Day Sail!! and with Wind Vane Steering

    Yesterday Lynn and I did something on Celebration that we haven't done since we started cruising full time. No not that! Our kids might read this!!  We went for a day sail. Yes, pulled up the anchor from the clay of Charlotte Amalie St Thomas and are now on a mooring in Christmas Cove St James Island.  We had a beautiful, slow, comfortable sail in between as we tacked and tacked windward to get here.

    Why? Both why; as in why don't we day-sail more? And why; as in why today? Why not more day-sailing? Well it seems like every time we anchor somewhere, things just appear. Things from in cabinets come out....like tools, spare parts, project lists, lots of stuff like that. Then there are things that in a place like Charlotte Amalie appear from off the boat...like the 1.75 liter bottles of Cruzan Dark rum we found for $9.95 each, a few extra groceries for the next trip, and always a couple of bits needed to keep the good ship operating properly i.e. ready for the next voyage. So to leave even for an afternoon, all these things have to be put away. Otherwise when the boats heels (leans) with the wind, they will noisily find their own temporary home at the lowest point below. Not a great sight or sound and definitely not fun to clean up afterward.

    Why today? After a couple nights in Charlotte Amalie which we love for the people watching, restocking, and finding needed parts and pieces, we need we also needed a little break. Carnival is gearing up thus so is the music in both hours and loudness. We love it and the party atmosphere. But Sunday night it was loud and going until 0200 in the morning. The day before 0345, the same on Friday. Nice, but with a break.

Line routing and Quadrant driving rudder post

   But the real reason Lynn was able to get me to break the anchor loose is that we needed a test of the new (to Celebration anyway) wind vane steering. After years of looking, setting the boat up for it along the way and not being able to afford one, not liking most of the commercial solutions, I found the "perfect" match. An old Aries lift up unit which needed a LOT of work. I often say "I have more time than money" so it wound up on celebration courtesy of a fellow cruiser/guitar player in Grenada for the tidy sum of $200 and a bottle of Clarks Court Dark. Weeks, actually months later, all the parts were broken loose (hammered in many cases) reshaped, refit, modified, Teflon coated, assembled and appeared to be working. A couple of custom brackets and a self designed quadrant for getting the unit connected to the rudder and we were ready for a test run. The journey from the bottom of someone’s bilge to the stern of Celebration, to even include the recast of the lead counterweight using a tin can and the BBQ grill,  I'll cover in some detail on another blog dedicated to maintenance and refit stuff. Today we'll settle for a photo of how it's rigged to the rudder post and hopefully a brief video.

    I have to say that I had never sailed with one before so really didn't know what to expect. Surely there would be some tweaking with my "one of" design, and I'd heard and read all about the wandering course many of the wind steering units take. So I expected the worse, probably a whole day of figuring it out, followed by some redesign and reworking parts. Well to make it short, we headed out, set sails, Lynn held a course while I tensioned and cleated off the control lines. Next I heard from Lynn was "it's steering isn't it? Lo and behold it worked! What, can't be that easy. So after an hour we tacked with no problem, tacked again and again. Eventually we sailed along relaxed and trusting this new thing to steer. No beeps, no clicks, no whirr of the linkage, nor whine of the motor, best of all no amps consumed and no squiggly little lines on my weather fax. Tonight we will christen it after we come up with a suitable name over cocktails. We'll let you know.

Thar She Blows

No, not a tale of whales, but two tales of volcanoes and the destruction they cause.  The Eastern Caribbean islands where we've been living this past year are mostly volcanic.  They have the same MO as we sail by: lush green hills crowned by a perfect volcano crater, topped with fluffy white clouds, quiet and peaceful.  We got a chance to see the other side of the mountain, so to speak, the destructive, uncaring, violent side.



Mount Pelee, above, stands above the town of St Pierre on the NW corner of Martinique.  It erupted in 1902, sending a "fireball of superheated gas that flowed down over the city... All that remained were smoking ruins". Almost 30,000 people burned to death, leaving (depending on the reports) only 2 or 3 survivors.  The new city of St Pierre wasn't rebuilt until 1923 and is built around and on the old ruins.  The ruins are visible throughout the town, old walls that are now part of new structures.





The former entrance to the Theatre.



The ruins of the Police Station/Prison where Louis Cyparis survived the eruption .



Louis Cyparis, he had an interesting life,
go to here for the story.



Statue and inscription at the entrance of the old Theatre.

Volcano #2 is the island country of Montserrat.

Soufriere, from outside the 2 mile maritime exclusion zone, showing the ash flows. Plymouth was on the far left.

