Too much Wind....So Before we left Les Saintes

We checked weather and while there was going to be wind...perhaps a bit much...so we delayed one more day in Les Saintes...and I was getting antsy...So this blog will be a picture tour of Les Saintes...more precisely A Terre De Haut...Les Saintes. Now...don't think that this will last too long...Les Saintes are a VERY small group of islands...and we toured by motorbike. It was nice to get away from the boat and motorbikeyes, I said motorbike (even though Paul had not ridden one in.....how many years???) for the few hours that we did! And, yes, I rode behind Paul - no accolades please - just donate $$$!!! The first beach.....I tried to take pictures of all the signs...because I certainly would not have remembered the names...nor truly could I spell them in French correctly!
Notice that this beach is a rock beach...there was only a small bit of what they call "black sand"...what I would call brown sand...

This is the view from the northwest mountain on the island...on the far right you can see the airport...well...the flat area they call an airport.
This is the main anchorage in A Terre de Haut...
The sign associated with the below picture....

Some of the local boats on the beach....
Windward side of the island (south and east)...
This island is very rocky...and sparce with vegetation...
The rock was very pretty and I had Paul stop the motorbike and I got a piece of the rock for my mom...just had to mom!!!
The airport is behind and to the left....
The airport from the other side....



The runway...
Looking back from the beach...
Goat are mostly free range goats...
This picture at the soccer net was for my youngest daughter....A look at the very very dry side of the island... And then...let there be water... And, I do have a "thing" for their boats...I love the colors... Again...a brown sand beach...
We sat at this beach at one of the covered areas and had a quick snack...baguette...cheese and wine....
This little bay is on the east side of the island...probably one of the biggest beaches on the island...very windy this day....
But, the bay itself was quiet...

And, on to the Fort on the northeast mountain of the island...
The goats do keep the grass down....
The Fort was closed to go inside so I walked around the Fort wall....

View of the main anchorage from the wall of the Fort...

View of a secondary anchorage on the other side of the low part of land...we had anchored there last year for a couple of days...

Can you pick out which boat the Lady H is???

I love their colorful boats....

"Is that all there is"....no...come on now...we are in need of more computer memory because of all of the pictures I have taken....but we are now in Portsmouth Dominica and we took an inland tour again this year...I replaced the Lemon Grass lost in the Norfolk storm (thank you Martin). I'm soooo excited to have lemon grass tea in the morning!!! Tea bags are NOTHING like the fresh!!! So while I caught up....and I hope you enjoyed...I'm still behind...

Catching Up #2

So with the bow-thruster fixed we left Porte-a-Pietre and had a nice sail south and west to Les Saintes...AND...then the following day we had a wonderful sail across the inlet...north...back up the west side of Guadaloupe...first to Basse Terre the capital of Guadaloupe to hopefully "check-in"...but also to try to find a REAL French baguette for Paul and hopefully some dingy gas as there is too much oil in the current mix and we...well...Stinky (the 8 horse two stroke engine on Little Bit) REALLY stinks (and smokes). No luck with the check-in...and no luck with the dingy gas (out of fuel due to the island issues)...but we did find a REAL French baguette. And this cute little guy...well not so little...okay, the sail across the inlet was wonderful...but with wind coming from the east and the island mountains...well, the winds became "fluky" and we motored for 15 miles...to Pigeon Island and Jacques Coustea's Marine Park. There was a little incident about us being called off a mooring ball by a "cattle boat"...but by late afternoon...we had a mooring ball in 60 feet of water on the NW side of the Island. The water was very clear and we were very much looking forward to diving the next day! I had read that the mooring balls could be rolly...and soon after we went to sleep the wind shifted and sure enough...we rolled all night! Breakfast...getting everything together...and waiting for the sun to be over the water...while we waited I "fretted and stewed" about how close we were to this water spout in the rocks...





