Old French lyrics, for a change

Just remembered this song which propelled singer Desireless to success in the late 80's, and is perhaps in the spirit of the blog

Au dessus des vieux volcans,
Glisse des ailes sous les tapis du vent,
Voyage, voyage,
Eternellement.
De nuages en marécages,
De vent d'Espagne en pluie d'équateur,
Voyage, voyage,
Vole dans les hauteurs
Au dessus des capitales,
Des idées fatales,
Regarde l'océan...

Voyage, voyage
Plus loin que la nuit et le jour, 
Voyage 
Dans l'espace inoui de l'amour.
Voyage, voyage
Sur l'eau sacrée d'un fleuve indien, 
Voyage 
Et jamais ne reviens.

Sur le Gange ou l'Amazone,
Chez les blacks, chez les sikhs, chez les jaunes,
Voyage, voyage
Dans tout le royaume.
Sur les dunes du Sahara,
Des iles Fidji au Fujiyama,
Voyage, voyage,
Ne t'arrêtes pas.
Au dessus des barbelés,
Des coeurs bombardés,
Regarde l'océan.

Voyage, voyage
Plus loin que la nuit et le jour, .....

Au dessus des capitales,
Des idées fatales,
Regarde l'océan.

And for a rough translation

Above extinct volcanoes, Slide your wings under the curtain of wind
Explore, Explore, Forever
From clouds to marshes,
From Spanish wind to tropical rain, Explore Explore
Fly high, Above capitals, Above deadly ideas
Watch the ocean

Explore Explore, Beyond night and day
Explore
The unbelievable space of love
On the sacred waters of Indian rivers, Explore
And never come back

On Ganges or Amazonas, By the Blacks, the Sikhs, the Asians
Explore Explore
Throughout the kingdom, On Saharian dunes, From Fidji to Fuji Yama
Explore Explore, Never stop
Above barbed wire, And blasted hearts
Watch the ocean

1987 by Jean-Michel Rivat and Dominique Dubois, album Francois by Desireless, dedicated to Gopala

Batalie and Syndicate

Roseau to Batali 26 April 2014

We spent Saturday visiting the Roseau market, the best we have seen so far in the Caribbean. The choice of tropical fruits and vegetables is wonderful. 

On Sunday (April 27), we sailed / motored to Batalie Beach, 17 miles to the north, a small bay with three or four moorings in deep water, a dinghy dock, a dive shop, an hotel, Sunset Bay and the best (!) Belgian Restaurant in Dominica, the Lobster Palace.

The whole is owned and operated by a genial Belgian couple. 

With a steady local following and many med students, the restaurant gives full credit to its name. The grilled lobster with garlic sauce nearly defeated us. 

The owner gave us a yachtie discount and brought us a big bag of papayas, mangoes and grapefruits, together with our digestif, a citrus infused rum reminiscent of limoncello.  

Enjoying such hospitality, we spent 3 relaxed days, returning each evening to explore the menu further...

Meanwhile, fishermen were seining ballyhoos nearby, and JP rowed out to get some (half a bucket for 2 beers, although the fishermen wanted to give them away) 
Half an hour of cleaning later, voila, la petite friture. If this starts sounding like a food blog, you should see our real food blog....

Seining for ballyhoo

We arranged an excursion with "Doctor Birdie" who specializes in ornithology excursions and is real knowledgeable about the flora and fauna of Dominica (and many other places). He is a fun guy who real enjoys nature and touring, and takes his vacations birdsighting in the Galapagos, South America, Alaska...

We set off in the early afternoon for the area called the Syndicate, an old orange plantation long converted to small farms and to national park, which has reverted to secondary growth forest.

Our first stop was Syndicate Falls, a short half an hour walk from the end of the agricultural road.

Armed with binoculars, the walk let us observe a dozen different birds plus the endemic gecko whilst getting upriver.





We also enjoyed getting to know better the vegetation, including the many different ferns, arborescent or otherwise.


Then, with a bird scope, we went into the national park to see the Dominica endemic parrots, the Redneck Amazon Parrot (no cars on blocks in front of his tree) and the national bird and flag emblem of Dominica, the Sisserou (population about 600) or Imperial Amazon Parrot. The Redneck obliged in several spots, but the Imperials we sighted hid behind the trees, half a mile away across a valley. 

