English Harbour, Antigua

After a major knockdown with illness, Kay and I are finally back on our feet.  We spent a great deal of time in Les Saintes, recovering from some kind of exotic flu, one we hope never to encounter again.  We had a brisk sail north out of Les Saintes and up the Guadeloupe coast to Pigeon Island and the Cousteau National Marine Park.  It was a short dingy ride from the shore to the island where we enjoyed some of the most magnificent snorkeling we’ve had.  The diversity of underwater life was staggering and we swam with barracuda, sea turtles and hundreds of fish.  The coral was magnificent, colorful and healthy.

From Pigeon Island we moved up to Deshaies, a pleasant seaside village on the NW coast of Guadeloupe.  We hiked and relaxed before our 7-hour sail to Antigua. The voyage was good with strong tradewinds from the NW at 20-25 knots, seas averaging 10’ with 15-footers thrown in, and a 10-12 second wave interval so the ride was fairly comfortable.

A minor issue we are coping with is a weather system in the Atlantic that is pounding Antigua and will continue to do so for the next 24-36 hours.  The winds are consistently 25 knots, gusting to 35.  This has made for an agitated sea state and nights where we sleep with one eye open.  The concern of pulling our anchor in the middle of the night is never very far from our thoughts. We have anchor watch programs on our electronic devices that will alert us if we drag but the sound of the alarm is one we hope to avoid.  

English Harbor is steeped in history and is home to the Nelson Ship Yard, the oldest working yard in the hemisphere.  While here we will visit with friends, hike, explore the different regions of the island, and complete a few boat projects. 

Antigua is a great place to “boat watch” so here is a little tour de harbor for you:

Maraya – a 178’ yacht reportedly owned by Sean “Diddy” Combs

Alpha Nero - Shouldn’t every boat have 3 separate dining rooms, a gym, several pools/spas, as well as accommodations  for a crew of 26?

Alpha Nero

Athena – a three-masted gaff rigged schooner owned by Netscape founder James H. Clark. She’s for sale and- good news- the price has been reduced from $95 to $75 (that’s million).

Athena

Rainbow - In May 1934, the spectacular 40 metre J Class Rainbow was launched after a mere 100 days of construction at the Herreshoff yard in Rhode Island. Her owner, Harold Vanderbilt, was pleased she was ready in time to defend the America’s Cup.  Fast forward almost 80 years and the ‘new’ Rainbow sails the seas representing J class boats.

Rainbow

Rainbow

Gloria – We love admiring Pete Townshend’s gorgeous 126’ Jongert classic sailing yacht and are thankful we don’t have to maintain all that brightwork.

Gloria

Vibrant Curiosity - Our morning coffee routine was interrupted today when this 280’ yacht insisted we hoist up our anchor and move so they could get turned around and backed into the dock.  What nerve.  Then we learn that she is owned by a German manufacturer of screws who forced his employees to take pay cuts at the same time he purchased this boat for $100 million.

Thanks for following our travels.

Richard and Kay

Isle Des Saintes

Les Saintes

Our anchorage in
Les Saintes

Les Saintes are small islands 10 miles off the southern coast of Guadeloupe. This secluded set of islands has been French since its colonization and has always supported a community of fisherman.  Les Saintes are charming and have an energy fed by the steady flow of day-trippers from Guadeloupe.  The only town is Bourg Des Saintes on the island of Terre D’en Haut.  With restaurants, boutiques, and art galleries lining its narrow streets, Bourg Des Saintes is a beautiful stop over.

Kay, Ann and Jonas at Fort Napoleon
Les Saintes

 

Accompanied by Jonas & Ann-Sofie and Tony & Anne, we climbed a steep, winding road  to the highest point on the island - the site of Fort Napoleon and enjoyed spectacular views of the islands as well as Ilet a Cabrit, home of Fort Josephine.  The waters surrounding this small archipelago offer great snorkeling so  about twice a day we put on masks and fins to explore the coral reefs and attempt to identify some of the hundreds of tropical fish that make them their home.

Our friends on Lady Annila and Argosea were here for a few days.  We enjoyed time to share stories, sundowners, and a meal with friends.  We will reunite again further north.  

Without a doubt, Isle Des Saintes is near the top of our list of places we love in the Caribbean.  After spending a week here, tomorrow we move up the leeward shore of 

Murray heading home

Guadeloupe to Pigeon Island, once thought by Jacques Cousteau to be one of the 10 greatest dive sites in the world.  Then it’s north to Antigua.  We are revisiting favorite locations and also sailing to places that we missed on our journey south including Saba, Barbuda, and Statia.  But, it all depends on where the wind blows.

Chores are completed for today so it’s time to bring Murray ashore, visit an internet café to post the blog, and then go for a swim.  

Thanks for following our travels and please comment if you wish. We love hearing from you.  Richard and Kay

Sundowners with Sofie and Jonas

Grenada Feels Like Home

John, Ted and Barbara join us for a ride back to the boats

After months in Trinidad on the hard, we are once again out to sea.  While in Trinidad, we had repairs to Atalanta’s bottom expertly completed by “Cow” and a new Yanmar 100 hp engine installed by Adian.  Both jobs went well but took longer than anticipated.

