S/V Aphrodite

According to our sailing log we have been sailing in and around these tiny islands for just 6 day, seems longer than that.  The islands are in the middle of the chain, between Guadeloupe and St. Barts.  They are steeply mountainous; as we approach they look rather arid and barren compared to the lush tropical islands south of here.  It is not until we venture inland, climbing in altitude that we find the rainforest area.  This rainforest appears different, cool, dark and more wooded with long tangles of air roots and Pathos, what we know as a house plant, growing as a ground cover along with ferns.

We sailed past Montserrat but did not stopped as planned because there had been a volcanic eruption earlier in the month and we did not think that we would be able to get close enough to view the ashen ruined southern portion of the island.  There is a Maritime Exclusion Zone which limits how close a boat can sail along the southern coast as well as regulate land access, enforcing evacuation perimeters for local residents.  Local residents were just being allowed to return to their homes.  We sailed as closely as we dared and took some impressive photos of the devastation.   The southern half of the island is stark and barren; the northern half is lush green and built up with beautiful homes.  The remains of the ruined capital, Plymouth, are a humbling reminder of Mother Nature’s power.

The twin-island nations of St. Kitts and Nevis have steep central mountains covered in rainforest, surrounded by gently sloping fertile land planted primarily in sugar cane.  The sugar cane production has ceased, but the fields and expansive plantations rich in the nation’s history remain for the time being.  African green vervet monkeys can be found in the higher elevations. We saw several while following a path through the tall elfin wooden forest.  They were originally introduced by the French and kept as pets.  We also saw a few in the arms of locals milling around the cruise ship guests offering pictures for dollars. 

We are currently in St. Martin, one of the well-known and often-visited cruise ship ports in the Caribbean.  St. Barts, the chic destination favored as the hot spot for the rich and famous, St. Martin and Anguilla make up the Renaissance Islands.  Unfortunately it may not be a renaissance experience for us because we are stuck in a marina with a week’s worth of boat work to do.  How much of the island we explore after completing our work will depend on our disposition after all of the projects are completed and the bills paid for.

Our PWD’s bring us so much joy, I can’t think of a better choice for Obama to get for his girls.   Their personalities are really blooming and differentiating. Brisa is so sharp, really smart, and alert. Probably the smartest dog I have ever had. And she is absolutely beautiful. Her eyes may be one of her finest features; they are a golden-rod color, large and round. But the amazing part is how she uses them to seek out my eyes, always looking for eye to eye contact. They are so revealing that it feels like I can see right into her soul! Costa’s eyes are small and as dark as his coat so they are not as noticeable. Nor is he as interested in eye to eye contact.

Watching Brisa run full-out is exhilarating. She looks like a thoroughbred horse. Her center of gravity drops and she stretches out to a lean-mean running machine. Her coat is beautiful, shiny jet black. She has a way to talking I have never experienced in a dog before. She sort of slithers up, pulls her lips back to reveal all of her teeth and then starts talking! Not barking or whining, talking. The behavior is usually associated with guilt. She’ll get into something and then come to tell us about it. Sometimes, like this morning, she woke me up with the talking but I could not find the mischief so I was confused.  Sometimes she will ring the ship’s bell when she is locked outside and wants in.

She is intensely alert when we are on the water, always looking for movement on the surface. There are lots of flying fish around which drives her nuts. And, on one of our last passages she saw dolphins in the water and actually jumped in to swim with them this time. We were shocked and had to do our first “man over-board” maneuver! There wasn’t a lot of wind so it was not too difficult, but still, we were under full sail so it’s not like just turning the boat around.

Costa on the other hand is developing into something very different. He is a little stallion! Seriously, he chomps at the bit to be released, has a very specific “alert” posture of dignity and supremacy. His head and neck are angled just so, and his hind legs are poised in a position bold readiness. He displays this posture when he senses other dogs about. Associated with that is aggressive barking which is new to us since none of our females have displayed that kind of aggression. That can
get on our nerves and we try to discourage it. He try’s to engage Brisa in play all the time, but she blows him off. In those situations, he’ll just go find his pathetic little rope toy and throw it around by himself. He is still smaller than she, especially noted while swimming. Brisa is very muscular in her rear quarters from so much swimming while he is still very slight. He may not grow to be as big as she is. His coat is not as shinny and has a mahogany sheen instead of the jet blue-black
of Brisa. He takes the non-dominance position with her in all situations except food, and in that realm he attacks Brisa if is she comes close to his bowl! They have actually had 2 very alarming fights requiring one of us to physically pull one of them off the other and confine them to the kennel. The kennel is another funny thing, when one of them gets into trouble and they hear the word kennel, they both go in! It is so funny.

