Merry Xmas to one and all! Just a quick post to wish you all the best for the season. We made it to the beautiful San Blas Islands in Panama and have installed ourselves in a fantastic anchorage. Just to make you all jealous, the flat sea is a crystal turquoise blue, the wind is gently breezing through the boat and the palm trees on the shore, and the temperature is a balmy 29 degrees. Don’t think its gonna be a white Xmas here??!
We will catch up again with you all soon and tell you some more about the San Blas as well as our plans for 2024 in the Pacific! Maybe we can tempt a few of you to come and join us somewhere?
Hi to everyone. Sorry its been a while since I last did a post. Last time we chatted we had just arrived in Cartagena. This time, we have been here in Cartagena for almost two months are actually in the process of preparing to leave. So let me tell you about what we have been up to for the last few weeks. Well to be truthful, not a great deal! We have both been ill! The heat here is unbelievable and that wipes you out, meaning you don’t feel like doing much either. That given though, we do still have a few things to tell you all…
We have been really trying to get to grips with the Spanish. Duolingo to the rescue and we spend a good deal of the day trying to talk to each other in Spanish too. The problem comes when ever we meet any locals. They speak here at the speed of a machine gun! A stream of words leaves us mostly completely clueless, and we fumble along somehow. Its getting better though slowly, and we both feel a little more confident in our language abilities. At least we’re trying right??!
So like I said, we have both been ill to the point where we couldn’t stray far from a toilet for any length of time… something got us good! We ended up spending a least two weeks feeling sorry for ourselves with the occasional trip to the supermarket to resupply and little else. Guess its one of the downsides of the tropics. Lots of nasty bugs waiting to get you. All that has been put aside now though and we are back fighting the good fight again.
A few weeks ago, we decided to take a jaunt down to the nearby Rosario Islands to get away from the city for a bit, but mostly to make some water in a sea that was not a deep soupy green colour and full of rubbish and oil like it is here in Cartagena. Not good for the watermaker filters, or probably for your health either.
So we pulled up the chain, scraped off a million barnacles (more on that later) and motored our way out of the bay. Its a beautiful skyline and we are lucky to have this as the backdrop to our anchorage. The locals call it little Miami.
Azimuth felt a little sluggish after only 3 weeks of sitting in the green soup water. Her bottom was clean when we arrived. The growth was unbelievably fast in that time.
It only took a few hours to get to the Rosario Islands, and it really was very pretty anchorage. A difficult entrance through shallow reefs and a huge wide open bay that felt exposed, but was actually very sheltered.
The heat built up through the day and the skies in the afternoons were huge, and full of energy, lightening and thunder!
The water was flat calm and crystal clear, so I spent about two days scraping all those barnacles off the bottom. Thanks to our sailing buddy John from Portishead who gave me the hooker system back in Portugal. I managed to get it working properly recently and used it for the first time here. It was dead good! Basically it is a compressor with a diving regulator and a line which allows me to dive for extended time under the boat and scrape away.
We had a lovely week of swimming, eating fish bought from the local fisherman and enjoying the fantastic sunsets
After a week or so we headed back to Cartagena. There was still more to see here, and so we took a trip to the biggest fort in the town, the Castillo de San Fellipe de Barajas. This huge fort was started in 1536 and expanded on over the next 200 years where the place was improved after several attacks over this period. Its a bizarre place, built on a natural hill but looking for all intents and purposes as manmade and commanding a huge presence over the old city.
Cut in to the hillside, the fort was riddled with stone tunnels that you were allowed to wander around. These tunnels at one time were packed with gunpowder. In the event that the Castillo had been successfully sieged, the plan was to blow up the tunnels and kill everyone in the fort! They never actually had to light the fuse. The best thing today about the tunnels was the lovely cool temperature!
We spent most of the day exploring this place. Well worth the visit.
You may remember we mentioned a friend from Ireland called Reiss on their boat Zora who we had been in contact with and finally met up with in Curacao? Well after we both left Curacao, Reiss had sailed to Aruba and his wife Niamh had joined him again from Ireland. They had decided to do a tour of South America by plane and land. As it turned out, they arrived in Cartagena whilst we were still at anchor, and so we managed to meet up again for two lovely days exploring the Old town. Thanks guys it was really great to meet up with you!
They organised a guided tour around the old town and invited us along! It was a great day out. We also met up and walked to little Miami for a look see, and then ended up back in the old town for a few drinks at a rooftop bar with spectacular views.
I think one of our favourite parts of the old town is the Gethsemini district, at one time a dangerous crime ridden no go zone, but now a thriving tourist area with vibrant colours and crazy streets. Here’s a flavour!
Some of you will have read over the past few months about our saga over the autopilot or lack of one on our last few sails! Well, we decided enough was enough, and shortly after arriving in Cartagena, and after a considerable amount of research, I decided to bite the bullet and order a new one from America. It was a pretty long drawn out experience. I had to find an agent to import it for us in to Colombia. In the end it went pretty smoothly. Our new agent friend Javier Hoyos has a business in Miami in Florida. So we had the autopilot shipped from Seattle in the USA to his premises in Miami. Then for not a great deal of money, Javier arranged for it to be shipped to Cartagena, via customs in Bogata and delivered to us at the marina near where we are anchored. The whole process took about a month and went without a hitch. First time for me to deal with such complexities but i’m sure it wont be the last.
It arrived in a huge box!
Whilst I was waiting for it to arrive, I managed to get some parts made at a local metal bashers in the city. They were incredibly helpful and accommodating of our terrible Spanish. Its true that Colombians cannot do enough to help you out.
We also made several trips to the local DIY store, a huge place with everything we needed, including bolts, wood and metalwork.
It took me 5 days to get the thing installed in the “hellhole” under the cockpit. I have high hopes that this will solve our autopilot woes. Time will tell!
So there you go, I guess we haven’t been totally idle! I leave you with some more sunset shots from the anchorage. Oh and I might now and then sit and drink a fine Colombian beer on deck and enjoy the view!
Join us again soon as we leave Colombia and sail onwards to Panama and the desert islands of the San Blas!
Last time we left you, we were in Curacao. In this update we will tell you about finally pulling up the anchor in Spanish Waters and heading for Cartagena in Colombia. Its the first time that either of us has visited South America, and we were a little nervous about sailing the boat in to Colombia. Everyone we had met in the last few months who had been to Colombia told us that we must visit, and sang its praises. In the back of your mind you can’t help that nagging doubt about Colombia’s past reputation of violence and drug trade. Add to that the perceived difficulties of the bureaucracy of checking in to the country (and cost) and we both faced this next trip with some trepidation.
On the other had, we were definitely ready to move on from Curacao. Whilst a very nice place, we felt it was a little dull and a rather sanitised version of the Caribbean in the way the Dutch had stamped their mark upon the place, and given the country a colonial and somewhat European feel. There were still historical tensions simmering underneath that manicured exterior though.
So when the weather window finally appeared with 3 straight days to get to Colombia, we decided to go for it. A quick morning trip to Willemstad had us checked out of customs and immigration. Spending our last guilders at the supermarket and local fruit market, we took the bus back to the anchorage, prepared Azimuth, pulled up the anchor and motored out of Spanish Waters waving goodbye to the number of friends we had made during our stay.
Once out offshore to the South of Curacao, the wind freshened from the west giving us a straight down wind sail. We had already got the spinnaker pole set before we left, so we furled out the genoa and started to surf our way along Curacao on a beautiful sunny afternoon. Perfect sailing conditions, oh and the autopilot was doing all the driving too!
