Episode 8: We Be Cruisin' The Caribbean!

Hi Everyone!

I was laying wide awake at 3.00 am this morning here in Antigua, when I suddenly realised that it may be well over a month from tomorrow that we will be able to send out an electronic correspondence to anyone, making the next blog an extremely long one; what’s new! So, I have crept to the navigation table, which has low lights, so as not to wake anyone. I have carefully lifted, as silently as possible, a kayak seat, life vests, buckets of shore shoes and an emergency Grab Bag aside so I can fit in here!

After hearing of the dreadful pirate attack on Kiwi Alan Culverwell and his family in the San Baas Islands and his fateful murder, if we weren’t all sleeping with an ear out in port for intruders before, we all are now! There was another attempted attack on a 55-foot Beneteau yacht down south only a couple of weeks before. These guys were in heavy seas and fortunately were able to tack (zigzag) their way away from the 8-armed pirates, not without copping gunshot damage to their hull. Therefore, as a consequence, our plan is now to skip the lower Caribbean and head out from Antigua across the upper latitudes, just below Puerto Rico and Jamaica enroute to the Panama rather than the lower Saint Lucia, San Blaas Islands, etc route. The Yacht Services Association are working with the Coast Guard to step up protection for all travelling yachts. Life is so cheap in some of these countries, it is not worth the risk.

So, carrying on from Tortola in the BVI’s where we stayed in Village Cay Marina in Roadtown for 2 nights, mainly for the riggers to sort out our reefing lines through the boom, but we also needed to do our final “Big Shop” for stores, especially cans of food and a few months’ worth of alcohol! The supermarkets are sooooo… frustrating as only half of their goods have price labels. So, we, like all the other travelling yachties, are always having to ask for price checks. Its crazy but the prices vary so much from island to island and shop to shop. A can of coconut cream varies between US$1.50 to US$4.75. Add the current exchange rate of .66 cents to the Kiwi dollar, it all adds up! Mangos have a variance of up to US$4 each! Shopping takes hours! So trolleys full, to get back to the boat, we have to leave a $50 refundable deposit for the trolley so we can haul it all back. Glenys and I scored this lovely big employee of the store to escort us back to Marmax. No $50 needed. The next day, I had Les with me to get his load of beer. $50 paid. Bang, crash through giant potholes, reo-steel hanging out of the concrete roads, down dusty embankments, to the marina which was in the process of being restored after the hurricanes. Ker-clunk, ker-clunk, ker-clunk! No wonder all the grocery trolley wheels are in various stages of collapse!

Smashed boats everywhere in Village Cay Marina 

Glenys jumped in the kayak the next day and took off for an exploratory paddle around the marina. There were dozens and dozens of smashed up boats still laying around the harbour and mangroves; many sunk with masts sticking out of the water. Such a sad, sad sight. Glenys, as she does, came across an Aussie lady aboard a yacht on a mooring. This was the ladies second trip to the BVI’s. She was about to take their second yacht back to Oz to sell after restoring the hurricane damage to it. The insurance companies are selling damaged boats cheap, the local dive shop owner is on his way to becoming a millionaire salvaging all the stainless-steel fittings, rigging, winches, sails, anything sell-able and salvageable. He’d done some deal with the insurers. Good luck to him, it would not be easy money. The stainless-steel fly bridges, pulpits, etc tangled up in the mangroves alone would make you cry when you think of what the stuff is worth in NZ and Australia! (thinking of you Mr. Malcolm Patterson) Oh to be a stainless-steel welder here right now!

The picture tells the story...sad as!

Les went to the movies; he’s a movie nut. We are not. The new “Avengers” was on and he was not going to miss it. Off he trudged alone, forgetting I was holding all of our cash. (I had a blog to complete at this stage) Walked 15 minutes in the heat to the movies, realised he had no money and they would not accept his Visa card, 15 minutes back to one of the few ATM’s on the island. 15 minutes back, soaked in sweat by this stage, but just in time to enjoy what was apparently a brilliant movie, inside what sounded like, the best building in town. He was happy!

