Montserrat - The volcano!

Montserrat loomed in the distance. Not more than 30 miles away from Deshaies in Guadeloupe, was this ticking time bomb of a volcano that has erupted with major consequences quite a few times in our lifetime and due another big blow. Not more than 2 weeks ago did the infamous volcano belch a little ash.

With most of the island still off limits to both residents and visitors, only a fraction of the pre-1995 (eruption) residents remain on the island (about 4500). Plymouth, the old capital was wiped out by a sprinkle of ash that is (in parts) 50 ft deep. The stoical Montserratians built a new capital, complete with court house, fire station, police, cultural centre etc in Little Bay (on the north of the island) far from the exclusion zone and upwind might I add.

As Montserrat came into view, you could clearly see the pyroclastic flows down from the cloud capped peak of the volcano. It is quite a spectacular view from the sea as we headed up the windward side (east coast). We arrived in Little Bay in the mid afternoon. Wind funnels through the island and what was 15knots on the windward side becomes 25 knots on the leeward side. Go figure!

Little Bay, although quite unprotected from swells, was a nice enough well...little bay. There was only one other yacht in the anchorage and we felt a little bad anchoring relatively near him (probably about 100m away). In what seemed like an attempt to “encourage” us to anchor much further away, the skipper of this 40ft hard chined steel boat stood in his cockpit stark bollock naked. Funny looking old fellow with a beard who we affectionately nick named Grandpa Willy.

We were overjoyed to be one of only 2 boats in the bay. We quickly got our dinghy down from the foredeck and went ashore to clear in. One of the quite novel things in Montserrat is that there is some fierce Irish heritage with St Patricks Day actually celebrated for an entire week. They stamp your passport with an Irish Shamrock! The coolest stamp we have in our passports to date!

A local tour guide (also mentioned in the Doyle Guide) offered to take us on a 4 hour tour of the island. The only problem was this would have been a $140 USD trip. A little rich for our blood, so we decided hire a car instead and arranged for it to be delivered to us at 9am the next day. Unfortunately you have to have a police license to drive in Montserrat so had to take a tour to the local office ($20 USD)

The wind was still strong that evening and to my horror, 3 yachts pulled into Little Bay. A lovely French yacht moored in front of us but off to starboard so out of our way. A catamaran moored in front of us but to port so no threat. Another cat moored behind us. With our anchor secure and no way able to clang into us, we were comfortable and we settled in for the night.

Around midnight I did my usual 'meercat' routine to check the anchorage only to see the cat that moored in front of us (to port) no longer in front, but well behind. Tsk tsk... They spent a good few minutes sorting themselves out, tried to re-anchor a few times but I guess gave up and headed out to sea on to their next destination. This seems to be common practise for yachts to use Montserrat as an over night stop as in the morning, both the other vessels upped and left. And then there were two...

We picked up the car from the same lady who had served us at the customs counter. Apparently Montserratians moonlight with multiple jobs. Suppose you would have to if there are only 4500 people for a whole island. It had rained the night before. Gage from Gage Car Rental swapped our cheap and cheerful car, for a 4 wheel drive jeep. And did not charge us extra! Turned out to be the best decision and would recommend that anyone hiring a car in Montserrat hire a jeep!

Our first stop was Rams which is a supermarket. Hard to find as none of the shops or attractions here seem to have road signs or even a sign above the door! Figured the building with baskets in the doorway must be it. Found a huge box of 'Munch' the peanut bar we loved back in Grenada so treated ourselves to a box of 36 of the bad boys!

We drove to the Montserrat Volcano Observatory which was quite tricky to find. In the building we watched a video on Montserrat then and now, along with footage of the destruction.

From there we drove to Garibaldi Hill (well we thought it was but turned out to be Cork Hill) which has a good lookout over Plymouth – the modern day 'Pompeii'. There was a policeman at a gate that had to give us written permission to enter 'Zone V' and warned us that the roads were all narrow and windy and it was very easy to get lost. We drove on into the exclusion zone and it was like a ghost town. House after house standing abandoned for almost 20 years. Plants had overgrown into the road making for very narrow lanes and we didn't see one person in the area for the hour or so that we were there.

We stopped in the road and checked out an abandoned house – it was if the occupants had just gone out to the shop. All their belongings were still there except for the obvious looting in some areas. The rooms were in serious decay with the roof missing in several parts and Dylan saw a big rat living in a wardrobe. Very very eerie with open suitcases still on the bed and clothing still hanging in the closets.