Neither one of them likes the other to be in the lead while walking on leashes, so we have found that using a double lead works best, and it relieves one of us of leash duty. Having Costa has resulted in Brisa maturing into a very manageable dog, no more biting us and no more getting into things like she used to. It is impressive. She is a lovely companion now, and only 1 year old. Costa never was an “in your face” dog nor a biter so that has not been an issue with him. He doesn’t really get
into stuff too much, except he likes our clothes, especially the underclothes for nest building and he will occasionally chew on shoes if they are laying around and he is bored.

Brisa is can be VERY jealous and spiteful, willfully spiteful. She is like having a human female around when it comes to that. If she does not get what she wants, she will go and do something to show us how she feels about it. Both of them, independently, lie down while eating dry dog food, sort of draped over the bowl. They pick up and throw the bowl around when they are hungry or thirsty! Brisa doesn’t do that as much any more, but she will hold out for bones instead of kibble, become starved
and then start talking to me, sometimes biting my hands. Brisa still won’t sit quietly outside of a store but Costa will if he is by himself. When one of us takes Costa to shore alone, Brisa won’t let him back on the boat when we return. Brisa will still steal food off the counter if given the chance. She ate Michael’s entire dinner the other night without making a sound or disturbing the bowl! I went to the bathroom, came back and it was empty.

We love them just as they are and wish they wouldn’t grow any older. Perhaps you are thinking that “I really need to get a life!” Grandbabies, here I come!!!

The Leeward Islands are north and west of the Windward Islands on the stepping stones leading us back to the States.  They span 200 miles and include 10 major islands operating as different nations, some with French, some with Dutch and some with British traditions.  According to our cruising guide, The Leeward’s can be subdivided into 3 groups: The Renaissance Islands of St. Martin, St. Bart’s and Anguilla, enjoying an impressive economic and social rebirth; The Islands that Brush the Clouds (don’t you just love that description) a chain of small, steeply mountainous tops of the volcanic chain which include Montserrat, Nevis, St. Kitts, Statia and Saba and The Islands of Mountains and Mangroves, Dominica, The Saintes, Marie Galante and Guadeloupe (the last 4 being included in the French Antilles grouping as well).

Dominica is a rustic, majestic island of rainforests, waterfalls, rainbows, tropical flowers and natural beauty.  I loved it.  But even more beautiful than the land itself were the people.  I cannot recall a more engaging, warm-hearted group of people.  Speaking the same language always enhances the experience but the spirit of the Dominican people was far greater and apparent than the mere benefit of a shared language.  The day we arrived a large cruise ship was in port so the down town area was teeming with tourists.  Usually that doesn’t appeal to me but I was astonished and overwhelmed with the colorful town and the warmth of the people.  Most of the houses had fresh coats of multi-colored paint with tropical plants suspended, draped and sprouting out of tiny front yard gardens.  The markets spilled out of the shops and onto the streets displaying fruits, vegetables and a variety of handcrafted native items.   My favorite market day was on a Sunday morning, without a cruise ship crowd influencing the local merchant’s activities.  This was a Dominican market for the Dominican folks and it was teeming with an entirely different energy.  Everyone was visiting with each other, many wanted to talk to us about the dogs, pet them and have pictures taken with them.   

We stopped in two locations along the western coast of Dominica, Roseau, the capital, and Portsmouth.  The country does not have a well developed infrastructure for tourism so most of the tour opportunities are handled at the local level.  For a visiting yacht this means that a local guy races out in his panga to greet arriving boats, helps secure a mooring ball and hopefully become the boat’s tour guide.   Our greeter and guide was Poncho, an eager and helpful Rastafarian who assisted us in many ways, probably the most significant being getting the dogs cleared into the country.  When we learned that we were going to have to jump through all the same bureaucratic hoops that we did in St. Lucia to get the dogs cleared into the country we planned to just skip it and leave the next day.  But Poncho happened to be a dog owner and used the vet the customs guy recommended for the clearing in process.  He contacted the vet and provided the transportation to get the clearance accomplished.  We promptly booked a day hike into a waterfall in the rainforest.