Sailing along Curacao
We left Curacao behind as the sunset ahead of us and headed onwards towards Aruba. The sea state got a little more confused, with the current fighting its way between the islands and the mainland of Venezuela. We stayed well away from Venezuelan waters, as there had been reports of piracy for those yachts that steered too close. In the night we navigated through a bizarre oil field with rigs and tankers in the shallow waters South of Aruba. The wind was strong and we were bouncing along at 8 to 9 knots heading towards Colombia. Early the next morning, I was on watch when I noticed a Venezuelan fishing boat off our port bow, heading on a direct course towards us. He was small and didn’t have AIS and did not show up on our radar. I watched him closely for about 20 minutes. In the end he came quite close to us, close enough to see the people onboard. It was a nervous moment, and self doubt comes in to play when you think about the tales of attacks on other yachts in this area. I had specifically turned off the AIS and our naviagation lights as we transited this area, so that we could not be easily tracked. In the end, we passed by without incident, and they disappeared in to the distance with me breathing a sigh of relief.
That relief increased when we finally reached Colombian waters. These are known to be patrolled by Colombian Coastguard, and are considered safe in comparison to Venezuela.
We continued to sail along at a good pace. The seas were boisterous and confused at times, but it was comfortable enough and we were making good time. It was about this time though that the autopilot started to make its familiar horrible noises associated with the grinding and slipping of gears. Not a good moment. It was having to work quite hard in the big seas, but it wasn’t anything too onerous. We decided to live with it for a bit, but it got worst over the next few hours. Damn! Just as we were getting used to the good life of having an autopilot again. The decision was made to hand steer again. We were still about 150 miles from Cartagena at this point, so not too far.
The wind became a little fickle for a bit. As usual the conditions did not match the prediction from our trusty wind app Windy. Does it ever??? So we struggled on for a few hours until the wind came back again and whisked us down the coast towards Cartagena. We were ominously followed by a huge thunder cloud with bright flashes of lightening all around us, some of it throwing huge forks across the sky. Definitely a disquieting feeling, and we tried to steer away from the worst looking candidate that eventually slipped by to our port side and gave a spectacular light show ahead of us for the rest of the night.
Early morning bought us to within 45 miles of Cartagena. The wind dropped off completely and so did the sea state, so we had to motor the last bit. The sky scrapers of Cartagena were visible in the distance. The autopilot was able to cope with the reduced sea state, and so we moved ever closer to our destination flanked by super tankers on their way too and from Cartagena.
Approaching Cartagena
There are two entrances in to the fine anchorage of Cartagena. The main shipping channel is 5 miles to the South and a long detour is required to navigate this (when arriving from the North). The second entrance was described in the literature as the small ships channel for boats with draft of less than 2.9m. Azimuth has a draft of 2.15m, so we should be OK to use this channel. It turns out that the channel is cut through the old underwater sea wall that was built by the Spanish to stop enemy vessels gaining entrance to the port. The channel was marked by a couple of buoys. I decided to give it a go as it would save at least 2 hours of motoring if we decided to use the main shipping channel. So we crept over the sea wall and trusted the local information was correct. I was given some confidence by watching a local sailboat sail out of the channel ahead of me. Of course the depth sounder decided not to cooperate, but we passed without incident and worked our way in to the main harbour surrounded by many speed boats whizzing anyway they liked without any regard for the rules of the road. To be fair they didn’t get in our way. We identified the anchorage and dropped the hook in front of a very impressive skyscraper skyline and breathed the usual sigh of relief that accompanies the act of arrival.
To check into Colombia, you are forced to use a marine agent. The authorities will not deal directly with a ships captain. Also given the language barrier and our dreadful Spanish, this is probably easier for us. However, this service comes at a cost, and before we left Curacao we had contacted a number of agents and received various quotes. In the end we chose Jose from the New White Light Agency for the agreed amount of US250 dollars to complete the whole process. This is by far the most expensive fee we have had to pay to enter any country. Such is the bureaucracy here that Azimuth actually has to be temporarily imported into Colombia (TIP) if we want to stay any longer than a week? Seems pretty crazy to us. As I write this, we are currently waiting for our interview and visit to the boat from the port official to make this TIP happen. Fingers crossed it goes smoothly.
So after arriving we took the dinghy in to the Club Nautico Marina right next to where we were anchored and managed to track down Jose the agent at the office. He took our passports and showed us to the ATM for the first payment! He was actually really helpful, and so we steppe on shore in South America for the first time.
Not long after we arrived in Cartagena, this fantastic tall ship arrived with great pomp and circumstance on an official visit from Mexico. A really beautiful ship that has been moored right next to us for the whole week
Mexican Tall Ship
We were both pretty exhausted after a three day sail, and crashed for the night. Over the next few days we slowly started to explore a bit of Cartagena, and what a great city it is! We are anchored in an area of the city known as Manga. It is a vibrant area with lots of students, a huge shopping centre (notably with air conditioning! Important in this heat!) and a plethora of nice local restaurants, and a fantastic supermarket with all the trappings you might expect in the UK. One important difference though, the prices here are about one quarter of the prices in the UK and also significantly cheaper than anything we experienced in the Caribbean. Suddenly it feels like our cruising budget of about 1000 quid a month will go a long way. That is definitely a factor in endearing us to this place!
Views in the Anchorage!Anchorage panaramas
Take a 15 minute walk from the Marina across a road bridge and you find yourself in the beautiful old town of Cartagena, the Gethsemini district. This is the historic city of colonial Spain lying within an impressive 13km of centuries old stone walls. It was founded in 1533 on the site of a Carib settlement by the Spanish, destroyed by fire in 1553 and the rebuilt in stone, brick and tile where it quickly grew in to the main Spanish Port and the main gateway to South America. It became the storehouse for the treasure plundered from the locals throughout South America until the Spanish Galleons could ship it back to Spain.
Of course that made the city attractive to buccaneers and pirates and other European nations and the town was regularly attacked. In the 16th century there were at least 5 sieges by pirates the most famous of which was led by Sir Francis Drake in 1586. He sacked the town and promised not to raise it to the ground on the proviso that he was given 10 million pesos which he took back to England!
The Spanish were probably quite annoyed by this! The result being that they built huge fortifications all around the city.
So we have spent a couple of days so far exploring the old city. Its a beautiful place, incredible architecture and very well preserved. The only downside in some areas are the huge number of street hawkers who hassle you at every opportunity.
So far we have visited the Naval museum. A good test for our poor Spanish, but very interesting non the less. Detailed history of the early battles in Cartagena and then a lot of detail about the independence of Colombia in 1811 from the Spanish and the formation of Colombia’s extensive Navy.
In the Naval Museum
We have stopped for lunch in a couple of fantastic restaurants. Oh and sampled a few very cheap but very potent and tasty mojitos!
Out for Lunch!
Whilst we were in one restaurant called the White Patio, the staff started getting all excited and looking up at the sky. Turns out they were looking at an 80% lunar eclipse of the sun. We had no idea!
80% solar eclipse
A visit to the museum of the Spanish inquisition was interesting and sobering. They caused terror throughout the indigenous population for some 250 years.
A visit to the Palace of the Inquisition
We also visited the Gold museum with lots of gold artefacts from the indigenous population which survived the Spanish ransacking.
So far we feel like we have only scraped the surface of what this town has to offer.
just wandering the Old Town
We are also thinking about taking a holiday, and taking a trip by bus to Bogota and maybe some other areas of this vast country.
So join us again soon as we hopefully explore some more of Colombia!
Last time we spoke we were in the little island of Curacao. This time, we are still in Curacao and will let you know what we have been up to for the last few weeks. To be honest, not a lot! We are still anchored in the green murky waters of Spanish Water.