Garibaldi Hill was our next stop. You get a great view of the volcano from the other side of the island. To get here you need to pass over the pyroclastic flow which is just layers of ash in a valley. We stopped at a house that looked normal until you realised you were looking only at the second storey – the first level completely covered in ash. The roads here were barely passable but with it being a jeep (and a rental!) we continued on and were rewarded with a fantastic view. Nature is an awesome thing. We could not help but marvel at the power and extent of the destruction. Where there was once a thriving community with a rich heritage there is now a bunch of roofs floating in a sea of ash. But there is always some one who can make a purse from a sows ear. Sand mining is now a large industry. Trucks cart the ash to the dock where it is sent off to other countries to make cement and other mineral rich compounds.

We sat on the top of the hill and ate our lunch overlooking this incredible feat of nature. Quite some picnic spot. I will tell you that!

The next stop on our adventure was Runaway Ghaut (pronounced gut). This is a natural spring on the side of the road where if you drink from it you apparently come back to Montserrat again. There is a cute poem that goes with the stream... “if you drink the waters from this burn, to Montserrat you will return.” It was very cold, fresh water. The water here tastes amazing, the best I have ever tasted, so pure and clean.

Jack Boy Hill is the other side of the island where it offers views of the volcano from the windward side which we had seen from the sea. Nobody up there but us, well we had encountered very few people wherever we went which was great!! This place was jacked up for tourists though with a viewing platform, binoculars, picnic benches and toilets. No people probably because the roads put them off, the pot holes were awful and getting there was made easy with a jeep.

We bought some tamarind balls from a shop to try them. It is hard to describe the flavour – sour with many seeds, sweet from sugar as well as spicy from the tamarind. They were good and we will get them again.

After a hard day of driving and sight seeing, we decided to grab a bite to eat. JJ's restaurant had been recommended for good local food at local prices. With no menu in sight, the proprietor, a lady of few words, informed us it was a 20 min wait and we had a choice of curried chicken or stewed goat. We chose one of each and sat down to watch Judge Judy whilst we waited. Food was good, big portions and we paid the equivalent of £15 for 2 mains, 2 beers and a soft drink!

Great way to spend a day.  

The French Islands

Entering the group of islands located to the south of Guadeloupe (The Saints) we were amazed at how small the islands were. Rising steep out of the water we could easily navigate right next to the coast line looking out to the reddy brown cliffs occasionally dotted with the odd red roofed house. The islands are sparsely populated with only one town in the cluster, Terre de Haut. It is here where we chose to anchor for the first night so we could clear in at customs. After 5 mins of tapping our details into a computer found at the internet cafe, we had completed the process and for free. No surly officers to contend with, no queues and no stamps in the passport much to Dylan's relief as his Canadian passport is getting pretty crowded!

Overnighting in Terre de Haut where we were anchored among a load of moorings, we chose to move on to a quieter spot around the corner opposite Iles Cabrit. Finding a great location with no other yachts in close proximity we dropped the hook and proceeded to watch a French boat almost drag onto another boat with no occupants onboard. Action man at the ready, Dylan swam over to the boat to help them out as we observed it was just a bunch of teenagers clearly out on Daddy's yacht or charterers from Guadeloupe. No sooner had Dylan got there, the group had managed to pick up the other boats anchor and drag them too before getting embarrassed and motoring out of the bay. Luckily Dylan was there to check the other boats anchor else we could have ended up in a game of bumper cars!

Down to my last pair of knickers I realised I couldn't put off a hand wash any longer. Being spoilt so far with many islands having cheap laundry services, I was yet to do a load on the boat. Well that was about to change. Hauling a bucket of salt water from over the side I proceeded to soak the clothes in detergent and give them a good scrub. Unfortunately I am yet to get my hands on this elusive 'Joy' that everyone tells me foams in salt water so instead I made do with a Caribbean version that didn't sud. After washing the clothes multiple times in bucket after bucket of salt water I then treated them to a fresh water rinse in another bucket before I rung them out and hung them in the cockpit to dry. I thought I'd done a thorough job but some of the clothes still smell a little....stale. Clearly practice makes perfect when it comes to this task and Mum, I now realise how much effort all of my 'going out' dresses were to hand wash in the kitchen sink!!

That night was also a very exciting occasion as we had managed to find normal meat that had no bones in it – ground beef! All day we looked forward to making spaghetti and meatballs, so keen to get some meat down us after living involuntarily as vegetarians for a few weeks.

