Tuesday, November 24th, 2009

Barry has provided this lengthy update of his travels so far this November.

Greetings and Salutations,

It is Nov 5th today and internet connectivity has been absent for sometime so I'm starting an update offline in hopeful anticipation of connectivity in a day or two.

This morning we woke up to very gusty winds and clear skies. The possible hurricane is very far away from us and expected to track NW over land and die off. We we have no worries.  I'm breaking in my Michigan skin to the tropical sun and humidity.  Gentle sunburn and a gallon of water a day appears to be the norm.  Yesterday we sailed North from Prickly bay on the south end of Grenada passing many beautiful islands. We are sailing or leapfrogging with 3 other sailboats making travel and happy hour more fun and interesting. A quick stop at the island of Carriacou to check out of Grenada immigration turned into a 3 hour stay due to very poor holding for our anchors.  I stayed onboard to tend the boats if one broke free from an anchor.

From Carriacou We sailed to and anchored at Union island and prepared for a sail to the island of Bequia to stay for the night and then sailing out into the Atlantic past St Vincent on the east side (more wind) landing in Saint Lucia.  After a very fast sail from Union island we are anchored in Admiralty Bay on Bequia. All around are sailboats with lounging crew and high
green mountains speckled with multicolored houses.

Allegro will be staying for and unspecified period of time at Saint Lucia (possibly at a dock, not at anchor, what a luxury). After exploration of Saint Lucia we (the captain and crew) will be breaking out the sanders and varnish for a day or two to get some final protective coats of varnish on the floor (sole), interior grab rails, and other high usage points on the interior of the boat.

November 12th :

Today we left Rodney Bay Marina and anchored out in Rodney Bay. We are surrounded by 15 or 20 other cruising sailboats of all shapes and sizes. One boat next to us is from Michigan and the other side is a boat from Helsinki, Finland the mix is incredible.  While we were at the in the slip the last 4 days life was very different than living at anchor. Grocery stores, Restaurants, bars, shops, and showers were just a few of the changes in a sailors life while at the dock. Now that we are back at anchor and looking forward to tomorrows sail to Martinique, everyone agrees that boats and men not in port and both should be at sea. We get to swim and snorkel at anchor with cleaner water outside the harbor marina, I've been swimming twice already today.

WE have been sailing with a boat called Hoofbeats. The owners Tony and Sharon are fun loving, easy going people. We will be departing tomorrow for Martinique as a two boat regatta. They are in the slip next to us and I spent 3 or 4 hours working on their boat yesterday pulling and pushing 300 feet of anchor chain is quite a workout.  The one amazing site in the marina was the arrival of a sailboat that was 43 meters long with a 55 meter mast names "Mystre". The boat has a crew of 6 and is privately owned. The crew will polish for the next 2 months until the owner arrives. Look to the gallery for upcoming pictures.This same problem prevents me from getting pictures uploaded to my site.

November 18th :

Martinique has been a welcoming island, despite what everybody says about the people in France. It is odd that even in paradise most of the people look constantly mildly irritated until you give them a smile.  We hiked over a small volcanic mountain to another harbor with a bakery and open market. The group consisted of crew from four boats (11 people) and it seemed like we were raiding the bakery and fruit market. The locals are very accommodating of the sailors because we are pretty mellow bunch that spends money locally.

Small snippets of information and comments I've gathered from the islands:

1. The most common restaurant on each island is KFC, (everywhere!)  Not a single McDonalds on any of the southern islands, Burger King wins.  McDonalds are on the French islands.
2. At Saint Lucia Fruit and vegetables are brought to our boat side every day, the 8 foot boat full of produce has dozens of flags from around the world flying and he blows a large conch shell horn to announce his arrival, some doorbell.
3. There are lot of boats for sale on every island. Many people who lost their fortune and never got the boat back in the water. The storage areas are full of boats on the hard and lots of for sale signs.
4. Diesel is 9 cents a gallon in Venezuela.  Diesel is 8 dollars a gallon on the island of Bequia.
5. The currency exchange for the EC dollar (Eastern Caribbean)is 2.7 EC to 1 US.  The currency exchange for the  Euro is 1 US to 1.5 Euro.  I have 3 kinds of currency in my wallet, but don't spend much anywhere.

Almost every time we have sailed I have fished over the side of the boat. The rig is just a lure and line on a spool tied to a bungee cord on a lifeline. Then you ignore it until you have a fish wildly pulling the bungee cord. Then roll it in by hand with Gloves. Of course after many hours of fishing I've caught nothing but remain hopeful.

We have only had to send the Captain to the top of the mast once. An anchor light, loose antenna connection, and jib roller furler bearing required the high wire event. The mast is 70 feet high so it was white knuckles until he was safely back on deck.

Some how a lizard made it on the boat. We now have a pet(???)

So far I've gone as long as 4 days without wearing a shoe. Not sure if I can break that record.

Rainbows: So many that I've lost count.

When I get a good reliable connection for a few hours I'll get some tropical pictures loaded up to the gallery on comfortfactor.org

Lee is now doing Winlink updates that show our location on the map. Click the winlink button on comfortfactor.org.

I'll try to get another update about Dominica and the Saints to after arrival in the Saints tomorrow. Tgiving will be in the Saints, we even acquired a small turkey in St Lucia.

Gotta go get ready for the sail to the Saints.

Sailing,
Barry