Rodney Bay, St Lucia

We arrived in Rodney Bay on the 1st December essentially to meet up with our friends Bones and Anna who were arriving later in the month on the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). 

Bids fishing around us

A great sail across

Rodney Bay

Well we were pleasantly surprised to see a few other friends in the harbor so we hoped to have some walks and social times before the ARC comes in. We first met up with Rene and Stacey on Pipe muh Bligh who were here having some maintenance done in the marina. When they were all done they came out for sundowners on Moosetracks and we caught up again. They are on a mission to get to Antigua for Christmas commitments so the next day they took the weather window and headed north.

Stacey & Rene

The following day our friends Ed and Sheryl arrived on Slowdown and took a berth in the marina. We met up for a shopping trip to Mega-J, a big box store here, so we could all stock up on supplies. We have developed a list of great deals in various stores in the islands and this one has great prices on some of our essentials so we try to stop when in Rodney bay. It was a great trip and very successful for us both with lots of deals and bargains. 

When we were on Slowdown in the marina when a guy walked by that I vaguely 
recognized. After hearing his boat name "Benevento" we realized it was Darold who we had met with his wife Jennifer and son Dante when we were in the Bay of Eagles in the DR in 2014.  They were crossing the Atlantic on a 18 month sabbatical and then Darold was single handing the boat back. Well it turns out they had a wonderful time in the Mediterranean and Jennifer and Dante were indeed back in California and Darold had his uncle helping him cross the Atlantic again on his way back. It was great to catch with Darold and catch up on his news.  
After shopping we went decided we needed to do a hike, so after reading the Chris Doyle web site we picked a nice hike to Cap Estate and the reserve at the hill top. It was used as a battlement for large guns in World War II and the remains of the foundations for the guns was still evident. We walked the trail between the fortifications and had great views from a lookout on the north of St Lucia over to Martinique.

The gun emplacement

Looking north

A beautiful catapillar

While we were here Ed celebrated his birthday, we all went out for lunch and had a great meal. Afterward we returned to Slowdown for a fabulous birthday cake Cheryl had baked.

Ed & Cheryl enjoying blowing out the candles

We were listening to the local harbor radio net one morning and hear a request for volunteers to man the ARC finish line with their boat. We called the organizers to see what was involved and when the said we might be able to get the day Bones and Anna were due in we jumped at the chance. Well come the day it was no surprise it was free as a lot of boats were due in that 24 hours of our shift. It was pretty eventful starting as the first boat over the  line had no radio and we had no idea until they reached the finish line who they were or if they were an ARC boat. The race photographer was kind enough to check their name and confirm the boat number and soon they broke out a hand held and started to communicate. The next few boat were in uneventful then the first of 4 boats that shift came in with no motor due to catching the propellor on debris during the crossing. Apparently talking afterwards to crew it was really common to see finishing nets or other debris floating in the ocean. 

Finish line pennant on Moosetracks 

Hobie cat race between ARC boats

Europeans love the warm sea

Tim the race photographer

The following morning towards the end of our shift we heard Bones call in Emily Morgan at the 2 mile mark. Our secret was out early as they told us they had heard us calling other boats from 12-15 miles out and had recognized Liz's voice on the radio. In any case it was great to celebrate their crossing the line with them and give the finishing horn blast and cheers. We also managed to get some great photo's of their finish.

Emily Morgan arrives early in the morning

Even Pluto the mascot waved hello

Emily Morgan crosses the finish line!

We went to see Emily Morgan that afternoon and greet the crew, Bones and Anna were not on board but we caught up with Rachel, Declan, Matt and Andy. We returned the following day to meet Bones, Anna, Judy and Colin. They all had a great trip and there were of course lots of stories to tell of the 18 days they took to reach St Lucia.

We managed a day off the boat with Bones and Anna in Castries to visit the markets and do a little sightseeing as well as a local lunch. It was great to get them to ourselves for a day and discuss plans for the season. They already have a charter for Christmas and New Year and so we will catch them in 2016 at the very least in Antigua for race week.

Bones & Anna

Lunch in the local market at Castries

We finished our last shift on the finish line and saw some of the last competitors in. Well all too soon Emily Morgan had to get going and we bid them fair well from the dock. We then attended the marina party for the ARC competitors which was a great event and well attended and got to say our goodbyes to the new friends we had met.

