Our past week has been spent in Puerto Rico, starting with the most eastern Spanish Virgin Islands and then moving along, east to west, to finally arrive in Puerto Real on the west coast. This anchorage will be our jumping off point to head to the Dominican Republic. In fact, when the early morning rises and you are perhaps reading this post with your morning coffee, we will be arriving at the Cap Cana Marina in the Dominican Republic, having successfully traversed the Mona Passage. We arrived in Puerto Rico eleven days ago and our minds have been pre-occupied with two very important things: Provisioning for the Bahamas and meeting up with old friends. Our first stop in Puerto Rico was Culebra which is part of the Spanish Virgin Islands. The anchorage there is wide open (lots of room) and is very close to the main town area with restaurants, grocery stores, cafes and great beaches. It is a great spot to rest for several days, only we had alternative plans. We had a few friends to meet up with over the next few days. In Vieques (part of the Spanish Virgin Islands), we met up with our old friend Matt on Kesh, who is heading south while we are headed north. We had first met Matt in Georgetown, Bahamas almost a full year ago, and travelled with him (along with Kemana and That’s It) from Georgetown to Luperon, Dominican Republic. At the time, Matt was newly engaged but doing his travelling as a solo sailor. It was wonderful to see him in Vieques alongside his new bride Charlie. They are headed south to Grenada this year. The very next day, we weighed anchor early in the morning and headed to Salinas on the mainland of Puerto Rico. This was going to be a major stop for us. Not only were we finally going to reunite with our good friends on Caretta but we would also be able to do all of our provisioning for the Bahamas here by renting a car and driving the one hour north to the city of San Juan. There we could shop at Costco, Walmart, Petsmart, Home Depot, and AutoZone. Wow! We haven’t had this kind shopping for the last ten months. Let the games begin! We did our “shopping” extravaganza to San Juan last Thursday. Wild Horses (including Ocean) rented a van while Caretta and Rode Trip shared a passenger car. In one wild day that started at 9:00am and ended at about 9:00pm, we drove to San Juan (an hour away), devoured Costco, stocked up at Petsmart, and got a few necessities at Home Depot and West Marine. We then returned to the marina and unloaded our very full rental cars. But we weren’t done yet! The biggest provisioning was done at Walmart in Isabel, just 20 minutes west of the marina. We even popped into AutoZone for some oil for the boat. Very tired from shopping, we still needed to load everything back at the boat via our dinghies and store it all away. It was an exhausting but very successful day! With all of our boats provisioned and fueled up, we left Salinas last Saturday for Boqueron on the west coast of Puerto Rico. We stayed there one night, which was just enough time to meet up with the crews from Kemana and That’s It, who were a day ahead of us. They planned to leave for the Dominican Republic the very next day, one full day ahead of us. The next morning, Wild Horses, Rode Trip and Caretta travelled just a few nautical miles north to Puerto Real. We will be leaving for the Dominican Republic at 6pm tonight. Overnight passages are becoming very familiar territory for us! We are looking forward to spending a few weeks in the Dominican Republic before moving onto the Bahamas. While we continue our journey west, it amazes us as to how chilly the nights are getting. It was just 21 degrees Celsius last night. While it is amazingly warm compared to January in Canada, it is very cold for us these days. It is a welcomed change though as we are still reeling from our hot, hot, hot days in Grenada. Want to know where we are in the world right now? Or our sailing plans for the year ahead? Click the buttons below!
Since my last post, a lot has happened. All good, or at least, mostly good. We have toured old forts, found great provisioning, had some boat work done, almost lost the dinghy to the sea, checked out some iguanas, swam with a few totally breezy sea turtles, ate some delightful cuisine and watched the Dallas Cowboys implode at their first playoff game (they lost bigtime). Oh, and we visited four islands and three countries. Yeesh, I need a nap. Yes, all of that happened but, still, the most important was what happened earlier this week, on Tuesday to be specific. At least it was important to us. You see, Tuesday was a weird one. We had an appointment for Ocean at Critters, Cats & Canines Vet Hospital in St. Thomas. Ocean is fine but we needed to see a Vet to get a new International Health Certificate for her. Getting dog health certificates is just a regular task in our life nowadays but what was important was how the day unfolded. If anyone is out there that wants to know what cruising down here is like, well, this might be the “Coles notes” version for you. First, this is our experience. It isn’t “the” experience. That is lesson one. Cruising is about being a snowflake. How it is for us will certainly not be exactly how it is for you. Second, weather is king but we all pretend, once in awhile, that we carry the crown. We started the day with a secure and safe (and free) mooring at Christmas Cove. The easterly tradewinds were sporty (up to 28 knots) and, rightly so, the waves and swell were equally animated, although more southeasterly. The kicker? We needed to be a mere 2 nautical miles to our west in Brenner Bay in order to have a short dinghy ride into shore for Ocean’s appointment. Sorry, did you hear that? Yes, we had a schedule. Never good. Ever. In this particular instance we were moving our precious Wild Horses to a lee shore in shallow waters with almost 30 knots of wind, and worse, 7 feet of swell banging at our boat’s hull. Getting ready to set our anchor, we fell steeply from being “uncomfortable” into dangerous territory with our lee shore so close behind us. We knew it and spent an extra 45 minutes ensuring that our anchor was set (it was set – thank you double oversized Rocna!). Third, cruising is precarious. At that anchorage, Mike, Ocean and I had to board our severely bouncing dinghy. It was a feat that had me yelling “move people, this is not a drill!” as both Mike and then Ocean had to manage around