Wow...Where have We Been!?

To say that I have been negligent of our blog would be an understatement. It would appear that I down right forgot it existed and you probably have forgotten that we exist too. No word for nearly two months, jeez lady, just a bit ridiculous.

So, I have a few things on my mind after this two months hiatus, but I imagine you would like to know where we have been, what we've been doing, and how the kids are. As it has been so long since our last update I've separated this post into sections, each island we have visited will have a bit of a story and some pictures. I hope that it will all come together to give you an idea of life in the Caribbean. So, without further ado lets get started. 

Saba (the road to the clouds)

Rising out of the sea, like the island of Neverland, is Saba. Known as the "smallest and the tallest" of the Dutch Antilles islands. This island never supported the cultivation of sugar cane or tobacco so the population is unlike many of the other islands. It is said that the island was first populated by the Arawaks and Caribs however the most is known about the people who sought refuge on the island after being ship wrecked, or those that came to this island looking to start a new life. We were told by a Saban taxi driver that the island was once a haven for pirate and smuggling operations and later a center for ship building with many Saban's still working in the shipping industry today. It wasn't until the 1950s that the Sabans took it upon themselves to build a road, that "could not be built" according to the Dutch government engineers. Up until this time the only way for Sabans to get around the island was by walking along steep mountain tracks between villages. It took one man, by the name of Joseph Hassel, to take a correspondence course in road building and then Sabans hand-built their road. It took them until 1958 to finish it, and our taxi driver claims to have worked during the construction. Likewise, when the Dutch government was approached about the possibility of building an airport Sabans were told it was impossible, but today they have a very small flat strip of land near sea level that has 3 flights a day to St. Martin. 

Enough of the history lesson already, what drew us to this little island down wind of St. Martin? Well, the fact that not many yachts go there is one, we were seeking some isolation after many months of being around so many boats; the promise of some nice hiking trails in the cloud forest or along their coast line; and we were intrigued by the "can do" attitude of the Saban's, whether they were building a road that "could not be built" or the smallest airstrip in the Caribbean, Sabans seemed a very determined group of people. 

Our first full day there was spent climbing their tallest peak. 

This is the view from the car park, looks pretty steep to us seafolk.

Just before we headed up into the cloud forest there was this nice little shelter for weary walkers to take refuge in. 

Once on top the size of the vegetation was remarkable. I had never seen leaves so big. Ruth was having a great time being an explorer!

At the top! Bit cloudy so no amazing view, but the sign to John and Adam's right says that we have climb the tallest peak in all of the Netherlands. 

The view out to Windward Side as we decend.

Jungle rooster:)

The entire way down the girls were imagining they were fairies. I think they just heard the "baddy" approaching. 

Unfortuntately I don't have many other pictures, but it was an amazing place. Unique in it's topography, and in its history. I can see why it is in the book "1000 Places to See Before You Die," and we didn't even go diving, which is what this island is really known for. 

Montserrat (aka Monster Rat) via Nevis 

We made plans to leave Saba and head straight for Montserrat. We thought we would do a night sail as we had enjoyed them so much as we hopped down the coast of Spain and Portugal. Unfortunately the weather forcast we looked at before we set off was nothing like what we experienced. Our night sail was meant to be an easy broad reach south. Winds 15 to 20 knots. No rain. Instead we had wind out of the South East, 4 squalls and a fresh water leak resulting in us loosing much of our fresh water supply.  In the end we bailed on getting to Montserrat about 3AM and headed into Nevis, we were concerned about how much water we had left, we initially thought we had lost all of our drinking water, and Nevis was supposed to have a dock we could pull alongside and fill up at. We were also very tired of punching our way upwind. We made anchor just as the sun began to rise. We were pretty exhausted as neither of us had really slept during the passage, and we hoped we could get a few moments of sleep before the troops woke up. 

Thankfully we did get a bit of sleep and after breakfast we jumped in for a bit of a swim before we pulled up our anchor to finish our passage to Montserrat.

Arriving in Montserrat late in the day we were very pleased to find the anchorage calm, as this anchorage is known for being very rolly. 

Later in the evening we were eating dinner in the cockpit, trying to make some plans for tomorrow.  Ruth all of the sudden said, "I'd like to see the monster rats."  We were all rather puzzled by this statement and asked what she meant. She said that the island was called "Monster Rat" so their must be monster rats somewhere on the island. Well we all had a good chuckle over this and explained that the island was called Mont-serrat, not Monster Rat. Anyway we had fun imagining what a Monster Rat island would be like after that. 

