The First Catch

The night before parting from Pitons, I caught a yellowtale snapper, large enough to feed two people. The captain doesn’t eat fish, so the admiral ate it all. It is better for sailors to have too much than not enough wind. If it is blowing to hard, you can shortened the sails, but you can not add more wind to them, if the Nature doesn’t supply it. Waiting for wind can be very testy. Being the admiral, she thinks she has a lot of rights. For instance, to decide, how many sails should be added to those, that are already flip-flopping in the calm air, but wavy sea. Now, captain is a wise man. He does what he wants and at the end of the day still gets a good meal. Admiral is also the cook. There was little wind starting from St. Lucia to Bonaire. And yet, the captain and the admiral are still sharing the cabin. And the boat, for that matter. The third day the clouds appear on the East horizon. The wind is coming! The water is changing the colour, it seems darker now, laced with so much white. We are moving fast, accompanied by dolphins for a while, and all the time by the sailfish, shining in the bright sun. If the wind keeps, we’ll be within the sight of Bonaire in another night and a day. What a thrill, when the boat reaches the speed of 11 knots. But it is night and there is no debate this time, the main sail has to be shortened. The waves are big, the mizzen sail is keeping the boat steady. We are enjoying the ride. With little sleep behind us we hook up to the mooring in front of Kralenjdijk. About time, last night the captain ran out of beer. P.S. Rum comes out of the hiding place.

Jarule

After an easy sail from Rodney Bay we are on the mooring between the two Pitons, St. Lucia's pride area and Marine park. Footprints did not spoil the rake design on the beach yet. The season is coming to it's high, and yet the secluded expensive resort Jalousie is quiet, heavy wooden lounge chairs underneath the straw umbrellas empty. In a poor economy, necessities are replacing the pleasures. It is blowing hard, the gusts are shaking the boat from time to time. But the resort is tucked underneath one of the Pitons and is not effected by the angry side of the Nature. We sailed into the bay mid day yesterday and I waited for the fruit and vegetable man, but he never came. Jarule supplied us with fresh produce time and time again. He made a 12 miles run from Soufriere every day in his small wooden boat, loaded with mangoes, papayas, chrystophenes, yams and more. Dressed in rags, his hair braided long ago, big smile showing the teeth, that look like an old cemetery, and his voice so deep, when he talks, you are expecting to hear an echo. I inquired about him and sadly learned, that he is 'out of the water'. We are staying here one more night. We already plotted our route to Bonaire. After talking to other sailors and reading a couple of articles about cruising in Venezuela, we are avoiding the country all together. Reports of many attacks on sailors, some deadly, scared us away. Why take chances, when there are so many beautiful areas elsewhere. We have 434 NM of easy down the wind sail to Bonaire and we are looking forward to that. So see you there!

Dogs's Rules

Friday night is the Gros Islet feast. The tables and the benches are dragged from the sidewalk to the street. Containers and pots filled to the top with food placed on the serving tables. A plate full of rice, beans, vegetables, fish and chicken is inexpensive and music is to loud. The dogs move closer to the benches and wait their turn. They don't fight over the leftovers. They are street dogs, to them the rule no chicken and no fish does not apply. Crushed bones disappear in seconds. When the party is over, the dogs rest until next Friday. And we go 'home' to play cards and sip Rum.

Boat Yard Jungle and Siesta

Conch

Our cleaning lady Helen didn't come to work. Julia was here instead and she told us: Helen's son died, diving for conch. He was pulled out of the water and rushed to the hospital, but it was to late, even though the hospitals on St. Lucia now have decompression chambers. He was 34 years old and had a wife and four sons to take care of. He had a job, that didn't pay enough, so he was diving for conch for extra earnings. We were told, that a lot of young men loose their lives diving too deep without proper equipment. It is a dangerous job, that doesn't pay much. If you would like to buy a conch, don't bargain. It has a price tag on, that is more valuable than a beautiful shell.

The Boat Yard Characters

We have been on the boat yard long enough to know everybody here, working force and sailors, preparing their boats for this sailing season. We have heard the question "When are you going in" to many times. Nobody asks that question Maira and her husband. He is French and she is British. He is 90 years old and she is 87. They brought seven children to Earth, that took two of them back. One was lost to the sea and their sailboat was named after him: "Marc le Novice". It is the shiniest boat on the boat yard and the only one, that has grass growing underneath it. The old couple work on it five hours a day, making sure, there will be more work tomorrow. Yesterday they painted the top of the cabin. It didn't come out quite right, so they are doing it over today. Sometimes he wonders around the boat yard and she makes sure, he doesn't wonder to far. It has been years since their sailboat had the taste of salt, and it will be polished, until there is any energy left in the old couple.

