Saturday November 28, 2009 Deshaies, Guadeloupe.

It doesn't take long to figure out we are in France again. The roads are impeccable, the cafe is strong and the croissants are fresh and crisp. We had croissants and a baguette delivered to the boat this morning at 7:00, by a young man from Nantes who takes divers out and lives on a small sailboat closer to shore.

The computer on which I have to fill out Django's clearance has a french keyboard. Everything in the wrong place, so its a slow hunt and peck to transfer the data subsets of Django and her crew from one form to another, yet again. I think they need to make me do it to make sure I understand that they are the masters and I am the serf. Surely they have seen our minutiae enought times, errors and ommissions excepted. How many times must they have it re-entered, perhaps correctly, more likely not, given the damnable french keyboards?

In any case, K and I decided we would make a side trip. First thought a rented car to visit the Musee du Rhum, some 15 Km distant, near St. Rose. The bus, we are told, makes frequent passes through Deshaies, and there is only one "correspondence", to get to close by the Musee. So we think adventure and stand by the stop as a taxi pulls into view. I am interviewing the driver as the bus pulls in behind him. Sixty Euro, he says, two each by bus, so its rather a no brainer and off we go to St. Rose in a lovely minibus with an automatic side door with a step that slides out, not to mention a fare machine which is guaranteed to work and the sign says we must be sure to take our tickets.

We make our correspondence in St. Rose and two stops later we are at Viard, 200 metres from our destination. The Musee is in a lovely park with tall tropical trees and red ginger on either hand. Guadeloupe is so much lusher than Antigua, and so much cooler in the evening. I think the cool air slips down from the high hills and cools the lowlands. We are at anchor and as soon as the sun sets, the temperature drops 8 degrees C.

The Musee is surprising. For a rum distillery, there are remarkable collections of exotic insects and beautiful scale models of the world's most famous ships, triremes, Napoleon's wonderful barge, the 'Nina', 'Pinta', 'Sta Maria', the 'Beagle'! which carried Charles Darwin out to the Galapagos, stopping on the way in Buenos Aires to stay with one of my forebears. Really very good. The rum part was very well presented but less interesting and the tasting we could have done without. Barbados rum is better.

We walked back to St. Rose, K not entirely happy with the plod along the main road in the noonday sun, but I like a walk. There we had a nasty sandwich and a beer, before visiting the local grocery emporium. We figured that St. Rose being considerably larger than Deshaies, we could expect more of the french exotica. There was that. Fine cheeses, many french wines at a fraction of the price we would pay at home, fruits from Europe fresh and cheap. Later I discovered that our smaller Deshaies grocery had all the same amenities.

Home again in the bus and back aboard Django for an afternoon swim. Dinner was a fresh baguette with hard sausage and a selection of fine cheese, including a ripe Camembert the likes of which I have not seen in Montreal for 30 years. A beatiful ripe Italian pear rounded out the meal and inspired me to this post. It is amazing to me that Guadeloupe can provide such excellence to its population at a pretty good cost, all fresh and perfectly ripened. Where do we go wrong? I realise the cost must be subsidised by mother France, but the quality, why is that so much better? Its a mystery, and as the bard says, 'I think I'll jess let the mystery be'.

Friday November 27, 2009 Deshaies, Guadeloupe.

We have been busy, and really not much good internet to be had when time to do soemthing about it was available, so not much blogging going on. We ditched our guests in Basseterre, St Kitts, and bolted from the marina that very afternoon. Too calm, especially at night, so lots of mosquitoes and no seeums. We cleared out at the commercial port and after doing as small errand for Arnold, we pushed off to spend the night in a littel bay in the north of Nevis, before setting off for Jolly Harbour Antigua in the morning. Although there has not been much wind, it has made for easier passages, particularly Nevis-Antigua, whihc can be pretty much dead upwind most of the time. We managed a close haul beat half the way, then motoring in the second half. Half way across, we landed a small wahoo, perhaps 10 lbs. and dined on barbequed wahoo that evening. Yum Yum. Plenty for cold wahoo for lunch and a gorgeous fumet for the fish stew.

In Jolly Harbour, I learned the the propellers had been shipped, albeit to Antigua Slipway in English Harbour, so K and I rented a car and toured Antigua on a mission to get the props through customs and onto Django without further loss of a moment. We arranged for haul out and bottom cleaning and painting and a full wax and shine for Django. The well at Jolly Harbour Shipyard is 20 ft across. Django draws 19'6", leaving a full 3" on either side. We lined her into the well without issue and managed to pick her out with the travel lift.

