BEQUIA

Sailing to Bequia was beautiful, sunny with 25 knots wind. But in the Admirality Bay we started out with some trouble anchoring twice. At night we dragged again. I slept in a cockpit and the anchor alarm woke me up. Polde changed the anchor, put on the danfort, while I was circulating in a 30 knots gusts. We have been sitting tight and far from the crowd of other boats since.

In the morning we realized, that the shaft of the CQR anchor was bent upward. That probably wasn’t the only reason why the boat dragged. We watched other boats trying to anchor twice or three times before they settled. One sailboat dragged during the night and ended up on rocks. People were rescued in the morning, but the boat was slowly taken by the sea, only the top of the mast sticking out as a reminder of the Caribbean sailing pleasures. Another boat dragged into the neighbor and scraped the side of it.

I did some bottom fishing off the boat and caught enough for my meals. I added another specimen to my trophies, a flying gurnard, a beautiful and tasty fish, but not easy to clean.

There is a tennis court available at the Gingerbread Inn on a shore by the anchorage. The weather didn't permit us to play, so we exercised by walking over the hill from Admirality to the Frienship Bay, quiet with only a few fishing boats resting. A small restaurant and a bar, were we refreshed ourselves a few years back, was washed away by the storm.

We said our farewell to the past year with a couple of Slovenian sailors, Majda and Toni Bozic, who participated in the ARC with their beautiful 65 ft ketch NOOR DARIA. We met them the day before in the Admirality Bay and yet, we had such a good time as if we were old friends. Must be the sailors’ spirit.

We have not had a peaceful day or night since we sailed into this bay. The wind just wouldn’t slow down, gusting to 30 knots and bringing rain heavy clouds. Our generator and the water maker have been resting the last two weeks. There is always something good in bad, isn’t there? And there are always rainbows after the storms.

A thrill

and a beauty

Flying gurnard

Are William and Kate visiting?

Admirality Bay

Friendship Bay

PITONS

We left Rodney Bay December 26^th and spent two days at Pitons in a company of big yachts. The place is not as quiet as it used to be, but it still has a good fishing ground. I caught a large yellowtail snapper, enough for three people to have two meals.

To stretch our legs we walked through a jungle above the resort Jalousie, the trail neatly designed with wooden walkways and bridges.

As always Jarule supplied us with fruits and vegetables. He surprised us by being neatly dressed, when we complemented him, he showed us a ring. He got married in August.

Yellowtail snapper

Bungalow in a jungle

Roots

The trail through the jungle

Jalousie Resort hurricane shelter

Cozy spot

Mango blossoms

REVISITING CASTRIES

With many stops it takes a 15 minutes ride from Rodney Bay to Castries. The mini bus-van is always packed with adults, school kids ans sometimes a chicken or two. The atmosphere is upbeat. You always get a response to your greet, you might hear it in spite of the loud music.

The bus ride is an introduction to Castries, as if life on the bus spilled on to the streets. Is there anybody left at home or in the office? The streets are so packed with people, you have to weave your way through the crowds. Side walks are filled with the street vendors, from them you can buy anything from sandals to fruits, but mostly little snacks and hair decorations. St. Lucian women and girls take special care of their hair. If they don't wear their wigs, and many do, they braid and decorate their hair with bright and shiny decorations. Some colour their hair red, an old African tradition, using canna blossoms. Little school girls are beautiful in their yellow and white uniforms and matching beads in their braids.

We walked into the harbour, where four cruise ships were docked, the fifth was anchored close to the harbour entrance. And yet, markets with colourful clothing, carved statues and beautifully weaved baskets were poorly visited by tourists. There are to many markets on the islands, where cruise ships stop.
We found some of the things we were looking for, had lunch in one of the harbour restaurants and had another exciting ride on a speedy public mini bus going back to 'NADA'

Note the cruise ship at the end of the street

Calabash tree

SUN RAYS THROUGH THE CLOUDS

The clouds have turned from grey to white, the late afternoon sun coloring them deep pink.
We are anchored in Rodney Bay again after a comfortable sail from Martinique in a 15 knots wind.
The ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) boats are coming in, four or five a day, looking majestic with all their sails up until the finish line.
It was calm and rainy for days, we welcomed the wind, that pushed the clouds elsewhere. The life on the beach woke up again, umbrellas adding the colour to lashes green trees and bushes, that in the rainy season reached almost all the way to the water.
Most of our sailing friends have left to sail north, avoiding ARC crowd of over 200 boats. Some went home for the holidays. 'NADA' is waiting for the new batteries, that should arrive this week. Then we'll be heading south.

