We left Iles de Saints for St Pierre on Martinique a fairly long day passing Dominica on the leeward side. We arrived about an hour before sunset and settled nicely behind Nauti Dog with Out of Africa behind us an hour later. It was just a stop to break up the trip and we left the next day for Fort de France for a few days of relaxation and shopping. As usual John and Jo called for a Braii (BBQ) on the beach but his time there was no fire allowed so we just took appetizers and drinks.
We took a walk with Chester and Karen around town while Michael went for a spare part by bus. Amazingly folks seem to react in totally different ways when they see a large dog, either scared to death or needing to pet and cuddle him! It made for a very interesting morning walk and a little fun too.
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| Fort de France |
After a few days to get stocked up on French provisions we left for St Lucia and the lovely Rodney Bay. It’s a favorite stop for many cruisers and us included. We enjoyed the bar and food in the marina and being able to get a little free wifi as well as catching up with other cruisers. It was good to see David and Libby again, with their dog Brody but sadly ran out of time to have happy hour with them as we were preparing for our overnight sail and leaving very early the next morning.
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| David, Libby & Brody |
The next morning we were up at 6am to leave St Lucia on the leeward side and make the gap into the Atlantic between St Lucia and St Vincent. It is a 172nm trip so we figure 30-36 hours depending on currents. Well the current was pretty strong and we made it in 34 hours to Charlottelville, Tabago and before Immigration and Customs closed thankfully.
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| Charlotteville |
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| Admin building for Customs & Immigration |
We really like the little village here, its very laid back and quiet with fishing being the mainstay of the locals. There are only a few shops and bars and 3 restaurants we could find. But hey that’s more than a few places and plenty to explore. Our first meal out was at Gail’s on the waterfront, excellent local food and a great place to meet folks as several tourists came in for dinner too and we had some interesting conversations on how we came to be here.
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| Dinner out |
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| Excellent food |
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| Gail & Devin |
Our first outing was to Pirates bay by foot, a nice 30 minutes walk from the town dock along a trail and steep path down between lush vegetation. The beach is stunning and has a stream of fresh water running onto it to rinse off with after swimming. As we had walked we didn’t have our swim suits so vowed to return in the dinghy. There is a beach bar built by a local who comes in the afternoon to sell beers, but otherwise it’s pretty and secluded.
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| Pirates bay from the trail |
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| Steep steps to the beach |
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| Wonderful soft sand beach |
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| .. and a beach bar |
We couldn’t get the ATM to accept our card so we decided on a trip to Roxborough to see the bank and get some local currency (TT dollars). We had a small challenge getting the local bus as we didn’t know you need tickets in advance as the driver doesn’t take cash. The Post Office/Store was not yet open, even though it was supposed to be, but a local sold us two 4TT tickets so we could catch the 8am bus, so off to Roxborough we go. The town a set along the sea front on the Atlantic side, so it was quiet a lot of wind and surf from the easterly trade winds. The town is also quiet spread out on this single road over a few miles. We walked from one end through to Argyle at the far end, about 5 miles. We passed the entrance to Argyle falls, the largest waterfall on the island, but having no hiking boots we chose to avoid the muddy trails.
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| Roxborough beach front |
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| The quaint bakery - yum! |
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| The view from a sea side seat |
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| The Argyle river |
We did find a the bank and again the ATM didn’t take our card but the bank was open so we went in and got the cash. Strangely they told us the ATM didn’t accept debit cards? We then bough some produce and walked back to a local Roti shop for some lunch which we ate sitting on the sea wall looking at the Atlantic Ocean.
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| Argyle fish market |
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| Wax Apples growing |
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| The pink pollen from the wax apple tree |
We then decided it was time to start our boat projects as we need to haul out shortly and some prep work could save yard time. So Devin stripped the teak varnish off the toe rails over the next few days and Liz cleaned the boat lockers and interior while double checking our inventory as well. But of course we can’t work all day in the heat so we dinghed over to Pirates bay and snorkeled the rocks, some nice schools of fish but a little disappointing on the color of the corals. The next trip was to walk 30 minutes to Fort Cambelton for the views and then a short walk around town. On the last day we dinghied to Booby Rock and snorkeled the surrounding area, even better fish here with two huge Queen Angel fish but again disappointing coral and mostly rocks. So our chores were broken up with walks and snorkeling to keep us sane.
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| Charlotteville harbor |
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| Fort Campbleton |
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| A great view in the shade too! |
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| Colourful houses |
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| ..and nice gardens |
Well this morning our friends on NautiDog and Pipe Muh Bligh arrived after an overnight sail in to Charlotteville so when they are rested we will start touring the rest of Tabago.
We hope everyone's summer is getting off to a great start.
