Author: bearcruzer

Married June 20th, 2009, Rented the House, Sold Everything and Left Pagosa Springs July 5th for an Extended Honeymoon in our Motorhome. We plan to travel around and look for a sailboat to spend the next couple of years sailing in the Caribbean. We hope you will join us on our adventures.

A Day with the Kids

bearcruzer

July 10th

Today was the last day that the Mt. Airy Reading Program of was meeting before the local school children go on summer break.     A number of cruisers volunteer their time on Saturday mornings to help some of these kids improve their reading, spelling and math.   We did not arrive in Grenada in time to help last week but were able to volunteer this week.  Many come from single parent, struggling families.   The woman who directs the tutoring program is a caring, no nonsense person who you can see really wants these kids to succeed and make a better life for themselves via a healthy lifestyle and a good education.   It turned out that because it was the last meeting of this school year, it was just a little bit of group reading and spelling, the kids watched a video of a recent field trip and then lots of games, foot races, football (soccer), and fun for everyone!   We enjoyed spending time with these amazing young people.     I turned a couple of girls loose with my point and shoot camera.   Many of the pictures are theirs.     I taught 9 year old Leona how to play checkers.  I was told she was very bright and true to form, she soon had me backed into a corner, 3 kings to my 1 and won the game.   I also joined in when it was time for the girl’s foot races.   I don’t think the kids have had any of the visiting adults join them in their races as they were all laughing and yelling and encouraging  me all the way to the finish line.  I even got a big laugh and a hug from the Program Director herself.   That or maybe I just looked the fool running around with the kids, either way we had a terrific time playing and getting to know the children.   We look forward to seeing them all again in September!

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Grenada

bearcruzer

July 3rd – July 9th

We have made it to Grenada.  This will be where we will spend much of the hurricane season.    We are anchored on the west side of Hog Island just off a little beach with a very rustic Tiki bar called Rogers’ Beach Bar.    We have been here now for a week and have met a wonderful community of cruisers from all over the world.   Grenada reminds me a little of Georgetown in the Bahamas.   There are lots of creative individuals who offer a variety of classes from Watercolor to jewelry making. There are also plenty of activities such as:  Potlucks, Movie Night,  Book & DVD Swaps, Shopping Trips, Wine Tasting, and Island Tours, that are organized by and for the cruisers on a regular basis.  There is a Cruisers Net that is broadcast on VHF Ch 68 M-Sat mornings at 7:30 am.  It’s provides general information, weather reports, businesses announcements,  addresses problems and questions, community events, and allows people to trade or sell their “Treasures of the Bilge”.   Clarks Court Marina, near Hog Island, has quite a few amenities available to cruisers and also offers a number of opportunities for the cruising community to get together, however their costs are a bit on the high side.   We attended a 4th of July BBQ there.   We have been busy orienting ourselves with the local back roads, i.e. getting lost.  We walked from Martins Marina in Hartman Bay over to Prickly Bay as the waves and currents were too rough to dingy over.  We attempted to follow the verbal instructions given to us by the security guard, which ended with his saying “You can’t miss it!”, but as always we confused our lefts and rights and our little walk turned into a major hike.   We covered a good 8 miles.  Half of which I carried a 20lb alternator in my backpack that we were taking to the repair shop.  But even getting lost has its advantages.  We meandered through numerous neighborhoods.    We met and talked with some delightful and kind people and as always made some new friends.  As we were wandering through one of the less affluent neighborhoods, we passed a small roadside stand and were engulfed in a delicious aroma.  It made us do a U turn as we were weak with hunger. (Dramatic Music Playing).   The sign outside the stand proclaimed “ORIGINAL Jamaican Jerk Chicken”.   We stepped up to the ramshackle counter and ordered up a portion to share.    It is pretty obvious that they don’t get a lot of tourist foot traffic in the area we were in.   The owner looked us over, paused… and said to us: “You know dis be Jerk Chicken?”  We said yes we knew Jerk Chicken and YES that IS what we wanted.   Our mouths and eyes watered as we enjoyed this wonderfully spicy, cooked to perfection delicacy.   He then was kind enough to put us back on the right, albeit not often traveled, trail back to the Marina where we started from.   The route he gave us took us through a Forest Preserve/ Dove Sanctuary.   We made our way along a dirt road that wound through the hills and down to the bay where our adventure had begun.    It was a lovely but brisk walk, Mike’s normal pace, as the mosquitoes are out in force right now, being the rainy season. (Note to self….always pack insect repellent for future short walks).   It was a welcome relief to climb back aboard Mighty Mouse and soak our dogs over the side of the boat as we made our way back to DD.