For the nature lover this island is supreme.  The rainforest offers unlimited hiking opportunities and numerous stunning waterfalls tumbling off steep mountainsides into lush vegetation.  The rugged topography continues below the sea.  Walls drop farther than you can dive, towering pinnacles rise from the seabed and underwater hot springs bubble forth. 

The trip we took with Poncho was to Victoria Falls.  It is an amazing hike, requiring us to ford the river 5 times, sometimes through waist high water, to the highest falls in Dominica.  We took the dogs, assuring Poncho that they would have no problem with a river hike.  However, we did not know that we would be scrambling over moss-slicken boulders.  Their webbed feet did not help them as much as goat hooves would have.  We had to do a lot of boosting to get them up and over the boulders.  They loved it though, and by the end of the day both of them were much braver and more sure footed.

The water at Victoria Falls is whitish with high sulfur content and reminded me of the glacier runoff of Lake Louise in Canada.  The cold fresh water felt marvelous to me.  I much prefer fresh water to sea water.  Poncho’s uncles live in wood huts at the base of the trail head in a paradisiacal like garden and offer a simple meal of vegetarian Ital food for those who want it.  I am still not clear on what denotes Ital food, but what we had was a lentil and vegetable stew over rice served in calabash gourd bowls with calabash scoopers as spoons.

We took several other incredible hikes without a guide and found some amazing sites.  I think the sheer number of photos we have posted indicate how much we loved this island.

Iles des Saintes is a part of the Guadeloupe Archipelago.  Unlike Guadeloupe, they are small, dry and steep.  We took a hike to the top of one of the peaks and got a stunning view of the Bay of Iles Des Saintes, one of the most beautiful and protected bays in the world.  The town is picture perfect, pristine, colorful and full of life.  While on our hike we watched a sea storm come to land, drenching us in “liquid sunshine.”

We sailed from St. Lucia to Martinique the day after Christmas with great expectations of French wine, French bread and chocolate croissants.   Unfortunately the yachting guide made the island sound more inviting than it actually is and our experience was a bit of a disappointment.  Try as we might, neither one of us were able to warm up to the people or places we visited.  The few coastal villages we stopped at seem down and out, even though their standard of living is supposedly higher than in St. Lucia and everything was ridiculously expensive.  But my main observation is that a general lack of country pride and soul exists. Even though it was New Year’s week, we saw little in the way of local celebration. 

We anchored in one of Martinique’s prime tourist’s area so we could go ashore to celebrate New Year’s Eve and Michael’s birthday.  When I went ashore to see about reservations the woman said no problem, it was a set price of 250 Euro’s PER PERSON!  That is about $350 US each.  My mouth dropped and I tried to retain some sort of dignity as I excused myself saying that I would get back to her with our plans.  We stayed “at home”, made dinner, played some cards and enjoyed the resort’s music and midnight fireworks display.

Just as we were heading north to leave the island we made one last stop and discovered a very interesting place with an even more interesting history, St. Pierre, a town at the foot of the Mt. Pelee volcano, not far from where European settlers wiped out the last of the Carib residents in 1658.  It is said that before the last ones died they uttered horrible curses, invoking the mountain to takes its revenge.  Mt Pelee, in true Caribbean fashion, took its own sweet time, until Ascension Day, the 8^th of May, 1902.

At this time, St Pierre, with a population of 30,000, was known as the Paris of the Caribbean and was the commercial, cultural and social center of Martinique. The volcano gave plenty of warning, minor rumblings began early in April and before dawn on the 2^nd of May a major eruption covered the city with enough ash to kill some birds and animals   so why did people stay?  Governor Mouttet, on the island for less than a year, couldn’t cope with the huge responsibility of evacuating Martinique’s most important city.  He desperately wanted the problem to go away and was encouraged to sit tight with most of the planters and business leaders who would have suffered financial losses if the city were evacuated. A few individuals had the sense to leave, but for the rest the destruction of such an important city was unimaginable.

