Jacque's Visit During Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta - April 2012

We arrived in Antigua from St. Martin on April 15 and cleared in at Falmouth Harbor, Di’s old stomping ground from the fabulous eighties.  Much has changed, and in a good way.  We familiarized ourselves with Falmouth and English Harbour, met a lot of new cruiser friends at a “Cruiser meet and greet” happy hour, and did some exploring to get ready for darling daughter Jacque’s arrival. 

 We wanted to be able to show her as much as we could during her short and welcome visit. Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta kicked off with a lively party at the Antigua Yacht Club, and the party continued all week! 

Sinbad welcomed Jacque, a former member of the “all girl crew of Rachael Too”, aboard on April 21 for five days of relaxing and regatta. She arrived when the regatta was in full swing.

 We walked the docks and inspected the immaculate fleet of classic yachts, marveling at the pristine condition and remarkable craftsmanship in evidence on these fabulous old boats, many of which dated from the early 1900’s. 

   

Then we returned to the yacht club for complementary snacks and cocktails and to “chip and wind” (local dance moves)  to live music as the sun went down and the moon came up.  What a party!

The next day Jacque and Di went exploring.  We walked around Nelson’s Dockyard, appreciating the Georgian architecture and lush landscaping of this beautifully restored naval dockyard.

 We hiked out to Fort Berkeley, overlooking the entrance to English Harbour, and then turned back to hike the Middle Ground Trail overland, by more ruined fortifications. Jacque got acquainted with the rugged landscape, plants and animals of Antigua. 

We ended up at Pigeon Beach in Falmouth Harbour. We rested up from our hike, enjoyed refreshments at the beach bar and grill, then changed in to our bathing suits and swam back to Sinbad, at anchor near the beach. It was Jacque’s first day at Camp Sinbad! 

We spent a day lounging, swimming and relaxing at anchor by day and partying at the Yacht Club and Dockyard in the evening

 We had a great time  singing along with a guitar playing cab driver on the way to the Dockyard, anddancing at the Rasta Shack with English pals Andrew and Kate from Hammersmith, near London, who were charmed with Jacque ( and wanted her to come to England and marry their son!)

The next day, Monday, we boarded the local bus and rode in into St. Johns, the capital of Antigua.  We had tried to contact Lionel Michael, our good friend and esteemed colleague in Public Health, but were unable to reach him by phone.  So we asked around and made some calls, and managed to locate and call on him at his office in St. Johns Health Centre.  He was surprised and delighted to see us, especially Jacque.  They became buddies when Jac was nine months old, when he spent Christmas break with us during his studies at Ferris State U. He says she looks the same—and so does he! 

After this brief meeting, we had lunch on Redcliffe Quay, overlooking the bay and the pirate-y party boat Black Swan.

Di then lead Jacque and Randy on a whirlwind walking tour around St. John, past the old places she remembered and to her old house on (what used to be) the edge of town.  Then back to Falmouth on the hot and crowded but cheerful bus.

On Tuesday, we moved the boat from Falmouth around to Deep Bay, on Antigua’s western coast.  Lovely, quiet, clear water. 

We anchored in time to snorkel on the wreck of the “Andes”, a ship that burned with a cargo of pitch at the turn of the last century.  Jac quickly got the hang snorkeling, and saw a lobster, shark, lionfish while diving her first wreck. The sun set in a pool of coral light, the moon rose, the stars came out , the tree frogs  chirping and the lapping of the waves on the beach.  All peaceful.  We heard the distant sound of local soca music…moving…getting closer… and louder. And  louder. And LOUDER!  It was the Black Swan, coming straight at us with music blaring at ear-splitting decibels.  They picked up a mooring right next to Sinbad and proceeded to party with deafening volumes exceeding that of a jet engine, until well after midnight.

The next day we came ashore and hiked over to the ruins of Fort Barrington, overlooking St. Johns harbor and Deep Bay. Lovely views and well preserved Georgian powder magazine structures. 

  

After exploring the small beach and nearby salt pond, we headed back to the boat and motored back down the west coast to Jolly Harbour. Randy took us on a dinghy tour of this extensive development and then went ashore to explore, shop and chill. Nice facilities and reasonable prices- we decided to return here to for fuel and water before we head the boat south for the hurricane season.

The next day Randy relaxed and read aboard Sinbad while Jacque and Di took the dinghy around to Jolly Beach.  The shallow water and white sand here produce the most brilliant turquoise water, and we enjoyed shopping with the beach vendors and swimming. Jac also learned to operate the outboard motor so she was the dinghy captain for the entire day.