Check this out! A little Japanese man was doing a world trip in his little handmade boat!

Bruce however was, let’s say “thunderous” at having just received the bill for the 3 riggers who had worked intermittently for 2 days on Marmax. Though happy to have the job done, and done well, the blood from his face reflected what had just left his bank balance, so we headed off the next night for his commiseration’s drinks at “Pussers Pub”. We met with Jane again and her two sons from Nanny Cay, caught up with all the goss and she imparted more of her valuable knowledge of the area we were about to travel. (Glenys and I had no idea all these beautiful ladies here wore wigs and hairpieces!!) We downed an incredible meal and Bruce felt a whole lot better as we walked home in the moonlight.

Oh God save us! In the middle of nowhere in Pussers Pub in the BVI's and Les finds live TV
coverage of the Aussie rules game between the Swans and Greater Western Sydney! 

The next morning, with the wind still steady at 20 knots, we headed off to Anegada, The Drowned Island, some 20 nautical miles north. We mainly wanted to see the flamingos nesting there. We drew too much water to get into the moorings in the harbour, so we were forced to anchor off one of the long beaches, probably around 800 metres off it as it was so shallow. With the wind still building, Bruce wanted us back to the boat within an hour. It would have taken us at least 2 hours to find the flamingo’s so we had to flag the whole idea and sail all the way back, hard on the wind once more. As our luck had it, I was thrilled that we were able to sail much closer to Sir Richard's Necker Island so we could examine it in great detail through binoculars. Man! What a pad! He also has this tiny sand cay with 3 picture-perfect palm trees perfectly spaced out on it, probably about a kilometre from Necker. Perhaps this was his private drinking island, or…is this where he interviews the air-hostesses?? All very beautiful. 

If Richard was listening, he would have heard our screams of delight when a pair of stunning fluorescent orange flamingos appeared from over the waves and flew right past the boat. We never realised they were such a bright, shocking orange! It was like seeing two brand new flying life jackets come zooming over a bowl of blue wobbly jelly. An AWESOME sight, we felt so lucky to have seen them! Unfortunately they flew so quickly we could not scramble quick enough for a camera.

The vegetable and life vest department!

A night back in North Sound for shelter, then we moved on to Virgin Gorda for Customs clearance. We had planned to clear port in Jost Van Dyke but, with tropical weather obviously starting to build, we skipped it to head south. In and out of Virgin Gorda within 2 hours. A far cry from last time we were in here. The marina was close to empty. It appears we are among the last travelling yachts to head away from the hurricane season. Fueled up, Bruce cleared Customs, the ice shed wi-fi was working well, I scored a hot shower and after farewells to Angela, our Easter security guard and Janelle’s little friend, we were off.

Virgin Gorda fuel up

A final salute to the magical coastline of southern Virgin Gorda, the Baths, Devils Bay Beach, we blew our kisses and settled into a steady slam, again, on the nose and reefed down. We sailed closely through the rugged “Fallen Jerusalem” and continued through the night with lots of solemn backward glances to watch that beautiful bunch of islands fade into the sunset. It sure is the trip of a lifetime and the British Virgin Islands, we shall never forget!

Saint Martins (French) / Sint Maartens (Dutch) was our next port of call. We entered the gorgeous Simpson Bay and dropped the anchor outside the harbour with around 30 other boats of various shapes and sizes hanging off moorings. Seriously, the water here is so blue, it looks like Condy’s Crystals. You would almost think it would stain your hull blue; the intensity is so amazing. I for one, cannot stop staring at it! I want to take a thousand photos (actually, I think I have). Completely in love with it!

That constant blue water...WOW!!