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Carriacou

bearcruzer

June 30 – July 2nd

There is supposed to be a bit of weather sweeping across these southern Islands bringing some good gusts of wind and Thunderstorms.   We sailed on south to Carriacou which is part of Grenada.  We checked in at Hillsborough and were given a 3 month Visa from Immigration and 1 month from Customs.   There is a monthly fee for boats staying in Grenada of $50.00/mo.  It used to be a yearly fee.  My how times change.    After taking care of our Inbound Paperwork we walked around the town of Hillsborough.   We came upon a small museum run by the daughter of the famous Island Artist Canute Caliste.   Clemencia was happy to take us throughout this small museum and show us the artifacts it contained as well as many of the tools and implements used in years past here on the Island.   There is also a wonderful tribute to her father who was a musician and a famous painter of Island Life.   We spent the better part of an hour in the delightful company of Clemencia and were privileged to get to hear from her personal accounts of growing up on the Island as well as some of the colorful history of this beautiful place.   We then sailed around the point to Tyrell Bay where we stayed for a couple of days until this little front passed through.    We had a few Thunderstorms,  mostly at night and did have a good gusts of 27 knots of wind come through the harbor that caused a little commotion with a couple of boats as they swung a little too close on their anchor lines.    Our anchor is dug in well and we haven’t moved.    We have free WiFi in this harbor and it is a good connection…..thus catch up time with the Blog and with telephone calls to friends and family.   I’m missing them all greatly right now as there is a big gathering for both my Parents and Aunt and Uncle’s 50th Wedding Anniversary.  Friends and Family that I haven’t seen in years will be in attendance.    It is time’s like these when the sacrifices we make to live this lifestyle become greatly amplified.   We did get to hear our first steel pan band of the trip here on Carriacou.    It is sometimes difficult to attend evening events as the local music and night life doesn’t usually get started until well after 9:00pm.   Guess I still haven’t gotten into the rhythm of taking siesta during the heat of the day so that I can stay awake for the fun!  We stayed for 3 songs and then headed back to the boat to sleep.  Sorry, as you can see, I kinda got lax on the photo taking while we were here.   Here is a good shot of a local floating Bar that was put to frequent use by many of the cruisers while we were here.

Union Island

bearcruzer

June 30th

We stopped overnight at Union Island where we will check out of St. Vincent  & Grenadines.  The town there was very quiet as this is the off season.    We anchored behind the Reef that protects part of Clifton Harbor and enjoyed a quiet evening.   There was a nice area with a number of fruit & vegetable stalls all painted in bright colors.  We picked up another Pineapple…..which has become a staple, and a mango.   We are looking forward to seeing all that Grenada and it’s out Islands hold.   We are also looking forward to a reduction in the number of boat boys and vendors that seem to want to swarm the boat even before we anchor.    The mass of Boat Boys, as they call the vendors and guides, began in Dominica, and seemed to increase in number in St. Lucia, and St. Vincent.   We don’t mind them stopping as they are just trying to earn a living but it does get tiresome telling them “No Thank You” every hour or so.   Much of what they sell also is more expensive than if we were to purchase the same items in town.    We have given business to a couple of them but they always pressure us to buy more…..we have to remain adamant in regards to the quantity of anything we want to buy and make sure we have exact change as they all insist they do not have change.    Oh I did make it through my first day as net controller……Live from the Tobago Cays…..It’s Daaaancing Dollllllphin bringing you the Coconut Telegraph Cruisers Net….!   Really thought it wasn’t so bad and David and Trudie from S/V Persephone even checked in from Bequia to lend their moral support to my efforts.