We returned to Batali at night and prepared to move back to Roseau on April 30 to clear customs and make our way to Martinique.

Catching up from Batalie II

Return to Le Marin - 16 April

Bébert et ses fruits

After family visits and business we returned to Raconteur mid-April. 
We rented a car and provisioned the boat at the big Carrefour near the airport, then took a tour of the Diamant peninsula, stopping at a great fruit juice stand (Bébert) on the way to Anse Dufour.
We  enjoyed a walk to Anse Noire and lunch Chez Marie Jo in Anse Dufour.

Anse Dufour

We also completed some minor repairs on the water circuit, minor interior joinery for a new hatch to the new, bigger windlass and sewing repairs.

Les Anses d'Arlet - 21-24 April

We left Le Marin on the 21st in the morning and had a nice downwind trip to Grande Anse d'Arlet where a large mooring field has been installed. The little village is very nice and quiet and has a number of beach restaurants that come to life in the evening. 
We had lunch there the following day and looked for the cafe where customs clearances used to be, but it was closed. We apparently needed to go to the other Anse d'Arlet, where a bigger village sits.

We moved to Anse d'Arlet on the 23rd, 2 miles south, and picked up another mooring. We visited the town and had a very pleasant lunch at Le Littoral waiting for the customs office to open. We cleared for the next day and returned in the evening for a pizza on the beachfront (Caraibe Pizza), a real local with a row of guys sipping their rum in the back of the terrace.  Delicious pizza too.

Dominica - 24-30 April

We started early for a 55 mile trip to Roseau on the 24th and had a nice crossing of the Martinique channel at 8 knots. We picked up one of Seacat's moorings, and his assistant Desmond took JP to customs to clear in. In the evening, we arranged an excursion to Victoria Falls and Moses' "Rastaurant" for the next day.

The Victoria Falls excursion was a real fun trip. We meandered in the small villages of the south of the island, 

Zandoli Inn garden view

Grand Bay with its delightful Zandoli Inn, 









Petite Savane, a village mostly known for
distilling bay rum, but which boasts several
less publicized but delicious local products, 

Tasting local products

Bagatelle, Les Delices, tasting fruits along the road and bread from Manny.











We arrived at Moses' property on the junction of two rivers around 11 and visited the gardens, meeting members of the family. 
We shared stories and  some Rastafarian hospitality and were therefore in a great mood when we launched on the climb to Victoria Falls around 1230.

Moses at his open, riverside house

The Victoria Falls climb is a bit different from other Dominica hikes, which typically involve many hours of up and down steep hills. This is a very short clambering over rocks and boulders and crossing the river five times, sometimes up to mid-thigh even in this relatively dry weather, with only a few hundred feet to climb, most of it in the final rocks before arriving at the cascade basin.

The cascade experience is exhilarating and is like swimming in a hurricane. The volume of water is such that a violent wind and spray are perpetually blasting the basin. We swam across the basin against a very swift current and caught our breath in a small cave. 




Seacat then helped JP swim behind the cascade, which is only 15 meters away but directly into the current. 

The impression is fairly indescribable, but you definitely learn how to breathe water. After a victory yell, we drifted back to the cave and the back across the basin.

After clambering down the rocks, we had a very simple and delicious Rastaurant lunch, a wonderful medley of vegetables and starches from the farm, cooked in coconut milk and eaten from a calabash bowl with a coconut shell spoon.










We closed the day by visiting a very beautiful black sand beach before returning to Roseau.

Catching up from Batalie Beach

28 april 2014

Martinique - Petite Terre - Feb 18-28

It has been a while - Leigh left the boat on the 16th of February in St. Lucia, and on the 18th we sailed to Martinique and anchored in Le Marin. After clearing customs, we moved to Sainte Anne on the 20th. We had a nice time swimming and visiting the small restaurants.

On the 24th, we started for an overnight passage to Marie Galante, a great beam reach all night at 7 knots, passing to the East of Martinique and Dominica, arriving at 5 in the morning and anchoring off the west side of the island, all quiet and deserted for miles. The next day, we tried to find a spot in the tiny harbour of Grand Bourg, but there was no space so we went back to a nice beach section of the coast. On the 26th, we dinghied to Grand Bourg for breakfast and wifi at Ornata and clearing out.

