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.