Exploring Saint Lucia - and Graham finally relaxes

Graham admits to having been feeling slightly out of sorts since we arrived in Saint Lucia. It's partly due to the heat, the change of food and, probably, all the rum punches and Piton beers but he came to realise that it was a mix of anti-climax after the challenges of the trans-Atlantic and the absence of a clear agenda ahead.

Since the beginning of the year we've been working to a distinct and pressing timetable - well several timetables, really, each with its attendant to-do list. We've both been focussed on tidying the loose ends of our respective jobs, getting the house ready to rent and, of course, preparing Maunie for our voyage. Once we left England, we were still very much on a time-critical plan to get to the Canaries in plenty of time for the ARC and the voyage across to Saint Lucia was obviously one of pushing the boat and crew as hard as we could to make good time. So, once the post-ARC parties finished, we were left in a very sunny place and it's taken us until today to realise that it's ok to relax and have a holiday!

At JD's Mangrove bar in Marigot Bay 

Peter and Heidi

So the holiday bit has now started - with some gentle exploration down toward the south of the Island. On Friday Heidi and Peter from Stormvogel joined us for a day-sail down to Marigot Bay - a beautiful but fairly touristy bay where, so the story goes, an entire British fleet escaped detection by the French navy  by camoflaging their rigging with palm leaves. A good lunch was rewarded by a nice beat back up to Rodney Bay and Peter in particular enjoyed being back under sail; we obviously did't let him anywhere near Maunie's engine!
For the last couple of days we've headed south again, this time to a pair of pretty much deserted anchorages. Mind you, out here nowhere is entirely deserted as, out of thin air  a little dinghy with a big outboard carrying one occupant (wearing his most engaging smile) will appear. "Hello Skipper, welcome to Paradise! My name's Sunshine". Last night's Sunshine was terribly keen for us to use his 'mooring ball' (actually a small plastic bottle on a rope of indeterminable quality attached, one hopes, to something relatively heavy on the seabed). His 'special price' of $EC 80 (about £20) was greeted by laughter of disbelief by the Maunie crew (more expensive than a night in the marina) and we anchored for free instead. Can't blame these 'boat boys' for trying to make a living and I'm sure some people fall for the routine but we've already become quite adept at saying 'no' firmly and politely.

So yesterday morning saw us snorkeling from the boat before breakfast with a wonderful range of brightly coloured reef fish all around us and different types of coral below. It marked the start of Graham's delayed relaxation process. We watched the local fishermen at work in their pirogue (a narrow wooden open boat with a large outboard motor) - they had 5 men aboard, three of whom suddenly jumped overboard. These guys acted as spotters, looking for the shoal of fish, and they'd shout as soon as they saw their quarry; the boat would then circle around them, laying out a long net. The swimmers then climbed back aboard and helped haul in the net.

 After breakfast we sailed on about 7 miles south to the Pitons - Saint Lucia's famous volcanic peak which rise spectacularly from the sea. The excellent Doyle's sailing guide advised that Benny of Harmony Yacht Services would be helpful via the VHF radio and so he was, organising his son (Benny Jnr) to meet us and lead us to one of his well-maintained and free moorings right below Petit Piton so we could have Sunday lunch at his  wife's excellent beach-front Harmony restaurant. Having organised this in advance we could happily fend off 'Peanut' and 'Happy Man' in their dinghies with the magic words "We've sorted everything with Benny" which made them disappear without argument.

Motoring towards Petit Piton 

Maunie moored up at Harmony Beach

Lunch, Creole Fish followed by flambeed bananas, was as simple as it was delicious; it was a shame we were the only diners (the World recession is definitely hitting small places like Harmony out here; upmarket hotels and the super-yacht market seem unaffected).
Relaxing Sunday was completed with a lovely sail back up the coast to Rodney Bay and our familiar anchorage off Pigeon Island. We had planned to return to the eccentric Jambe de Bois for another night of Jazz but there was a twist in the tail just in case we were getting too relaxed. Our normally brilliant anchor struggled to get a grip on the seabed so we hauled it up again to find a huge ball of discarded fishing net and rope wrapped around it. It took  Graham about half an hout to cut it off (it's now sitting in a smelly pile on the foredeck awaiting a trip to a shore-side skip) by which time it was nearly dark. We eventually anchored safely just ahead of 'Roysterer' and Penny and Peter kindly invited us aboard for an excellent supper.