In the afternoon, we set off for Les Iles de la Petite Terre, a small lagoon and park, greeted by dolphins at the entrance. The island has many excursion boats during the day but barely anyone at night, and we shared the lagoon with the ranger and another sailboat. The next day we went snorkeling, fantastic coral forest teeming with fishes, swimming up-current and letting us be carried back through the coral valleys, surrounded by all the colors of marine life.

aahh, the serenity of Petite Terre after the day-trippers depart

Antigua - Feb 28-Mar 13

With regret, we left on the 28th and set off for Antigua, a fast passage with some squalls. We entered English Harbor in the afternoon but it was completely packed and we left, anchoring next door in Falmouth Harbor. We were promptly boarded by the Coast Guard who was worried by this suspicious behavior (!) - of note, the Customs office is in English Harbor but they do not have a dock and their opening hours can differ significantly from the official ones...their inspection was interrupted towards the end by the Mayday call of a big sailboat that had hit the reef south of Antigua (the crew made it to safety).

After a rolly night, we repositioned ourselves in Falmouth Harbor, cleared in and had a lovely dinner at Trappas. On the docks in Falmouth, we thought we were back in Monaco, with row after row of super-yachts, the only difference being that there are more super-sailboats in Antigua. 

 a tiny section of the super-sail super-yacht scene in Falmouth and English Harbors

Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbor preserves a Georgian naval dockyard in its original form

We had meanwhile corresponded with a friend and colleague from over 30 years ago, René and his spouse Ginette and decided to join them in Jolly Harbour Marina, a development and yachting center on the west coast of Antigua. On March 2nd, we moved there and had an interesting time doing modified med mooring in double occupancy catamaran spaces. The third try was the charm and we found ourselves docked directly across from Opus, the customized Beneteau 39 of Ginette and René.

This was a very pleasant reunion, and we spent a few days walking the gorgeous beach, trying the restaurants of the complex, having many coffees, alternating dinners on board the two boats, and catching up with the events of the past 30 years.

a merry meeting!!

 
On March 5, we took a trip with Opus to the market in St John to replenish our supplies (town nearly deserted due to a major cricket test) and left in the afternoon for Deep Bay, a large, beautiful white sand anchorage with a wreck.  We swam and took a walk on the huge beach, but the hotel at the head of the bay, the once famous Royal Antiguan, appeared to be in the process of closing prior to a major refit.

On March 6, we started for the northern anchorages, fairly late in the day, but soon realized that we had underestimated the currents and the number of tacks across the reefs, and decided to abort and return to Deep Bay,

On the 7th, we had our second try and sailed to Jumby Bay, on a lovely island with a fairly exclusive resort and community. However, as we anchored, we realized that Raconteur's windlass had given up again. We conferred with Opus and decided to return the next day to Jolly Harbor, to try and order a new one. 

Raconteur's new pal Opus, underway to the northern anchorages of Antigua

 
On the 8th, we raised anchor by hand with the team of Opus heavily helping - thanks guys - and sailed downwind to Jolly Harbor, alas, arriving just after the closing of the marine shop. So what was there to do but have another expresso?

The new windlass arrived airfreighted on the 12th, we bought 240 feet of metric chain, and with heavy help of René and final touches from a local contractor, installed it on the 13th.

new and old anchor chain

Marie Galante - March 14-15

After finishing windlass install, we left with Opus for an overnight passage to Marie Galante, a long upwind slog on the East side of Guadeloupe. Raconteur's engine started overheating so we did pure sailing down to the anchoring maneuvers, dropping the hook about noon on the 14th. Opus had caught one of the many, many netlines around, and, after changing the impeller on Raconteur, René and JP took turns diving with the hookah to cut it off the propeller. 

 Susan learned much useful boat French, including the captain's 12 commands; for example, "YAVEKA": "il n'y avait qu'a" or "all you had to do was . . . "

The next day we rented scooters and went for a tour of the southern part of the island, stopping for a delightful lunch on the beach in Capesterre. A distillery visit was of course included in the tour....

one of many delightful coffees together - this one at Grand Bourg in Marie Galante

We left the same evening for Martinique, leaving our friends behind and heading into a beautiful sunset and a lovely passage with the full moon rising as we sped down the East coast of Dominica and Martinique.