swells that horribly slapped the dinghy against our stern, alternatively creating violent waterspouts and dangerous boarding gaps. We then tolerated a salty (meaning we got soaked) 5 minute ride to protected waters. Returning back, we were faced with the same problem. A misguided step and someone could have been injured or in the drink. Not good. Weighing anchor wasn’t much better. We were struggling against the wind and swell. I was at the bow (untethered, sorry, not my finest decision-making moment) holding on like it was a bucking bronco. Okay, a little poetic license here, but it was pretty bouncy and unsettling! The key for me was that at the moment that our anchor was released, Mike needed to be in control at the helm. We were that close to shore. Yuck. Spoiler alert: We are fine. We bounced our way back to Christmas Cove, picked up our favourite mooring and got two beers stat. Then we chatted about what went wrong. A schedule, mistaking “close by” with “easy”, and swells that were worse than forecasted. The precariousness of sailing is real. From one moment to the next, you are not entirely sure that something won’t break down, that your sail will go smoothly or that you will find the tools/parts/provisions that you need when you next land your boat. But that uncertainty is worth it to us to have long walks on unspoiled beaches, to explore different cultures, to meet so many wonderful people, to enjoy beautiful sunsets and to be rocked gently to sleep with the waves lapping against the shoreline. Yes, the delightfulness of this lifestyle is just as real and, thankfully, more moments of our days are filled with that.
Today we arrived in Puerto Rico, after spending the last seven days in the United States Virgin Islands (USVI). We plan to spend a few weeks here while we await a good weather window to transit the Mona Passage on our way to the Dominican Republic. It was just a few days after Christmas when we got our outboard motor back from its urgent freshwater servicing at Xtreme Marine in Jolly Harbour, Antigua. Not only did the team there get it running again but they gave her a real once over and she is even better than before our capsizing adventure. With our outboard motor ready to go, we immediately started making plans with our friends on Rode Trip to depart from Antigua and to make our way to St. Martin for the New Year celebrations there. We weighed anchor at 4:00pm on Friday December 29th for a very easy 96 nautical mile overnight motor sail, under a bright full moon, to Marigot Bay, St. Martin (French side). We arrived at the anchorage just before 8:00am, cleared in by 9:00am and were sitting in the Chez Fernand bakery eating croissants and drinking americanos by 9:30am. What a great start to the day! The New Year’s celebrations on the island were fun, capped off by several incredible fireworks displays. During the day we had a wonderful ad hoc picnic with several of our boat buddies, including our friends on Kemana who were docked on the Dutch side of the island. It was a special time with lots of chatter about what we all have accomplished over the past year, as well as our future sailing plans. Ah, sailing plans. This has been a big topic on Wild Horses for the last several months. It is easy to dream of far away destinations and big voyages, but the world that is more real for Wild Horses includes so much more than just sailing and exploring. It contains our family and our friends back home. Every phone call is an emotional tug at our heartstrings to go back to Canada, even just for a quick visit. The longer we are away, the more we are realizing that we need to have more of a balance between sailing the world and being home for family.
Before we started this trip, the plan was clear. We would sail the Eastern Caribbean for at least two years and then decide where else we wanted the wind to take us. We would go home, of course, but the plan was to make separate trips (Mike goes one time and I would go the next time) so that Wild Horses was never unattended. And the dog? We knew we didn’t want to subject Ocean to airplane travel. Our dear pup, we thought, will just stay on the boat with either Mike or myself (whoever wasn't travelling). Our plan was solid…until we had to put it into action. We have learned a lot about ourselves on this trip and one of the biggest is realizing that we only want to travel as a pack. We are the three amigos and, well, it just will not do to leave an amigo behind 😉. By the time we departed Grenada, we knew we had a problem to solve. We wanted to go home for a visit with family but we wanted to keep our little family intact while doing it. Just this past week, the final pieces of our new sail plan have come together. We will be sailing back to the continental United States over this winter, visiting the USVI, Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic and the Bahamas along the way. We will then make our way to Green Cove Springs Marina near Jacksonville, Florida by the early summer months. There, Wild Horses will be hauled out and stored while we drive back to Canada over the summer months for our much-needed visit with family and friends. When Fall descends upon us, we will re-launch Wild Horses and sail the Bahamas over the winter. What will we do after that? Not sure but being in the Bahamas will keep us closer to home and also to other sailing destinations like the Eastern Caribbean, Guatamala, Aruba and so much more. We will have built in flexibility to decide on next steps. Perfect. Freedom but also being able to hug mom and dad once in awhile. I think we may have found our balance 😊. After spending seven wonderful days exploring Antigua’s eastern and southern harbours and beaches, last Thursday we decided it was time to move further north. Our plan was to spend Christmas and New Years in St. Martin. This decision, however, meant that we would be moving along alone. Our friends on Rode Trip were still waiting for their engine water pump to be installed so they wouldn’t be moving north until after Christmas at least. Other friends on Bitty Rose and Hop Drop would also be moving towards St. Martin before New Years but would be setting out from Antigua a few days after us. Kemana, Caretta and That’s It were already ahead of us in either St. Martin or Puerto Rico. Last Wednesday we cleared out of Antigua and then moved Wild Horses from its spot on a harbour mooring