Short Update

We spent a pleasant afternoon & night anchored off the tiny Grozier Island and today are in the large Pointe-a-Pitre marina in Guadeloupe to refill with water & have a shower!

From here we will head up thru the middle of Guadeloupe & then make for Antigua.

Message ends.

The Saintes

Some snaps from The Saintes.

We like it here, although we cannot understand why the French should be allowed to have such a nice island. I mean we did kick Napoleons' ass didn't we? So why didn't we take some nice islands from him? Not that we mind the French really, it's just that half of them seem unable to understand English (no matter how loudly you talk to them) or to drive motorboats.

Just kidding Frenchies (now we see if zey ave a sense of umour, no?).

Vive la France!

Trouble in Paradise

We enjoyed Dominica very much but we decided we wld leave on Friday so, on Thursday, we went to check-out at the police station. BUT, apparently customs in Roseau had not given me the correct paperwork so: An hour bus ride to Roseau, pick up the forms & an hour bus ride back to Portsmouth where we checked out just before they closed. Hassle!

A windy sail to The Saintes with 2 reefes in the main & just a little genoa. The anchorage was so crowded that we were forced to drop the hook v close to the beach, the we put a 2nd anchor out to hold us off in case the wind came around. Hassle! Then a really nice evening when we treated ourselves to pizza!

Next morning it was obvious that we wld have to move as, during the night the wind had gone around in circles and tangled our 2nd anchor rode with that of another boat. Eventually we recovered both anchors & then spent a horrible couple of hours(!) trying to re-anchor. Hassle, hassle, hassle!

Anyway, now we are ashore in Grand Bourg (its nice here by-the-way) & will do our best to forget about boats & anchors.......

Dominica

It was an od sail to Dominicaon the 14th as the wind was very fickle: Sometimes too little wind, sometimes too much & a lot of ater cam over the deck in the channel betwen Martinique and Dominica.

Still, we made reasonabl time & were at Roseau by about 1400. The anchorag was crowded out with mooring bouys &, in the end, we dcided to take one & to hell with the US10$ fe.

Desmond, our "boat boy" was friendly & profesional & gave m a lift to customs, where a boatload of ferry paengers were also chcking in. Queueing & paper-work took 2 hours (se, it's not all rum & coke in the sunshine!) & by the time I got back to 1494 I was glad to have a rum & coke in the sunshine.

We didn't even go ashore & we left the next day (Tues) for Portsmouth, about 20M North, still on Dominica. What a place wehave found to drop the hook: a palm-fringed beach, a big bay, a few bach bars & the warm, turquise wate is truly a pleasure to dive into. As I said to Susi: "This is almost like being on holiday!".

We have had a lot of rain here though. The 1st night a nasty squall came thru & the rain hammered & the wind howled, but the anchor held.

Last night was a reggae party & we met up with Michelle & Eve & Jonas & Cecile & Porrick, all of whom we knew from previous anchorages or harbours. A very good night!

Martinique

On Wed 9th we left St Lucia, bound for Anse Mitan, Martinique. We left early as, with 35M ahead of us we were expecting a fairly full days sailing. However, V1494 was feeling frisky and was creaming along at over 7kn much of the time so that it was only 1300 when we dropped anchor.

Skip went ashore to check-in with customs & immigration while the crew stayed on board to prepare food. Within 5 mins of landing I bumped into Mike from "Gypsy Blue" who we had met in the Cape Verdes & received a drinks invite for later. After another 5 mins I bumped into Michelle and Eve from "Cries & Whispers" who we had got to know in Gran Canaria & we arranged to share a hire car the next day to explore the island.

Michelle did all the driving & Susi & I were happy to sit back & enjoy the view (the locals were pretty mad drivers anyway). Some highlights of a long but interesting day were: Getting lost in the rainforrest on a little gravel track; our hero deciding to climb a palm tree for coconuts, then falling down it; asking an old lady (Julienne Mars, 83) for directions & being invited into her house for ice-cream; trying to clean half a rainforrest off a hire car with 3 baby wipes.

The next day we needed a lazy day to recover & to open my coconut but the day after that we moved on again and are now anchored off St Pierre, the old capital which was destroyed in 1902 by the eruption of Mt Pelee.

This machine has no USB port so, sorry, no piccies this time.

Off to Dominica tomorrow, probably.

Livin' the Life....

A trip to the beach.....

From L: Eskill, Caroline, Neil, ?, Susi.

Still in St Lucia having a good time. Fri 4th we were invited by Nick aboard his big old gaffer for a rum & coke evening. Nick became incapable of ordering pizza as planned so Neil, Eskill, Caroline & Victor came back to V1494 with us where Susi cokked veggi burgers for everyone & the rum & coke continued to flow freely.

Next day, despite swearing off alcohol, the gang borrowed a tender & headed for the beach. Just a couple of beers, some big waves & lookin for the elusive "green flash" as the sun went down.

It's a hard life!

Ever ree ting Safe (like Jah Jah Briefcase)

Approaching St Lucia. First land in over 20 days!! Raising the St Lucian flag.

Well, we the humble crew of Vega 1494 can now really say that we have come a long way: Down the Elbe, turn left.......... a right turn at the Cape Verdes & now here we are in January sitting in shorts & T-shirts sipping pina colada IN THE CARIBBEAN!!

We arrived in St Lucia on Wednesday 2nd at mid-day local time. After clearing customs the No. 1 priority was our first showers in 33 days - man that was good! Next up was my fave pizza place in St Lucia (well, the only one I went to back in 99). As luck would have it it is one of few places which serve the local Piton beer ice-cold in a frozen glass - I was in heaven by this time!

After satisfying our hunger we headed back to the marina and the Bosuns bar where we were chuffed to be enthusiastically greeted by our friend Neil, who we had got to know back in La Rochelle. We knew he had done the ARC but we didnt think he wld still be here! Anyway, Neil introduced us to all his mates & the upshot is that we now have loads of fun, young people to hang out with.

You will notice I havnt mentioned the crossing itself. THis is because it was horrible & I haven't the time or the inclination to find the words to describe how much we disliked it. I shall simply say that we are thrilled to have made it here and leave it at that.

Some stats: Total distance: 2212 nautical miles. Total time: 20 days, 6.25 hours.

We now look fwd to day-sails, idylic anchorages, beach bars & good company here in the tropics.
:)