We are currently waiting for a weather window to make to the trip further west to Colombia. There is a lovely cruisers community here in Spanish Water. The whatsapp group pings away all day with messages from people advertising social events, diving trips and the like. We have partaken of a few of those. Tuesday night is Sailors Burger night at Uncle J’s bar, a short dinghy ride from Azimuth, boasting cheap and cheerful burgers and a bucket of beer. All very friendly. Thursday night is the ‘Captains Dinner’ at the Pier, another local restaurant which is a lovely evening with 30 or so cruisers sat round a giant table eating good food and drinking the local booze. We have met some interesting people at this event.
The local beach provided an amusing diversion on super hot afternoons. The green waters of Spanish water are not the most inviting to swim in, the temperature of the water is about 32 degrees, however, the local beach is fronted by crystal clear azure blue water and welcomes us to take a long dip and cool off from the fierce sun.
We have taken a few trips in to Willemstad over the past few weeks. It took 3 attempts in total to get in to the Maritime Museum. The first attempt was on a Monday … it was shut. 2nd attempt was on a Friday … yep it was shut! Finally we got our opening days sorted and the next Tuesday it was open! It was worth waiting for. The island history is very interesting. Quite typical for most Caribbean Islands. Firstly the locals were rounded up and killed or enslaved, then the European powers proceeded to fight over the island, with this time the Dutch being the final victors. All that naval activity meant that the island had plenty of wrecks and the museum was full of interesting stuff. It also had a real good cafe were we enjoyed lunch!
On one of those days that the maritime museum was shut we thought oh well, lets walk up to the Curacao distillery. Its only a mile away … in the sweltering sun! Took about a hour to trudge our way there but the delicious cocktails were definitely worth the effort! They still use the same copper still from the 1850’s here in this distillery. They take sugar cane alcohol and flavour it with orange peel picked from the local fruit and cook it up in the copper still. Then lots of other flavours are added to make a range of liqueurs with a range of vibrant colours.
On one of the other failed Maritime museum attempts we went for a walk through the town and found a really nice restaurant for lunch inside the arches of the sea wall. A really nice little place and we were the only people in there.
Eventually we ran out of water sitting in Spanish Water. No one wants to run their water makers in the green soup, so we took a trip out of the bay. It was a good chance to test the autopilot after the last disastrous trip and we also had our newly mended mainsail to put through its paces too. It was flippin rough off the coast of Curacao that day, the wind blowing about 20 knots and we both felt sick! We have definitely been sat way too long in a swell free anchorage.
One of the highlights of the stay here has been the Spanish lessons that we have been having with a small group of other cruisers run by a guy called Ronnie from Puerto Rico. Ronnie is a real character, having been sailing boats of one form or another for the past 65 years. The lessons are a lot of fun and I think we are learning a little too. Trying to get ready for all the Spanish countries that are coming up in the next few months. Ronnies stories of his travels, encounters with Whales, sailing in the Olympics in 1984 amongst others are also all very entertaining.
About a week ago, a boat called Zora rocked up in the anchorage. Onboard was Rhys, who has sailed from Kinsale. Rhys is very good friends with Niall and Bernadette whom we bought Azimuth from in Kinsale. I had been in touch with Rhys via whatsapp and we had been following each other around in the Caribbean but never quite meeting up. So it was great to finally met up. This week we decided for a change of scene, and when Rhys told us he was heading for the small island of Curacao Klein off the east coast of the main island, we thought why don’t we go too. You have to get an anchoring permit to visit anywhere outside of Spanish Waters, so we headed in to Willemstad to the get the permit from the Harbour masters office.
A 4 hour round trip and and we returned to the boat, and set off. A stop at the fuel dock to fill up with diesel. About 80p a litre here! We took on 600 litres, the first time we had taken on fuel in nearly a year. Last time was 300 litres in Cape Verde. Not bad for 5000 miles travelled and not a single visit to a marina since we left the UK.
Klein Curacoa was well worth the trip. What a difference to Spanish Water and its almost like we have forgotten what cruising is all about. Its been about 2.5 months since we sat in a anchorage as good as this. The water was the clearest we have ever seen. I took this video of all the fish swimming around Azimuth.
We took the dinghy to shore and had a walk round the island. A beautiful but very desolate place. If you were ship wrecked here it would be hard to see how you could survive, other than the fact that the place is visited here every day by 5 tourist boats!
The beach was very spectacular. The colour of the water was amazing and the sand incredibly soft
The path from the beach set out across the flat barren island, and the object that drew your attention was this very grandiose (at one time) but now abandoned lighthouse.
Scattered all over the island were the evidence of long dead corals
Eventually the path led us to the west shore that faces the Caribbean Sea. Two ships had met their end here. One of them a big sailboat. Much bigger than Azimuth. There must be an interesting story to tell behind this. A real sad ending for sure.
The beach on this side of the island was covered in drift wood, but also lots of evidence of turtles nesting too.
We were really enjoying ourselves on Klein. We had a permit to stay for 3 nights, but unfortunately the weather had other ideas. Big thunderstorms would make the anchorage untenable so we all headed back to the safety of Spanish waters
Azimuth from ZoraZora from Azimuth
So that’s where we are as I write this. Hopefully that weather window will form soon, and next time we will hopefully see you in Cartegena in Colombia!
Last time we left you in Trinidad, we were in the boatyard getting Azimuth ready again for the next season. This time we will tell you about the rest of our time in Trinidad and an eventful sail to Curacao.
It was seriously hot in that boatyard. The temperature on paper was not that high, about 32 degrees, but Trinidad is a very wet country full of steamy rainforest and the humidity most days was 85%. Its easier to deal with such heat in the trade winds of the Caribbean. At anchor, you can pretty much guarantee a steady flow of air through the boat and a cooling breeze across the deck. In the boatyard? Nothing! So after a month of it we were pretty well ready to get the hell out of there. Some vicious mosquitos too!
What really makes a place though is the people. Trinidadians are a lovely crowd and can not do enough to help you. They also like to party, and life is pretty good! After all they live in a beautiful place, and the oil industry has bought some prosperity to the country. Crime rates are still a problem though, although we never felt threatened during our time there. I guess though we really didn’t travel far and lived in a tight community of boatyard life and other cruisers
The cruisers put on some really nice events. Every Thursday night at the adjacent boat yard called Power Boats.
Every week we also went to a local outdoor restaurant place with lots of food stalls called the fish fry for some tasty food and a good chinwag with the other cruisers
We never got bored of watching these crazy guys romping around in the tree behind our boat!
Finally though the guys managed to finish the gears and after some mucking about, put the steering gearbox back together. I refitted it to the boat, tested the autopilot and everything worked as expected! It was time to depart!!!
I put together a video of the launch. We were both pretty nervous!
It felt pretty amazing to be back in the water again, and we were soon heading on our way out of the bay and out to open sea again with the long sail to Curacao ahead of us
That first couple of hours were amazing sailing. It was light seas, good winds, and Azimuth was leaping through the water with clean bottom! Even the autopilot sounded happy…. oh but wait a minute! Whats that grinding noise??? Oh no!! The autopilot decided to pack up!!!! Alarms went off … no rudder response. Now what?
Well, after playing around for a while, trying things out, I came to the conclusion that the motor that drives the autopilot (which has many gears inside it) must be the culprit. It couldn’t possibly be the gearbox that we had spent so much money fixing right?
