Like living on land, living on a boat
takes on its own routine. While on the boat, especially while anchored along
the East Caribbean island chain, we spend a lot of our time in the cockpit and
at times, it’s like watching a movie of life. There are times I feel we should
get the popcorn out and watch.
As the sun is rising, you will hear motor
boats leaving the anchorage – often you will feel it as well as they head out
to their fishing traps, going at one almighty speed. Remember, Passages is a
monohull, so she can rock and roll.
Going back a bit… while in Bequia, every
morning (6.00am ish) we would hear someone whistling a
tune and find this
elderly gentleman, rowing out to the entrance of Admiralty Bay, Bequia and then
back again.
 |
| The elderly gentleman whistling away. |
Soon after, there is the clanking sound
of anchors being taken up by the fishermen using the windlass. This can take
place anywhere on average from 6.00am ish to 10.00am obviously depending on
where the crew is heading to. This is often when most of the comedy acts take
place. While sitting in the lovely, but at times rolly anchorage of Ilse de
Saintes, Guadalupe, I was in fits of laughter watching this one boat, a cat,
trying to lift their anchor. I don’t want to sound obnoxious and think that
when Mel and I drop or lift our anchor that we don’t give others a comedy act –
it happened when we arrived in Deshaies on Thursday afternoon. We dropped and
lifted our anchor 3 times before eventually moving elsewhere and finally being
happy with the hold.
Back to this family trying to lift their
anchor – I am only assuming that they must have been charter boat people. The
Captain, obviously knew what he had to do and like what Mel and I do, before
lifting the anchor we have a quick discussion on the conditions and where I
should steer the boat once the anchor has been lifted. I could see the Captain,
explain the hand signals and what this female should indicate to the helmsman.
You see as you lift the anchor you slowly drive the boat in the direction of
the anchor, so as not to put too much strain on the windlass. The person up
front (the female) indicated where the helmsman should steer the boat. She was
giving “hand signals”, but the poor helmsman become so confused that they were
driving backwards and forwards. They even almost rode into another boat
anchored quite close by to where they thought their anchor was. She was jumping
up and down trying to indicate where the anchor was. After a few attempts and
lots of shouting and hand signalling, they eventually lifted their anchor and
were on their way.
Yes, it can be tricky, particularly when
there are so many boats around, anchored over other boats anchors. When we
arrived from Dominica at Ilse des Saintes, on Monday 2 April, the boat behind
us was concerned that we were over their anchor so when it was time to lift
their anchor we had to be at the ready to move the boat if necessary – it
wasn’t but this boat came quite close to Passages.
Another favourite past time is swimming.
You will often see people swim around their boat a few times in the morning or
to the nearest beach. Mel and I often go for a swim in the morning, especially
when the waters are clear and clean to swim in. Mel will often check on the
anchor – I sometimes think that this is just a good enough reason for Mel to
get into the water. I often see children on boats having a wonderful time,
swimming around the boat, not a care in the world.
While in Isle des Saintes, there was a HUGE
super yacht anchored close to us – they had six crew
On the other side of us, a cat was
anchored off, that had three young children on board. The children’s ages must
have ranged from 4 to 7 years. They were jumping on and off the side of the cat
and using a halyard/rope to swing off the boat and onto the front trampoline.
Normally by mid-morning, any boat that
needed to be on their way, has already left the anchorage, resulting in the
feeling that there is a little more space around you. I will often watch boats
leave an anchorage and wonder what their story is all about. Who is on board?
Where they have been, or where are they going to? What tales can they tell?
This is usually the time you see the
people who are staying in the anchorage preparing to go on land. Dinghies are
hoisted down from their overnight positions and placed behind the boat ready
for their occupants. We always remove the engine from the dinghy every night
for security reasons as there have been thefts of dinghies, not for the dinghy
but for the engine. Without our dinghy we would be ‘stranded’ on the boat and
would have to radio someone for assistance. Most nights we hoist the dinghy up
as well and attach it to the boat. It can be a nuisance at times but 5 – 10 minutes
compared to the inconvenience and expense of losing the dinghy is what is at
the back of our minds when we don’t feel like going to all the trouble.
 |
| What a life! |
 |
| A colourful house in Isle des Saintes |
While in Isle des Saintes, we enjoyed the
atmosphere of this colourful and vibrant island. There are a few ferry services
to and from the main land bringing day trippers or holiday makers, which did
make the island seem quite full and busy. There was a long queue for the
ice-cream shop and one morning the store had run out of baguettes, so we had to
come back much later. Many of the stores close for a 2-hour lunch, however the
times are inconsistent as some will close from 12.00 – 2.00pm, while others
from 1.00 – 3.00pm.