After 2 days in The Saints we headed to the mainland (Guadeloupe) and our chosen anchorage of Pigeon Island. This really is easy navigation in these waters, as soon as you point the boat in the direction you want to go, you can see the island and sometimes even the bay you are heading to! The sail was so flat that I decided to make stove top bread and so by the time we got to our destination, we had yummy fresh bread to feast on in the cockpit, surveying our new surroundings and neighbours. Thats the great thing about anchorages, every day your neighbours change making way for more people to watch, more anchoring to observe and new people to chat to.

When we were anchored at Pigeon Island, Dylan decided it was time for role reversal and so I went and dug in the anchor. Putting on my snorkelling gear I was eager to prove that girls are just as good as boys at doing this. I jumped in and swam against the current to find where I had dropped the anchor. Lo and behold, the anchor was just sat on his side doing absolutely nothing so I needed to dive down, pick it up and bury it in the sand. Taking 3 deep breaths to expand my lungs, I duck dived and kicked my fins, popping my ears as I descended 26ft to the bottom. By the time I was down there I already felt I was running out of breath so a quick adjustment of the anchor and I kicked to the surface, taking a deep breath before I descended again to finish the job. It is certainly easier than it looks and I have a way to go until I can hold my breath easily for 3 minutes (but don't tell Dylan that)!!

The snorkelling on Pigeon Island is renowned for being great so one day we took the dinghy and a packed lunch of home made bread and motored over there to check it out. Avoiding the pasty French frogs we saw loads of fish as well as different corals. A huge puffa fish and turtle were probably my highlight, I don't think I will ever get bored of seeing turtles swimming in the open ocean. When we were back at our boat we went for another swim and saw a huge turtle on the bottom complete with 3 remora fish. The remora fish were the biggest fish I have seen so far in the Caribbean never mind the turtle they were feeding off!

Continuing on the topic of wildlife, we were minding our own business watching a DVD in the saloon waiting for the rain to stop when we heard a british voice shouting very near our stern. Being the meerkats that we are, we popped our heads out and were told that an iguana was swimming right near our boat...I didn't even know they could swim? Good samaritans that we are (or at least try to be), we jumped into the dinghy with 2 buckets and motored over to Rambo the iguana who looked like he had a sore neck with a crick – floating at a very odd angle. Scared I was about to be eaten by a massive iguana, we carefully handled him into the 2 buckets and put a plastic chain case over his head. I then steered us to shore and Dylan jumped out to deposit Rambo in the trees whilst I kept the engine idle. As there were loads of locals in the water and a big swell, I leapt out of the dinghy to hold it still whilst waiting for

Dylan who looked like he was singing Rambo a lullaby and stroking it with a stick. Thats when I realised I had leapt out of the boat in a pair of netty knickers....not bikini bottoms. Fine for walking around the deck but certainly not fine for going in close proximity to strangers. Whilst clinging onto the dinghy with my back to shore, standing on a shelf with a steep drop off, I was helpless as the local men started to perv. One confident guy resembling Sloth from The Goonies started speaking to me in French and indicating he wanted to take a photo on his phone. I resolved that situation and he wanted to settle for a kiss on the cheek which I was also not accommodating, luckily at that point Dylan came back and I tried to get back on the dinghy in a ladylike manner trying to keep my dignity in tact whilst we motored off back to the boat. As we sped away from the beach, we looked back to see the local kids throwing small rocks at the dazed iguana....as Dylan would say, “Damn French!!”

We are currently anchored in Deshaies which is the most northern anchorage in Guadeloupe before we head off tomorrow to Montserrat. Having learnt all about this island in Geography throughout school I am really looking forward to visiting, fingers crossed the volcano erupts – just think of the photo opportunities!!

The One That Got Away

Letting out our fishing line from a manky wooden board we acquired in St Lucia, we watched the lure disappear 60m from our stern. A squidy lure with a nice 2 prong hook and a good length of trace wire. With a 24 mile passage ahead of us to The Saints we crossed our fingers hoping we would be dining on fish that evening. We were yet to catch a fish since we had started out from Grenada over 2 months ago but had seen other people catching them. We were starting to get a little despondent with our fishing abilities. But stoically, we put out the lure in the hope that something would take the bait.

We were sailing along happily in about 15 knots of breeze in a broad reach. Maintaining a consistent speed over 7 knots. Occasionally surfing waves that would see our speed leap to a pants wetting 9.4 knots (yes, Dylan still loves to race)! Not more than 4 miles from Iles des Saintes (off Guadeloupe) while Dylan was at the helm, he suddenly let out an almighty exclamation. It half scared me to death thinking the worst! We have a fish! WE GOT ONE! Quick! Do this, do that, grab this, take that.