What to do? It was getting dark, we were about 2 hours North of Trinidad. We both decided then that we couldn’t go back. For one it would be like admitting defeat, and for two if would be a bit embarrassing turning up again having been so happy about leaving. So, it meant that we had to hand steer all the way to Curacao, at this point about 450 miles away
The winds were very light or non existent after the first 24 hours, so we actually just stopped and had a rest for a few islands, drifting in the right direction towards curacao at about 1.5 knots on the equatorial current. There were some large squalls and thunderstorms around. After two days we were both in to the swing of it. The wind seemed to pick up at night and die in the day. The squalls were not too strong and so we had the full sails up. Unfortunately about 3 in the morning on the third night we were hit by a really nasty squall! it went from no wind to about 30 knots. All hell broke loose! I was asleep below and poor Ailsa had to shout and scream to wake me up. The rain was lashing down and we fought to get the sails under control for about 15 minutes. Unfortunately, in that time, we managed to do some damage to poor Azimuth! Mainsail ripped at the top, and one of the winches got stripped when the furling line became jammed, and someone (who remains nameless) carried on pressing the button!
Ripped main!ouch!Thats not right!Thats how it should be!
The next day revealed the damage, but we still had a functioning genoa, and we managed to sail the rest of the trip with no incidents. it took 4 days and we arrived in Spanish Waters in Curacao, dropped the anchor and pretty much collapsed!!!
It all gets stored in the sailing experience file. I don’t think you ever stop learning. We will definitely pay closer attention to squalls in the future, and of course it was more difficult, because we were having to hand steer, and you could literally do nothing else, especially at night when the other person is asleep.
The night time was really quite special on that trip. The sea was lit up at times by the bioluminescence in the water. The wake went out behind the boat for many tens of metres as a green streak, and the crests of the waves were lit up. The stars were spectacular too, with the milky way plastered right across the sky, and I used the stars at night as a reference for easier navigation than using the instruments. I wish you could capture that on camera, but its only something that you can experience first hand, very cool.
Anyway, we made it to Curacao and motored in to the very protected anchorage called Spanish Waters. It is a huge shallow lagoon with a very narrow entrance to the sea. Lots of boats at anchor and a very vibrant cruiser community.
Arriving in Spanish Waters Anchorage
We anchored close to a boat called Sans Souci, Jessica and her young family were people we had met in Martinique. Jessica did a video about us and Azimuth on her YouTube channel called Boat Life. We stopped by to see them, and they very kindly filled us in on how to check in to the country, even giving us the bus fare we needed to get in to the local town Willemstad! We set off to town the next day and had the customs and immigration done in about an hour which gave us the chance to go and explore the town a little and first impressions very really good. Its like being in Amsterdam in the Caribbean! Willemstad is based around a channel that leads to the perfect enclosed harbour. The river splits the town in to two, one side is called Punda and the other is called Otrabanda, and the two sides are connected by a floating bridge across crystal clear azure water. When boats want to come in and out of the channel, the bridge disconnects it self from one bank and swings across floating on its pontoons. A very bizarre process that seems to work very well!
Exploring Willemstad
It was a lovely introduction, but we were still pretty exhausted so caught the bus back to the boat and went to bed early!
On the curacao bus
First order of business was getting any repairs underway. From experience we know that these things can take ages in the Caribbean, so the sooner things get started the better. I was kind of gutted really, we had spent a month in the boat yard in Trinidad getting Azimuth up to scratch and here I was looking at a long list of boat jobs! First thing was to get the main off. We found a sailmaker on the island who actually came to the dinghy dock to take it away to his workshop. Were still waiting on that one, but fingers crossed it can be mended. It is only torn at the seam, so should be fixable.
Then it was on to the autopilot. Firstly I took the motor off, dismantled it and fully tested it. It worked perfectly! Damn! Actually, not such a bad deal, because replacing that would have been very expensive. So now I am scratching my head, it cant be my brand new assembled gearbox??? I climbed back in to the hell hole under the cockpit floor and lo and behold, i discovered that the bolts that hold the sub gearbox between the main gearbox and the autopilot motor had somehow shaken loose. The whole thing was moving, and the gears were not meshing properly. Of course these particular bolts were not accessible without a complete gearbox strip down! So, back in to the heat, I got the whole assembly out. Dripping with sweat, and managed to strip it down, apply thread locker to the offending 4 bolts, reassemble with as much force as possible, reassemble and then shoehorn the whole thing back in to place in the hell hole. We need to do a sea trial to check it, but as of today the thing is fixed!
Doing battle with the steering!
The last thing to sort was the winch. All we did in that case was swap the damaged bits for a winch that doesn’t get used that often. Hopefully we can source replacement parts at some point!
That was a few days of boat jobs then. Time to explore a little more. Right across from where we are anchored we found a really nice beach, a bar and an old fort to explore. The water here in curacao is about the clearest we have seen in the Caribbean.
Exploring local beach and fort
Yep, that is a huge drill rig you can see in the photos. It is just parked in the bay right next to the fort, a real contrast of old and new. A reminder of all the oil activity in this area of South America
On another day we took the bus back to Willemstad to go and explore some more. This time we visited the old market which is now converted in to a food hall where we had a delicious lunch of local food. That afternoon we visited the slavery museum. Whilst obviously a tough subject, it was very well done and we both learnt alot about the history of slavery in Curacao and the surrounding islands.
Food hall and slavery museum
There is a huge and vibrant artist quarter in Willemstad and all over the town there are public art works mixing with the vivid colours of the buildings. Very cool place to explore
Thats all for now. Join us next time as we go and explore some more of Curacao!
Last time we left you we were having fun with friends in the beautiful isle of Tobago. This time we sail to Trinidad and get the boat lifted out for some much needed TLC before heading further on our adventures. It has been over two years since we lifted Azimuth out of the water. Since that time, we have sailed over 10,000 miles in her. Six months in the Caribbean had been hard on the old girl. Most of the antifoul had come off from all the sailing we had done and Azimuth had her own reef ecosystem growing on the bottom complete with crabs and mussels. It was definitely time for a clean and also to fix some stuff, most importantly the steering / autopilot.
So after our fond farewell to the Thompsons at the airport in Tobago, we flagged down a taxi to Scarborough and went about trying to check out of Tobago and get permission to sail to Trinidad. We arrived at immigration at 11am that morning and we were told to come back at 2pm. Not a great start, so we went and did the customs checkout first and went looking for somewhere to get lunch and kill a few hours. Whilst we were wondering around the docks and the edge of the town, we bumped in to the woman who owns and runs the Wonky Windmill, the restaurant we had been in the night before with the Thompsons. She immediately recognised us, and to show just how friendly everyone is here when we told her we had a few hours to kill she insisted on driving us to the top of the hill so we could go and visit the fort! It was well worth the trip
Views of Scarborough Fort
After a pitstop for lunch at a local place that was recommended to us, we turned up back at immigration and several of the other cruisers from the anchorage were also there!
It was all sorted within an a hour or two and we headed back to the clubhouse for one last drink before departing for Trinidad early the next morning.
It was a glorious sail across. So much easier than getting from Grenada to Tobago. Now we were downwind and had the current behind us. We decided to anchor for one night on the North coast of Trinidad at Vache Bay, and had the whole place to ourselves. It was a steep sided bay with no access to land surrounded by rainforest. Unfortunately a rolly night, but very peaceful.
Vache Bay
We got up early the next morning. There was no wind, so we had to motor round the corner to get to Chaguaramus to check in to Trinidad. It was a very beautiful and dramatic coastline along the North coast and through islands.
Venezuela in the distanceViews of the North Coast of Trinidad
On arrival in Chaguaramus we dropped the anchor and headed to the customs and immigration. Another drama unfolded as we were told that Tobago had made a mistake and checked us entirely out of the country instead of doing the paperwork that transferred us to Trinidad! Come back next week we were told…. which we did, only to be told to go away and not bother them until we wanted to check out! Oh well, as long as we are not in the country illegally we said? The response as curt and so we left! Customs were all good though. Its amazing how the place seems to run ok with all the bureaucracy?!
