On Thursday we learned that Lexie from Papillon had taken a nasty fall down the hull steps after a night out, resulting in a vertebrae and wrist fracture and spell in hospital in Castries. Kevin popped over to see Lawrence to see if there was anything we could do to help and met the crew of Snow Leopard a Fredis 46 catamaran from the ARC who are also heading to Bequia for Christmas.
Finally the long awaited battery charger to Kevin’s Sony Vaio arrived after 17 days on a delivery estimate of 5 days much to our relief. It has been the thing we have been waiting for and preventing us from moving on south to the Grenadines as we planned. Thankfully the laptop appeared to charge as normal when connected and Kevin was a happy man again to get his favourite toy back up and running.
We had a change of scenery in the later afternoon because the north east swell had made it into the bay and managed to upset the holding of our rather over-sensitive anchor. Luckily however, Barry has very generously given us his old Fortress anchor from his last boat which is a little too small for his current one, so as soon as we can get somewhere suitable we can swap ours out. We took ourselves over to the Pigeon Island side of the bay in the shelter from the swell and tried to reset the anchor. Unfortunately, everyone else had had the same idea and the spaces were limited especially as we like to give ourselves a good run off just incase. We were struggling to get it to set and I put on the snorkel to have a look, but could see the holding was not good where we were with a thin layer of sand over coral and rock. There were not many options left though and several boats around us, who I suspect were not checking so diligently. We laid plenty of chain, so we were not going anywhere far and set the alarm.
The ARCers were all heading to a fancy dress party on Pigeon Island that night but we decided to take a well earned quiet night in together on anchor and enjoyed a beautiful sunset with the background music of their revelries in the background.
Thursday, 18 December 2008
Wednesday, 17 December 2008
Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
We reported for duty at 9am on Pikorua, despite a slightly fussy head and were treated to some toast made from home baked bread and fresh coffee to start our day off slowly. Kevin then got to work with Barry winching him up the mast to check their rigging, tighten some fittings and replace others damaged on the trip across. A job made considerably easier by their substantial electric winches onboard. They swapped the large genoa headsail with a smaller Yankee more suitable for double handed sailing from now on with Barry and Marie-Jeanne. It really brought home to me the difference from Invincible helping to flake the Genoa, which seemed heavier than our main, everything is on a much bigger scale for them and they need to plan ahead well to manage Pikorua with the two of them. Invincible by comparison can easily be sailed single-handed, so I think what we loose in seaworthiness and speed in a smaller boat we gain in manageability which can also be a big factor in safety.
Marie-Jeanne and I spent the day getting their iPod installed on their laptop which turned out to be a pretty long winded job as the version of iTunes I had was not high enough for their iPod and the newest one had to be downloaded on a fairly slow Wifi connection. Next the tracks which they had been given by their friend Inke (crew for the Atlantic crossing) had to be manually removed from the iPod using some trial software I found which only did 10 tracks at a time. Otherwise iTunes would delete the lot when it first synchronised the iPod, blah blah blah. I can understand why most people hate computers so much! Anyway, we just managed to get it all sorted and synchronising when the power went off for the whole pontoon and the laptop went into standby disrupting the synchronisation and leaving it blank! Luckily this was resolved when the power was resumed later that night.
Kevin and Barry went to the boatyard to negotiate some work to straighten and stiffen Pikorua’s bowsprit which bent on the passage. Edwin the excellent boatyard manager, gave him a good quote and got someone working on it straightaway. He even gave Barry some marine plywood he needed to fix his pushpit for free. Later Kevin and I went back to check on Invincible and get a shower before we all went out to the newly opened Bosun’s Locker bar/restaurant for a nice meal out after all our hard work.
Marie-Jeanne and I spent the day getting their iPod installed on their laptop which turned out to be a pretty long winded job as the version of iTunes I had was not high enough for their iPod and the newest one had to be downloaded on a fairly slow Wifi connection. Next the tracks which they had been given by their friend Inke (crew for the Atlantic crossing) had to be manually removed from the iPod using some trial software I found which only did 10 tracks at a time. Otherwise iTunes would delete the lot when it first synchronised the iPod, blah blah blah. I can understand why most people hate computers so much! Anyway, we just managed to get it all sorted and synchronising when the power went off for the whole pontoon and the laptop went into standby disrupting the synchronisation and leaving it blank! Luckily this was resolved when the power was resumed later that night.
Kevin and Barry went to the boatyard to negotiate some work to straighten and stiffen Pikorua’s bowsprit which bent on the passage. Edwin the excellent boatyard manager, gave him a good quote and got someone working on it straightaway. He even gave Barry some marine plywood he needed to fix his pushpit for free. Later Kevin and I went back to check on Invincible and get a shower before we all went out to the newly opened Bosun’s Locker bar/restaurant for a nice meal out after all our hard work.
