It's "Snowing" in the Islands

Posted by Liz

Pointe-a-Pitre, Guadeloupe
Thursday, February 11, 2010

Friends John and Fawn were supposed to arrive tonight - so we had spent the previous few days on anchor getting Gypsea all spiffed up. One day was spent waxing the fiberglass, another day polishing stainless, and on Thursday, we spent most of the day down below cleaning heads, woodwork, galley – and then went to the Marina with our trusty “water gopher” to fill that bladder with 40 gallons of fresh water to put in the port tank (42 gallons), as the water here in Pointe a’ Pitre does not meet our standards for running the watermaker.

As we prepared to leave the boat and head to the marina, we noticed the sky, and what looked to be a very ominous storm brewing. The skies were a deep purple, yet oddly, no major cumulus. We were perplexed by that alone.

After our stop at the marina, we hustled back to fill the water tank, and in record time, took down the boom tent and wind scoop – both which act like sails with wind gusts (found in storms).

The other odd thing about the weather in the sky, is that it looked like it was moving from the East to the NW.

Well, we got a storm allright, but not one we expected with wind and rain... not one that we’d ever imagined…

About the time that we pulled everything down, our friend John called from San Juan. Their flight was scheduled to arrive late Thursday night, however, all flights cancelled going into Pointe-a-Pitre due to the volcanic ash from the island of Montserrat (northwest of where we sat) – where the dome had caved in around 1pm and dust was carried east by the unusual windflow (from the NW) – towards us! There is limited visibility for the planes, but moreover, getting all that soot into engines could shut them down, and as such, posed a huge safety hazard.

We were a bit “wowed” by that news…we had no clue about that eruption. When we hung up the phone, Ed touched our teak deck – which had been perfectly clean and smooth, and now, felt like a fine, gritty dust all over.

We start feeling everywhere on the boat – same thing – VOLCANIC ASH. There’s not a rainstorm as we expected – those purple skies were volcanic ash!

We closed the hatches and ports, shutting them tight. We turned off the fans down below to cease the air/ash circulation inside the boat. For hours, we dismally watched the ash fall like a fresh snowfall. The ash fell all night long. It smelled like a fireplace. Despite closing all hatches, the ash still enters via the cowl vents. We had a constant tickle in our throats and eye irritation.

Slept that night with no fans on (didn't want to stir the dust), and all ports closed. Talk about stifling. Decide there's nothing we can do - just wait until tomorrow and see what's next.