Upon leaving for Tobago, we were joined by our good friend John.  After his first ever overnight sail we arrived in Store Bay.  As is the law, we checked into customs and immigration.  While we have checked into and out of dozens of countries along the way, the process in Tobago was problematic.  For the “crime” of missing one piece of paper from Customs in Trinidad, we were not allowed to leave the country, threatened with jail time, and fined $3,000 TT or $500 USD.  Other cruisers have reported similar problems with Tobago Customs and one can only avoid this truly beautiful country to prevent dealing with its corrupt Customs Department. This experience soured us and we left after 3 days (as soon as we were allowed to depart).

John, Kay and G at the Tiki Bar
Grenada

Welcoming Rob, G, and James back to
Prickly Bay

The Jumble at Secret Harbor
Selling our junk

From Tobago, we sailed back to beloved Grenada.  It felt like going home after having spent two and a half months there during the hurricane season. We had the pleasure of sharing Prickly Bay with John, reconnecting with old friends and meeting new ones.  Notable new acquaintances include June and Bruce on Ainia and Barbara and Ted on Rosa dos Ventos. 

Martinique

Ted and Barbara, interestingly are fellow Vermonters and veterans of the University of Vermont.  It was a pleasure getting to know them and we look forward to future sails together.  

While in Grenada, John was introduced to many Grenadian traditions including hashing (hiking followed beer drinking), the jumble (a market where yachties  sell unwanted stuff), dominoes, roti, and pan bands. John also had the pleasure of night-time passage making on three occasions. We were sad to see him depart from St. Lucia after three weeks.  It’s a pleasure to have him onboard and we’re looking forward to our next adventure together.  

We’re in Les Saintes, a group of small islands in sight of Guadeloupe.  In route, we stopped in Martinique and enjoyed a short visit to Le Marin.  Like Les Saintes, Martinique is French and offers some  great food, wine, and especially bread.  Here in Les Saintes we rejoined our good friends Jonas, Ann-Sofie, Tony and Anne.  We have missed their company.  So for the next week or so it will be snorkeling, listening to music, reading, sipping wine, eating croissants, and catching up with friends.

Le Marin, Martinique

Martinique

Passing the Pitons
St. Lucia

Peter and Blaine from Vermont
stop by Prickly to say hi

Richard, Peter, Murray, Kay and Blaine

Bruce and June are sailors that we have been following via their around the world blog for the past six years.  It was a great surprise to see them anchored in Prickly Bay, celebrating the completion of their circumnavigation.  Interestingly, June is the first Chinese woman to ever have circumnavigated.  Quite an accomplishment! She has written a book we would love to read but we need to learn Chinese first.

Approaching Les Saintes
at Sunrise

Stay tuned and thanks for following.

Richard and Kay

Pan Band Concert
Grenada

What a long strange trip its been.........

What a long, strange trip to Trinidad it has been! Trinidad is not your typical Caribbean paradise.  Some cruisers come here to get below the 10^th parallel and out of the predicted path of the hurricanes that blow June - November.  Others arrive for the excellent availability of yacht repair.  Still others stop here in transit from Europe via South America on their way north.

Enjoying the sun in Tobago

We have been to Trinidad twice.  The first time was on our way from Grenada to Suriname, a South American country 550 miles south of Trinidad.  The second time was for major boat repairs and as a safe haven for Atalanta as we visited the USA for the holidays.  Our repair work experience in Trinidad is mixed story.  

We had two major jobs done: install a new engine and have the bottom of the boat completely resurfaced.  Each job takes a level of expertise readily available in Trinidad.  The work began as we hauled out on November 17 at the Powerboats Boat Yard.  Brent, the yard manager, located contractors to begin the work that would take over 2 months to complete.  This is 20+ days longer than anticipated.

A new epoxy barrier coat being applied to
Atalanta

The skills of the workers here are commendable.  The problem is getting contractors to stick to a timeline.  It's not as simple as just saying, “Hey mon, it’s island time.”  Contractors have way too much work scheduled and struggle with organizing the execution of multiple jobs simultaneously.  This created frustration, delays, and living onboard on the hard for far too long.

The bottom needed more work than anticipated. As they removed layers, they discovered improper repairs made prior to our owning the boat.  Atalanta was sanded back to bare fiberglass.  The keel was re-glassed and two coats of epoxy-fairing compound were applied to the entire hull.  This was sanded until perfectly smooth.  Then five coats of epoxy barrier coat were applied with two coats of primer and three coats of bottom paint.  These last 10 coats were all applied in one day by an army of workers under the supervision of Cow – a man who knows much about the boat refinishing. His expertise is to be commended.

A new Yanmar 100 Hp engine is now sitting in the spot formerly occupied by temperamental “Mr. Perkins.”  The installation was slow-going and more complicated than anticipated but resulted in Atalanta having a reliable power source (in addition to sails) that will carry us toward new adventures for years to come.