We're staying here for New Year's Eve (more importantly, it's Dianne's Birthday) as, apparently, the combined fireworks from all the beach-front hotels and bars are tremendous. At the moment we're at Jambe de Bois enjoying a birthday breakfast and using their wifi to catch up on emails.

Happy New Year from us both and here are a few more photos:

 Queen Mary 2 anchored off the port of Castries

Two cultures not quite meeting

Saint Lucia's Santa arrives

Christmas in Saint Lucia

After the prize-giving on Friday (check out the photo of Graham, Di and Rich receiving the prize on the World Cruising Website - http://www.worldcruising.com/arc/eventgallery.aspx?path=arc&path=arc&rtid=12 ) lots of the boats left the marina. Sadly Rich had to fly home yesterday so we're back to a crew of two; nice to have some extra space, though! We moved out to anchor near Pigeon Island and are meeting up with another four or five crews for Christmas lunch tomorrow.

 

Today was 'boat maintenance in exotic locations' – Di had a good tidy of the boat, washed clothes and found our Christmas decorations and Graham spent nearly three hours replacing the flushing hoses in the forward heads. The originals had become hard and brittle with age so needed the jubilee clips to be extra tight to stop leaks and this was the cause of the cracked valve during the crossing.

 

Jobs done, we dinghied over to a great waterfront cafe (just a shack really) for a late lunch (we were here last night for a brilliant jazz gig with local and US musicians), just in time to see a huge rain squall arrive to give the washing an extra rinse on Maunie.

 

Between Christmas and New Year we'll cruise down the west coast of St Lucia to the Pitons (two volcanic peaks that look spectacular) and we're planning our next destinations. We'll keep you informed of our progress!

 

We hope that you have a lovely Christmas and a very Happy New Year

 

Graham and Dianne xx

 

 

 

 

The ARC Prize-giving

There are a few sore heads round this morning after last night's ARC prize-giving bash. Prizes were awarded for the fastest yachts in each division (sadly not Maunie but we came in 113th overall, in spite of the big time penalty for all our motoring).

We did win the prize for the best log photo sent from the sea - Fergus' brilliant shot of Rich diving off the stern of Maunie when we were becalmed - so were delighted with that. 

Today will see the beginning of the exodus of boats heading elsewhere for Christmas, Lots of the family boats are heading to Bequia but we plan to stay in Saint Lucia - at anchor probably - since we haven't yet explored the rest of the coast.We need to restock with food so are hoping that the supermarkets won't be as madly crowded as they are at home in the days leading up to Christmas. Rich flies home tomorrow so we'll have a last meal out, with Peter and Heidi from Stormvogel, tonight

Seasonal greetings from the Maunie Crew!

Exploring Saint Lucia and Towing Stormvogel (again!)

We are slowly acclimatising to island life! Yesterday we felt that we had to break out of the marina (though it's very nice as marinas go) and planned to go and anchor out in the bay. Unfortunately, after a month or so in the cockpit locker our normally reliable outboard engine refused to start; Graham diagnosed a problem with the fuel feed and a local 'expert' hoisted it  onto his should to take it away to fix it. Slight anxiety that we'd never see it again but Roger returned a couple of hours later with a working engine.

So we anchored out just under Pigeon Island at the north west tip of the island and dinghied ashore to explore the old British fort.

The hot climb was rewarded by wonderful cocktails in a little beach bar before we returned to Maunie and began our Stormvogel watch. We knew they would be arriving in the early hours and sure enough heard Peter radioing the finish line boat at about 01.45 so we weighed anchor and motored over to meet them as they crossed the line.