Montserrat, part of the British Commonwealth, but now is self governing. But I suppose what this island is best known for is it's volcanic eruptions. The biggest of which began July 18, 1995, shooting a steam plume thousands of feet into the air and roaring like a jet engine. The volcano has continued to show its colours, and Plymouth, once the capital of Montserrat, has been abandoned. Plans to built a new capital at Little Bay have not been fully realized and when we went ashore you notice the unplanned nature of the shops and housing. However, the infrastructure aside, this is a stunning island. The vegetation is savanna like near Little Bay, but as you head towards Soufriere Hills, the volcano, you are surrounded by greenery, and gorgeous potable water falling from the hills on the side of the road. We had a lovely stay here.

Waiting to check-in at immigration

Swimming at Little Bay Beach

John and Adam enjoying a beverage at the beach bar

Famous hands. Monsterrat was once home to the AIR Studios. Sir George Harrison held a concert at the Royal Albert to raise funds to build a concert hall in Little Bay. We visited it with our tour guide and saw the various hand prints of men who had recorded their albums at the studio. Kind of cool. 

We visited this church while travelling through to a view point of Plymouth. The church was covered in ash, and greenery was taking root everywhere yet a few things remained. 

Monsterrat's main, only? export is sand/gravel.

View on to Plymouth, The grey sand you can see just past the trees was once the capital of the island. Such incredible destruction.

"Swimming" in the now derelict hotel pool

We are standing on ash and mud that was brought down during various eruptions of the Soufriere Hills

Looking back at Monsterrat on our way to Guadeloupe

 

Guadeloupe (the home of the Lobster Cot)

The morning we left Montserrat, John had a bit of a cold but nothing serious, but by the time we reached Deshaies he was really not doing well. He went to bed right after we arrived and stayed there almost exclusively for a week. He had a fever, and he ached all over, we are not positive but we believe he caught one of the mosquito born viruses here called Chikugunya. He got a really bad mosquito bite when were on the beach in Montserrat which might have been the carrier, but no way to know for sure. So, while Deshaies is notorious for being the most winding anchorages in the Leeward islands when we were there it was completely flat, no wind at all, and lots of heat! It was stifling at times, but at least we could jump in the water to cool off, well, the kids and I could, John just lay sweating and convalescence in the bed.

For a week we hung out, John slept most of the time, and the girls, Adam and I played and swam and waited for John to feel better. When he did feel up to it we headed out of Deshaies and to Basse Terre to restock with groceries. This was a terrible exposed anchorage, but we were only there for one night so it didn't matter. Unfortunately, as we made our way down the coast of Guadeloupe to Les Saintes we snagged two lobster pots around our propeller. The first one we just didn't see. The second one, we are sure was unmarked line. The French islands seem littered with various fish traps and lobster pots marked with whatever floats, be this a clear water bottle or an old plastic oil can. All very difficult to sea, especially in any kind of choppy sea. However, one great thing came out of our encounter with the lobster pots. After Daddy, John, had jumped in the water with the bread knife to cut the line free, Lucy informed Ruth that Daddy was just off to cut the Lobster Cot off the boat. I wasn't sure I heard correctly so I asked her to repeat what she had said and sure enough she had called the lobster pot a lobster cot. For those unfamiliar with the word cot, in Britain this word is used to refer to a babies crib. Lucy had no idea she was mispronouncing anything, she knew it was a lobster pot John was cutting free, but the words she used to describe this crustacean catching devise has really stuck with me, I suppose because it makes me think of a nice comfy bed for lobsters to sleep in, when in fact they are snuggling in closer to their doom. Like Monster Rat, this image will stay with me forever. 

Leaving Deshaies

The first play ground the girls have seen since we left the Canaries

Catching ballyhoos, a very labour intensive job. See the guy in the water, we think he was actually herding the fish into the net and then keeping them from getting out. 

A hike in Guadeloupe, everything is so big and green.

Ant fashion or was it going to eat this?

Burning sugar cane

We visited an old slave port, that has now been turned into a memorial. The names on the walls are that of tribes of the slaves, the first two were familiar to us from Nigeria.

We were able to visit a sugar cane museum. The girls are washing the cane before we press it.

Yum!

