Saba

Saba is the last stop before we return the boat to Sint Maarten. The island arises steeply from the sea and has no beaches or natural harbors. It is a foreboding place as you approach it.


Our anchorage is tucked away on the western side of the island. Years ago, the only way to get anything on the island was to pull a boat near the beach and carry the items onto the beach and then up the 800 steps shown in this picture. You can see the original customs house about half way up. Its hard to even comprehend the difficulty in building something such as a house when every little nail, shingle or piece of furniture has to be carried up 800 odd stairs.


Later, they built a small harbor but there was no road until later in the history of the island. Our taxi driver told us how his father used to carry 100 lb sacks of sugar on his head up 1000 vertical feet to the main village. Today, the road is still a scary thing to navigate.

1700 people live on Saba. Their economy is based on a medical school (seems like every Caribbean island has one), tourism and some arts and crafts. Here is a handcraft silk screen operation making fabric for shirts.

What impressed me about Saba was that it is beautiful, scrupulously clean and very European. It felt more like we were in Holland than the Caribbean. I’d like to go back for a few days some time to hike the mountains and get to know it a bit better.

Then, as in all, such voyages, it was time to go. We had a strong wind 15-25 knots blowing so we reefed her down and sailed on back to Sint Maarten. Along the way we had a bit of engine trouble and a lacerated finger as we tried to anchor in some rolling sea but got in okay and turned the boat in the next morning.

All in all , a fabulous voyage! Great islands and a great time with a good friend!

Nevis to Statia

Nevis is a magical place with beautiful sights and great restaurants. Unlike many of the other islands, the nice places are up on hill in an area called Gingerland and the waterfront is pretty much a working place. After we had cleared customs on the way out, we took a quick walk around the town. Things are pretty quiet on a Sunday morning but services were going on in this small church. I walked up and gave the few Eastern Caribbean dollars I had to one of the elders. It was only a few dollars but was more genuinely appreciated than gifts I’ve made that were hundreds of times greater. A good feeling....

Here are a couple pictures at a one of the restored pieces of machinery on the dock.

The way over to Statia was a nice downwind run in 15-20 knots. I’m not necessarily a great believer in signs from the Universe but we were joined by a pod of dolphin about half way across. Coincidence? Or maybe thanks for the gift to the small church?

We arrived in Statia in the later afternoon. Statia is a neat island with a volcanic crater that plunges about 500 feet from the summit of the cone. It has an extensive nature park and, bizarrely, a tank farm. Thus, oil tankers come and go continuously and just around the corner is some of the best diving in the world.

I had a great time snorkeling and then we had a super dinner at the Blue Bead which is an incredible island restaurant. Low key but great food.

This morning we hiked around the small town. Here a few pictures of the neat architecture. Interestingly, one of the earliest synagogues in the Caribbean was here. The remnants are pretty well preserved and, in another of life’s coincidences, it turns out that the Jews from this synagogue left Statia when trade declined and went to ...Rhode Island. There they established the earliest synagogue in the US.

Then it was off to clear customs, always a treat as the rules are different on each island.  Before we left I took this picture of our little boat moored in the harbor and the oil tankers on the horizon.

On to Saba.....

Oh no Mr. Bill !

It's almost over. We checked in the boat this morning and have a couple hours to kill before the plane leaves. We've sailed to exotic isles, eaten incredible food, seen incredible sights met great folks and almost lost a toe and a finger.

I have  islands to fill in when I get the pictures organized but this photo from the St. Maarten beach bar near the airport seemed a fitting cap on the whole trip so it needed to be posted before I catch the big silver bird back home. We're finishing our trip but these guys seem to be just warming up.

Full Circle

Yesterday, we set sail from our dock in St. Kitts. It was a tight beat to windward with 10-15 knows of wind. Here’s our receding view of the island.

We were headed over to Nevis. Nevis was discovered by Christopher Columbus in 1493. He named it Nevis because the volcanic center is always cloud covered and the often look like snow (neve in Spanish).