While Sailor and Bob Marley, the two best bottom contractors in the yard, worked on Django's neather regions, I worked on the new props. I was unsure of a number of key parameters when I ordered them. Things like hand, pitch and diameter had to be best guessed at. After reading as much as possible on the internet, I settled on left hand 15 by 10 two blade folding props and hoped for the best. They came out of the box gleaming like gold. After I managed to install them, other yard rats came along to ooh and aah at the beauty of the things, and to estimate how many of my arms and legs I had sacrificed to obtain them. By this time I was more or less sure I had the hand thing right, but there would be no confirmation of the diameter and pitch without a sea trial.

K and I stayed in an expensive rented condo in Jolly Harbour. Not a wonderful experience. We were quite happy to get back aboard Django three days later and swim in the evening as the sun went down.

As soon as Django hit the water, I tested the foward and reverse on the props, alls well. Better yet, the engines rev up in reverse, something I have not been able to do since we bought the boat. I am very pleased.

K and I have planned a trip to Guadeloupe and Dominica, not too quick so we can see the sights. I learned from Arnold that Sea Cat in Roseau has badly broken his leg. Not good. He does the wonderful tours and hikes. We want to stop in English Harbour before leaving to have a couple of Tots and get some decent fruit. Jolly Harbour has a well stocked grocery but no decent fresh fruit. We made the upwind motor to Engliish Harbour in 3.5 hours. The engines sang, able to be properly reved up with the smaller props, and she better time into the sea and wind than what we could do with the old Kiwi three blade feathers. This is really good. Pitch and diamter seem to be spot on.

So this morning we upped anchor, swung into the fuel dock at a jaunty pace, (no worries about stalling in reverse with these new props), watered up and took on a dozen beer and some ice, ready for the 8 hour beat to Deshaies. The wind has some south in it still, but is not too strong, so we were able to sail close hauled most of the way at a steady 5.5 - 6 knots. No fish but a good sail.

So there you are.

November 11, Wednesday afternoon in Nevis

Moored safely off Pinney's Beach near Charlestown.

We went to Montserrat on Monday morning after challenges with the clearing out procedure and bank machines which refused to dispense cash. Enn and Dana are reduced to penury as there is only one machine in English Harbourand it won't give them any at all. It gives me varying amounts, depending on how it is feeling, but Monday morning, none at all. After a long meeting with the teller inside the bank, I managed to come away with a substantial sum, hoping to stave off starvation until we reach a more amenable ATM.

The wind had shifted into the NW, making the normal reach to Montserrat a beat, however there was only 5 knots of it so it is a motor all the way. Lovely day and good views of the volcano as we apprached the island. We rounded the cape to approach Little Bay on the north west end of the island and came into the tiny bay in a strong north swell. The waves pounded the beach and made the us wonder if going ashore was possible. The bay has moored fishing boats and a commercial wharf, all tight up against a cliff face. We dropped anchor between the wharf and the moored boats and hoped for the best. Rolly poly all night, but otherwise comfortable.

In the morning, the dawn brought two dark and menacing squalls, with thunder and lightening, one filling the western horizon and the other over the mountains to the East. The easterly squall hit us hard, dragging the anchor, so we upped anchor and went out to sea a bit in the torrential rain to wait out the squall. As the cumulus cloud mixed with the volcano, the ash joined with the rain and rained down on us. A very fine dusty sand, grey brown in colour, coated everything and made its way inside Django. K and Dana and Enn wanted to go ashore, but I was definitely not leaving Django alone in this insecure anchorage, so offered to stay aboard while they did a tour.

All set, until we began dragging again. So decision made, we upped anchor and pushed off for Nevis to the North. As we pulled away, we had a clear view of the volcano and then she belched a huge plume of steam and ash into the air and pyroclastic flows came billowing down her sides towards the sea. It looked like a major eruption. The wind had come round to the South southwest and within fifteen minutes, Little Bay was being doused in ash. As we continued on to Nevis, the volcano erupted several more times, send a huge ash cloud out over the sea, obliterating the view of Antigua and, eventually of Montserrat itself. I was quite happy being away, as I swept up as much of the fine ash as I could from Django's decks. I have saved a small bit for Leah, who has travelled the world in search of an active volcano and has been frustrated so far. This Montserrat volcano is truly a force of nature to behold.

Sunday morning, at anchor off a tiny cove at the end of Green Island, we bob in the nearly windless sea. Africa lies over the horizon.

Enn and Dana arrived the other day, late in the evening. We managed to miss them. Rogers cell phone works fine here if the call comes from Canada, but not a t all if the call is a local one. So Dana and Enn spent their first night in the Copper and Lumber Store Hotel.

We have trekked up the Tot Club trail from Galleon Beach to Shirley Heights, an interesting climb up a dry stream bed overgrown with small trees and creeping vines, populated by hermit crabs and huge black butterflies the size of bats, through old grave yards dating to the 1790's, past the army cistern and the officers quarters on the top, to the lookout restaurant bar overlooking English Harbour, from whence we saw almost the whole of Antigua, and the sea to the North west. Montserrat, 30 miles westward spouted steam and ash to a great height.

