Les Saints 29 april

We arrived here yesterday after a short but difficult passage. We walked through town and had diner in a beautiful restaurant. It is a lovely little place with narrow streets and lots of shops and restaurants. We are on a mooring ball which costs 9 euro per night. Not bad. The also deliver breakfast to the boat. Croissants etc. we are going back in today and will stay a few days because there is bad weather for a few days. Meaning strong winds high waves and current from wrong angle.

Guadeloupe 27 April

We spent 3 nights in deshais in the north of Guadeloupe. Cleaned the boat because it was covered in salt crystals. Had a lovely time on the shore in the quaint little village. We saw many mango trees with the fruit just not ripe. The other tree is the bread fruit tree see the photos. This you cook and it is like potatoes they say. I have not tried it yet Today we sailed to this little island which has the Cousteau under water park. We have just come back from snorkeling around the coral and are having a cup of tea and a biscuit. Funny we prefer tea during the day now and only drink coffee in the morning.

On from St Kitts

We checked out with immigration and customs from St Kitts early in the morning. This did not cost anything. To check in was 13 dollars for immigration and 3 dollars for customs. This was very cheap. Average is about 40 to 50 dollars since getting to puerto Rico. The Bahamas was 300 dollars for I think 6 months and Turks and Caiccos was 100 dollars for 1 week and if you stayed longer even a day it was 200. In the Domican Republic it was a real circus because you pay everyone like immigration agriculture tourist and harbour. I think it was about 120 dollars and on top every time you went to a different harbour you had to check out which was every time 20 dollars.
So leaving st kitts we went to Nevis which does with St kitts under UK. We had 24 hours to leave so we stayed on our boat on a mooring which cost $ 30 that we never paid because nobody came to collect and we left early. Then we had a difficult sail to Monsarrat because we could not just motor with wind waves and current against us do we tacked up and down for 10 hours. This is where I had been told Mick Jagger has a house. There is also an active vulcano which they believe can erupt any time. Therefor you can not anchor anywhere close. We anchored in a lovely bay and put our yellow flag up which means quarantine and we have not checked in. We never did check in and are now on our way to Guadeloupe. I am writing this being tossed around with waves about 6 feet and 18 knott wind again from wrong direction so more tacking today.

St Kitts saturday 21 April

We spend the day driving around St Kitts. Beautiful island with big mountains and lovely people. We went bus local bus but the driver did not take anymore passengers and we were supposed to pay 6 dollars per person but gave him 20 per couple.

Sint Maarten 17 April

We have been to the Dutch side which is like the riviera in France. Beautiful white beach where you can rent chair and umbrella. Lots of restaurants. Cruise ships and many electronic and jewelry shop. The three women went by bus which you just flag down anywhere. I sat in the back next to a guy ready for conversation. He told me to buy jewelry. When I said I was not going to he advised me to find a man to buy it for me. Anyway we enjoyed our walk there and I bought Havana a little black rastafarian doll.
Then in the morning when we had breakfast this guy came to put down crab pots. We asked what he was catching and he came to our boat to explain. I asked him for a coffee and je came on the boat for some coffee and bagel. Mind you he was wearing just big white undies. Anyway Michele entertained us with his philosophy on life. He also showed us pictures of himself having caught a 4.5 meter shark in his small boat. He said he fought it for 3hours and he won. He showed his fingers and toes as proof and looking at his undies he still had the crown jewels as well We asked about buying lobster but he said we could buy red snapper of him. He left and asked if I liked mangoes and said he would bring some.
So this morning there he was again with a bucket full of mangoes and tamarinds. Small mangoes but very sweet. How nice was that. The trip is starting to be like in 'an embarrassment of mangoes' with gifts like that. So anyway I took some of that fruit to both our friends boat. I forgot to tell that we went to this Yamaha place but at siesta time. This is what we found for opening times

St Maarten 16 April 2012

St Maarten is great it has a Dutch side and a French side. We checked in with immigration on the French - much cheaper. We also anchored on the French side because it costs nothing and on the Dutch side you pay $ 20 just to put your anchor down and then I do not know how much but you pay so much per foot length of your boat on top. You can see where the border is because there are no more boats. Looks funny. After we checked in we walked around the French part which does look very French with narrow streets and lovely water front restaurants. Great bakeries. We also walked around the markets and found the fruit and veggies not that good and very expensive. My friends wanted to walk on but I asked this friendly looking lady why it was so expensive. 'all imported we do not grow anything here'. I then asked about the local stuff like cassava or yuca yam and dashe
(not sure how you spell that) she asked if I liked cooking so I told her 'not all that much but we have to eat and I might as well learn to cook what is from here'. Then she asked if I had read 'an embarrassment of mangoes'. This book is famous here because the woman wrote it about their 2 year cruise in a sail boat from The US to Trinidad with all their problems. She also gave some recipes of local food. I have this book and also know that she written a second one called Spice necklace. Now this woman Olive from the market is in this new book and showed me a magazine with her and the new book in it. Why I had to meet her I do not know but it certainly made my day

St john USVI and British VI 9 April

We now have to go on moorings a lot to protect the coral. In St john we went ashore and hiked over a boardwalk through the mangroves. We saw many humming birds but I was not able to take a photo. The water is so clear that we could see all the fish many barracuda. We also saw turtles. I had made a pumpkin pie,coleslaw and a 7 layer chili dip with corn chips to take to our Easter diner with our friends. We had a great night with I think a bit too much sangria for me.
Today we sailed to Jost ban Dyke in the Britsh Virgin Islands. It is only 4 miles and my tmobile from Us still works. This is a gorgeous place but the immigration lady was not too friendly. Our friend Rik called her crusty. After we paid 39 dollars we can stay here for 30 days or as in rik's case till the end of the month which the lady thought was the same thing. Rocky and I went for a walk and now it feels very much like the tropics. Very hot and humid. Lots of bananas and mangoes but not ripe just yet. We saw a strange animal which I am told is a weasel. Very large though but again to quick for a photo. Now we are having drinks and I have to think about diner again. So till next time.

St Thomas USVI 5 April

We spend the first night in Honeymoon bay of St Thomas. It was a beautiful calm night after an afternoon of swimming and snorkeling. Lovely sunset and all the lights of the capital Charlotte Amelia. Then we sailed into the harbour and anchored right in front of the town next to about 6 big cruise ships. We went ashore with 10000 other people. This is the jewelry capital of the world they say and all duty free. Funny where ever you go they think you are from those cruise ships and that you want to buy. The only thing we bought was very cheap chocolate rum and amaretto rum. Very nice. There were markets with all the Rastafarian stuff with the guys with big big hair with the nets over it. The prices are all still very high and I can not possibly bring more to the boat. Now we will go on to Christmas cove and St John and from there to the British Virgin islands. It is now never that far and I do not have to prepare for a big crossing. If only I would catch fish. Keep fingers crossed

Culibra

This morning we left palmas del mar and sailed to Culibra which is a smallish island about 20 miles from the mainland of puerto Rico and from where we were about 35 miles. We had a great sail wind around 10 to 14 knots and no waves. I had 3 big bites and my lure has been bitten badly. This after I never get any bites. I did however spit on the lure which attracts fish or so the story goes. Whatever I will keep spitting because at least they bite. We are now anchored just in front of the town and I have been for my swim had a cup of tea and am ready to go and have look. Will keep you posted (literally lol)