Nov 20–Dec 1 Rodney Bay, St Lucia and Martinique We left Marigot Bay and moved north to Rodney Bay, St Lucia to meet another friend. Matthias had just flown in from Germany to spend a month on his boat "Gink", getting it ready for an extended cruise with his family next spring. We first met Matthias, Anke and their daughter Lena last June and sailed with them for about 2 weeks. They were a good match for us - another small family on a small boat with a small budget living out their dream to sail. Since "Gink" was at the marina, we splurged and spent a couple days at the marina too instead of anchoring out. It made visiting and shopping easier and the fresh running water and wide dock gave us a chance to do some cleaning on the boat. While we were at Rodney Bay Marina Jennifer submitted her short story to "The Caribbean Compass" and it was accepted! It may be published in the January issue.
November 23 we sailed north again. It was a longer sail between St Lucia and Martinique with strong winds. We saw some pilot whales along the way. The wind direction was such that we could go to Le Marin instead of Fort do France. That made Jennifer and Linda very happy because our friends on "Lala" and "Ubuntu" were there. Jennifer went to shore every day to play with 4 other boat girls about her age including Lala and Kashara. We did another big shop at the Leader Price grocery store and stocked up on as much non-perishable food as we thought Opus could hold. Someone told us the prices at Leader Price were low because they were subsidized by the French government. Whatever the reason, we took advantage of the low prices.
Thanksgiving was celebrated on "Ubuntu" with David, Lori, Dylan and Kashara. We had shrimp newberg, mashed potatoes, salad, cream peas and fresh pumpkin pie. With good company, good food and lots to be thankful for, who needs turkey!
Corrosion had been taking its toll on our windlass. Jim found the exact same windlass in mint condition in a 2nd hand store in Le Marin for a song. He bought it and he and Jennifer installed in on Thanksgiving Day - more to be thankful for.
The linkage cable broke as we were leaving Le Marin so we sailed to and anchored again a few miles away in St Anne. Jim was able to make the repair (he had a spare cable). Of course, when he went to start the engine it would not turn over. Jim replaced the starter with a spare without success and finally found the problem was due to corrosion in the wiring. We were off again the next day for St Pierre, Martinique. We waited there 2 days for a good weather window and headed north for Dominica.
Nov 8–18 November 8 - two years ago we left the dock in Oriental, NC!
The winds were coming from the SE and were forecast to stay that way for 2 more days. As much as we all like Canouan, Jim wouldn't let the south wind go to waste. Within 2 days (with a quick overnight stop in Bequia) we were 85 miles further north in Marigot Bay, St Lucia.
Part of St Lucia had been damaged by Hurricane Tomas less than 2 weeks before. A dam that created a reservoir for the island's drinking water gave way during the heavy rains brought by the storm. That meant no drinking water on the island until repairs were made and no drinking water meant no ice on the island either. We carry plenty of drinking water, but no ice for our ice box would affect us. That wasn't a problem for long. Jim worked out a deal with Raul, from the gourmet grocery store in the marina, to put our one gallon bottles of water in the store's freezer. Wow, block ice for as long as we stay.
The local fruit man was good to us too. He said "I can see you're not a charter boat, that your boat is your home, so I'll give you a good price." And he did. We got a cluster of about 2 dozen bananas and a some grapefruit for a fair price. Jim hung the bunch of bananas from the boom gallows in the cockpit. We didn't realize that bats love bananas until halfway through the first night when Linda noticed lots of them swooping and pooping in the cockpit. They were actually considerate guests in that they only worked on one banana at a time. A plastic bag over the bananas was all it took to keep them away.
Every afternoon the anchorage filled up with charter boats. Some were better at anchoring than others. Jim gave a boat load of Austrian guys a tip on where to anchor one afternoon and they were so appreciative for the advice that they brought over a case of Heineken as a way of saying thank you! Later that day we got to know them better. They'd been out for 2 weeks and had to turn in the charter boat the next day. They had more food and drink on board than they could possibly use so besides the beer, they gave us a big bag of non-perishable food that amounted to at least a weeks worth of meals for us.
Marigot Bay was a comfortable place for us, so we stayed for 11 days. It's a very picturesque bay with a palm tree lined beach on one side. The old Dr Doolittle movie with Rex Harrison and the movies "Water" and "Fire Power" were filmed there. We spent many mornings and/or afternoons just hanging out at the outside tables at the marina enjoying the scenery and the light breeze. There was a good French bakery and there was always activity at the dock as the Moorings charter boats came and went.