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Mayreau & Tobago Keys

bearcruzer

June 28th -29th

We sailed down to Mayreau bypassing Canouan and stopped at Salt Whistle Bay for the night.  It is a small palm lined bay with a lovely stretch of white sand beach.   There is a resort on this bay but it is very low profile and doesn’t detract from the beauty of this place.   We however were not the only ones enjoying this small bay and the distance between boats was a little tight.    We did manage to get a couple of swims in but had been warned not to leave the boat unattended as there had been a recent rash of thefts from yachts.   We took turns swimming and exploring around the rocks and reef.   I saw a new reef fish that I had not seen before,  a Spotted Drum.     A charter boat was next to us with a large group aboard and after dinner that evening they had invited some local musicians……..I use the term loosely, back to the boat to entertain them.   It was mostly a lot of off key shouting and beating of drums, but with the wine flowing and the smell of Ganja in the air… the revelers seemed to enjoy themselves.      As the local musicians beat their drums and shouted “Show Me Your En-Er-Gy,  I followed their instructions, and had just enough energy to reach up and close the hatch above the bed and turn on the fan so I could fall asleep.    Guess I’m getting old.    Michael stayed up a bit longer and said I didn’t miss anything.   He said, “they tried to do a Bob Marley cover and butchered it.”      We left the anchorage early and hopped over to the other side of Mayreau to the Tobago Cays.    The water here and in Mayreau is a beautiful shade of turquoise reminiscent of our time in the Bahamas.   The Cays are a marine park surrounded by a shallow horseshoe reef.  The entire area is protected and no fishing is allowed.    Snorkeling there was really a trip as most of it is in less than 5 ft of water.   It is like swimming in an Aquarium.    The marine life are not as fearful of people here in the park and even those that would normally be quite elusive were out in the open.    We got to see many different reef fish as well as spotted eagle rays, stingrays, turtles, eels, and sea snakes.    We did a morning swim and an afternoon swim.    After our afternoon swim I had climbed back on the boat and was rinsing off with fresh water,   Mike was still in the water at the back of the boat with his Mask on and watched a 7ft Reef Shark cruise by the bow of the boat.  I asked him if he needed to get out of the water NOW?  He said that the shark had come and gone and held no interest in us.   There were many people still enjoying their day of snorkeling, happy in their oblivion.  We decided it wasn’t our place to ruin their Disneyland perception of safety and security.  Ignorance is bliss…..but I still couldn’t help myself from humming the theme from Jaws!  Da-Dum……Da-Dum…….Da-Dum, Da-Dum, Da-Dum………Da-Dum, Da-Dum, Da-Dum, Da-Dum……!

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St. Lucia – Bequia

bearcruzer

June 24-27th

The squally weather was supposed to be subsiding and so we left the Pitons of St. Lucia in a rain shower that increased in intensity and became a squall as we left the harbor and rounded the first of the Pitons.   The winds coming off of the Pitons increased to 28 kts.  With the mainsail up the boat was difficult to handle in the erratic winds and torrential rain.   I had been at the helm but when the squall hit I, as Mike likes to put it, Tapped Out and had him take the helm.     As we crossed from St. Lucia to St. Vincent the showers stopped and the winds became steady again at about 18 -20 kts out of the East which made for a wonderful sail all the way to Bequia.    As we passed St. Vincent we were met by a pod of about 60 Dolphins who raced our bow and lept gracefully out of the water.   I should say the adults lept gracefully.   The babies would leap up out of the water and land with a big flop……It was great fun to watch.   Those that swam alongside and in front of DD would turn and look up as they swam and make eye contact with us.    The feeling of connection it brings to us is unsurpassed and one of the greatest delights of our cruising life!   We made our way into Admiralty Bay in Bequia around 4:30pm and anchored off of Princess Margaret Beach.    When we had anchored we were met my David from S/V Daniels Story.  He and his lovely wife Michelle have been coming to this area for the last 4 years and they have been a wonderful wealth of information.    We also met up with the Marty and Deb on the Trawler, Bay Pelican, whom we had been in radio contact with at the Pitons.    We spent the next few days getting to know new friends, swimming, and hiking around Bequia.  We visited the Hawksbill Turtle Sanctuary one day with David and Michelle and then Hiked over to Friendship Bay the next Day.  The locals have been out sailing their boats  around the harbor in preparation for is St. Peters day on Tuesday.  There will be festivities and boat races.    I have volunteered to become the Tuesday Net Controller for the Coconut Telegraph, a cruisers SSB Net that meets M-F on Frequency 4060 at 8:00am.  Many of the normal Net Controllers head back to their homes for the summer and so the help is appreciated.   The Net allows cruisers to get in touch and share information.   What have I gotten myself into?   I hope I don’t get too nervous and start to stutter.

