Ballast Bay, St. Kitts

(Written February 21, 2009; posted by SSB February 25, 2009)
Well we did make it to Basseterre, St. Kitts before the north swells hit. However, we were not prepared to deal with a SE swell in the harbour. The first couple of nights were horrendous. We even had a stern anchor out to hold the bow into the waves, but the boat rocked and rolled like Jerry Lee Lewis all night. On Friday morning the swells were 2-4 feet and the wind was about 20kts. While we were doing the Coconut Telegraph another boat, Catalyst, mentioned that they were in White House Bay,
St. Kitts and it was not rolly at all. We decided that after going ashore to access wireless and do some internet business we would move to White House Bay.

We left Basseterre at 1240 and arrived in White House Bay at 1430. We had a good motorsail with just the foresail up and got an average of 5 kts. The wind was from the NE at about 20 kts and the seas were calm. In fact the swell settled down almost as soon as we cleared Basseterre Harbour.

When we arrived at White House Bay there were only two boats there, Catalyst and Calypso. We anchored in 18 feet of water and settled in. Yes the swells were much less - less than 1 foot. By nightfall 3 other boats had arrived, however, 2 of those left early this morning.

This morning was spent doing some chores around the boat. Griff explored a leak we had discovered above the salon table after the last rain we had. One of the dorades, the vents that bring air in from the deck when the hatches are closed, was where the leak was. Actually, it wasn't a leak but the fact that the dorade could not be closed and therefore allowed the rain to come in. We'll just have to turn the wind scoop around on deck so that the rain is not blown into that dorade. I did a couple
of loads of laundry by hand. Here in St. Kitts having the laundry done is very expensive and is only available in Basseterre. With the brisk wind that was blowing I decided I might as well do the laundry myself here on the boat. Great idea! The only problem being that the wind here is not a drying wind like it is at home and the clothes took most of the morning to dry.

After lunch we decided that we had put more than our 1 ½ hours per day of boat work so we headed ashore to do some exploring. There isn't much in White House Bay other than a dock, a sign that says it is Christophe Harbour, and a port-a-potty. The dock was obviously new and had a structure on both sides that looked like it was to hold fishing rods. At least that's what we decided it was. We later found out that the dock is new. It was erected to launch a new development that will take up the entire
south-west peninsula of St. Kitts. There will be a marina for super yachts and ordinary yachts, condos, golf course and a high end hotel. That will certainly change the atmosphere of this end of St. Kitts.

We headed up the road towards the salt pond that was on the map. Once we got there we decided to take the road leading to Ballast Bay, the next bay along the coast. It was a leisurely walk along a dirt track. We finally reached Ballast Bay and walked along the beach. As we walked along we talked about how we thought the bay got its name. The beach is a rock beach - no sand. We think in the olden days that sailing vessels may have come here to pick up rocks for ballast. To reinforce this idea
there was a Square Rigger ship anchored in the bay today so it looked like it might have done two centuries ago.
Today those rocks were being picked up by a team of locals that were using them to make pathways in town. Griff talked some with an older fellow who was obviously either the supervisor or the boss. He talked about how the young people today do not like to work. They just want everything without sweating to get it. He said he didn't care what they did as long as they worked. His crew was hand picking rocks from the beach and loading the back of a pick-up truck.

We picked up some interesting shells and a few sea fans which we hope we can get back home in one piece. It would have been nice to pick up some of the rocks to make a path in the yard at home, but alas we didn't think we could get them back to Canada with the luggage weight restrictions the airlines have.

Bits and Pieces

Just a short blog to mention a couple of things that popped into our minds and as well to talk about another first. I will try to keep it short but you know me – short and Griff and not usually compatible concepts.

