying my new washing machine!  After trying several times to catch the customs office open, Fred gave up and we'll check in at Fort de France.  Bill & Judy from Janus  arrived today from Dominica and later we ended up over on their boat sharing stories and cocktails.  Judy entertained us on the steel drums that she's been learning.  Boy is she good!   Our friends, Mike & Jan decided to turn around and head back to Roseau on Dominica due to high winds.  Hopefully the weather will be better so they can make it across tomorrow.  The town is ok here, but not as clean as some of the other French islands we've visited.  Did enjoy a nice baguette sandwich at a quaint establishment for lunch.  Afternoon was hair cutting time - long overdue.  I haven't had a hair cut in over 6 months, so I decided to trust Fred with a pair of scissors and see what he could do.  Six inches came off - my head feels a lot lighter now.  Then it was time for me to buzz him.  So we're all spiffy now.   But a lesson learned, one should always pull their dingy up far on the beach, or keep a good eye on it.  Because while Fred was cutting my hair, our dingy was slowly drifting away.  After noticing it floating away, Fred jumped in the water and swam for it.  After an energetic swim, he caught up with it and soon it was back on the beach - pulled up further this time.

Went into town early the next morning to get some fresh fruit at the market, then heading out to Port de France.  Talked with Mike & Jan - weather report doesn't look good, so they probably won't be catching up with us until early next week.  The market was terrific.  Had a great selection and everything looked delicious.  After stocking up on as much as we could carry, we headed over to L'Escapade which is a cafe with internet access.  Spent an hour on the web for $5 Euros - not a bad price.

Market in St. Pierre -- great selection!

Our supply of fresh fruits/veggies -- here's what star fruit looks like,  partially cut up...beautiful

Anse Mitan - across the harbor from Fort de France
Time to move on and check out Fort de France.   After talking with Bill & Judy on Janus, decided to anchor in Anse Mitan and take the ferry over to Fort de France.   Initially the winds were up and down as we made our way along the lee of the island.  Then we turned the corner, no longer in the protection of land and found the wind to be 20-25 knots.  We had a terrific sail since the waves were being knocked down in the harbor and found a great spot to anchor which had great protection from the waves by a sliver of beach, but nothing to stop the wind.  So George is very happy -- and as you know, if George is happy we are happy. Did not have to run the engine to charge the batteries for 5 days!

On Monday we got to celebrate Fred's birthday.  The day started off by taking the ferry for a short ride across the bay to Fort de France with everyone from Significant Other, Janus and Cambalache.  Taking the ferry was much easier than finding a good anchor spot for the boats.  We found out the customs office was closed at the cruise ship dock since there were no cruise ships in today.  So we had to hike a couple miles to the other customs office.  It was painless once we got there but we have been trying to check into Martinique for 5 days now and could not find an open customs office. We then walked around town and checked things out.  Fort de France is a large city.  Probably the biggest we've visited so far.  Enjoyed a delicious lunch at an outside cafe.  We both had one of the best salads we've had in a long time.

The group exploring Fort de France.  Building in background is the Library - beautiful!
(Jaime, Angela, Mike, Fred, Jan, Judy & Bill)

Fred was hoping to get some windsurfing in on his birthday but we got back from town a bit late so he'll try tomorrow.  After a brief cocktail hour on Early Out we reassembled the group and went out for a birthday dinner at a restaurant near the marina called La Marine.  One the main reasons Fred chose this restaurant was because the menu had "English subtitles".  No sense in being frustrated by lack of understanding the menu on ones birthday. The meal turned out to be excellent.  For $24 Euros (about $25US) the meal included a rum punch, salad, entree, dessert and wine!  It was a good thing they sat us in the corner as our volume level increased as the evening went on.  It was a lot of fun.  Just don't ask about getting to the 8th floor!

Fred's birthday party - dinner at La Marine

The next day was another great day for windsurfing, so Fred had lots of fun sailing across the bay.

Fred carving a jibe!!!!
 