I personally discovered Nevis thirty years ago. I was contacted by Pam Barry who owns the Golden Rock on Nevis. She needed sailboards for her beach front and we worked out a product trade; rooms for boards. I packed up the family in Vermont and we headed on down. It was an arduous trip involving planes, autos and ferries. Once here we sat by the pool, took in the beach, tried to hike volcano (probably not the best idea with young kids) and I tried to relax. However, the nagging pressures of business back home grew and grew in my mind to the point where I cut short the vacation and we headed home. Looking back, I can’t remember one of those business issues that seemed so pressing then. What I do know is that, on that trip, I shortchanged the most precious of things, time to just be with the family and to just experience the place where I was.

Now thirty years later, I find myself back on Nevis with a bit more balanced approach to life. The kids couldn't join me this time but I’m able to visit with a good friend and just enjoy the island, the great colors and the friendly people. I'm thankful to have had a second chance.

At Sea

We’ve been at sea almost a week now and settled into a routine. Space is tight so things have to be organized and put way in the morning. Here’s my little cabin.


My constant companion is the voltage regulator that controls the wind turbine, solar power and batteries. As long as it is smiling, all is good. When it starts frowning, there’s a problem that needs rectifying before the batteries run so low that the engine won’t start. No Sea Tow here so that would be a REALLY bad problem. So far the little guy mostly smiles so all is ok.

We tend to eat breakfast on board at anchor, lunch at sea and dinner out. The crew gets a ration of beer at lunch but the captain (me) just gets to drink water or Coke until we’re anchored for the evening.

Life Lessons

Some lessons you learn slowly in life, some you learn really quickly.

Lesson 1- Don't stand with your toe over the hatch coaming
Leaving St. Barts I neglected to make sure the anchor well hatch was tied back as we hauled anchor, a swell caught the boat, my toe was over the hatch opening and....this picture tells the rest of the story.....

Ouch! Lesson learned and no apparent lasting damage....

Lesson 2- Do what the customs lady says and always with a smile
The Leewards are a collection of islands that are Dutch, British and French. All have different languages, currencies and regulations (sort of like Europe before the Common Market). Some are user friendly and some, like St. Kitts, are labyrinthian. When we checked in (two separate offices), I was told we HAD to fly the St. Kittsian flag. I told the woman in immigration that our boat was a charter and there was no flag aboard. She looked right across at me and said "you're getting a flag or a large fine"...so off we went to get a flag. Now, one would think there would be a marine store on an island nation but no. Instead , after an hour of asking various authorities, we were directed to the visa office where we were told that you could buy a flag, they weren't sure the price but you to have exact change in EC $ and the flag was about $US30+/-. Yikes. Seemed nuts, so we trundled off to the nearest tee shirt shop and for $5 bought our flag as well as a smile from the immigration woman.

After we resolved our immigration issues we had a quiet day exploring the town and ran into a school parade.

It was supposed to highlight the professions the kids wanted to be. Here are the "professional athletes".

All in all St. Kitts has been a friendly and more "authentic" island than St. Barts. The people are great and the island has a certain "lived in" beauty .

Here's my nav station. On the chart, St. Kitts is to the top and Nevis at the bottom. Should be just a five mile sail.

St. Kitts

We left the land of milk and honey (St. Barts) yesterday.  We spent a two great evenings and a day there. The food was fabulous, the beaches incredible, the people beautiful and each boat cooler than the next. Sort of a French Lake Wobegon on steroids.

Here's a beach on the western side of the island.

Had drinks at the Nikki Beach Club near the Eden Rock Hotel and did a bit of people watching.

The best of them all was the Grand Saline. No picture can do it justice. Just a heavenly spot with beautiful sand, sea and people.

St. Barts is all about who has the bigger boat. It's something about being the top 1% of the top 1%. Here's the dock in town. These are actually some of the smaller yachts as the big guys have to anchor offshore.

 We hated to say goodby to St. Barts but had along way to go to St. Kitts. Here we are underway.