New friends on Dawn Chorus

Just before departing s/v Peregrine came into the harbor just as we returned from clearing out of immigration and customs, so sadly we only got a quick goodbye in with David, Libby and Brody their gorgeous dog.  

So with our Christmas plans firmly set for Martinique we left Rodney Bay for the 20 nm sail across the cut. We had good winds an light seas for the trip giving a single reach at 6-7 knots the whole way and great way to start the holidays.

We wish everyone a very happy Holiday Season

St Vincent and the Grenadines

We left Tyrell bay for Union Island and had an easy sail for a couple of hours to Frigate Island where we dropped the hook. It is a lovely spot behind a long breakwater so the anchorage is very calm, so much so it's a hot spot for water sports like windsurfing and kite boarding. The disadvantage is the walk to clear in it Clifton is about 40 minutes by road, but it is fairly flat and the views are good when you do climb the last hill. We had a little shop in Clifton for a few veggies and even found some ice cream before walking back.

Liz buying veggies locally in Clifton

We got pretty adventurous sitting at anchor under the towering hills and decided to attempt the peaks around us. We packed lunch and lots of water and set off for the small settlement of Ashton where we found the trail to mount Taboi with little difficulty. The trail was pretty easy for the first 30 minutes but then seemed to diminish and branch off. We took a few dead ends but managed to get to the saddle between the peaks relatively easily. We wanted to get to the higher peak so took off again into the trees, the trail died pretty quickly though and after an hour of various dead ends and no real path to the summit we back tracked to the saddle. We did get to the lower peak easily and were rewarded with great views all around.

Starting the climb

Resting on the trail

view to Clifton

The view of the abandoned marina project 

Moosetracks by Frigate island

The view of the peak we climbed 

We then moved around to Chatham bay on the west of Union Island, we had sailed by many times but never went in so we decided this was the time as it was such an easy gyb sail around. It is a lovely bay with long sandy beaches and a few nice local restaurants on the beach, but no town or dock. Still we swam from the boat to shore and saw turtles and small lobsters on the way to the beach. We spent a couple of nights here and enjoyed the peace and quiet of the place.
The next stop was Mayreau and we stopped at Saline bay on the south west end. It is quite popular here and a small cruise ship stopped while we were in the bay. It surprised us as the island is very small and we didn't think there would be much to see, but surprise another cruise ship showed up a day later. The beach is a lovely curve of sand and has a bar on it for the cruise ship passengers but they ship brings out kayaks and dinghies for entertainment. We walked the length of the island to Saltwhistle bay and enjoyed the beach there before returning to town for a beer and Internet fix.

Visiting cruise ship

Saline bay beach 

Saline bay 

Saltwhistle bay

The next stop was Bequia and the harbor at Port Elizabeth, we anchored almost directly in our spot from our last visit and found lots of friends around as usual. Pipe muh Bligh were just in front of us along with Slowdown. Rene and Stacey were having some canvas work done here as the dinghy chaps are possibly the best price we have seen anywhere so they just couldn't resist getting their dinghy all spruced up! They stopped over for drinks on Moosetracks and we caught up on the last few weeks adventures while watching the sun go down. They were on a tight schedule however so the following day they had to leave.
We were ready for another hike so after arranging with Ed and Cheryl to join us we headed off to Peggie's rock which overlooks the anchorage. It is a fairly long walk of 4 hours but we were rewarded with great views again. The path down was a little tricky to follow but we managed to follow a property boundary which got us down without too much trouble.

Suddenly before you know it Thanksgiving is upon you! We love to have company for the holidays so we were very happy Ed and Cheryl accepted the invitation to stay for another day and have Thanksgiving together. It was a lovely day and a great meal aboard Moosetracks.

View from Peggies rock 

At the top 

A little tired but happy

Thanksgiving with Ed & Cheryl 

We quite like day sailing between islands but since St Lucia is a long 12-14 hours away we opted for our previous strategy of stopping at Chateaubelair on St Vincent before going on to St Lucia. The crossing from Bequia to St Vincent was a little lumpy but the wind kept around 15-20 knots and we had a nice fast passage. We had a bite on the fishing line but it was lost before getting sight of what it was, oh well no fish for dinner. Chateaubelair is just a clearance stop for us as there is really nothing there. The town is pretty run down and the bars on the beach look very bleak, they are open and managed to keep us late with the music though. There is no dinghy dock to get to the beach and Devin got dunked when getting out of the dinghy. Oh well, a walk around town dried him enough to look respectable for Customs and immigration.

