Week 10 Martinique - Le Marin Marina

Monday June 9th 2014 

Life Underway: Description of a 3 day crossing 

When I was little, I used to love to go to the Science and Technology Museum in Ottawa. Once inside, the first place I used to run to was the “Crazy Kitchen”, where you had to walk across a slanted floor without falling. It was my favourite place in the whole museum. I am not sure if it still exists, but I sure loved that place ! Turns out, that without realizing then, I was actually training for my future life, because let me tell you:  this is exactly what it is like walking around on a healed sailboat feels like, well, except that, on a sailboat, the floor is also moving UP and DOWN and UP and DOWN. Oh, and occasionally a “bigger than average” wave hits the boat and lets just say that holding on in NOT an option !

Matthew safely tethered-in during crossing

As we sailed, on our three day crossing from The BVIs to Martinique, memories of life onboard Mahina Tiare III * came crashing back (*where Mark and I each spent a couple of weeks training for our trip back in 2011) Because it’s not just walking through the cabin either...there are other challenges too. Simply put : you basically have to relearn some basic daily living skills; like getting dressed. I choose to use a wall to lean against or sit down and I  have learned to use just one hand as I hang on for dear life. And don’t get me started about the challenges of going to the bathroom, ’cause that’s a WHOLE OTHER story ! Then there is what I like to call  “Galley Yoga” : as I stand there, propped against the galley counter, legs wide apart, my upper body and left arm stretched out to get our small fridge door open without it slamming too hard, all the while holding on to the apple on the counter with my right hand, so that it does not roll away.I end up looking , exactly, like the “Warrior Pose” in yoga ! Thank goodness for all my yoga classes, I actually can manage it, and still feel balanced as the floor beneath my feet keeps moving up and down, up and down, and all I can think of is: “This must be great for my inner core” ! At night: it is quite a rush !  As you lay down , with your body half way on your bunk and half way up the “wall” (actually not walls but “back rests” for each bunk and they are quite soft and comfortable-thankfully) it feels, very much, like you are ridding on a roller coaster. I wonder : Are you the type of person who likes to go “head first” or “feet first” down a roller coaster ?  Meghan, and I like to go feet first, but Matthew chooses to go headfirst most of the time, as he lays down on his bunk, head facing towards the front of the boat, and sometimes, as the boat rides up and down bigger waves, you can even become airborne for a few seconds, yeah, and you can hear the water rushing by next to you, through the walls that, suddenly, give you the impression of being very thin, (although they are not).The first time  that you hear a wave pounding into the bow it may sound like you have just struck land, it is so loud and you feel the vibration run along  throughout the sides of the boat but then, you get used to it, just like you get used to everything else by the second or third day.

And, as you get used to the constant movement, your body starts to automatically work with the motion of the boat, and you find that you can use it to your advantage. It reminds me of the video footage I once saw with the astronauts in the space station, using their “no gravity” condition when they are working on something. They can just drop their pen, or screwdriver and it will stay right there beside them, when we are all  sitting our “tilted cockpit”, if someone sitting across from me needs something, say a cup, I just put it down on the floor and it rolls right over to them, same with cookie tins, They just slide their way across....no effort needed !  

So.... why am I mentioning all this now ?  Well, up until now , we have had many DAY crossings, where we arrive at our destination within 4-6 hours...or overnight crossings when we arrive the next day by mid-morning. This three day crossing was a first for our kids.....three days of non-stop motion, of wearing tethers and life preservers while in the cockpit,three days of eating meals out of bowls, and roller coaster rides at bedtime.... It is quite different than what they have been experiencing so far. 

They actually did very very well. I think that they adjusted better than the adults actually !  They were so resilient !  The first day was the toughest, we had planned all kinds of activities to do to keep everyone from getting bored but, it turns out that all anyone really wants to do of the first day is just to stick to the essentials:  Sleep, eat, drink water,look out at the horizon, fill out the hourly ships log. It’s the same with Mark and I, we stick with the basic requirements except that we also have to adjust sails,keep watch and feed the kids and ensure everyone is getting enough rest. It is about all that I can manage, especially if I am feeling seasick, just the essentials.I just focus on keeping myself healthy and comfortable, splashing cold water on my face, brushing my hair & teeth, and what helps a lot too is listening to music, everyone on board loves that and the sunsets are all the more breath taking when you are out there, with no land in sight.