Preparing to Splash in Trinidad

Thankfully, we are about to float again.  Our good friend John is joining us on our further exploration of the eastern Caribbean.  Tentatively, we plan to go from Trinidad to Tobago (same country, different island) and then back to Grenada for a few days.  Unfortunately, we will miss Carnival in Trinidad but we have already been in this one place far too long. There are a number of islands in the Grenadines to explore that we missed on the way south last year.  John will depart from St. Lucia and then are we looking forward to hosting other guests that we can share our travelling life with. We are also eager to catch up with friends we made in the Caribbean who have already sailed further north including Tony and Ann on Argosea and Jonas and Sofie-Ann on Lady Anilla.

They named it after John
What a tribute

So we are off again! After spending 7 months in Trinidad, Grenada and Suriname, it’s time to get moving!  We are now in TOBAGO.  It feels great to welcome John on board to this beautiful island.

Tobago, W.I.
Store Bay

Enjoying a brew at the local resort

Thanks for following our travels.    

Richard and Kay

On "The Hard" in Trinidad......still

Power Boats Yard
in
Trinidad

So here we are, still on the hard in “Powerboats” boat yard in Trinidad.  While we fully expected the engine install to be completed by now, we didn’t anticipate that we would have extensive work needed on the bottom to correct a problem that predated our ownership of Atalanta.

Atalanta is a high quality boat but old.  She turned 31 this year.  As such she has had a number of owners that have done work on her.  Some of that work was not done with the materials best suited to the job.  Hence our issues with the bottom.  A filler that is often used on cars (Bondo) was used to fair the bottom under the barrier coat and bottom paint.  Over time this material absorbed water and began to blister.  To correct the issue, we have had to grind down the entire boat below the waterline, re-fair it with an epoxy resin, apply 5 coats of barrier coat, two coats of primer and three coats of bottom paint.  This process takes time and the application of these materials must be done in a very specific way. 

Preparing Atalanta's "skirt"

We are looking forward to the completion of all this work so that we can get on with our travels.  We planned to leave here on the 15^th of January, but that is looking unlikely.  Now our goal will be to leave on the 20^th, joined by our good friend John who has will join us on our trip north for a number of weeks.

We promise that this blog will become far more interesting once we begin to move again.  Until then with all our best.

Richard and Kay

With the skirt on
repairs to the bottom
can now
begin

Goodbye Mr. Perkins

This blog entry is dedicated to a topic far from our normal descriptions of traveling adventures and focuses instead on the month-long engine upgrade for Atalanta. Atalanta is one of six 44’ Little Harbors built that are center cockpit.  She is a semi-custom made sloop built in 1983 by Ted Hood, one of America’s iconic yachtsman.  Atalanta was, in fact, owned by Ted for her first three years and like all his boats bore the name Robin Too and was painted with his signature hull color of Stars and Stripes Blue. 

Ownership of a boat like Atalanta brings with it an obligation to maintain her and to keep her in good if not great “Bristol” condition.  There are two aspects of maintenance: cosmetic and mechanical.  We try to make sure that all is maintained by us unless said maintenance requires a level of expertise that we don’t possess. 

After 31 years of service, Mr. Perkins (as our 4154 Perkins Engine is fondly called) has met the end of its usable life.  Although we are a sailboat, the auxiliary engine is critical to our ability to do the kind of travel that Atalanta is designed to do and that we are doing with her.  Mr. Perkins began requiring more frequent and expensive service so we decided it was time, while in Trinidad, to have him changed.

We opted to purchase a Yanmar 4YH-4HTE which is a 100 HP engine.  While the new engine is 35 HP more than Mr. Perkins, it is physically smaller.  It was always felt that the Perkins was a bit underpowered for Atalanta.  The Yanmar should be better suited to pushing the boat through more difficult sea conditions.  It will be more efficient and use less fuel and of course be more reliable.

Re-powering a center cockpit boat is a complicated, difficult job.  The engine is tucked deep in the center of the boat under the galley.  In order to pull it out, one must remove the gen-set (another diesel engine, that generates 110 volt electricity), remove galley cabinetry, slide the 500-pound engine and transmission forward into the main salon of the boat and then lift it with a crane out through the companionway and off the boat. 

The new engine must then be hoisted by crane, maneuvered through the companionway, slid under the galley, and attached to engine mount rails.  Then the shaft has to be refitted, prop re-pitched, new exhaust system installed, and new instruments connected. 

This work is being performed by Gittens Engine Sales and Service company.  Adian Gittens is overseeing the job and has proven to be a master at figuring out the many details. 

We are looking forward to Atalanta’s return to the water the first week in January and continuing on with our adventure.  With her new engine, we will be able to be far more confident in her reliability and safety.

Thanks for following.

Richard and Kay

Mr. Perkins being extracted from under the Galley

He's out and in the Salon
This was the amazing part

On its way out the Companionway

And Mr. Perkins see the light of day
 for the first time in 31 years

Yanmar
Ready to be installed
(starboard side)

(Port Side)