22- 27 March 2012 – the final great velcro-effect marina tear away

With our new crew, Les Moores, now aboard we shall never be short of stories of love, life, and relationships.  Apart from the welcome arrival of Les on Sunday, the week starts with heavy rain and much flooding. Even the fridge gets topped up and needs a bilge pump to sort it out. Is this a good omen for the future?

Have made good friends with ex RN Pilot Nigel North on Westerly ketch Pinball Wizard and with James, the professional skipper looking after Halberg Rasssy 62 ‘Eleandra’.

Les & I decide to go as soon as the weather settles......and this looks like happening after the weekend. So much prepping and job-listing, including MB’s developing dose of prickly heat rash. Need to visit pharmacist.

Sunday and Monday - big round of farewells to all  my favourite people.

Tuesday AM finally manage the very difficult and emotional un-velcro’ing free from our comfort zone and we depart the berth for the fuel station. Manage a few farewell beers at Cap’n Mikes waterfront bar while the fuel bowser is topping up the boatyard.

Finally depart RBM for the bay outside at about 1500. Anchor just off pirate Jean De Bois stroghold on Pigeon Island.  Les bravely afloat in scuba gear for an all round waterline weed scrub. Later ashore for final sunset rum punches in iconic beach location. Joined by Nigel North who has dinghied out. All back on board for Buggy special hot spicy Caribbean Jerk Port curry with Saffron rice. Irish whiskey and putting worlds to rights follows. A wonderful final day to a long and varied stay at Rodney Bay. Tomorrow sees us heading north to Martinique.

10 mar 2012: 5 don't go wild on RAPAREE

Back at St Lucia to meet up with Graham and his crew. We decide to help out and take on board his crew, Andrew and Sue from London. So now we are five. Five go wild on Raparee. But remember, apart from me, these are TNGP, so no, we will not actually go wild as such. Perhaps the odd cup of tea.

Anyway we decide on a morning start going southwards. A couple of hours boat handling and manoverboard exercises in the breezy bay sorts out the men/women from the boys/girls. Again a good reefed up bouncy sail down to Soufriere Bay and the glorious Pitons. Always a welcome sight. Met by my old adversary/friend Gregory who takes us to a buoy just along the cliffs from Soufriere town. He then takes the team ashore for a whopping fee, leaving me to pluck my strings alone whilst quaffing some ales. Fantastic evening spectacle as we witness the departure of a fully rigged square rigged cruising ship. All sail up as she creeps out of the bay, past the Pitons, and  into the sunset.

Buggy surpasses himself with his Piton special Caribbean fruit and veg curry that night. Nice pleasant evening but lights out early and no singing after 9 (TNGP rules apply). 

Early next morning we see a buoy is available over at the Bat Cave so we scoot over. We know some of the other boats at the buoys so there is now a little community of us. Not a bad place for cliff base snorkelling so Rod and I head off in the dinghy for a spot of exploring. Sort of OK. Strong current and not much coral. Quite a few fish. Rod finds treadle type Singer sewing machine and balances it on a rock.

Crew take to beach for the afternoon leaving Buggy to his musings again. Fantastic sundown rum punches all around at 1800 (After much encouragement, all TNGP’s heartily participate).

Off ashore by dinghy for evening meal in the famous Hummingbird Resort restaurant. Very nice indeed, but sad to say there were not many other customers so times must be very hard.

Away in in the morning early after brekky for an exploration of ‘between the Pitons’ . We explore close into the Jalousie area which is now largely expensive resorts and old plantations.  Finally head northwards for an uneventful coastal  motorsail  up to Marigot Bay, which we get to in the early afternoon. A quick friendly VHF chat and we are allocated a free buoy for a couple of hours. My old mate ‘Nelson the hat weaving boat boy’ is nowhere to be seen. He can be heard though, as he is totally out of his tree and dancing around loudly ashore.  Sadly we have no dealings with this amusing character on this visit.  A pleasant lunchtime stopover in this pretty little picturesque caribbean harbour, with all the crew getting time to explore by dinghy. MB produces ‘spicy jambo soup’ for lunch and fighty mine it is I can tell you. Hup and away and back to Rodney Bay Sat PM.

Early AM Sunday. MB delivers Rod and Christine by dinghy over to the harbour entrance so they can walk into Gros Islet to get early morning mass there.

Breakfast on return. Pack up and crew ready to leave for Rendezvous Hotel Castries. Departure from Cafe Ole at Noon. A good trip all round, but with the departure of the TNGPs skipper needs to put Meatloaf on at 50dBs and grab some hearty ales.

