Last time we left you we were in the Rodney Bay in St Lucia. In this post we explore St Lucia a little more, make some new friends, and sail south to the beautiful island of Bequia, one the Grenadines in the country of St Vincent and the Grenadines.
So we met some lovely people in the last two weeks. In Rodney Bay we were anchored next to a striking boat called Endorphin Beta, a Moody 54. We had been there a couple of days, and Colin came over to introduce himself. We invited him over to Azimuth for a sunset beer that evening and I think its safe to say we all got on very well! Dr Colin Porteous, a retired surgeon from Scotland is a character for sure. Colin and his wife Izzi had just completed their 10 year circumnavigation by sail. Congratulations to them on this amazing achievement! Izzi had flown back to Germany to visit their new grandchild who had been born whilst they were sailing from South Africa to the Caribbean.
Endorphin Beta in Rodney Bay
We had several lovely evenings with Colin during our stay in Rodney Bay and got to hear many of the stories of their travels around the world. Very inspirational stuff for us as we settle in to our own journey. By all accounts, the things ahead of us sound truly amazing and we look forward to what is to come!
Later in our stay in Rodney Bay, some more friends of Colin arrived on their boat Maia, They had met each other in South Africa. We had a lovely evening together. Laura and Dick had also nearly completed their circumnavigation. They were headed North up the East Coast of America. We hope to keep in touch and maybe our paths will cross again! Laura and Dick have complete a mammoth sail over the last nine months, all the way from Queensland in Australia to the Caribbean!
We wish Colin fair winds as he travels back to Scotland across the Atlantic in the next couple of months. Fair winds to Laura and Dick too on their passage up to the USA.
MaiaColin, Laura & Dick
Whilst we were in St Lucia, we celebrated our 23rd Wedding Anniversary with lunch in a nice restaurant next to the marina.
So we had one other adventure of note whilst on St Lucia and that was a visit by local minibus to visit the little town of Soufriere nestled beneath the volcanoes (the Pitons) on the South end of the Island. We set off from the marina dock early, unsure of the logistics of the local buses. As soon as we arrived at the bus stop, a local minibus was already picking up other people and whisked us off the capital of St Lucia, the bustling town of Castries. So far so good, and extremely cheap too. We negotiated our way through the bustling market place, with mountains of tempting fresh fruits and veggies and found the back street where you catch the bus for the next leg to Soufriere. There were two seats left, which we squeezed ourselves in to with the other locals and off we went. The next hour and a half was exhilarating indeed! The road winds its way up and down the steep precipitous mountains with tortuous hairpins. We clung on for dear life as the driver of the bus drove like a rally driver, taking the hairpins at speed with the tyres squealing, performing overtaking manoeuvres on impossible sections of roads that would have impressed any rally driver, whilst the engine screamed for mercy! Looking about the van, the rest of the passengers didn’t seem to think anything of it, just another day on the bus?! But oh the views were something else, the jungle would suddenly give way to spectacular panoramas as we hit the next summit, and we would drop in to pretty bays and seaside towns at the bottom of steep ravines. Still it was nice to arrive at our destination! it was already lunchtime when we arrived and the last bus was leaving again for Castries at 4 that afternoon. So we took a few hours to have lunch at a local restaurant and explore the local area. We made it to the Diamond Falls botanical gardens which boasts volcanic rock pools for bathing only to find it was cash only and we didn’t have enough money, doh! Still it was worth the effort to see the rest of the town before boarding the crazy bus to get back to Rodney Bay!
In total we were in St Lucia for over two weeks. Our friends were moving on, and we felt the same urge too. So we planned our next sail to head to St Vincent and the Grenadines. We had heard some bad things about crime and hassle in St Vincent, so we decided to skip that Island and head straight for the Grenadines instead. We left at 5 in the morning to allow us enough time to sail the 72 miles south and reach the island of Bequia just before it got dark.
Early StartTowards the PitonsPetit Piton & SoufrierePitonsPetit PitonPetit PitonGrand PitonBoth PitonsLeaving St LuciaSailing down St LuciaSoufriereSummitKingstownApproaching BequiaSailing past St Vincent
It was a lovely sail with a bit of motoring to get through the lulls down the sides of St Lucia and St Vincent. We arrived just before dark and dropped the hook in Admiral Bay in Bequia. The next day it was my birthday!! What a place to spend it…. first impressions of Bequia was that this place is stunning…. We woke early and checked in to the country and then headed for a walk down the St Margaret Trail to see the local beaches
Exploring St Margaret Bay and Lower Bay
We had passed some great bars and restaurants on our walk so we headed back for a birthday lunch at Mac’s Pizza Kitchen. Oh and a couple of cocktails ….
Lunch at Mac’s
After that it got a bit silly…. the rum punch was flowing a little too easily at the “Whalebone” Bar. We had a great afternoon and met some cool people.
Birthday Shenanigans
One cocktail too many I think, but somehow we still managed to stumble back to town, board the dinghy and head back to the boat via the anchorages floating bar! Once there we realised Ailsa had left her phone in the previous place …. doh! Amazingly it was still there when we zipped back to their dock in the dinghy. Back to Azimuth where we pretty much collapsed for the evening! All in all a pretty perfect birthday I would say?
We are looking forward to exploring more of this island, so join us next time!
Last time we updated you on our journey we were enjoying the Carnival experience in Fort de France in Martinique. In this update, we move the boat to the south of Martinique to Le Marin and then head south to St Lucia, the next of the Windward Islands.
We took a couple of days to recover from the Carnival! It was a great experience, and hopefully something we will get to do again in other parts of the Caribbean.
Some final views of Fort de France
So we pulled up the anchor and sailed south towards the port of Le Marin. This port is well known as being one of the best places to get things fixed on your boat in the Caribbean, and we definitely had some stuff to fix. It was almost as if Azimuth knew this, and as we rounded Diamond Rock for the final leg in to Le Marin, hard on the wind, there was a bang from the top of the mast as the Genoa sail head webbing snapped and the sail started to fall down! Fortunately it didn’t fall too quickly and we were able to the furl it away before disaster struck. On with the engine to get us the last 5 miles in to the bay.
