Leeward Islands—West Indies—Caribbean

DECEMBER 2005 TO MARCH 2006

After a 16 ½ day Atlantic crossing from Las Palmas, Canaries, we arrived after dark at English Harbor, Antigua. Entering the almost hidden harbor several hours after sunset, we had several problems facing us. First, with no moon or lit channel markers to guide us, we had to watch out for the shallow water (shoals) on one side of the entrance, and rocks on the other--plainly indicated on the chart. Of the two range lights on shore placed to guide boats into the channel, one was not working. Then it started to rain. That cut down on our visibility in maneuvering between anchored boats to find a place to drop our hook.

Our Australian friends on Suprr, a 46’ Nordhavn , had arrived during the daylight hours and were expecting us. They not only shown their spotlight to guide us in, but also donned their slickers and came over in the dinghy to be our eyes in the rain. We needed help too. Normally coming into a harbor we stop at a calm place to bring the flopper stoppers back onto their holders and pull the arms up so we are the regular width of a boat (16’, not 60’) when moving around in crowded quarters. With the arms out we looked threatening, so some boaters flipped on their floodlights so we could see them better. It had the opposite effect as the bright lights blinded us for a few seconds. With our friends’ assistance, we finally lowered the anchor in a safe place and took care of the flopper stoppers and arms. Then we could relax after our very long journey.

The next day we took the dinghy to shore and cleared into Antigua. As our friend, Marvin Day, had joined us in Gibraltar and son, David, at Las Palmas by one way air tickets, they had to present outbound airline tickets to Immigration. Once cleared in, we raised the anchor and moved over to Jolly Harbor on the west side of the island. There the boat waited while we returned Stateside for Christmas and New Year.

Our first guests for 2006, Gary and Diana Whitney, weren’t due to arrive until mid January, so we had time to explore some of Antigua by water. First day out gave us three problems. Once away from the dock we started to let the flopper stopper arms out. Some extra lines had not been untied, so they created resistance at the railing with the weight of 25’ solid steel arms moving downward. Snap, crackle, pop—teak rail damaged in a few places. (Macho glue and screws later put it all back together.) The MicroCommander which governs forward and reverse gears gave out a loud shrill on approaching Deep Bay anchorage, the next bay up the west side. We couldn’t go from forward to neutral and reverse, so no ability to position ourselves for anchoring. Turning around back into deeper water to avoid trouble, Denis worked on the problem. That done, we re-entered the bay and he went to the bow to drop the anchor, but the chain had seized up while not being used, and would not budge. That took more time, but we finally got settled. Well, things happen in threes, so we were set for awhile.

Deep Bay anchorage is a half moon shaped area with two places where you can glimpse what’s passing on the other side of the land. What passed?—Large cruise ships leaving or approaching St John’s Harbor. A moving ten story building does put a catch in your throat!

We had wanted to go just a few miles north to Barbuda (a special place for snorkeling) once the Whitneys arrived. Weather did not cooperate, so we headed to Nevis Island. What a trip!! The waves on the stern looked as if they wanted to come on board at times, but our guests were good troopers and didn’t get too white knuckled. I felt more scared during that 8 hour trip than crossing the Atlantic. We anchored in a nice bay with palm trees lining the beach. Showers kept passing, creating some very nice rainbows as an aftereffect.

Next island, St Kitts, provided us with a chance to meet Henry the Set Up Taxi Man, who took us for a two hour+ rainforest hike and day driving tour around the island in his van. We stopped at Brimstone Hill (the British fortress), several beaches, and checked out one of the sugar cane plantations, now a high class resort. The government has decided not to grow sugar cane any more. Yet what will happen to the people who worked that crop?

Henry enjoys visitors and loves showing off his island. It seems everyone on the road has a code for horn blowing. I asked Henry to explain the difference between one, two, and three toots. Two toots is unique. It is a way of asking, “What’s up?” After he gave us the code, we listened more carefully to the two toot one. Sure enough, it did sound like asking what’s up. In the off tourist times Henry works as a plumber and carpenter. He is related to many people on St Kitts. His mother had 16 children; he is number 3.