Concert

As many times before Polde and I went for an evening walk through Gros Islet last night. The town lays between the marina and the two resorts boarding with Pigeon Island. It has a beach with fine sand, where on weekends families bring their kids, their belongings and food to grill. A couple of years ago St. Lucia's government wanted to sell the beach, so that another resort would be build there, but town people protested and won. There are many skinny dogs laying or simply standing on the streets, waiting for the leftovers. There will be grilling going on soon in front of modest homes, chicken and fish with beans and rice. Mini bars are on every corner, but we never saw drunk people on the streets. Maybe we are there to early. The church, looking out of place standing tall among shacks, was lit up. Music attracted us and we came in to enjoy listening to the chorus of teenagers singing soul songs, accompanied by the guitarist, the saxophonist and the drummer. It was a moving experiance.

Black

We painted the bottom of the boat yesterday. Now I have an outfit with black dots all over it. Polde didn't wear a shirt, so he is dotted instead. By the time "Nada" goes into the water, we'll be wearing a lot of colours, depending on the job we'll be doing. Our main colour, of course, will be red, the sun is beating on us, while we are working. Besides painting, Polde installed the new GPS. After being on St. Lucia two weeks, we can finally see the water, on the screen, of course.

The bus

Every day we make a trip to the hardware store or to the marina to marine shop to buy tools or instruments. A good grocery store is further away, so we take a mini bus, well run public transportation on St. Lucia. For 55 US cents you go a long way and you never have to wait, so many buses, one leaves, the next arrives. Yesterday we went to Castries, the Capitol of St. Lucia, a 20 minutes ride. Suddenly, something blocks a beautiful turquoise view of the bay. It is another bus. This can not be a two lane road!? But it is and it is curving and the vehicles parallel to each other go through the curves exactly the same way or they wouldn't fit. And we know what happens if they don't fit. Drivers constantly beep short beeps to greet other bus drivers coming towards them, or to somebody walking on the side of the road (I don't know how they recognise the person at the speed they are driving), and to the cars in front, that don't go fast enough. Every ride on a bus is an experience and fun. People are in and out of the bus at every bus stop. There are Bus stop signs along the road, but the driver will stop, when the passenger calls out: "Driver, stop!" By the time we arrived to the Castries, faces on the bus had changed a couple of times. When school is out, kids ride home on the public buses. They look nice, but awkward in their uniforms, boys with ties or snowy white T-shirts, girls in pleated skirts, their hair pulled back tight, or braided. They all wear shoes that seem to big for them, but then, St. Lucians are tall, sooner or later they will need big shoes.

Old acquaintances

We have new lockers on the boat yard, but the same two ladies are keeping them clean. Helen and Julia. Julia is a big woman. Before we left in spring, she asked me to send some bras from the States. "I have a hard time getting them here", she said. "What kind?" I asked, and before I could stop here, she flipped her blouse up with the tips of her fingers. The sight was so impressive, I didn't notice the bra. But DD was the largest I could get. We saw Booms again. Not on the bike i gave him. He owed money to another villager, who took the bike instead and sold it to somebody else. Booms came to offer his services, saying: "You were good to me, I'll be good to you." He told us he had a new girlfriend besides his teenage daughter. He needs money. Our fruit man Gregory in his handmade boat, decorated with many flags, doesn't have a lot of business yet. The marina is nearly empty, since the hurricane season officialy ends at the end of November. So he comes to the boat yard and knocks on boats, that have laundry hanging over the decks. With only a few costumers his prices are better too, or I should say he gives you more for your money. And he trys to please, he found some mangos for me, even though they are not in season yet.

All is well

We found "Nada" as we left her, though she was moved around, when the boat yard was being renovated. No small or large pests hiding inside. That was a relief. Last year on our old "Nada" it took us months to get rid of las cucarachas, the Caribbean flying beasts. It is 85 F, but it feels like a 100. Quick showers don't cool the air, but they give moisture and energy to coming spring. Some trees are already wearing their colourful blooming crowns and hills have velvety green blankets of new foliage. Nature was generous here in colour and beauty.

Sailing season 2009/10

October 23rd. We are back on St. Lucia. The plane lands late in the evening and yet the air is hot, humid. Waiting to get through the Customs, Polde and I look at each other and smile. "What's the rush, mon?" This is the tropics that we love so much: the heat, the pace, the people we got to know through the last few years. There are a lot of taxi drivers waiting for the last plane of the day. "How much to the boat yard?" "Twenty." "All right." The driver looks at the luggage. "A lot. That will have to be extra." Of course we have luggage and of course we are not leaving it on the side of the curb and we don't mind paying extra. Our driver is a middle aged man. He puts on a soft music and off we go into this sailing season's adventures.