Dolce Vita

Wednesday, July 25, 2012

Caribbean Islands and more

I know, not to be repetitive, but it has been too long since last blog but I have been busy enjoying paradise. Also I have not had a good enough internet connection until I arrived here in Granada, West Indies.

The last blog highlighted my voyage through the Bahama islands. Now it is time to share the same with you as I cruised through the Eastern Caribbean. I am in Granada which is considered the bottom of the Caribbean, best known as part of the windward islands. To arrive here I visited the following islands and anchorages after leaving the Bahama islands. There was also stops at much smaller islands that are off the beaten trail.

Turks and Caicos,Dominican Republic, Puerto Republic, Spanish Virgin Islands, American Virgin Islands, British Virgin Island, St. Martin, St. Kits, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent, Bequia, Tobago Cays, Union Island, Carriacou, and finally Granada. Since leaving Panama a year ago last May, I have 3800 nautical miles under my keel. I have experienced everything from complete boredom to terror. That is sailing, and you can switch from one to the other in a few seconds. Despite that, here I am for another year while I wait until the end of another hurricane season. I will be hanging here, doing some local area sailing until November and experience all of that Granada offers. I am hoping that some friends will be joining me in January to sail north to St Vincent. Until then, I will be pushing off from here in March for Panama with a stop in Bonaire. Bonaire is off the coast of Venezuela. This island is one of three islands in a chain that is often referred to as the ABC's all belonging to the Dutch.

Enough of this chatter. It is time to share some photos with a few words of what you are viewing. I wish I could tell you from which islands the photos were taken but I can't remember last week much less last month. I guess it is not important where the photos were taken but more what it shows of the beauty that I experience down here every day. The people and the islands has been a wonderful experience that I wish all of you could one day can experience.

Here are some representative photos of islands as we approach yet another anchorage. The islands along the eastern Caribbean and very close to each other. The longest distance is 80 km.

Here is a small fishing village where we enjoyed ourselves for a couple of days.

The below island must me one of the three French speaking islands. It is around 10 in the morning and nothing is open. The French are not know to be hard workers. They arrive at work at 10:00, close three hours for lunch a 12:00, open at three and again close at 6:00. Saturday they work only until noon and then off until Monday. NO ONE works on Sundays.

We enjoy hiking and the views it offers from the top of hills.

Dolce Vita is waiting and resting

This is one of the many British Islands in the Caribbean.

This is a copy of a clock in London. Does anyone recognize it?

We stopped and had fun with these children who were taking a break from their studies at school..

A creature from the black lagoon.

A pleasant garden.

Many of the islands have forts that date back to the 1700 and 1800's. They were either built by the French, Spanish, Dutch or the British to protect the islands that they took over after killing all of the native people.

This point of land is located were the Atlantic Ocean meets the Caribbean Sea.

The fire trees, as they are called, were in full colors. The colors can be white, bright red or orange.

Many of the islands' homes are painted in bright colors. This building is conservative when compared to most.

We went to the beach one evening for eats and drinks and had a great time with the locals. These two owned the small grass hut where we had a fun evening laughing and telling tall stories to each other and the other locals at he bar.

The above photo is of homes that lost their roofs from the last hurricane and have, as yet, not been rebuilt.

My camera went bad so I had to buy a replacement so I deciding to try an under-water camera that might last longer in this salty environment. This is Maggie. For those of you that may have forgotten, Maggie joined be in Key West, Florida to sail with me to Granada. She lives in Sydney, Australia.

A smile that suggests that my new friend is saying "hello strange creature".

The corral at many of these islands is damaged either from the environment or from hurricanes. The governments are doing what they can to rebuild them which will take many years. Many have set up areas were they have created marine parks with restrictions that protect the corral and the fish.

More flame trees.

A small fishing village.

Off we go on another hick.

Here we are taking a trail to the water falls.

Maggie taking a shower.

Save to poor iguanas so they don't become road kill.

An orange flame tree.

Remember my note about colorful homes and building?

We were anchored near the beach off of down town.

Beautiful church steeple.

I wonder who the architect was for this building.

Time to relax on the beach.

