Too Much Wind and No Propane - Sainte Anne, Martinique

Posted by Liz

On Tuesday, January 25th, we had a nice hot egg breakfast on board, and then went into town to do a walk along the coastline toward Anse Saline where we encountered many hermit crabs! It was a blustery, blowy, rainy (soft rain that was refreshing) day, but the rain felt great on us as we walked through the quiet hiking trails amongst forest and fields with cows on our left, and the ocean cliffs on our right. Very muddy hike because of the rain, but quiet and serene being off road. Parts of the hike reminded us of Naushon, where you have fields and ocean nestled up together.

Came back to the boat around 3:30 and were pretty hungry, so we thought we'd cook an early dinner only to discover - - NO PROPANE!! We also discovered that you cannot rfill Liquid Propane Gas (LPG) in the French islands!! They only have Butane, so we'd either have to move south to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia or north to Roseau, Dominica to refill in English based islands. We need to start heading north anyway, so decided Dominica made the most sense.

Very blowy and rainy afternoon and night which continued for the next few days, (wind from the wrong direction for where we're going - North - which means it would be right on our nose), with gusts in the 30's and not expected to let up for a few days. Seas are supposedly pretty huge, so we decide to just sit it out and wait for the right weather window. In the meantime, we're a bit confined to the boat - because even taking the dinghy ashore for a walk means getting super soaked with sea water!

Neither of us slept very well for those few days, worrying about the anchor holding. While confined now to Ste Anne/Marin area, we decide to get to Marin to do our laundry and pick up our new fresh water pump that a mechanic was working on for us. Can you believe - - $124 US to do 6 loads of laundry! EEK. As Ed mentioned, that probably equates to the cost of half of a washing machine! Oh well - it's done and we're set for a while.

Enjoyed and indulged in a couple of delicous lunches out (something we don't do very often at all) at Le Rendezvous in Sainte Anne. Nice to have a hot meal and hot tea and coffee since, without propane, all we can do is cold meals.

Still no propane, but I got creative a couple of nights and cooked up Vegetable Au Gratin on the GRILL! Took some cans of ratatouille and french beans and topped with grated cheese. Another night, sliced up a big zuchhini herbs, olive oil and a can of stewed tomatos also with grated cheese - put that stuff in heavy duty aluminu foil and grilled. It was actually really tasty and great to have a hot meal for dinner!

If it wasn't for those darn croissants!

Posted by Liz

I thought I might have been losing a few LBS, between lots of walking, some hiking, swimming, a bit of snorkeling and 5000 trips every day up and down the companionway stairs…. But oh, Ed and I love the French islands WAY too much - - the people, the laid back attitudes, no harassment/hustle, and yes, the fantastic breads and croissants. Oh well!

We try to counter those indulgences with delightful late lunches comprised of some delicious salads (oh yes, and usually there is some French bread and cheese thrown in there too!)

My new favorite salad that I make for us:
Escarole (fluffy lettuce)
A few thin slices of onion
Some black olives or olive tapenade on the side
Fresh, ripe, juicy tomatoes sliced on top
Roasted red and yellow peppers (from the jar)
Some cubed beets if I have them on board
Fresh cracked pepper
Herbes du Provence sprinkled on
Drizzled with a citron vinaigrette salad dressing

I Feel Like a Lady Again

Posted by Liz
Date: January 24, 2010 (Sunday)

You’ve heard of “chick flicks” – well, this is probably a chick “post” – so guys, I won’t feel bad if you bail out. (But you may learn a lesson or two by reading!)

We're in Ste Anne Martinique - a GORGEOUS place - close second or maybe even topping our fave so far (Isles des Saintes)in terms of scenery and serenity. The only thing missing is the camaraderie of our cruising pals from the Saintes, although we did see our pals Leisha and Gregg (Australians on “Fine Gold”) and we gave them a send-off as they were heading out and south to Rodney Bay, St. Lucia.

After quite a few gyrations yesterday using my high school French - I was able to garner an appt at the exclusive and private Club Med here for a pedicure, which I had today at Noon (midi). OOOH,LA,LAH.

Ed asked if it was worth it (45 EU – equates to about $68 US) - - overwhelmingly, YES!! You guys out there might not get all of this, but it was unlike the pedicure we get back home where you sit in the chair with your feet in a tub of water and all that stuff. Here, I was escorted into a large, private, and AIR CONDITIONED room, with great aromatherapy and candles. She had me lay on a reclining bed which she adjusted. (I actually needed a blanket because my body is not used to AC anymore!)

My lady left the room and let me “chill” for about 15 minutes – where I immediately fell into a nice little nap. When she returned, she wrapped my feet in warm towels, massaged them (guys, you can take a lesson here!), cleaned off the old polish, cut the nails and filed.