The Soufriere eruption is a much more recent event, so with more modern seismic equipment, only 19 people died when it blew in 1995, burying the capitol city of Plymouth. It continued to spew ash, making living conditions very difficult, and during the next few years nearly 2/3 of the population left the country.

Plymouth houses surrounded by the ash flow.



The third story of a home buried by ash.

The ash continues to fall, bird tracks on a stair rail.

I don't know if it was the ash in the air or just the time of year,
but the sunsets were spectacular.

Taxis, Busses, Rum and New Friends

    St Croix: We have some friends Pablo and Tatia (s/v Borealis) who wondered why there were no cruisers in St Croix. They had all great things to say after their visit. Since it was one of the islands we missed last year and we were going with the wind and current this time, we thought we'd give it a taste. We loved it and too are surprised there are few cruisers. Checking in was a breeze, especially as US citizens and having registered with the local boater option., getting around was not hard. Pueblo supermarket is within walking distance from downtown Christiansted where we anchored and $2.50 busses available if you need to go farther. The busses can be a bit confusing but a little time talking to a local clears it up quickly.



    The $2.50 bus: Well more like full-size US vans, they are really taxis, and they say taxi, but some are taxis and some are busses, pretty clear eh?

    Well...you just put your hand out and ask when they stop if they are a two-fifty bus. So what you really have is a taxi, but if its driver is willing to play like a bus and you're willing to go along, then it can be a bus. The difference, ahh...the only difference is that as a $2.50 bus you'll share your "taxi" with as many folks as are willing to get in/out along the route, all only paying $2.50 vs the normal fare. And you will get off and on a main route...no deviating down a side street for a door side drop or pickup.

    So there we were... another distillery to visit in our one year circumnavigation of Caribbean Rum tasting but a really long walk away. A taxi at $25? Nope the two-fifty bus with an easy half mile walk down the side road right to the Cruzan Rum Distillery front door.

A nice tour although a bit superficial, (perhaps a result of us getting the one tour guide/host who doesn't drink!) followed by a bit of sampling in their indoor/outdoor host area. One of the most interesting points is that while ALL the rum is made right there in St Croix, it is ALL shipped in bulk to Florida for spicing, flavoring, and bottling. Then we looked at the prices. Yes you can buy a bottle of Cruzan from the distillery for far less than in Florida even after the trip there and back. Hmmm? Oh yea prices...Cruzan dark aged two years was $6.00/750ml bottle. So how much of that can we stand to backpack out to the road for our taxi/bus back to Christenstead? Unfortunately not much.

   We made our meager purchase and packed it up for the trek. So on the way out one of those great cruiser moments occurred as we met a wonderful couple Jorgen and Nonne (s/v Luna) from Denmark. We chatted and shared information, where we're from, where headed all that when I noticed they had several cases of the good stuff. By then I already knew their boat was in Christiansted near ours so I asked if they had a spare seat we could hook a ride back to "Fredrickstad" with them. The second I said that I realized (confirmed by a gentle kick from Lynn) I didn't mean Fredrickstad at all...we weren't going to Fredrickstad. Too late as Jorgan had heartily agreed so yes we were indeed going to Fredrickstad and off we went.

We toured the Dutch fort, after which we shared a picnic lunch on a hillside and a drive back through the forest and countryside to Christiansted. At one point Lynn commented that we didn't want to mess up their plan for the day only to be told "you are now a part of our plan". We could not have asked for a nicer afternoon and a chance to meet another set of friends. Sharing ideas, talk of kids, pets, sightseeing, past and future journeys, sailing weather for the next days and the afternoon was over all too quick. All due to a slip of the tongue, which by chance and the graciousness of new found friends, suddenly became "the plan"

We've put on a few miles since Steve last blogged about his elbow. (It's healing well, still very sore if hit in just the right spot, but he's taking it easy and it should continue to improve. Thanks to all of you for your concern and good wishes.) 
We ended up doing a 'Humanitarian Run' from Martinique back to Rodney Bay in St Lucia. Our friends, Anne and Chris on Mr Mac, were there and were out of wine!  There they were, slaving away writing, editing, together, on a boat and no wine for Anne at the end of the day. It was an emergency of the highest priority because as Chris pointed out, "The Red Cross won't deliver alcohol". We did what any cruiser worth his rum would do: bought 2 cases of white, checked out of Customs and headed south.  Steve caught a beautiful Mahi on the way, which Chris cleaned for us after our arrival, so we had fresh Mahi to go with some of that wine. It was great to catch up with Anne and Chris and be able to celebrate the book contract that Chris had just signed.  As usual, we had lots of Anne's wonderful cooking (lamb roti's anyone?) , and the kind of good conversation you can have with old friends over an evening of great food and drink.
We're currently on a mooring in Isles des Saintes, a group of islands on the south end of Guadeloupe. Les Saints, as they're called, are picture perfect islands.  Beautiful beaches, old forts to hike to and explore, deep blue water, and of course, great bread.

