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St Lucia Tracks

by steve, on April 19th, 2009 (St Lucia, Tracks)

Here are the tracks from our second stint in St Lucia


View 2009 St Lucia in a larger map

Category: St Lucia, Tracks | Here is my comment

Baliceaux, The Grenadines

by KC2RIY, on April 19th, 2009 (Baliceaux, Bees Knees)

Well – here we are in The Grenadines – our stomping ground for the next five months. The journey from St Lucia was characterized by the low winds – around 8 knots – and the counter current of around 1.5 knots. That meant we motor sailed at least half the way which was not what we were hoping for.

The trip started with some excitement as just as we were leaving our last nights anchorage we snagged a line attached to some floats. I thought we had room to pass but the line was floating on the water for a way. To avoid a fouled prop I stopped the engines then quickly put on my facemask and snorkel and jumped in the water. Fortunately the line was snagged around the rudder and not the prop and fortunately too I happened to be wearing my swimming shorts. I was able to haul the line off the rudder before coming up for air despite it being quite tight.

Bees Knees were just about an hour behind us most of the way. They managed to spot whales in the Bequia Channel but we missed them.

We are now anchored off the north end of Beliceaux. It is easy to see why it is uninhabited as the coast is steep to and crumbly. It is rugged and lonely. The area is a bit like an expanded BVI. The nearby islands of Bequia and Mustique are quite visible as is St Vincent. There is a larger island to the south which may be Grenada. I’ll need to check this. (NOTE: It was Canouan). Bees Knees have anchored about a mile to the south.

For now it is good night as we’re quite tired. But first it’s time to watch and toast a glorious sunset.

Cheers.

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Category: Baliceaux, Bees Knees | Here is my comment

Where’s the wind?

by KC2RIY, on April 18th, 2009 (At Sea, Baliceaux, St Lucia)

We set off this morning shortly after 6am. The strongest winds we’ve seen have been 12 knots out of the ESE. That is just ok to get our Code Zero out and for a few hours that pulled us along. Now the winds have dropped to 6 knots and with a knot and a half current against us we can no longer sail. For now we are motor sailing and hoping the wind will pick up.

We have four lines out again. No fish so far. I’m seeing a pattern emerging here.

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Category: At Sea, Baliceaux, St Lucia | Here is my comment

Rocking and Rolling

by steve, on April 17th, 2009 (Bees Knees, St Lucia)

That describes our anchorage last night. The evening with Anne and Jim was great. The usual eating, drinking and (long) stories. The anchorage, unfortunately, never really settled down and both boats were churned around all night long. I slept through it but Helen was close to mutiny by the morning. I’ve never seen her so keen to move early. In fact, we were up and gone before we could contact Bees Knees. They knew it was a strong possibility we’d all move around the corner to Vieux Fort to escape the swell.

So here we are back outside the harbor. We’ve checked out of customs and immigration. Customs was straight forward as this was in the dock right by us. Immigration, however, was at the airport 2-3 miles away. We walked each way which helped pass the day and now it is done. On the way back we performed a final bit of minor provisioning at the supermarket on the way.

We’re now practically set to head south in the morning. We’d had some concerns about a northerly swell which may impact our primary plan but checking the weather sites I see the swell comes as far south as Guadeloupe. We are well clear. So our plan is to head to Baliceaux and anchor there a couple of days before heading off to either Bequia or Mustique to check into the Grenadines. Baliceaux is uninhabited and a passer by for charterers so hopefully it will not only be quiet (like Maria Island) but also calm (unlike Maria Island). We’ll be setting sail no later than 7am as it is nearly 50nm to our destination. We’ll be passing the east coast of St Vincent so we shouldn’t have issues with wind shadows.

One of the (sadly) exciting things about heading south is watching the latitude approach zero. We’ve been in the 13’s for some time. Soon we’ll be in the 12’s.

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Category: Bees Knees, St Lucia | Here is my comment

Maria Island

by steve, on April 16th, 2009 (Bees Knees, Nebula, St Lucia)

After writing yesterday’s blog we were approached by the one other boat in our anchorage – Brad who was captaining a 60 odd foot monohull called Blue Whale. He needed some help undoing a couple of screws and I was more than happy to oblige. He’s been a professional captain in the islands for a few years now. Apart from helping undo two screws we had a good chat about the islands and a show around the boat. Brad also gave me the coordinates of a good anchorage in Tobago Cays away from where everyone else goes. We must give this a go in a week or two. Before parting we invited Brad over to Dignity to have a look around.

This morning around 9am we set sail just around the corner to Maria Island. Even though it wasn’t too far we decided to see if we could sail most of the way. We headed out into the Atlantic for 40 minutes then tacked back. With the wind dropping and quite a strong current we were heading back along our original track so we turned on the motor and made it there without too much faffing around. Approaching Maria Island we were tantalized by a streak of turquoise visible between the mainland and the island where we had to squeeze through the reefs. We found the cut in the reefs quite easily and kept in 60 feet of water until we were clear of the breakers around us. We turned into Maria Island and, sheltered from the ocean, dropped our anchor in her lee.

As we ate lunch Bees Knees, who we’d been in contact in the morning, rounded the corner, came through the cut and anchored next to us. We are the only two boats around here which is great.

This afternoon I dusted off the Hookah and scraped the barnacles off both hulls. The underwater bit takes two hours – double that when you consider all the gear prep and tidying. This evening Anne and Jim are coming over for a barbecue. I’m feeling hungry after this afternoon’s exertion.

FOOTNOTE: While here we noticed a couple wind kiting for some hours. We were later to learn that they were cruisers from “Nebula”.

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Category: Bees Knees, Nebula, St Lucia | One reader has left a comment, here is mine
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