Often, we will either have lunch on land
or go back to the boat for lunch and maybe a swim and snooze – I know a tough
life! From early afternoon, the anchorage will slowly start filling up again
with boats and once again this is when the fun and games start when you hear
people shouting instructions at each other. We have often come back to the boat
and found a boat anchored a bit too close to us which often affects our sleep
that night as we become aware of the shifts of the wind, requiring us to check
to see how each boat is responding to the wind direction.
 |
| The Officers Club in Isle des Saintes. |
For the rest of the afternoon, we will
often spend time reading or doing some computer work in the cockpit or the
never-ending list of maintenance. Mel
will often put the water maker on to fill our water tank. Later, the barbies
will be fired up, people will sit on their decks watching the sun set, with a
drink in their hand. Some will go on land to have dinner. Mel and I often have dinner on the boat and then
either watch a movie or one of the T.V. series we have available. Now, we are
watching ‘Game of Thrones’ – I am addicted to it! It’s quite graphic and gory,
but I am still enjoying the twists and turns of the story line.
We stayed in Ilse des Saintes until
Thursday, 5 April and sailed north to Deshaies. We were keen to visit Deshaies
again as like St Pierre, Martinique, it has a unique atmosphere. It’s relaxed,
colourful, friendly, has coffee/pastry shops (boulangeries) along the main
street - one in particularly that Mel enjoys, many places to eat along the
waterfront and fruit and veggie markets as well.
 |
| Deshaies |
The problem with the Deshaies anchorage
is the inconsistent direction of the wind. In the mornings the wind blows from
the east, down the hillside. However, if you are in one part of the anchorage,
the wind will swing your boat in one direction and if you are in the other part
of the anchorage, the wind will cause your boat to swing in the opposite
direction. Later in the day the wind dies, and boats find themselves in all
different directions, often extremely close to other boats. This is exactly
what happened the first afternoon we arrived in Deshaies. When we arrived at
Deshaies, the wind was howling down the hillside. After three attempts at
anchoring we eventually were satisfied with our anchor and holding. Mel and I
spent the rest of the afternoon just monitoring the anchor as we knew the
holding in Deshaies was not the best – not much sand, just coral or grass which
often means turtles as well. There is always a positive side to things.
Deshaies has mooring balls but they had all been taken and the anchorage was
quite full.
While we were on board the boat, many
boats further up started swinging into each-other. Two boats got their chains
entangled as well. A few people, went to assist these boats using their
dinghies. This movie lasted at least 2 hours! It became quite stressful for a
few boat owners. We even had one boat came close to us as the boats were
swinging in all different directions.
 |
| The flowers seem brighter in colour. |
Mel and I differ in our anchor
preferences. He likes to anchor as close as we possibly can to the dinghy dock
which often means there will be lots of boats around, whereas I prefer being
quite remote and away from other boats. Mel likes the city centre, whereas I
prefer the suburbs or as Mel often says, “We’re out in the countryside again!”.
In Deshaies, while sitting in the
cockpit, we were fortunate to see many turtles swimming around the boat. There
are times when you hear them only as they come up for breath then dive down
again.
In many of the anchorages, you will also
here the church bells, chiming every hour and half hour.
So, life on a boat takes on it’s on
routine and it can be quite comical and interesting but then it depends on the location.
Our plans from now are to leave Deshaies,
Guadeloupe for St Croix, U.S. Virgin Islands, on Saturday evening/afternoon (5
– 6.00pm) 7 April 2018. This will be a two-day sail – the longest I have been
awake to know about. The last time we did such a long passage, (Georgetown,
Exumas in the Bahamas to Turks and Caicos – end of March 2014) I was sea sick
for the whole passage and don’t remember much.
I hope I can remember this passage and am
able to write a bit about it…. So until next time……
Bye for now. Keep well and safe.
Mel and Caryn
sv Passages
If you want to see where we are – go to:
top right corner – search for Passages
with the Australian flag – that’s us!