Back to Martinique - March 16-20

On the 16th, we dropped the hook in Sainte Anne, learning in the process that new chain can twist itself like rope - and of course then will not pass through the windlass. A couple of hours unraveling chain on deck took care of that, then it was back to swimming and relaxing. On the 18th we moved into the Le Marin marina, and prepared Raconteur for a one month lonely stay whilst we took care of some business. We flew out on the 20th.

Guest blogger, week two (aka the Silver Linings post)

If week one was something of a Caribbean idyll, week two has been a much more typical "day in the life of a cruiser" - no less entertaining - better stories, says Susan, and she's right.  We returned briefly to the marina at Rodney on Sunday, and stuck around long enough on Monday morning to greet the guys who were to replace the instruments.  I wish I had taken a photo of the giant pile of boxes and cables that had arrived on Friday. Anyway, on Monday Susan gamely drove the mountain roads between Rodney and Soufriere for a third time, as we were staying at an island-style hotel called Hummingbird Resort.  We had a two bedroom cottage up the hill from the actual resort; it is a bit of a faded glory but a lovely location and very good food (if seriously erratic service) in the restaurant.  I thought

 I would include some less glamorous photos - the first one is us working and writing postcards at the bar; the second our swimsuits hanging on the cottage porch, and the third JP finishing to pack our tiny little rental before Susan's FOURTH drive across the mountains, back to Rodney Bay and Raconteur.  One side note - there were two large cruise ships in port at Castries on Wednesday, the day of our drive, and we saw dozens of buses and taxis heading to Soufriere - probably five hundred people or

 more on there way for a couple of hours at the Pitons.  We know how much the economy of St Lucia and other ports of call depend on these visits, but it seems like such a peculiar way to "see" the Caribbean.
We got back to Raconteur around noon and found that the installation work was complete and the electrical work well underway - a very impressive performance by John White and his team at Regis Electronics.  When they left us on Wednesday late day, there were two relatively minor challenges to be addressed - the VHF mike in the cockpit was not working, and the large light over the saloon table had also quit.  They came back promptly on Thursday morning, fixed both problems, and we were underway (just out to the bay at Rodney Bay to drop the hook) before noon.  That's the good part of the story...now for the rest.  JP and Susan expertly dropped the anchor on the Jambe de Bois side of the Bay, near Sandals.  JP thought we were a bit close to a boat off our stern, so they re-raised (twice) and then...the windlass quit.  To make a long story short, I took the helm while JP and Susan raised the anchor by hand and we called the marina.  They told us we could return to our slip, so we did.  After a call to John at Regis and then to our contact at Island Water World, we found someone (Phillip Brown) to come and have a look.  He arrived within a half hour, and he cleared his Friday for us.  As I write, on Saturday noon, he is re-installing the transmission and we have our fingers crossed.  This is something of an "engineered" windlass - a powerful Simpson Laurence that we had installed in Trinidad - they don't make those any more, so we are hoping it holds together as the alternative is rather daunting.  To be continued...
As for the silver linings, we decided to try a restaurant that we have read about and talked about and even passed by many time, The Edge, which is indeed at the edge of the lagoon on the inside of Rodney Bay marina.  It was really delightful, a lovely setting and very good and interesting cooking (chef Bobo Bergstrom calls it "Eurobbean"); a fitting end to another day in the life...

 

Notes from a guest blogger

Leigh here. I arrived on Sunday the 2nd of February for a two week stay; I arrived at Hewanorra in the mid afternoon and caught a taxi for Marigot Bay, where Raconteur was on a mooring.  JP picked me up from the dock in Scheherazade, and after a welcome cocktail on board, we headed to the Rainforest Hideaway, a favorite spot, for dinner.  We stuck around Marigot on Monday, and dined aboard (delicious goat curry and rice) on Monday night before we headed south a bit, to try our luck in the surroundings of the Pitons.  We were hoping for one of the (supposedly seven) moorings at the Bat Cave on the north side of Soufriere, but the five that are actually present were occupied when we arrived at mid-day.  We tried one of the moorings between the Pitons, but the roll was pretty terrible, and the actual spot rather close to another boat and to the rocks.  We gave that up, and then the gods of the sea smiled on us as we headed back north (thinking we would go to Anse LaRaye or Anse Cochon) and - one of the Bat Cave moorings had become free.  Hooray.  Here's the sunset view from that night - sorry, couldn't resist. We dined on board; I made Ann VanderHoof's Bahamian Mac and Cheese and we had Baigan (Eggplant) Curry from the freezer.
The attraction of the Bat Cave moorings is that you can snorkel right off the boat (no climbing in and out of the dinghy from the water); after a bit of fumbling (me) we had a very nice snorkel indeed.  You can see quite a lot of coral and a reasonable number of fish, particularly considering how close to town it is and how many fishing boats, water taxis, cruising boats and even rather large yachts come in and out of there.  On Wednesday one of the charter cats came bay and disgorged thirty or so passengers into the snorkeling ground - I took some photos (see link to the web albums below) but they don't really do justice to the sight.  
On Thursday we headed to Rodney Bay and the marina, in preparation for our trip to Hotel Chocolat to celebrate our tenth wedding anniversary, and for the upcoming project to replace the instrumentation on the boat, scheduled for this week.  We were back in time for a roti at BB's at the marina - another longtime favorite - and then went to dinner at Bosun's, also in the marina, which serves both "western" fare and Thai food.  We always go there for the Thai.
It will be nearly impossible to do justice to the stay at Hotel Chocolat; I took lots of pictures at the main building, from our room, and on a walk up above the property to view the Pitons and the sea.  Here are a couple of shots.

