Tighter Than a Frog’s Arse

Tighter Than a Frog’s Arse

Tuesday 26th - Wednesday 27th January

This blog post will be mercifully short and sweet. It’s not been a particularly exciting couple of days, unless you have a special passion for boat cleaning! We have been getting ready for our forthcoming trip back to Sudbury and working through a list of jobs so the boat is in good shape when we leave and ready to roll as soon as possible after we get back.

One job on the list was to contact a diver to clean the bottom of the boat, check our zincs (sacrificial anodes) and replace as necessary. Wayne Emard had been recommended to us by Jolly Harbor marina and we worked with him on our previous stay at the marina back in December. Once we got settled on the dock we gave him a call and he showed up about ten minutes later to discuss what we need doing. The man is a character! He is known as “Red-Trini” to his mates (“Trini” because he comes from Trinidad, “Red” because … I have no idea … he seemed to think it was obvious!). He went into great detail about how everyone has nick-names around here. He told us Americans used to be called “Yanks”, but that is now viewed as disrespectful, so they are called “Money”. He said they may not all be wealthy, but that’s the perception. I asked him “What about Brits …what’s their nickname?” They are known as “Titus”, he replied. “Is that some connection to the empire”, I asked, thinking Antigua is a former British colony, maybe some connection to a Roman emperor ... No … it’s because they are “tight arsed and stingy …. tighter than a frog’s arse”. “Obviously not all of them”, he qualified! As well as fulfilling our diving needs, Wayne is also going to taxi us to the airport. He noted that in order to be successful he is willing to pick up any business … except selling drugs, or doing divorces! In the past he had been convinced he could do a better job than the prime minister, but rather than take on that job, a friend encouraged him to give up drinking. As you can tell, it was a wide ranging and entertaining conversation.

The marina has WiFi, and it’s actually pretty good. For the first time in six months, we were almost able to watch a film last night. It started out well enough, then, when we were half way through, it abruptly stopped. Attempting to reconnect to the Marina WiFi we were told that our ticket had expired. Aggghh. I thought it might be due to excessive data use, but it turned out that it was a timing issue, due to a misunderstanding with the marina on how long we were staying (1-day versus 3-weeks?!)  It was actually quite fortunate this happened because on clarifying the situation it transpires that we need a signed declaration from the marina of our docking contract, which I then had to take along to customs and immigration to be stamped, before we could leave the country.

Anyway, we plan to eat butter chicken and naan bread for dinner tonight and watch the rest of the movie. We will sign off from our blog for two weeks and start again once we return to the boat on the 11th April.

Thanks for reading and being part of our adventure

Mike

C-Dock at Jolly Harbor Marina. Cotinga is on the right, and the boat that was right next to us pulled out this afternoon, providing a much clearer view!

The view across from B-dock to the boatyard with travel lift and fuel dock (wide angle lens)

The same view now as a panorama created from four x 70 mm vertical format shots

Looking towards C-dock from the end of B-dock

Looking down B-dock with the individual power and water supplies for each slip

The Carpenter - Jones Valley Trail

The Carpenter - Jones Valley Trail 

Sunday 24th - Monday 25 March 2024

We spent Sunday hiking the excellent Carpenter - Jones Valley trail. Our departure from Cotinga was delayed by rain and as we left the boat it was still cool and cloudy. That lasted about ten minutes, but as soon as the sun came out the humidity sky-rocketed and it felt outrageously hot and sweaty. By the time we had hiked around to the start of the trail off Galleon Beach we were seriously having second thoughts. We sat on the rocks near the entrance to English Harbor and ate our sandwiches. We had no other plans and little energy to formulate alternatives and so we set off along the trail around the coast. With every footstep our mood changed; the views were incredible and we started to really enjoy the walk. The hike up the ridge towards Shirley heights was steep and hard work, but the incredible cacti that we saw along the way kept us entertained, and before we knew it, we had reached our high point. The hike down through the woods of Jones Valley was easier going and we stopped to look at the old gravesite and to take photos of the plentiful dragonflies. We didn’t get back to the boat until late afternoon, and we were quiet tired, but we both felt it had turned out to be a really good day. I am so glad that we didn’t bail out early.

(p.s the "AllTrails" app is excellent ... load up the map and route while you have connectivity and then you can follow the trail even when you are off-line) 

This morning was again showery, but we are in no hurry to get underway. It’s only about 12 nm from Falmouth back to Jolly Harbor and we didn’t want to arrive at lunchtime, when everything would be shut down. The showers eased up around 10.30 am and we were underway by 11 am. It was a pleasant, if somewhat rolly, downwind motor-sail (Genoa plus diesel) back round to Jolly Harbor. We pulled into the fuel dock and topped up our main diesel tank and then backed in to the slip in the marina that had been assigned yo us. This went perfectly, not least because we had the help of the harbormaster and his dinghy. It’s amazing what a difference it makes to have a dinghy with an outboard motor push against the bow to set up the correct angles … an inflatable bow thruster! 