By the second day, you feel a bit better you can manage to do a little more than the essential: you can work on that sewing project you were keeping for the crossing, you can play a game, you can wash those dishes that have been         sitting, sideways, in the sink.

It is also important for everyone to keep their spirits up during the difficult first few days ; one of the things we do is to remind ourselves of how much we will appreciate a nice shower at the end of it all and how our first stop at our new destination will be to find ice cream.

I guess that it is just like when you are out in the cold, wet winter days, and you look forward to coming indoor and having a hot chocolate and sitting by the fire thawing your toes. It bring new appreciation of the simple pleasures of life !

Martinique...again. 

Martinique, more specifically, LeMarin Marina, is like a black hole for us. Everytime we sail near it is like we get sucked in and it is always very difficult to leave !!!! Don't get me wrong, it is a very nice place and the people are lovely, it’s just that it is also the place where we end up "waiting" an awful lot between our other destinations.

You see,  originally we had planned to sail from BVI directly to the Grenadines, however, having quite a few mechanical issues come up which could not wait ; we set our course for Martinique, where we know we can find the help we need to address them.

When we pulled back into Le Marin Marina, again, on Sunday June 1st, (docked  “stern-to”-i.e. we had to back into the narrow berth- which is always an adventure!), we told the dock master that we would be staying, at most, three days, but a mere 24 hours later, once the mechanic had had a good look at the diesel engine (bad diesel picked up in St Lucia), he told us that "Le Marin Marina" would be home for at least two weeks !!!  Say what ??!! 

The new AMEL 64 next to us makes Amelie look tiny 

 I’ll be honest, the news was not greeted with cheers from anyone at our end, in fact there were many frowns on faces that day. Two weeks in Le Marin Marina !?!?What are we going to do??!! So, Mark found a good dentist to get a new  crown, at 1/3 the cost he paid in Canada. 

Mark getting a new crown

And Matthew and Meghan put on brave faces, finding positive things to focus on : Chocolate, Ice cream, Pastry shops, and riding bicycles,

and MC went to the Tourism Information Kiosk, to try to work something out, to find something fun to do, making lemonade out of these lemons. 

So, while Amelie got a herself a mini Make-over, which included;

• WaterMaker checked (again) and cleaned, including new hoses 
• Diesel fuel cleaned (polished) because of bad fuel we picked up somewhere in St Lucia
• Exhaust fan replaced
• Rigging checked (one shroud in particular looked at)
• Sail maker repaired a few spots on the main sail which need minor stitching
• Filled our propane tanks
• Main sail furling motor looked at (again)
• New Liferaft (since we could not find one in St Marteen)

We concentrated mostly on getting school done, finishing end of year projects and on the weekend we rented a car !  

Saturday we went to visit the “Musee du Coquillage” (seashell museum) where we saw 

thousands of species of seashells but also interesting specimens of fish and other sea creatures. We then went to see “Le Musee de la Pagerie” where Josephine, as in Napoleon Bonaparte’s First wife,  was born.

  

Josephine's home

Napoleon's wife, Josephine

Miniput

We then had a lovely lunch in Anse Mitan followed by a fun filled afternoon at “MangoFil"  (A giant outdoor park for kids). Matthew and Meghan enjoyed the enormous netted walkway- like an elaborate maze of trampoline through the trees- and then Mark kicked everyones butt at  miniputt. 

The giant outdoor park, MangoFil

Matthew making his way through the mesh maze

On Sunday we drove to the East Coast where we rented sea kayaks and made our way across to Islet Chancelet where we saw some impressive ruins of an old sugar plantation and encountered a few of the endangered  iguanas called “Iguana delicatissima”. These islands are the only place on earth where they still can be found. We then enjoyed a swim in the renown “Fonds Blancs” (white sandy bottoms). 

The endangered Iguana delicatissima

Old sugar plantation

Nature claiming back the buildings

Fonds Blancs

Enjoying a cool swim at Fonds Blancs

And to finish our weekend right,  we visited the “Domaine Clement” where the kids learned about Creole Life, Botany and Rhum Agricole and mom and dad got to do a tasting ! It is a great place to spend an afternoon. Very pretty grounds and very interesting to visit. 

                                               

Domaine Clement, Rum factory

Riding the cane train

That's a lot of rum !