ball to the anchorage just outside Jolly Harbour’s entrance. This would be a perfect place to leave at first light to make the 32 nautical mile trip to Barbuda, Antigua’s sister island. Together, they form the country of “Antigua and Barbuda”. We were excited to get to see this small and very flat island known for clear, beautiful water and is home to a large colony of frigate birds. The next morning, we were underway. Well, almost. We had a slight delay when our anchor windlass decided to not work, preventing us from lifting our 88lb Rocna anchor. Mike quickly found a loose wiring connection, fixed it and we were back in business. Surely this was our one glitch for the day. As it turns out, this was far from the truth. The passage to Barbuda was a windless one, which meant motoring the whole way. Our first glimpse of Barbuda was surprising. It is flat as a pancake and pretty sparse! Such a contrast from mountainous and lush Antigua. We motored into the Cocoa Point anchorage slowly and carefully, avoiding the many reefs scattered about. It was an easy feat as the water was clear and blue. Next on deck was to get Ocean to shore. We piled into the dinghy and started to head towards the shoreline. Hmmm, strong breakers at the nearby beach looked very ominous. We dinghied further south to where the shoreline was calm but there were “private property” signs there. Yeesh. We doubled back and started heading north again, towards the one and only beach bar. Surely people can land their dinghies here? Right? Well, it didn’t look good there either. There was a mooring ball slightly away from shore that we contemplated attaching the dinghy to but it would require a fairly sporty swim in for all three of us, especially with the crashing waves at shore. Finally, we thought we saw a calmer section along the shore line, just 10 metres away, and motored the dinghy towards it. We were wrong about the calmness. Very wrong. It was a catastrophe. The dinghy swung violently sideways as it got caught up in a large breaking swell and then it flipped. I was underwater and scooped out behind the dinghy. Ocean had made a premature jump out of the dinghy before the flip (she is so smart) and when I found my way to the surface of the water, I could see her playing onshore with some of the debris from our capsized dinghy. Where was Mike? Trapped under the dinghy. I helped him get the dinghy off him and then we got it righted. We were shaken but still had to secure the dinghy from being pummeled in the breaking swells. Out of nowhere, a gentleman (who we later found out was the beach bar owner named Enoch) came along and, without asking, started to help us pull the dinghy onto the beach and then rushed to secure everything being swept into the ocean that had fallen out of our dinghy. He did this even though our large dog was running free around him. He did this even though he was working. He did this even though it was difficult. He even brought us a 2-gallon jug of his fresh water to wash down the salt and sand drenched engine. Wow. We had a moment to catch our breath and assess our situation. The important part was all three of us were safe and with minimal injuries. We had all our gear, including our wallet and phones and nothing had been damaged. Um, scratch that. We had an engine that had been submerged in saltwater. We knew it wouldn’t start and although we had our oars, we knew that rowing the half mile to our boat in the swell was not doable. We needed a tow. The bartender assured us that someone would be coming to his beach bar before dark. But, for over an hour, no one came. Finally, our heroes arrived. A small dinghy loaded down with six people approached the same shoreline where we capsized. Surely, they would suffer the same fate? Nope. They had the landing process nailed. Three young people in their 20s jumped out of the dinghy, swam to shore and awaited the dinghy they just left. They waited for a big swell to crash and then the race was on. As the dinghy approached the shore, the last three people jumped out and swam while the three on shore rushed out and secured the dinghy. All six then pulled the dinghy onshore. Oh, that’s what we did wrong. 😉 There was no hesitation from the dinghy’s captain when we asked for a tow. “Yes! I will do it right now!” Mike had previously rowed our dinghy out to the beach bar’s mooring so the three of us needed to swim out to it, in the crashing waves. Mike and I had no issue with this but we worried about Ocean. She had her lifejacket on but could she negotiate the crashing waves and strong swell? Our heroes had an answer for that. They offered to put her in their dinghy so she wouldn’t have to swim. Great! Except Ocean did not like the idea of Mike and I swimming away from her while some strangers took her elsewhere in their dinghy. Out she jumped! But her attempts to swim to us failed as she struggled to negotiate the crashing waves. Once again, our heroes leapt into action. Two strong swimmers from the group grabbed the handle on her lifejacket and guided her through the waves and swell to us waiting in our dinghy. They then tread water while pushing her up and over the dinghy gunnels. Wow!! After being towed to our boat, we gave the engine a fresh water rinsing, removed the spark plugs, oiled the cylinders (clearing it of any water) and got pounds of sand out of the housing. Still the engine would not start. We knew we had to get the engine properly serviced immediately or our almost new engine would be trash. We couldn’t remain in Barbuda, with its very scarce services and amenities. We had to go back to Antigua. Our friends on Rode Trip, still in Antigua, had secured us an engine mechanic who could take care of our engine as soon as we arrived back there. They also offered us the loan of their dinghy for use over Christmas. They are currently at a dock so the dinghy wasn’t being used. Amazing! At the end of the day, we know we were lucky. Lucky to have suffered no injuries. Lucky to have great sailing buddies who never hesitate to assist however they can. Lucky to be in a world where complete strangers will go out of their way to help you without hesitation. A big thank you to Rode Trip, to Enoch (the bar owner at Barbuda) and to the crew on Inukshuk, our towing heroes. Merry Christmas indeed! Enjoying the adventures aboard Wild Horses? Want to know where we are headed next? Click on the buttons below!