Chateaubelair coast line

We were all ready for our day sail to Rodney Bay, St Lucia and with a perfect weather window of 15-20 knots just south of east we set off at first light.

Leaving Grenada

Well staying in Calvigny cut we had a good routine going, each morning we started with either an hour of water aerobics or took an hour plus walk on the hills behind Le 

Phar Bleu marina. It always got us off to a good start and set up the days while we wait for the hurricane season to pass. 

The dogs that came with us on our walks

We have a lot of cruising friends here and it was no surprise to have a few more birthdays to celebrate. Michael on s/v Nauti Dog and David on s/v Seas the Moment both had birthdays and combined to have a party with friends. It was a great day at the house where David and Becky were care taking and lots of cruising couples showed up for a swim in the pool and the pot luck party. 

Pool  party

Birthday gathering

We also took several lunch time trips to our favorite eateries while we were back in Woburn Bay, the best being rotis made by Bernadette at Nimrods Rum shop.  I think we made it there once every week we were in the bay! We also took return trips to get ice cream at the supermarket and sat on the benches outside to enjoy a tub between us. 

Well not all is relaxing in the sun, we had a problem appear on the stern arch when a crack showed up on inspection. It was on the port davit arm and seemed to be growing. We have a friend who does welding in the bay so he came over to take a look. Silvio agreed it needed re-welding and  reenforcing. So we had to pull the wires from the arch to prep for the job, what a pain that 5 wires went through at the precise point we needed to weld! So we removed them and waited for Silvio to finish his current job. Well a few weeks later he called us and we moved Moosetracks alongside his floating workshop so he could weld the new cross bar and gusset as well as redo the original weld. All went well and in a few hours we were done. We moved back to our old sport and the following day rerouted the wires to connect the GPS, radar etc back up. Other minor tasks were completed including sewing new  sunshade for the rear of the cockpit. 

Silvio's shop

Silio welding

Towards the end of October the VHF net started to get lively with boats announcing there arrival from Trinidad and departure for points north. It was not long before anchorages started thinning out. In our anchorage Morgan was first to leave as he had crew and his cruising permit was up. A few days later on November 4th we left Calvigny cut to go north to Carriacou.

We love Carriacou and Tyrrel bay was a favorite with many as it was very busy. We met Hakan & Anna of s/v Unicorn and had several lovely walks with them and others. 

First walk

Not every walk was dry!

A rural scene on the second walk

Our second walk

We heard of a local film show debut which was called "Vanishing Sails" and is about the boat builders of Carriacou and their dying work. The film won awards at the Canadian film festival. It was a very interesting film and a great night, but boy the local dialect made following some of the sound track difficult.

We are not in a rush this year as we have been to a lot of the islands before so we could afford to stay a little longer and so we did. We managed another great Saturday at Ms Lucky's for BBQ and drinks and had a great night with Ed & Cheryl of s/v Slowdown and a couple of British guys Neil and Bob from s/v Lucy Ellen from Weymouth. The following day we all did a nice hike around the south of the island. 

At Miss Lucky's again

The last walk crew

The southern view from Carriacou

In a few days we will be off to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to visit some new and old anchorages. 

Trinidad and Grenada

We had a wonderful trip to England and thankfully it was very relaxing as well because on our return to Trinidad we had a lot of work ahead of us. The haul out was primarily for the boat but we had taken the opportunity of the safe haven to leave for 6 weeks as well. But alas it catches up to you and we came back to Moosetracks to do what we needed when she is out of the water. 

The list of jobs included some major work like bottom painting and raising the waterline an inch then replacing the boot stripe which separates the bottom paint from the hull and is a contrasting navy blue. 

Sanding & prep work

A break with Steve for doubles

Prep the new water line

First bottom coat

 As well as this we wanted to refinish all the teak on the hand rails, eyebrows, toe rails and cockpit combing. We added all this up and estimated 4 weeks work if the weather was reasonably quicker if it stayed dry every day.

Prep for varnish

Varnishing

Varnishing in the heat

We had a few other yard maintenance jobs done by the marina as well so they recovered our captains chair, in a nice new ultra leather which came out beautifully, as well as replacing our 17 year old engine mounts that had sagged and lots elasticity. The yard does excellent work and both were to our satisfaction and well priced. 