The one thing that did go wrong today was our stove. We have not used our oven since leaving the USA, because it’s been really warm on the boat and who needs the extra heat. However, last night we wanted to warm up taco-shells and I tried to switch on the oven. I couldn’t move the knob at all. We decided to toast our taco-shells on one the top burners and address the faulty oven switch this morning. Well I managed to get a good wrench on the actual spindle (not the plastic knob) and snapped it right off. So there is no prospect of the oven working again. The unit is 25 years old and no longer in pristine condition so we have looked into replacing the entire stove. This would be easy in the USA, but likely to be much more expensive over here. We are considering three options: buying a replacement here in Antigua if we can get it here in time, buying one in the USA and carrying it back with us or just doing without an oven until we return to the USA next year.

Does anyone know whether you can turn up for a flight with an 80 pound box and treat it like checked bag?

Mike

The bouldery cliffs at the entrance to English Harbor

The Carpenter trail follows the edge of the cliffs to the ridge in the background, which is climbed to the top. There is a section where you can scramble down the cliffs and swim in a shallow pool on a ledge of rock above the ocean (known locally as Mermaid's Pool).

At the base of the ridge where the trail heads uphill. The cacti are impressive!

The top of one of the "Englishman's Head" cacti

The view down from near the top of the ridge (which is not itself particularly exposed)

A set of dragonfly photos taken whilst descending the Jones valley Trail ... from above

 A head on shot

As close as my macro lens would allow me to get

From the side

Motor sailing downwind in light winds using the genoa. We were too lazy to get the mainsail out (or to put away my shorty-wetsuit!)

Sneaking into Nelson’s Dockyard

Sneaking into Nelson’s Dockyard

Friday March 22^nd and Saturday March 23^rd, 2024

Working on the premise that the same amount of climbing must be accomplished on a walk whichever direction you take, I had a brain wave in the middle of the night.  If we walked our route counter clockwise, we would enter Nelson’s dockyard through the “back door” and avoid paying the National Park fee. I think Mike was slightly shocked!  But that’s exactly what we did. The route took us up onto a ridge with nice views first of Falmouth, then the ocean and finally down into English harbor and the dockyard. We were able to walk right out the gate of the dockyard with no problem.

Later in the afternoon, Mike wanted to go back to shore to take night-time photos of the boats and dock area.  He chose to repeat the walk that we’d done earlier in the day.  Thus, he snuck into Nelson’s Dockyard twice in less than twelve hours!

Backing up, I should report that we had a very busy day on Friday (March 22^nd).  In the morning, Mike worked on the septic hose of the forward head (what a joy).  I worked on cleaning of the galley cupboards, a project I’ve been doing a bit at a time. We went to shore to fill a gasoline jerry and collect our laundry.  The gasoline was no problem but the laundry was “in the washer”.  It would be ready by 2 pm.  We took a trip to the grocery store and acquired a few items.  

Our hope was to collect the laundry at 2 pm and take off for Falmouth.  Naturally, the laundry was not ready until about 3 pm.  Then it took a while to get the engine off the dinghy, secure the boarding ladder and “sling the hook”. We were underway by four pm.

Sadly, the wind was really on the nose, so it was motoring the whole way.  We got the anchor down before sunset and enjoyed some time sitting in the cockpit.  

Gloria

A panoramic view from the hills to the west of English Harbor showing (right to left) English Harbor, Nelson's dockyard and Falmouth.

English Harbor

A Canadian lady taking in the view after sunset on the Middle Ground trail

A flower on the top of a cactus that is known locally as "Englishman's Head Cactus"

English Harbor in full moon light as night closes in

Nelson's Dockyard

The end of the dinghy dock at Nelson's dockyard. Most of the yachts are docked "Mediterranean Style"

... and the one you've all been waiting for ... the septic hose from teh forward head. Mineral deposits have closed the internal diameter from 2 inches to ~ 1/2 inch. We clear this cement like gunk out by smacking the hose on a piling or something similar. This hose was last cleaned only 4 months ago!

Boat Maintenance … Part 4380

Boat Maintenance … Part 4380

Wednesday 20th - Thursday 21st March, 2024

If you own a boat, then you already know that every day is a boat maintenance day. We’ve owned Cotinga for 12 years now, which is about 4380 days … and even when we aren’t on the boat I’m always thinking about it … hence the title. 

There are a few things that we need to get done before we head out next week for New England, to make sure the boat is set up to be left on the dock and to try and be as ready as  we can be to make a quick get away when we return. Yesterday we took our dirty clothes, towels, sheets etc into the full service laundry at the marina, which is good but expensive. However, it is the only option around here. We brought two propane tanks in to be refilled and picked them up today. We carry three 10 lb propane tanks, each of which last us about 4-5 weeks. However, you can’t get them refilled in French islands and we were down to our final tank. We suspect the French islands use butane rather than propane. ) We defrosted and cleaned the freezer and fridge, which was a bit yucky. Gloria made an inventory of our non-perishable goods and we shopped to re-stock our supplies of tinned goods (tomatoes, olives etc… and beer). 