After the Whitneys left for San Diego, we pointed the bow to St Maarten, a seven hour trip. Although the island is only 7 miles in each direction, it is perhaps the best known holiday destination in the Leewards. We anchored outside the Lagoon to await the morning bridge opening, rocking and rolling with some pretty fancy yachts. Inside the lagoon were many more mega yachts tied up at marinas, lots of sailboats and powerboats of regular size anchored in the middle of the lagoon, plus chandleries to buy stuff, and a sports bar for us to wait around and watch the Super Bowl. Seattle Seahawks played their hearts out against Pittsburgh, but lost. We were proud of them for making the bowl game. Another highlight was a pot luck dinner on board in which we invited newly-met cruisers over to help us celebrate a circumnavigation completion by our friends on Transit. A good time was had by all.

St Maarten shares the same land space as St Martin, divided into Dutch and French sections. Local lore has it that the Dutch and French colonists decided to settle their ongoing land disputes by having a Dutchman and a Frenchman stand back to back at one end of the island and then walk in opposite directions around the coastline. The island’s boundary line would be established at the end of the day, whatever spot they finally met. As it turned out, the Frenchman walked much faster than the Dutchman and consequently the French side of St Martin ended up larger than the Dutch side. The Frenchman quenched his thirst along the way with French wine, while the Dutchman quenched his with more potent Dutch gin, accounting for his slower pace. St Maarten is the most northerly island we visited. Time to point the bow south.

St Barts, only a few miles away, offered us a beautiful bay to hang out in until our trip back to Nevis. St Barts is the only island ever owned by Sweden and the Swedish Consulate’s House is still there. In St Barts our dinghy developed a problem—slow air leak. We had to pump it up every morning, but it gos us where we wanted to go and back. Needed to find a repair facility, but in the meantime, duct tape played the role of nautical band aid.

Journeying south to Guadeloupe we passed Montserrat, and was it ever active! Denis took many photos as the clouds piled high with smoke and ash and stuff ran down the channels where lava had formed trenches at earlier eruptions. Boaters passing the day before said they saw some signs of life, but we got the whole eruption. Leaving Nevis in early morning we could see a long plume moving west from Montserrat and decided to pass on the other side. We got quite a show! Awesome!!

In Deschais Bay, Guadelope, we tried to rent a car and tour the island. We just missed out twice (they had one car for sure, but not a fleet). We also tried to clear into the country a couple of times but the man in charge tended to be unavailable. We did get checked in at Les Saintes, the islands south of Guadelope. We had to clear in and out of each island as they were not all the same country, as one would assume.

Coming into the Saintes, our friends on Destiny called us on the radio to come anchor behind them. We tried. Boats were quite close together and we decided to retry at a nearby location. While we were adjusting our position, a British boat pulled in and plopped his anchor down. So much for that spot. We had to move quickly through the anchored vessels and try something else. All this activity was performed with the arms still out and weights in the water. In circling around, the port weight tangled with another boat’s anchor chain, worked its way up the chain and flopped off near the other boat’s bow, making a horrendous noise which scared us and the other boat owner, but no damage done, thank goodness. Soon we located another place further out to drop the hook, but weren’t too happy with the rock and roll, even with our stabilizers on the job. When someone pulled anchor and left ahead of us, we cranked up the engine and pulled ours—well, tried to. It had hooked on some ancient anchor chain on the bottom, plus a big great hawser rope. We had to call our friend on Destiny to come in his dinghy to assist Denis from the bow to untangle the mess. I could not leave the controls. It took quite an effort on both their parts and all I could do was watch from the pilothouse. All’s well that ends well, right?

Next island—Dominica. We intended to stay only a couple of days—stayed eleven. The island has a lot of rain, hence everything looks so green, with the exception of the wonderful rainbows after each shower, sometimes double and full. The locals call their island, “the nature island” and it’s easy to understand why. In addition from the bay we anchored in near Portsmouth we saw “green flashes” at sunset almost every night. WOW!

Friends on a boat from Jacksonville, Florida, Special Delivery, advised us to email one of the guides on Dominica and have him show us his paradise. So we contacted Martin Carriere, and through him had an all day tour of the island by road. Stopped at all the beach viewpoints, bought crafts at the Carib reservation, and hiked back to Emerald Waterfall for a dip for those who remembered their suits. A very interesting day to say the least.

On another day he paddled us up the Indian River right in Portsmouth where after only a few minutes the jungle closed in along the banks and across the sky so you felt as if in a primeval place and time. The roots of trees stood out along the banks, sometimes reminding you of a large nest of huge snakes moving towards or away from the water’s edge. It poured rain on the five of us and Martin in the canoe, but he just welcomed us to his “liquid sunshine.”