Chaguaramus is a pretty port, but not the most inspiring anchorage to sit and wait for 3 days before we got lifted out of the water. So we headed a mile away back the way we had come to a very pretty anchorage called Scotland Bay
Scotland Bay Anchorage
Expecting it to be a peaceful anchorage, we were surprised when the party boats turned up that weekend! It became the battle of the sound systems. Reggae blasting out and everyone having a good time. They all disappeared by midnight and then we were left with the sounds of the rainforest. A very beautiful place.
The day came for the lift out, and we headed back to Chaguaramus, all nervous about the next steps. We needn’t have worried. The Peakes Yard team were consummate professionals. They sent a diver down to position the straps under the boat. Azimuth was lifted out of the water in no time. The crane was huge so I didn’t have to remove any stays or equipment from the boat (a lot of hassle avoided!).
I got a well deserved ribbing about the state of the bottom! But 5 guys had the thing scraped off in no time and the high pressure washer had her very clean.
Pelican!
Then the guys transferred Azimuth to a special truck and drove her off to her new home in the yard. From water to new position in about two hours! No messing!
New view at the back of the boat
So now the fun really started …..!
Step 1: Fixing the Steering
First job was to check out the steering and get a fix started. That meant going down in to the hell hole that is the space underneath the cockpit floor. Have I told you how hot is was yet? With the gearbox removed without too much cursing and swearing, it didn’t look very good, and it was immediately obvious that the unit needed some serious TLC. A good job really that we had caught it now, because I don’t think it would have been very long until the whole thing fell to bits, and thankfully not whilst we were at sea! After a few days asking around, we managed to track down a local guy who had experience of fixing these very units. All the bearings in the unit would need to be replaced, and then as we got further in to it, it became clear that two of the cone gears that turn a 90 degree angle to where the autopilot is attached were beyond repair. This was the cause of the slipping and crunching sound when the autopilot was engaged, as well as all the play in the steering system.
main gearboxautopilot assemblyshaft removedcone gearall cleaned upworn gears!worn gears!
We went round the houses trying to find some replacement gears on the internet, but nothing could be found. That in case then, the only option was to have a new set made by a local metal basher. Expensive!
gear blankscutting the gearsGears being made
The guys at the metal shop really knew their stuff. They even sent me a video of the process. Being the geek I am, I thought it looked like a cool process. Here it is for those of you interested!
Unfortunately, as good as these guys were, stuff doesn’t happen quick in Trinidad. In the end this was to be the major holdup for us here in Chaguaramus, but it had to be done, or Azimuth wasn’t going anywhere!
Step 2: Fixing Toilets!
Well doesn’t this sound like we are living the dream?! Talk to any serious sailing cruiser, and all of them have had the dreaded blocked toilet onboard. Everyone also has there own fix or solution! Azimuth has three “heads” and on arrival, only one of them was actually working any more. Time to get serious! Ailsa took it upon herself to dive head first in to fixing this whilst I got on with some of the other jobs on the boat.
Out with the old pipes andreplace with new
What a job. Basically all the toilet pipes needed replacing. Easy right? Sounds it until you find out where those pipes are routed, inside cupboards, behind wardrobes, buried deep in a rats nest of pipes and cables in the bilge. Oh and add in the 32 degree heat and 85% humidity inside the boat, and it all started to add up to a nightmare. We bought the entire stock of pipe from the local chandlery, all 47 feet of it! Turns out we had about 15 cms left over when the job was done. Very lucky or amazing measuring?
I will leave it up to your imagination as to the cause of pipe blockage… but it was not pleasant. The pipes calcifies up over the 26 years they had been installed and a 32mm pipe was down to about 3mm!
It took about a week in all, but they are all replaced, tested and no leaks!
Step 3: Bottom Painting
Definitely not my favourite job! Two days of sanding the horrible old stuff off the bottom. One day applying a coat of primer and then three days to paint the bottom with new antifoul, where you have to cover yourself up in one of those paper suits and goggles. The antifoul paint is evil stuff that you don’t want to get on your skin.
Primer coat finished!
Step 4: Polishing the Hull
Another favourite! Whilst balancing on a bouncy plan on the top of two A-frames, apply a rubbing compound and use the polisher to take the top layer of oxidation off the gelcoat. Then apply liquid wax, allow to drive and polish with a cloth. 3 days to do Azimuths hull. I think I collapsed a couple of times from heat exhaustion and my arms felt like rubber every night!
Step 5: Sit and wait
Sit and wait for the parts to be made for the steering, see step 1! That’s pretty much where we are as of writing. I think we have been in the yard nearly 4 weeks now and both of us are distinctly looking forward to leaving!!!
While we sit and wait with have seen some interesting stuff though. Check these guys out that live in the trees at the back of the boat
Iguanas at the back of the boat
Here’s the view from boat. They pack them in here! The sunsets aren’t too bad either.
We have met some lovely people whilst we have been here in Chaguaramus. There is a great cruiser community. Lots of stories to hear about everyone’s travels. Several of them seem to have been here far too long though?! Got to the yard and never left? We don’t intend to end up like one of those.
We even had one notable day out away from the boat yard when a fellow Brit, Susy offered to take us to the beach one day on the North side of Trinidad. It was a lovely day out and a very welcome change from yard life.
Trip to the North of Trinidad
Join us next time when we fingers crossed manage to leave the yard, get the boat back in the water and sail off to the Dutch Caribbean, ABC islands
Last time we left you we were still in Grenada. This time we will regale you with our recent adventures in Tobago. We are a little behind at the moment, so please bear with us. I am writing this sat in Azimuth on the hard in a boat yard in Trinidad. Its been a crazy and enjoyable few weeks. Let me tell you more…
Our good friends Sally and Andrew and their daughter Erin had made a brave choice…. to join us on Azimuth for two weeks on the paradise isle of Tobago!
We were very excited to be leaving Grenada and heading for Tobago to meet our friends! Being only a short walk from a marina where the guide book told us there was a customs and immigration office, checking out of Grenada should have been simple right? Further investigation revealed that infact that office no longer existed. So a new bus route had to be negotiated to get us to the marina in St Georges. I think we must be getting better at finding our way around. It was an easy trip and no problem checking out of the country.
The trip to Tobago looked a bit more tricky. Having got thoroughly used to sailing on a beam or broad reach for the last 6 months, now we were faced with a tricky upwind 70 mile sail. We left that evening and things got progressively harder. As well as the tight wind angle, there was also a strong current against us, the so called equatorial current that flows around the top of South America through the gap between Trinidad and Grenada with Tobago slap in the middle. The winds were light and the sea state was calm for the Atlantic, and it was a lovely sail. Sunrise bought us in sight of Tobago in the distance, and a negotiation with the Trinidad coastguard allowed us to drop anchor in Store Bay on the South West corner of the island. We were one of only 4 boats in the anchorage, a rare feeling in the Caribbean where most anchorages are rammed full of boats.
The rules about checking into Tobago seemed to be quite complicated and arcane in comparison to the rest of the Caribbean. Firstly we had the phone the medical officer. He told us to wait on the boat until he arrived and issued us with a medical certificate? It took about 2 hours for him to get there and then he told us to come to shore. He didn’t ask us any questions, just issued a certificate on the beach?! I don’t think we have ever started a checking in process to anywhere on the beach?! Then he gave us loads of help on where to get money and how to get a taxi from Store Bay to Scarborough to get to Immigration and Customs, who he informed us were waiting for us. The 20 minute taxi ride cost £2 for both of us! The way it works is that everyone shares taxis and they go on set routes. A very easy and sensible system.