This place has quite a history going back over 5000 years under several occupations. In 1648, the French and Dutch signed a partition treaty taking occupation from the Spanish. The story goes, that in order to divide the island, each island had to choose a walker. Positioned back to back, each man had to walk, not run, in the opposite direction following the shoreline, then meet in the middle. The French were left with 54km2 and the Dutch 32 km2. Some say the French chose wine as a stimulant hence the greater difference in area claimed, whereas the Dutch chose Dutch Gin to quench their thirst. Many also say the French ran instead of walking. Unbelievably, in the next few centuries, Saint Martin changed nationality 18 times!

Anyway, to get into the marina basin, you have to go under this draw bridge which only goes up at 10.00am, 3.00pm and 5.00pm sharp daily; and they don’t wait as this is also one of the airport roads servicing the famous Princess Juliana International Airport where you can stand on the beach and get knocked over by the Jetstream of the planes taking off or landing. Bruce and I lept in the tender to clear Customs which was in a very non-descript building right next to the drawbridge. Customs clearance is generally a long, tedious task with many questions, endless ridiculous repetitive paperwork for Bruce and a lot of useless mumbling and fumbling of paperwork between office officials who, clearly have all the time in the world, but no pens that ever work. We found Customs at around 9.50am. No Customs signs on buildings or anything. You just find your way through the rubble until you stumble upon it. Fingers drumming in the oppressive heat. “We’re not going to make the 10.00am bridge Bruce”, I muttered. Another wasted day? 10.04am we were out the door- it was a super speedy clearance! Much to our delight, Les, Glenys and Janelle had pulled up the pick, and flags-a-flutter, came proudly steaming up the channel, through the bridge, joining the procession of other yachts going through.

Through the St Martin draw bridge

 This also marks the border between the French and Dutch territories. These marina basins are still full of hurricane debris, some of them look like a kid has emptied his toybox up-side-down, Broken boats, shattered marinas, yet the St Maarten Heineken Regatta celebrations, part of the 2019 Caribbean Regatta season, had been held here in March and apparently a massive effort had taken place to get it all cleared up for this annual event.

Our St Maaten marina

Simpson Bay seaweed clean up on the tourist beach

The Marmax crew off for another exploration

Our lovely fruit lady :)

Another hairy marina berth in 20 knots, backing in, Damn, we’re getting good at this! It seems so easy writing that sentence but, in reality, it is NOT! There were two boats alongside us with nasty blue concrete gashes on their sterns, we are determined not to damage Marmax! The wind is not making things easy.

Two nights in this vibrant, colourful port. The first we have come across which is totally geared up for travelling world-wide yachts. The BVI’s had been very much focussed on the charter yacht crowd, especially those big catamarans. Very few boats in port, most are gearing up for very long trips. The mighty, 78 metre, modern yacht, Venus was in port. This beauty was built for entrepreneur, Steve Jobs of Apple fame. “Georgia”, a stunner of a yacht and famous as the ultimate family world cruiser, was last seen by us in the Bay of Islands in New Zealand, a couple of Christmases ago.

The very stunning motor yacht, Venus - Built for Steve Jobs

Georgia the ultimate family cruiser! Last time we saw her was in the Bay Of Islands, NZ

The IGY Simpson Bay Yacht Club of St Maartens

Plenty of short range wi-fi here so we had to drift around the garden edges and waterfront to lock onto marina wi-fi. Jimbo’s Bar was right next door, but you can’t drink all the time…can you??

Yachties hungry for the wi-fi! 

This place was quite amusing. Blown out shacks and hurricane debris still about, the most creative shipping container buildings we have ever seen, casinos, empty shopping centres, big electronic advertising boards flashing, exclusive upmarket duty free shops, modern apartments and houses, dusty, pot holed roads, more crazy drivers weaving madly amongst Mopeds and helmetless bicycle riders. Sprinkled amongst all of this were quaint, busy street stalls and West Indian shops booming in riotous colour, Caribbean music and laughter like hundreds and thousands being shaken over it all. Lots of interesting art, food and clothing…a huge range of cuisine from French bakeries to Chinese restaurants, clicky coffee boutiques, to open West Indian rib shacks. Just a feast for your eyes no matter which way you turn. Les and I called in at the local RE/MAX office to chew real estate bones with our tribe. As usual, always welcoming, highly professional and really interesting for us all.