Tuesday, 16 December 2008
Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
Tuesday I had to catch up on a few jobs, the first being catching up on my budget spreadsheets. I keep a record of everything we spend, including the category of spending e.g. boat maintenance, eating out, groceries etc in order for us to maintain control of our budget. I also keep a log of where we moor each night, whether at anchor, marina, passage making etc for our own interest, though it has also been handy in the past as a sort of calendar of events too. Kevin had also popped into the marina again to check for our parcel and also popped by to see Laurence and Lexie for more computer fixing.
Later in the afternoon, we had a visit from Barry and Marie-Jeanne from Pikorua who were out on their tender. They were enjoying a break from host and hostess duties onboard and getting sometime to their selves. Kevin duly assisted their relaxation with some of his cocktails, in fact I think Barry was treated to almost the full repertoire from Grogue from Cape Verdes to local Chairmain’s rum and pineapple to a Vesper cocktail from the Casino Royale film in what turned out to be a fairly drunken evening! It was a great night though and Barry and Marie-Jeanne I think appreciated the chance to relax. We moved from foredeck to cockpit and back to avoid the sun, then watched the sunset as the evening rolled by. I offered to loan Kevin out to Barry the next day to assist with some of the boat jobs they’d accumulated on their crossing as we prefer to have a busy day and I was enlisted to sort out their new iPod, so we agreed to meet up at 9am the next day. They headed back to prepare food for their crew and we pretty much just went straight to bed!
Later in the afternoon, we had a visit from Barry and Marie-Jeanne from Pikorua who were out on their tender. They were enjoying a break from host and hostess duties onboard and getting sometime to their selves. Kevin duly assisted their relaxation with some of his cocktails, in fact I think Barry was treated to almost the full repertoire from Grogue from Cape Verdes to local Chairmain’s rum and pineapple to a Vesper cocktail from the Casino Royale film in what turned out to be a fairly drunken evening! It was a great night though and Barry and Marie-Jeanne I think appreciated the chance to relax. We moved from foredeck to cockpit and back to avoid the sun, then watched the sunset as the evening rolled by. I offered to loan Kevin out to Barry the next day to assist with some of the boat jobs they’d accumulated on their crossing as we prefer to have a busy day and I was enlisted to sort out their new iPod, so we agreed to meet up at 9am the next day. They headed back to prepare food for their crew and we pretty much just went straight to bed!
Monday, 15 December 2008
Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
We had a couple of drinks with Mike & Jim on Jeannius the night before watching them welcome a few boats over the ARC finish line. It was a good job that we were coming over as they were having a few technical difficulties. It was going dark when we arrived and they soon discovered that the strobe on the buoy marking the far side of the finish line had stopped working. Next their searchlight intended to be used to highlight the flag on their forestay as boats arrive to pick them out in the busy anchorage had also stopped working. Kevin went to fetch our searchlight for them, just in time for the first boat to arrive.
We had an early start on Monday morning as we'd agreed the night before to try and find Mike’s propeller which had dropped off at some point between him anchoring near to us and taking his position at the other side of the bay at the finish line. It was a bit of a long shot but we thought it was worth a go, besides we were both keen to go diving again.
We have developed a fairly healthy lifestyle with the 12 hour nights here (sunset around 6pm and sunrise about 6am) of going to bed fairly early usually before 10am and up at around 6am. I think we both look much younger for having a decent sleep everyday and it is great to have a bit of time before the sun gets too hot (I know the trials we face!). So, we had got up and had a light breakfast, prepared all the dive gear and taken our tender over to Mike’s boat before 8am on Monday morning. It was quite choppy and we have now confirmed that our tender is really a bit too small for us both and two sets of dive gear as I had to bail the occasional spray coming in over the bow. We had a bit of a deadline to meet as Mike was due to go off watch at 10am, so we got straight in the water when we arrived. The visibility was not great only about 2m, but the water temperature is 27-28 degrees. As soon as we descended we we surrounded by a shoal of small colourful fish and saw a large lionfish-type colourful fish with ornate laterally fins of inky blue on a white body. We unfortunately did not find the prop, but we did enjoy the dive, although it was a sandy bottom we saw several live conches buried in the sand and a few calcified shells laying on it. There was also some coral and assorted small fish flitting around on the sand, I’m afraid I’ll need to get an ID book to improve my descriptions before the next dive!
