Thursday, January 31, 2013

Sailing North

The anchorage at Ste Anne
 
 
While at Ste Anne we visited nearby Le Marin, an extensive marina complex with good shopping and chandleries 
 
 
 From Ste Anne we sailed past Diamond Rock which the British fortified and used to harass French shipping many years ago

 to an anchorage under the hotel at Anse Mitan, a popular tourist spot.
 
 
 We landed at the dinghy dock
 
 
 getting into the spirit of things.
 
 
The bbq chicken sellers were everywhere along the roadsides.
 
 
 Had lunch with the crews of other Ausie yachts, Malua and Sundancer 11
 
 
 then watched the routine of the beachside boutique.
The girls are kitting this woman in a new bikini
 
 while hubby watched
 
 
 and paid.
 
 
 We sailed across the bay to Fort de France, a big city and not to our taste.
This solo sailer had come all the way from Poland in his little boat.
 

 So we sailed north to Saint Pierre, a town which, in 1902 was obliterated by the explosion of the nearby volcano, killing 30,000 people.
 
 We had to anchor close to the beach.
 
 
This was the culprit
 
 
 The church bell was melted and crushed by the blast.
 
 
 Then on to Prince Rupert Bay on the island of Dominica where we took a mooring off Big Pappa`s
 
 
 where we went for a drink
 
 
and to watch the sun go down.
 
 
 The town was pretty poor and facilities were not great.
 
 
The houses were not grand
 
 
 the main street was quiet at times
 
 
 even at the bust stop.


We then sailed a short distance north to the beautiful Isles des Saints, part of Guadeloupe, which is part of France. Euroland again, and full of French tourists.
 
The dinghy dock and watering hole.
 
 
They sailed these unusual boats.
 
The boutiques were in lovely local houses.
 
 The bar at the "yacht club"


Houses in this part of the world are just as we would expect to see around Noosa.
 

Sunday, January 20, 2013

The Windward Islands

 The blog photo poster has not been working for a while so this update is overdue.
 
After a few days in Barbados, a brisk overnight sail took us to Rodney Bay, St Lucia.
Friends following the next night had a hard time of it with winds over 40 kts.
 
These are the two "pitons" on St Lucia as we passed early morning.
 



In the anchorage in Rodney Bay, Gregory, the fruit and vege seller called
 

We shifted into the marina
 
 
visited the local market in nearby Castries
 
 
where the super sexy bar was not all that enticing.
 
 
By bus to Soufriere on the south of the island near the pitons.
 
 
Soufriere waterfront
 
 
Lunch before returning.
 
 
The flag lady -  we need a national flag for each of the islands, except those that are French or Dutch
 
 
We shifted to the anchorage again and climbed to the top of Pigeon Island
 
 
JT in the anchorage at Pigeon Is.
 
 
where there was a lovely waterfront restaurant.
 
 
Gregory and the fishermen were also there.
 
 
We then sailed on north to Matinique, and the beautiful village of Sainte Anne.
 
 
Ste Anne
 
 
From the anchorage, where there were about 120 yachts anchored when we arrived.
 
 
Nearby sporting activity
 
 
The walk to Club Med
 
 
The cemetery occupied the best real estate
 
 
and the locals sold home made coconut ice cream.
 
 

Monday, December 31, 2012

Mindelo to Bridgetown

 
 
 JT entering Mindelo harbour
 
 
 Sundowners + at the floating bar at the marina in Mindelo.  The Poms don`t feel the cold.  By extraordinary coincidence, the bloke on the right,who was crewing for our mates on Goldcrest, has an investment unit in Noosaville just a few minutes walk from where we live!
 
 Enroute to dinner
 
 
 at the "famous" Pico Pau restaurant in Mindelo. It was ok.
 
 
 When the forecast looked good we sailed for the 2000nm crossing
 
 
 Initially the winds were ok but soon grew light and, with that, the various swells from astern made for "uncomfortable" conditions.  We eventually had to motor for thirty hours to get through a very light patch.
 
We had a lovely Xmas day at sea, with roast chicken, veges and champers.  The weather was good and we elected to shorten sail to make it more comfortable.
 
 
We were sick of dorado, so didn`t even put out a lure.
 
 
Our arrival at Bridgetown, Barbados, fifteen days after leaving Mindelo was a slow crossing by all accounts.  But, as frustrating as the light winds were on occasion, we had no major dramas, and were lucky not to have had gales and the notorious line squalls. 
 
 After clearing in with the authorities, we went to anchor in Carlisle Bay and came ashore to Bridgetown by dinghy to the dock up the creek in the centre of town.
 
 In the basin there were yachts for a classic boat rally.
 
 
 Typical Bridgetown tourist spot.  Each day there are about four cruise ships in port, so things are not cheap.
 
 Roadside stall. 
 
 Old British era architecture
 
 All is very colourfull.
 
 
 The citizens are well groomed
 
 
The proprietress of the Dark Sugar Shack assured us that, on New Year`s Eve, she would be attending church, then going home for a quiet drink and a smoke of something sweet.