The Saints in Guadeloupe and Dominica's Indian River Tour

We slept one night in Northern Guadeloupe, but did not clear into this country until in Les Saints. The islands were named Los Santos by Christopher Columbus, who arrived there on All Saints' Day of 1493. These islands are mountainous and very clean. We enjoyed the little town and even managed to have a nice meal at one of the seaside restaurants.

We motored south to Dominica and decided to do some touring of this island. Dominica has been nicknamed the "Nature Isle of the Caribbean" for its seemingly unspoiled natural beauty. It is the youngest island in the Lesser Antilles, still being formed by geothermal-volcanic activity, as evidenced by the world's second-largest boiling lake. The island features lush mountainous rainforests, home of many very rare plant, animal, and bird species.

We took a tour of Indian River with a guide who rowed us up into this tropical river into the rain forest. Come along with us and enjoy a short video with the sounds of our guide rowing and the tropical birds.

We saw colorful birds and a 5 foot iguana sleeping 15 feet above our boat. The tour took about 1 ½ hours and we learned a lot about the plants and animals of Dominica. There were hundreds of land crabs along the river banks and some of them were bright blue.

After the guide returned us to our home, he made a bird and fish for Emily and Kim out of reeds he had collected along the river bank.

Stay tuned Dear reader as the adventure continues as we will tour inland tomorrow ....

Tom

Dominica - An Inland tour

The second day in Dominica we had booked an all-day inland tour with cruising friends on Navigator and La Leeze. We saw sweeping vistas of the island, the home of a woman who had lived to 128, and we all learned more about the plants that grow here. Our guide stopped several times to pick wild lemon grass, basil, bay leaves, cashews and fruits from the side of the road.

We stopped at a cassava bakery where the Caribe Indians are still making bread the original ways. We sampled a warm piece and it was very good. Kim bought a hand woven basket that rivaled those that we had seen in Charleston for 1/10 of the US price. We had native food for lunch on the side of a mountain with more sweeping views of the sea.

The highlights of the trip were the hike to a waterfall where we could swim beneath the cascading water and another hike that lead us to a naturally heated pool. We had to swim across a river with a very swift current to get to the pool on the other side. The current was so swift that we started across about 30 feet upstream and swimming as fast as we could across the stream would land us at our target. We emerged from the cool fresh water river and immersed ourselves in 105 degree water heated by the volcanic activity below. It was wonderful. Emily must have crossed that stream 5 times, each time getting braver and further away from Dad’s reaching hands.

After a long day, we returned to our boats to be greeted by a short tropical downpour and a double rainbow that spread all the way between Dominica and the sea. More treasured memories to store away for our twilight years…

Tom

Antigua and Barbuda

The normal path south from St Barts would be St Eustatius-St Kits-Nevis. Tom had read about some petty crime on St Kitts and the anchorages did not look too protected. The alternative would be to go 70 miles directly into the wind to Barbuda and then to Antigua. Since this crew has never been accused of doing anything normal, and we had a decent (read no heavy projectile vomiting) weather forecast, the steadfast captain pointed the bow towards Barbuda. The passage was indeed long, but we were greeted by a wide white powder sand beach at Cocoa Point with calm blue water on which we rested.

The next day we moved almost directly south to Antigua and checked into this country in its capital city of St Johns. The island of Antigua was named Wadadli by the natives and is today called "Land of Wadadli" by locals. Kim found out when she asked for the local beer and was served a Wadadli beer.

Christopher Columbus landed here on his second trip in 1493 and named the island Santa Maria de la Antigua. Antigua means "ancient" in Spanish and he named it after a church in Spain, Santa Maria La Antigua — St. Mary the Ancient. Early settlement by the Spanish was replaced by English rule from 1632 (British rule from 1707 Acts of Union), with a French interlude in 1666. Slavery, established to run the sugar plantations on Antigua, was abolished in 1834. The islands became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations on November 1, 1981, with Elizabeth II as the first Queen of Antigua and Barbuda

The real draw for visiting Antigua was the historic aspects of English Harbor that Tom had read about. English Harbor on the southeastern coast is famed for its protected shelter during violent storms. It is the site of a restored British colonial naval station called "Nelson's Dockyard" after Captain Horatio Nelson. Today English Harbor and the neighboring village of Falmouth are internationally famous as a yachting and sailing destination and provisioning centre.

We cruised into English harbor and saw the dockyard and famous fortifications. Nelson had laid chains across many of the harbors and many still lie on the harbor bottom waiting to snag new anchors. Tom therefore opted to anchor in adjacent Falmouth harbor. From there we toured the museums and had lunch atop Shirley Heights and enjoyed the commanding view from there. I assume that this magnificent mountain was named after my mother, but my history may be a bit cloudy on that point.

We took a side trip to lovely Green Island on the southwest side of Antigua where we enjoyed an uninhabited island and some nice snorkeling. We harvested four conchs from the reef and Kim made conch salad and fritters for a little party with the crew of navigator.

Since the English are not particularly known for their cuisine and we were running out of baguettes, we headed almost directly south for the French island of Guadeloupe. We looked to starboard about halfway through the trip to see if Monserrat was erupting again, but we saw no lava or ash plumes, so all must still be OK there.

We tucked into Deshaies for the night and had an enjoyable ride the next morning in the lee of Guadeloupe towards Les Saintes. These islands were named Los Santos by Christopher Columbus, who arrived there on All Saints' Day of 1493. The first French settlers arrived in 1648. Because of their strategically important position, the Îles des Saintes were fought over by the French and the British in the Battle of the Saintes; they have remained under French control since 1816.