Portsmouth originally had been the capital of Dominica, but the swamps created breeding grounds for mosquitoes and malaria, so the British moved the capital to Roseau down the island’s west side. Today Dominica, with its clean air and abundant food sources, is a healthy place to live. And they have quite a record. Elizabeth Pampo Israel recently died in Portsmouth at the grand old age of 126. There’s one of 120 years living there now.

Jeff, Martin’s partner, drove us into the hills outside Portsmouth for a hike to look for the national bird, the Sisserou parrot. We heard birds along our way, but never saw them until we came close to a waterfall. Two parrots burst through the trees not far above our heads. What a treat after our scramble up to a 100’ waterfall, fording the stream twice near the end.

On another day Denis and I walked up the Cabrits to see Fort Shirley, a British garrison and continued up to the viewpoints along the eastern side. How did they get those cannon up there???

We made many new friends in Prince Rupert Bay anchorage (Portsmouth) and even organized another pot luck dinner, this time we stood elbow to elbow as 17 showed up for fun, food, and fellowship on the aft deck. Three other nights we enjoyed the hospitality of other anchored cruisers: Coram Deo, Special Delivery, and Double Up.

The local people were very friendly. Each greeted you with a smile and welcomed you to “Dominica.” Boat boys on surfboards came by the boat daily to see if you needed anything—something from the market, your garbage taken to shore, or boat cleaned. They were always polite. People we met at the local Saturday market were interesting. That was quite a market! And the Carnival Parade showed us what they do best—move to the music!! A large truck carried a good sized band of musicians who played non stop. Their music carried out the sides of the open bed truck, ahead of them through singers with microphones perched on top of the truck cab, plus several boom box type speakers being pulled behind the truck. Everyone in town and outside of town could hear every note. Only a few parading people wore something like a costume, but all of them strutted their stuff anyhow.

After an afternoon rest they repeated the parade in the evening. We watched again, then had a meal at Big Pappa’s. The next morning we began our adventures in the Windward Islands.

The Coast Guards along our 8 year journey seem very interested in us—our profile of a fishing vessel grabs their attention and they have either come along and boarded (Spain), or just talked to us over the radio (Greece), followed us into an anchorage but not talked to us (Turkey), or in the case of Guardia Finanza (Italian), a chopper circled us and hovered while the two men on board just glared—no words spoken.

In the Leewards we had two Coast Guard episodes, both non-threatening. One morning I was having coffee on the back deck in Deep Bay anchorage (Antigua) when a small Coast Guard runabout with five or six people in it pulled up to the stern. A lady asked me, “Is this your boat?” and “Is it a fishing boat?” They passed by the stern after I assured them we were just liveaboards, but whipped out a camera and took a few pictures before leaving. We don’t know what caused the visit, but they certainly had photos to show on return to their dock.

The second visit came while anchored in the bay by Portsmouth, Dominica Island. A dark vessel carrying three men dressed in black slowly made their way through the anchorage and ended up at our stern. One man placed a clipboard under his arm and said, “We are boarding.” “O.k.” I replied and made access easy. Two came and one kept circling in their 20’ boat. They wanted to see the boat papers and passports, then asked standard questions on their form. We answered them all in a good spirit, and laughed when they pulled one question out of the air, “How long have you been married?”

THE WINDWARDS

MARCH 2006 THROUGH APRIL 2006

The Windward Islands consist of Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, plus Grenada. An America cruising friend told us in Turkey that Martinique was “more French than France.” It felt that way to us too.

Leaving Portsmouth, Dominica the last day of February, we cruised 72.4 miles to the southern coast of Martinique (about 10 hours). We had thought about stopping for the night at St Pierre on the north end, famous for Mt. Pelee’s 1902 eruption that swallowed the town, killing 29,933 people and sinking 12 ships in the harbor. After looking over the anchorage we chose to go on further south. Mt. Pelee had given several days notice it was about to blow—rumbling, ash clouds, mud avalanches, and some lava, but no one heeded—a bad decision. The guidebooks said that two men did survive the blast—one in jail; the other working in his cellar, a cobbler fixing shoes.

Near the bottom of the island we crossed a large bay that led into Fort de France. Out of nowhere a red hulled boat came at full speed, looking as if he would ram us. I immediately slowed down and he as well, swerving at the last minute to come to rest quite near the outstretched flopper stopper arms. In the boat were four men dressed in black, armed, and the side of the boat indicated they were customs officials. After they analyzed whether they could actually board us and do an inspection, they shouted over to us asking where we had come from, where we were going, and if we had anything to declare. Seeming satisfied with our answers, they fired up the engine and left as fast as they arrived. We went on to anchor at Petit Anse d’Arlet, and rolled during the night due to swells wrapping around the southern tip of the island.