Yesterday we picked up the boat. There was some angst in that as the forecast was for 10 foot seas, there are bridge opening schedules to deal with and there was a HUGE traffic jam near Marigot due to a truck that someone just left in the middle of the road.

As it turns out the forecast was in error and, while we couldn't sail due to the wind direction, we had a pleasant motor to St. Barts with calm seas.

Enroute

 As St. Barts was our first destination, it took a bit of time to get the anchor set, the boat secure, get through immigration, etc. but we had a nice French meal and a good, albeit a bit rolly, evening.

 At anchor

 Today, we're on St. Barts for the day exploring the island. Tomorrow, we're off for St. Kitts.

Tomorrow we head to sea

Our week in Grand Case is rapidly coming to an end. Hard to believe a week has gone by so quickly. This morning we headed over to see our boat and get the chart briefing for our voyage. The boat was getting cleaned and checked out so we didn't go aboard but here's a pic of her:

Then it was time for lunch in Marigot. It's a beautiful French town with lots of big yachts.

...and shopping for the provisions.

We used a modified version of Maslov's Pyramid to stock her. Air, we have, so that was no problem. Then 16 liters of water and, well, beer got bumped up ahead of food so we have several six packs, peanuts and chips to go with the beer and, finally, food.

Got back to the house early in the evening to see the best sunset yet.

 Tomorrow, we're off early for the boat and plan on being in St. Barts for a great French dinner.

Planning

Choices, choices, where to go...? The current plan is:
Day 1- Simpson Bay, St. Martin to St. Barts - 15 miles
Day 2- Avoid the paparazzi on St. Barts
Day 3- St. Barts to Nevis - 40 miles
Day 4/5 - Nevis and St. Kitts
Day 6 - St. Kitts to Statia - 50 miles
Day 7- Hike the Quill on Statia
Day 8- Statia to Anguilla
Day 9- Anguilla to Marigot, St. Martin
Day 10- Turn in the boat and catch the big bird home

It'll be interesting to see how the plan and reality pan out!

Sunset

The sunsets here are, well, spectacular!

Food

Grand Case is the gourmet capital of the Caribbean. It's a wonderful mix of 5 star French gourmet restaurants and BBQ places called lolos. Years ago the lolo's used to be just shacks on the beach. They've upgraded them a bit but they still retain the fun flavor of a beach front Caribbean BBQ. Every Tuesday, they have a mini-Mardi Gras and the places are packed.

We stopped by one the other night and wound up having a long conversation with Emile who is the owner. He gave us the full run down on the lolo's and was genuinely interested in what our plans were for sailing and the rest of our time here in Grand Case. Emile is just one example of the truly warm and friendly folks we've encountered.

Here's a shot at a lolo.

I'll bet he has a better captain than the Costa Concordia

The other evening, Mickey Ariston showed up off the beach where we have our cottage in his yacht the MyLin. As the chairman of Carnival Cruise Lines his elaborate satellite communications set-up must be buzzing with the problems and fallout from the Costa Concordia mess. In the meantime, he's enjoying the fabulous restaurants of Grand Case.

Grand Case

The first part of our trip is to get thoroughly relaxed. We rented a fabulous little cottage on the beach in Grand Case, St. Martin.

Here we are enjoying the weather (80 degrees every day)!

The view is the perfect screen saver from paradise.

Prelude

My old friend from grade school, Dick Carnwath, and I have found ourselves at a similar point in life. The kids are grown and we have the ability to do a bit of traveling. A couple years ago we teamed up for a sailing trip in the Aeolian Islands off of Sicily. There were some moments of angst during a major storm but all in all it was a great experience.

In the fall of 2011 we decided to take another sailing voyage, this time in the Leeward Islands in February. After a bit of research, we settled on the idea of spending a bit over two weeks on our adventure. One week would be spent ashore in the gourmet capital of the Caribbean, Grand Case, St. Martin, and ten days would be spent at sea exploring the Leeward Islands on a charter sailboat.


This blog is the story of our newest adventure.