When we arrived in Les Saintes, Guadeloupe (a small set of islands to the south of mainland Guadeloupe), we knew the Christmas winds would be blowing for about a week. This didn’t damper our spirits at all as our anchorage was in Terre-de-Haut, a very lively island with lots of great restaurants, shops, beaches and hiking. We were not going to be bored! First on deck for Wild Horses, and our boat buddies Rode Trip and Caretta, was a hike up Le Chameau, the highest point on Terre-de-Haut at 309 metres. At the very tippy-top of Le Chameau is “La Tour de la Vigie”, an unmaintained small fort built in 1843 to protect French interests in the islands. This fort stands a slight bit higher than the terrain so it was our focus as we trekked slowly up the mountain. Although it only takes about 90 minutes to get to the top of Le Chameau, it was a seriously steep trek up. We started with 6 hikers and 1 dog and ended with just 4 hikers making it to the top. It was definitely not the right terrain for a dog, so at about the halfway point, Mike and Andrea (from Caretta) decided to forgo the hike and to take Ocean back down the mountain. No worries, the rest of us continued to the top while the three of them had a lovely stroll down to the main town to await our return. The trip up was strenuous and required a few rest stops but we were treated to gorgeous views of Terre-de-Haut once we reached the summit. The fort is very small and in serious disrepair but it was still captivating, especially knowing that it was built to house 15 soldiers. Those are some tight accommodations! A few days later, we did a second hike to another fort on the island. Fort Napoleon also requires some uphill trekking but stands only 130 metres above the anchorage. This would be a far easier hike and much more dog-friendly! Fort Napoleon is a large fort with expansive grounds, a botanical garden and, within its stone walls, it houses rich tributes to the island’s history and culture. Unfortunately for us, the fort closes in the early afternoon and we had arrived too late. Although we enjoyed the view of the outside of the fort, we would have to tour the inside another day. We were at Les Saintes for a total of nine days and thoroughly enjoyed all the great restaurants and shopping that this little harbour village had to offer. The town and surrounding areas are very walkable and charming. In fact, there are very few cars driven about. Instead, people get around by walking, or by using scooters and golf carts. Yes, there was still “traffic” but at a much slower pace 😊. We even decided to get into the golf cart game ourselves! The crews from Wild Horses, Rode Trip, Caretta and Don’t Panic, piled into three golf carts and did a one-day self-guided tour of Terre-de-Haut. It was an inspiring trip which took us through the twisty, narrow and mostly “one way” village streets and to several of the rugged coastlines. We even took a side trip back up to Fort Napoleon to finally do a tour of the inside of the fort. It didn’t disappoint! As much as we enjoyed Les Saintes, our weather window for travelling further north had arrived by Thursday. We weighed anchor at 0800 to start our 32 nautical mile trip to Deshaies, in the north east corner of mainland Guadeloupe. We again travelled with our buddy boats Caretta and Rode Trip. Kemana also joined us on this leg of the trip, having arrived in Les Saintes a few days prior. We were only going to be in Deshaies for one night as the forecast was for a great day for crossing the big gap between Guadeloupe and Antigua. We were excited about our upcoming day of travel but it was also a sad time for us. We were saying good bye to our long-time boat buddies on Caretta. We had been travelling with them, almost in lock step, since Luperon, Dominican Republic, a whole 9 months ago. We were continuing on to Antigua while they would be going to St. Kitts, an island where it is extremely difficult to take a dog. Although tears were shed, we have plans to meet up again, somewhere down the line in the New Year. We will miss them! The next morning, Wild Horses, Kemana and Rode Trip headed towards Antigua together. The wind was light and variable, making for a very frustrating sail. Still, the sky was clear and the sea wasn’t rolly so we considered it a great day on the water. Clearing into Antigua was easy – Customs, Immigration, Health Authority and the Port Authority are all housed together, just a short dinghy ride from our mooring ball. Although we had things lined up for the Veterinarian to clear Ocean in at the same time, a veterinary emergency came up so her clearing was postponed to the following afternoon. The delay wasn’t a concern as we were advised by the Vet that we could take her to shore for short trips to do her business; however, he stressed that we should make sure that Customs did not see her on shore. No problem! We are okay with sneaking her to shore! By the end of the weekend, all three of the Wild Horses’ crew were cleared in and we were ready to explore Antigua! We are looking forward to all that Antigua has to offer! Happy Holidays from our whole crew! Click the buttons below to see where we are now and where we are headed next!
