Always Room For One More…?

Deshaies is a relatively small anchorage. We woke up this morning to see this cruise ship approaching:

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…closer…

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closer…

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Yikes!

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The ship came within about 100 feet of us before backing out and dropping anchor a safe distance behind!

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Catching Up…

…on pictures…

Our friends Dirk and Nancy, on SV Renegade, were in St Lucia. Dirk had to fly home but Nancy was still there so we visited with her for a couple of days before heading north again. Thanks for the beer Dirk!

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Reunion at Rodney Bay, left-Brita (and Jason) on Blue Moon, center-Nancy on Renegade. Later in the evening Henry and Catherine on Mowzer joined in:

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While having a beer with friends a small band came by, it was National Day in St Lucia:

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Our next stop was the French island of Martinique. Although we were only there for a few days, Martinique is now one of our favorite islands. We will be spending time here on the way back down. Our first stop in Martinique was the town of Le Marin. There are at least eight hundred or a thousand boats in Le Marin but the anchorage is so big you could fit a couple thousand more in there! There is a big marina in there too and the staff was very cordial and welcoming even though we were not guests. Actually everyone we met in Le Marin and St Anne was very nice.

Small part of the marina, long white building in the center is the general hospital:

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A couple of closer shots:

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The marina office is way in to the northeast, this is the northwestern anchorage. We’re in there somewhere:

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 Looking east, marina office is down there somewhere:

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Football shaped yacht:

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In Le Marin we had a rough time getting the anchor to set, six times a charm. It’s a bit crowded in there because everyone wants to anchor close to town…so we just checked in, looked around a bit, had lunch, and the next morning we moved just outside to St Anne. Dinghy dock at the center of St Anne:

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St Anne anchorage:

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Hotel near the center of town:

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Church in the center of town:

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Water Street”

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Police station and dinghy dock:

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The weather report told us we needed to move so we were only in St Anne for a few hours. The town was really nice and we will be spending more time here in the spring!

We have to be in Sint Maarten in January and the weather window was closing rapidly, so we pulled up anchor and jumped north. We bypassed Dominica and landed in Guadeloupe after a lumpy and very wet 24 hour sail. And the weather window did close! About an hour before reaching our anchorage the winds picked up to gale force and continued to blow for about 36 hours. After we anchored the true wind reached just shy of 40 kts, it was crazy! Yesterday afternoon the winds began to subside so we went snorkeling, and last night it was actually quite peaceful. Rainbow, Deshaies (day-hay) Guadeloupe:

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We got the tree out again:

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We love our tree!

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Overcast and cool this morning. It’s getting chilly here, down to 81F this morning!

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Deshaies is a very protected anchorage and even though the winds get in here, there is no wave or swell to deal with. Our anchor is set and we have tons of chain out so we are hanging here for a few days while mother nature blows herself out. There are two industrious young ladies that have started a food delivery service here in the anchorage. Just after anchoring (7:00am) they came by with fresh warm croissant and baguettes, what timing! Yesterday we got some wonderful avocados and made guacamole.

Anyway…when we get another weather window we will move up to Antigua and/or St Barts and then Sint Maarten.

Merry Christmas everyone!

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We’re Back in Guadeloupe

We are off again, we were trying to get to Antigua for Christmas (not happening now) then onto Sint Maarten in January (yes, the Dutch half).

We were anchored in St George’s, Grenada, not far from Ken and Vicky on Painkiller. So Tanya and Vicky decided to go to the yacht club for lunch while Ken and I went to the hash. This was a city hash, starting right downtown in the Carenage.

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At Choko’s of course!

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Very hilly, lots of stairs. Nice view of the Carenage:

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We are anchored way out on the left in that patch of sailboats:

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Did I mention stairs?

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This was the only cross country part of the hash:

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Then up another hundred or so stairs. Half way up the stairs I stopped, not because my heart was close to exploding, but to snap a pic of this:

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Nice view at the top. Cruise ship way out on the right, level with the roof, one cruise ship pier side, and a hospital ship from China also at the pier:

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Then up again to Fort George:

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And finally down to the Carenage:

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And don’t forget to sign in again. The guy in front of me is John, the champagne delivery guy. Actually, he delivers almost anything you want and his prices are cheaper than retail!

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And my treat for completing the most difficult hash ever, three beers and BBQ chicken. (beer is cheaper if you buy three at a time):

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Then on Sunday, we put up the stockings and Christmas tree:

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Then we took a dinghy ride around St George’s harbour:

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Foodfair grocery store:

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We had lunch at The Nutmeg:

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Fishing boats:

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Fire Station:

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Then we went over to the big marina to check out these race boats. They crossed the Atlantic in under a week, somebody told us it took five days…:

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Looking toward the Carenage from our anchorage:

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Then happy hour. Olive tapenade with fresh baguette and delicious red grapes. Mmmm:

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We left Grenada proper for Carriacou (also part of Grenada). We caught a few fish along the way including this little shark. He was a fighter! We removed the hook and threw him back quickly:

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The wind and waves were much larger than predicted so a few miles north of Grenada we decided to detour here, Ronde Island. The tall island to the left is Diamond Island and it is about a half mile north of Ronde:

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Ronde Island is beautiful, clear water, little black sand beaches and great snorkeling! We ended up staying two days. We spent two hours in the water the first afternoon and about six hours the next day! The island is 2,000 acres and it’s for sale for $100 million dollars. Google it.

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Looking south, Grenada is to the left under that line of clouds and those rocks in the center are called The Sisters:

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We had the most beautiful sunset. Such an amazing place!

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Between this island and the surrounding islands, we could have easily spent a week or two here but we had to get going. After a couple of days in paradise, we set off again for Carriacou. We arrived in Carriacou, dropped the hook, ran in to check out with Grenadian customs and immigration, grabbed lunch, then back to the boat and off to St Lucia. Along the way we caught a small barracuda and one of these:

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It’s a sailfish and it was 80 inches end to end, 63 inches jaw to fork! I tried to weigh it but…embarrassed to say I could not lift it up far enough with one arm so I just settled for a picture:

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So beautiful! We do not fish for sport and we hate killing things but this fish will give us about 14 meals! Add it up in dollars!

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Oh, the inevitable mess:

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Last night we had grilled garlic-herb fish with rice and it was amazing, even better than Mahi Mahi!! That’s it for now. We’re in Guadeloupe waiting on weather. We are probably stuck here through Christmas…on a French island…in the Caribbean…

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Martinique

We are in Martinique and it’s awesome! We love the French islands! Already stocked up on Brie, baguettes, and wine! We had the best sail ever from St Lucia, 6 to 7.5 kts in 15 to 17 kts of wind, what a blast! We are anchored in Le Marin one more night then moving to St Anne and then…

It’s high season in the Caribbean, tons of boats, passwords on all the internet…we will update when we can…

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St George’s

With boat problems under control we are slooooowly making our way north! Anchored in St George’s for a few days waiting on weather. Going to the hash tomorrow!

Our team won the trivia contest at Prickly Bay Marina the other night! Woo Hoo! We’re going to miss Grenada!

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Anchored in St George’s for the next few days:

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Weather permitting we will head to Petit Martinique and Carriacou…then onto…

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