Maggie loves to swim and climb hills. She and a guide climbed up to the shoulder of the hill in the middle of the photo. I stayed behind to protect the boat and the beer from thieves.

There are many more photos and stories to share but if I continue, you will become bored and not finish scrolling through the blog because it has become to long. So I will stop here so you can digest what you have seen and read so far. I will return soon to add another chapter to my adventures at sea. Until then, be safe out there.

Thursday, May 10, 2012

Text update to last Blog

My last blog was short on substance because of shitty Wi-Fi connections for the past month. As such, I quickly uploaded some photos that I thought you might enjoy with little or no background. It is time to correct that failure and put together some text that relates to some of the photos and adventures Maggie and I have had for the past 3 months.

We pulled out of Marathon, Florida on February 15^th and pointed the sails to cross the great Gulf Stream toward the Bahaman Islands. The sail was comfortable and we arrived a day later to check-into the Bahaman islands at Cat Cay. After a one day stop over there we were off to Chub Cay in the Biminis island chain. We pulled anchor at 5:30am and headed across the Great Bahamas banks. We sailed across the bank for more than 10 hours with the depth of water never exceeding more than 12 feet deep. My boat is 5.5 feet deep so we had 4.5 feet or less water under the keel. We would never consider sailing in waters as shallow as this in the Pacific but you better get used to it if you are going sailing in the Caribbean. You also need to get used to going aground. I have set a new personal record for going aground. Fortunately, it is sand so you can back out if you don’t want to wait for higher tide.

Chub Cay was an expensive marina with very few services other than a pleasant white sandy beach. From there we sailed east and anchored off a small island were we found Flo’s café. The food was excellent if you didn’t mind eating by candle light. They did have a generator but the man that operates it was not on site and the women were never shown how to start it so I took it on myself and with their blessings I was able to start it and we had light but no propane so off I go to help them pull the tank up from the dock and replace the empty tank. Now where else have any of us worked so hard to get a dinner and beer that you still had to pay for?

Next stop was Nassau, the capital of the Bahamas. We had to stay there for about 8 days as we waited for a weather window but made the best of it by exploring the city and its foods. From there we were off to visit several more islands, each one different but one thing they had in common was their personal beauty. Everyone was friendly, smiling and laughing with welcoming arms to their island. Good luck it finding this spirit as we walk around our own cities and streets.

Next country was the Turks and Cacaos islands. Here we met up with another couple we had met in the Bahamas. The four of us explored Cacaos in a rented car which I refused to drive since they drive on the wrong side of the road. We left Paul and Dianna behind as we sailed to an isolated island in the Turks, with a long beautiful white sand beach to walk on and swim off of. Maggie found a live conch shell so I was able to test my conch hammer and moments later we enjoyed some conch fritters.

The next day we arrived in Dominican Republic having one personal goal; buy a box of Dominican cigars, but while waited for good weather we did find time to do other things. We went on a tour in the hills outside of the marina. The tour’s highlight was sliding down a series of water falls. Now being told this, we assumed we would walk up BESIDE the water falls on a groomed trail and enter the top of the falls to begin our slide down. NO! We had to enter the falls at the bottom and crawl UP through the falls as water cascaded over you. Had there been a lawyer there, he/she would be passing their business cards out with an invitation to call them when you became injured. Fortunately they only had to carry one person off with a sprained ankle.

Next stop was Puerto Rico. I must admit that my expectations were exceeded. We had a great time there in Ponce and Old San Juan while also touring the mountains while driving back to Ponce from San Juan. We also stayed in a five star resort marina which surprisingly was comparatively inexpensive as we sailed toward the Spanish Virgin Islands.

We stopped at Cuebra Island in the Spanish Virgin islands and then onto the American Virgin Islands for two days before arriving in BVI at Jost Van Dyke Island which is a major milestone for me. I know have my own Foxy’s tee shirt. Anybody and everybody who has sailed in the eastern Caribbean, knows about Foxy’s bar and cafe.

What are my plans from here? I hope to be in Granada by the first week in July were I will base myself during this years hurricane season. Between now and then we will be exploring many new islands and countries within the leeward and windward island chain of the Caribbean Islands.

In the mean time I want each of you to not worry, be happy, because everything is going to be alright.