Some creative shipping container solutions!

That night, a rum tasting session with Mr. Topper at Toppers Bar (81 years old with his own children 60 down to 7 years of age- still with a major twinkle in his eye, or was that the reflection of the gold and diamonds dripping off him?) A merry night was had with the smoothest rum you can imagine. Toppers Rum - keep an eye out for it! Sold in 36 countries and coming to a town near you! (No coke or water needed)

Glenys discovered it was only US$1.50 each to catch the local bus (like a huge taxi-van) to the capital of St Maarten (the Dutch side), Philipsburg. Due to the prevailing winds, it was easier to bus rather than sail there. This is where they are geared up for cruise liners. Loads of bars, duty free shops, restaurants and street markets all over the show. Guys were holding out cold bottles of Heineken beers to us at some of the shop fronts, offering a free beer if we came and looked at their shops.

The beautiful beach in Philipsburg

Glenys got lured into a ritzy duty-free jewellery shop with some of the most exquisite pieces I have ever seen. To cut yet another long story short, Bruce bought Glenys a stunning diamond eternity ring much to Glenys’s delight. The shop owner offered Glenys and Bruce a champagne to celebrate. That was probably going too far for our Bruce, so being the good sister, Glenys and I partook in a glass each while a butterfly flew away with the remains of Bruce’s wallet.

So many interesting old shops once we got away from the waterfront

The lovebirds after buying their eternity ring :)

Apart from the very annoying street hawkers bleating for our custom, we had a fine time exploring this beautiful part of the world which, beyond the main waterfront precinct, really has not lost its Caribbean magic at all. So many of these cruising ports are woefully destroyed by consumerism; Saint Maartens was a delightful surprise. We always felt safe and the people were all friendly and helpful – then we took the bus to the French side! Hmmm… we spent very little time here.

For US$50/person you can ride up and down the road and drink
as much as you can handle or until you collapse. Wish we had more time for this one!
Les and I were up for the challenge...

Time to leave...the ships have arrived!

We went into the township of Marigot. The part we saw was still very run down, very little effort in the hurricane clean up by comparison to the Dutch side. Filthy, drug induced derro’s about, sad looking buildings, plenty of armed military walking the streets. It was, surprisingly, the opposite of the Dutch side actually. No smiles, no happiness, it just seemed…well, a sad place with not much to offer. With a 14-year-old girl in tow, this was no place for Mum to let her out of her sight!

The best of the French side that we found

Marigot, old and still in a lot of disrepair

Back on the bus, foot weary and ready for a swim in the pool at the Island Bay Yacht Club. The intention was to quench our thirst at the same time but unfortunately, “the season”, is already in shut down; the bar was closed so we lolled around, caught up on the wi-fi and strolled back to Marmax.

The next morning, after clearing customs, we left the marina and headed to the draw bridge. It was like the start of a yacht race as we had to be lined up 15 minutes ahead of the marina basin bridge going up. 5,4,3,2,1…the draw bridge went up, and off we all surged only to have a false start! An ambulance came screaming along the road with its siren blaring. The bridge went down, our throttles got thrown into reverse; some sizable yachts trying to maintain position amongst hundreds of mooring buoys in a frisky wind. The draw bridge went up again and we were off. Goodbye beautiful people! As the aeroplanes came roaring to land alongside us, we hoisted sail. Next stop, St Barthelemy, only a 20 nautical mile sail away.

