The REAL Pirates of the Caribbean

After leaving beautiful St Lucia to start making our way south we were really excited to see what we would find next. Yet after reading up on NoonSite and talking to some fellow cruisers before we left, we learnt that St Vincent could, at times, be a dangerous place.

Jarvis in 1 of the coffins from the Movie

The Chateaublair anchorage in the north is currently deemed off limits due to the violence against cruisers, so instead we made our first stop Wallilabou bay. The entrance to the bay is incredible; like something off a movie! Well, actually make that like something off of three movies. All three Pirates of the Caribbean films were set for a large part in this bay. Mainly the Port Royal scenes for those movie fans of you. Yet when you get closer and after you have been through some quite aggressive interactions with the 'boat boys', you just see a run down, dilapidated beach that is scattered with debris and a lot of unwelcoming faces.

We spent two days there. Saw the most magnificent waterfall and abundance of fruit trees that mark the start of a thick jungle - fantastic exploring! However after two days we left in a hurry and we would not go back.

Every boat that came left straight after clearing customs (an insanely difficult process here by the way), and the only boat that hovered overnight stayed far enough away from the shore to (hopefully) deter any unwanted guests.

Why all this bother? Well we wondered that too until we had the first smiling face since arriving ask for a moment of our time and, very politely and genuinely, tell us to leave... and soon.

An old ex-US Military solider and now local security officer, Tony explained to us the dangers of the area. Robbery's, dingy thefts, boat boarding and violence being used in all. Only 2 weeks before our arrival a young American couple's boat was boarded by 3 men with machetes who tried to attack the man when we wouldn't give everything up. Luckily after his partner screamed and alerted another boat they left. The police response? Turn up late, shout at the couple and leave. This behavior is known by the police and the criminals are known as well yet nothing is done.  

These incidences will end up turning all sailors and tourists away from the areas. No one want to put their loved ones in danger and so people may start to skip St Vincent all together (as a lot of people i know have). This would be such a shame to miss out on seeing such a beautiful place but when there are possibilities of meeting real Pirates of the Caribbean... people, including us, are not going to take any chances.

So, bye bye St Vincent - we are outta here!

Tia and Jarvis, over and out!

Help in theToolbox

When a problem arises on board, stress is much reduced when you have the correct tools and equipment. In the middle of the sea you have to hope that you came well prepared and have good improvisation skills, because there will be no help for hours, potentially days. This means that when you do hit land, and when you find a Chandlery or a hardwear store - take full advantage! 

Our biggest gripe for boat maintenance isn't that we have a problem but that we quite often find ourselves without the ability to provide a solution. This is not due to ability but lack of fittings (in our case 90% of the time this means stainless steel bolts or shackles).

Regarding tools, well we are equipped up to the eye balls. But as for fittings, no matter how many we buy we always seem to need more and with facilities in remote areas few and far between we quite often seem stuck. You can use NoonSite and other resources to find out if the area you are going to will have places to re-supply. But quite often what we would define as a hardware store, is not how the local hardware owner will define it. 

How happy we have been to be in Rodney Bay for a few days and have all the facilities we could ask for. Once again we have bought everything we can think we will need but I'm sure there will be more. 

We have found the key things to stock up on, and also to be aware of are:-

• Stainless steel bolts, shackles and screws
• Circa-clips!!!
• Rope - of all sizes, lengths and types.
• In-line fuses, relays and wire crimps
• Be aware of the size of fittings - metric or imperial 
• The quality of things you buy in places may not be nearly as good as back home
• SPARES, SPARES, SPARES! You may not think that little tiny part, that was brand new may break... but it probably will. 
• And whatever you buy... get two!

Toolbox of spares... 1 of 3!!

Remember the scouts motto and you and your boat should be able to have a smile when the next problem occurs.


On a happy note - after our re-stocking we managed to get the spares we needed to fix the bow thruster. It turned out to be a broken main switch that had shattered components inside it - switch-o,change-o and voila moving our hefty long keel boat just became a doddle again!

