Grand Case, St-Barth and visiting friends.

Leaving Marigot we made it in a first step to Grand Case just a few miles north of Marigot on the St-Martin Island. We are now in the company of two friends from Ottawa, Garry and Darlene, who came to spend a few days with us under the sun. In Grand Case we had the pleasure of eating quite a Caribbean meal in town where they have tables and BBQs setup in a sort of plaza. We had grilled chicken, plantain, shrimps Creole, stuffed cristophine and rice and beans. Everything the palate needs to be delighted! We stayed just a single day in Grand Case but still we had the time to go snorkeling on the Rocher Creole where we were greeted by many fishes hoping we would bring some bread crumbs as they were used by all the usual tourists. But we are not usual so no bread! To go ashore we have to use our inflatable dinghy and to take us to the city dock. Our guest Garry and Darlene reminded us of the grace we use to have when trying to get from a boat rocked up and down by the waves into an inflatable balloon floating on the same rocking waves and then trying to get out of the same balloon to climb a 4 feet wall with only a rusted cleat, barely holding on the dock, to hold on! Danielle and I had our share of “spectacular” embarking in the dinghy but we are now getting better at it, well at least that’s what we think.

We then made it to the city of Gustavia on the island of St-Barth, which is probably the most expensive place in the Caribbean. Within one or two blocks you can do your usual shopping at Christian Dior, Cartier or Lacoste and spend 12,000.00 Euros ($16,200.00 US) for a watch and buy a hand bag at 50% discount for only 350.00 Euros ($473.00 US)! We honestly don’t know who can afford to shop here but they are surely not jobless sailors like us who have to spend ¾ of their budget on boat repairs! We nevertheless, treated ourselves by eating out one night, with no appetizers or desserts but still enjoying one of the best foods we had for years. French peoples do know how to cook even in the most remote islands.

While in Marigot Danielle cut her finger on the city dock. She asked me to look for a splinter that she could somehow feel. I looked but all I could see was a little cut so she cleaned it and we moved on. There is not a week that we don’t spill our blood in one way or another in this trip so far, so a little cut was not something to be concerned about. However, after about four days, the cut started to get infected and we started to be concerned. So we went to the hospital in St-Barth where the doctor opened the wound to clean it and to try to find the possible splinter or whatever started the infection but nothing was to be found. He disinfected everything and put a stitch to seal the wound. The next day her finger was swollen and the blood had spread a bit more but at this point we think this is just a reaction to the cleaning and searching of the wound. We now keep a close eye on this and Danielle is now put on the disability list and is forbidden to use her hand until the situation comes back to normal.

Arriving in St-Barthelemy

We arrived in St-Barth on May 12th after a choppy crossing from St-Martin. We were hoping for a better wind angle so we could sail but unfortunately we had to motor most of the 19 nautical miles ride to St-Barth. The good news is this didn’t take much more than 4 hours and we had to face a long swell instead of the choppy short waves we had since the Dominican Republic.

Relaxing in Marigot (St-Martin)

It is amazing how much cultural change there is from one island to another in the area. In Dominican Republic it was Spanish speaking, relax and barely any rules then in Puerto Rico it was completely different with a mix of Spanish and English and a developed USA based culture, St-Thomas was English and populated with a majority of black people and now St-Martin being a French territory, speaking French and English with a completely mixed population. All these cultures are living about 30-50 miles from each other yet being so different. After traveling for hundreds of miles east against the wind and the waves it was nice to stop a few days in the large bay of Marigot while waiting for a friend couple joining us from Ottawa who are going to spend a few days with us. There is not much “touristy” stuff to see in Marigot and we just took the time to clean the boat and wander around in town and in the stores. Marigot is a premium place to get your boat repaired with great chandleries (stores for boats) and every kind of repair facilities. Luckily for us, Chocobo is still in good working state after all the refit we did in Puerto Rico hence we didn’t have to spend much money here for a change. If you look at picture on the right, you’ll see us in 2004 and the picture on the left are us now in 2009. Not much difference except that Danielle is a bit more visible hehe! For those who are still smoking, don’ quit otherwise you will become more visible too.

