Sunset

This picture I took with my iPad. It was a pretty good one.

martinique to anguilla

old church in St Pierre

Mt Pelee with NO CLOUDS.  The whole time we were there we only saw the top of the mountain once.  

This is the usual view.  Clouds always on the tops of the mountains.  It is that way on most of the islands.  One group of islands they call "Islands that brush the clouds."  So true.

We left Martinique and sailed by beautiful Dominica.  We did not stop this time as winds were good.  We instead thought Isle de Saintes looked interesting and stopped there.  Definitely was not what we expected.  Kirk called it "Ocean City of the Caribbean."  There were many ferries that ran from Guadeloupe to Isle de Saintes bringing tourists who rented motor scooters and raced up and down the streets.   There were only mooring balls no anchoring.  After one night of big wakes from the ferries and a  quick trip into town early in the morning we headed out to Guadeloupe.  

We stopped in Dehaise.  We had stopped here on our way down the chain when Christian was with us.  Kirk liked this place as there is a bakery at the end of the dingy dock with good baguettes and other pastries.  The town is a small fishing village and people for the most part were friendly.    When Christian and Kirk were in town on the way down, they noticed what they thought was mini storages on the hill.  Well turns out that it is the cemetery not a mini storage.  Of what I could tell, it was all above ground.  Quite an experience.

Cemetery  (Cimetierre)

View of pretty town.

We walked the river at one end of town and then up the hill to the cemetery at the other end of town.  It was hot so we stopped at this restaurant for a cool drink.  I opted for ice-cream to soothe my sore throat.  It was real cream.  Never tasted anything like it.  Ah the French.  Kirk order a rum punch or so he thought.  What he got was a Ti Punch which was a small round glass filled with mostly rum, a little simple sugar and a hunk of lime.  The look on his face was priceless.  Brought many giggles for the next few days.  We then had to order french fries (friets) to soak up all the rum.

View from halfway up the hill at the cemetery.  Pretty bay.

Walking along the river.  Lots of huge boulders.  Maybe from a volcano long ago?

The wind sometimes whips through the valley like a funnel.  

This silly bird stayed with us for an hour or so entertaining us.  He was fishing for the flying fish scared up by our boat.  I tried to get one of him chasing the flying fish but they were out of focus.  Sorry.  He was comic relief after a rough day ending in Nevis the night before.

Montserrat   Another island whose history has recently been altered with volcanic activity.  This is Plymouth, the old capitol, abandoned due to lava destruction.

You can see more of the destruction.  Sorry for the hazy pictures.  It was cloudy and hazy.

Far away view shows the depth of the lava and the deserted town.

You can hardly see the rainbow to the left of the squall.  Had not seen that before.  The rainbow was much more evident than the photo reveals.

Pain du Sucre (Sugarloaf) rock was on the way into Les Saintes.  I was impressed with the straight lines drawn in the side of the face of the island.

Sunset too pretty to not take a photo.  Again, the photo does not really do it justice.  

Home sweet home in St Martin.

St Pierre, Martinique

We made a stop in Martinique as that is where Kevin and Theresa had plans to fly home.

We were anchored in St Pierre Bay at the foot of the volcano Mt. Pelee.  It has a long history that is fascinating.  Short story is it erupted and wiped out a town of almost 30,000 May 8th 1902.  We went to the museum to check it out.  First it spit out  ash, then gases, then huge boulders and lava.  This went on for a period of days.  Ships were sunk in the harbor and the town demolished.  Lots of ruins that you can see from the pics.

Lots of buildings have used the existing walls and rebuilt

some did not as this photo shows.  It was this way throughout the city.

 This was a church that was toppled.  Check out the size of the pillars compared to the car.

Almost at the top of the hill outside of the museum.  Our boat, home sweet home in the bay.

Local lady in front of remnants of a building

Remnants of the prison where one prisoner, Cyparis,  survived the volcano.  Cyparis joined the circus according to the museum.