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

The Three 'R's of St Lucia

St Lucia provides so many new experiences to have and things to learn but in particular it has definitely given me a new appreciation for the following three R's:-

1. Rain
2. Re-supplying
3. Roaming 

Rain
I knew we would be here in the rainy season but experiencing it is very different. Yes indeed it is officially here and has given us a very wet welcome! Other than the whole open-shut game with the hatches, and having to keep tipping out the dingy, it is causing a lot of bother in trying to get any washing dry. I am now on a record of 12 items pegged and un-pegged 9 times in 2 hours... determination or stupidity?? Not sure. But there is nothing like swimming and then having the heavens open. Swimming and having warm rain fall on you is bliss so it's not all bad :)



Re-supplying
Going shopping here is a very fun experience. Up until now there have been very few places to buy things all under one roof and fewer that have a wide selection . Yet St Lucia littered with  'Super J' supermarkets which are exceptionally well stocked and really well priced. It's like being a kid in a sweet shop. You don't realise how spoilt for choice we have it back home. Most places have been either expensive for things you want , the don't have them or you get one option only. You could tell that we had been missing it all after taking 2 hours to complete one shop! The best parts? Huge slabs of Sirloin steak for less than £3, big bottle of rum for £2 and the most delicious Mango's coming in for the equivalent of 5 for £1... that's a good solid diet right?

Roaming
St Lucia has to be one of the easiest places to get around I have ever visited. The local mini buses come by at least once every 5 minutes  and can take you to every corner of the island. Plus there is never a dull moment when you travel. The sharp corners taken at 70 that edge the sheer cliffs or the game of chicken that they like to play overtaking other cars (or lorries) on blind corners keep you very awake and alert.. plus there is always the radio. Normally it pumps out brilliant local Reggeton or a mixture of drum and bass and reggae to keep your toes tapping but our most recent journey was to the tune of the 'Love Doctor'. 'What is Love?' and 'How men can show it better' were the topics of the day and got everyone on the bus in a brilliant back and forth discussion. Even the driver chipped in and, as a couple on the bus, we got involved as well. It was brilliant fun and to be honest I was sad to reach our stop.


Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

Spot the difference

Up until last week our journey had either been insane-o 'hello-goodbye' rushing or, when in one place, has been stupidly happy times with amazing friends. Due to that we have had very little interaction with other cruisers... up until now. Previously there has been the odd quick drink, a passing discussion on the weather (very english) or a coincidental passing when shopping for last minute supplies in the supermarket, yet it has only been in the few weeks that we have had some good solid conversations with some wonderful travellers and I think it has made us very aware of some of the big differences between us.

Conversations have yeilded these things over and over again:-

1. Every cruiser we have met so far have been 'on the sea' for AT LEAST 2 years
2. Not one of them have any plans to stop this amazing lifestyle and are just going to keep going either indefinately or until they tire of it
3. All the yachts in question are much bigger and better equiped

Now here is my point... If you look on those amazingly helpful cruising sites e.g. Cruiser Forum, you will find a million and one threads on the budget that people have to undertake such an adventure (probably one of the most talked about items that gives the least amount of solid answers). There are polls on how people fund everything, what you can afford to get by on and, true enough to an answer I keep on hearing, "You can sail on what ever you have", there seem to a good wide range of people from both end of the scale. So my question is.. where are all the people like us?  Where are the uber budgeters? The ones that are limited in time and have a 'go home' date? and... to be frank... the less organised ones?? (Surely we are not alone)

 For us, like it or not, we ARE limited in the amount of time we can do this. We saved our butts off for ages and, even with our hard work to fix up and kit out our lovely Croc Bones, she is still much less equiped than most (No water maker, no generator, lower quality sails etc) due to funds. That same reason also means we are strictly budgeted for this trip. What does that mean in reality??? Well put simply - in Feburary 2012 we will be heading home.

We could have saved for longer. We could have lower budgets each month (but where is the fun in not actually DOING anything). We could probably use all our wiles and find sponsorship or work our way around, be care-free and aimless. But we haven't and honestly we are really happy with our plan. There are not many people our age who get over a year off work, learn a whole new life style from scratch, learn a whole new skill from scratch and get to see half the world! 