Le Marin is a bewildering place. It’s a very protected anchorage which is rammed to full with yachts! We estimated there must have been a 1000 yachts at anchor or on moorings, as well as a huge marina. We squeezed ourselves in to a spot quite far out from the shore as there was not a lot of room and further in all the boats are on moorings. You also have to avoid the many shallow reefs that litter the bay, as well as the many boat wrecks that also seem to be prevalent!
Someone climbing on one of the many wrecks in Le Marin!
Marin certainly did have lots of places to get work done on your boat as well as numerous chandleries, restaurants, shops and supermarkets. We navigated our way around the various districts and started to make lists of all the stuff we needed. First job was to get the sail repaired. We had been keeping the Genoa going all season, but the UV strip had been getting more and more frayed, and now with the failure of the webbing at the head, it was time to get it properly fixed. There are at least 3 sail lofts in Marin. All of them were complaining of being stupidly busy. Eventually we agreed to get it fixed with North Sails, but we were going to have to wait 4 weeks to get it done!
Oh well, plenty of other things to do right?! One of the biggest issues apart from the sail was our anchor windlass. It had been sounding pretty bad of late, and also after a particularly difficult anchorage where we got the anchor stuck under a rock, and another where our anchored snagged a chain, the whole assembly felt loose and at an alarming angle! I almost dreaded opening the locker and taking a look. A new windlass would be very expensive. The prognosis didn’t look good! Under our windlass their is a heavy duty wormgear gearbox that bridges the connection between the hydraulic motor and the windlass shaft. This gear box is made of cast aluminium, and the flange that held the gearbox in place underneath the windlass had literally corroded completely away! All 4 mounting points had failed, leaving the gear box hanging on the shaft and free to rotate and presumably eventually fall off. Not a great situation. The windlass has to deal with a huge amount of force to lift the anchor up. There was no chance of finding a replacement, and in fact, the actual gearbox itself was still working fine, it was just the mounting points that had failed. Time to make a plan. I decided to build a metal frame around the whole assembly that would hold the gearbox firmly in place using the original mounting bolts. A trip to the town, and in my our best French, we managed to purchase lengths of M12 threaded A4 rod, nuts and washers. A visit to a metal basher followed where we ordered the lengths of aluminium bar for the frame which was duly cut to size and delivered a few days later. Three days of fabrication, sweat and cursing, mostly drilling holes and climbing in and out of the anchor locker later, I had the frame finished and assembled. The whole gearbox is now solidly held in place, and the whole thing worked pleasingly well when it came to pulling up the anchor after it had sunk in to the mud for a month when we finally left Marin.
Fingers and toes crossed this fix will last a good while. Total cost about £150 quid instead of 10 grand for a new windlass!
MarinaIn the barYacht carrier
So we didn’t actually do a lot in the four weeks we were waiting for the sail to be repaired. Money is a bit tight so we only went out a couple of times. Most of the days passed relaxing. Ailsa rediscovered her talent for writing. I spent a lot of time reading. We made more trips to supermarkets than I would care to mention to restock the stores on Azimuth. The leader price supermarket was great with its own dinghy dock, and where you could push your loaded trolley all the way to the waters edge and transfer your shopping straight in to your dinghy! An absolute godsend for all that heavy stuff you really don’t want to lug in the heat. We managed to get lots of stuff sorted. New outdoor lights for the back deck. A monthly phone contract with Digicel that covers the entire Caribbean, all negotiated in French! Oh and the purchase of the numerous weird and obscure parts that you never knew would break on various parts of the boat.
We grew to actually really quite like Le Marin, and it felt sad to leave.
Finally the day came, we collected our sail from North Sails. They delivered exactly on the day they said they would (does that ever happen with marine contractors????). We got the sail back to the boat and hoisted it in a rare lull in the wind. It looks great!!!
But leave we must! It was nearly the end of March. I don’t think either of us thought that we would be in Martinique for over 3 months (with a return to the UK for good measure)
Leaving Martinique
It was a lovely sail south to St Lucia. A short hop of 21 Nautical Miles across the gap between the two. A beam reach too, up to 25 knots, and a good Atlantic swell. We were followed almost the entire way by a flock of birds picking up the flying fish as Azimuth’s bow disturbed them in the waves. It felt great to be back out sailing again after over a month!
Birds on the crossing
We arrived in St Lucia at Rodney Bay. A huge sweeping bay that is very protected in the North by Pigeon Island. Not many boats at anchor here either, so no problem finding somewhere to anchor in the middle.
There is a lagoon at the back of Rodney Bay which can be accessed through a narrow channel, and inside is a little haven of beautifully manicured buildings, a marina and shopping district. So we checked in to the country and went to explore.
At the yacht clubarriving in Rodney Baybeach!LagoonMarina
So far we have had some very pretty sunsets here too. The bay looks out to the west and the wind always blows from the East, so in the evening we sit on the back deck, drinking a mojito or too and watch the sunset
Sunsets at Rodney Bay
We took a visit to Pigeon Island the other day and it turned out to be a fantastic day, well worth the effort of the climb to the top of the peaks. Pigeon Island was where Admiral Rodney built a fort to spy on the French in Martinique. Its the perfect vantage point. You would be able to see them coming from miles away and prepare for any attack!
We had a great afternoon walking round the park, see the ruins and the fort and taking in the breath taking views
We ended up at a very cool little bar restaurant for an obligatory cocktail before heading back to the boat. They made their chairs and tables from old ships wheels and drift wood!
Join us again next time as we explore more of St Lucia!
Last time we left you, we had crossed the Atlantic, and had our family out to visit for Christmas and New Year in Martinique. Life has been relatively hectic since then. Very Sadly, we flew back to the UK for three weeks in January for my fathers funeral, and then headed back to Martinique where we have been ever since, but this time just the two of us.
At Charles de Gaul airport
Its been a lovely two or three weeks. We have pottered about Martinique and revisited some of the places we previously visited in a bit more detail. There has also been a huge todo list of jobs to get through on Azimuth, but unfortunately I have been somewhat lazy in addressing those.
We got back to the boat at the end of January, and were relieved to find her still where we left her on a swinging mooring just outside the marina in Fort de France.