Les Saintes (cruising families galore)

We arrived in the Saintes late morning and were pleased to find a nice open and calm anchorage just west of the main town. Pretty much on arrival John went back to bed, recovery was going to take awhile. So, the idea was that we would wait here for the other kid boats. So here we waited, eventually we were joined by a Dutch cruising family whom we had briefly met in St. Martin. A very cool family, that has been cruising for years with their three children, they once lived and worked dredging the Lagos, Nigerian lagoons, and are now making their way slowly back to the Netherlands. We were able to share lots of positive stories about our short times in Lagos. 

We also had an old friend arrive in the anchorage. Trismic, an Australian catamaran, we met in the Canaries appeared. We hadn't seen them since we bumped into them in Antigua after we first arrived. It was really nice to catch up with Mike and Trish. It is nice to be able to connect with people we met over on the other side of the Atlantic and share cruising stories with over a nice dinner or glass of wine. (Trish is an AMAZING cook!)

Eventually, the other kid boats arrived and we all spent a few more days together in the Saintes. Lots of fun to be had, swimming, hiking, and playing at the wonderful playground, as well as a pretend wedding. Actually there were so many families anchored here we were able to get a group rate when we all visited the Napoleonic fort. When I counted we had 7 cruising families: 17 kids and 14 adults. Quiet a big group considering most of us had not met any other cruising family before we arrived in St. Martin.

In the Saintes now with fellow cruising families, in this case we have Bill and Tinka from Proud Mary, and Julia and Mike from Sasquatch and John (of course).

Some of the cruising family kids

Our group sprawled out

All of us

Ruth and best buddy Luka

We're anchored somewhere down there

Remnants of an old Napoleonic prison and fort

Eventually John and I started to get itchy feet to leave. Thankfully, the families on Sasquatch and Gavroche were feeling the same and so we all decided to head off to Dominica together. 

Dominica (Jurassic Hiking)

Imagine, steep sided volcanic hills, hundreds of shades of green covering every inch with a few brightly coloured homes scattered about along the pebble and rocky shore line that tumbles into deep dark blue water. You wonder what is waiting for you in the jungle but you also wonder what is hiding in the 80 meters of water you are moored in. Reggae music and laughter drift over the water to your cool ears. I am in heaven! 

My description of Dominica does not do it justice. While Saba is in the 100 Places to See Before You Die book, I think Dominica really should be there too. This is my favourite island thus far. But I did not expect it to be. 

When we were planning our voyage to Dominica we were told by other cruisers that the locals were unfriendly, aggressive and always looking for a way to swindle you out of money. We were told that when we went into Rosseau anchorage we would be chased by boat boys who would shout and try to force you into coming with them to pick up one of their mooring balls. We were told that if you didn't take a mooring ball or pay the boat boys in some way you would find yourself floating out to sea at dead of night. John and I imagined that Dominica was going to be a lot like Nigeria, everything would be okay, but you just needed to negotiate and pay the right people. However, as you have probably guessed, our actual experience was completely difference. No one came and chased us onto a mooring ball, there was no shouting, there was no haggling. Just a nice, mild-mannered man in a boat offering us one of his mooring balls at the flat rate of 10$ a night. Then that was it. Seacat, the name of the man in the boat, left us alone for our stay. He came out most morning to check on us and see if we needed anything but that was it. He was so laid back that when we wanted to leave we couldn't find him to pay him, and left money with our friends to pay him when he turned up. And this was just the beginning of our wonderful experience on Dominica. 

While Gavroche was only able to stay one night with us Sasquatch was staying longer. If you ever visit Dominica I highly recommend that you head straight to the tourist office on arrival and ask the lady there to help you sort out your stay. She was extremely helpful. She highlighted hiking trails that would be appreciate for our families to do. She found very reasonably priced hire cars for our stay, she gave us maps and lots of advice on where to go and what to see. BRILLIANT! And all of her recommendations were spot on!

For four days and did lots of hiking and swimming in waterfalls. It was wonderful!

Wooden pipe for bringing water down to produce hydro-electric

Babe in the Jungle

View around Freshwater Lake

Swimming in the falls

Old Sugar Mill

At the start of the cross country hiking trail, wish we were staying to do it

The lush green island

I was sad to leave Dominica but it was time to continue on our way to Martinique as I needed to renew my passport and we thought I might be able to do this easily while we were in Martinique. 