Paul shortened our mooring line...and told me we were okay! We "splashed down" at 11:15am. We went down to around 75 feet...I was looking for the dropoff or a wall of some sort...Paul was still getting comfortable again...with his new BCD and after not diving since last May in Z. It was great to be diving...I was busy following Paul...when he started to relax he also started pointing out things...an eel...and the biggest hog fish I had seen to date AND so beautiful! I didn't get as many pictures as I usually do BUT the pictures I did get with the Olympus were pretty cool! We surfaced back at the boat...climbed aboard and both decided that we would get the tanks filled that afternoon and take a dive Saturday morning before leaving back for Les Saintes.Pigeon Island sunset from anchorage. The Saturday dive was from the dingy as the mooring balls for the area we had chosen to dive could not be lifted enough to get our bow line through (and we did try)...so back to the main anchorage of the town and a short dingy ride with all gear to the spot. There was a bit of a current running...so we dropped down...hoping that the current would not be as strong (and I don't think it was). I had to take a heading on this dive as the topography was such that we could have gotten lost very easily. North...very easy... I should have put batteries in the flash for the camera...the orange light went on after the first pictures...so while I have some pictures of this dive...well, one is of two NIB's...(not in books)...we were doing our 3 minute safety stop and I looked down and in the rocks there were two bunches of something nestled in the rocks...I went down only a few feet...took a picture...and now that I see the picture...I should have taken the time to go all the way down to the rock and figure out just what this was...it looks like baby somethings!!! A couple came over to the boat the other night (in Les Saintes)...they were both divers and were headed up to Pigeon Island the next day. I showed them the pictures told them exactly where they could find the NIB. I hope to hear from them soon!! Anyway...we filled up the tanks with the local dive shop again...and now we are back to Les Saintes! Fresh French Baguettes every day...Note that one of the baguettes will never make it back to the boat!!! And finally I have even gotten some sun...really...while the weather has been warm...and the sun is there somewhere - beneath the clouds and the sun peaking out through the intermittent squalls...well, sufice to say...the weather is getting better? The internet here is spotty (of course as I type this it is totally down)...good sometimes...usually early morning...and by late afternoon when it is late enough to call my kids...too many people are taking up the "bandwidth" and it works...but slowly. BUT...the bandwidth hog...better known as Paul...yes, Paul...has been getting some downloading done on Graboid...of note is SEA HUNT....yes, SEA HUNT!!! We are certainly having some fun with that! My how things have changed!!

$$$$ Bow Thruster$$$$$$

Mon Mar 2 3:42 pm AST The Saints. Joyce has filled in the blanks...The bow thruster repair was a killer. An oil seal had failed letting in the saltwater to ravish the metal parts. 2 ball bearings failed making turning the prop very difficult. So now I have all guts...very expensive guts to my bow thruster. We were able to get in and out without any problems from the riots/strike. This seems to be another black white thing...in a country where all are equal...France...well the strikers feel they are paying more for their goods and services than the Frenchman back in France....now how could that be...to get French products here they must be shipped from France...shouldn't that be in the price, oops forgot...this is a socialist country...all must suffer equally. I'm listening to Rush as I write this...sounds like we are very close to enjoying all the aspects of French life as Obama moves us further left. As we have traveled through these islands, mostly black. mostly poor, we see Obama stickers and posters. They see his election as the coming of the messiah...my bet is the ACORN was down here getting votes for him..even if they are from another country. They know nothing of what he stands for..just that he is black. I have been coming down here since the 60's. I have seen the islands at their best and now at their worst. They see the white tourist as nothing but a meal ticket. The local island politicians are a crooked as any in Chicago. As we sail south I can't keep from thinking that this will be my last down the eastern Caribbean Islands. I look forward to new cruising grounds to the west. We will make our way down to Margarita for 1 last rum and diesel run and head west to new and hopefully exciting destinations.
Yesterday a couple from Tennessee stopped by..for a chat...both were divers. They have been down here cruising for 3 years. As we started to compare notes , we found that they were good conservatives. Also not lovers of the French. Bill had nothing positive to say about their boating manners. As I look back over the last 5-6 yrs out here...most of us cruisers are conservative, adventurous and self reliant. We are out here on our own without big government taking care of us. PERIOD.... and if Obama continues to destroy our capitalistic, democratic way of life, I will just sail away.....