 

Ste. Anne
The winds are forecasted to increase for the weekend, so we decided it was time to move now over to Ste. Anne's.   Our friends on Janus headed out a day before us, so after talking with them, we knew what to expect.   Got an early start in order to make as much progress as possible before the winds kicked in.  The first part was a nice sail, but as we rounded the corner by Diamond Rock, the winds were right on our nose and ranged from 25-30 gusting to 35.  So the last 7 miles of our trip was not as pleasant.  But we made it and found the anchorage very nice.  Lots of wind for George and lots of cruisers here.  Reminded us of Georgetown in the Bahamas.  One of the folks we met are aboard Dawn Treader, another Caliber and later we joined them for cocktails on their boat.  Nice seeing another Caliber in the anchorage.   Every Friday the cruisers get together for cocktails on the beach.  We decided to join and met a lot of interesting folks from all over the world.  We can see why lots of people stay here a while.

We took the dingy into Le Marin which is alittle over 2 miles away by boat.  There's a big marina there and lots of room for anchored/moored boats.  Ashore we found several nice chandlerys which are always fun to check out.   Since it was Valentines Day we came back to Ste. Anne's and along with Mike & Jan picked up some great baguette sandwiches at the local patisserie and ate them on the beach.  Beautiful setting for a Valentine celebration!

Another day the six of us took a hike along the beach towards Pointe des Salines.  It was only about 5 miles, but was a very nice trail with great scenery along the way.  Later that evening we had everyone over for cocktails - Janus, Significant Other and Donald & Susan from Alembic who was also in the Caribbean 1500 rally with us.  Lots of fun!

The gang - hiking along the beach - Fred, Mike, Jan, Judy & Bill
 

Anchorage in Ste. Anne

Beautiful cemetery along the water in Ste. Anne

Since Fred & I need to be back stateside in June, it was nearing time for us to continue on....unfortunately without our wonderful friends, Mike & Jan on Significant Other as their leaving their boat down in Trinidad for hurricane season.  We all knew this day would eventually come, but I never realized it would be so difficult to say good bye.  Our last day together we rented a car and toured around Martinique.  Our first stop, a very important one,  was to a grocery store in Marin.  But we weren't stopping for groceries.  We were stopping to stock up on French wine.  Very important stuff.  :-)  We found two red wines that were delightful and the price couldn't be beat.  Since we had the car, we loaded up with as much as we could carry a block or so to the car.  Then off we went thru Fort de France toward St. Pierre.   Drove thru the mountains and saw lots of beautiful scenery.  Enjoyed an outstanding lunch on the back deck of a restaurant  in Le Morne-Rouge where the view was fabulous and the food delicious.   Arrived back at the boats late afternoon just in time to catch Herb's weather forecast which confirmed tomorrow we'll be leaving.   We had Mike & Jan over for one last cocktail hour.  Made all their favorites - popcorn for Mike and Skyline Chili dip for Jan.  I had put together a slide show of some pictures from all our travels together which started out almost 2 years ago going to Maine, then the Bahamas and now the Caribbean.  It was a fun, but very sad evening.  We sure will miss them!!!!
 

EO & SO - last evening together
 

St. Lucia - 2/19/03 - 2/20/03
Rodney Bay
Went to pull up anchor around 6:30 AM and who do we see on their boat waving to us - Mike & Jan.  More tears were shed as we sailed away.  Our sail was a spirited one.  Winds were 20-25 gusting to 40 in the two squalls we encountered.  Seas were running between 8-10 ft.  At least our sailing angle was good - a beam reach - but the spray still managed to get us wet and we arrived in St. Lucia feeling pretty crusty.  After removing the layer of salt, we went ashore in Rodney Bay to clear into customs and checkout the town.  Found the people here very friendly.  In fact several times we must have looked like we were lost and people came up and asked us if they could help.  And I have to admit, it was nice being back on an English speaking island.   Amongst the stores we found a great chandlery and sail loft.  Diesel prices were also pretty good - 5.72 EC's (Eastern Caribbean) per imperial gallon.  That's about $2.15 US.  Fortunately because we carry so much fuel we haven't had to fill up since the Virgin Islands.   Back to the boat for our first cocktail hour without Mike & Jan -- another very sad moment.  But we did get to talk with them on the SSB.  We plan to try to check in with them each day on the radio, but its not the same.