Le Marin beauty

The advantage of the autopilot

Tired

We have a visitor

Drying a spinnaker at the dock 

                                       

LE MARIN

We are anchored in a bay carved by the sea deep into the south end of Martinique. The town that hugs the bay in rightfully named Le Marin, The Sailor. You don’t see as many sailboats anywhere else. The town has everything that sailors need, marine stores, sail making lofts, charter companies. Vegetable, fruit and spice market is close enough to have a view of the marina, while supermarket has a convenient dock into the anchorage.


We have been here five days and it has rained on and off, today the raindrops have been knocking on the boat continuously from early morning.

Years ago I was grieving over something unimportant, my friend Jane Ripley comforted me by saying: Everything that happens to us, has something good in it.

In the last five days we filled up our water tanks.




The appartment building, overlooking the bay

The town cemetery



Shoppers gather fruits, vegetables and spices in the weaved baskets



Kids having fun





Ready to go



On a road again



PEOPLE WATCHER

Unlike Rodney Bay in St. Lucia, we don’t have the Internet connection on Le Marin anchorage. Yesterday we took a dinghy ride to the ‘Mango Bay’ café for the Internet, beer and cappuccino. It was almost lunch time, the place was busy. While Polde was working on the keyboard, I was watching people.


A party of six came in, three men and three women, matured, not old. Two men well trimmed, the third heavy set, barely squeezed his belly between the chair’s backrest and the table. It was hot and humid; after all, we are in the tropics. The two slim men took their shirts off. No, Nooo! Where is the sign: NO SHIRT, NO FOOD! I thought it was supposed to be the other way around. You come in, you put your shirt on, you leave, you take it off, and get a sun burn.

Anyway, I looked away, and then I couldn’t help myself, holding on to my cup, I took a deep breath, my eyes went back to the naked table. The third shirt stayed on, I let my air out.

When the party left the table, men (I cannot use the word gentlemen, can I?) put their shirts back on.

Mango Bay cafe

Not an accident, carelessness!

Tuesday at noon
Just as I was thinking, that I didn't have any material for the blog (after all, the most exciting creatures on the boat yard are chickens and dogs), I heard a scream: "Nada, Nada!" I ran up onto the deck, and on the stern, where the scream was coming from. Polde was sitting there with his head leaning forward, blood running down his face, his clothing  and then collecting in a paddle around him. There were two large slashes on the top of his head. I grabbed the boat's first aid, squeezed an antibiotic cream on the wound, piled a gauze on the top and a tight bandage over to stop the bleeding.
The boat yard worker Kelly drove us to the nearest medical center only a few blocks away from the boat yard.
We made a mistake coming in through the main instead the emergency entrance. We told the receptionist, what had happened and she calmed us down, saying: "It will be just a little while, the doctor is with the patient."
As we all know, a little while can be five minutes or a whole life. Don't we always say, that life is short? There was nobody in the waiting room, when we came in and we didn't know, that patients were waiting outside, preferring the shade of the tree over an air conditioned waiting room.
A little lady, neatly dressed in a baby blue dress came in and seeing my tears of fright, said to me: "Pray, God will help". But the line for the "God" was long and we didn't get our turn until four o'clock.
As modest and unimpressive the waiting room was, the emergency room shined with cleanliness, everybody, except Polde and me, dressed in light blue doctors' suits and caps. Young doctor stitched Polde's slashes, changing surgical gloves every time, he had to move away from the operating table. Two students observed his work.
The drama was over.

When we had our little ones on board, the only strickt rule was: no climbing on the dinghy davits, that also serve as a support for the solar panels and two airfoil blades for the wind generator.
Polde ignored the rule, stepped on davits for a small repair on them, when the gust turned the blades into the weapon. Fortunately the blades didn't damage his pritty face.

I am including the medical bill: The doctor's fee $18.50, x-ray $44.50, antibiotic and painkiller $5.40



 Now, who is going to do the blue jobs?