We may be pretty different to most of the cruisers out there,and potenially seem like 'part-timers'. But right now we are loving our lives and knowing that this IS going to come to an end is making us enjoy each and every minute of it! I just hope we can either meet others like us or at least inspire people who think that they can't do something amazing until thay have no strings attached - you can. Use those strings to guide you and push them to the limit... you will have the best time of your life!

Gros Islet beach

Seamoss and run...  a local favourite

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

A pause in paridise

After another lazy day in Marigot Bay (hehe that rhymed) eating beautiful fresh passion fruits and swimming around the lagoon we headed the final short distance north to Rodney Bay. This is as far north as we are planning to go until Hurricane Season is over and done and I am very happy to finally be at this point. We have booked in for three nights, looking realistically to stay until at least Tuesday before the toodle on south. It's an exceptionally well stocked marina with all facilities needed and Jarvis has even spotted a huge hardware warehouse that can be seen from the boat that he is itching to check out!

So now that we are all tied up, have power, water and all the other 'luxuries' that we had before so taken for granted and had a full night of enjoying sleeping without any rocking (a serious novelty) it is time to get back to business on the maintenance side of things..

There are currently two core problems causing drama on Croc Bones:-

1. The Bow Thruster. It is completely non functional - one day it worked and then.. nada. This made for some pretty excessive 3 point turns in the marina when we arrived! We could live without this mainly anchoring everywhere for a while but we will need it by the time we get to Columbia and best to do it while the boat is not moving.
2. A bigger problem...our batteries are being funky. That is to say that they are not charging fully, despite what the battery monitor is saying, and then are discharging at twice that rate! It is getting worse quickly and is now to the point of needing to charge them for at least 3 hours a day even when we are just on anchor and not using the autopilot (our biggest power drain)

Jarvis man-mechanic to the rescue... hoping to come back to you all with good news tomorrow.

In the meantime check out the 'Maintenance Jobs' section of the site where we are starting to put down all the back dated maintenance 'fun' we have had along the way. This includes all the costs, overspends, and solutions we found and will be being updated by the man himself as we go.  The first section is now up and at'em and the developments of our progress up to where we are now and beyond, will be coming regularly!

So, whilst my lovely mechanic gets his fixing skills on, I intend to finally cave in and *gulp* ... clean, wash and the like. But hey, when your washing pile becomes this big...

... maybe it's time!

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out

Spruce as a Moose???

And then there were two...

It is now back to just Jarvis and I on the boat until around October time. After a heartfelt 'so long' to our friends we came back to the boat and thought we'd give her a clean up.. y'know, potter around a bit have a look at the battery situation (getting oh so much worse on the charging front since the new alternator..eep) and, as we have awesome internet, do all the little jobbies that keep pileing up.

....6 hours later we have hardly made a dent!

All those little things that we have been putting off from a full oven blitz to a hull scrub and then from catching up with emails to friends to sorting banking.... the time seems to just munch it's way through the day. Maybe we have been boatified too long now and are used to having a whole day just to do the washing up... but it just seems immence the sheer amount of things to do!!

Internet time is sparce as a general rule - so those kind of things go in a very tight order of importance:-

1. Email the mums (we love them and they worry)
2. Update the blog & FaceBook (to let everyone we know, and some we don't, be in the know as to our adventures)
3. Email selection of friend on a rolling rota (sad i know but only way we can email everyone)
4. Upload photos
5. Other - internet banking, finding info about places, donwloading music/books/recipies (when we get awesome connection)

And as for the boat jobbies, well in 32 degree weather it makes most of them seem like a "we'll do it tomorrow"  task instead.

So now we are left with a list as long as long as my arm of stuff to do and, to be honest, apart from the emailing and blogging, we really have no desire to do any of it!

With a view like this...