Wild Horses has made some miles over the past week. We left Le Marin on the south coast of Martinique and moved along to Fort de France, a big and bustling city at the south end of the Baie de la fort de France, Martinique. We had seen only a small fraction of this great town when we were here last Spring. Indeed, way back in late June, we stayed only one night, having decided to make the leap from there to Grenada in one big 24-hour trip in order to get out of the path of Tropical Storm Bret. We were thrilled to be spending several days in this anchorage. The city is very walkable, with historic sites, well-stocked markets, delicious paninis, baguettes, cheeses and lots of people and activities. It was also decked out for the holidays which was wonderful to see. With our daytime temperature still reaching 29 degrees most days, it can be hard to remember that we are actually in December and just a few short weeks from Christmas. Hearing some Christmas tunes in stores and the sparkle of Christmas lights out in the street and at the harbour front was just what the doctor ordered. We thoroughly enjoyed this harbour town but we needed to keep moving. We are hoping to be in St. Martin, at the top of the Eastern Caribbean island chain, for Christmas and New Year’s. We left Fort de France on December 2 and sailed north along the coast to our final anchorage in Martinique, the town of St.Pierre. We were looking forward to spending a few days here exploring the ruins from the 1902 volcano eruption that destroyed much of the town. Unfortunately, our plans were waylaid by cruise ships. The one town dock was off limits for landing dinghies while the cruise ship was in town so we were left to beach our dinghy in order to access the town. Although it sounds like an okay option, the surf was up for most of our time in St. Pierre so that meant the dinghy got pounded as we tried to land it. We also had to carry the dinghy up to higher ground to get it safely away from the surf. This is no small feat as our dinghy and motor weigh close to 160 pounds. My back aches just thinking about it! The worst of it, though, is that there was no where to lock the dinghy on the beach. Theft isn’t rampant in Martinique but we also didn’t want to make ourselves an easy target. That meant that we could only do quick trips in town so that the dinghy wasn’t sitting unattended for a long time. Sigh. There would be no big tours of the ruins this time around. On Monday, December 4, we weighed anchor and sailed away from Martinique. This was a sporty sail to Dominica! We had full sails out in almost 30 knots of wind, which had us moving very fast. Our trip to Dominica was expected to take us just under 7 hours. We made it there in 5 hours. We were flying! We were happy to arrive at the anchorage but we knew it would be a short visit. Last Spring, we had spent several days in Dominica and got to explore a bit of the southeastern town of Roseau and the northeastern town of Portsmouth. This time, we decided to only stay one night total, choosing the southern anchorage near Roseau. The first of the strong Christmas winds were forecasted to start blowing in a few days and they looked like they would stay strong for a good week. We, along with our boat buddies Caretta and Rode Trip, decided to try to get to Les Saintes, Guadeloupe ahead of the strong weather. In Les Saintes, we could hike, shop, dine and explore, all within easy walking distance of the dinghy dock. At 0615 on Tuesday December 5th, Caretta and Rode Trip weighed anchor and started their 37 nautical mile journey to Guadeloupe. An hour later, Wild Horses also left the anchorage (we had to take Ocean into shore first). The first half of the trip had us motoring along the east coast of Dominica. The wind was down, just 5 knots, and its direction changed often due to the land effects. We would have preferred to sail but it was impossible with these conditions. But that all changed as we neared the top of Dominica. We got a call on the VHF from Rode Trip, warning us that the wind was up in the gap between the islands, reaching 35 knots at times. Some minor squall activity had also been forecasted and we were definitely seeing it start to form. Armed with this information, we decided to start sailing with reefed sails, letting only 70% of the sails out. We were glad we did! It was a wild three hour ride with the strong wind whipping up the seas from 6 to 8 feet, broadside to Wild Horses, and a few small squalls dousing us with rain. We rode up and down the waves, getting our decks soaked from ocean waves while the rain continued to pelt us. All was under control but it wasn’t entirely comfortable. Seeing the islands of Les Saintes grow bigger before us as we got closer and closer to them, was a relief. Another call on the VHF had us learn that Caretta had made it safely into the anchorage. Shortly thereafter, Rode Trip also confirmed they were also okay and in the anchorage. Just then, another squall ran over us, making the islands invisible. It was very unsettling to be about to make our entrance into the group of islands and then to have them disappear just minutes later. Thank goodness for electronic navigation! Our chart plotter made it easy to stay on course so we continued on our way, with fingers crossed that things would improve before we got to the crab pot littered entrance way of Les Saintes. Thankfully, luck was with us. The rain slowed and our visibility improved, just in time. We dropped our sails and worked our way through the islands. We had made it. We were tired and ready for a beer, as were our boat buddies. As soon as we finished our clearance process, we found a great cafe and all seven of us (including Ocean!) said cheers to the challenge and success of the day. We were proud, tired, and happy. All crew and all boats had weathered the wind and storms of the day and come out without a scratch. Well, not quite, the crews were sporting a few boat bruises to mark the experience! We are looking forward to exploring this beautiful French town and maybe resting on our laurels a little bit. I think we have earned it 😊. Click the buttons below to see where we are now and where we plan to be this sailing season.