On arrival at immigration, the number of forms was bewildering. All filled in in triplicate with the old style carbon paper. I had to find a local photocopier to make multiple copies of boat papers and passports too. However, the people were very friendly, and we got through the process in a couple of hours.
So we had a week to wait before the Thompsons were due to arrive and we decided to get to know the lay of the land. The great joy of that week was meeting all the cruisers anchored in Store Bay. We had a truly international bunch. Tom, Kate and their son Marley from Australia. Gustavo and Danielle from Switzerland, Mark and Susan from USA and Pascal and Veronique from France. What a lovely bunch of people all sharing the same sailing life as us. We were the newbies on the block having only been at sea for a year!
Tobago is a relatively hard place to get to from a sailing point of view. And people are also put off by the reputation of the difficulty of checking in, as well as a history of piracy in these waters. That meant we were only one of about 6 cruising boats on the whole island. So different to other parts of the Caribbean, and we really felt like we had the place to ourselves.
The local beach bar was right next to the anchorage and this became the “clubhouse” for the cruisers! We got to meet everyone in there for a few beers regularly. This is where we found out about “Sunday School”, a local tradition held every Sunday night where we could experience a proper Caribbean party. So a plan was hatched. Some of us sailed up the coast to Irvine Bay, whilst others opted for the taxi route. it turned out to be a relatively small affair but great fun none the less. A huge PA system was blasting out reggae tunes. Many people were competing to see who could smoke the largest joints. There was a distinct smell in the air. Later in the evening the local Steel Band struck up a tune. They were really good. Here’s a little taster…
So we had a couple of days in Irvine Bay and then headed back to Store Bay for the arrival of Sally, Andrew and Erin.
The guys had there own ordeal to deal with first of course, the travel from the UK, a night in a hotel in Port of Spain and then negotiating the ferry to Tobago. What could possibly go wrong??
They look so happy in the hotel?!
Well there had been an issue with booking the ferry. It turned out that the weekend they were arriving in Trinidad was the end of the school year. Apparently its tradition in Trinidad for all the new school graduates to head to Tobago with their families and party. Everyone was trying to get to Tobago from Trinidad!
So the poor old Thompsons had to queue on standby to try an secure their seat on the ferry for three hours. Bless them though they managed to get on, and in premier class too. Phew. No sooner has the ferry left than the dreaded sea sickness kicked in …. The poor guys renamed the fast ferry the “vomitarium”. Three hours of hell apparently! However, they made it and negotiated the taxis in Scarborough and we met for a great reunion in Store Bay. Well done guys for the supreme effort!
No sooner had the Thompsons found the sanity of land and started to recover from the ferry ride, than we whisked them off to Azimuth in the dinghy and got them settled in. Unfortunately it was a bit rolly, and this did not help the sea sickness recovery process. It took them 24 hours to acclimatise, but hopefully they weren’t ready to jump ship at this point and check in to the nearest hotel, thinking what have we done???
Actually the next few days were very relaxing. Life consisted of lots of swimming off the back of the boat. Cursing at the jet skis as they used the anchored boats as a slalom course. Giving in to the heat of the afternoon with a tactical siesta and several trips to shore to sample the delights of Store Bay restaurants and the clubhouse.
A few days of relaxing as hard as possible had the trick and hopefully everyone settled in OK, despite the challenges of living in a confined space aboard a yacht.
We had Mark and Susan from the USA in the anchorage. They very kindly invited us all to celebrate the 4th of July with a BBQ on the beach. Bring your own potluck food and drinks.
What a great afternoon. Mark cooked up a feast of chicken and we all enjoyed the ambience of the beach.
Some of the guys bought along a couple of sets of the French game Boule. Later that afternoon, Pascal gathered up willing players and adjudicated over the game. Easier said than done given that a few of us had maybe had one or two beers. It was great fun. Apparently we were in two teams, but I don’t think many of us actually knew which team we were in?! It didn’t seem to matter. Eventually the teams were properly identified… of course it had to be Trinidad versus Tobago. The competition was fierce, but Trinidad took an early lead and Tobago just couldn’t make up the difference.
Thanks to Mark and Susan for putting this together. We all had a great time!
So, we wanted to take the Thompsons for a sail up the coast to show them a little of the island. But before we did this, it was time to first see Buccoo Reef and the Nylon Pool and for Erin to have a try at diving.
The Nylon Pool was pretty cool. Essentially it is like a swimming pool in the sea with an amazing aquamarine colour. Buccoo reef is huge and very shallow across much of the area, so we took the dinghy along the Tom, Kate and Marley to go and visit it. I took a short video on the GoPro
Our visit to the Nylon Pool
It was to be a day of watersports. After we got back from the visit to the Nylon Pool, many of the guys decided to go and dive on the reef in Store Bay. Tom is a dive master and he offered to take Erin for a dive too. The rest us non divers went for a snorkel which was pretty good, although the visibility was not the best.
So the next day we weighed anchor and set sail up the west coast of Tobago. The wind was a little tricky so after about 2 hours of beating upwind we relented and pulled in at Plymouth Bay and dropped the anchor off a huge sweeping beach
The next day we took a visit in to the town. This was very different in comparison to Store Bay, a more traditional Caribbean town free from the trappings of organised tourism. We visited James Fort, built by the English to protect the bay (probably from the French). We then found a great little shop serving up a delicious lunch and sat looking out over the bay.
After Plymouth we moved Azimuth down to Irvine Bay where we had been before and there is a really cool beach bar. More chilling for a few days here. We had a great night out at a local restaurant called “The Fish Pot”. The meal was delicious and the rum punch was flowing freely.
Meal at the Fishpot
We had one or two evenings in the beach bar where things may have got a little silly at times? Good cheap food was served too, cause by now we couldn’t be bothered to cook on the boat!
Whilst in Irvine Bay, we managed to get some details about a rain forest guide called Peter, a renowned botanist who took people on rainforest tours. We managed to arrange a tour for the next day. Peter insisted on a 6:30am start! That hurt … but we managed to assemble on the shore in time, and Peter picked us all up. It was a very memorable day and Peter was an excellent guide , hugely knowledgeable, and really lovely with it. Peter could whistle bird song of many of the forest birds and they would reply. He could also spot lots of different kinds of wildlife that we would have just missed if we were on our own.
On the trip to the rainforest we stopped at several beautiful bays on the way. All of them anchorages, shame we didn’t have the time to visit
Parlatuver BayCastara BayCastara BayEnglishmans BayBays on the West coast of TobagoThe start of the trail. Hanging birds nests
The trail is called the Gilpin Trace. A Gilpin is an old Carib Indian word for a Machete. It was the Indians who originally cut the trail as a route across the island.
Rainforest viewsbirdsStrange rainforest people
Peter caught this evil looking whip scorpion to show us. No one wanted to get too close!
Peter also found and opened a trapdoor spiders lair. He couldn’t get the spider to come out though. Perhaps for the best as I would have run a mile!
trapdoorcrab
Here is a video I put together with some clips from the forest. Listen to the sounds in the background. It really was a magical place, and felt very prehistoric. I expected a dinosaur to appear on the trail at any moment.
Clips from our visit to the rainforestBack out of the forest at the end of the walk
What an amazing day. For me probably the highlight of our visit to Tobago.
Irvine Bay also had a really pretty reef that you snorkel to from the anchorage or by swimming off the beach. I put this video together. Look out for an eel sticking its head out of a hole in the coral, spotted by Sally. Erin got the best footage as she followed a shoal of fish as they swam around the reef.
All good things come to an end, and eventually it was time for us to head back to Store Bay and deliver the Thompsons to the airport. They had very sensibly decided to avoid the ferry journey back to Trinidad and opted for easier plane trip! As it happen the airport was only 5 minutes walk from the anchorage, easy!