The end came on May 8^th when the side of the volcano facing St. Pierre glowed red and burst open, releasing a giant fireball of superheated gas that flowed down over the city, releasing more energy than an atomic bomb.  All that remained were smoking ruins.  An estimated 29,933 people burned to death, leaving only two survivors in the town: a cobbler who was in his cellar and a prisoner in a stone cell.  Many ruins still remain so we spent a few hours walking through the town.  It had an errie feeling, like a ghost town with people living in it.  Post-disaster buildings have been built onto old structures, so many of the new buildings share at least one wall with the past.  Two buildings remained distinguishable, the town’s elegant theater and the prison which housed the surviving prisoner.  The buildings shared a thick stone wall.

If you have not traveled extensively in the Caribbean or don’t have a clear picture in your mind of which islands belong to the Windward, Leeward, Lesser or Greater Antilles I hope this map and the following explanation will help you orient yourself to where we are and where we are going.

The West Indies, synonymous with the eastern portion of the Caribbean Islands, sweep in a huge arc, making a bridge of giant-sized stepping stones from Florida to Venezuela.  These islands are called the West Indies because when Christopher Columbus landed here (actually in San Salvador of The Bahamas) in 1492 he believed that he had reached the Indies, in Asia. Once his error was realized, Spain renamed the chain of islands from the Indies to West Indies, delineating them from East Indies of the Far East.   

The West Indies separate the Caribbean Sea from the Atlantic Ocean and are comprised of 3 main groups: the Bahamas, the Greater Antilles and Lesser Antilles.  The Greater Antilles include Cuba, Jamaica, Haiti/ The Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico.  The Lesser Antilles are the much smaller islands to the southeast, where we currently are, and are divided into two groups: the Windward, and the Leeward Islands. 

The Windward Islands make up the southeastern end of the chain, from Martinique in the north to Grenada in the south.  Windward and Leeward are names given to the chain of islands by the British.  They had two concepts in mind: The Windward’s because they are located more windward to the sailing ships arriving in the New World, given that the prevailing trade winds across the Atlantic Ocean blow east to west and, in order for them to get to these southeastern islands from their currently owned Leeward Islands, they had to sail, often beating into the wind.

 We are currently in St. Lucia, near the northern most area of the Windward’s.  These islands are mere tips of a volcanic mountain range that developed along a rift in the Earth’s crust where the Atlantic and Caribbean tectonic plates collided.  The Atlantic side of the islands rises steep and sheer with pounding surf while the Caribbean side has gentle seas and beautiful beaches.

St Lucia is a lush tropical volcanic rainforest island complete with hot sulphur springs venting from two stunning Pitons which erupt skyward straight out of the sea.  The Pitons are in the southwestern end of the island, the opposite end of the high density tourist destinations along the northwestern portion of the island.  The Pitons and surrounding costal region are part of a marine preserve rich in coral gardens and reef fish. 

Anchoring is not permitted, but mooring balls are provided in a variety of locations allowing cruising boats controlled access to the preserve.   We have been anchored in front of an old converted (to beach resort) sugar mill plantation dripping with elegant charm, towering coconut palms and a pristine white sandy beach.  While here we met and spent time with a lovely British family on holiday.  The “kids” Rebecca and Neal, spent an afternoon sailing and snorkeling with us on Aphrodite while their parents remained on land with their darling little 7 month old baby.  This is one of the pleasures of our lifestyle.  We often meet people on land and end up having them join us for a day on Aphrodite, or in one case, in the dinghy, searching for the famous Blue Cave on the Greek island of Kastellorizon.

Our entire family visited St. Lucia 17 years ago, staying predominately in the northern end of the island.   4 of the group who were completing their open water portion of the scuba training made the drive along the coast and through the rainforest every day for a nearly a week.  Upon their completion, the rest of us who were already certified divers joined them for several spectacular dives in the marine preserve along the Piton’s underwater walls.  I remember it being some of the best diving I have ever done anywhere, vibrant colors, dramatic steep to sheer walls alive with coral and sea life.

We have not done any diving this trip.  Sometimes it is better to realize “that you just can’t go back”.  We have done lots of snorkeling though, WITH THE DOGS! We are quite a site… imagine 2 dogs swimming along side of us, Brisa dunking Costa’s head showing her dominance, him coming up with the look of terror on his face and trying to climb up one of our backs, Michael tossing him back into the dinghy, which is tethered to one of us, trailing along behind us, but he doesn’t like being alone in the dinghy so he cries and then jumps back into the water and the whole thing repeats itself.  We learned the dunking trick from Brisa, who used to climb up our backs.  Now we dunk her once and she leaves us alone.  Once Costa is a confident swimmer we will have to do the same with him I imagine.  