In the morning we turned the corner and headed to LeMarin to check in and look for a dinghy repair facility. Right in front of us stood Diamond Rock, an unmistakable 573’ chunk of limestone with an interesting history. The British Navy in 1804 landed 100 sailors on the rock, fortified it with cannons, and registered it as a British War Ship. From the rock, 107 men controlled all traffic, including blockading Martinique for 18 months. The French ended up floating several barrels of rum over from the mainland; the British sailors imbibed heavily; allowing the French to take Diamond Rock June 1, l805. The Brits fled to Barbados where they were court-martialed for deserting their ship. Today when a British vessel passes HMS Diamond Rock, the crew stands at attention and salutes.

At LeMarin we were unsuccessful in getting dinghy repaired, so duct tape kept us afloat until Rodney Bay Marina on St Lucia, the next island. We had airplane tickets to fly back and deal with family business in Jacksonville, so TEKA stayed at the Marina, a very nice place. On our return we went out to Pigeon Island to anchor and hike around the fort, happy with the newly restored dinghy.

Second stop on St Lucia was Marigot Bay, first visited by TEKA III in 1982 on her return from the Med. The notes in the log at that time referred to it as “a tropical paradise.” True today with the exception that condos, charter boats, and new construction surround the bay behind the swaying palm trees. We only stayed one night, getting our Piton permit.

The Pitons, one 743 meters high, the other, 620, were featured in Superman II, where the man of steel flew between them. The very deep (120’) anchorage is just below the two jutting rocks, making it necessary to pick up a mooring ball for the time there. It was very beautiful as a setting, but the williwaws (wind gusts to 25 knots) rushing down from the mountain made it feel uncomfortable.

We had to check out of St Lucia at this time, so a water taxi took us to Soufriere, which had a depressing feel about it. Most people just hung around, drinking beer or rum. One man asked us several times for money; the last time, “Are you taking the bus to Castries? If not, give me your change so I can buy something to drink.” We did buy a Guinness ice cream cone, which tasted quite nice.

The next island was St.Vincent, but we went past it to Bequia, the first of the Grenadines and checked in at Port Elizabeth’s Admiralty Bay. Recrossing Bequia Channel the next morning we took up a mooring at Young Island Cut to await the arrival of Dawn, Larry and Megan.

Taking up that mooring took a while. Charlie Tango, who owned the mooring, sent out his man, Sparrow, in a dinghy to assist us. I passed him the rope twice. The first time he missed it and then the boat moved away from him with the four knot current, so re-maneuvering took more time. The second time he caught the rope and we did not get it in place; so another try was called for to connect. Third time charm. But after Sparrow retreated to his dock and I started my bucket laundry, the boat started to come loose from the mooring. Sparrow raced out to us and shouted, “the line!!” Denis and I had to capture what he was saying, notice the boat moving around in the channel towards other boats, and retrieve the line to try again. This time we did two lines to the mooring and the boat stayed in place. Sparrow provided transportation for us to go to shore and airport, then luggage trip back to TEKA. I stumbled on the uneven boards at the dock and if Megan had not been there to grab onto, I would have gone into the water. Then Larry fell into the dinghy from the swim platform when he stumbled on landing us in the dinghy. Fortunately neither one of us had to deal with what a four knot current felt like.

The next morning we let go of the mooring and headed back to Bequia Island, only 9 miles across. The fishing line went “zing” just off Bequia’s coast and it took quite a while to land a 49” wahoo (estimated 50 lbs) on a Penn 30# outfit.

Once anchored back in Admiralty Bay, Dawn, Larry, and Megan had some beach time, then we dinghied to town and took a two hour tour with Steve in his open air truck. Denis rode inside the cab; the rest of us sat on benches along the sides in the truck bed. We went to the Turtle Sanctuary, Ceramic Factory, and stopped at some scenic vistas before returning to the dinghy dock in town. Megan had wanted to taste coconut milk juice so Steve asked the turtle man to get one out of the tree and open it. We all tasted with straws. Dawn carried it back to town, but dropped it getting out of the truck, spilling and falling in the process. The third fall had some ramifications—a huge bruise, but nothing broken.

Next island—Mustique, land of the rich and famous—like Princess Margaret, Mick Jagger, some movie stars, and we later found out, Bill Gates. All homes were private with gardens and walls and word not to bother them, so we were content to stay in the anchorage and snorkel.