Milling around waiting for the drawbridge to open
No folks, that's a 56 foot Oyster you are looking at; they were ahead of us

We dropped anchor for the night, in a stunning volcanic bay, very rugged with a crystal-clear sea floor. This was a nature reserve too with numerous turtles spotted throughout our stay. Early next morning, Glenys, Janelle and I took the tender ashore to go running around the hills and rocks, see what was on the other side of the island and yell from the highest rocks we could climb. Lots of smashed up cactus trees, so when you are scrambling up mountains and volcanic rocks, when you stumble, you cannot grab the nearest tree or stick! Glenys thought they would be quite handy as pirate deterrents around the outside of the rails of Marmax. Glorious panoramic views from high up in the rocks. We could see Bruce and Les mucking around with our storm sail which, to this point, had never been unpacked. Well you won’t miss this little black duck in a storm! The sail is fluorescent orange! That’s different!

St Barts

We never went into the main port of Gustavia, mainly because: A: We had no need to. B: We were warned it was expensive and C:  To be honest, it didn’t look that inviting or exciting from sea. We moved down the coast to another sapphire blue cove to shelter from the wind, do some snorkelling and kill a few hours before heading on with an overnight sail to Antigua. If we left earlier, we would arrive in the dark.

So much fun fossicking ashore. Check out my new St Barts rock! Gorgeous!!

Dropped the pick north at St Barts for a snorkel

Apart from Les catching a prize Mahi Mahi at sunset, the night ran smoothly with a steady 15 knots of wind, again, on the nose. It was quite surreal riding through the clear, cloudless night through the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean. The little islands and various countries looked like cruise ships dazzling on the horizon, all lit up and sparkly as we cruised on by.

Antigua will be our last stop off now as the monsoon rains are building daily and you can simply feel its time to get moving. The last remaining yachts with us on the marina are all moving out. Even the marina bars, restaurants and shops will close up for 3 months from next week.

Les would kill me if I didn't put another photo of his fish up!

 We are tied up at the prettiest marina imaginable, right outside the Antigua Yacht Club with everything within a short stroll. The priority is to get our gas going so we can cook! It seems the solenoid is the problem. It is Saturday and there is not a lot of help around although some great chandlery shops about. We do have a power generator aboard plus an electric jug, toaster, microwave oven and a shallow paella frying pan so all is not lost, it just limits what you can cook. We will be at sea for at least 8-10 days over approximately 1300 nautical miles and I am quite sure the crew will get sick and tired of porridge and rice if we do not get the gas going!

The gorgeous Antigua Yacht Club

 

The power cable for shore power on our marina...safe? NOT!!!!

Today we caught the local bus to Saint Johns, not only to get more gas fittings, but to check out the heart of town and walk amongst the true locals. What a wonderful experience! So much vibrancy, street music, the sweet smell of tropical fruit stalls and pastries baking. The town was an absolute mad house being Saturday morning; the islanders were out in full force getting their weekly supplies. I couldn’t take too many photos as we stuck out like the proverbial and photos may have made them uncomfortable, even if we asked.

The crazy main market street of St Johns

Two eye openers. The fish markets full of tiny coral fish with flies buzzing about and two large ships loaded to the gills with yachts being shipped back to the USA. I am hoping Glenys will fill you in on this as it is a story into itself! Quite an astounding sight for us all!

St John was very “tribal”, more authentic than most other towns we had visited to date. Full of smiling colourful people enjoying life. The sound of women giggling and the men doing their fist pump greetings was a constant. We brunched at one of Ernest Hemingway’s wonderful old haunts, and after losing Glenys several times, we managed to find our way back to the bus depot and took the perilous ride home. There are no speed limits here, only speed bumps and I swear there are no shock absorbers, indicators or brakes on these vehicles!

St Johns Fish Markets

These yacht delivery ships were astounding! Most masted, some with sails and flags still on! 

We batten down the hatches and secure the interior tomorrow morning, then head off on our long journey. Not sure if we will get wi-fi before the Galapagos Islands, but rest assured, the Panama Canal story in Episode 9 will be a good one!

Happy Mother’s Day to our Mum's. Catch you on the other side!

Cheers from the Marmax Crew!

Bruce, Glenys, Janelle, Les and Debbie

P.S.The gas is fixed!!!!

Gas fixed! Bruce is the hero!