Oh man, salt water is a beast. I remember when Wild horses got its first taste of salt water, way back on the lower Hudson River. We noted the occasion with a high five, stating proudly that “Wild Horses is now a salt water boat.” It seemed like such an accomplishment at the time. How cute, and wildly naïve, that seems now. These days, “cute” is not how I would describe our dealings with salt water. It is a bear, a beast, an annoyance. It is expensive and incredibly time-consuming. Nothing turns our smiles upside down faster than a salty dinghy ride, especially when we are headed out to dinner. Not only are you wet from the ocean water, but you get a lovely salt stain across your clothing as time progresses. Notice I didn’t say “as it dries.” That is because fabric doused in salt water doesn’t dry. It feels wet and looks stained until the next wash. Ugh. But salty rides to dinner are closer to the “annoying” side of things. The time-consuming and expensive bit is what it does to our stuff. Whether as salty ocean water or as salty ocean air, it literally gets into everything and, as a result, those things start to break down.
Our decks (and everything on them) are affected the worst. On good sailing days, salt water crashes over our bow regularly, soaking everything. Every exposed surface gets the salt water treatment. Yeah, salt water gets two thumbs down. We tried to stay on top of the damage by giving our boat gear a fresh water rinse every so often. Rainy days would help but, to be honest, there just wasn’t enough of those rainy days. Our stainless steel would get treated with metal polish and, a few weeks later, more rust. Locks, zippers, electronics – these got some attention with rubbing alcohol or WD-40 when they stopped working. After over a year of being splashed by salt water and exposed to salty air, Wild Horses was losing the salt water battle. The icing on the salt cake was when our metal “water” and “waste” tank covers seized. That’s right. We couldn’t pump out waste and we couldn’t add water through our top decks. Thankfully, we were able to use a penetrating oil and elbow grease to open our water tank covers. The waste tank covers, however, were toast. Both had to be replaced. Clearly, our approach to managing the salt water wasn’t good enough. With our recent stay at Rodney Bay Marina in St. Lucia, we were given some great “salt water cleaning” lessons by Anthony and Gaza, the two guys we hired to get Wild Horses ship shape. They have cared for and cleaned hundreds of boats and emphasized that prevention is key when you are dealing with salt water. Most important, they stressed, is that the whole boat needs to be rinsed down with fresh water after every single sail. Yikes! That takes a lot of fresh water. It is a good thing we have a water maker! The good news is that we departed from Rodney Bay, St. Lucia with a beautifully clean, polished and salt-free boat. From now on, it will stay that way with a little (or a lot) of prevention. In fact, as soon as we arrived at our anchorage in Le Marin, Martinique, the whole boat got a fresh water rinse. Yes! We have been in Martinique for four days, having arrived here on Thursday November 23. It was an easy clearing in process, being a French island. No pet permits here! In fact, we don’t even have to declare the dog. Easy! French islands are also our favourite for the food and wine. Baguettes, pain au chocolat, cheeses, fresh fish and wonderful sauces. Yum! Plus, the adjacent towns are so quaint, with a lovely European vibe. And, this particular anchorage has lots of marine stores in easy walking distance. We have finally picked up several boat spares and replacement parts that have been on our list since last spring. Tomorrow, we leave Le Marin and head a few hours north to another anchorage in Martinique. More quaint towns, beautiful vistas, and great food and wine. We are one happy crew! Click the buttons below to check out where we are and where we are headed next.
This has been an exciting week for the crew of Wild Horses. Our weather window for moving north early in the week was holding steady so we knew it was a great chance to get some miles under our keel. Our boat buddies on Caretta, Kemana and Rode Trip were also keen to get going. They had planned to clear into Union Island, St. Vincent & Grenadines (SVG), which is just a few hours north of Grenada. Unfortunately, Wild Horses would need to have a different sail plan. By Sunday, we still hadn’t received our pet permit for SVG. We finalized our “Plan B” sail plan to, sadly, bypass SVG and split away from our boat buddies. Well, I should say “almost” bypassing SVG. Our new plan was to sail 50 miles to the North Western corner of SVG and “Q flag” for the night before weighing anchor and sailing the final 50 miles to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. What does “Q flag” mean? Well, it is when you anchor within a country’s territorial waters but you do not clear in. Instead, you leave your yellow Quarantine flag waiving throughout the night. It is a great option if you only have to be in a country for 24 hours (the time limit for Q flagging) and you have no need to go ashore. Absolutely no one can go to shore? Yup. Um, what about Ocean? Well, we have a pee pad set up on our bow for her. At anchor, she will use it if she needs to. Great! We have our plan! Early Monday morning, Wild Horses, Caretta, Kemana and Rode Trip met outside of the Tyrell Bay Customs & Immigration office promptly at 0800, opening time for clearing out. About 0900, the customs agent arrived, obviously fully embracing “Island Time”. It took us about an hour to clear out and then we were off! All four crews planned to go to a scenic anchorage called Anse La Roche on the North West corner of Carriacou, Grenada for the night. This is a pretty little anchorage that is known for hosting a spectacular beach BBQ. We definitely didn’t want to miss that! Although we had already completed the clearing out process, Grenada allows you 24 hours to leave their territorial waters so stopping at Anse La Roche would be the perfect stop for us and shave an hour off our trip to SVG the next day. Well, we were happy to have made that decision! Not only did we get to spend more time with our boat buddies but we were treated to an amazing beach BBQ at Tim’s. This is a little beach side set up that provides a five-star family-style BBQ meal. For $100 EC a person ($50 CAD), we had a feast of lobsters, Lambi (aka Conch) stew, BBQ chicken, salad, stuffed