Mountains behind Fort de France
The marina staff were lovely and even though their service dinghy was out of order, and it was outside office hours, they arranged for another of the marina dwellers to give us a lift back to Azimuth. I was all setup to go and swim to the boat, but was grateful I didn’t have to after enduring a whole day of travel from the UK!
We had to leave the mooring the next day so we decided to head back to St Pierre, the amazing anchorage under the brooding volcano Mt Pelee. It was a lovely place to unwind, and the heat was great for a speedy recovery from the snivels that we had both picked up in the UK. There was a few of things we both wanted to see that we hadn’t seen the first time around, and these related to interesting history surrounding the eruption of the volcano here in 1902 and the destruction of the town.
St Pierre was actually a very important port at this time. The town was a bustling place dating back to the 1600’s and was one of the primary ports in the whole of the windward isles. The French had built a cosmopolitan town in its own image with fancy buildings and a splendid theatre. All was destroyed at 8am on the 8th of May 1902 by a huge explosion and a resulting pyroclastic flow that swept across the town killing all the inhabitants, some 28000 people apart from two people, a priest and a prisoner in the town jail.
St Pierre before and after the eruption
We took a great walk up the foothills of Mt Pelee, where there is a geological visitors centre with a display all about the eruption and the geology of the windward isles. We also got to watch a great film which bought the whole story to life. At that time, there was little understanding as to what a pyroclastic flow was. In the aftermath of this eruption, the whole area was intensely surveyed by a visiting professor from France, and the facts were established leading to much better classification of volcanic eruptions. The residents of St Pierre thought they were safe from harm. There had been a smaller eruption a few days prior to the main event and this had triggered a huge mudslide further along the coast that wiped out a sugar cane factory and killed a few people. Since then the mountain had been rumbling, and a huge cone had developed in the volcano’s crater, but the mayor of the town was still telling people not to leave. Apparently there was an election in the coming days, and he wanted people to vote for him!
Mount Pelee Geological Centre
Of particular interest to us, was the surprising fact that over 350 boats and their crew were anchored in the bay that fateful day. All ships and crew were lost in the explosion. So any thoughts of us being able to do a runner should the mountain fancy a rerun would seem to be unreliable!
Our next pit stop for the day was a walk further up the side of mount Pelee, past the sugar cane fields to the Rum distillery called Depaz. There we had a very interesting tour of the works, and stopped by the shop to taste the local product, and the chance to fill the rucksacks with as much Rum as we could carry. At those prices, it made sense at the time…. they sold the stuff in 2 litre wine boxes at 15 Euros each! Any one that joins us on Azimuth in the near future will be welcome to try some, subject to stocks lasting!
Rum!Wall made from old screens?!A visit to Depaz Rum Distillery
A few days later we made an attempt to sail around to the windward side of Martinique. We did quite well, it was pretty rough off the North end of the island and the wind was on the nose. Eventually we gave up returned to St Pierre defeated!
Sailing North Martinique
Instead the next day we sailed south again back to Anse d’Arlet. A very pretty anchorage that we had visited before. one day we took a walk around the headland of the bay over a very rough path through the jungle and mangroves. The views were worth the effort as was the cold drink in Grande Anse, a very pretty and relaxed holiday resort. The walk back along the road to Anse d’Arlet was a lot quicker and easier than the crazy footpath.
Anse d’Arlet BayAnse d’Arlet beautyGrande Anse AnchorageViews of Anse d’Arlet
It was whilst in Anse d’Arlet, whilst reading the guide book that we realised that the Martinique Carnival was due any moment now, so we decided that was something we should not miss. It is said to be one of the best of the Caribbean Carnivals.
That in mind then, we set sail and headed back to Fort de France. It looked way too busy in the anchorage there so we headed two miles across the bay to Anse Mitan, another resort town.
Anse Mitan local resident pays us a visit!
We thought we could get the ferry from there to Fort de France for the carnival. Of course in typical Dom and Ailsa fashion, it turned out we were completely wrong with our dates for the carnival. At this point it was still over a week away! Oh well such is the sailing life … we are lucky we can just sit around and wait. What to do in the meantime?
Well the town of Trois Islets is just near Anse Mitan. Trois Islets is where the sugar plantation and home of the Empress Josephine, wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, where she grew up. So we took a (long hot) walk to go and visit. It was worth the effort, except that the town itself was somewhat disappointing having been described in the book as a photogenic town not overrun by visitors. There turned out to be nothing to see at all! Still lunch was provided by a pleasant restaurant with traditional creole cooking. Jumping in the sea on our return to the boat is always the best way to refresh after a hot day too!
A visit to Trois Islet
Some of you may have read my previous post, where Azimuth appears on YouTube. Worth a watch we think. Anse Mitan was where we met the guys from Sans Souci and Jessica did the interview with us.
So after killing a few days in Anse Mitan, we decided now was the time to go and attempt to get a decent place in the Fort de France anchorage still some 4 days before the carnival started. We are glad we did! The anchorage was already rammed when we arrived, but we managed to stick ourselves in a decent spot right on the edge of the approved anchorage area. Having arrived and secured our space, much of the entertainment over the next few days was provided by watching people arrive and also try and secure a space in this already overloaded anchorage.
Fort de France Anchorage FULL!
Here’s a little piece that Ailsa wrote that describes the crazyness!
“Watching the Anchoring in Fort de France, Martinique”
We arrived on a Wednesday and dropped the hook at the edge of the anchorage, a nice safe space, a bit bouncy with the ferries motoring to and fro all day but not too rough for a 58 foot sailing yacht like ours. Yachts came and went over the next couple of days, but Martinique Carnival starts with a vengeance on Sunday so we thought it would get busier towards then. On Saturday we were able to spend a happy morning watching the soap opera that is other people anchoring. It has all the drama and pathos, the tension, anxiety, farce and joy of a good soap opera and we enjoyed a good couple of hours of it!