Catching Up

I'm thinking we do have some catching up to do! Internet is down right now so I can't even check to see when we last blogged...but I guess...I will start with our overnight from St John's to St Kitt's/Nevis. Seems like so long ago, but again I didn't sleep. It was a rough passage...lots of wind and we were pinching...so we took a beating. After the storm of the Norfolk to St Maarten passage it seems that when we are having a rough passage I just can't sleep, no matter how hard I try, and no matter how much time Paul gives me to try. Which of course means that Paul gets no sleep either! We got to St Kitts around noon and checked in. Check in was very nice and friendly - quite a surprise...but then when you look at what the island is trying to do...not such a surprise! They have begun construction on a huge marina and condo, homes, villas (starting at $350,000 U.S.D.) in the downtown area much like the one in St Thomas (that is more than 1/2 empty with shops going out of business). My "aside"...who is stupid enough to pay that??? Of course I always compare to Z.... As we walk down the new sidewalk...past the construction...we notice that even in the few new stores that have been built that two out of four (yes, I guess that is 1/2) have "going out of business" signs...the others have 70-80% off inventory! It was still VERY windy when we got there (25 knots) and we wanted to get the scuba tanks filled. We found out where the shop was and we were told to dingy over and they would fill them for us. With the wind and the waves...Little Bit (our dingy) had over a foot of water that had come over the bow before we repositioned the tanks...and I began pumping the water out!!! Thank goodness Paul had rescued the pump back in Red Hook when it had fallen out of Little Bit while we were bringing it up on deck!! We had to beach the dingy...and I pulled the tanks out. After walking across the sandy beach and the street to where the shop was I began talking with the Instructor...(not the owner). There was nothing in the dive shop of any quality to purchase...it was not a well cared for shop...with inventory or cleanliness. He was stating that St Kitts was looking to implement a Marine Park where one could only scuba dive with local dive shops...I asked if we could go diving and use some of their mooring balls now since this change had not been implemented yet...he said "yes"...but that most of the dive boats anchor right on the coral...they don't maintain the mooring balls!!! Not something I wanted us to do. I asked if he knew how Bonaire's Marine Park worked for the benefit of the island and for the benefit of the divers (more on that later...hopefully when we get there)...he just shook his head and said it was the politicians that were making the rules of protectionism! My note on this...there is a difference between the protection of the natural reefs, the protection of locals income and the politicial nonsense of protectionism. I won't dive St Kitt's or Nevis...no need...there are prettier islands with better diving that are allowing divers access and allowing their dive shops to prosper by their actions! If you want a list of places that we have found so far...email me...
So...on to meeting up with our friends...in Major Bay, St Kitts....free range goats were everywhere on the hillsides!!! Then on to Charlestown Harbor Nevis, a one hour sail, the following day.We walked through town to the local community "hot tub".Paul thoroughly enjoyed the HOT water sitting on the steps over his chest. I only went to mid-thigh...
The picture of the neighboring non-covered hot tub might answer the question of why.

Free range goats on Nevis too!! We had Birthday Fahitas for Phil on board the Lady H and then because I could not find icing for one of the cake mixes we had on board...chocolate chip cookies (thanks for the extra chocolate chips to put in the mix Dennis). Paul had emailed Amel in Guadaloupe...and they said that although there are riots (or strikes as some like to call it to lessen the verbal impact)...blocking of streets...cars burning...and limited to no services on the island (food, fuel)...they would be willing to fix the bow-thruster if we got there early next week. So off we went...on our way to Monserratt...until we notice that the Jenny base had twisted when in the 35 knot winds one of the lines came apart that was supporting it. After three hours of beating our way to the east of Nevis for a day sail to Monsseratt...back to Charlestown...to correct the problem. Because of the lost time it meant an overnight...and again...no sleep...it was a pinching, windy, bumpy sail! Arrival Porte a Pietre, Guadaloupe!! Stay tuned for catching up #2!!!