potatoes and lots of rice, all served on beautifully laid out tables with lovely tiki lights providing the perfect ambiance. It was an incredible evening! At the end of the evening, we bid farewell to our boat buddies and prepared for our early wake up call to head to SVG the next morning. At 0615 on Tuesday morning we had weighed anchor and were headed to Chateaubelair, an anchorage on the North Western tip of St. Vincent. We had perfect 25 to 30 knot winds and a very comfortable sea state, all making for a beautiful sail to Chateaubelair and an early arrival time of 1415. On our arrival, the boat boy we were advised to hail (by our boat buddies on Kemana), paddled up to us and helped us choose the best place to anchor and also brought us fresh tomatoes and oranges. Fabulous! The next morning, Wednesday, we weighed anchor at 0615 and headed straight for St. Lucia. It was another beautiful sailing day as we crossed between SVG and St.Lucia. By the time we had passed the Pitons (the famous mountain range in the south portion of St. Lucia), the wind died and we had to turn on our motor. We were thrilled to find out, via our AIS, that another boat buddy, “Bitty Rose” was just behind us and also headed for Rodney Bay Marina. Fantastic! Once docked, we needed to get to the Customs & Immigration office so we could get ourselves and Ocean cleared into the country. Thankfully, the Government Veterinarian was there waiting for us. Ocean’s veterinary inspection was a quick once over and we were provided her official clearance papers. Yes! Dog, boat and people were officially cleared into St. Lucia. It was still early afternoon when we finished clearing in so next on the agenda was getting our boat “ship shape”. Our poor Wild Horses has been a bit neglected in the waxing department and all the saltwater had started to take its toll. Anthony and Gaza to the rescue! These are two amazing guys at the marina who do exceptional waxing and detailing work on boats. Better yet, they were available to start working on Wild Horses right away. So far, they have washed and waxed our topsides, polished and de-rusted our all the stainless on the boat, cleaned all of our canvas and cockpit cushions and today they are washing and waxing our whole hull. Oh, and that is after fixing the scratches in our gelcoat from when we were dragged into during Tropical Storm Bret. Wild Horses will be looking shiny and new very soon! We have been in St. Lucia for five days so far and will likely stay another three or four days. The country is beautiful plus we are enjoying being near good shopping and restaurants. Oh, and since we are at dock, we are loving having our air conditioner to give us a break from the 29 degree Celsius heat. Yes, St. Lucia is feeling like a mini vacation where everything we want is at our fingertips. Soon, however, we will be on the move again. We will likely be in Martinique by the end of the week, just about the time that our buddies will also arrive there. 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Wild Horses arrived in Carriacou, Grenada on Oct 28th and we immediately started to prepare for our trip to St. Vincent & The Grenadines (SVG). The first island in SVG is just a few hours away and we were excited to start island hopping our way through the beautiful waterways of the Grenadines, including Union Island, Canouan and Bequia. Cue “screeching stop” sound. After almost two weeks, we still have not received a pet permit to SVG for Ocean. All necessary paperwork was submitted, but we haven’t even so much as received a confirmation of receipt. Processing time is supposed to be three days. I have emailed several times to get an idea of the status of our application. No response. I have also tried calling (probably more than fifty times). No answer. Yeesh. It helps to know that I am not alone in this. I have met several other cruisers with the same experience. Only one was able to finally get someone on the phone at the St. Vincent Government Veterinary Office. They pleaded their case and was issued a permit. Hence, I keep calling the office with the hope of winning the Pet Permit lottery 😉. In the interim, we have been exploring the beautiful island of Carriacou. Last week, our boat buddies (Kemana and Caretta) and the three crew from Wild Horses took the city bus out to Windward, on the northeast region of the island. This area is ripe with wooden boat building and we were able to see a few in progress as well as chat with a few locals. It took two buses to get to windward and two for the return. In each case, we had to ask if Ocean could board. All but one gladly had her ride, albeit under our seats. She was a champ about it though! The one bus driver who resisted, complained about Ocean’s size, her fur and just about everything dog-like about her. But he finally still let her ride, even though he scowled his way through it. Funny thing though, since that day our scowl-faced bus driver has stopped twice to ask if we want a ride while we were walking Ocean along the street. I guess she warmed his heart a little bit! We have also had some fun hanging out on a nearby beach, and checking out some local stores, events and great restaurants. And, with our days and nights getting a little cooler (just one or two degrees but we’ll take it), we have enjoyed some very nice walks around town. Although we haven’t minded waiting a few weeks in Carriacou for our pet permit, there might be a weather window early next week to start moving north and we don’t want to miss this window. Cue “Plan B”. The next country north of St. Vincent is St. Lucia. This country is near and dear to our hearts as we visited a resort there several years ago. We absolutely fell in love with the island and the people and have been excited to visit on our own sailboat. On our way south, we had to skip St. Lucia (and St. Vincent) as Tropical Storm Bret was hot on our tail and we wanted to be the furthest south we could safely get. That was Grenada, which is south of both St. Vincent and St, Lucia. This past week, I requested the pet permit for St. Lucia. Not only did I get a “thanks for your email” receipt but I received the actual pet permit the very next day. Yay! Our new plan now is to head to St. Lucia. Sadly, our boat buddies will not be joining us as they, rightly so, will be exploring SVG. No worries though. We have plans to meet up with them either in St. Lucia or Martinique. Want to catch up with where we are? And where we are headed? Click the buttons below!