Friday came too soon, and it was time to return to Falmouth for Jac to fly out on Saturday.  We swam over to Pigeon Beach and played in the water there, and did the Yacht Club parties for one last time, enjoying a nice meal ashore at the Yacht Club for Jacque’s Aloha Night.  The week went by too fast!

Since Jac departed, Randy and Di participated in the Antigua Sailing week festivities, notably the Ky-Mani Marley concert. The warm up band rocked the house , the Mighty Swallow came on to perform. 

We had a blast and made the papers (see our heads in the tiny circle!). Since then we’ve hiked up to Dow Hill, down the Forest Path and back down to Freemans Bay via the Indiana Jones Rocky Ravine of Doom.  Whils Randy limed, Di returned to pick acerola cherries growing wild by the roadside, went thru Shirley Heights and returned via Desmond’s Look-out Trail. Randy is closing on the sale of his house, so we returned to St. Johns to scout for a Notary and Fedex, and had a nice lunch at last with Lionel.  He gave us a tour of the town and a quick visit with old colleague Alton Ford, and then a ride back to the bus station. After, we moved the boat up to Five Islands to swim and clean the bottom, will top up the tanks at Jolly Harbour and prepare to move South for hurricane season.

Another long story told, hopefully more and shorter next time!  Cheers, Di

Heading Down-Island

Catching up with Sinbad.....Since our last major posting, we returned to St. Thomas so that Di could fly home to visit and do taxes. Randy stayed behind on Sinbad, anchored securely in Elephant Bay, near Crown Bay, St. Thomas.  From this base, he ordered and installed the controls, and wiring for the new solar panels, the last of Sinbad’s need-it-now upgrades.  He was able to install one (of two) 135 W panels, which really boosted our power supply.  Once completed, it was high time to begin to move make our way east and start heading down the Leeward Island chain, first making our way east, upwind to St. Martin (to stock up on great French pastries, wines, cheeses and sausages). We have been dodging what is called a “north swell event”, massive rollers moving down from the north, the aftermath of fierce gales in the higher latitude North Atlantic.  We hiked around Hassell Island as a farewell to St. Thomas.  

 It is national park now , with ruins of Napoleonic era British fortifications.

A colorful aloe..

There is also a  colorful hippy sailmaker's loft....

The next day we sailed from St. Thomas over to Salt Pond, St. John, and spent two days cleaning the marine growth off Sinbad’s bottom.  Patches of shaggy “beard” and several dime-sized barnacles had grown in the weeks since we last scrubbed and scraped.  Using only snorkel gear rather than scuba, it was  pretty vigorous work!  After that, we motored around the Ramhead Point to Coral Bay to do last minute chores, and happened in on a retirement party at Skinny Legs. A local Bluegrass-Irish band (in Coral Bay, the “grass” part is for real!) had the crowd on its feel dancing in the sand. We met up with friends Suzanne and Gord of S/V Ocean Wings, had a blast, and had sore muscles for two days after!  From there, we cleared through the BVI’s at Jost and move to our “jumping off “ point in the North Sound of Virgin Gorda.

A last stop on Jost..

Di collecting specimens-the noni fruit, so good for you, packed with super antioxidants and tastes so vile!

Michael Beans show at Leverick Bay, Virgin Gorda

Conch blowing contest,

just couldn't resist

There we spent two days in wet dock, both of us toiling away on a long list of necessary  maintenance jobs. Between projects we took in the Michael Beans show with new cruiser friends Bill and Joanna on S/V Baidarka , from Alaska, and studied the weather reports to determine when the north swells would decrease enough for a comfortable passage to St. Martin.  We will leave this afternoon, sail northeast then cut southeast, and arrive sometime on Easter Sunday, after at least 14 hours under sail with (hopefully) fair winds.     On to St. Martin…  Lafayette, here we come!

It's Been Awhile

We have found out that there is only so much time in a day. You can have fun, you can work or you can write on your blog. So that's our story on why we haven't updated the blog in a while. We have chosen to have fun, work a little bit, then have more fun. It's a hard life living on a sailboat but we are managing. In fact, we think life is good!
Today we are in Virgin Gorda BVI.  Tomorrow afternoon we sail to St Martin, will be heading for Marigot on the French side. We need to stock up on our French wines, cheeses and sausage before heading to Antigua.
In the last month hanging out in the USVI we installed a mirror in our salon, extended our aft rails 4 1/2 ft and put a 135 watt solar pannel into our electrical system.