Next, she exfoliated my calves and feet with a mixture of sea salt and like a sandalwood (nice smell) oil mixture. It was unusual – because I had to tell her to NOT exfoliate the bottom of my feet! After two months of living on the boat and being barefoot all the time, I’ve built up some good calluses, which actually help give me much better footing when running around on deck. Smooth feet don’t cut it on a boat!

I told her that “mon mari et je, nous habitons sur notre bateau” (My husband and I, we live on our boat) – and she completely understood. (“Je Comprends”). I'm actually getting a bit more comfortable using my French - not as insecure about it - and kind of having fun trying to pull meaningful sentences together!

After the exfoliation, she gently bathed the feet and the calves, all the while I’m still sacked out on that delightful bed. Then, she painted them and “Voila!” - I feel like a lady again!

I figure I can go about 6-8 more weeks before the next pedicure – and by then I’ll be in St. Barth’s – another perfect place for such an indulgence!

Anse Mitan, Martinique: Cheeseburger in Paradise

Anse Mitan is south of St. Pierre and north of Ste Anne, a good midway stop for us. We stayed for 2 nights. It’s a touristy little place, tight anchorage and a busy channel with ferries in and out quite a bit. A little bit “Disneyfied” as the cruising guide mentioned, but that’s OK. It is also billed as an ice cream mecca – and that it is – with about 3 ice cream places that we could find in town – and the ice cream was delicious.

We saw a beautiful rainbow on the first afternoon – with thick lines of color, and a blue that was actually purple.

On Day 2, we walked around town to get the lay of the land. First step was to find a dinghy dock. No such luck – at least we didn’t find the dock that was supposedly there according to Chris Doyle’s cruising guide (by the way, his guides are so outdated and not current – if you’re planning on cruising, borrow a copy from a friend instead of paying $39 for each edition, and then check the updates on his website – www.doyleguides.com)

The Meridian Hotel is no longer there and was in tatters. There is a “new” hotel called Hotel Bakoura, a pretty exclusive place. Ed and I found our way to their infinity pool, and with no guests in the vicinity, we had it all to ourselves – and took the opportunity to clean off and cool our sandy and hot feet as we sat down and dangled our legs in the water. Ten minutes later, Mr. Security Man was walking our way – so we promptly escorted ourselves out of the pool area before someone else grabbed a hold of us! (We have become such “boat people”!)

The other upside to lurking around the hotel was that we found their restaurant, and they had Cheeseburgers on their menu! I had not had meat since I left the states in late November – so I didn’t care that the burger cost 18 Euros ($27 US – EEK!!) - - it hit the spot – and let me tell you, even though it was a Cheeseburger in Paradise, nobody does burgers like the States. Somehow it just wasn’t as good a burger from O’Hara’s in Newton is, but what the heck, it was a BURGER. I thought I had my meat “fix” but I think it just whet my appetite. I found some good looking flank steak and boneless pork chops the other day which are sitting in the freezer.

Engine Trouble - Liz Gets Grease under her fingernails!

Posted by Ed

When cruising, it seems as though everyday is Saturday, no appointments, no schedules to keep. The biggest decision is based on the wind direction and what part of paradise do we want to visit next? Yes, everyday is Saturday until something goes wrong and you find your carefree schedule is now dependent on the schedules of others who live and work in an everyday world, even in the islands.

A few weeks ago in St. Pierre, Martinique while performing my usual engine pre-departure routines, I discovered what would be a serious problem in a matter of hours. I checked the engine oil and water levels checked the Racor filter for water and sediment in the Racor fuel sight bowl checked the engine drive belts for the refrigeration compressor, as well as the drive belts for the alternator and water pump.

Then for an instant, I was brought back to the days when I worked on automotive engines as a teenager and recalled what an engine’s fresh water circulating water pump looked like when the pump was kaput and decided to give the pump pulley a little tug. Much to my surprise the drive belt pulley began to wobble and was quite loose. This is more than a clear indicator that the bearings in the pump are shot and the pump needs to be replaced ASAP.

Usually the water pump will leak the coolant water and cause the engine to overheat and in the worst case situations, the overheating will cause the engine to seize-up. We were very fortunate to discover the faulty pump before it began to leak and any damage resulted.

The pump needed to be replaced in order for the engine to continue to keep working. The engine is like the heart of the boat, especially for us, because we currently do not have any alternative energy systems (wind generators and solar power – which we intend to employ very soon). Without the engine, you can’t recharge the battery bank, which means you have no refrigeration and water-making ability. And of course the obvious, you can’t go anywhere if you need to do it under power.