Marigot Bay nestled into the rainforest :)

... I think the accounts, the cleaning, the boat maintenence and clothes washing can all be relegated to a job for 'mañana', after all it's only each other who has to deal with it now so erm.. no cleaning until October it seems :)


 Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

Choices

With our two beautiful friends here in the Caribbean for a few more days we decided to add another island to their belt before they left. A quick click for a flight and they were headed out from Barbados to St Lucia for the last 4 days of our time together.With a small bitter sigh of regret we packed up and left Bridgetown to head on to Vieux Fort.

Now this incurred much regret on my part for two reasons:-

1.  We only had 1 week of rest compared to having 3 weeks at sea. This did not sit well with me (I am thinking it should always be at least a 1:1 ratio)
2. I honestly couldn't imagine anything better than Barbados.... Turtles, Happiest people in the world.. i mean, why would I want to leave!? 

But it didn't take too much persuasion after seeing the photos in our Cruising Guide for St Lucia, so after bagging a priceless Boat Of The Marina photo...

hello to the Jolly Rodger 2 in Bridgetown. I think this is our boat role model. One day we will too be as Piratey as this bad boy, until then "Ahoy Me Harties"

  ...we packed up and headed onwards.

A happy 16 hour sail on a broad reach sent Croc Bones scooting into the night sky. There were fireworks that intertwined with the stars above during my watch that were marking the start of celebrations for Whit Monday. A local religious holiday that is followed by a massive food festival that lines the streets and made the sail really enjoyable.

We arrived and crashed into deep sleep until early afternoon. After the customary eventfulness of going through immigration and customs ( a back and forth go-here-go-there-wait-go-back-wait-stay-more wait annnnnnnnnnnnnd done) we spent the evening catching up with our friends and staring blissfully out into another breathtaking, burning sunset.

An early rise the next day sent us on our way up to Souffrire. Now its a Win-Loose situation this 'being in the wrong place for hurricane season' malarkey. We win because there is no one around and we get pretty much the whole of paradise to ourselves... but we loose because we are now on constant alert for weather warning and are paying close attention to the NOAA website.

Souffrire means "Air of Sulphur" and the smell definitely backs that up.  After dropping anchor outside a bat cave!! OMG, very freaky and cool! We started with a climb up Petite Piton.. the smaller and non-tourist traveled Piton mountain (after starting up you can very much see why). 650m of huge boulders, sheer cliffs and tight crevices means you need to be on top form and have your wits around you to get up. We very cleverly (ehem) climbed at midday and devoured the 12 litres of water we took with us. 4 hours later and feeling a bit worse for ware our boat boy posse made up of Kevin, Darren and Xpert (Jarvis thought he said he was an X-man) took us to the local mud and Sulphur baths to ease away aches and pains .....

We climbed the one on the left

..and to throw hot mud at each other. Finally topping the day off with a visit to the Piton Waterfalls which were closed, not that that seemed to hinder anything. We splashed and played without a care in the world until the sun started to go down and then headed back to end an amazing day with a full belly of food. The owner was this awesome local guy who very excitedly told us he had, for 15 years, lived right by where my Mum and Jarvis' Dad had been born in London. What a small world.  

Bat man??

It's an incredible feeling having every moment take your breath away more than the last... i can only hope it doesn't stop anytime soon.

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out

Lazy Caribbean days

It’s 7:00am. Croc Bones’ gentle rocking makes waking up harder than it should be despite the blazing sunshine streaming in that has already been inching up the horizon for almost two hours.  We have now been here in beautiful Barbados for 7 days and it feels like we have fallen into some parallel time warp. The hours move by so lazily but it seems only yesterday we were giddily excited by the sight of land and being overwhelmed by all the smells it brings (Completely true about senses going nuts if they have been deprived of stimulation). 

After our two ‘de-boat’ days we headed back to our little world by the sea. Croc Bones is nestled right up by the beach in Carlile Bay, you can (and we do) easily swim to shore. We spent the remaining few days before Ben and Aimee arriving in ‘post Atlantic boat repair’. The Alternator turned out to not be repairable after closer inspection so Jarvis took a 3 hour tour-de-taxi around the southern parts of the isle to meet all the local wreckers... and ending up buying an old one from a Mazda from the Taxi Driver himself called Jason. A dude in all  respects – gave the full briefing of island life; from Sugar Cane growing, hurricane effects felt here in the past.. right to his supreme luck ‘wit da ladies’ (his wife not knowing of course). 