Time for one last evening out and a meal at the Wonky Windmill. A few drinks at the clubhouse too
Last night in Store Bay
It was with a tear in the eye that we delivered the Thompsons to the airport the next day. Thankyou guys for coming to see us and making the huge effort to get to Tobago. We had a ball and we hope you enjoyed it too!
Join us next time as we head to Trinidad and get hauled out of the water in Chaguaramus for the dreaded boat work!
Last time we talked, we were exploring Grenada. Now having been here in this beautiful place for well over a month, we feel like we are well settled in to Grenadian life! It really is a very relaxed and easy going place. So lets give you a taste of what we have been up to for the last few weeks….
We had been anchored in Prickly Bay in the south of Grenada for a couple of weeks and were taking the dinghy in to shore when we happened to pass our friends on Water Music, Ken, Caroline and their dog Mitsy who had arrived a couple of days earlier. These were the guys we had previously met in Tobago Cays. We decided to set off to see some of Grenada together. We planned a trip on the bus to travel to the North of Grenada to see a chocolate plantation and visit Concord Falls, another popular waterfall.
After a long bus journey along the west coast of Grenada to the little town of Victoria, we took a walk up a winding road through the rain forest until we came upon the Jouvay chocolate plantation and factory. Ailsa was immediately in her element! Many years of chocolate eating had fully prepared her for this immersive experience. The brief tour of the plantation and the factory to see the making process was very interesting. The culmination was the factory shop where Ailsa was able to fully indulge her passion complete with tasting session.
We wondered back down to Victoria and met many of the locals on the way who came out to say hello. In the town there was some sort of small local festival going on, and we had lunch from a street stall with free beers! Everyone was very welcoming, and we even got to chat with a local politician who had just returned from a trip to the UK. We had a long wait for the bus for the next leg of our journey to Concord Falls
We arrived at the road to Concord Falls and were lucky enough to get a Taxi to take us up the 2 mile road. Another stunningly beautiful place, and really tastefully developed. You climb down some stone steps from the road to get to the falls. We all took the chance to go for a swim (including Mitsy!) which was really refreshingly cool in the heat of the afternoon. Some other steps led to a bar with views over the falls where the rum punch had to be sampled. The 2 mile walk back to the main road to catch the bus back to St Georges was down a windy track in a steep river gorge surrounded by magnificent rain forest clinging to impossibly steep cliffs. A couple more buses got us back to Prickly Bay via St Georges after a lovely day out.
Daily life onboard Azimuth
On the days we are not out exploring (most days really!) we pretty much like to relax. Of course there always jobs to do on the boat. See the picture of me above. I have no idea how I managed to squeeze in to that space! Its not all sunshine either here in the Caribbean. Now its rainy season and the squalls and rain showers roll through pretty much every day.
Petit Calvigny Anchorage
Ken and Caroline were having their boat lifted out at the Spice Island boat yard in prickly bay and heading back to the UK to end their sailing adventure for a few months. Before they left, they wanted to explore some more of the little bays on the South end of Grenada. We decided to go along and join them. First stop was the next bay along where we dropped the hook in Petit Calvigny.
Night out at Whisper Cove
As well as numerous evenings on each others boats for the obligatory rum punches, we had a great night out in a very cool place called whisper cove.
Trip to Egmont Cove
A few days later we both moved round the corner to the lovely anchorage called Egmont Cove. This was the first non rolly anchorage we have had in Grenada, a very narrow entrance completely protects it from the sea. The trip round the corner was eventful when we got hit by 30 knot winds and torrential rain. All over in about 5 minutes though!
Egmont Cove Anchorage
After a few more days in Egmont Cove we said a sad goodbye to Ken, Caroline and Mitsy on Water Music as they headed back to Prickly Bay to prepare to be lifted. All the best to them for their trip back to the UK and i’m sure we shall meet again, probably somewhere in the Pacific?!
Since then, we have stayed in Egmont Cove. We took a walk over the headland and visited Phare Bleu Marina and had lunch at their excellent restaurant
Le Phare Bleu Restaurant
After lunch we decided to walk off the burgers and visited this unusual light ship moored in the marina
Le Phare Bleu Swedish Lightship
Then we stepped out on a long walk around the Egmont headland where there is a huge amount of building going on of some very impressive millionaires homes. Huge plots of land with bespoke houses, some of them with their own waterfronts and docks.
Egmont Headland Walk
On another day, we decided to walk back to Whisper cove for lunch. It was a really hot day and we had to walk up and down some really big hills and cut through fields and forest. After all this effort, we found that the place was shut! Luckily there was another place called the Little Dipper just down the road that was open and it was a fantastic local cuisine meal. Really cheap too!
Walk to Little Dipper Restaurant
Finally, we cant leave with out mentioning the large number of birthdays that the Pearce family celebrate in June. We wish could have been there to celebrate with Caleb for his 21st and Vinnies 19th. It looks like they had a great time.
A certain someone else celebrated her birthday too. I can’t possibly divulge the age of this person for fear of being thrown overboard. Ken and Caroline couldn’t extract that information either, even after several glasses of wine!
June Birthdays!
Join us next time as we head towards Trinidad and Tobago!
Last time we left you in Union Island in St Vincent and the Grenadines. This time we sail south again and visit the island(s) of Grenada.
First stop was the Island of Carriacou, where we signed in to the country after dropping the hook in Tyrell Bay.
It felt like a partial return to civilisation after islands of the Grenadines. Tyrell Bay was full of yachts at anchor in front of a long sandy beach with a port at one side and boat yards. The town even had a couple of supermarkets and some nice restaurants that we took advantage of. It wasn’t the most inspiring of places though and maybe we have been a bit spoilt in the Grenadines? We did have a great dinner of red snapper though purchased still barely alive from the local fisherman delivered directly to the boat
We spent a few days here and then decided to move South again down towards the main island of Grenada. Our interest was piqued by the little Ronde Island on the way down and we decided to stop the night in a delightful anchorage.
We took the canoe to the little scrap of beach and landed in the swell and then spent a couple of hours snorkelling off the beach where there was a large reef teeming with fish.
The next day we set sail to Grenada proper. It was a glorious sail across smooth seas and down the west coast of Grenada which is a very dramatic island
We ummed and arred about an anchorage on the west coast but it looked like we would have to take a mooring buoy, so eventually we sailed round the south west corner and dropped the anchor in the attractive Prickly Bay where for the purposes of this post, we have been ever since.
Time to go and explore the local area. First stop, the marvellous discovery of decent beer!!! After a little stroll along the main road in Prickly bay we came across a place we had spotted in the guide book called the West Indian Brewery Company. It had to be investigated further and we were not disappointed!
As you can see, a proper micro brewery was hidden inside and the really friendly staff bent over backwards to make sure you sampled all the delights they had to offer! Real beer at crazy cheap prices is a recipe for success if you ask me and we have spent one or two visits enjoying the delights.
Just round the corner from this is prickly bay marina who have a great restaurant too and the promise of live music. So one Friday night we paid them a visit and enjoyed this steel band
We’ve taken a couple of day trips out on the local buses. They are as ever excellent value as long as you are willing to brave the crazy driving the cramped conditions and the distinct lack of suspension. Also great fun too, but it is sometimes difficult to talk over the large reggae sound system that each bus carries! So we took the bus to go and visit Grenada’s captial St Georges. It was a very vibrant place full of hustle and bustle. The main attraction for Ailsa had to be the Grenada Chocolate Museum and Shop. For me it was the vies of the town as we strolled around.