Twice a week they hold a farmer’s market at the waterfront and we were hoping to replenish our fresh fruits and vegetable but we stopped quickly once we faced the local prices. There are no bargains to be found here, prices are high and they don’t deal down. Nevertheless, Danielle managed to get a certain discount by changing all the Euro figures the lady at the stall was telling her to the same figure but in American dollars. They accept both here. The American dollar being cheaper than the Euro this gave us about 30% discount but still it was expensive. We definitively miss the Dominican Republic where you could buy a pineapple for $1, here you can’t get it for less than $6. Don’t forget, they grow the pineapples on the next island here! So we bought most our food at the supermarket. But the good news is that now we get some real patés, wine and cheese. If you wonder what the small white balls in the bowl are; they are hard boiled quail’s eggs. We were told they were excellent so we tried them. They were good indeed but they tasted just like regular eggs, just smaller! The wine and the paté de foie were to die for though.

Calypso

Let me introduce you to a nice couple that we met along the way. This is Philippe and Mary-Anne. They own a Manta 42 2007 and have been sailing for over 2 years. They are done with their sailing and would like to sell her. If you ever thought when you were reading our blog that you would like to do it as well, it is the right time to get one of these nice Manta. Check their web site by clicking to the following link www.mantacatamaranforsale.com

Arrived in Sint-Maarten (France)

We just arrived in Sint-Maarten from St-Thomas after a 100 miles trip that took us 22 hours. This was finally the last leg of our trip east motoring against the waves and the wind. We were supposed to spend a few more days in the USVI and BVI but a good weather window showed up and we didn’t want to let it go. With stronger winds this passage could have been a nightmare. It was bumpy on the second half but not too bad. We are just happy that the travelling east is over.

Carnival and meeting with friends.

Our stay in the Virgin Islands would have been relatively short; only two days. We didn’t have in mind to stay very long but maybe not that short. The fact is that a weather window showed up to make our last passage to reach the Antilles and the Island of Sint-Maarten and decided to take it. Before that, while we were in Puerto Rico we received an email from Geoff and Ruth on board of their sailboat Geru offering us to meet them in St-Thomas on May 1st. This was in line with our timeframe to get there so we managed to meet them at that time. Geoff and Ruth are two engineers that Roger worked with in Ottawa. They left a year before us in a journey that took them along pretty much the same path we took and down to the Grenadines. They are now on their way up north and we were very happy to see them again but this time on the water. For two nights we had dinner with them and chat until 2am. This may sound early for some but when you live on a boat you irremediably tune with the sun hence we usually go to bed around 8pm! Yep, we may still be young but sleep the geriatric way! If you are interested to read their adventure, they also have a blog. Click on this following link http://www.svgeru.blogspot.com/


This time of the year coincide with the Caribbean Festival in St-Thomas so it was a very good time to be there. For the two days we were there, and the whole week before, the town was celebrating with parades during the day and loud music during the night until 3 in the morning. The party being held close to the waterfront we were able to clearly hear the loud music all night. One thing we noticed in the Caribbean is that speaker companies are doing very well. People here like it loud and I mean very loud. On the boat we could feel the vibrations of the base on the walls and the floor. Does that bother us when we sleep? Hey, you are talking to people who sleep on top of a running diesel engine during their overnight passages so a few musical decibels we can deal with that! Besides, on the last night we had the chance to watch a wonderful firework that was held right on the waterfront so watching it from the boat was the best spot you could have. As a matter of fact, we were so close to the firework that we had to change position of the boat in the afternoon because we were right in the path of the falling rockets.

Arrived in US Virgin Island

Arrived in US Virgin Island (St-Thomas Harbor).