Guadeloupe

We decided to head next to Guadeloupe.  Last year we visited Deshaies, and this time we wanted to really explore the island. We chose Pointe-à-Pitre as our base, anchoring just outside the mega Marina Bas-du-Fort. We rented a car for two days, first driving across Route de la Traverse to the Crayfish Waterfalls and the Carbet Falls:

Crayfish Falls

First and Second Falls

The trail down to the Second Fall leads this close, but no further unless you duck under the rope:

We drove down to the southern coast of Basse Terre, passing large banana plantations left and right. We even passed a town translating to "Banana-ville," so when we got to a lovely ice cream bar and saw the list of sundaes, we jumped at the chance to experience some of the local product:

All set for deux Compos sundaes!

 Alas, just like the song, it was "Yes, we have no bananas" in Banana-ville. I tried to be helpful with my French, explaining that perhaps they could pick them right off the adjacent trees, but they wanted none of it, so we left.  Needless to say, Susan thought this was all pretty amusing!

View towards La Soufriere



Near to Capesterre, and "Banana-ville"

We also drove to Grande Terre, the east half of Guadeloupe.  (Still not sure why Basse-Terre is high, while Grande Terre is flat.)  The road east leads to Gosier, St. Anne, and St. Francois:



Fishing village in St. Francois

Local beach bocce ball













































Susan thought this red car would make a great circus clown-car:

When we looked west from St. Francois, we worried a bit when we saw what was brewing towards Pointe A Pitre:

And when we  heard the words "rotation" and "Pointe A Pitre" together in one sentence, we figured it was time to high-tail it back to the boat before it dragged away. So we ran to I. Pates, a small Italian restaurant/deli and ordered some wonderful food to take away before we raced back to the city. Car look familiar?:

The little "clown-car" parked next to I. Pates. Great food here!

By the time we drove back to the boat the weather was much more settled:

Business as usual back in Pointe A Pitre

Next day we walked the city of Pointe A Pitre, Guadeloupe's busiest city:

KFC, with Norm Macdonald at right

l'église Saint-Pierre-et-Saint-Paul

The highlight for us was that Guadeloupe's Carnaval was in full swing in Pointe a Pitre.  Here is just a sampling:

Dude that's gotta hurt

Miss Carnaval and associate

Miss Guadeloupe World, with "Where's Waldo" in the background

Forget the foreground. Can you find Waldo again?

Future King of Carnaval

Batala Gwada from Brazil

Final parting shot from Guadeloupe:

Hitch hiker

More Barbuda and Antigua

We hope you enjoyed Saralane's Barbuda post. Here are the nice folks who's blog we temporarily hijacked for our own self-serving interests:





Maddie and Skip in Barbuda

And a few more frigate bird photos:

 

After a great time in Barbuda, Saralane went west to Nevis and we returned to Jolly Harbour for a couple of days before going south to Guadeloupe.  We wanted to see the city of St. John's. The bus that we took there drops you off right at the bustling local market.  Had lunch at the Roti King which was excellent!   Two cruise ships were in, but it didn’t seem to be like St. Thomas where everyone congregates in town to shop.  Maybe they spread out on the island for the day? We walked the whole downtown area, very colorful!  Bought some fruit and veggies and took a late afternoon bus back. 

Looks a little like Times Square?





Yup, must be New York.

Where did everyone go?

The last night in Antigua we anchored in Five Islands Harbour. Very nice!

Five Islands Harbour



Barbuda: "Everything She Said . . . ."

Pratique with Saralane in Gravenor Bay, Barbuda

As I started to write the 2016 Barbuda post, I was reminded of the movie My Cousin Vinny, when Joe Pesci asks something like "Wouldn't you say that everything she said is 100% true!"  That's the way I felt when I read all about our trip to Barbuda, on Saralane's great blog.  So if you want to know more about it, click here!

That was way too easy!

More Virgins!

After Thanksgiving Susan and I flew back to Tortola.  Usually the blog photos are from both of us, but my contribution for December drowned along with my Samsung Galaxy S6.  Have I heard of waterproof phone cases?  Insurance? Backing up photos to the cloud?  Yup.  Did I do any of that? Nope.  And to make matters worse, the second half of December I was here by myself since Susan went back up to the Northeast for the holidays. So all of those "solo" shots went a gurgling.  Fortunately my memory still serves me.  What month are we talking about?




We left Nanny Cay for the USVI''s and met up with our friends Josh and Tiff, and Jacques, who are aboard a very slick, and very fast, catamaran called Occam's Razor.

