Log 44B Martinique to Bequia

Written at:Hog Island, Grenada. July 17, 2007

The passage from St. Pierre on the northwest coast of Martinique down to Marin on the southeast coast was a 35 mile sail and motorsail with variable winds on the leeward side of the island. On the southern coast we had to point as high as possible to clear Diamond Rock (The HMS Diamond Rock that was manned by an observation detachment and guns crew of the Royal Navy during the latter part of the Napoleonic era in the early 1800's) and then we had to be careful not to go too close in to the shallows and the restricted anchoring area as we made our way over to the aptly named Cul-de-sac du Marin, a deeply indented but treacherously shoal scattered inlet, fortunately made navigable by several strategically placed buoys. We anchored (14 27.96N, 060 50.65W) close to our earlier anchoring location last fall. Some of the same boats were still there, some long-term storage or derelict, and others with local resident live-aboards. We were happy to be there as we like the French islands and Marin in particular; it is a boaters' paradise with all kinds of facilities, chandleries, boat yards, bars, restaurants, grocery stores, internet services, a shopping mall, with a good boulangerie for our morning baguettes and croissants, and friendly people.

We spent four pleasant days there, but when trying to use the internet with our WiFi, we discovered our Internet Explorer program was not working. We could receive and send E-mail, and download automatic updates, and use our Skype phone service, but could not access any web sites. We can't update or repair the Internet Explorer or download another recommended internet service such as Firefox as we can't get on line. A real "Catch 22".

While there, Judy completed the sail cover she designed. It is an unusual design, in that it is not removed from the boom when the sail is up, nor does the sail fall into the opened cover as some fully battened mains do when using lazy jacks. Instead, before hoisting the main, the cover is folded and rolled down under the mainsail on the starboard side of the boom and lashed with designated lanyards to secure it while the main is up. When the main is lowered, the lanyards are released, and the head of the cover is secured over the headboard of the sail, the forward end is lashed through the sail slides (not around the mast) and the lanyards now secure the cover around the sail through the sail slides (not around the boom) (see the attached pictures). It has worked quite well. Well done Judy!

July 2nd we motored 25 miles down to formally check in and out at Rodney Bay on St. Lucia at 1500. We anchored in the lagoon (14 04.37N, 060 75.00W) so we could resupply at the new modern local shopping mall, located at the inner end, which now has a more secure dinghy dock for cruisers. As we have been into Rodney Bay a couple of times, it was just an short stop (for which "straight arrow" Judy insisted on doing all the formal check in and out) and after returning to Veleda we went to anchor in the outer bay (14 04.61N, 060 57.49W) at 1700, preparatory to a sunset departure at 1830. When planning to exit at night, we sometimes will relocate Veleda to an outer anchorage for a clearer staged departure. As we sailed (motored actually) into the sunset, we had a lovely view of a replica pirate ship returning from a charter cruise around the bay (see attached picture).

We departed at sunset as we were heading 70 miles down to Bequia, part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines, a lovely cruising area. Going down the west side of St. Lucia we motored most of the way into light headwinds and a north flowing current, with a moonlit view of the Pitons as we passed the two dramatic peaks. On this passage we bypassed St. Vincent as we headed over to another cruisers' paradise to anchor (13 00.42N, 061 14.40W) at 1000 in Admiralty Bay on Bequia. It was our departure anniversary, July 3rd , nine years since we left with Veleda from the Toronto Hydroplane and Sailing Club. This last entry filled our log book, and we are now on the 8th log book since July 3, 1998.

The summary statistics in the log book indicate we have traveled 37,673 nautical miles since leaving Toronto, including:

- over 25 countries on five continents;

- Several river systems including: - the Mississippi, Thames, Seine, Rhone, Danube and Orinoco;

- several canal systems including: - the Welland, Caledonian, Crinnan, Kiel, Black Sea/Danube, Suez, and the Canal du Midi;

- two crossings of the Atlantic Ocean;

- several seas and gulfs including:- the Black Sea, North Sea, Baltic Sea, the Biscay, the Gulf of Mexico, the Gulf of Paria, the Caribbean, as well as the Mediterranean, including the Gulf du Lyon, the Adriatic, the Ionian, the Aegean, and the Tyrrhenian Sea;

- and several narrow waterways including:- the English Channel, Strait of Messina, the Menai Strait, the Bosporus, and the Dardanelles, and here in the Caribbean, Hawk Channel, the Windward Passage, the Mona Passage, and the Gulf Stream.

Incidentally, I have written over 400 logs of our travels since 1998.

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