We decided to head for the rum factory before it got too hot.  (it was already hot)

We walked up the mountain, along side of this beautiful river on a winding road.  Quite a long trek but was so beautiful.  Was kinda like a rain forest.  Huge trees.  Steep hike.

I was exhausted as i was getting sick and felt like ugh.  I did not go on the rum tour and instead took a little nap.  

You cannot tell but both these signs are direction signs to the same place.  We did not go back the way we came and had a steep straight down walk.  Quicker but not as scenic.  We did see fields of sugar cane.

Huge tree.  Rubber tree i believe we call them at home or at least i did when i had one.  The lady in the shop gave me directions on where i could get water and she said go past the tree.  Little did i know she meant THE TREE.   It must have survived the volcano.

Check out the size compared to the cars

The root structure  wow.  The buildings were dwarfed by this magnificent tree.

This does not do either kirk or the tree justice!

catching up

So many times Kirk and I are asked "So what do you do all day?  Is it like being on vacation?"

Here is a typical day:

Monday October 22nd 

4:30 am  working on blog as internet is good

6:00 am making coffee, tea  putting dishes away 

6:30 am working on cleaning and polishing the fiberglass

8:30  am yoga  via dingy at marina near by

10:30 am  back from yoga, working on installing battens in main sail

1:00 pm  break for lunch

2:00 pm  Ross and Diana come for a visit

4:00 pm  back working on mainsail

6:00 pm  start making dinner

8:00 pm  all done time for bed

Cruisers midnight is 9:00 pm so we were only an hour early of the midnight!!!!

We had an unexpected 3 - 4 days of maintenance when a hose clamp broke on the generator and flooded the area of the boat to which we have no access.  We had days of pumping, sopping and airing out areas of the boat that are not an easy reach. So each day we took the boat apart so it could air out.  Kirk rigged fans and it looked like a tornado was in here for a few days.  Each evening we would put it all back together so we could cook etc.   We did find a zinc that needed to be changed and also the steering cables that needed to be cleaned and oiled.  So you have to think the Lord had this happen so we found the other items that needed to be addressed.

Putting the mainsail on the boat was a big job.  it is huge and very heavy.  We also had lots of patches to put on.  They are sticky material and was tricky to do in the wind with the sail on the mast.  Just like when we were first married, we are learning and growing together.  

We have left Grenada.  Our friends Kevin and Theresa flew in and we have headed north.  As of this morning we are in St. Lucia.  We will head out to Martinique today.  Kirk says could be rough going.  Got to go help get the boat ready

The following are pictures that I finally got off of cameras.

Kel and Kirk on Jay and Ginny's porch.  Kel is working on the table assignments for her wedding.  This is my favorite room at Jay and Ginny's

Carolyn and Dad before the wedding.  Jay and Ginny hosted all of us for a family dinner. 

Rebecca of Zero to Cruising competed in a triathlon.  It was a mini triathlon with a partner.  It was fun to support her and also to be on beautiful Grand Anse beach just north of St Georges.

Michael and Rebecca before the triathlon 

Getting ready for the swim to start

Rebecca getting her award !   Yeah Rebecca

yum!!  our fruit

Ross and Diana on One White Tree.  Ross was at the top of the mast when a squall blew up.  Diana worked very hard to get him down as soon as possible.  So sad to leave them.  Hopefully we will see them in St Thomas.

Kevin and Theresa at the helm

Kirk is so talented he can fish and steer at the same time.  Ha.  Check out the fishing belt turned around and also the squall ahead of us.

The Pitons on St Lucia

Another view of the Pitons with handsome Kirk.

Bif and Donna (at Christian and Bif's new house) with our newest family addition.

The little black kitty is named Two Spot.  She is tee tiny.  Bif rescued her from her barn.  She was a lot of fun.  Now we have 3 grand pets  woohoo

Michael