We were back to boat by 9am and enjoyed the day pottering around the boat. Kevin had a run ashore in the tender to maintain the vigil for the missing battery charger on route from the UK. He’d also been to collect our Fedex delivery of two steering bolts from Fountaine Pajot as the bushes are wearing on ours. Annoyingly, in what seems to be the way of things when you have a boat, we were presented with yet another ridiculous bill. The customs agent who we did not ask to work on the retrieval of the parcel from customs, which should not have been stopped anyway (delivery of spares for a Yacht In Transit should not attract import duty) wanted $150 US for his work. Kevin pointed out this was about 5 times the value of the item and we hadn’t even asked for his help, after a long debate Kevin paid 40$ECD (£10) as he’d collected the parcel from Castries which had saved us a tedious job.
Life on anchor is really very easy in a busy place like Rodney bay, there is Gregory who provides a daily fruit delivery service which we make full use of any have fruit salads daily. There is also a boat based Laundry service called Sparkle Laundry who pass by most days or you can call them on the VHF radio and they collect.
Gregory the fruit man on delivery, he's fairly easy to spot or hear arriving with his conch shell horn
Another beautiful sunset on anchor
Our friends Jonny & Kate on Newtsville (blog in links section) also completed their Transatlantic crossing today, arriving into Falmouth Harbour, Antigua after 25 days at sea and 2876 miles since departing Gran Canaria. So many congratulations to them and Kate’s brother Roo on board as crew for a successful crossing!
We had an early start on Monday morning as we'd agreed the night before to try and find Mike’s propeller which had dropped off at some point between him anchoring near to us and taking his position at the other side of the bay at the finish line. It was a bit of a long shot but we thought it was worth a go, besides we were both keen to go diving again.
We have developed a fairly healthy lifestyle with the 12 hour nights here (sunset around 6pm and sunrise about 6am) of going to bed fairly early usually before 10am and up at around 6am. I think we both look much younger for having a decent sleep everyday and it is great to have a bit of time before the sun gets too hot (I know the trials we face!). So, we had got up and had a light breakfast, prepared all the dive gear and taken our tender over to Mike’s boat before 8am on Monday morning. It was quite choppy and we have now confirmed that our tender is really a bit too small for us both and two sets of dive gear as I had to bail the occasional spray coming in over the bow. We had a bit of a deadline to meet as Mike was due to go off watch at 10am, so we got straight in the water when we arrived. The visibility was not great only about 2m, but the water temperature is 27-28 degrees. As soon as we descended we we surrounded by a shoal of small colourful fish and saw a large lionfish-type colourful fish with ornate laterally fins of inky blue on a white body. We unfortunately did not find the prop, but we did enjoy the dive, although it was a sandy bottom we saw several live conches buried in the sand and a few calcified shells laying on it. There was also some coral and assorted small fish flitting around on the sand, I’m afraid I’ll need to get an ID book to improve my descriptions before the next dive!
We were back to boat by 9am and enjoyed the day pottering around the boat. Kevin had a run ashore in the tender to maintain the vigil for the missing battery charger on route from the UK. He’d also been to collect our Fedex delivery of two steering bolts from Fountaine Pajot as the bushes are wearing on ours. Annoyingly, in what seems to be the way of things when you have a boat, we were presented with yet another ridiculous bill. The customs agent who we did not ask to work on the retrieval of the parcel from customs, which should not have been stopped anyway (delivery of spares for a Yacht In Transit should not attract import duty) wanted $150 US for his work. Kevin pointed out this was about 5 times the value of the item and we hadn’t even asked for his help, after a long debate Kevin paid 40$ECD (£10) as he’d collected the parcel from Castries which had saved us a tedious job.
Life on anchor is really very easy in a busy place like Rodney bay, there is Gregory who provides a daily fruit delivery service which we make full use of any have fruit salads daily. There is also a boat based Laundry service called Sparkle Laundry who pass by most days or you can call them on the VHF radio and they collect.
Gregory the fruit man on delivery, he's fairly easy to spot or hear arriving with his conch shell horn
Another beautiful sunset on anchor
Our friends Jonny & Kate on Newtsville (blog in links section) also completed their Transatlantic crossing today, arriving into Falmouth Harbour, Antigua after 25 days at sea and 2876 miles since departing Gran Canaria. So many congratulations to them and Kate’s brother Roo on board as crew for a successful crossing!
Sunday, 14 December 2008
Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
Sunday as usual has been a day of rest, catching up on emails and the blog, a bit of reading and internet surfing. We are going over for drinks on Jeannius with Mike and his new crew tonight who are on finish line duties for the ARC.