One after another yachts arrived and we watched their masts weave through the obstacle course of other boats. I’m a little ashamed to say I used binoculars at times. There was a USA flagged monohull, 45 feet maybe, charged into the forest of masts dropped his hook, twice, in a space that may have accommodated a 35 foot boat at best, struggled to extracate himself, succeeded, moved to the rougher outer part of the anchorage, dropped his hook a total of 4 times, gave up and left Fort de France heading for Trois Islet or somewhere. We watched a 45 foot Swedish flagged boat head towards us at a scary 40 degree lean, full sails up in at least 25 knots of wind, then expertly lower sails and head into the centre of the anchorage. They dropped their hook, once, into a tight but safe spot most people would not have contemplated. They deserved a round of applause for that.
A British flagged boat and another USA flagged yacht anchored and then pulled up their hooks, motored around a bit and then swapped places and dropped again. One yacht dropped anchor in a perfectly reasonable space only to pick it up five minutes later and head deeper into the forest looking for a better spot, give up and headed back to their original place only to find that another yacht had arrived and taken it. One boat next to us pulled up their anchor and left and two boats immediately motored into the space and dropped their hooks, it was close but just tenable. I guess neither skipper was prepared to give ground. A french flagged boat parked just as close as he could get to two other boats whose skippers, stood on their decks watching nervously, must have spent anxious hours wondering if the frequent swinging would lead to collision. And of course the audience of people on safely anchored yachts, just watching and enjoying.
The wind is generally from the same direction, but the sea bed undulates and parts of this anchorage might be fine for catamarans or shallow draft vessels but not for anything with a two meter draft or more. There are yachts with plenty of scope out and yachts with less, and the potential for anchors to get tangled is not insignificant. However, I love this anchorage, it can be busy and noisy but Fort de France is a lovely place to be when you want the amenities of a large town. My advice, just don’t try and anchor here on a the Saturday before Carnival! Having read this account back to myself, I have decided that watching people anchoring is a pastime that is only acceptable when I do it to other people. Thank goodness my anchoring is always perfect and never provides entertainment for the rubber neckers…..
Nice! She has submitted this one of the boating magazines, which might print this in their letters section!
So the lead up to the subject of this post has been a long one. Sorry about that! Carnival day(s) finally arrived! The build up in Fort de France over the last few days had been huge. Lots of street stands had been erected, and there was a real buzz about the place. We pulled up that afternoon in town and the place was already heaving with people, all dressed up in the most extravagant of costumes. There was a huge amount of effort that went in to the event. The parade consisted of different groups of people from all over the Island with their own banner explaining where they are from, amazing outfits, dancers and drummers that made for a stunning sensory experience. Each group bought their own take and style to the carnival. We joined the melee and let the whole experience wash over us. Its difficult to describe the level of noise and how the madness increased throughout the day! Hopefully the video below does some justice. It felt great to back in a huge crowd of partying people. Good riddance Covid!
Martinique Carnival
So the carnival actually ran for four days in total. The pictures and video above are just from day one. We went to three of the days, each of them with a different theme and coloured outfits. The last day was probably the craziest of the lot. And so here are some pictures and another video to try and capture the mood. We end up on what we are calling the “craziest corner” in the carnival. As the evening progressed, we found ourselves surrounded by a sea of people and being attacked by swarms of marching bands from all angles! There was no defined route for the carnival, it was just a free for all on all the streets of the town!
Here’s some of the pictures from the day!
We reckon everyone should paint their cars like this?!Crowds everywhere!You have to beware these guys covered in black treacle. They like to high five you and you end up sticky!People watching!
That’s all for now. Join as next time as we loiter a little longer in Martinique and try and get soime boat jobs done and then sail south to St Lucia!
So you never know who you are going to meet when you arrive at a new anchorage? We pulled up a few days ago in Anse Mitan, just near Fort de France in Martinique and dropped our anchor right next to a boat called “Sans Souci”, flying the Netherlands flag . We waved to each other in greeting. A little while later, they popped over to see us, and asked us if we would consider being interviewed for their YouTube channel “Boatlife is best”. On their channel, they interview fellow sailors about their lives onboard boats. We said we would love to! So the following day Jessica came over with all her equipment and we did the interview. Jessica had the video edited and online within a couple of days. Very efficient!
Hope you enjoy watching it!
Please consider supporting Jessica by subscribing to her channel and watching some of the other great videos she has produced so far. Some really interesting characters and you get a feel for why people want to be part of the boating life.
Quite a few people have asked us to show them pictures of Azimuth and what she looks like inside. We thought we would go one better and post a little video tour of the boat whilst sat at anchor in beautiful Martinique. Enjoy!
Watch the video tour of Azimuth
For those of you that want a little more detail here are some of the specifications of the boat:
One of my fathers favourite authors was Tolkein, so forgive me as I start my eulogy adapting Bilbo Baggins’ scene where he starts to write his book in The Lord of the Rings.
Now where to begin? Ah yes ….
Concerning my Father
Rob Pearce had been living and working in the Shire of Nottingham for many years.
Quite content to sit in his shed and ignore the growing list of jobs created by my mother.
Radcliffe-on-Trent, being after all, full of strange people beyond count. My fathers shed must have seemed a little oasis of peace and quiet apart from the occasional sound of power tools.
Infact it has been remarked by some that my fathers only real passion was for the fettling of wood. A rather unfair observation … as during his life he had also developed a keen interest in the drinking of ales and the smoking of pipes. But where his heart truly lay was in the love of his wife, his family and his friends.
Today of all days, it is bought home to me it is no bad thing to celebrate a wonderful life!
What a life well lived….
I have so many fond memories of my dad it is hard to know where to begin. He touched my life is so many ways.
We both shared a passion for the outdoors. My childhood memories of our family holidays to the Isle of Mull always featured my Dad and I pouring over the geological memoirs and maps of that glorious Isle and planning our sorties to go and seek out its treasures of sapphires, agates, garnets and other exotic minerals. Its true … sometimes we even found some! But what we mostly got was to share long sun soaked days together walking through magnificent scenery and huge vistas, fighting off swarms of midges, negotiating peat bogs, scrambling along sea shores and romping cliff side paths whilst avoiding the mountain goats. Those are the experiences I hold responsible for my life long passion for the outdoors all inspired by dad.
Dad was such a strong and guiding force in my early years. In everything I did, he was there to encourage me, console me when things didn’t work out and more than anything praise me when things did go well.