View from the pool, Hotel Chocolat

Room number 13, Hotel Chocolat

Here is one of those timed shots, a rare photo of all three Stooges at once (Susan may have a better one, so I'll replace it if so).  I complained and whined on the climb, but the view was amazing. It looks like a fake background, doesn't it?

Stooges + Petit Piton, Rabot Estates, St. Lucia

After the hike, we swam, then headed to the "Cocoa Juvenate" spa (yes, seriously spoiled) where Susan and I discovered a full body exfoliation and moisturizing treatment that was a total treat.  JP had to settle for a nice long massage - he wasn't  complaining.  Then it was back to the room to relax and change before heading back to Boucan (the hotel's restaurant, where most menu items use cocoa in some form or the other) for our celebratory dinner.  Today we headed back to Rodney and Raconteur for the night; we will decamp to another (nice but much less sybaritic) hotel once the work begins.

Here is the link to my photos from the first of my two weeks here.

2014-02 Leigh visit to St Lucia

Small anchorages of St Lucia

Fri Jan 31 Anse La Raye
We left the big anchorage of Rodney Bay with its 100+ sailboats and leisurely sailed downwind to Anse La Raye, a small fishing village that organizes a street seafood festival / block party every Friday. We were quite alone in the small bay with a few local fishing pirogues. Behind the rocks protecting the entrance of the bay, we saw the sailing cruise ship Star Clipper set sail from its midday stop at Marigot. In the afternoon, we were joined by 4 other sailboats.

The village, despite some concrete buildings on the seafront is still mostly wooden cases, tiny traditional Lucian houses. The atmosphere of the fish fest is nice and laid back with a mix of honeymooners from local top resorts, vacationers, yachties and locals. We tried boxfish for the first time, had some snapper and crabbacks, and were too full to go back for fried jacks. We listened for a while to the two young DJ's who where expertly remixing current top 40 with music of the 70s 80s and 90s as well as a variety of synthesizer sounds. They were still working hard long after we were back on the boat!

Sat 1 Feb Anse Cochons
Less than half an hour south of La Raye is Anse Cochons, a well known diving and snorkeling site. We had visited with a dive operator in 2013, and wanted to see a bit more of the land side. After anchoring (one one other sailboat there), we floated a kayak and paddled to shore with our snorkeling equipment. We swam the north side of the bay, and saw a nice variety of fishes and sponges, although the water was not quite crystal clear due to the swells. We swam back to the beach and enjoyed a golden apple juice at Ti Mange, the beach bar of the Ti Kaye resort. As we resumed our paddle around the bay, a horde of large tour catamarans appeared in rapid succession (Tango, Tango Too, Tango Mango, Just Tango, Endless Summer and Carnival Sailing) all disgorging hundreds of swimmers on the public part of the beach. All was calm for sunset however, except that the swells started making their way in the bay. We canceled our idea to dock the dinghy at the iffy dock of Ti Kaye and cooked onboard, rather acrobatically with the boat rolling hard.

And, the Vikings are back! In every harbor, creek and marina we have seen an incredible number of Norwegian and Swedish flags (as well as the regular sprinkling of Swiss ones). There must be something in the water for the yachts of these two comparatively small nations to outnumber the US flags...