Out of the water!.....

Not quite what we had planned for Martinique! After talking very nicely to the right people at the boat yard we had the boat hauled out yesterday, ready to start the repairs to the propellor on Monday . We had to mention that we needed to be in St.Lucia next weekend for the arrival of my parents. The haul out was quite an experience, Dave had to manouevre the boat which is 22'8''inches wide into a concrete dock 24' wide with only one engine.

Don't dive now!!!

We are staying in an apartment close to the marina while the boat is on the hard. We didn't like the idea of being in the boat yard which is roasting hot with no breeze and full of mosquitos.
The girls ran around the apartment like wild animals that had been let out of a cage, enjoying the space. Dave and I had the longest shower EVER!!! Despite the novelty, it felt somewhat claustrophobic compared to being out at anchor and we all agree that we prefer living on the boat than on land.
From the Skipper
This weekend there has been a regatta in Marin, with the locals racing unusal 'Yoles'. If I was to describe one, the closest approximation would be sailing one hull of a catamaran with 10 or so sliding poles and a giant oar for a rudder. The mainsail is vast and unforgiving and it takes 3 quite beefy chaps to keep hold of the helm. In the second picture I was doing about 10 knots standing up in the dinghy just about keeping up then a gust hit them, the crew threw themselves out on the poles, the three helmsmen strained and they flew off at about 15 knots. Darcy and I thought we would love to have a go at this - not sure Bowmoor would have the space for one! 

I'm going to be at the boatyard early doors tomorrow to open up for the engineers. I have also got to get the mainsail off the boat for some more repairs - hopefully there will be some bods around to help. It will be good to get the shafts and props sorted and the leaks stopped. There has been one consellation to this excercise in that I have found the biggest, cheapest, most well stocked fishing shop on the planet. Not only does it have everything, the staff are super friendly and knowledgable. Its like a supermarket - there are 3 aisles just for trolling lures, a complete aisle for hooks, 2 aisles of reels and more rods than anyone could begin to shake a stick at. Boys - I wish you were here!

Thought we might try and upload a video taken with the underwater camera of Dave pretending to be a predator swimming through a bait ball!

Our latest news is since Antony and Marcia left we motored with our one engine down to the south east  of Martinique which took us 5 hours going 2.5 knots against 20 knots of wind. Some of the time we were sure we were actually going backwards! Tomorrow morning the boat will be hauled out of the water by a very large crane and the mechanics will start work on replacing the propellor and leaking / bent shafts. We didn't fancy staying on the boat in a mosquito infested boatyard having to climb ladders to get on and off the boat so we're going to stay in a B&B nearby. 

Martinique

Dave's brother and sister in law joined us in Dominica.

We set off the next morning for the sail to Martinique. The forecast looked good but unfortunately halfway across the wind direction changed and we had to motor sail in fairly lumpy seas, Isla crashed out!

Just before a squall hit us (high winds) the starboard engine failed, which means no steering on one side. Then the port engine depowered, lucky Antony kept us all calm and we managed to limp into St.Pierre, an anchorage at the north of Martinique. Dave and Antony dived under the boat to see what the problem was to find that the propellor was gone. Isla said 'can't we go and find it?', to which Dave replied 'only if you want to swim on the sea bed between here and Dominca!!' We decided to try and forget about the engine problems while Antony and Marcia are with us and sort them out when they leave. Callum and Caz you won't believe this but both girls are now diving, remember the hours you spent trying to encourage them when you were here!

We have found a few bays with amazing bright corals and we got Marcia, who said she didn't really like snorkelling last week, to free dive!

We have been perfecting our Pina Colada's with Antony and Marcia and thought we'd sussed it until we went out and had one served in a Pineapple! Even Darcy and Isla are getting a taste for them.

Pirates of the caribbean....

Albert, a local fisherman who we befriended ten years ago when we were in Dominica took us for a trip down 'the indian river'. The river goes across swamp land and then the giant bloodwood trees arch over with the roots twisting down into the water. Parts of Pirates of the caribbean 2 were filmed on this river. Albert helped with the filming carrying the pretend weapons in his boat up the river for the actors.

 

Iguanas in the tree tops

Lizards in the bamboo

The indian river

Levi took us into the depths of the rainforest in the south of the island, it was like being in a scene from Jurassic park. Below trafalgar falls Levi we climbed down to a hot water spring. We were in heaven, Levi had to drag us out!

Trafalgar falls

Deep into the forest

Warmer than a bath!

Isla's 6th birthday....

Since Callum and Caz left us last week we have been pretty busy with Isla's birthday and exploring inland Dominica. We met a local school teacher in a village in the north of Dominica who very kindly offered to take the girls for a morning in her class. Sadly when we all arrived at the school the principal decided that the school was going to have an extra days holiday, despite all the teachers and pupils turning up, only in the caribbean!!! Darcy and I made a birthday cake for Isla, please don't look Ximena!

Happy birthday Isla

Underwater fun ....