We moved into 19 Lorne Grove when I was 6. The house needed a good deal of work, and it did take mum and Dad many years to mould the place to their will. But I can remember those days of helping dad strip tens of layers of old wallpaper and him showing me all the skills and tools I would eventually go on to need myself doing up my own homes and boats. I have him to thank for that practicality. It never stopped through my whole life. Dad always took a keen interest in all of my DIY projects. He lent me tools from his extensive collection (some of which I may not have returned yet … sorry dad), and always wanted to help in any way he could. More recently, he loved to talk about our boat and all the projects I was doing to get her shipshape. His woodworking skills were put to good use crafting us a beautiful teak table, the centre piece of our boat saloon as well as many other items he made for us. Sorry mum … I know that these distractions meant that he didn’t get on with the things on your list!
My dad really took to being a grandfather. He liked to be called Pops and never was a man prouder than he of all his grandchildren. I know he took great joy from watching them grow up and wanted to be a part of their lives. Dad was a godsend for Ailsa and I as we struggled with managing jobs and bringing up a young family. My Dad would come over to our house in West Bridgford, making full use of his free bus pass, of which he was very proud, once or twice a week, and would be there to greet our three boys as they got home from school. He would then proceed to cook up a feast always featuring a mountain of broccoli (the only vegetable that was mutually agreeable to our boys) and a variety of delicious meals which he had concocted based on trail and experimentation. These were burgers, chicken nuggets and his infamous fish cakes. Note though that none of these items would be shop bought from the freezer section. Each was freshly and lovingly prepared from scratch. Even Vincent, arguably the fussiest eater of then all would grudgingly agree that pops could cook a fine meal! And I know the boys loved having him around at the end of the school day.The bonus was that when we got home from work, there was always some food left for Ailsa and I, especially broccoli. Thanks Dad!
Some of you may know that Ailsa and I have a passion for sailing. We bought our first yacht, Edelweiss, in 2014, and we had to sail her from Eastbourne to her new home in Portishead. Our boys have never been quite as enthusiastic about sailing as us, but grudgingly they joined us on that trip. About halfway, Ailsa was called away for an emergency at work. Vinnie seized the moment, and took this as an opportunity to jump ship too. That left just myself, Ethan and Caleb the task of getting Edelweiss the 300 or so miles round to Portishead. I needed some help as I was very new to skippering at that point. My Dad came to the rescue. At a moments notice, he dropped everything, jumped on a train and joined us within a few hours. That was so typical of my Dad, couldn’t do enough to help. We had a great laugh on that trip. We didn’t see much of the boys, they hid in their cabins most of the time, but Dad and I sat in the cockpit together, talked and watched the world go by. He of course loved the birdlife at sea. I know he was quite frustrated by sailing though. He kept suggesting that I should install twin 200 horse power engines on the back of the boat. 5 Knots just didn’t cut it! He stuck at the trip all the way, although I could see he was finding it hard work. We rounded lands end together at dawn and had a really difficult sail in tough conditions up to Padstow. I could see the crew were all struggling, and I was starting to anticipate possible mutiny. We were all relieved to get in to port and get to the chippie before it shut. I was beginning to wonder whether my Dad was really cut out for a life at sea? My doubts were confirmed when Ailsa came down to take over from Dad for the last leg. She arrived in the car at around midnight. My dad literally lept off the boat, ran to the car, told Ailsa to leave it running, got in the drivers seat, a quick goodbye and he was off in a cloud of dust! He never admitted it to me, but I know that he had found that trip hard work. But that was my Dad, he would have done anything to help me whenever I asked.
Dad, I still cant believe that you have gone. Taken before your time. I will never forget you dad, and I know your memory will live on within everyone of you here today whose lives he has touched.
Thanks to Sally Williams from St Mary’s in Radcliffe for putting together this video.
Last time you left us we had just crossed the Atlantic. We had only a few days to wait until the rest of the family flew out for Xmas to come and visit us for a two or three weeks. Whilst we were waiting for Vinnie, Ethan (our other two sons) and Judith (Ailsa’s Mum) to arrive, we spent a few days in the Anchorage at Fort de France and had a look around the town.
Santa Boat Party!AnchorageCathedralCruise ShipAnchorageAnchorage
Fort de France was really buzzing in the build up to Xmas. Lots of music at night, and people partying in the day including this great “Santa Beach party” where loads of boaters and jet skiers turned up in santa outfits!
The guys arrived on the 22nd December in the evening and we met them on the beach and dinghied them back to the boat. The travellers were pretty tired after their journey but managed to stay up for some food and a few drinks!
The next day everyone got acclimatised to the Caribbean with their first swim off the back of the boat, however, not before we were all rudely awoken at 5 in the morning by a Caribbean Carol concert???! Crazy. We were really sad to say goodbye to Tom too after a month at sea together. He was heading home to the UK to be with his family for Xmas.
The next day was Xmas Eve and we decided that we would leave Fort de France and head somewhere more remote for Xmas Day. So we went to town stock up on supplies of food and drinks and headed round the corner to the little Bay of Anse Noire.
It was a very pretty bay, just big enough for a few boats to anchor with a beach lined by palm trees and some really great snorkelling.
A perfect place to spend Xmas day and not a flake of snow in sight! Infact the temperature was about 30 degrees!
Xmas morningGuitar!A few days in Anse Noire
Ailsa managed to cook a Xmas dinner for 6 with all the trimmings. No mean feat in a boat galley!
We moved a couple of miles down the coast to a pretty little bay called Anse d’Arlet.
And then we had a fun sail round the South of Martinique to a huge anchorage called St Anne’s which at times was quite lively. We had to sail up wind and it was quite gusty. At one point the sheets got caught on our stay sail. I went down to sort it out only to get “whipped” by Azimuth as the wind picked up further! Another boat injury….
We had a lovely lunch out at St Anne’s and visited the shore to stock up on lots of bread products … Martinique being French meant lots of croissant, pain au chocolat, baguettes … none of which was good for the diet!
St Anne’s Anchorage
Another sail took us right up to the North of the Island to visit the town of St Pierre, nestled beneath Martiniques active volcano. It last erupted in the 1900’s where only one person survived in the town, and that was only because he was locked up in jail!