Dawn had arranged a surprise for Larry for their anniversary. We and Megan were in on the deal, and sworn to secrecy. Dawn kept it quiet until the day before, then couldn’t wait, so told him. Denis and I returned from our walk to the Lagoon; heard the news; then announced to Larry we were all going to the resort—massage, hot tub, etc. He almost bought it, my April Fool’s joke. Guess I tease him enough he really could not buy my spiel. Then an hour or so later Dawn and Megan told him the “real story.” There was no resort. The poor guy didn’t know what to believe. But the two of them went ashore in Canuoan, next island in the Grenadine chain, and the rest of us stayed aboard anchored just out front.

From Canuoan, theTobago Cays were a short trip, only 7 miles away. We needed good light to look for reefs along the way, but no problem. Anchored in 30’ of water facing the outside reef and Atlantic Ocean beyond. Along with the snorkeling inside the reef at several places, two islands called us to come stretch our legs. At the first one, it looked like a trail went from beach to ridge, yet when we actually attempted it, nothing worked. It all became a big scramble up and down. While on the ridge a good sized runabout made two trips to the beach. One time they set up two chairs and a large umbrella. The second trip people came for the chairs and shade. The runabout went back to the mother ship on the other side of the island. We could not see it from our vantage point. Dawn challenged me to talk to them. So I did. But missed my chance to say hello to Bill and Melinda Gates. I spoke to her asking about the trail. She knew nothing and kept punching numbers in on her cell phone. He kept his nose in his newspaper, and I didn’t study him at all. Dawn and Larry thought I should have been more diligent. Later back in Tacoma they figured out it must have been them. They have a place on Mustique and their boat, ICE, had been in Bequia Admiralty Bay with us, so it could possibly be so. In addition to that scene, Larry, Dawn, Megan and Denis went outside the reef with a local boatman and his fast craft to the island where Johnny Depp made “Pirates of the Caribbean II.”

A 26 mile journey took us straight back to Bequia and one last night before returning to St. Vincent and an airport rendezvous. TEKA needed water and it would be nice to tie up to a dock for getting off with luggage, so we tried to raise Ottley Bay Marina on the radio with no success. Did make a circle in Kingstown Harbor to evaluate the facility for getting water, deciding it could not be done. So we went around to Ottley Bay only to find out it was not functioning as a marina, but haul out boatyard. I could see people moving around and water pouring off the dock by the large shed, so made myself very visible and someone did come as we approached. He said we could have water and stay the night inside the quay. What a rolly place! Swells came right in and for the first time ever we put out a flopper stopper arm and fish weights in the water while docked. Using our special lines with snubbers and chains took a lot of the pressure off the ropes and we survived the night. Taxi arrived at the boat at 0700, taking our guests to the airport. They had an eventful trip back to Tacoma, but that’s their story to tell.

Once they left, we untied and headed back to Admiralty Bay, the fifth crossing of Bequia Channel. The very next day we left our boat and took the local ferry back across to tour Kingstown (crossing #6 and 7) to play tourists. The highlight was the Botanical Gardens with Christian Daniel as our guide. He says he is Carib/Black mix. His mother placed a brick on his forehead as a baby to flatten it out and make him look more like a warrior—fierce, then he posed for us.

He knew his trees. We heard stories about shaving brush trees and ones that make an aftershave potion; mace and nutmeg; butterfly orchid, helicopter flowers, banyan and breadfruit trees, to name a few. Breadfruit had been brought to St Vincent in 1793 by Captain Bligh.

Now we were free to leave Bequia. Chatham Bay on Union Island was home for one night, then over to Clifton to clear out of the Grenadines at the airport anchorage and down to clear into Grenada at Hillsborough.

We had thought about stopping at Sandy Island between Hillsborough and Tyrrell Bay until we heard over the cruising net (VHF radio morning report) that several armed men had boarded a catamaran and taken everyone’s money, disabled the electronics so help could not be summoned, then left taking all the dinghy fuel. After two nights at Tyrrell Bay we hurried on down to southern Grenada and Prickly Bay, passing quite close to “Kick em Jenny” island and the only active submarine volcano in the lower Eastern Caribbean, also known as kick ‘em Jenny.

