Martinique and Dominica - 5th Jan to 12th Jan 2014

The first day at Martinique we were all so tired from the rough night so we just spend a lazy day on the boat sleeping and resting. We also tried in Martinique to get a few supplies we needed, like filters, gas etc. But we weren’t too successful... Ben of course decided to get better now (which we were glad of course, as it really was just tonsillitis) but still got easily exhausted. After another day of rest for him, we hired a car for two days to explore the island. The first day we did the east of the island, which is a bit rougher on the Atlantic side. We visited a rum distillery.

On the second day on our way to explore the west side of the island we finally picked up some water skies for Jack! This side of the island is very lush and has lots and lots of winding roads through the mountains and we saw the most beautiful gardens in Balata, a lovely waterfall and the nice little town called St Pierre, which was completely destroyed in 1803 by the local volcano. 29000 people died that day! Really nice day! (Oh, this last sentence was referring to our day, not St Pierre!)

Beautiful Hummingbirds

Back to the ocean again on the 9^th in the afternoon... up to Dominica. As long as we were in the lee of Martinique we had a lovely sail with flat seas and about 20 knot winds. We were flying along with over 9 knots! As soon as we came in between the islands it started!! We put all the reefs in before we stuck our neck out to the open ocean and changed the headsail to the stay sail... now we had rough seas, and winds gusting up to 50 knots! It was not very nice. But again, the boat handled it well! Once we were again in the lee of Dominica this time, the winds dropped again and all was calm. We got to our anchorage in the north of the island, Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth at about 4:30 am. As soon as we tried with a torch to find an anchorage it of course started blowing and raining again heavily!!! By 5:30 Pete and I fell exhausted to bed and had a good sleep.

Lots of snorkelling, swimming and exploring the little town of Portsmouth and a game of Poker at night!

Pete buying some fresh coconuts of a local, 'Ravioli'. they often come around with their colourful boats to offer fruit, veggies, fish or lobser.

On the 11^th early Alexix came to pick us up for a tour of the Indian River. What a beautiful trip! A little river that is soon covered in vegetation, building a roof over the river.  The blood trees (the local Indians used its red sap to paint their faces with it), coconut trees everywhere, wild hibiscus, lots of birds (hummingbirds and herons) and the local crabs on the riverbanks.  And we followed again in the footsteps of Johnny! Here at the river is the hut of Lady Calipso from the 2^nd Pirates of the Caribbean! And then we had a juice and tea (and only a bit of rum) at a bar in the jungle, where Johnny and Orlando have been partying during the filming of Pirates of the Caribbean. (Hey Sandy, we are getting closer, we will find him!!!) This really was a great tour! And Alexis was a fantastic and nice tour guide with lots of local knowledge and stories about his childhood.

 On the way to indian river we stopped for a while at the local markets.

 Alexis

The Indian river

Lady Calipso's hut from Pirates of the Caribbean

The jungle bar

The rest of the day Kate studied, as we had internet for 24 hours and Jack finally had his time on the skies!  He came back with the biggest smile on his face!

Sightseeing again on the 12^th, Chaudiere Pool and the red rocks with Jeff. It was another fantastic day. We had a nice drive in Jeff’s van around the lush green tropical island to get to Chaudiere Pool. It was a nice little muddy and slippery hike to the waterfall. As Dominica is so tropical and mountainous, it rains there every couple of hours and with this, the ground is always wet and slippery and muddy. The kids could have spent all day at the waterfall. Even though the fall wasn’t very high, it was lots of fun. A lot of water crashed down into a pool, which was like a whirl pool. But the best fun was that they could climb the rocks on either side of the fall and jump. They even made me jump! And I hated it!! But I did it! (Oh, the pressure of the family!! ‘You can do it mum!’)

Being on the red rocks, was a tiny bit like walking on Ayers Rock, except it being at the ocean! Beautiful views. On the way there, Jeff drove us through his village (lovely place to live on the beach), showed us his house and introduced us to his wife. Another fantastic day!

Dominica was for me the prettiest island we had seen so far. I just loved the lushness and jungle look of the island. But saying so, I liked all the islands we have seen, each one was so different from the one before and all had something we liked.

Mayreau (Tobago Keys) and Union Island - 29th to 1st of Jan 2014

After we left Bequia we wanted to go to Tobago Keys, which is a very big coral reef, but the winds were very strong and we have been advised, that snorkeling or diving is not too good in rough weather there (the whirled up sand makes the visibility so bad). So instead we went around the corner to Mayreau, with a beautiful beach, little huts in the sand, looked like something from a postcard. 

 A few drinks at the bar (Bob Marley being present everywhere). so funny, when they had to use the blender to make cocktails, they had to turn the lights off, as the power wouldn't cope with both.