Out with the old - engine mounts

Recovered nav seat chair

As it turned out it was about perfect for 4 weeks and it did rain several afternoons which gave us a bit of downtime to recover from the 90+ Fahrenheit temperature which had a feels -like of over 100 due to the humidity. We were so glad of the temporary air-conditioning unit we had rented on returning as inside the cabin we had 80F (27C) or less most of the time and it was a huge relief when stopping for lunch or at the end of the day. 

Yes did it rain some days!

Even little Poop got a bottom job

We had a few jobs up the mast so Steve lent a hand to get Devin to the top and fit the new wind instruments.

Pre flight discussion

Up we go

We did of course take a few evenings to relax with friends for BBQ's and musical nights as well as a birthday party or two.

Liz & Devin relaxing

Birthday party at the Wheelhouse Pub

Prior to our haul out our refrigeration had failed and we had spent a month without it in Tabago so before going back in the water we started up our fridge. Unfortunately the replacement controller wasn't the only problem and we needed to call 'Cold' Keate back again. He found a small leak in the evaporator and made a quick repair with epoxy. After this it did cool but could get down to temperature, after another visit we concluded the keel cooler which is normally under water was too hot and the unit would overheat and stop. So after testing the theory with a hose on the cooler we resigned to no fridge while on the hard in 90F temperatures! Still we managed to buy ice for our cooler and keep some cold drinks when we wanted them.

Well Moosetracks looks fantastic with her new bottom paint and gleaming hull and varnish so it was time to go back in the water. 

All Done

Looking great

We again had an uneventful ride to the dock and returned to the water after a touch up on the areas where she was standing on the ground blocks.

Final touch up

Off we go again

Devin holding his breath

Back in the water

We had hope to stay on the dock overnight to get our fridge running in the cold water but unfortunately an emergency lift was needed for boat taking on water in the harbor so we had to move. We found a mooring in the harbor free and took it for the night. The next day Keate came and did final adjustments on the fridge now it was working with the colder water on the keel cooler and we were set to go. 

Devin & Cold Keate

We said final goodbyes to our dockyards friends and checked out of Trinidad. We had a welcome surprise, new this year, that you can now check out 24 hours ahead so we made use of that and moved to Scotland Bay for a 1am departure.

White Chocolate at the music Jam

Liz, Maureen, Devin and Bill

Our crossing was fabulous, winds on the beam almost all morning and afternoon becoming close hauled towards landfall. I guess we should have kept a little more east than the rhumb line. Well we arrived at 3pm in time to check in but our neighbors told us customs had gone home early so we checked in the following morning with no issues. 

Fresh Mahi Mahi - Crossings don't get much better!

We settled in at Calivigny cut in Woburn Bay with our friends s/v Pipe muh Bligh and s/v Nauti Dog it was great to be among fiends again.
Grenada is very familiar to us having been here for over 4 months last year and before we knew it we were back into the cruising community and activities. We started noodling straight away at Hog Island with friends from last year and started walking with Morgan on s/v Nirvana as well as our other anchorage friends. We soon met s/v Minx with Mike and Cynthia who were good friends of Harry & Melinda of s/v Sea Schell one of our SSCA commodore sponsors.

Calivigny Cut. Woburn Bay

Devin in the dinghy

So here we are enjoying the wonderful spice island of Grenada with lots of our cruising friends and being able to relax, well until we realized we still had a few jobs to finish up the mast. Those done and 2 more popped up as we noticed a crack in the stern arch and a leak in the sea water strainer. Well it is a boat and stuff just wears out or breaks due to the harsh slat environment. We fixed the leak in the strainer easily once we found the parts but the stern arch needs a aluminum weld so our friend Silvio on s/v Blue Breaker will fit us in hopefully while we are here.


We also had the first Full Moon party of our return and boy what a fabulous one with an eclipse of the moon by the earth. A great night on Bengy beach with local bands and cruiser bands.

Nearly half there

Nearly full eclipse

A Blood Moon

So that's back to waiting on the end of hurricane season and the first of November when our insurance allows us to go north. 

Morgan's birthday party

Mike and Devin

We are planning most of the year in the windward islands but we will possibly go to St Martin for the duty free spirits and some replacement spare parts that are much cheaper to ship there or buy there. 

We hope all our family and friends are had a wonderful summer and have exciting plans ahead too.