Soufriere - anchored next to the Pitons>
Since our time is limited, we're picking up the pace a little in order to get as far south as we can before having to head back.  So we're off today for Soufriere to see the Pitons which we've heard so much about.  The Pitons are very tall mountains that go straight up from the water.  The Petit Piton is approx. 2500 ft. and the gros Piton, 2600'.   Apparently some people do climb these, but we opted to pass this time.   After picking up a park mooring - the first one we've paid for since the start of our trip to the Caribbean - we jumped in the water to checkout the snorkeling.  Then headed into town.  The boat vendors didn't bother us too much, but the kids that hung out at the dingy dock sure were persistent.  We read about them in the guide, so we knew what to expect.  But they keep asking you for money telling you they'll watch your dingy.  We said no watching was needed and after a number of times telling them no, they finally got the message.  But after we arrived back at the dingy and were getting ready to leave, they were back.  Said they watched our dingy and where's their money.  We assured them that we didn't want them to watch our dingy and they still insisted on some money.  Finally we just left...which is what the guide recommended one do.   While ashore walking down the street we met a man named Emanuel - (born on Christmas day).  Come to find out he was the President of an organization for training tour guides on the island.   He offered to take us on a hike up to the mineral/sulfer springs and waterfall.  We told him we only had two hours because we wanted to get back to listen to Herb's weather forecast and he assured us we'd be back in time.   So off we went.  One minute we're on a casual walk thru town, next minute we're on a very, very spirited hike that took us past a plantation and thru the woods.  Emanuel was very interesting to talk with and was well educated on the different plants.  Along the way he picked some goodies for us to try later.   By the time we climbed up to the spring and waterfall, my legs were feeling the effects of the fast pace, steep climb - but it was beautiful and well worth it.  We made it back to the boat in time to hear the weather and talk with Mike & Jan on the radio.

Fred cooling off in the spring.  Said his skin loved all the minerals in the water!
 

Beautiful flowers / trees everywhere on our hike.  This is ginger.
 

Things Emanuel picked for us along our hike

In the front is a couple limes, to their right - nutmeg.  The yellow fruit with a knob on the top is a cashew.  The nut is the thing on the end.  Behind that is soursop.  We've tried this before.  Some use it in drinks or ice cream - we just ate it plain, very good.  Then a coconut and the leaves are from a cinnamon tree.  The bark is where the cinnamon comes from and the leaves make a great tea.
 

The Pitons
 

Exploring the Grenadines - 2/21/03 - 2/27/03
Bequia
Another early start and we're off to Bequia which is the first island of the Grenadines when heading south.  We decided to pass by St. Vincent due to our limited schedule and since we haven't heard a lot of good things about it from other cruisers.  We anchored in the main bay of Bequia, Admiral Bay.  Its a very large anchorage that's lined with shops, restaurants and beaches.  There's a great path along the beach that takes you from one end of town to the other.  The island definitely caters to boaters as they have many sail lofts, chandlerys and places to provision.  And I've never been to a place with more dingy docks.  It was a very welcome change from past islands.   We treated ourselves to pizza one night at Mac's Pizzeria.  Dinner was served on a balcony overlooking the water.   As we were dining on a most delicious gourmet fish and bacon pizza, we enjoyed a wonderful green flash as the sun was setting near some palm trees. Yes, we are in paradise!

One of the dingy docks was right next to the Catholic church.  It was great being back in an English speaking church.  Very unique church as the priest was playing songs for everyone to sing on his guitar before mass.  During mass all the hymns were led by a strong vocalist accompanied by only a congo drum and a tambourine. After mass we headed back to the boat to change into our walking attire for some needed exercise.  Ended up walking a good five miles over to the Old Hegg Turtle Sanctuary.  A local, Orton King, started it in order to increase the Hawksbill turtle population.  He raises them from eggs until their old enough - around 3 years - to be released into the ocean.

These are baby turtles - only 5 months old....aren't they cute!
 