Tomorrow we will make our way back to the northern tip of the island, Rodney Bay, crisscrossing our previous tracks along this gentle side of the island.  From here we will cross the passage to Martinique, the French island just north of St. Lucia.  Our plan is to take giant steps north along the stepping stones leading to Florida.  Which islands we shall stop at are as yet undetermined.

       

Following  18.5 days at sea, we made landfall yesterday morning at St Lucia, the largest of the English speaking Windward Islands, under blue skies whilst flying the spinnaker.  The last several  days of the trip we got to experience the trade winds that we had expected to have had all the way – I certainly didn’t believe that we would use nearly all of our fuel motoring.    After refueling ($4/gal.), we decided to tie up at a marina for a few days to clean the boat and do the laundry.  We checked in followed by snacks and drinks in a local pub, then we went out to dinner at a very good (expensive) restaurant called Buzz to celebrate our trip.  The name may have come from the loud sounds the local tree frogs were making.  The boys enjoyed a tripot stew of lamb, beef and chicken in a spicy Caribbean sauce and the girls had fish.  On Morazadeh’s recommendation we all tried wasabi mashed potatoes which were quite spicy.  Morazadeh headed home today and will arrive in time to celebrate Noelle’s 39^th birthday at home.  Margi plans on heading home in a few days.  We will miss their company as will the dogs.  Speaking of dogs, they are not allowed to go ashore in St Lucia which is very sad for them and for us.  I am trying to contact the government vet to get an exception but we are on island time, mon.  Some pictures from the crossing are below:

Day 12 and moving very slowly.

It is amazing and something we did not predict at all, but there just isn’t any wind out here. We motored for 4 days straight, day 4 through 8, and then decided that fuel consumption was something which needed to be managed. We found the trade winds and were delighted to raise the sails and turn off the engines. Unfortunately, even the trades have died down, leaving us bobbing in the waves and struggling to keep the sails full. We have just turned one of the engines back on. We are more than
half way there, but still, this is getting old. The temperature and humidity remind us of our proximity to the equator.

Today is Thanksgiving and Michael Moradzadeh is making turkey, mashed potato, gravy, coleslaw and cranberry sauce. Soon Aphrodite will smell like Thanksgiving and we will recall all that we have to be thankful for. Our perishable food supply is diminishing quickly but our freezer is still 3/4 full of frozen meat and fish. We have plenty of available beans, rice, noodles, and polenta; Margi continues to make breads everyday.

The dogs continue to do exceptionally well, considering the fact that they aren’t getting any exercise. The two of them have developed a strong bond. It is quite endearing to watch.

Happy Thanksgiving to all.

Bobbing along, singing a song, fuel half gone bye, bye, bye.

We have been motoring for the last 2 and half days, amazed at how flat calm the middle of the Atlantic Ocean can be. The good side of it is that we are having terrific dinners and plenty of sleep. We are not quite half way there, moving slower than planned since we are motoring instead of sailing, but the crew and dogs are content and enjoying the down time. We have a turkey for Thanksgiving next week and Margi has been making fresh bread, biscuits, cornbread etc almost every day. So far this
has been the MOST peaceful crossing Michael and I have ever had.

There isn’t anything new to report. We are in the midst of a windless pocket, looking forward to reaching the outer limits where the wind is predicted to be 15 – 20 kts which will give us a real boost towards our destination.

The dogs are doing much better than I expected. They too have settled into the rhythm of the sea and are entertaining themselves quite well. I continue to be amazed to realize that I actually prefer 2 dogs to 1. They are dear with each other, often found snuggling together in a corner or just hanging out together. Now when Brisa brings her toy to one of us to play we can say “go find Costa” and she will. She has been tempted to jump in a few times, once yesterday while Michael was reeling in
a big dolphin fish. Now they both go into the kennel before a fish is reeled in.

It has been a month since Michael’s surgery and he healing really well. Thank goodness for that.

See cayenne.blogharbor.com for additional postings of our crossing.