I have some pictures, and will see if we can get them them up. Soon we will sail back to English Harbour for a barbeque with a steel band up on the Heights. Tomorrow we set sail for Montserrat.

Maynard has put his mouth on the wind. "Gentle breezes" he wished us, gentle breezes we have. We need 15 to 20 knots to push Django along, we have 5 to10. I haven't seen trades like this before. It will be a long motor sail to Montserrat in the morning.

Preparing for guests

Well, here we are a week later and still no movement. It is deceptive, but we have completed quite a few tasks.

The new propellers failed to arrive, so putting off our haul out and bottom painting, which means that K and I have had to scrape away six months of marine growth from Django's bottoms. This has gone reasonably well, considering. We have ordered and installed a new anchor chain, such a joy, no more rust all over the fore deck and trampoline, and we have treated the bimini with a waterproofing agent. It has only a bit more life left in it, and will be the next item on the replacement list. The head has been disassembled and a new siphon break installed in the outlet line. This has put an end to head worries for the foreseeable future.

This evening, Enn and Dana arrive for an eleven day stay, and we will be able to start cruising. This evening is also the seventh and final tot in the Tot club initiation. Following this, we are expected to call a mismuster, which involves the drinking of yet another tot, all before Enn and Dana arrive.

I'll let you know how it all comes out later.

Back Aboard

Let's see, today is Tuesday, we arrived Saturday afternoon. Django is in pretty good shape, although some of her components are showing their age. The anchor chain is due for replacement, and I have found the right size in Jolly Harbour. How to get it aboard is the next exercise. The Nissan outboard is overdue for a proper service, and we have left it over at the fuel dock to be picked up by Greg, the outboard man. Of course, Greg is in Grenada for a while, so K and I paddle Boffo backwards, like a canoe, around English Harbour. We are anchored in tight in the preferred spot close to the dinghy dock at Nelson's Dockyard. Many of the semi-permanent residents have their spots here. We are lucky to find one close to shore. The holding is solid in mud, so no fear of dragging ashore in the night. This spot is all the better for being close up to a high hill in the west, behind which the blazing sun settles at about 4:00 pm, giving us two hours of shade before sundown.

Django's head is acting up. The joker valve is having its little joke, allowing the sea to come in. It dribbles over the top of the head and out through the shower sump, whence over the side through the shower pump. It is an annoyance which must be fixed, involving dismantling of the head. I do not like this job much at all.

It has taken a few days to acclimate to the heat again. Sunday, tied inshore by the mangroves, was brutal, 38 degrees C. Once we escaped to the anchorage things improved. I have drunk vast amounts of water to replace the buckets of sweat.

Terry has been a great help in all things, and has invited us, as his guests, to attend meetings of The Royal Navy Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda, which meets every evening at 5:45 pm to read from the "This Day in Naval History", receive announcements concerning members, and to drink the toast of the day including a toast to "Her Majesty, God Bless Her". A tot is 2.5 gills of neat rum, followed by a glass of cold water to douse the fire. The club has over 500 members from all parts of the world, although the two meetings we have attended have had five to ten members present. A number of the members are also keen fans of Patrick O'Brien, of Aubrey - Maturin fame. We have enjoyed meeting new friends.

Enn and Dana arrive Nov. 5. There's more to tell, but I will let you all savour this morsel and provide the rest later.

Preparations

Oct. 24, next Saturday, is the day K and I head back to Antigua and Django in English Harbour. Terry has looked in on her regularly, kept me abreast of the storms passing by and how Django has been doing resting in the weeds. K has sold her house and floated free from the grind of working to pay off the expenses. A bit mauled by the stock market, I have reduced my dependence on buy and hold dividend income and taken a more proactive stance in the markets to bring in the wherewithal. My little Acer will do double duty over the wifi links. You may be burdened with ideas on what seems a good thing from time to time and I would warn you not to take these to heart.

The first order of business is haulout, and do up the bottom. I am ordering new two blade folding props to replace the kiwiprop feathering props we have now. They are to much for Django's Volvo Penta D1-20 engines, and tend to stall in reverse; often embarrassing coming into a dock. So biting the bullet and shelling out for the new blades.

K is a great singing cook and loves to entertain guests aboard Django. Dana and Enn, her journalism mentor, will come down for a stay soon after we have completed the maintenance rituals. Not final where we will go, but Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis are high on the list of likely stops. English Harbour will be our base of operations this season.

The weather here is clear and cold, the sun too dim for sufficient vitamin D production. Take those supplements, you who must remain behind. I am looking forward to swimming and boating and soaking in the heat, not to mention the rum.