Our last week in mainland Grenada was a flurry of activity for us. Not only did we have to get Ocean’s documentation up to date for the trip but we wanted to make sure we had enough of our “convenience provisions”. What are those? Simply, they are the things we use daily or might need in a pinch. For us, it includes enough basic boat supplies, house supplies, dog food, drinks and stored food to last a month plus some extra Eastern Caribbean Dollars. While all of this is available as we travel through the Eastern Caribbean islands, they may not be easily accessible. For instance, we love walking so would cheerfully go several blocks from the dinghy dock to a grocery store. But, do we want to carry back large bags of dog food or big packages of toilet paper in the sweltering heat? Likely no. Or, do we want to run out of a favourite brand of something and be searching island after island for more? Surely no. And running out of beer? Hell no! Stocking up in Grenada while we have access to cheap taxis to transport us just makes sense to us. Plus, having a few extra Eastern Caribbean Dollars on hand also makes things a little less stressful. Not every place takes credit cards and sometimes, more often than I would like, the only accessible ATM is out of money. We also spent quite a bit of time getting Ocean’s papers ready for our trip north. Normally, it is an easy process to visit the Veterinarian to get an updated “health certificate” (summary of the dog’s vaccinations, tests and medications that meet pet travel requirements) for the countries we will be visiting. Going to the Veterinarian this week, however, was anything but easy. Keep in mind that this was a “this week” issue and not a “Grenada” issue. What happened? Well, we booked Ocean’s appointment at The Small Animal Clinic at St. George’s University for Friday October 20. The Clinic is too far away to walk so we got a taxi with our favourite driver “Squeezo” (so nicknamed because he is famous for squeezing in every last kid on his school drop off and pick up runs). At the Clinic, the Veterinarian was ready to see us right away. Actually, it was an entourage of Veterinarians. This is a teaching hospital so we had no less than six people in our appointment room – the main Veterinarian, four students and a Veterinary Technician. Ocean loved all the attention! Her appointment went very well …except they didn’t have any Heartworm tests left. Oh. We would have to go to another Veterinary office for the test and then send the results back to The Small Animal Clinic so that they could complete the paperwork for endorsement by the Government Veterinarian. Yeesh! Thankfully there is “Vets to Go”. This is a mobile Veterinarian that travels to the different bays in southern Grenada. They would come directly to our boat? Amazing! It is a little pricier than the regular Veterinarian but we loved that the service existed. We booked the next available appointment which ended up being on Monday October 23. Perfect! Well, perfect except that it was pouring rain that day and the Veterinarian works out of her small car which has no space for 2 additional people plus a large dog. We got soaked taking the dinghy into the dock but were able to find refuge in one of the garages at the Secret Harbour Marina. The Veterinarian completed the required test (it was negative, of course) and hand wrote the formal documentation. Not in my wildest dreams did I ever think Ocean would have a Veterinary appointment in the garage of a marina in the pouring rain but there we were! With the testing completed, we had just one more step – to get the endorsed health certificate from the government veterinarian. The Small Animal Clinic submitted all of our documentation and voila! We had everything we needed to start visiting other countries. Well, almost. Many countries also require a pet permit but we need to request that authorization from each country just before we visit them. We were now ready to weigh anchor and start heading north. At 0830 on Saturday October 28th, Caretta and Wild Horses left Secret Harbour and started the 40 nautical mile sail north to Carriacou, Grenada, following just a little over an hour behind Kemana who had left at 0715. The sea was rolly as we crossed westward along the southern coastline of Grenada but as soon as we pointed our bow north to start our way along the western coastline of Grenada we had both favourable seas and wind. It was a glorious one tack sail. The wind died about mid-island and caused us to turn on our motor but we thankfully shut it off again when the wind picked up just after we passed the northern tip of mainland Grenada. After a great day on the water, we were happy to arrive in Tyrell Bay just after 1600 hours. We will be here for about a week, taking care of a few boat things and waiting for our pet permit to be approved by the government Veterinarian for St. Vincent. And, yes, one of those “boat things” we needed to get done was removing the stripped zinc screw from our propeller and installing a new zinc and screw. Stop me if you have heard this before but the solution ended up being our boat buddy Barry 😊. Yes, in addition to being a master electrician, he is also an awesome diver. Yesterday morning, he came over to Wild Horses and after no more than 15 minutes, he had the old screw and zinc off and the new one installed. Yes, people, he is just that good! Last night, the four of us went to one of our favourite Carriacou haunts “The Paradise Beach Club” so we could treat Barry and Andrea to a fabulous “thank you for being amazing at everything” dinner. The water taxi picked up both crews (plus Ocean) at Tyrell Bay and took us around the point to Paradise Beach for a great taco dinner. What a wonderful way to end a successful day! Enjoying our blog? What to see where we are right now or where we will be heading this season? Click the buttons below!
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AuthorVictoria is a hiker, dog-lover, blog writer and planner extraordinaire. Oh, yeah and she is kind of fond of living on a boat. Categories
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