St. Pierre is a lovely water front community in Martinique but it does not have facilities for yachties to make repairs. Part of our trip preparation was to envision what may go wrong and try to prepare for these eventualities. We have two spare engine circulating pumps and a pump re-build kit. To rebuild the pump requires special tools to press the old bearings out of the pump and press the new bearings in, so rebuilding the pump was not an option today.

Of the two spare pumps one has a drive belt pulley already on the pump and the other does not, so the installation choice is easy: we’ll use the pump that is complete with the drive pulley already pressed onto the drive shaft. However, the drive pulley needs to be pressed onto the shaft an additional 10mm so it will line up with the pulley on the engine and the alternator, otherwise, it will chew up drive belts very quickly.

Now, back to everyday is Saturday! “Island time” is quite different than time schedules we had been used to in our business life. Most shops in the French islands close-up for lunch and perhaps a little siesta. They close from noon until three in the afternoon, so don’t expect to get anything done during this time of the day. My not having the ability to speak French and Liz working through her high school French, Liz was able to locate a machine shop that may be able press the drive pulley further onto the shaft to meet my specifications.

After waiting about an hour for the local bus, we arrived at the machine shop that could hopefully help us out. By the way, we later found out the machine shop was only about a 15 minute walk back to town. The gentleman in the machine shop was a little rough with the pump and I cringed when he dropped it on the cement floor but it was fine. After a lot of discussion on how to best press the pulley further onto the pump, the job was done.

With the needed tools laid out in orderly fashion, it was time to remove the old pump and install the new. Easy, right? It seems every job has one nut or bolt that is more stubborn than the others and will require an inordinate amount of time to disassemble it. Three bolts and one stud with a nut on it is all that secures the pump to the engine, looks easy. The nut on the stud was already partially stripped and it took a full 24 hours of penetrating oil (WD40) to allow any real movement of the nut.

With the pump now removed, Liz was busy preparing the pump surfaces with a putty knife and applying the gasket cement. The pump was bolted back to the engine and now has about 10 hours on it and is working well. At first opportunity, we will attempt to have the old pump rebuilt and kept as another spare.

With engine grease under our fingernails, (even Liz’s !) and the engine purring again, we were happy and on our way.

January 11 - 17, 2010 - - St. Pierre, Martinique

Posted by Liz

After we gladly departed Roseau, Dominica, we chose St. Pierre as a stop-over for a couple of nights because it was close and not an all day sail – and we could check in there with customs. It turns out that we enjoyed the town, but our stay became a bit longer than anticipated (more on that in a following blog post) because of some engine troubles.

St. Pierre was a big hub of commerce back in the 1700 and 1800’s – lots of ships would land here to do business, especially with the sugar cane plantations. The terrain is quite dramatic, especially with Mt. Pelee hovering the background (at 4600 plus feet, it’s the tallest volcano in the Caribbean). Tragedy struck here back in 1907 when the volcano erupted, and killed pretty much every one of the town’s 30,000 inhabitants, with the exception of a Prisoner, named Cyrus. Because of the stone configuration of his cell and its location in the prison, it is believed that he may have been the sole survivor.

The ruins are still present and consist of the remains of the prison and also an amphitheatre. There’s a photo of Gypsea here, captured peering out the “window” of one of the ruins to the harbor.

The harbor is busy with Martinique fishermen, who scoot around in the wee hours of the day. Their fishing technique is called “Seine” and we have to learn more about it. They go through almost a ritual of sorts – by circling around and throwing what look like sticks, or palm leaves or something in the water. They break off a piece at a time and toss it in the water. We have no idea if this helps attract fish for some reason, or if it’s some sort of religious ritual. (Google it and let us know if you find out before we do!)

When they are ready to pull up their nets, they circle around and around and continue to pull the nets closer together. In one photo here you’ll see them circling around, close to our boat. (They couldn’t wait for us to leave because we were in the midst of their fishing track!)

Lastly, there is a great little open air market that is set up every day here in the square – full of vendors selling fresh produce. Wonderful.

January 3, 2010 - Iguana Hunt in the Saintes

Posted by Liz

Our 4 new friends and us were enthralled with the hunt for the eternal Iguana while we were in The Saintes. One morning, our last full morning together, we made a morning excursion. We walked over to Marigot Bay and not only did we find Iguanas galore (they are quite good at camouflaging themselves) but also pelicans – both of whom cohabitate quite peacefully together amongst the huge rocks/boulders in the ocean and in the scrub brush and trees on the adjacent mountainsides. (Thanks and photo credits to Jean-Marc and Fay for some of these photos – they were using their high powered lenses and were able to get up close and personal.)