Sailing to St Pierre
St Pierre was definitely a favourite with everyone. A visit to the local zoo. Meals out and a chance to chill in a very pretty anchorage
Enjoying St Pierre
Oh and the celebration of New Years Eve. I will let you decide how silly that got from the pictures….
Celebrating NY with a swim at midnight
Two weeks was over all too soon, and we were very sad to say goodbye to Vinnie and Judith. But we had a nice meal out in Fort de France for their last night
Caleb and Ethan stayed on for another week, so we sailed over to another pretty bay called Anse Mitan for a few days before returning to Fort de France.
It was time for all of us to head back to the UK. Not before a quick final night out in the local resturant.
We will be back again soon with more news of our travels.
Wanted to wish all of you who have followed us on our blog a very happy Christmas and a wonderful New Year. We are really very lucky this year to be celebrating in Martinique. We have our family with us too! Caleb sailed across the Atlantic with us and Vinnie, Ethan & Judith (Ailsa’s Mum) flew out to join us just before Xmas.
We want to thank everyone who has supported us and helped us this year to achieve our dream of sailing away. It has been a wonderful 6 months and we look forward to welcoming any of you who want us to join us next year onboard for some fun in the sun!
Last time we left you in Mindelo in Cape Verde, just about to set off across the Atlantic to Martinique. In this post, we will tell you about what it was actually like to do the crossing.
The North Atlantic has been with us pretty much all the way from the UK. Ok, so they call it the Irish Sea, or the Bay of Biscay, but hey its all the North Atlantic really! However, this sail is the one that everyone thinks about and is certainly the one that we have been building up to for the years now. It used to feel daunting, but not so much anymore. All those long sails to get to Cape Verde have been great preparation and practice for the big one.
For the past month I had been watching the weather like a hawk between Cape Verde and the Caribbean. It had been comforting to see the trade winds blowing strong and continuously, and I had started to assume that we would be able to leave anytime we liked with guaranteed winds. Oh how wrong I was! After we arrived in Mindelo, the weather started to change dramatically. Two huge lows appeared in the Atlantic to the North of us and promptly kicked the Azores high out and hoovered up all the trade winds! Oh no! We had agreed to meet our family for Xmas in Martinique on the 22nd December, and now it looked like we were going to struggle to get there in time!
We spent many hours pouring over Windy and took some advice from sailing friends. It looked like if we pretty much left as soon as possible, there might be a small opportunity to get across the pond as long as we headed South from the Cape Verde towards the 10th degree parallel (Mindelo is at about 15 degrees). There would be just enough wind to get us south, and once there, a small band of trade winds would get us across until we decided to sail North again to Martinique.
The decision was made … it was go now, or probably not make it in time!
Leaving Mindelo
It actually felt great to be finally leaving. We had plenty of supplies onboard. Probably hadn’t done all the boat jobs we needed to, but we had ran out of time. The crew was in a buoyant mood as we hoisted the sails and glided out from the harbour at 4pm on Wednesday, 30th November, 2022. It wasn’t long until land slipped away to the horizon and we faced the majesty of the Atlantic Ocean ahead of us.
So the main question onboard for at least the first 5 days was “Why are we still heading South?!” Initially we were making good progress in a South Westerly direction, trying to get down to 10 degrees North of the Equator where we hoped to find wind to take us West. The crew schedule had been decided for watches and everyone was settling in to the rhythm of life at sea. No one was sea sick even though it was quite rolly to start with. It took at least 48 hours for everyone to stop feeling quite so tired and get in to the swing of things.
On Day 2 we were greeted by an enormous pod of Atlantic Dolphins, and a pod of as yet unidentified whales (we think pilot whales perhaps) who stayed with us for a couple of hours and entertained the crew with pirouettes and riding the bow wave. Day Three and the wind continued to drop. We had turned further South to try and get to the 10th Parallel but had now slowed right down, so on Day 4 when there was literally only a puff of wind left we decided to drop the sails and take the opportunity to go for a swim in 5000m of water! What an amazing feeling! Quite scary and exhilarating at the same time. We reckon we are now true earth explorers … surely the only people to have ever swam in the ocean here….
Our good friend Charlie had our backs. Our satellite phone was refusing to download the weather, so bless him, Charlie became our weather guru on the trip. Every couple of days he would phone us up and get our position. He would put that in his weather routing software and send us instructions by text message everyday as to where to head for the best wind and sea conditions. Absolutely brilliant! I fully intend to return the favour one day when they cross in their boat Aquamarine. Couldn’t have done it without you mate 🙂
With the light winds we carried on heading South West and on Day 5 we dropped South of the 10 degrees and turned more west much to the delight of the crew. It felt better to be going almost in the right direction towards the Caribbean! The highlight of Day 5 was that Caleb caught two fish!. We had been sailing through the Sargasso weed all day and fish had been all round the boat. The trolling line had been out all day and eventually the fish bit. Two small Mahi Mahi were caught in 10 minutes. It was a delicious dinner!
Fish for dinner
Down here nearer the equator it was HOT! In the day the temperature soared and the deck saloon heated up nicely. We started to get some wind behind us though but kept having to switch sail plans to adapt to its changing direction by 30 degrees or so on a whim. We also had some large squalls passing through to. Huge angry grey clouds would form in the afternoon and if you got in their way the wind would veer and gust up to 30 knots or more giving us some welcome speed and cooling us down.
We continued to head slightly south of west for several more days and crossed 9 degrees north on Day 8 and finally reached our most Southerly point on Day 10, 8 degrees 30 minutes North of the Equator. For those of you who don’t know what that means, there is one nautical mile in a minute of arc and 60 minutes in a degree, so we were 510 nautical miles North of the Equator at this point. From here on, we pointed the boat directly at Martinique and waited for the trade winds to re-establish themselves.
On Day 11 we reached the half way point! Time for a party! The beer flowed, the party snacks were cooked and Ailsa’s delicious Moroccan Tagine was served for tea. Those not on watch were in bed for 8pm…. rock and roll!