Sugar Canes.

The beautiful grounds at Domaine Clement

Grenada Bound! When we got back that evening we received great news! The mechanic called and he will be able to start three days early and should be finished by Tuesday!  So we will aim to leave on Wednesday. To make up for lost time, we will not be stopping at the Grenadines as we had previously planned. We are setting or course directly for Grenada where we hope to meet up with our friends from SV Dartura before they leave for South America. 

The crossing should take us about 24 hours.

Week 9 Virgin Gorda, Norman and Cooper Islands (British Virgin Islands)

Thursday May 29th 2014

Being back in the Virgin islands has been great,we feel very comfortable here , having visited twice before (in 2010 and 2011) we know these islands well...but it is also very different from what we have become  accustomed too over the last few months. What I mean is that here in the BVIs we are surrounded by holidayers (who charter boats for a week or two) and some of these might be relatively new to sailing....This was evidenced a few times when we had to change course to get out of the way of people who clearly did not  know the  rules of the road/ or understand right-of-way). There is also a rather obvious lack of knowledge about radio etiquette or how to pick up a mooring ball, but hey, we were there once too and  not that long ago !  Still under these circumstances it feels very different for us . Every other place we have been, we are usually surrounded by seasoned sailors. I have to say, i feel much safer when we are around people who have been doing this awhile, and we sleep better too, people who charter boats for a week are generally “here for a good time, not a long time” and so Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday night “booze-fests” with loud music are quite a common occurrence here.

So, it is not the same community as we’ve seen with full time cruisers who are are generally more neighbourly, where it is very common for people to stop by and chat as they go by in their dinghy, or on the docks. Capt’n Mark  is especially good at this (that is why he is the designated social butterfly for our boat), having grown up in  small town Alberta, he is used to “kicking the tires” with just about anybody, he’s got that knack of starting up conversation with anyone standing right beside him. The first thing I hear Mark say when he gets back from errands is: “ So I ended up having a chat with.....”  Telling me about the new people he has met, where they are from, where they are going. I personally much prefer that community feel, and the unspoken rule that everyone looks out for one another, and  it is all about information sharing too : anything from the best place to find a good service, or boat parts, or places to visit, or places to avoid. I love it !  We have met some incredibly interesting and lovely people while cruising ! 

We did have a lovely encounter early last week:  While anchored in Marina Cay for the Full Moon Party (see my last blog),  we met the Crew from “AMELIE” from the UK (Stephen and Debbie). As they “dinghied” past us they hailed us: “Hey ! Great name for a boat!”.  We met up with them later on and learned that like us, they had named their boat after the film (Le Fabuleux Destin D’Amelie Poulin), and like us, they felt it was a great name. Amelie brings happiness to others !  This wonderful couple has already taken Amelie (or I should say that Amelie has taken them) around the world once. (They were part of the Oyster Round the World Rally), and they are going again, this time, more slowly. We had much to share with each other, and we enjoyed a lovely snorkel together followed by a beautiful meal onboard their Amelie, they served us swordfish, caught on the South Africa-South America crossing. Delicious !

It’s ba-aaack !   

The News Helicopter crew  (like the one we saw in Antigua during Race week) were with us again this past Sunday, back at doing their low flying stunts, amongst all the sailboats and between all the masts ! Honestly I don’t know how they do it, the pilot must have nerves of steel !  Anyways, this time they were capturing the “Annual Poker Run” here in the BVI’s. The Poker run is a one day event where boats race from island to island picking up cards to get the best poker hand at the end of the day. This event attracts all kinds of very loud, very fast speed boats, (most come from Puerto Rico, we have since discovered). We tried to stay out of their way as much as possible, at times we were almost swarmed by the boats coming in from all around us, SO fast, SO loud ! (Picture the loudest Harley Davidson you have ever heard) . So it was definitely not a relaxing Sunday sail, but neat to see all the same !  

Last weekend we took a break and just lounged around. To the delight of all on board, Cpt’n Mark raised the hammock over the water AND the swing out on deck ....it was a ideal place to enjoy the great beauty and many hues of blue found in the Virgin Gorda Sound.  