We spend a lazy day there, with walks, snorkeling, playing boules at the beach. Ben had been sick now for a couple of days with his fever increasing and a sore throat. He had been spending his days since the 27^th in bed sleeping. On the morning of the 30^th his fever got even higher so we decided to take him to a doctor and sailed to Clifton on Union island. He had tonsillitis and was dehydrated. For new Years Eve we went to the other side of union island, to Chatman Bay. Another beautiful anchorage with only a few huts on the beach, which were restaurants or bars. We booked in with ‘Boldhead’ for a fantastic New Years eve dinner with 38 guests all up in the hut. The meals for all these people were cooked on a 2 burner stove!! Amazing! Put to that some lovely steel drum music and nice company of the other cruisers, we spend the evening eating, drinking, dancing and making new friends. One of the bars even put a little firework on at midnight! Happy New Year!

 Walk on top of the hill at Union Island

New years we sailed back to Bequia to check out of the Grenadines again. Oh, yes, I haven’t mentioned this yet. Every time you come to a new country (pretty much every island here!) you have to check in and out of the country. But it is easier than I thought. Custom offices are pretty much everywhere here, just a lot of paperwork to fill in... The sail to Bequia was very rough. The winds are very strong here at the moment. Very unusual weather for this time of year. People say, it is not normal. It is weather like in summer, when the wet and hurricane season is on. Normal for this time of year are 10 to 15knot winds with calm seas. Instead the winds are constantly around 30knots, gusting up to 50 knots. On Christmas morning there was a very strong storm with landslides, which killed people on St Vincent and St Lucia! Very sad!

Back at Bequia Pete and Kate went for their first dive with our equipment. It was a major task for the two of them to set it all up. But they got rewarded with a nice dive at Devils Table. Kate went very well, she just loves it. On the next morning, Kate, Lisa and I went for a hike to the turtle sanctuary on the island, but got a ride half way through as it was further than we thought but beautiful beaches on the way...  at the sanctuary  Mr King collects the turtle eggs from the beach to get a higher survival rate. In the wild only one of 3000 eggs grow into a grown turtle. He has so far over 900 turtles released!

 walk to the turtle sanctuary

That night we left Bequia to have an overnight sail to Martinique. Ben still wasn’t improving even with the antibiotics he was taking and we were starting to worry he might have glandular fever. So we thought  Martinique will have good possibilities for doctors, as it is a French island. The sail through the night was another very, very rough one, with Pete doing most of the shift... All we could have out was a reefed main and the stay sail. But I must say the boat handles it very well (not the crew so much, besides pete we all feel sick when it get so rough...)

Bequia - 23rd to 29th December

On the morning of the 23^rd we set sail again heading south towards Bequia to spend Christmas there. The wind was steady and we sailed along with an average of about 7 knots with the main and head sail up. 

Sailing past St Vincent with the most spectacular coastline, like something out of Jurassic Park! Absolutely beautiful. Anchored in a little bay for a couple of hours for a snorkel and swim and arrived in Bequia in Admiralty Bay  just before sun set. Bequia is a little island which belongs to the Grenadines. We got a good mooring, close to the shore, which worked out not so good after all.... they also have the xmas celebrations, but because of all the cruising boats moored here, the partying is not just a family affair like in Laborie but is a bit louder and lasts a bit longer. We were all very tired, poor little Aiden had a fever and was crying all night, we where hot and the music was blaring (and I am sure it was getting louder as the night went on) until 3 am! I think I finally fell asleep by about 4:15am... so the next morning we decided to sail around the other side of the island to Friendship Bay for a peaceful Christmas Eve and Christmas morning. Before we left we bought of the locals 6 big lobsters for our Christmas eve dinner. So the rest of the24^th we swam and snorkelled and prepared a yummy dinner with lobster, chicken wings and a big salad. 

 Admiralty Bay

 And on the 25^th Santa did find us after all!!! With our beautiful decorated boat, the cascading blue lights around the cockpit and our Christmas tree he just couldn’t miss us. Everybody was happy with all their pressies. Christmas dinner with baked ham and vegies was delicious. Boxing day we spend with a whole lot of other Aussies who are here at the moment, like Robyn, Phil and Josh from Kondili playing cricket at the beach. In the lack of cricket bats and balls we used oars and a tennis ball. I even had a bat and managed to knock the umpire out with the ball going smack bang straight in his mouth! So there went my chance of being best bats woman, which was given to Kate!

That night we all went to listen to a steel drum band and partied until late. Music is always happening on these islands with the reggae beat always there. Love the country and people. The next couple of days more exploring and swimming and snorkeling. The water is nice and warm here, even I just jump in the water (everybody who knows me, it means a lot, must be pretty warm!).

Jack and Lisa on the paddle board

Havachat in Admiralty Bay