Stormvogel's gearbox was broken and the ARC team had not been able to organise a night-time towing vessel so we had already emailed Peter to say we'd offer our services. Veteran readers of this blog will know that we towed them into Porto Santo when their engine flooded with seawater so we'r old hands at this tugboat game now. As soon as they crossed the finish line we tied up alongside them and motored both boats into the marina when the ARC berthing team had reserved an 'easy' pontoon berth. It all went without a hitch so were able to gently put them alongside the pontoon to tie up, with several people having got out of bed to welcome them. The rum punch and beer party carried on for a couple of hours! It was great to see Peter, Heidi and Hendrick again and to hear, first hand, what they went through on the night of what we are now calling 'the incident'. Stormvogel's steering binnacle, held together with duct tape,bears witness to the ferocity of the storm; fortunately the injuries, particularly to Hendrick's leg, were not too serious.

So this morning has been 'slow'! Rich managed to get up at 8.00am to go diving (not sure how) and, having refueled Maunie and returned to our pontoon, we're not making a lot of progress but just enjoying the chance to relax. We'll have a final crew meet up tonight or tomorrow (Fergus and family fly home in the evening) then have the final prizegiving party tomorrow night. After that we'll head out for a different anchorage and are now planning where to spend Christmas. Before then, we'll need to restock on provisions; the local supermarket can be accessed by dinghy and our fruit and veg is delivered to the boat by Gregory in his splendid vessel:

Best wishes from the Maunie Crew

Some photos from the Atlantic Crossing

Here are a few photos from the crossing; they are mostly Fergus' - his waterprrof camera was well used!. Hope they give you a flavour of our experience.

Maunie's about to cross the finishing line - under sail!

Good morning all

 

We're currently 2 miles from the finish line, looking at the beautiful and very lumpy profile of Saint Lucia as the sun rises. We were delighted when the wind finally crept in at about 1.00 am boat time, not much but enough to give us 3-4 knots of boat speed and, what relief, to stop the engine.

 

We've made our first VHF calls to the ARC Finish Line boat and are now ghosting towards the line (in the wind shadow of Pigeon Island). Another ARC yacht, Galetea, is  about half a mile ahead of us and another, Finnrose, finished about an hour ago. We are determined to finish under sail even though we're only doing 2 knots at the moment; it gives us time to drink in the view.

 

It's just amazing to see land for the first time in 3 weeks. Last night we could see the lights of Martinique first, then Saint Lucia and our arrival at dawn is perfect. We're all really excited to be here, though also a little sad that the voyage has come to an end. Maunie has looked after us brilliantly, as we knew he would, and our Safe, Happy, Fast mantra has served us well (event though we haven't been very fast for the past 2 days).

 

From a skipper's perspective, the crew has been awesome. We've worked hard, managed the challenges, eaten like kings and laughed a lot. What's more, Rich stopped taking Stugeron 6 days ago and hasn't felt seasick since!

 

So we'll send more updates and photos when we get a moment but we're now bracing ourselves for a world that consists of more than 4 people and 38 ft of yacht.

 

Finally, thanks to all of you for following our voyage and sending your comments. It has meant a lot to us to know that you're out there.

 

So, for the time being, this is Maunie of Ardwall standing by. Out.

Maunie's last 24 hours at sea?

It's slightly tempting fate to predict an exact arrival time but we now have less than 100 miles to go so an arrival at dawn looks likely.

 

Aboard the good ship Maunie, it's brilliantly sunny, very hot and there is STILL NO WIND! Unbelievable that we've had so little breeze for the past 3 days. Still, we are making the most of the conditions. The Maunie Mid-Atlantic Swimming Team were over the side this morning for a refreshing dip and we've been hard at work since, cleaning and polishing the boat. We've been pretty good at keeping on top of things every day but it's been good to get her sparkling again, ready for inspection in Rodney Bay.

 

Di's just preparing lunch and the engine power has allowed us to run the spare fridge as a freezer so the pasta & pesto will be accompanied by ice-cold water (the water in the tank is about 24 degrees so not very refreshing to drink). Fergus has the honour of the last Mother Watch tonight and this time tomorrow we'll be enjoying a cold beer or three. We can't quite believe that the voyage is nearly over and we're all slightly wary that the sudden arrival into the hurly-burly of the Rodney Bay marina and the ARC parties will be quite a shock. It'll also be interesting to see how our land-legs are after 3 weeks at sea, too!