Martinique (the waiting game, passport renewal, flotel)

Um, John, I think Dark Horse has moved...I say looking out the window of the volcano museum over the anchorage. Quickly we go outside to get a better look. Without a word John takes Adam off his back and sprints down the hill. Dark Horse has gone on walk about, but no one is at her helm. Her anchor has dragged again and she is a few hundred meters from the shore and we have just our little rowing dinghy at the dock. The kids and I stand on the old fortified wall looking out over the anchorage wondering how John is ever going to catch-up with Dark Horse. She is drifting very quickly out to sea. But then we catch a glimpse of a rib towing our dinghy heading straight for Dark Horse. John had hitched a ride with a couple of French men off a catamaran, thankfully. Now that we could see John on the boat and heading back to shore we headed down to the beach to wait for a pick-up. But I was pretty sure that after this second anchor dragging situation someone was always going to have to be on the boat. 

Luckily Sasquatch turned up a few days early, apparently they missed us;) We rafted up with them and there was no more dragging. But that was not the end of our excitement in St. Pierre. No, an armada of charted catamarans arrived one evening shortly after this. Over a hundred cats of varying sizes arrived and filled the entire anchorage. It was exciting, none of the skippers on the cats seemed to care if they bumped another boat. They were anchored on top of us, on top of each other. Truly remarkable.

It wasn't until after they had left we discovered that it was an Aero-Space sailing rally. Company employees out on a "jolly" and as one Frenchman said with a shrug of his shoulders as he ran into our bowsprit, "This is Life."

Thankfully the cats were only there for one night and this was also the last of our excitement in Martinique. From that point onward things were calm. We were able to rent a car again and we toured around the island a bit with Sasquatch, tried to climb Mount Pele but were rained out. However, we did visit the Banana Museum which was actually a lot more interesting than I thought it would be. Did you know that Banana trees only bloom once, (they do produce about 100 bananas with this bloom though) then they die and a shoot off of the original bulb begins to grown beside it? We also visited the Depaz Distillery and saw how Rhum Agricole is made. The French Rhum Agricole tastes a lot like whiskey, if you get the amber coloured rum, or if you drink the clear rum it tastes like ethanol and brings back memories of the hooch we drank in Kuwait. I much prefer my spiced rum, but that is probably my uncultured pallet talking.

Gavroche arrived in Fort de France while we were there and we all followed them down to Grande Anse and then on to St. Anne. Which is where we became a flotel. 

Sasquatch had discovered that their rudder was near failing point while moored in Grande Anse and this needed to be attended to immediately. After all what is a boat without steering but a floating log being pushed around by the current and wave. So, Sasquatch was taken into "the hospital" for repair and the family, minus Dad, moved in with us for the duration. Our crew roster just doubled! It was a very stressful time for them, but lots of fun having so many people on Dark Horse, but thankfully Mike was able to get the rudder repaired and 7 days after being hauled out of the water, Sasquatch was back in the water and in the anchorage next to us, rudder working brilliantly.  

But here we are still. Anchored in St. Anne, waiting for the return of my passport from Barbados. We have watched all the families we have been cruising with come and go, including Trismc who we had just caught up with in the Saintes and Gone Walk About who we hadn't seen since St. Martin. But today, June 27th, there is a light at the end of the tunnel. DHL says my passport has left Venezuela, I can only guess that it is making it's way to Martinique now. We are keeping our fingers crossed that it will be here on Monday and we will be able to make our way to Bequia on Tuesday morning.

Large Starfish under our boat

Relaxing in the shade before heading back to the boats, Dark Horse and Sasquatch crews

One of the only survivors of the Mount Pele eruption. He was a prisoner who survived because he was in solitary confinement. He went on to be a showcase on the Barnum Circus

His cell

The ruins of the theatre next to the old prison

Performers playing music on various large shells

Dark Horse and Sasquatch sharing an anchor

Visions of St. Pierre's past 

Market day

Land crabs for sale

Everything is delicious!

Mount Pele attempt. Two very wet climbers, one looks a bit more happy about it than the other. 

After our descent some splashing between the downpours.

 Depaz Distillery

Old water collection system

Swinging on a Malaysian origin tree, very cool tree.

How bananas grow at the Banana Museum

Stripy bananas

Banana flower. Each one of those little flowers will turn in to a banana.

Yole, traditional fishing turned racing machine. They are aloud to have guys jump off or get on the boat depending on the weight the boat needs. The guys on the outside slide back and forth on the poles depending on wind direction. Very physical.

Cruising kids making a sand house out of sand bricks

Another water fall to swim in.

Tried to climb this trail but it just got a bit ridiculous. We turned around when we came to a caving ladder. Not a hike meant for our little family just yet. 

Can she swim against the rushing water? 

Well, that is all for now. Until next time, and perhaps it wont be two months before you get another update:)