On days when the huge cruise ships were docked in Castries, two bays to the north, smaller boats loaded with tourists would circle around in Marigot Bay. Our little Opus either looked very picturesque or very odd because 100's of pictures were taken of us as the tour boats went by.
Our friend Chicken from Canouan arrived in Marigot Bay on Nov 18 to crew on a Moorings charter boat with a friend. The 25 minute Liat flight between St Vincent and St Lucia that he was suppose to be on turned into a 10 hour island hop. You just can't be in a hurry down here. There were mechanical and weather delays that took him from St Vincent to Martinique to Barbados, back to St Vincent and finally to St Lucia. Despite his long travel day, Chicken was still smiling when he had the Doolittle Resort ferry swing by Opus so he could say hi before he checked into his room. The next day we met the family from Colorado who was chartering the boat. They're bound to have a wonderful time with Chicken onboard. They'll be eating well too. Grilled lobster was on the menu for their night in Canouan.
The St Lucia Coast Guard boarded Opus to check our paperwork and do a safety inspection. That was the first time we've been boarded in 2 years. All of our paperwork was in order and they seemed surprised at the amount of safety equipment we had on board our little boat, even a life raft, EPIRB, and a sea drogue.
Since there weren't other kids in the anchorage, Jennifer had a lot of time to focus on school. Ray from "Beauty and the Beast" served as a guest instructor one afternoon. He used to teach creative writing and agreed to go over some or Jennifer's compositions with her. Well, maybe Linda twisted his arm a bit since composition is her least favorite subject to teach. Jennifer and Linda both got something out of the session. Ray encouraged Jennifer to submit one of her short stories to "The Caribbean Compass", a monthly newspaper for boaters. We'll let you know how that goes. It wasn't all school work for Jennifer though. She went into Castries by bus with Jim several times while we were there.
Nov 2–7 Canouan We checked into the Grenadines at Clifton on Union Island and then moved on rather quickly to Canouan, one of our favorite islands in the Grenadines. First things first, we went looking for our friends Chicken and Bebe. It a small island and everyone knows everyone else, so it didn't take long. Bebe had a new job cooking in his cousins restaurant, but that morning he was off delivering a load of wood. Soon we saw the truck with the wood and Bebe too, with a smile from ear to ear. These folks take whatever work they can get and do it with a smile. Bebe's also a cobbler. We promised to bring him leather from Grenada if he'd make a sheath for our cutlass (machete). Everyone held up their end of the bargain and now we have a sheath for the cutlass and Bebe has extra leather to repair shoes in Canouan.
On our way up the hill to deliver Bebe's leather, we found Chicken coming down on his bicycle. He still had his job taking care of at sport fisher and a power boat, but he'd started a new venture with his friends since we saw him last. They catch lobsters and sell them to the charter boats. And if the folks on the charter boats aren't skilled in preparing lobster, Chicken will fix them to perfection over an open fire on the beach, for a little more cash of course. We watched him prepare 4 large lobsters one morning. He used a combination of boiling and grilling and basting with garlic butter. As soon as they were done, Shawn and Angus delivered then piping hot to the charter boats. Had we not had grilled lobster on the boat the night before and had the left overs for breakfast, we would have been tempted to buy one ready to eat regardless of the cost. Oh yeah, Chicken also has a restaurant, but it's closed right now for some renovations.
Jim did his usual wander about town and ended up getting us invited to the King family reunion - lots of good food including turtle stew, lots of good music and lots of people, even some that we already knew. Bebe and his brothers are some of the King cousins. Thank you Ethlyn for the invite.
The invitations kept coming in. Chicken invited Jim out for a day of deep sea fishing with the guys on Serenity IV. The owners boyfriend wanted to go out with his friends and there was room for Jim. They caught some and lost some, but the net was 4 barracuda and one tuna. We got enough barracuda for a meal that Jim cooked up in a creole sauce using one of Chicken's recipes.
Jennifer got a couple of invitations for play dates with Allegra and Orlando (10 & 11 1/2) from the boat Dark Horse. They had 2 new puppies, a brown one named Sprite and a white one named Pepsi. Pretty good sense of humor for kids. At least part of each play date focused on the pups. Brave parents to take on 2 puppies!