Saturday, 13 December 2008
Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
Saturday we set out to meet up with Lawrence and Lexie from Papillon who we’d met only briefly in La Rochelle when we were both collecting our new boats, though theirs was the largest in the range and ours the smallest. We’d been in email contact ever since, following their tales of their rapid tour of the Mediterranean, clocking over 9000 miles already since collecting their boat. We bumped into them in Scuttlebutts bar and joined them for lunch before going back to their boat for a few drinks and hear all about their travels. Lawrence had already become very popular with the various guys selling to the boats as he’d invited them all onboard to join their celebratory drinks the day before when they arrived and consequently they all kept turning up afterward to see if the free beer was still flowing. We saw the Pikorua crew as well as we passed who were slightly quieter today from the celebrations of yesterday and we left both boats to go for well earned celebratory dinners with their crews.
Lawrence buying some local souvenirs
Lawrence, Lexie & Kevin
Lawrence buying some local souvenirs
Lawrence, Lexie & Kevin
Friday, 12 December 2008
Rodney Bay, St. Lucia
I went to the dingy dock without shoes and watch, naively expecting the Diginav owner to meet me as planned at 8.30am, I had arrived early ready. After about 12 other dingies had come in and out I asked one for the time, it was 8.55 and still no sign. So, I went up the steps opposite to the shop in bare feet to see where he’d got to. When I entered the shop he said, so you are ready? I said yes, I’d been waiting on the dock where we said, he shrugged his shoulders and indicated the two customers who’d just left the shop, no apology. I then waited another 15 minutes while he gathered tools and took the replacement parts out of packaging and answered the phone half a dozen times. We then left the shop where I was gingerly walking on the wet tiles in my bare feet carrying the equipment, as we reached the top of the stairs he joked that if I was to fall I should not damage the equipment, but frankly I wasn’t really in the mood by now for his humour.
We got the boat and he replaced the equipment, whilst telling us how to anchor a boat, drive a tender, disembark passengers from a tender and various other pearls of wisdom. He cleared our 4600 mile ships log without warning or telling us, though I guess this was perhaps unavoidable, it would have therefore been easier to bear if there had been any appreciable improvement in the operation of the equipment. The maximum depth indication was still not working when we left and the other two faults being intermittent will take sometime to confirm. However, we were keen to get back to St. Lucia and meet a couple of ARC friends who were due in, so we headed off as soon as he’d done. We saw a couple of other ARC boats appearing over the horizon as we sailed south down the channel between Martinique and St Lucia, I gather that about 30 boats got in that day.
ARC Party in the park
Once we were anchored again in the bay, we headed into the marina to check our post and see the crews of Pikorua and Papillon. We only managed to get as far as Pikorua and were invited onboard for a drink and dinner before we all headed to the Friday ARC party that we’d attended the week before. It was great to see Barry, Marie-Jean and Jen and meet the rest of their crew. We had a great evening exchanging our crossing stories, though having lost their propeller and had three trips up the mast on the way across, one after only 3 hours, Pikorua’s tales were much more dramatic than ours. However, everyone was well and despite the water taxi crashing them into the dock when towing them in, they were all in good spirits and we enjoyed joining their celebrations.
ARC Party in the park
Jen, Marie-Jeanne, Barry and Jonathan of Pikorua
We got the boat and he replaced the equipment, whilst telling us how to anchor a boat, drive a tender, disembark passengers from a tender and various other pearls of wisdom. He cleared our 4600 mile ships log without warning or telling us, though I guess this was perhaps unavoidable, it would have therefore been easier to bear if there had been any appreciable improvement in the operation of the equipment. The maximum depth indication was still not working when we left and the other two faults being intermittent will take sometime to confirm. However, we were keen to get back to St. Lucia and meet a couple of ARC friends who were due in, so we headed off as soon as he’d done. We saw a couple of other ARC boats appearing over the horizon as we sailed south down the channel between Martinique and St Lucia, I gather that about 30 boats got in that day.
ARC Party in the park
Once we were anchored again in the bay, we headed into the marina to check our post and see the crews of Pikorua and Papillon. We only managed to get as far as Pikorua and were invited onboard for a drink and dinner before we all headed to the Friday ARC party that we’d attended the week before. It was great to see Barry, Marie-Jean and Jen and meet the rest of their crew. We had a great evening exchanging our crossing stories, though having lost their propeller and had three trips up the mast on the way across, one after only 3 hours, Pikorua’s tales were much more dramatic than ours. However, everyone was well and despite the water taxi crashing them into the dock when towing them in, they were all in good spirits and we enjoyed joining their celebrations.
ARC Party in the park
Jen, Marie-Jeanne, Barry and Jonathan of Pikorua
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