The Anchorage at Bitter End, Virgin Gorda

Saba Rock

Cpt’n Mark and MC  even got to have a night out “sans-children” on Saturday Night, from 8:30-10:00. our boat was moored a mere 20 feet from the Saba Rock restaurant. Matthew was already asleep and Meghan was happy to have some quiet time to work on a school project. We took our hand held radio with us, just as a precaution so that she could call us if needed, but really she could of hailed us from the boat deck, we were that close!  Still it was nice to have a mini get- away !

MC was so happy to have a chance to take part in her “Book Club”with her friends back In Ottawa (thanks to the technology of Skype and Facetime), although the connection was not ideal with some delays and image/sound issues), it was still SO great for her to hang out with the girls, share some wine and swap good stories, oh,  and we talked about the book too of course, called “The Rosie Project”, in case you are looking for a good read this summer, it is a very funny and easy read. 

Meg and her dad dove the wreck on of the Rhone and got some pretty spectacular footage on the go-pro camera (hopefully be able to share with you soon).In total, so far they have gone on four dives together and all have been very successful ! 

Our dinghy "Recess" gets officially christened

Meg carefully painting Recess

We did pull ourselves out of the hammock last weekend, just long enough to go for a  brisk hike on Virgin Gorda....Meghan made a comment that our hikes always seem to be UP HILL!  Well, I guess when your starting point is always “Sea-Level” it is hard to do anything but “go up!” Haha ! It is always a good cardio workout for everyone and there is inevitably a rewarding view we get to the top ! This hike was no exception, here is a view of the sound and of Saba Rock. 

We took the dinghy to a deserted beach after school one day for the official “baptism” of Amelie’s tender, Mark decided that “Recess” was a good name for the dinghy since it usually takes us out somewhere fun after school, and so “Recess” was unanimously accepted by the crew on AmelieIV.

Since Meg and MC have finished reading “Treasure Island” just a few days ago,we felt it was necessary for us to sail to Norman Island. This is the island which is rummoured to be the one that R.L. Stevenson based his “Treasure Island” on.  We had a FA-BU-LOUS snorkel at the CAVES and enjoyed exploring the beach, looking for the big black X but we didn’t see it ! 

So we leave tomorrow morning for a three day (non-stop) crossing, the kids longest so far. We are well prepared, the kids have all a list of  planned activities to do while underway, we have a watch schedule (taking turns at the helm and to allow for rest times for all). MC made all the meals ahead of time, the goal being, to simplify our lives as much as possible while we are sailing. The menu is quite simple: Yogourts and granola and fruit for breakfasts, sandwiches, hard boiled eggs, cheese and veggies for lunch and for dinners: pasta, chicken and rice and even a quiche !  

The best snorkelling happens at the Caves (Norman Is)

The floating bar at Norman Island is a popular meeting spot

Meg learning how to turn on the engine

Meg's project on the history of flight

A tiny friend

'The Indians', near Norman Island

Privateer Bay, Pirate's Bight,Treasure Island (Norman)

                    

Iguana crossing on Virgin Gorda

Upcoming plans : 

Like I said we are starting our descent South tomorrow morning. It should take us 2 1/2 - 3 days to sail to Martinique, where we have another maintenance stop  (it never ends). We will then head over to the Grenadines and then Grenada, where we will spend the bulk of the Hurricane Season (until September/October). There we will enjoy our summer break, meet up with other cruising friends and are really excited to greet our first guest onboard Amelie, when MC’s sister, nephew and niece will come down for a two week visit at the end of July !!!

Soon MC will have to write an end-of-year school report to the homeroom teacher. She looks forward to sharing all the progress that both Matthew and Meghan have made in the last few months. Meghan still has a few end of year projects  (LA, SS and SC) and one exam  (Math) to come as her core subjects are wrapping up nicely, We will be doing some other subjects in June (Health, French, Art and Music) to end the year. Matthew will not have any exams to end his school year, but a “progress report”  will outline all of his great progress.

School has been great, YES, really !! Both kids have applied themselves and seemed to have enjoyed the process and as for MC , she feels a tremendously honoured to have been able to teach her children again but everyone is looking forward to summer break so that we can have more time to do special projects, like: our puppets play to finalize and rehearse-See the Globetrotting Puppets Blog-.The never ending boat improvement projects list keeps growing, playing more games together and with other boat friends, going for walks in the mornings when it is still cool out, sleeping in ?  (Highly unlikely, but I can dream, can’t I ?)

Bitter End Virgin Gorda