We rose with the sun, painted the binicle (the body part that holds up the wheel, compass etc), sanded, varnished, built BBQ stands and tables and even found time to start scrubbing all the life that had made home on the bottom of the boat. The afternoons were spent taking the dingy and driving into town. I love it here how the Careenage channel for boats literally ends in the heart of town. So after a 10 minute drive – Voila, no walking in the baking 32 degree heat!

The town itself seems a delightful mixture of English formality, American consumerism and local hospitality all bundled together to create such a welcoming place where you can really get anything and everything you need in such an orderly fashion. Twice a week the town turns into a frenzie when the cruise ships come in and suddenly every inhabitant comes out of the woodwork to match the influx of tourists. I have to admit, its incredibly refreshing to see people who do not view tourists as a necessary evil but actually welcome them. The politeness and random “how you going’s” from complete strangers on the street is a big shift in culture change but extremely welcome! 

We thought it would be a fun start to Ben and Aimee’s holiday to start with a real Pirate like Treasure hunt, so like the big kids we are we sat and worked out clues, drew maps and ‘piratised’ pieces of paper for their hunt and then casually went around places in the south depositing clues. The final X marks the spot was right here on Croc Bones and in blistering time they nailed the riddles and came motoring along on the dingy we had left for them. A brilliant welcome and chill out night followed and then came the fun...

A sample of our treasure hunt

We sat with swimwear on, snorkels in hand and waited for the tourist boats to come out right near us where they boast to people how they can feed the turtles (for a hefty sum). As soon as their turtle leader hit the water so did we and suddenly the 360 degree underwater world had turtles of all sizes swimming around us. About 10 came and went, not shy but not dangerously tame either and although they made you work for it, you could touch their shells or under their bellies as they swam by. Amazing doesn’t quite cover it. Best experience to date. They stayed for about 20 mins until the sushi ran out and then were on their way but with the help of our underwater camera we got the most amazing pictures. 

Up close and personal with the TURTLES!!

It really hits it home how lucky we are to be here. So many more wonderful things to do and this is only Caribbean island no. 1!

Awesome food after a great day out!

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out.

Not by the hair on my chinny, chin, chin.

I would say that for at least the past month, possibly two, there have been some impending imposters gaining presence on the boat with us. They are big, unruly and almost needs their own space on the yacht.

As you can see they are pretty big!!

Jarvis has yet to cut hair or beard in over 4 months but i dont think it was until we hit civilisation again that we realised just how hairy he had become... but hey he is definately working the salty sea dog look.

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out

It's been a long time coming

I guess it's possible for people to think we had given up. It's been well over a month since I last posted and although I am quick to blame dodgy Internet connections and a few extreme rush scenarios.. truth be told I have been slack because the time for the crossing was getting very close, and I wasn't sure we were going to do it.

But hey, you can guess by now where we are right? White sand, wonderful people, beautiful vegetation and wildlife.

BARBADOS!


Ok so quick re-cap...

Mr UPS did not deliver in GC so we went and bought a kindle wannabe, yet with a weather window fast closing we had to immediately dash off after – so no blog update sadly.

It took 10 days all up to reach Cape Verde. The journey was good – no problems with the boat, or our supplies but exceptionally glad we got the new E-Book (.

Mindelo on Sao Vincent island was a whole new experience. Rasta guys everywhere with long dreadlocks that hang to their waists, women carrying their washing effortlessly on top of their heads. We especially liked our dingy watcher; this little guy called Elton John. Yes seriously that was his name. I don't think he understood the wide grin on my face as I asked for the third time “ Did you say Elton John?”. The people there were fitness fanatics. The early evenings spent running up and down the beach and stopping to do sit ups, push ups and squats which are then followed by capoeria sessions on the sand.

Local Graffiti in Cape Verde

We spent a whole day provisioning for the crossing giving 'shop around' a whole new meaning. We had a vast amount of fruit and veg but meat there was sparse and mainly frozen so we only had enough for about 3-4 meals. A lot of hope was being placed on our fishing line.