The Observation Tower.

Steve on the not really great ladder to the top.

Iles Des Saintes from the Observation Tower.

 I could tell I'd eaten too many baguettes in the last 2 months when we hiked to the Observation Tower the other day.  It's 1000 feet up.  I'm a North Dakota girl, so when the guide says there is a road most of the way up, I never think it'll be too steep.  I forget that they don't worry about snow and ice here and as so long as the concrete sets before it slumps down the hill, they can make a road anywhere.  Nothing like a 45 degree walk uphill for a couple of miles.  The view was worth the effort when I finally gasped my way to the top of the rusty ladder in the tower. There was a spectacular 360 degree view, from Dominica in the south, to Guadeloupe in the north.  The tower was originally used by the French to keep watch for the sneaky British navy back in the 1600's, and

Injury Log, #XXXX?

20 Jan, evening dinner, felt an "itch" in my left elbow, no big deal. Middle of the night it felt like it was swelling and started to be painful.   Next day suspected mild bursitis, wrapped it loosely, started Ibuprofen, took it easy, that night a fever of 102. Improved quickly but only to a point.

Now a month and some later…still slightly swollen, much less than before but it is just not getting better. Pain now very sharp and along the underside of the elbow with any pressing motion involving extension of the triceps. So been thinking about arthritis, infection, gout, reading everything, even asking the opinion of a great friend in the medical profession.

Got in here in St Lucia to see a doc, exam, blood tests, everything fine except the pain, no extra uric acid or platelets, none of the indicators for the most likely or expected maladies. Today another path, x-ray. Bull’s-eye, yes it is broken, not the usual break, but a nice divot off the back corner.  Here’s the picture, a close look and you can just see the outline of the chip sitting away from the bone. …now if I can only figure out how the hell I did that?

You've Got Mail!

Rodney Bay, St Lucia

One of the things about being 'homeless' is the lack of a mailbox.  (Well, that and the paperboy can't find us anymore.)  We get asked all the time about how we get our mail.  I thought I'd 'splain. Before we left Florida we set up an account with a company called St Brendan's Isle.  They're a mail forwarding service, which means that after we signed a bunch of paperwork, their address became our legal residence and all our mail goes there.  We don't have a physical residence anywhere, so it solves the problem of where we vote and pay taxes, or don't pay, as is the case in Florida.  They scan the front of every piece of mail and we have an account we can log into and see what's there.  Once we see it, we can have them hold it, shred it, forward it to us unopened or open it and scan the contents.  We have the held mail sent to us every couple of months when we plan to be somewhere long enough for it to catch up. So, to all those who sent us Christmas cards, I can't wait to see them next month! Anything that looks important we have scanned and then we can store it on our harddrive and have SBI shred the original.  We also gave SBI a limited power of attorney to open the mail from the US Coast Guard.  Our boat is documented with them and the documentation has to be renewed yearly.  The documentation is free if we do it on time but fairly pricy to renew if it lapses.  There must have been enough cruisers not getting their documentation in on time that it's profitable for SBI to do it for us, as they do charge an extra fee. FYI, the documentation is like a car title or proof of ownership and we must have it to check into Customs and Immigration in every country.

Since SBI handles mail for hundreds of cruisers, we run into our 'neighbors' from Green Cove Springs all the time.

Pictures from a Rainy Day

We usually start the day with fresh bread and/or fruit. These grapefruit were so sweet and juicy, they didn't need sugar. Generally, I share half with Steve, not today.

 We always buy new kinds of coffee and spend lots of time sampling and rating them. Great fun in the French islands, as we're never really sure what we've bought.  French-English dictionaries are limited on food terms for some reason.

 Today's project: screw the floorboards to the hull.  The boards have always been loose on Celebration and that's only a problem if the boat were to go all the way over. Since I just finished reading a book called "Rescue in the Pacific" about a Force 12 storm that caught dozens of boats unaware in the south pacific, I've been looking around our humble home and seeing too many things that could be problems.  Lots of damage and most of the injuries for those involved came from the projectiles launched from cupboards, lockers, freezers, etc. as the boats were tosses from side to side.  This is a project we've been going to do for quite a while, but I moved it up on the list and Steve was nice enough to humor me.
Installing these bolts involved moving the carpets, which meant that they should be taken out and beat while they were up, re-inventorying the stuff under the floorboards, cleaning the shower sump while we had access, cleaning all the parts of the hull we could reach and checking everything else we could see.  It was a tear up the boat day.