These last few islands, we have been traveling in company with John and Mary aboard Navigator which has been very pleasant. Mary continues to cook and lavish us with deserts, cookies and breads and John and I commiserate over fixing broken boat things. Most of the broken things have been on his boat lately, but we all know that my turn is coming. In reality, all the preparation work I did in the 2 years prior to embarking on this folly have been paying dividends now. Relatively minor problems on Emily Grace have been fixed quickly and most of the needed spares have been on board.

Also as we move south the weather and water have been getting warmer. Daytime temps are always around 90 and we are lucky to see 82 in our stateroom at night. The trade winds keep it bearable, but cooking the evening meal requires running the A/C some nights. The water temps are now around 83 and wet suits are rarely needed any more.

Tom

St Martin and St Barts

The overnight trip from the BVIs to St. Martin was lumpy, but we made the 14 hour trip and timed it perfectly to go through the 8:15 AM bridge opening into the Lagoon. They charge boats for anchoring in Marigot Bay, but there are no fees to anchor inside the Lagoon which is very calm. We slipped into the lagoon (briefly touching the mud on the way in) and anchored below the Witches Tit. This rock mountain entertained us as we watched wild goats climb up and down the shear rock cliffs at dusk and dawn.

St Martin was sighted by Christopher Columbus in 1493 and claimed for Spain. Later it was the Dutch who occupied the island in 1631 and set about exploiting its salt deposits. The Spanish retook the island in 1633, but continued to be harassed by the Dutch. The Spanish finally relinquished St. Martin to the French and Dutch, who divided it amongst themselves in 1648. We cleared into the French side since it was much cheaper, but we were free to move around both sides of the island.

We grabbed a few boating items here at the two major outfitters and enjoyed the French cuisine. We had 3 foot long freshly-baked baguettes each day and sampled a few of the pastry shops. We headed north to Grand Case on our last night, an area known for its fine French restaurants, and we blew the budget for one special dinner. Appetizers of Foie gras and escargot, followed by lobster bisque, duck breast in mango sauce, roast lamb and a chocolate soufflé will be fondly remembered by this crew.

It was a short 3 hour hop down to St. Barts. Discovered in 1493 by Christopher Columbus who named it for his brother Bartolomeo, St. Barthelemy was first settled by the French in 1648. In 1784, the French sold the island to Sweden, who renamed the largest town Gustavia, after the Swedish King GUSTAV III, and made it a free port; the island prospered as a trade and supply center during the colonial wars of the 18th century. France repurchased the island in 1878 and placed it under the administration of Guadeloupe. St. Barthelemy retained its free port status along with various Swedish appellations such as Swedish street and town names, and the three-crown symbol on the coat of arms. In 2003, the populace of the island voted to secede from Guadeloupe and in 2007, the island became a French overseas collectivity.

Its capital is Gustavia, which is also its main harbor. I handled the typical Customs and Immigration duties and discovered from the Port Captain that it was relatively inexpensive to grab bow and stern moorings in the main harbor. It was a bit of a challenge to maneuver and grab the mooring without assistance, but we handled it pretty well. This spot positioned us yards from all the nice shops and restaurants and was very calm for restful sleeping. We attended the church services on Sunday morning (this time in Portuguese) and enjoyed the nice French beaches where clothing is optional :) We caught up to friends Mary and John aboard Navigator and we enjoyed the day at Shell beach.

This island is very clean and has become the playground for the rich and famous. The prices of everything reflect that so we are eating on the boat and enjoying the beaches and walks through the town.

Tom

Paradise Discovered and A Visit with Mom

There may be a lot of boats in the Virgins, but it’s not surprising. Around each island there is another white sandy beach or beautiful flowers or exotic birds and all surrounded by clear blue waters. We spent the last couple of weeks rediscovering these islands and searching for nice spots to visit with my Mom who is coming for a visit. This is the end of the Carnivale season and the Children’s parade and fireworks in Charlotte Amalie harbor will happen while she is here. We found some nice spots and more than a few nice restaurants to visit. Mostly we were searching for calm anchorages since the steady 15 to 20 knot trade winds can make some anchorages too rolly for comfort.

Mom arrived on schedule and we got her on to the boat and we stayed in Charlotte Amalie harbor for a few days. We did see the Children’s parade and we learned that these folks like their music loud and that they are in no particular hurry. We sat (and standed) in the hot sun for a couple of hours before deciding that lunch in a cool spot would be nice.

We all sat on the bow of Emily Grace on the second night and enjoyed the fireworks. Despite the loud booms, it was refreshing since it was one of the few times that we were not deafened by the loud music coming from the shore bands.

The next morning we moved to Cane Garden Bay on Tortolla and then on to Virgin Gorda for the next couple of days. We enjoyed a nice Mother’s Day meal at the Bitter End Yacht Club, but Tom did not find the lobster he had been hoping for.

Next we moved into Otter Creek (inside Coral Bay on St. John) and enjoyed the protection from the 20 knot winds before heading back to St Thomas. We had time for one more lunch before heading to the airport and Mom treated Tom to his lobster. We had more than our fair share of showers during Mom’s visit but it sure was nice seeing her again. She left with a few bottles of flavored rum and some more family memories and stories to share.



We depart tonight at 6:15 and will arrive in St. Martin in the morning. We'll see how the French and Dutch Islands compare to the mainly Spanish speaking ones we have visited so far. Kim will be dusting off her French language since the Captain has no fluency in this language.

Tom