Monday, July 12, 1999
I am sitting in the main cabin right now while it is pouring rain outside. It has rained most of the day. We are in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. How we got here. Well here it is.
We decided to leave Guadalope on Wednesday, July 7th. Again, we watched the weather and noticed a good weather window between tropical waves. The next wave was supposed to hit that Friday. We thought we could make it to Martinique to weather the storm.
Our sail Wednesday was to Dominica, the island south of Guadalope. This island is British which made me happy after suffering communication withdraw for a week. I was so excited to get underway, I forgot how it made me feel. I think I got too settled into life on land. I felt sick for most of the sail. I had to lie down and shut my eyes to feel better. So leaving Guadalope was kind of bittersweet.
We decided to anchor on the southern end of Prince Rubert Bay right across from coconut beach hotel. Dominica was known for having boat boys and as soon as we got near the anchorage we had one approach us. He just asked if he could get us anything or help with anchoring. The boat boys are kind of annoying but can sometimes be helpful. We decided to get a fresh tuna from him. We grilled it up that night. Man, it tasted really good.
Unfortunately, we were not eating the fish that was on our hook. While coming over to Dominica we finally got a hit on our fishing line. Unfortunately, we were flying and didn't head into the wind before we started to reel it in. The line snapped. Our fishing luck hasn't been too good. I think we might try to let a couple of hand lines out. These will be tied to the stern frame. We have been just letting out the fishing poll. We have been using artificial rubber worms and fish. We heard that tuna really liked the artificial squids. We will try that next.
I was never a very good fisherman. The only person I could catch fish with was my late Uncle Dave Benjamin. He had a knack for finding the right spot at the right time. This was when I was in elementary school and I used a poll that had a click release. I remember catching four rainbow trout in one day.
On my west road trip last summer with Chris Coulson, Dan Robensen and Andy Rose I tried some fly-fishing. I sucked at it but the other guys made me feel better by not catching any fish either. Andy let me try using his poll. It was a poll that I had to put my thumb on the spool and then release the drag. I released a little too late and ended up casting the lure without the line to the other end of the pond. For some reason he didn't let me use his poll again.
I kind of like the fishing on the boat where you don't have to just sit there and cast again and again. We just do what we normally do and if we here the poll click from the drag we slow down and grab it. (Or this is what we are supposed to do when we catch a fish.)
Anyway, back to our anchorage. Prince Rubert Bay really got hit last year from hurricanes. They lost their main dock and also all of their moorings. We flied our q-flag, meaning we didn't check into customs and just stayed on the boat. We didn't expect to spend any time in Dominica.
The next day I looked in the mirror and found some gray hairs. Just kidding. I didn't feel much older. This was my birthday and I woke to a rain shower and the boat was moving. This was around 9:30 and I was kind of shocked that we were moving. We had decided to head out early to get to Martinique but weather caused us to pull into an anchorage across from the Anchorage Hotel on the south side of Dominica. Again we had another boat boy approach us. He helped us find a mooring and then took Paul to check into customs.
When Paul came back, he informed us that we were going to meet the boat boy, Oscar to go to a bar tonight at 9:00 PM. We then decided to go to shore and explore the city and check email. The walk to town for some reason made me feel uneasy. It could have been the many people on the street really doing nothing. I kind of felt that they resented us but the others thought the opposite. I didn't share the way I felt with them. There was really no need to.
The Internet place was really cool. It was the only Internet "café" that we had been to. A guy from Scawcaguan, Cananda had been working down here and decided to open it here. On one side of the café were couches and tables with magazines and books and on the other side there were two computer terminals. They provided drinks and appetizers. We ordered some beers and cokes. We stayed here for a while to check email and catch up on some of the new magazines. I read a really interesting article in Outside Magazine about Portland, OR. I think I will really like living there. There is so much outdoor stuff to do in that area.
Later we headed back to the boat to eat some of Jennifer's cookie cake she had made and open some of my presents. My parents gave me a much-needed Capiline shirt, a great T-shirt from Patagonia, and some other things. I'm really glad they had the opportunity to send these things with Jennifer. Jennifer gave me a sporty watch and the Jones gave me a knife. I got everything that I wanted and more. That night we went out to dinner and then pooped out and went back to the boat.