I guess first things first – we sailed from Jolly Harbour yesterday. The forecast for the rest of the week is for big northern swells and either quite high or quite low winds so we picked yesterday to go as the swells weren’t to come in until late in the day and the wind was supposed to be 12 – 15 kts. We left about 6:30 AM to very little wind and about 1 ½ ft swells. Nice seas. It was a little slow because the winds were only about 8 kts. It is 44 nautical miles from Jolly Harbour to the channel between Nevis and St. Kitts and about another 12 up to Basseterre, St Kitts’ capital. We figured that if the swells started before we made the turn up St Kitts we could tuck away into Major Bay on the south end of St Kitts until the next day so we could tackle it without have to worrying about it getting dark before we got to the Basseterre. See, I told you short and Griff didn’t fit!!!

Anyway, things stayed quiet until about 2/3 of the way across and all of a sudden, winds of 30-35 with no warning, no clouds and no indication in any way, shape or form. Nothing too exciting to report however. After the initial heel over about 45 degrees we straightened Mystic Journey out, dropped the staysail and continued. Of course this was when the larger swells started from the north – they gradually increased until they were 10-12 ft. Again not a problem except we were going west which put us into the trough. Luckily there was about a 10 second period so that eased the unease a bit but it made for uncomfortable sailing until we reached the narrows. Since we had made pretty good time we decided to not stop at Majors Bay but to go on to Basseterre, which we did. It was a little hairy heading up the coast because the winds were on our beam and still 25-30 knots but Mystic Journey likes that so once Cheryl got comfortable with it (She has been a bit nervous about heeling since our sail touching episode when we had Rob aboard in Curacao!) we were able to get to where we wanted to go.

We had wanted to make the anchorage because of the north swell expected and which we had experienced but after we had settled in we discovered that because of whatever factors, we were getting a roll from the south so it was a bit uncomfortable the first night. We decided to put in a stern anchor today to keep our nose into the swell so now the roll is forward/backward which is much more tolerable. We went into Basseterre today to do clearances and found that the people were just as friendly and welcoming as they had been the last time we were here. That was one of the nicest things about being here.

So, second thing of note on this trip. I had thrown out a trolling line off the back of the boat when we were coming over. Nothing fancy – basically a bunch of fishing line wrapped around a donut shaped handheld device that I unroll to put the line and lure out and re-wrap to bring it back. I had done this a couple of times before but unlike Holly and Joe, I have little patience. If I throw it in and nothing happens I pull it out. Well this time since it was so peaceful and the boat didn’t require much attention I just left it out. About 30 minutes later, just as I was going to bring it in I felt a tug – not much but a definite tug. I started to wrap the line onto the donut and still wasn’t sure whether I had something or not. The lure I was using was a plastic fish about 4 inches long that, due to its structure, had some pull itself. So I kept on wrapping and as the end of the line got closer I saw that I did indeed have a fish. To make a long story less long, I caught a 2 ½ ft Great Barracuda (official name). First time I have caught anything aboard Mystic Journey. I even filleted the fish (with great waste I must admit – Joe, your example was good but I am a slow learner) as we sailed and last night we had part of it for supper. Great fun.

Last thing: Canadians – even though we have a great country and great people and have so much to be grateful for, we can definitely take a lesson in political involvement from the people on the islands of the Caribbean. We have been on 4 islands during election times and let me tell you, they ALL get involved. People have the party flags on their cars just like the Flames flags that were so abundant in their push for the cup a few years ago. They wear the hats and t-shirts and decorate their lawns and houses with the party colours. On Grenada, even outsiders could get free t-shirts to wear. They have rallies and there are cars with speakers on top constantly roaming the streets calling out the message. Even though we had seen it 3 times previously what prompted me to mention it at this time is a discussion I had with a man at the fuel dock in Jolly Harbour just before we left.

We had been in Antigua since January 6 and from the time we got there we had been hearing political speeches and seeing billboards and party signs and – something that amazed me not only here but on all of the election islands, people constantly listening to political speeches on the radio – really listening. Holly and Joe, you may have noticed this. Anyway, when I was at the fuel dock, the man had a political speech on the radio. I asked him when they were holding the election so all of the speeches would be over. His reply “pretty soon, mon, pretty soon. They haven’t declared an election or announced a date but pretty soon!!” We had been hearing the speeches and seeing the signs since we had gotten there, this was about 6 weeks later and they hadn’t even announced an election date yet. Amazing!!!! And perhaps a lesson to be learned by us complacent Canadians who barely turn out 50% of the voters. And then complain about government!!!! They even have the trees decorated with the countries colours.