All of a sudden there was a flurry of activity as we tried to slow the boat down by pointing her into the wind. I started to reel in the thing at the end of the line which I was not convinced was a fish as we had reeled in so many 'seaweeds' that it was starting to get a little boring.

Dylan was positive it was a fish so we reeled away whilst Dylan went down below to get the alcohol (not to celebrate with...just yet) to pour on its gills once we landed it to kill it with minimal bloodshed and thrashing in the cockpit. I soon felt the tugs on the line and it was a fish and a good one too!! Then I saw it better - away in the distance just for a fleeting second was a shimmer of colour. I reeled it in some more. It was as if we had caught a rainbow and it was desperately trying to get away lest we retrieve its pot of gold. Probably the prettiest fish that we had seen since we got to the Caribbean we were looking at a Mahi Mahi (Dorado or Dolphin Fish). So radiant, vivid and luminescent.

We were towing the dinghy (sans outboard or other gear) and desperately trying to ensure that the line did not tangle with the dinghy tow ropes (there are 2 tow ropes in case "someone" ties a shitty bowline).

I was trying to get it close to the stern, while Dylan hung over the transom flailing madly with a gaff.
With a flick of his tail this beautiful Dorado leapt out the water as if to say "not today peeps!" and was gone. Some how the fishing line had snapped. Maybe on the wind vane, maybe just exceeded the 60lbs load (it was not a 60lbs fish!) or maybe just plain bad luck.

We watched as the shimmer was lost into the gloomy depths and I comforted Dylan as he cursed and vented, vowing to get a rod and reel for "next time". By this point Dylan's excitable shouts could probably be heard from Brazil.

Ah, the one that got away...

That night we dined on lentil curry - don't remind Dylan!

Dotty about Dominica

I know each island we come to we end up saying 'this is the best so far' but I am going to say it again, Dominica is the best island we have been to so far in the Caribbean. Because:

1. cheap provisioning
2. friendly locals with no ulterior motive, treat you as one of their own
3. beautiful island for nature lovers
4. water is in abundance, taps for all to use on the road side
5. loads of things to do
6. not ruined by tourism...yet

Walking down the coastal road from where we left the dinghy in Roseau, Dominica (the capital) we headed for customs at the ferry terminal, just over a mile walk away. The road took us through a poor part of town where kids wore rags and old people stared at us through the window, flies surrounding them. Despite the poverty, these people looked so happy, waving at us and making a point of saying hi as we walked past. Unfortunately from previous experience when the locals make a point of saying hi in the back of your mind you are thinking...what are they going to sell us now, always thinking they have an ulterior motive. Not the Dominicans, without exception these people are happy, content with life and eager to welcome visitors to their land to show it off...no strings attached.

Trudging along the road we get a whiff of freshly baked bread, following our nose we enter a run down shack and see loads of different breads on display. Choosing 6 wholemeal buns we were pleasantly surprised to find it cost only EC$2, the equivalent of 50p!!

Moving quicker now in case customs closes at 4pm we route march to the ferry terminal and after 2 mins we have been cleared in AND out of the country as long as we leave after 2 weeks. If we wish to stay longer then we just need to re-visit customs and extend our stay, all for a meagre sum of EC$60 /£15 (unknown to us we had been charged overtime and it should have been EC$10 for 2 people). Our other expense in Roseau was a mooring ball as the anchorage had nowhere under 40ft to anchor and we didn't have enough chain to abide by our 5:1 ratio rule. The mooring ball is meant to be US$10 /night but as we were going on a tour with the boat boy that managed the moorings the next day, we got the second night for free.

The chore of customs out of the way we started to take in our surroundings and headed for the fruit market located at the end of the ferry dock. As we turned the corner we were greeted with table after table of of brightly coloured fruit and veg under equally bright awnings. Comparing the scene to the Saturday market in Grenada, this was even better, so much variety and so many vendors to choose from, all brimming with produce. We chose a huge bunch of spinach, turmeric, cloves, 2 papayas, bag of ginger, bag of chillis, hand of bananas, green beans and this haul amounted to £3.50 /EC$14!! What an absolute bargain and everything was so fresh and locally grown.

Returning to Orion via the coastal road we saw a local fisherman come in with his catch of fish, put the bucket down and blow the conch shell. This action signals the arrival of fish for sale and within seconds the locals emerged from their houses to take a look what was on offer. Only a mouthful each, we gave it a miss but what a brilliant scene to witness. Later in the week we had the opportunity to try blowing the conch and wow these locals make it look easy. Similar to a trumpet the knack is to wet your lips and blow making your lips vibrate against the hole in the shell. None of us managed to make a loud foghorn noise necessary to attract attention, the most we would have done is upset the resident crabs on the beach!