Life on board was pretty sweet. Everyday was easy going with everybody relaxing; reading books; catching up on sleep; removing the flying fish from deck; cooking; eating; drinking; fixing sails and tightening ropes; stopping things squeaking and knocking and the obligatory game of cards called Skip-bo (or sometimes known as Spite and Malice) which became a daily ritual and quite ferocious! Infact that tradition is still going on now as I write this, and scores are being recorded!
Daily life onboard
Here’s a video montage of daily life onboard Azimuth. It hopefully gives a little insight in to the trip. Dolphins, swimming in 5000 metres of water, putting up the cruising chute, catching fish and surfin’ the waves.
From here on it was plain sailing. The winds started to pick up and become more reliable on a broad reach. The wind gradually increased from 15 to 20 to 25 knots. Azimuth loves “20 knots right up the bum”. And she was dancing along surfing the waves. On Day 14 we passed 3/4 way. This was celebrated with the cooking of a Sunday roast with all the trimmings. A remarkable feat by Ailsa given the way were were being chucked about on the waves at this point!
Yorkshires!Stuffing balls!Sunday Roast mmmm
On Day 14 we also got hot by a huge squall and had an hour of Chaos. The wind peaked at 38 knots and the sea became a torrent of spray and rain. Day 16 and Tom and Ailsa witnessed a new speed record from Azimuth as she surfed down an enormous wave hit 16.8 knots. You could almost hear Azimuth giggling!
The faithful autopilot had been making some strange noises for a few days and on Day 16 it started to make some horrible grinding sounds. The gearbox had all but given up. We were still 100 miles from Martinique at this point, so we decided it was time to hand steer from here. We took turns of 30 minutes each over the next 20 hours. It was actually alot of fun. At night we the star Polaris (the North Star) as a guide against one of the stantions to keep Azimuth on the right course.
The crew enjoying hand steering?!
Finally that night we sighted land! The lights of both Martinique and St Lucia were twinkling on the horizon and the lighthouse guided us in. We slowly sailed round the South of Martinique and waited for the sunrise to get in to the Anchorage at Fort de France. Infact the last hour was pretty crazy…. 35 knots on the nose and sharing the water with a huge cruise liner and tanker.
The sunrise was magnificent and a toast was drunk when the anchor was dropped. What an awesome sail!! Well done to the magnificent crew!!
Arriving in Martinique
Well, what an amazing feeling to have made it all this way. Check out the route on the front page of the website as to the whole distance. Here is the stats for this trip:
Last time we left you we had just arrived in the Cape Verde after a six day sail from Lanzarote. In the post we will tell you about the stress free life in the Cape Verdes … or is that stresss (with a treble s!)
When we made it to shore in the dinghy in Palmeira, you are left in no doubt that this is Africa. The dock is awash with small wooden fishing boats, and a makeshift tent covers the guys gutting and descaling the fresh catch. Lots of people mill about in the fierce sun and a bevy of young boys fight each other to be the one to help you get in to to shore in your dinghy and tie you up, and haul you up the rough concrete dock! The first thing anyone said to us was ‘Cape verde – no stress’. Hence the title! We wander through the streets of ramshackle huts and concrete houses and stray dogs until we find the police building to check in. The check in process was not too bad, but its a bit concerning when the police inform you that they will be holding your ships papers (a very valuable document) and you collect it again when you check out (more on that later!)
There is not alot in Palmeira. A few small cafes / bars and a couple of very small “supermarkets” run by Chinese that do their best to supply all your needs. We decided to head to the next town called Espargos to find an ATM and sort ourselves out with a SIM card. mobile roaming in Cape Verde is extortionate! We managed to catch a minibus to Espargos, where the price for the 6km ride for two people is 1 euro.
Espargos felt a little more affluent than Palmeira, and once we had sorted the SIM and the money we found ourselves a nice cafe for lunch where a band was setting up to play live. It turned out to be awesome! Full of locals enjoying the music. We enjoyed it too and ended up spending all afternoon there with several beers and wines!
We had a few days to recover from our journey in Palmeira. Several attempts to fix the outboard too, and then it was time to sail to the South of Sal to the resort of Santa Maria to meet up with our friends Charlie and Jen who were flying in from the UK for a week.
West coast of Sal
Santa Maria
It was great to see our friends again! Charlie and I have spent many a year now dreaming and discussing sailing off in to the sunset, so it was great to share stories of our travels and bore them to death with all our photos.
Santa Maria at one time was probably a small fishing village. Now it is a resort with one design … to extract as much money from tourists as possible. Our first trip to shore to meet up with Charlie and Jen definitely put this mantra to the test when we were skilfully guided by a local to the market and duly ripped off for a hat, a bag and some shell bracelets to the tune of £30! Whilst we laughed about it afterwards, and Charlie and Jen rightly took the mick, the same thing would happen to them two days later involving the purchase of some wooden turtles! Apparently it is a right of passage for anyone visiting Santa Maria! Eventually you learn to nod and ignore the persistent traders as they battle to get you to see their wares at makeshift stalls that litter the resort.
It was an awesome week with Charlie and Jen. We very quickly discovered the Brazilian beach bar and the Caipirinhas served up which after two had you in the mood for anything. Chilling to the sounds of reggae from the local band and soaking up the atmosphere.
We visited plenty of restaurants , ranging from hotel and beach fare through to backstreet Senegalese food where the menu was “Chicken or Fish” served with rice and onions, all cooked in fiery spices. Italian food was consumed too, and on the last night we went to the trip advisor number one place where the food was excellent, although the location left something to be desired buried in the far back streets of the resort which left us all a little on edge as we walked in the dark.
The Beach on Santa Maria was superb. Charlie and Jen even swam out to our boat one day anchored 250m off the beach and enjoyed the crystal clear waters of the anchorage. 10m deep and you could see to the bottom.
Heres a dodgy video of me jumping off the roof of Azimuth. At least you get a feel for the colour of the sea and the surroundings.
One evening they came over for tea on board. Charlie and I bought fresh tuna steaks and red snapper from the fisherman on the Quay for next to nothing and we cooked up a feast onboard. The tuna was melt in the mouth and literally nothing could be fresher, 5 Euros for one kilo!
Charlie went for a couple of dives which he really enjoyed, and kindly sent me these pictures to share with you. Huge fish life all round the Island.