Our new mirror

solar panel in the up position

You sailors who are reading this will appreciate that the mirror is plexiglass. It looks good and is safer than regular glass mirrors. We also hope to find another 135 watt solar panel down-island to install on the port side.

Happy Sails

More Rambling Thoughts from Randy

Well, it’s been a little over six months since we cut the dock lines in East Tawas Michigan. I’m sitting in Sinbad’s cockpit reflecting on all that has gone on in that time period. Some things have changed and some I don’t think will ever change (…I still can’t sleep thru the night when it’s blowing over 25kts and we are anchored off a lee shore). This morning we are on a mooring at Bahia de Almodovar, Culebra, the thermometer is reading 79ºF and it is 8am. I guess that’s a change for February 27^th; it’s a bit colder this time of year in Michigan.

One of the things that don’t seem to change is the work one must do to keep the boat going. Some people love fixing things on boats--not me. I like sailing the boat, lying around the boat and diving off the boat in exotic places. It’s apparent that boat work and fun on the boat are tied together by some mysterious force. The fun is happening along with this old retired fat pipefitter saying “now what’s wrong?” When our 80 horsepower Ford Lehmann quits running or doesn’t start, I usually say it a little louder with a few cuss words added to the mix. So far it’s been …. replace the lift pump, seven new fuel filters because of the 40 gal. of bad fuel purchased in Buffalo, NY,  twice old wires have come off their terminals (the one in the binnacle was a head-scratcher)  and an old wire on the alternator that kept breaking until I could replace it with a new one.

Most problems are electrical.  A couple of broken toggle switches in the binnacle for the fuel gauges, another bad switch on one of our new cabin lights and then there is the “breakers”. All of our new circuit breakers are dying a slow death, compliments of a little saltwater. When we made our crossing to the Virgin Islands, we had a whole lot of wind and waves which translates to green water going over the deck. Here is a photo of when we set off our spot beacon during our crossing (thanks, Barry). You can see where Tropical Storm Sean became a personal friend for a few days.

We had been in the Islands for a few weeks when I opened the electrical panel for some unknown reason. I was shocked to see salt crystals all over the inside of it! Not a good thing, bad, bad and more bad. What is slowly happening is, even though it looks like the breaker is working and 12 volts is going through it, the amps won’t. The cause of this was a small leak at one of the life line stanchions that trickled down a shelf and dripped on the electrical panel. Damn…………

The new Xantrex battery charger quit and the company replaced it with no problem. Our Garmin auto pilot is bad and so is Garmin support. But that is a rant for another time.

The rest of the work stuff is tightening this and that back up. Mother Ocean has a way of loosening things up.

Back to where we are Bahia de Almodovar;  Don Street says that it is one of the finest anchorages in the entire Eastern Caribbean. He is right on with that. It’s Day Two of 20kts plus and we are not even rocking! Life is good listening and watching the waves break on the reef 200 yards in front of us.

Well, enough for now,

Happy Sails......rr

Walking on Water (Island!)

This and that from Bahia Aldomovar, Culebra Puerto Rico

Life is good on Sinbad! We are hanging out in the Spanish Virgin Islands until Diane flies to Michigan to see her family the second week in March. We had just dropped the hook in Culebra, and the people on boat behind us yelled "Hey Sinbad. Are you really from Michigan? We are from Holland, Michigan!" Too cool! It turns out that Jim & Michelle on "Wind Machine", a C&C 42, sailed out of Michigan about eight years ago. Within a couple of days we meet their good freinds Rico and Jackson from Southfield, Michigan (who have been sailing the Carib. & Med with them for the last six or so years) on their Tartan. Plus, Michelle said "Oh, by the way, we have some freinds sailing in and they have a Whitby 42 like Sinbad. Turns out it's Bruce & Maureen on S/V Memory, whose company we enjoyed at the last two Whitby Rendezvous. So far, Culebra has been fun and relaxing.
With the two of us (Diane & Randy) both owning cameras and putting our thoughts and pictures in this blog, things might jump around a bit. Now is one of those times. I took some pictures that maybe, kind of sort of, have been in previous post...........but here they are!

This is from Fort Louis at Marigot Bay, Saint Martin.

We were putt-putting in the lagoon, which is split between the French & Dutch....Randy, John & Diana Thrush...

This is where the Governor of Saint Martin hangs his hat.

This is at Port Royal (on the French side of the lagoon) Saint Martin. Someone lives here and collects what ever drifts by.

This guy was hiding in the coral in about ten feet of water at Flamenco Beach, Culebra.

More to be added at a later date!
Happy Sails..............rr