And Here We Are and Here We Go

Well, we made it to Jolly Harbour from Falmouth Harbour although still in Antigua. We have also provisioned the boat so the cupboard is no longer so bare. So what's next. Well, next is now slightly different than the next was before.

Quite often we get asked what our plans are for the next week, for the next month, for the next year so since changes are afoot, perhaps now is a good time for an update. First though, a re-cap.

For those of you who have been religiously following the blog (all of you of course), you will know that our original plan last fall was to sail west and eventually end up in the San Blas Islands in Panama where we would make a decision whether to go out the canal or to sail up the Western side of the Caribbean or something in between. Well, plans changed for various reasons and we made it as far as the Netherland Antilles (the ABC's or actually both Bonaire and Curacao). We spent a grateful Christmas with Rob, my oldest son who flew from Toronto and Julie, my youngest daughter, Graham, her husband and Alex and Amelia, the grandkids, who had flown up from Grenada where they were doggedly and very diligently working to get their boat ready for sailing. Originally they were to sail to the ABC's and and then join us for the western trip but major problems and slow marina workers were conspiring to prevent that. Thus the Christmas flight from Grenada to Curacao.

As an alternative to sailing west together we made arrangements to meet the Perrys in Antigua in January after we sailed up from the ABC's and they sailed up from Grenada. My baby sister Holly and her hubbie Joe had decided they would visit us in the Caribbean so since we were going to Antigua we arranged to meet at Jolly Harbour. We spent a really really enjoyable 10 days with them. Although we had bad sailing conditions most of the time, we were still able to take them to Deep Bay for a couple of days and overall the visit was great.

To back up a bit, coming up from Curacao we had broken our staysail T-ball connection (holds the stay in the mast) and discovered when the staysail was down that there was more wrong than we thought so we had to order a new furler. In the meantime the Perry's had finally launched Artemo but had quickly discovered that all was not well on their lovely French ketch. The work done in the marina had not fixed everything and they also discovered new problems on their sail from Grenada to Carriacou. More on that in a moment.

Our rigger's shipper had problems getting our new furler on the airlines so we were delayed in getting it in but were not concerned because due to Artemos further problems we had a bit of time to spare. Finally, our furler was up, our chart plotter fixed and we were ready to go.

Alas, it was not to be.

Again, to back up - the original idea of Mystic Journey and Artemo meeting in Antigua was so that we could sail down island together slowly, enjoying each island and eventually ending up in Grenada in early May, when the Perry's were to return to Canada for 6 months to make some money to cover the repair costs and have the boat on the hard for hurricane season. They would then return to sail west. We were of course going to stick around the Caribbean, location unknown, until they returned and then decide whether we were going to sail west with them or not.

Well, due to the ongoing problems with Artemo, lack of storage space in Grenada, increasingly short time left to get to Antigua and then sail down island and various and sundry other reasons Graham and Julie have decided to store their boat in Jolly Harbour for the 6 month return to Canada, which has now been postponed until June. This means that they will not be coming up to Antigua prior to June which of course means we will not have Artemo to sail down island with. We found this very disappointing as we were really looking forward to the sharing of the adventure. However, they are doing what they see as best for them and considering the difficulty they have been having with their boat it is probably the safest course at this time. This also gives them the chance to visit a few places in the Leeward and Windward Islands that they had missed last time when they had sailed from Antigua to Grenada

Back to us - we have decided to really really really focus on living in the now and not having expectations or counting on things that may or may not happen. At this point the only thing we are sure of is that we MIGHT go to St Kitts on Wednesday, we HAVE to be in Nevis on March 7 for Cheryl to have a follow-up doctor's check-up on her eyes (see below), we WILL be in St Lucia for Jason's arrival the first part of April and we definitely ARE grateful for being able to do what we are doing. Griff is done. You could probably tell it was me by the "lengthy" discussion above but what the heck - if I can't bore you in person, I will do it long distance.