Our anchorage was really rocky. When we were heading back to the boat the mast was swinging back and forth at about fifteen degrees. It wasn't a pleasant sight given that we had to sleep on it. There was also a construction place that had a constant beeeeeeee. This helped me develop a nice headache. The next day we decided to go tour the island and go on some rain forest hikes. It was really cool. Oscar, the boat boy, took us. He had a lot of connections and took us to two beautiful waterfalls. In one of them Paul and I went for a swim. I think it was the freshest water I have ever swam in. For lunch we ate river shrimp, sweat potatoes, dasheen and plantain. It was all really good. Dasheen is a root, starchy vegetable and plantain is a banana that has to be baked. For more detail on these foods I would read Jennifer or Linda's journals. They know their food.
Dominica biggest export is bananas. We saw a lot of banana trees all over the island. It's terrain is really mountainous and really green. I guess it's not as green in the dry season. By far this was the greenest island we had seen so far. They got so much rainfall that they get 70% of their electricity from hydroelectricity which starts at the tops of their mountains. It is kind of resourceful if you think about it. I was really glad we met up with Oscar, he really knew the island well and was a cool guy. I have a feeling he likes to party but I didn't get to witness him in action. I was really glad we stopped in Dominica. We had heard that they had a drug problem and to avoid the island but it didn't seem to be the case. However, when I was walking to the Internet store and was in front of the Jones, I did get offered some reefer.
On the next day, Saturday, July 10th we sailed from Dominica to Martinique. The wave that was supposed to hit on Friday dissipated so we were in the clear for another few days. This sail was the best so far. Paul said the conditions were ideal for the boat. We had the wind coming right off of the beam at 17 to 18 knots and the sea had waves from 3 to 5 feet. We were going at times around 8 knots. It didn't seem we were going this fast because I was used to having the wind at out face and really feeling it blowing as our speed increased. In this sail, this wasn't the case. It was nice to be able to read while we were sailing. I read an article in Time about children athletics. I found it quite interesting and would highly recommend it to all parents.
We anchored at Anse a L'ane. This was in the fort de france. Upon entering, we encountered a little squaw that brought winds up to 36 knots. It was kind of a wake up call after smooth sailing. After the storm we anchored.
Fortunately, it was a calm anchorage. No more rocking back and forth. The cruising guide said that there was good snorkeling here and it had been about three weeks since we snorkeled so we decided to go for it. Jennifer had to convince Linda to go. We swam over to the coral and I looked back and everyone had stopped. I heard Linda crying. Jennifer told me to come there. When I came back I learned that some little jellyfish had stung Linda and Jennifer. Jennifer had gotten stung in the lip and Linda had a jellyfish in her suit and was stung numerous times in her breast. As soon as everyone started heading back to the boat, I got stung too, on the boob. It was a kind of hard shock feeling. We swam back and got in the boat, but I felt like swimming some more. I played fetch with Jennifer. She would throw the sponge from the boat and I would jump off the boat and try to catch it. On the second time around, (I missed the sponge this time) as soon as I reached out for the sponge I got stung again, on the arm. When I got to the ladder I could see pieces of the jellyfish's tentacles in my arm. I cleaned them off and decided to stay in the boat.
The next day we decided to head to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. This was another good sail. I think that since we had horrible sails for the first two weeks that every sail will be a good sail from here out. We have decided to stay here a few days and get some stuff for the boat and provision. We needed to find someone to fix the fuel gauge and we needed to change the oil on the generator.
Entering Rodney Bay was real calm. There was a pretty big cove of open water. Supposedly, this is a good place for beginner wind surfers. Maybe, we can give it a try. We headed through narrow water way and then into a slip. We did a good job with all the lines. Jennifer drove and the rest of us handled on of the lines, bow, spring and stern lines. We then connected to shore power and cleaned up the deck. We had made it.
Side notes: I finished both of my books. I really liked each of them. Now I am in the middle of the web page design. I think it is going to be pretty cool. I am also starting The Fountainhead, by Anne Rand. I read a PC Magazine and really missed being online all the time. There was a bunch of cool sites I wanted to check out. I did get an opportunity to download an MP3 player on my computer. I will try to download some songs on disk off the web. I had to download a MP3 player that was under 1.4 MB because I had to fit it on a floppy disk. I am getting sick of Jennifer and Linda complaining about my hair everywhere. It is my extended family's fault. I am sorry for the beginning of this journal. I was kind of lethargic/annoyed at the time. Living in such close quarters can do this to you.