We have been practising with our underwater camera, to start with the pictures were much like multicoloured blobs. I've now given Dave the task of underwater photographer, he can hold his breath the longest by far.

This is a fun sport, as you can tell by the ink he wasn't very happy!

Wierd and wonderful - a flying gurnard

Electric blue wings

Isla -age 6 and she can already free dive better than me!!!

We have sadly said goodbye to Callum  and Caroline, we had an amazing week, seeing lots of fish, eating lots of fish and inventing cocktails with our new cocktail shaker !!!

Easter by Darcy...

Easter in the curried-bean as daddy would call it! Uncle Callum and Auntie Caz are out with us at  the moment, we had Easter with them. We stocked up on supplies at the market in Dominica, it was amazing.

The coconut man

A small Marlin - we bought two HUGE steaks for £3.50!!!

 Easter day was a bit different from at home. In the morning we had chocolate for breakfast then painted some eggs to hang up in the cockpit. Then we had an easter kayak with Uncle Callum and when we got to the beach we abandoned him and made him swim back! For lunch mummy made olive bread and we tucked in to some yummy sandwiches!!!

In the afternoon we had an Easter hunt made by Auntie Caz, our prize was some home made

Coconut and lemon cake! Then we had an Easter snorkel it was very pretty and we stayed there for a long time. At night went for a drink ashore by the hotel. I hope everyone at home had a fab Easter, even if it wasn’t afloat!!!

Snorkelling off Pigeon Island....

We anchored off the mainland of Guadeloupe to investigate the Jacques Cousteau underwater park which surrounds Pigeon Island. People come from afar to dive here. The water was crystal clear and so warm, due to the underwater thermal spring. It was the best snorkelling we had done with the girls, with an abundance of fish and different corals to see.

 Darcy and Isla have both started to free dive down to be nearer the fish. We have been spoilt with turtles so far on our trip, especially at this anchorage. Every ten minutes a turtle would pop its head up next to the boat. We all got to snorkel directly over them and watch them munching on the grass and glide around so gracefully through the water. Here we met a Belgian family who had three children aged 4,7 and 10. The children couldn’t speak English but the parents could a little. We spent a fun afternoon playing on the beach and in the kayak with them, sadly they were heading north instead of south.

Dominica and our first guests arrive...

We sailed from Guadeloupe via a small group of islands called Iles des Saintes to Dominica. The forecast was for 15 knots of wind when in fact we had 25 knots of wind and a very choppy sea. The positive side of this trip was that we were flying along at 9 knots and so it only took us two and a half hours. Isla felt pretty green but survived! Dave caught three tuna, one got away but we were more than happy with two, especially as my brother and his fiancée were arriving that night. One was a Bonito and the other a black fin tuna, sorry you are going to get bored of fish pictures!

Callum and Caroline arrived on Thursday evening and we greeted them with a rum and coke and a fresh tuna supper, setting expectations high. If you’re coming out to see us we can’t guarantee this sort reception but we'll try our best!!!

Guadeloupe.....

28^th March – We eventually left Antigua mid morning after filling the boat up. All our fuel and water has to come from dock in jerry cans which is exhausting in 30 degrees of heat! As we motored sailed away from Antigua the winds were a moderate 10 knots, half an hour out we were able to turn off the engines and enjoy the peace of the sails. The waves were small and so the girls enjoyed sitting on the front looking out for sealife,  unfortunately there wasn’t much to see this time. Isla still managed acrobats despite being strapped on!

 The wind dropped to below 10 knots and we decided to motor sail for the middle 20 miles. As we neared Guadeloupe Dave had given up hope of catching a fish on this passage, as he was winding in the line by hand a Spanish mackerel took the lure, nearly pulling him overboard! Lesson learnt, always tie on when pulling in the fishing lines! Journey three, fish number three, can’t complain. 

Dave portioned the fish up and some went in the freezer, which is a real luxury. When Dave and I lived onboard ten years ago we only had a tiny fridge so we had to give quite a bit of fish away to other boats. I had my first attempt at Sushi which went ok but we definitely needed some wasabi and pickled ginger to accompany it.

The passage took 7 hours from leaving Antigua and anchoring in Deshaies, Guadeloupe. The girls did really well on the journey as they had to stay mostly in the cockpit, they tend to feel sick in their cabins. We played a lot of eye spy! Deshaies is the first bay in the north of Guadeloupe, it is a beautiful French fishing village. The first morning we took the dinghy ashore in search of pain au chocolate. Sitting on the village street drinking coffee and eating pastries was heavenly.

Just outside the village of Deshaies is the most stunning botanical gardens. We rang them up and they kindly came to pick us up for free from the dinghy dock, you certainly wouldn’t get that service in the Uk. I’m sure some of my floristry friends may appreciate the pictures! I was in my element surrounded by wild orchids, bird of paradise, ginger flowers. There were some very friendly parakeets and flamingos which entertained the girls.

Wild Orchids

Not sure what it is, but stunning

Pink bananas!

Very friendly parakeets