I promise to make this short, but give you all the information needed to answer the question - why a doctor's check-up? During the past week I have been experiencing bright flashes of light in my right eye. I had a similar problem with my left eye a few years ago and knew I should probably have it checked out. Since Antigua is a larger island than the others we would be visiting we felt that check-up should be done here. I had noticed an advertisement in the paper for a walk-in clinic with an optometrist so I phoned and made an appointment for this morning.

We headed by bus into St Johns after getting directions from the clinic. It was about a 15 minute walk from the bus station and we had already walked in the area before so we only had to ask for directions once. After the optometrist had looked at my eyes she had an ophthamologist come and take a look too. He discovered that there were a small tear in the retina and this needed to be repaired. I must admit at that point I was wishing we were back at home with the doctors and healthcare system I was familiar with. However, not really having a choice I agreed to have the laser surgery required. We waited while the doctor saw some of his other patients and then he did the surgery. Very simple, took about 10 minutes and he actually found a second repair that needed repairing. Now the 'painful' part - no Alberta Health Care. The optometrist charged $150EC and the charge for the laser surgery was $1100EC (2.75ECD=1USD). Probably much cheaper than if I had to pay for it at home. Of course he wanted follow-up visits - one in a week and then another one two weeks later. When I told him we were sailing to St. Kitts and Nevis in two days he made arrangements to meet me at the Nevis hospital on March 7 for a check-up. How many doctors in Canada would do that - go to a neighbouring country or even province to do a follow-up. Actually he said he was planning to take his wife there for a holiday so he would do two things at one time. He also told me about an ophthalmologist on St. Kitts that I could see if problems arose.

One comforting thing was the diplomas he had hanging on his wall. I always knew there was a reason doctors did that. They showed that he took his undergraduate training at the University of the West Indies, but his surgical training was in Canada and he was a member of the Royal College of Physicians and Surgeons of Canada. The same as any doctor I would have seen at home. So that was my experience with the medical system in Antigua. Oh yes, my eye feels okay. Still a few flashes of light, but those should settle down as the lasered areas heal.

And So On And So On

Well, here we are, still in Falmouth Harbour in Antigua but at least we are ready to sail. Just to update, we have been waiting since Holly and Joe left for the parts for our staysail problem to arrive from the US and for our chart plotter to come back from repair. We had broken the ball joint on the staysail - it fastens the top of the stay to the mast - during our Curacao to Antigua voyage and because we had the sail up there was a lot of flapping until we could get it down. We were congratulating ourselves on doing such a good job getting it down and stowed away under somewhat rough conditions. Well, we had done a good job but when we looked at the furler unit after we go to Antigua we discovered that most of the inserts that hold the sections together had broken.

After some pricing and research we discovered that it would be nearly as expensive to repair the one we have as it was to replace it. In the interests of further possible wear and tear we chose to replace. You know all of this information may already be in a blog but I have to have a more selective memory now cause the pathways to where I store my memories are suffering from previous abuse and age so I delete stuff more easily now!!! (just kidding I hope)

Anyway, we waited until Joe and Holly had gone back home to get started on the repair because we had to come to the south end of the island to do it and since we were waiting for the Perrys we thought that if the Gods of convenience were kind to us, we would finish the repairs just as they were getting here. Not to be of course but it was a nice thought.

So, after delays due to the airlines and the shipping agent our parts finally arrived and we moved into Falmouth Harbour Marina so they could be put on. A word here - there are 3 marinas here in Falmouth and all of them cater almost exclusively to super yachts i.e. Maltese Falcon. The second thing about these marinas is most of them do the Mediterranean docking - stern to the dock. Therefore sideslips - which we needed to do the job - are double the normal rate, which is high to begin with. Well you would think that with the clientele that the facilities would reflect the cost. Not so - no showers, shared washrooms, docks about 4 feet higher than the toerail on our boat and finally, no power available unless you have a 50 Amp extension, which we don't. They don't have any to loan or rent either and to buy just the plug to make up a cable is about $150 USD.