Josh, Tiff and Jacques

Occam's Razor

We met up with them at Christmas Cove and shared our respective passages south. Also did some nice snorkeling on the reef at the anchorage, and had awesome pizza made on the boat "Pizza π."

Pizza π, right.  Hungry customers, left.

 After a couple of days there we moved to Honeymoon Beach on the west side of Water Island.  Considering how close it is to the hustle and bustle of Charlotte Amalie it is a surprisingly laid back place. 

Honeymoon Beach on Water Island

Cruise ships sneak in and out, just astern of us.

 

Josh and Jacques out for a "dog paddle"



The Kon Tiki gets a bit closer to us than we'd like!

After Susan went home I hung out with Occam's for another week and through Christmas.  I had some really great photos of those two weeks--Did I mention the pictures all drowned? 

We sailed east to Coral Harbor St. John, which was another funky place. Then we crossed paths with Geof and Talya aboard Wynot, as they were headed to Caneel Bay.  Fun hanging with them, and they always know where the best dining is!  One photo is salvaged by having previously sent it by email:

Geof and Talya aboard Wynot, sailing downwind in the Drake Channel

Last stop before splitting up was in the North Sound, Virgin Gorda.  There we met up with long-time Outbound owners David and Gretchen aboard Callisto, and new Outbound owners Kurt and Pamela on Big Frisky. Visiting Occam's Razor from Florida were Phil Lambert of Outbound Yachts and his wife Monica.  That was a nice surprise for all of us Outbound owners!  Also in the North Sound for the holidays were Michael and Nancy Keyworth aboard their very pretty Swan 44 Chasseur.  I had some nice shots of all of them, but, you know . . .

The Chrismas winds were really howling that week, and the next.  Despite all the wind Jacques kept Santa in the saddle!

Jacques and Santa

After Christmas I sailed solo for a few days, shooting into Spanish Town and taking the dinghy over to The Baths (which although Susan, Jason and Rachel had all been to, I hadn't).  Then on to Marina Cay, and then to Penn's Landing, East End and finally back to Road Town.  There, just after New Years, I met up with Sam, who sailed down with me this fall, and his chef/hostess friend Alex, to join me for the sail to Antigua.  By January 4 the Chrismas winds settled just a bit for the passage, but the seas were still pretty lumpy.  We got to Jolly Harbour by dusk January 5, anchored out a night and then put the boat to sleep for a couple of weeks at Jolly Harbour Marina. 

Next blog:  Susan and Bennett return to Jolly Harbour, Antigua at the end of January.  Bennett is armed with a new (well not so new) phone for more photos.  Anyone have a waterproof case for an old Iphone 5?

All the Rest of 2015, then South 2016!

OK, I admit it.  I lost posting momentum.  There, I admit it. So lets just summarize the whole rest of the year with a few highlights, and move on . . . .


April in Antigua and Barbuda: Awesome!







We watched the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta:

We visited the Donkey Sanctuary!

Robert and Sally visited for a week! Lots of fun with them:

Barbuda was spectacular--the highlight of which was the Frigate Bird colony:

In May, Pratique got hauled in Jolly Harbour for a fresh coat of bottom paint.  When I got back to Jolly, Hank joined me for the Spring, 2015 return trip to RI.  We took the boat to Nanny Cay to meet our new crew Mike Vohs and Greg Neely.  Fantastic trip home with the other Salty Dawg Rally boats. 


We spent the summer in our new apartment in Providence, enjoying the city for the first time. Fast forward to October and it was time to move south again to Hampton VA for the fall SDR rally.  We spent a leisurely 3 weeks to go from Barrington to Hampton via the Long island sound and New York City, then up the Delaware and through the C&D canal for a really nice week in the Chesapeake. 


November 1 we departed once again from Hampton to Virgin Gorda, BVI.  This time more than ever having a great crew was crucial because I had some kind of pneumonia/bronchitis that would not quit.  Thanks to Hank, Tim Metcalf and Sam Dickson for making the trip happen! 

Sam

Hank

Tim

So that brings us back to the Virgin Islands to begin 2015-2016 season in the Caribbean! I flew home
for the Thanksgiving week, then Susan and I returned to Nanny Cay to throttle up and out. Trouble was, the throttle mechanism failed! So we quickly learned to manually push the cable to get into forward gear. No worries, as a new throttle was to arrive soon and we were able to enjoy December in the Virgin Islands--which will have to wait for the next post!


Happy New Year!