Kick ‘Em Jenny’s summit rises about 4,300’ above the sea floor, and is now 566’ below sea surface. In the twenty-four years between 1962 and 1989, its summit rose from 770’ below sea level to 480’. An eruption in 1990 may have blown off part of the summit because in 1997, the summit measured 566’ below sea level. The Research Vessel Ronald H. Brown studied the volcano on March 12, 2002. Their images taken of the crater showed it to be perfectly circular with a diameter measuring 1,066 feet at its base. Jenny has erupted ten times since 1939 according to the Smithsonian Institution. She is having increased periods of activity with yachts sailing right over it on a daily basis. We came close, but friends said they sailed right over it. Their water temperature measurer showed a 16 degree increase in water temperature during that short period of time.

Prickly Bay turned out to be quite rolly, even with our stabilizers at work. It settled down by night and continued to moderate the following day. During that time we had to deal with an IRS problem on 2004 report as relayed by Dawn over the phone. Since we did not have paperwork with us, we had to regenerate the Turbotax program and “fill in the blanks” in the 3 disputed areas. That completed, we mailed it from St George’s on Grenada and now wait for their response. It looked as if we won in the end.

While doing the taxes we changed anchorages to Clarke’s Court Bay on east side of Hog Island. Nice and quiet there and close to dinghy dock for land travel. Joining friends from two other boats, we took a day trip with Selwyn Maxwell as our local guide. Left Woburn after 8:30 and drove to the north end of Grenada via Concord Waterfalls and Nutmeg Factory. After a delightful lunch at Almost Paradise, we stopped for short tour at the Rum Factory before returning back.

Selwyn was number 2 of his family (6 boys, 2 girls). He started working around boats by the age of 12; as an adult has done chartering, yacht deliveries, and takes groups on ground tours around Genada. While at lunch he decided to guess at our family heritage—me Scottish; Ruth, Russian. Right on both counts we think.

At Nutmeg plant we listened to Delta explain how they process the mace and nutmeg. The drying trays rolled out from beneath the building so were retractable when weather turned rainy. Labor intensive work separating seed from mace then spice from seed. The hurricane took out many of their trees, so production is way down, but they still stay open and focus on educating the tourists.

“Almost Paradise” Restaurant has had two hits from hurricanes in their 3 years of business, but will stay on. The owner told about the roof coming off in the last one, and he had to hunt it down in the bushes up the road a ways. Uwe is from Germany and Kate from Winnipeg, Canada. They met in Grenada and decided to run a small bar and cottage place. We had a delicious lunch of callaboo soup, garlic shrimp, pepper pot meat, salad, finishing with a plate of baked goodies.

At the Rum Factory Selwyn put us in the capable hands of Winford for a walk around and information on how rum is processed from sugar cane squeezing to steaming to fermenting to testing to diluting it for taking aboard aircraft. The more than 75% alcohol content is too potent, so they add more water. Buddy took a large gulp from the 150 proof bottle provided by Winford for anyone to taste. He reported it very strong!!

We moved back over to Prickly Bay to clear out and be in position to leave during the night for the trip to Trinidad. But before we did that we listened to a drama unfold on the other side of Hog Island from our anchored spot. A steel powerboat over 100’ long sent out a “Pan Pan” message on the VHF. He had grounded on a reef.

A barge, diving boat, several local boats and cruisers in dinghies gathered to help. Ropes were given to the dive boat and barge. Barge retreated home after his starboard engine overheated. Dive boat stayed, but had to send a diver down and cut a rope from its prop at one point. Advice came from many, including a suggestion to drop the anchors and chain to lighten up the bow and make the boat more maneuverable, or transferring fuel to another boat or getting a larger tug from Carriacou Island or blowing sand beneath the hull to push him up and perhaps over the reef. Some seemed to have more merit than others, yet by day 3 he sat there listing slightly to port and large waves lapping at his side. We accidentally met the Captain while checking out. He said a large tug and barge were coming from Trinidad. We wished him well in his endeavor.

The trip down to Trinidad (81.4 miles) took 13+ hours. Wind stayed about 15 knots. Seas changed from 2-4’ to 5-8’ and anything in between. No rain directly on us, but rain ahead of us all the time. One other ship passed going northwest; a fishing boat went past the stern; a catamaran came out of the dragon’s mouth leaving Trinidad as we approached; and several tenders hovered around the drilling platform 26 miles out from Trinidad. That’s all the water activity we saw on our trip. Timed entering the Dragon’s Mouth after high tide and no problem. We understand if tide and current are opposites, the results can be standing waves over the whole boat.

TEKA III will spend the 2006 hurricane season “on the hard” at Coral Cove Marina in Trinidad. We put 8,039 nautical miles under the keel from 1 May 2005 to 24 April 2006.