These turtles are approx. 3 years old and ready to be released soon
 

Tobago Cays
The Tobago Cays are a group of deserted islands with their protection from the ocean being a large reef named Horseshoe Reef.  So the anchorage is open to the full force of the winds from the ocean.  Something George (our wind generator) really likes!  But the waves are not bad because their knocked down by the reef.  In fact as you look over the reef, you can't see any land - next piece of land  would be Africa!!  The water is that beautiful turquoise color.  And at night, the stars are brilliant because there are no village lights around.  The reefs are easy to spot in the right sunlight because they look like brown patches.   There are several beautiful beaches, but the snorkeling was what we enjoyed the best.  To make things easy, they provide moorings throughout the reefs that you can tie your dingy to.   The snorkeling was fantastic.  Lots of fish and beautiful coral/fans, etc.  So nice we could hardly get ourselves to leave!

With islands being uninhabited you would think you could not get any goods or services. Not true as the boat vendors in their small wooden boat with a 50-75 hp outboard on them will bring you everything from lobster and bread to ice and T-shirts. Throughout the day they would stop by and ask if you need anything but they were not a nuisance. On our short trip to Union we saw the boat vendor rush hour with the colorful boats making their way from Union over to Tobago Cays to help out the cruisers.  Not a bad commute, 5 miles in relatively protected waters.

Anchorage behind Horseshoe Reef

Another picture of the beautiful water -- just before we dove in to go snorkeling

In between snorkeling we took the dingy over to Petit Tabac which is one of the uninhabited islands.  We had to brave a narrow passage through the reef and about a 1/4 mile stretch of open ocean to get there. Come to find out we could not go ashore as a film crew from Walt Disney was there -- filming Pirates of the Caribbean.  Guess we'll have to rent this movie when we get back to the states.  Apparently a lot of the filming was done here and St. Vincent.
 

Union
We had to pry ourselves away from the Tobago Cays, but its time to move on.  We'll miss this spot and all the great snorkeling!  Our next stop, Union, is only 5 miles away.  A short trip...yea!  This is our last stop in the Grenadines.  Time to check out of customs.     Unfortunately we only had about a week to explore the Grenadines.  Union is another nice town.  After clearing out of customs and immigration we took a look around town.  By the way, we had to clear out at the airport -- but no problem, it was only a half mile walk.  Very nice and convenient.  Ashore we found several restaurants, souvenir shops, groceries, fruit market and even a bakery.  The afternoon we decided to go for a walk to check out some of the other villages and views of the island.

Small bar built on the reef where we were anchored

On our walk we went past two schools with lots of active kids out playing in the yard. The schools on most islands seem to be the nicest looking and best maintained building.  They are fun to be around with all the kids in their uniforms having a great time out in the yard playing.  Yes, in every school we've encountered on our travels, the kids were wearing uniforms -- no matter now rich or poor the island.   It's hard to image having to concentrate on academics in such a beautiful place, but I guess you get used to it.

At the dinghy dock near the Anchorage Yacht Club the owner of the restaurant has made a pen right at the water front that he fills with nurse sharks and barracuda. At one point a young guy jumped in and start playing with a 6 ft. shark by pulling on his tail. I know nurse sharks generally do not bite humans but this is a little bolder than I would be comfortable with.

Nurse shark at the Anchorage Yacht Club
 

Exploring Grenada - 2/28/03
St. George Harbor
The trip from Union to Grenada was a wonderful sail. With the wind between 20-25 knot aft of a beam we simply rolled out our genoa fired up the auto pilot and off we were. It wasn't quite that simple since we did  encounter two rain squalls where we needed to roll in some or most of the genny as the winds picked up considerably.  During our sail, we passed two islands called The Sisters.  Diane, I thought of you as we were passing, so I had to take a picture.  I believe the one on the right represents me -- because after all, it is the taller one and I am the taller sister.   :-)   After about 45 miles we dropped the anchor and Fred dashed off to customs.  It was 3:00pm on Friday and we didn't want to pay for overtime which is charged if you check in any time outside of normal business hours.

Diane, this one's for you -- Islands called The Sisters -- I'm the taller one, of course!!