With our confidence improving, we decided to embark on a longer bus journey to go and explore the mountainous interior of this beautiful island. This time it would involve picking up a second bus from St Georges and working out where to get off to go and visit the Seven Sisters waterfall. We made it relatively easily with a tortuous ride up the mountain, reminiscent but arguably not quite as crazy as our previous St Lucian bus experience. We paid our 5 $EC entrance fee (about £1.50) where given bamboo walking sticks and sent on our way with some brief instructions in to a magical rain forest experience.
The temperature we realised was a much balmier 25 degrees compared to the 30 or so degrees at sea level. So it was a pleasant stroll through the bamboo, navigating our way down some precipitous and slippery steps towards the waterfall (thank goodness for the bamboo walking sticks). The sounds of the birds were pretty raucous and it felt altogether very prehistoric. Finally we came upon a river in the forest and walked up towards the sound of falling water
I couldn’t resist the opportunity for a swim and it was lovely and refreshing although I couldn’t manage to get right in to the falls as the current was quite strong.
We took our time enjoying the falls and then hiked back out to the road. A couple of miles further along and we came to Grand Etang, a crater lake in a volcano that has been extinct for 12000 years, and was now full of goldfish! It let us know we were in a rain forest and started tipping down with rain. So refreshing though in this heat.
We even saw a couple of monkeys in the park!
After the long bus journey(s) back to the boat, we were pretty exhausted, but it was definitely worth the effort.
Join us next time when we explore a bit more of Grenada.
Last time we left you, we were still anchored in Bequia, and having such a nice time, we were somewhat reluctant to move on! But move on we must, and actually, there was a huge amount more of the Grenadines waiting to be explored!
The first attempt to leave actually failed miserably. When Ailsa pressed the button to pull up the anchor there was nothing! The windlass was completely inoperable, so engine off, I then spent the next 3 days trying to find and fix the problem. Our windlass is hydraulically driven by a pump that is driven from the engine. Some of you may recall I had already had some issues with the windlass and had to come up with a fix in Martinique. Now it was looking like a more serious problem. Initially I thought damn, we are going to have to head to Grenada, the nearest place with boatyards, and get someone to help us diagnose and fix the hydraulics. It was quite depressing and it looked like we would have to try and get the anchor up by hand. This is something I had done once before in Scotland and it was far from easy. So I set about trying to diagnose the fault myself and learnt a good deal about hydraulics in the process. The pressure in the system actually looked good under load. This had me confused as the windlass was working the last time we used it when we left St Lucia. I could hear fluid flowing through the windlass motor, but there was no resultant movement. It took me three days in the end and I found that the issue was the gearbox again. Basically there was no oil left in it, it was full of dirt and pretty much seized up. So after a dismantle, clean and oil, we were back in business. After three days in the heat stuck in the anchor locker, I was overjoyed when it jumped to life. My celebration was cut short when a big gust of wind blew the door of the locker (heavy!) which proceeded to land on my head!!
They say cruising is doing boat jobs in paradise??? I am definitely starting to understand!
Attempt two to leave was successful, and we were both sad to say goodbye to Bequia. We left the harbour on a downwind sail and got a look at Bequia’s “moonhole”, a bizarre group of houses built in the 1960’s in to the side of the cliffs which have since been abandoned.
It was a gorgeous sail south to the little island of Canouan where we dropped the anchor in what turned out to be the very rolly bay of Charlestown.
We decided not to dwell here, so after an uncomfortable night, we left early the next morning and headed for Tobago Cays. Now this was something else! It is a tiny group of islands south of Canouan which makes up a marine national park. Tobago Cays was made famous by the film Pirates of the Caribbean as one of the islands was where Jack Sparrow got washed up and buried his treasure??
We anchored right in the middle of the islands, pumped up the canoe and set off to explore.
The place is stunningly beautiful, a small group of islands, surrounded and protected from the Atlantic ocean by horseshoe reef. Its hard to describe the colour of the sea here. Hopefully the pictures do it some justice.
The snorkelling was amazing and we had our first ever encounter with Turtles in their natural habitat. Have a look at the video I shot with the GoPro…
Jack Sparrow Island
We had a lovely day exploring, and that evening we went to the main island for a barbeque of fish and chicken. It was a very cool little place, all set up as an outdoor restaurant. Before we ate we spent some time watching the fish and the spotted rays feeding on the fish scraps being thrown in to the water as the chefs were preparing the food.
We met up with another cruising couple called Caroline and Ken from the UK and Australia. They invited us back to their Catamaran “Water Music” for drinks and we had a lovely evening chatting about their and our adventures so far. A lovely couple and we hope to meet them again as we both cruise south towards Grenada.
It costs a fair bit to stay in Tobago Quays so the next day we moved to the Island of Mayreau which is about 2 miles away and anchored in Troisant Bay off the beach with great views of Union Island. Unfortunately it was another rolly night! So we didn’t actually land on Mayreau but headed for Union Island where we had to check out of St Vincent and the Grenadines within a few days.
Another short but beautiful downwind sail had us dropping the hook in a stunning anchorage called Chatham Bay on the west side of Union Island.
This bay was really sheltered from the swell and with a beautiful colour to the sea, it was like having our own enormous swimming pool.
First order of action was to go for a swim!. We chilled out for the whole day, swimming and snorkelling and watching the rays and fish nibbling on the growth on our chain.
All along the beach is a number of ramshackle bars and throughout the day we were visited by all the proprietors inviting us to visit their bars for the happy hour at sunset. We decided to visit the one recommended by the guide book, Seki and Vanessa’s place. It was very chilled out, drinking rum punch, listening to reggae and watching the sun go down, whilst meeting some of the locals, including Eldon who lived in a shack next door to the bar and had been fishing and living on the beach for the last 40 years!
We were short on cash and there was no ATMs around here other than in Clifton, about 5 miles away. Seki and Vanessa were very relaxed about the whole situation and just trusted us to pay for our drinks the next day after we had chance to get to the bank! We promised we would be back to try out their food too.
The next day we got up early and had a fantastic walk right across the island. It was pretty hot and we had a big climb to get out of the bay, but the view was well worth the effort. We made a new friend too, when one of the local dogs decided to come along for the walk. He followed us for about 3 miles until the heat got too much for the poor chap and he collapsed under a tree in the shade.
Close to Clifton, we walked past some salt flats that claimed to have resident flamingos. We didn’t see any!
Finally, after a 5 mile walk in the heat, we made it to the town. First we had to check out of the country which was pretty painless, then visit the bank and then we went to look for a cold drink. As in often the case, we were accosted by one of the locals, an old guy called Parrot. He insisted that we needed to avoid the local tourist bars and he would take us the locals bar! It was actually very cool. The bar had about 20 people in there, and they looked after us. One guy gave Ailsa a piece of cardboard for her to use as a fan because she looked so hot. Seats were provided at the bar, and we spent to next hour talking to lots of interesting people … the local musician, Bert, Andre the bar owner, and Chris the local “gangster” who was well in to his third rum of the day celebrating his 66th birthday!
We finally managed to extricate ourselves from the bar with promises to return someday, flagged down a local minibus and got a lift back to the top of Chatham Bay Hill. A lot easier than walking.
By mid afternoon we were back on the boat, swimming and relaxing, and then that evening we headed back to Seki and Vanessa’s bar where we were treated to a delicious dinner prepared on the BBQ with the sunset views of the bay. It don’t get much better than this!
We have to say that the Grenadines really are special and well worth a visit if you ever find yourself in this part of the world. The experience was made really special for us by the friendliness of the local people and welcome they gave us everywhere we went.
Join us next time as we sail south to Carriacou and Grenada to continue our windward islands adventure.