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The Pitons, St. Lucia

bearcruzer

June 21 – 23rd

We left Martinique and had a great sail down to the Pitons in St. Lucia.    The winds were running at around 20 kts out of the East which placed us on a beam reach and on DD’s favorite point of sail.   We made great time and Arrived at the Pitons on St. Lucia by around 1:30 pm.   Trouble comes in three’s……We must have been enjoying ourselves a little too much as it was then we noticed the 1st of our 3 mishaps of the Day.   Our alternator was not charging our batteries.   This we could deal with of course as we have a working spare on the boat that Michael will be able to change out at our next stop  and after all we still have our solar panels and our Windgen……ooops!   The 2nd problem occurred with our Ferris Wind generator.  The welds of the bracket that hold the unit and the blades at a 90 degree angle to the mounting pole separated and when Michael tried to untangle our spare brake line to stop the unit and tie it off, the spinning blades struck the support poles and shattered, sending pieces of it flying everywhere.   Michael was very lucky not to be hit by any of the flying debris.   Michael tied off what was left of the blades and climbed down off of the davits.    As we were approaching our anchorage for the night we ran into an amazing 2 kts of current on our nose.  That along with the east winds kicked up some pretty good chop and we debated stopping here for the night.    We were met by 2 different boat boys who explained that it was calmer in the anchorage.   We allowed them to assist us in picking up a mooring.   We initially picked up a mooring off of a location called the Bat Cave near the town of Soufriere.   Michael went for a swim to cool off as the snorkeling off of the boat was supposed to be very good.      He was swimming leisurely along when he suddenly turned and swam rapidly back to the boat, not usually a good sign.   He had been stung by a jellyfish on his side and leg never actually seeing it.   The anchorage next to the Bat Cave although picturesque, was quite rolly.  After treating Mike’s sting, (no Doug and Laura we did not use the same treatment as we had recommended to you two as we had an alternative handy on the boat) We decided we would move DD across the bay and anchor at the base of the Pitons a set of twin peaks that rise out of the ocean to a height of 2600 ft along the coast of St. Lucia.    Another front was due to move through the area and so we remained anchored off the Pitons for an extra day before continuing south.     It continued pouring rain and we remained on the boat and did not go ashore on St. Lucia which is just as well as we had to keep a pair of Caribbean Martens from trying to build a nest in our boom…..We tried explaining that we would not be staying but Mike finally had to stuff it with tin foil to deter them,  they were very persistent.

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Happy Anniversary

bearcruzer

June 20th, 2010

Well our first Anniversary arrived without fanfare on a day much like our Wedding Day!  Rainy!  Arriving as it did on a Sunday, St. Anne is closed down and since we could not celebrate ashore, we enjoyed a quiet dinner of Lobster that we had placed into the freezer for just such an emergency.  David and Trudie donned there foul weather gear and Trudie even dressed her guitar in foul weather gear and braved the elements to come over and have a drink with us before dinner to help us celebrate.    Trudie had also brought a gift of a serenade and sang a love song from the Broadway Musical, West Side Story.    She is a trained Opera Singer and has a lovely voice.  Thanks Dave and Trudie for making our day special!

A nice walk to the beach!

bearcruzer

When we weren’t pouring over the latest weather reports and tracking the Storms progress,  we did enjoy the sites around Marin and St. Anne, Martinique.   We became quite the baguette connoisseurs and relished heading into town each morning to pick up our fresh bread.    When we could see that the storm was not going to develop into a hurricane we took advantage of the overcast weather.   Mike said,    “How about we take a little walk this morning over to the beaches on the other side of the point?”   You would think I’d have learned by now that our walks are never little and that I should prepare enough survival supplies for at least a full days walk.     I let my guard down and only packed 2 quarts of water and a granola bar, forgetting the sunscreen and my hat back at the boat.    David and Trudy learned early on about our little walks and somehow always have something else planned when we extend the invitation to accompany us.   Our walks always start out with Michael and I sparing for what sort of a pace to keep.   He wanting to immediately work up a good sweat while I attempt to snap pictures of the back of his retreating head or him having to wait while I stop to examine some bit of new flora or fauna I find fascinating, allowing me just enough time to catch site of him before he sets off on his forced march pace again.    We always tease each other about how to best see the sites.   I move  quietly while his tactic is to not give any animals the chance to flee before he is on top of them.     Usually about an hour or so into the hike we compromise.    We made our way through the dense verdant growth along some wonderful trails that are maintained by the forest service here on Martinique.     The hike was lovely and took us along the rugged coastline of the south western end of the point.    There were some beautiful beaches on the windward side of the Island.     We expected there to be very little foot traffic along the trail as this is the off season.   We have not seen many locals taking advantage of their trail systems.    This was the exception.   An exercise group of mostly ladies were enjoying a brisk walk and gave Michael a run for his money with their pace.     We caught up with them on a beach on the other side of the point where their workout routine was continuing with other exercises and stretches.   They invited us to join them, or so their pantomimed French would indicate, and so we spent a few minutes doing deep knee bends….etc  before proceeding on our on our extended (little) walk.   We looked at the posted trails map we came to at one of the beaches and saw what appeared to be a trail or a road that would take us from a beach further along and then across the peninsula in a circle back to St. Anne where we began.    We had no idea if this was really the case as all of the descriptions were in French but we took a chance and headed in the direction indicated.     Our journey took us across a number of amazingly different ecosystems.   From lush verdant forest , along palm lined beaches , we crossed a plank walkway across a salt marsh where some local children were fishing for crabs.  We then found ourselves walking across an old lava flow area that provided some rugged, starkly beautiful scenery down to the ocean.   Once we reached the beach where the road or trail was supposed to be we cut inland and found ourselves on a gravel road that traversed acres of beautiful private cultivated fields and pastures full of well fed cream colored cattle.   We stumbled back into St. Anne and picked up a paper trails map from the tourism office.  Perhaps we should have done that before leaving, not that it would have discouraged us as it too was all in French.  As we were leaving the office we could hear someone practicing a piece of music on a piano……the song was Henry Mancini Theme from the Pink Panther……I must have had too much sun because I was half expecting Inspector Clousaeu to appear and declare ” I will prove to the world that Maria Gambrelli is innocent…….of the crime!” We dragged ourselves back to the dingy and to DD.   We calculated our little walk for the day at 20km or about 12 ½ miles.   Even being as ill prepared as we were, we fared pretty well.  I improvised some shade for my shoulders by tucking a couple of Sea Grape leaves under the straps of my shirt and although I looked a bit funny I was better protected.  Nothing a little Aloe Vera wouldn’t soothe.   At least I found the right combination of shoes and socks to wear that day and suffered no blister problems from this.  As the gentle waves rocked us to sleep that evening with scenes from the Pink Panther Movies playing in my head….. I could almost hear Clouseau singing “Ooohhh, sixteen chests on a dead man’s rum/Yo-ho-ho and a bottle of the chest/Drink to the devil and some for the rum/Hooooooooooooooooooooo!”  The sun must have gone to my head!