Friday night we moved into the marina and early Saturday Ashley (our rigger) and his helper were there bright and early. Ashely was the one bright spot in all this. It is very unusual to find workers down here who do exactly what they say they are going to do and do it when they say.

Incidentally, some good news was that our chart plotter, which provides us with radar and navigation facilities was repairable and we didn't have to get a new one (about $2,500 USD). We were able to pick this up Friday also after we came to the marina and it works!!!

Saturday was spent putting the new furling unit together and installing it on the boat. It went really well and we were actually finished before the time Ashley had promised it would be done. Since it was after 12:00 noon, we had to pay for another night so we decided to stay at the marina Saturday night.

It was amazing watching Ashley's assistant up the mast. He was in a bosun's chair attached to a halyard (lifting rope), but once he was at the top he was swinging back and forth between the mast and the forestay. He obviously felt comfortable up there.

Early Sunday morning (8:30) we were ready to go and were able to get away from the dock without too much difficulty. The possible problem we faced was that since the dock was higher than the toerail of our boat and there were only a few places where the fenders would keep us from hitting the cement, we had to be really careful we didn't move under the dock as we left.

So here we are, back on an anchorage and loving it. We had intended to move up to Jolly Harbour ASAP to re-provision (that is another thing - 3 huge marinas and a grocery store about the size of an average Mac Store) Since Julie and Graham are still having some problems and we have been here so long, we decided that we needed to do some sailing. Our intention was to go to Jolly to re-provision and then do some sailing around the islands up here - not going more south than Martinique since we are picking Jason up in April in St Lucia, the next island down from Martinique.

Our intentions of moving have been put on hold temporarily by the weather. There is a blow coming in that is going to produce some 25-35 kt winds and swells 9-12 feet. Although we could sail in that, it wouldn't be comfortable and we had enough uncomfortable sailing coming up from Curacao to last us a while. So, here we sit - we will keep you informed as best we can. (another downer - the wifi here is only accessible from land)

Take Care All

The Coconut Telegraph

Every morning, Monday to Saturday, Caribbean cruisers turn their SSB's (single side band radios or ham radios) to frequency 4060. This is the frequency for the Coconut Telegraph or Net. The purpose of the Net is to keep cruisers connected and informed.

One cruiser acts as control. His/her job is to keep the communication flow organized. The Net always starts with a request for priority traffic or announcements. This is where information about emergencies or security issues is exchanged. Fortunately there is rarely any of this type of information passed on. Next comes a request for vessels underway or short time. This is for vessels that are unable to stay on the Net for the full time. After that the Net is opened for first time check-ins. That is cruisers who have never checked-in with the Net before. Finally the control calls for general check-ins. When boats call in they are expected to give their boat name, who is on it and the boat's location. Boats that are underway are also asked to describe the wind and sea conditions. The other function of the Net is to give cruisers the opportunity to set up boat-to-boat traffic. This is where one boat can call another and set up a frequency to carry on a conversation similar to what you do on the telephone. Well maybe on a party line for those of you who remember those since anyone else can also go to the frequency and listen in.

On Friday February 6, 2009 there was a new control. That was Griff and Cheryl on Mystic Journey. We think we did a remarkable job for our first time. Griff was on the mike and I was writing down the information from the boats so that we could repeat it. Sometimes it was difficult to hear the boat names and we would have to ask for a relay. We only had to do this a couple of times. There are some days when the propagation, connection, is very poor and relays are used a lot. We actually acted as relay a few times before we became controllers.

As I mentioned earlier the Net is a great way to keep connected with cruiser friends. When we were sailing from Curacao to Antigua we found it comforting to hear friends every morning at 0800 and actually have traffic with our friends D and Don on Southern Cross. As soon as the Perry's get their SSB up and running we will be able to keep in touch with them other than through emails.

Post Script

We now have our new staysail furling system installed and our chart plotter is back. We can now sail with all our sails raised and know where we are going.