2 Mar 2012 - back at sea again

Orft up to Martinique for a few days with the Chadwicks. Rough and windy so 2 reefs and many genoa rolls. Christine, still recovering from double knee jobbies, was wary of the movement and fought her way gamely around the boat. Rod brought all his dinghy and navy skills to bear so we were never short in the talent department. We anchored, beautifully I’d have to say, in the CROWDED anchorage by the fairway at Le Marin.  My new elastic snubber line technique worked a treat with the old CQR (what the hell does THAT mean?). Dinghy trip to big Carrefour hypermarche for lots of froglet consumable  goodies for the galley. Stroll around the very french bourg of Marin.

Met up with Christine’s school penfriend Nicolle, a Martinique resident, who took us out to lunch at an east coast beach-side cafe . That evening, we watched as a jolly big superyacht jobby made its way up the narrow channel into the harbour and graunched to a halt just outside. Most embarassing for all concerned. I guess the skipper was taken away and shot. Saw a traditional Martinique yole out sailing, very hairy scary stuff, with lots of crew balancing out on poles (these poles get everywhere).

Last couple of days of our little sailing trippet was a fast breezy jaunt over to Anse d’Arlet on the west coast. Sooper little seasidey beachy type place in between the hills. Anchoring was exciting as the wind had not lessened any but had gone digital instead. That is to say it was either 0 or 1. The 1 being a very Big 1, about 25 knots every 25 minutes. You’d be sipping your Earl Grey one minute in your straw boater, and the next youd be struggling around the deck waiting to fend off gyrating boats while recovering the washing line and wayward dinghy. Very unsettling these williwaws. Great blocks of air tumble down from the mountains every time the pressure up there reaches a trigger threshold. The air feed is from the tradewinds on the other side of the island.    

Anyway good old CQR held again so we had a couple of days exploring and snorkelling. This place had to have the best customs clear out method EVER.  Small cafe at end of beach. Dusty computer terminal propped in the corner right by the deep fat fryer. Do DIY form on computer, to beat of Reggae music. Then print out form and take it to dancing girl in bikini on beach. While still dancing she stamps the form. Easy. Why can’t they all be like that?

28 Feb 2012 - A little light duty

Had some time at sea in several stages.  The Chadwicks reported for duty on board, but the weather was absolutely cr*p for days. So we whistled aimlessly and drummed our fingers. Meanwhile over on ‘Annie’, skipper Graham had hurt his back, so his 2 crew who had joined from London were also whistling and drumming their fingers. Now I don’t want to offend anyone here. I’m a bit immature and tend not to act my age. My reactions to these circumstances are to drink a lot of beer and get very drunk, meet the wrong sort of people, in all the wrong places,  and probably say a lot of things I shouldn’t. I am also likely to listen to some pretty awful 1970’s music loudly and to stay up very late just to make really sure I’m grumpy and incapable the next day. If I smoked, I’d probably also smoke something I shouldnt.  Its important that if one is going to live on the edge and go down the pan one should do it with some zeal.  My new companions however were all TNGPs (Terribly Nice Generous People) who wisely Didn’t Do Any of That Stuff, so my drumming and whistling got to be really good instead.

27 Feb 2012 - oh, oh - going slowly mad here

“Ah lake thaaat”. “Kin yah play sume more...mah daddy played thaat way”.

The faceless voice loomed out of the night.  I jumped, sending my guitar notes flying. “Kin ah come aboard and drink some beers with yah”?

Er, well OK, sort of, I ‘ve.. er..... got a big wash on the go  said I lamely to the round white face staring at me from the darkness. 

Well, he was as good as his word. He did have a few beers with me, that is to say he had about 10 beers in the 20 minutes he was onboard.  Then after I gave him a shot of my finest Jura malt he had a violent fight. With an empty plastic water bottle which got in his way.  Strong language was used, at full volume.  Lights came on in neighbouring boats. I thought if I played again he might quieten down, but he accompanied every song by a flat out of tune howling that made even me seem melodious. Finally he staggered off and was swallowed into the darkness. The lights around me went off.

I saw the American the next morning. He was the single crewman (signed on via the internet) for a very chubby and not particularly sociable bloke who was doing the atlantic circuit on a boat berthed close to mine. God knows how they will get on. Perhaps their own particular demons will fight each other on the high seas.

25 Feb 2012 - long time since I last wrote

Its a long time since I wrote last. There is a reason.  I’ve become a vbp.  A very boring person. I’ve been using Rodney Bay St Lucia as my home port. Lovely people and a nice place but quiet.