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]]>We ordered a taxi who took us to the Fed Ex office on the other side of the bay. There we learned the package was stuck in customs at the airport. They gave us some paperwork to go there. At the airport customs we were first informed we had to involve a clearing agent. We said the strike might make this difficult and we needed to leave tomorrow. They then said we had to come back after lunch (2.5 hours later) then go back into town to clear some paperwork then go back to the airport to collect
the Hookah. Given the strike and our leaving constraints we asked them if there would be an easier way still. For customs officials I have to give it to them for working out what they did as they had no requirement to. They did find a way for us to collect the Hookah then drop off the papers in town – on our honour. We agreed to this. Of course, the lunch break was sacrosanct so we had to wait until 2 in the afternoon. Until this point the taxi driver had been waiting without running his meter.
We gave him the news. He had another job he could squeeze in so this worked out.
Things still didn’t go blindingly fast in the afternoon. We did eventually get the Hookah but the problem was the customs office in town decided to shut early. We were told it would be ok to put the paperwork through the mailbox. The taxi driver took us there (while on the way picking up some teeth from a dentist). There was no mailbox. The taxi driver phones customs at the airport and they told us to stuff it under the door. This was not easy either but we found a way. Hope it works.
Back at the marina we found the marina fuel dock to be open but with such long waiting lines and so few people working we decided to wait til Dominica.
To many this may sound like a bad day. However, as things go here in the Caribbean I think we did pretty well. We’ve heard of people having to wait weeks for stuff only find it was here all along. Hats off to the customs officials who were so polite and helpful.
Our plan for tomorrow is now to run for Dominica. We’re not going to get in our hikes in Guadaloupe which is disappointing but we can use the time and money we have saved to do some extra ones in Dominica which is often referred to as the most unspoiled Caribbean island. So things can’t be so bad.
Both of us are looking forward to seeing the back of Point-a-Pitre. If the strike were not on at least we could do our day trips and enjoy the liveliness. As it is we feel we’ve been stuck in a bit of a dump. Time to move on.
]]>Today has been a bit of a challenge. We decided to walk to town. I had the laptop in case [...]]]>
Today has been a bit of a challenge. We decided to walk to town. I had the laptop in case there was somewhere we decided to use it. I had it wrapped in a waterproof bag inside our backpack. I also carried drinks, etc in case we got thirsty. The point of mentioning this is that we did not use the laptop nor drink the drinks so I had this extra weight for no benefit.
The walk to town was about a mile and a half. Again – many stores were closed but some were open. The skies are overcast today and often drizzly. We had a couple of bouts of very strong winds with torrential rain after which it felt close and humid. In town less than half the shops were open. We perused a couple of markets and bought a small hand painting as a souvenir.
The real highlight of the day was spent in the tourist office with Micheline Dellevi, a hospitality agent, who spoke very good english. She was incredibly helpful including calling up Fed Ex to find out if our Hookah has arrived. Our expectations were quite low as the ports have now ground to a halt. Container ships arrive but are not unloaded. No doubt the hookah would be caught up in all this. To our surprise it has arrived. So our plan to hire a car tomorrow now includes collecting the Hookah
which we’ll do first. If we can’t get a hire car then we’ll just have to taxi over and forget the walk.
Micheline was enthralled with our trip and wanted to see our blog. In turn we promised to include her picture which will be inserted whenever we can get internet access.
Back at the marina we popped into the supermarket. The lines at the check out were very long but we felt it worth picking up a few bits and pieces. It looks like there’s a bout of a siege mentality going on as most people had very full trolleys despite the shelves in places being empty. As I was paying for our food sirens were heard outside and a big guy with tight shades came in with a megaphone and ordered everyone out. I’m not sure if this was just lunch break or the heavies coming to enforce the strike. We had spoken to one shopkeeper early in the day who kept an ear out for the street in case she heard trouble coming so she could shut shop. She had the most dire outlook saying a lot of this was race related and that it may easily descend into violence and guns. Didn’t get that impression elsewhere fortunately.