We only stayed in Cape Verde for 3 days, knowing that we were cutting it fine for crossing. With our goal of sub 21 days it would mean arriving on the last day of May.

The Crossing

I have to admit it was a pretty uneventfully time. We were prepared for the worst but we only ever had a few pitter patters of rain (which was often a very welcome relief) and only maximum of 15 knots increase in wind. After about a week in the winds got exceptionally light and we dug out out Gennaker Sail to whizz down the waves in a beautiful flourish or primary colours.. its a pretty sail and gives you something more interesting to look at other that blue sea, blue sky!

We had a shark follow us for a few days, early mistaken for a dolphin and oh so glad i did not try to feed it, we didn't manage to catch a single fish (fail on the fishermen front) but were bombarded with shovel loads of mini flying fish decorating the deck every night.

We only had two problems the whole way:-
1) The alternator's voltage regulator failed and there were moments of 'oh dear lord we are going to have to hand sail the boat 24 hours a day for the rest of the way' (being at least 10 more days) but Jarvis proved how lucky we are he is a tinkerer once again when he conjured up a home made version with some lightbulbs he 'aquired' from other places.

Note to self: If it looks to good a deal to buy an alternator off ebay from a Chinese import.. it really it *lesson learned*

2) When the winds finally picked up on the second to last day and we tried to take down our sunshine sail, the pulley snapped off at the top of the mast and with some uber waves making an appearance we had to just roll it on its self and tie it down as best possible and hope it didn't break.

...and that's it. The full extent of Atlantic crossing excitement. Other than that our lives consisted of reading about a book a day, living around the excitement of each meal and, the best part, really taking our time to further get to know each other and if nothing else that part would have made it all worth while.

Drinking Champange at Sunset.. almost there!!

So 21 days later and as good as our word on time.. it was 'Land Ahoy' and everything from the past four months was suddenly worth it.

Now to the good stuff
First things first... as non eventful as the crossing was, after three weeks in a boat it was time for some Land Lubbing and after a quick clearing of customs, we landed in an Internet cafe, found a nearby apartment/hotel and have treated ourselves to two days of air con, showers, pool and amazingly comfy beds. The Irony, the place is called 'Pirate Inn' (http://piratesinnbarbados.com) and is nautical themed - Doh!


We have only had two days here so far and although with the intent of 'relax to the max' we have encountered a surprising amount of amazing things already with last night being the 'piece de resistance'. After a chilled day in the pool and down the beach we wandered down the boardwalk to 'Blakeys' bar. It sits propped up on hardstands and decking with stairs right down to the ocean. It was late by the time we ate and then we noticed random movement on the sand, we went to investigate to find 3 large female Letherback Turtles digging holes and preparing to lay eggs! It was unreal. We stood a meter away watching their legs kick back huge amounts of sand as they dug away. It took 20 minutes and a wonderful local girl told us all about the turtles, how they always come back to lay their eggs where they were born themselves, about the different kinds on the islands and how the conservation programme his is so strong. For me amazing doesn't quite cover it and I now cant wait to go to the local spots where you can snorkel with them.

The food is delicious and full of unique tastes.( Last nights hotpot dinner with Pork and Oxtail was done in Giuanan pepper hot sauce - YUM!! ) I have never met kinder, friendlier people and the laid back attitude is perfect.

In 4 days time Ben and Aimee (Jarvis' friends from Oz) will be arriving and we will get share all these beautiful things with them. Until then we will be settling into this new lifestyle and counting our lucky stars that we didn't give up.

It still shocks me how long term sailors name the Atlantic 'the pond' to reflect the lack of impact that crossing it has on them. Lots have done it 3, 4 times now. No big deal right? Well, it's be one hell of a long time getting here, from planning this trip almost 2 years ago now, to the sail and all the trials we have had to face, so to me 'pond' is not quite fitting, I think I'll stick to Ocean to reflect our travels to date, but would we do it all again to get here? ... HELL YEA!

Atlantic Sunset.. beautiful :)

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out