At night, the boat was surround by these crazy bright blue needle fish!
It wasn’t all plain sailing though of course. On the last night out, we got back to the Quay to find that our dinghy was gone! We had heard rumours that dinghy’s and engines had been damaged by the kids that play at the end of the pier, but we hadn’t heard of them being stolen. We luckily flagged down some other cruisers that gave us a lift back to Azimuth in the dark as it was 11pm by that point and we didn’t think we would have much chance of getting back to Azimuth any other way. Charlie and Jen had continued to look for our dinghy on the beach and report the theft to the police. Eventually they went back to the Quay to find our dinghy had miraculously reappeared… although the outboard was damaged and unusable (I had only just bloody fixed it that day!). Bless him, Charlie rowed it out to Azimuth for us, and then we attempted to row him back to shore but couldn’t make it because the wind was too strong. I got the canoe out instead and we paddled Charlie back to the Quay. Charlie we owe you one big time mate!
Perhaps you are now starting to get the feeling that maybe there is a little more than no stress in Cape Verde?!
All good things come to an end. We want to thank Charlie and Jen for coming out to visit us. We had an awesome time!!!
When the guys left, we were still reeling from the previous nights stress of having our dinghy stolen and recovered, so we decided to head round the corner to a much quieter anchorage and make a sharp retreat from Santa Maria. We still had three days before our crew Caleb and Tom were to arrive at the island of Boa Vista to help us cross the Atlantic.
Before we left Palmeira to go to Santa Maria we had checked out of Sal, just incase we didnt make it back to Palmeira again. As we understood it at the time, we were told that if we hadn’t left Sal within 48 hours it was OK, we could just come back and check out again….. This turned out to be the start of the next nightmare. We got back to Palmeira early morning, with plans to sail to Boa Vista that day. So we duly visited the Police station and queued for over an hour. It turned out our assumption had been very wrong. We were told that we had now been in Sal illegally for 10 days. We were then told we had to come back to the Police at 10am the next day where a decision would be made as to whether we should be fined or deported from Cape Verde forthwith with immediate effect! No Stress??
We skulked back to the boat, feeling terrible. The crew was arriving the next day in Boa Vista and we were stuck in Palmeira with our ships papers confiscated. We decided instead of moping about we had best assume the worst and go and stock up the boat assuming that we would be kicked out of the country the next day! We didn’t get a lot of sleep that night with the worry of what would happen the next day, and off we went to see the police in the morning. They made us wait for at least an hour before we were taken in to the office to see the chief. He gave us a severe telling off …. and boy did I grovel and say sorry a thousand times! Telling him this would never happen again etc etc! However, in the end, I noticed just a hint of a smile. He filled in a new clearance for Boa Vista and sent us on our way!
You didn’t see us for dust. Never have we jumped in the dinghy got back to Azimuth and pulled up the anchor so fast and we were on our way sailing south to Boa Vista with huge relief!
Boa Vista – New Crew!
The Anchorage at Boa Vista was very dramatic. A huge bay behind an island. A large offshore reef where kite surfers played in the huge rollers. The anchorage was subject to a large Atlantic swell which picked us up and had us surfing too on our chain. We had to move after the first night after we dragged about 50m (No Stress!). The next day we went to check in to Boa Vista with our valid paperwork. We eventually found the fancy police building and sat and waited for two hours with another cruiser named Sasha. We were then told to return that night at 6pm because the guy who did the chekin had lost his keys and couldnt get in to his office?! (No Stress!). So, we headed to the airport to pick up the new crew arriving from London. We managed to flag down one of those minibuses for the short 5km journey thinking that it would be cheaper than a taxi and then proceeded to get ripped off (No Stress!)
The guys arrived on time in thick jumpers and coats to the 30 degree heat! A taxi whisked us back to Sal Rei for a quick journey back to the boat to drop off their stuff. The engine ran out of fuel on the way back so we had to row the last half a mile. The wind was blowing a hooley and we managed to miss Azimuth altogether and then proceeded to be swept out to sea! (No Stress!). To our immense fortune, a fishing boat was just going past and we flagged them down for a tow back to the boat …. phew. Refill the fuel tank and off we go to check in at the police station with the new crew. Actually this time it went very easily.
Time to relax for a bit… a nice meal, some local beers and then back to the boat for an early night. However, the outboard had other ideas. Now the battery was flat. It was pitch back and it was a mile row back to the boat …. no way. Our new friend Sasha to the rescue. He was in the pub still and gave us a tow back to Azimuth! What a day??? (No Stress?!)
It was great to have the guys onboard. We decided we had had enough of Boa Vista (the little we had seen of it and it was time to sail to Mindelo on the Island of Sao Vincente. The staging point for the next leg the crossing of the Atlantic to the Caribbean.
Mindelo on Sao Vincente
Mindelo is Cape Verdes second largest town and we hoped a great place to stock up for the trip, fix a few boat issues, take on diesel and get on our way with No Stress!
We needed to be in Martinique by the 22nd of December because we had family coming out to stay with us for Xmas. As everyone knows sailing to a schedule is always not advisable. Low and behold the trade winds that should have been blowing strongly at this time of year also agreed and decided that they would stop!!!!
The Port of Mindelo is pretty stunning as you enter. It has a marina that was packed full of boats. The anchorage was also full to bursting but we managed to find a spot tucked in front of an upturned wreck of a fishing boat. That certainly set the scene. Thankfully Mindelo did turn out to be a little less stressful although worryingly (for Cape Verde) the people in the town certainly seemed to be struggling with life. This was the first place we had been where people were begging for food in the streets. It left you feeling very sorry as there was little we could do. I ended up buying a tin of baby milk for one guy who befriended us in the street. It was sad, one the one had you had the affluence of the marina and all the yachts at anchor who were passing through the port. On the other hand, there was clearly severe poverty and people struggling just to get by with their young families.
We found the local supermarket and fully stocked up on all the essentials we needed. Checking in and out was a breeze, and finally we had to make a judgment call. There were no trade winds for over a week for the direct route to Martinique, but if we sailed south, there may be a way through. The decision was made quickly…. time to go. (No Stress!)
Join us next time as we sail across the Atlantic Ocean to Martinique!