As we returned to Dignity we had a couple of surprises. First she was practically on the other side of the channel and secondly we found the entire anchor chain let out. Turns out she had started slipping her anchor during the earlier extreme gusts of winds and some folks had come along and let out the entire chain to improve holding.
What did stop her slide was in fact a 2 inch thick underwater stranded cable of some sort. This of course came up with the anchor – a formidable thing to see. We had a new trick in our book thanks to some earlier advice. We tied a dock line to one bow cleat. I went out in the dinghy and threaded the line under the cable we had dragged up and Helen tied this to the other bow cleat. Helen then lowered the anchor letting the dock line take the weight of the cable. I then pulled the anchor away
while Helen again raised it, this time without the cable being snagged. All that remained to do was get me back on the boat and released the dock line sending the cable back to the bottom and restoring our liberty.
We have been paying 10 euros per day for the privilege of anchoring near the marina. It’s the same price to use one of their mooring balls so that’s what we’ve done. We feel a bit more secure now.
We’re beginning to feel the need to get out of here more and more. The strike is a big downer and curtailing our activities. We have diminishing amounts of gas left for the dinghy. When we’re out and about tomorrow we’ll take our gerry can in case we can find somewhere to fill it. That’ll be a relief. But it’s getting to the point where we’ll be much happier in Dominica than here. Fortunately we already have our departure papers so we don’t need to clear out. If all goes well tomorrow and we collect the Hookah we may well set sail for Dominica on Friday. If we can scrounge a bit of fuel we may squeeze in Marie Galant or one or two other towns on the SE coast.
So the rest of today will be another lazy afternoon. We can’t do much. Yesterday we did spend some time mapping out the through hulls on the port side. We could complete the job and do the starboard side today. We have plenty of books to read and that’s not a bad thing at all.
]]>We were also expecting to collect some parts. We’ve decided to have them shipped to our guests who are arriving in Martinique in March. We can survive without them until then.
We’ve also heard that the general strike has spread to Martinique which, like Guadeloupe, is a department of France. They are asking for prices on all regular goods to be lowered by 30%. Can’t see how that can be done but that’s what they’re striking over.
We spent this morning at a local coffee shop using their complimentary internet service and catching up. We’ve been reading and doing odd things on the boat in the afternoon. Trip to Point-a-Pitre is set for tomorrow. Looks like we’ll get the fold up bikes out for the first time for this.
More broadly, if the Hookah does arrive, we may just hightail it out of here and go to Dominica earlier than planned. If the Hookah is delayed we’ll break out of P-a-P and explore the coast to the east hoping to find gasoline somewhere.
We won’t starve for a while as we can make bread and water. We have plenty of noodles and canned goods. Fruit stalls are doing good business ashore.
If where we are were pretty it would not be so bad. Problem is it’s a bit of a port with container facilities across the bay and not so pretty waterside businesses and apartment blocks around. No idyllic beaches to be found right here.
]]>Last couple of days I’ve been listening in to the “Coconut [...]]]>
Last couple of days I’ve been listening in to the “Coconut Telegraph” on the short wave. It’s at 8am in the morning and it’s a call in of Caribbean cruisers. I tried calling in myself but failed. I found it hard to here the net coordinator. What we did manage was to hear a chap a few boats down call in so we hailed him on the VHF and ended up having him aboard for a chat. He was born in Malta but lived over half his life in Canada. His boats name is “The Maltese Falcon”.
]]>So we’re settling down for the evening in a spot between the marina and the town so we can visit both tomorrow. Hopefully this time the tourist office won’t be on strike and we’ll be able to book a car for Tuesday. Fingers crossed.
Tonight I have a test with a HAM based in Los Angeles. He is part of a party who will be joining us aboard Dignity in March when we rendezvous with them in Martinique. Looking forward to seeing if we can make the connection.
This was our least pleasant crossing to date. Helen did not find one bit to enjoy. Right now we’re anchored outside of the marina in Point-a-Pitre. Where we are we have no internet connection. As we came up the river I was using my Canary to detect providers. There’s one a little way back. We may move there later. For now it’s a warm shower and a nap.