Day 2 in Dominica we opted to go on an island tour for US$35 each. This included going to Titou Gorge, Trafalgar Falls, a place for lunch (food and drink not included just the taxi) and Botanical Gardens and well worth doing.

Getting picked up from dinghy dock at 9am we picked up 4 other people – 2 canadians and 2 americans and long time cruisers, first stop Titou Gorge. A short walk to the gorge that can be done in flop flops and takes you on a forest trail, we arrive at a pool and quickly change into our swimming stuff. The water was frrrreezing but apparently it makes you ten years younger so I now resemble a 15 year old and Dylan has a full head of hair (I joke). Swimming 250 metres against the apparent current and steep sides of a gorge, we rounded the corner to find a waterfall. How refreshing to be the only people in this gorge surveying the gorgeous scene as the light stream throughs an opening high above us, the water is fresh as can be and visibility 100%. Tearing ourselves away from FRESH water, we dry off and head to Trafalgar Falls. Sure there is water, hot springs and waterfalls everywhere on this island with it having 365 rivers (one for every day they tell us) but this particular waterfall is special. After a moderate forest walk and scrambling over boulders you arrive at an impressive waterfall made even more so by the choice in water temperature. On one side of the narrow valley there are hot water pools like jacuzzis, tinged yellow by the sulphur, steam rising up. Then when that gets too hot, you can nip across to the other side of the valley and sink into the cold water! With no other tour groups or even locals around, we had the waterfall and valley to ourselves. Curried goat was the dish of the day for lunch and after a walk around the botanical gardens we were back on Orion around 4pm.

After only 2 days at Roseau we moved up the coast to Portsmouth and the lovely little bay of Prince Rupert. Our friends from Kadoona were already there and arranged a bunch of activities for us to do.

On the Saturday, we all went on a hike to do segment 14 of the Wakabuki Trail. 7 miles from Capauchin to Portsmouth harbour. In tow were Dylan and I, Terry (off Libertine), Ian and Laani (Kadoona). Hike was great. We clambered up and down hills, along the rocky beach and through swamps. Saw a variety of creatures along the way. We stopped at almost every rum shack we encountered for an obligatory beer.

We discovered a few mangos and some wild lemongrass along the way which we happily hoarded for later. Stopped at a lovely little beach for lunch and a swim and tried our hand at blowing a conch. We all sucked and left it to the more experienced local.

The next day was a tour up the Indian River with Andrew the tour guide. It cost us $40 EC each (£10) and was great value (there was also the $5USD charge for access to the park)

Andrew rowed a group of 8 of us up the river where we saw a variety of flora and fauna. Ian and Laani were with us as they had arranged it (with Single hander Terry – off Libertine) a couple from Sweden (Pontus and Melee off Tau Tau).

The mangroves looked like something out of the Folk of the Faraway tree.

We stopped at a quaint little bar where we disembarked on a long walk through a plantation.

The guide listed out all the fruits and we tried a variety of locally growing natural fruits. Including sucking the sour (but nice) fruit around the Cocoa bean. We could have taken the sucked beans home, dried them out and then grated them into Cocoa (but the thought of lugging semi sucked seeds around all day put us off)

We cut cinnamon off a living tree and it smells even more potent than the ground up powder or bark you buy in the shops. We also picked bay leaves straight off the tree. We stopped at a Rum Shack and sampled a glass of Coconut Punch (Rum) and it was fantastic. (so much so we later bought a bottle in Portsmouth)

We continued on our walk to a hot spring and along the way picked a bunch of “gwenjob” seeds that are used in a lot of island jewellery (as they look like white beads). We now have a necklace made of them.We lazed about in the hot spring for a while.

Walked back to the boat we stopped at the first rum shack and sampled a Peanut Rum punch. Nice, but a little too sweet for our taste.

Later that night was the infamous BBQ put on by the Boat Boys in Prince Rupert Bay to fund the security patrols etc. Even the Minister of Tourism was in attendance and made a little speech to the yachties to thank them for their patronage.

Food was good and Dylan had 3 helpings of Chicken. $50 EC (£12) for all you can eat buffet and rum punch. What a deal!

Chatted to a couple who send Poodle semen to Sweden to fund their adventures on their yacht. We did not go into details...

Last few days have been spent relaxing and getting a few groceries as food stuffs is generally cheaper here than else where up islands. Water is free from the many taps in the road, so we filled the tanks with a few trips ashore. If we had gone along side, we could have had unlimited water for £4. Land of a lot of water this place.

We will be back!