  The chocolate had to be sorted and properly stacked.

                                              Adjima was her usual helpful self.

We ended the day sampling some of our newly spiced rum over ice and watching the sunset behind some beautiful clouds.

Between Carnival and the Wine Tasting

Ready for Glass

    Way back, now over three years ago we repowered Celebration. One small dilemma was getting the exhaust and seawater mixture from one side of the prop shaft to the other. Simple, sure…but finding the exact right elbow to do the trick was fruitless. Custom one?  $4-600, so I went to my favorite speed shop, Summit Racing and ordered up a stainless steel 180 degree header elbow at around $45, Cut it with my angle grinder, aligned it to fit and marked it for welding. A friend stops by and asks “what are doing with that?” “Taking it in for welding” I say. “I have a TIG welder” he answers, “be happy to help.” So for $45 bucks and a bottle of Captain Morgan to the friend I’m done.

Epoxy Setting

     Fast forward to the wine tasting of a couple weeks ago; The men starting talking about their exhaust problems. Two of them had those $500 custom/production boat elbows rot out from the seawater-exhaust combo in under 3 years, both were running new and looking for a backup. I sat thinking about my home spun $45 version, hmmm? Sure enough when I dug down last week to look there indeed was a tiny pinhole in the weld and a bit of pitting in the mandrel lines. What to do?

Sanded, Ready to Reinstall

Back in Place

    Since many boats now use fiberglass for elbows, I thought I’d give it a try and fiber glassed over the stainless using 4 layers of cloth and epoxy resin. First cleaned up the old mess, steel brushed, sanded it to get adhesion, a little etching with leftover hull cleaning acid, acetone wipe and put down the cloth. Here are some photos of the process. I had to sand off a few rough spots to save the knuckles later, but the end result looks fairly similar to the production models. Except for the Steve Kauffmann/Celebration/Nanni custom shape of course. Time will tell how long it will last. Might be good to whip up another one of these when we get back to the US. Of course while in there, dissembled the shaft coupler to grease the bolts so when I really need to get it apart…it’ll come apart, and fixed a small seawater leak in the water-maker intake, domino’s….

Fresh Market

Five foot tall flower stems from the market.

As our two regular blog readers already know, we think one of the great things about being retired is the amount of time we have to spend on food. We spend a lot of time talking about food, planning, shopping, drooling, cooking.  Steve and I both love to find new grocery stores and markets.  Here in Martinique it's a fun challenge just to try to translate the labels and make sure we're buying what we think we're buying.  I like the 'fresh markets' (small local produce markets) because they have a little bit of everything: veggies, fruit, fresh spices, locally spiced rums, tourist souvenirs, a meat counter and a fish counter. Here, on a French Isle, they also include a baguette lady and lots of locally grown flowers. Our choices vary greatly from week to week and island to island.  We buy what looks good and get to meal plan accordingly.

I have nowhere to put these but I sure like to browse among the flowers.

This week we're having fresh local oranges (which are green), avocados, onions, potatoes, cukes mangoes, bananas and tomatoes.

This  photo is for our families and friends in the frozen north, who may have forgotten what fresh, vine ripened tomatoes look like.  They taste as good as they look.

 

It's been raining a lot lately, so we've had some really spectacular rainbows and double rainbows.  We can usually see two or three a day.  I suppose they'll get old some day, but for now, I still have to make Steve come and see them all. 
We're not doing anything much new here.  Just hanging out, grocery shopping, doing laundry.  We generally come into Ste Anne once a day to walk, have coffee and Internet, buy bread, practice speaking french.  We're on the 'baguette a day' program. I think I'm addicted to fresh bread, with butter, and some kind of sauce to dip it in, and of course, wine.  Hmmm, maybe it's not just the bread I'm addicted to.
We're anchored off a long, white, sandy beach, with a Club Med on the far end.  Our spot affords us an unimpeded view of the beach goers and all the bars and restaurants along the shore. After much observation, I've decided that European men's Speedo's come in one color, black, and two sizes, XS and S.  The size a man buys has nothing to do with his actual body size.  It only determines how far up he wants to pull the suit.  Most men seem to buy the XS.