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Storm Brewing!

bearcruzer

June 13th – June 20th

Dancing Dolphin, Dancing Dolphin,  Dancing Dolphin,  Persephone, Persephone!  Dancing Dolphin here.  Up one?  Up one.    Hi Mike and Crystal……Trudie and I were just listening to Fox News on Sirius Radio and there is a storm out in the Atlantic that has the possibility of becoming something serious.

My how plans can change in an instant.   We picked up anchor on Sunday after securing a cruising permit that will allow us to stop in Roseau, Dominica before continuing south.    So much for our plans to hike up to the boiling lake.    I began to chant my Wedding Day Mantra……The weather now controls your life……you can’t change the weather……deal with it!    We compared notes and decided that we would have to either do a couple of overnight passages to head straight to Grenada or find a hurricane hole somewhere between Dominica and Grenada that we could duck into should the storm take it’s most southern predicted track.     We opted for the latter, keeping an eye on the storm and found what appeared to be a good hole on the Southern end of Martinique called Cul de Sac, Marin.   We had about 5 days of intensive weather watching.  We were able to get WiFi on the Boat in Roseau, Dominica where we stayed Sunday night and watched with earnest interest the predicted paths of System 92(which by the time you are reading this is now called Hurricane Alex).  That was the last reliable WiFi.   Over the next several days we downloaded reports every 6 hours from the National Hurricane Center of NOAA on our SSB Radio using Saildocs and kept a wary eye on Storm  92’s progress.   We made one more stop at Grand Anse D’Arlet and passed Diamond Rock before tucking into Cul de Sac du Marin on the southern end of Martinique.   An interesting bit of history.  Diamond Rock was actually commissioned by the British into the British Naval Fleet as ships were scarce and for 18 months was outfitted with cannon and crew and became known as HMS Diamond Rock before Napoleon sent Villenueve to take it back for France.  Martinique happens to be the birthplace of Napoleons beloved Josephine.    There were about 30 boats already in the hurricane hole and tied in for the season.   As we entered what we hoped would be a good place to ride out the impending storm,  we saw hundreds of masts in the harbor.     Marin as it turns out is the French Charter Capital of the Caribbean.    We just hoped that they wouldn’t all try to move out of the harbor and into the hurricane hole should the storm turn bad.   During those days Storm 92 went from a disorganized  system with a 20% possibility of becoming a cyclone(hurricane) up to an organized system with a 60% possibility and then became disorganized again and dropped to a 10% chance finally diminishing to 0%.   With this bit of good news, we moved DD out of the Cul de Sac and over to the more open anchorage of St. Anne. (with a small hope at least on my part, of some decent WiFi, no such luck.)   This is not to say Storm 92 dissipated.  It split into 2 parts, one traveling North to the USVI bringing rain and thunderstorms and the other ½ hanging directly over Martinique.  So here I sit on our 1st wedding anniversary, confined to the boat while a downpour rages……pretty much a repeat performance reminiscent of our wedding day but with a lot more wind!    Chanting Mantra…..Chanting Mantra…..

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