Perhaps the most interesting job was described on our list as “service the steering system”. In recent weeks we have noticed a click as we turn the steering wheel from one side to another and you can feel a slight clunk. This is worrying, because apart from a fire, a steering failure is the worst breakdown I can imagine. In fairness we have some back-ups, because if we break a steering cable (which has happened to us once in the past), the wheel won’t function but the auto-pilot would still work because it is connected via a bronze fitting directly to the rudder post. We also have an emergency tiller that fits on top of the rudder post. Nonetheless, we wanted to figure out what was going on. We can access the steering gear from a panel in the back of the quarter berth or from the large cockpit locker (lazarette) … once all the crap has been cleared out of it. By looking and listening from various angles, whilst Gloria turned the wheel, I was able to figure out that the noise is coming from the joint where the autopilot hydraulic drive connects to the bronze turning arm. When this is disconnected the noise goes away and the steering system as a whole looks fundamentally sound, which is great news. It seems that there has been some wear in the bronze fitting where the stainless connecting pin is located. It’s not much, only a millimeter or two, but enough to cause a knocking as the pin shifts from one side to another. We figure this is only likely to get worse. So we checked on spare parts and could buy a replacement bronze turning arm for US$635. We also talked to our friend Darrell and he suggested over-drilling the hole and fitting a bushing. This seemed like an excellent idea and I was able to find a machine shop in the boatyard that was willing to do this … for about US$350. At this point I emailed Gloria’s brother Rod, and he says that he believes we can do this ourselves using his lathe and drill-press, for a lot less money! He had some good ideas about what materials to use (Delrin rather than bronze) and we are now planning to fly the fitting home with us next week. Rod - you are my hero … thanks!

Unfortunately, we think we probably need to de-scale our toilet outflow pipe again … but that’s a job for another day ... or one for Rod when he returns with us. (I was just kidding ... honestly!)

Mike

The steering system as seen from the access port in the quarter-berth. The steering cables come down from the pedestal / wheel, around two pulley wheels (top left) and then around the quadrant (top center), which is bolted to the rudder post. The auto-pilot hydraulic drive (lower right) is connected to a bronze drive arm (center) that is independently bolted to the rudder post. It's the joint between the bronze arm - hydraulic drive that is worn

I happen to love street art and thought this wall in Deshaies was fantastic. All credit to the artists - I simply reproduce it here

Just around the corner from the previous piece

This was painted on a concrete buttress on route to Le Chameau, Les Saintes

Getting ready to move north

Getting ready to move north

Sunday March 17^th to Tuesday March 19^th, 2024

On Sunday, we decided to go to the Botanical Garden again.  Based on all the walking we’ve been doing recently, I expected the hike up to the garden to be easier.  Dream on... We arrived at the ticket area at the same time as a raft people from the two large buses that had overtaken us on the walk.  As a result we decided to walk through the garden in reverse order, to try and avoid the crowds. For the most part, we didn’t find the garden too busy.  After several hours, we went to the cafe for a cold drink and ate our picnic lunch (strictly forbidden).  We wandered back through to the area where we had seen a purple-throated carib hummingbird.  It seemed that the sight of Mike taking photos of this bird, prompted dozens of people to stop and try to capture a picture with their phone.  Eventually, it became too much for Mike and we departed the garden.  The only good thing about the long walk back to town was the drop in altitude.

Today, I stayed aboard all day and did some sewing!  Mike took a trip to shore to complete the check out process from Guadeloupe before our departure tomorrow.  Further to our comments in the previous blog entry, it turns out that the Harbor Master now runs the check-in/check-out in Deshaies, out of his temporary office in a port-a-cabin at the harbor. Apparently they expect to move into more permanent accommodation in about 6 months, but the system seems to be working well again. After completing the formalities, Mike went on a walk along the river.  It’s not my cup of tea as it involves walking in the stream and hopping from rock to rock.  Once he returned, we started preparations for our passage.  The dinghy is tied down on the foredeck. The boarding ladder is up.  There will be a few jobs to be done in the morning.  Hopefully we’ll be able to get an early start on our trip to Antigua.

Gloria

Well the sail up from Deshaies, Guadeloupe to Jolly Harbor,  Antigua went really well. We were up at 6 am and dropped the mooring a little before 7 am. We motored the first 30 minutes out of the harbor and towards the north tip of Guadeloupe, until the winds filled in. We then had a fantastic sail with 13-18 knots of wind, from a little aft of the beam (wind angle ~ 110 degrees). We had full main and Genoa and we were flying (relatively speaking!). We covered the 45 nm to the channel into Jolly harbor in less than 7 hours, at an average speed of 7.2 knots. Our top speed was 10.2 knots. The really great thing was it didn’t feel particularly fast; no dramatic heeling or flying spray, just Cotinga “in the grove”. We only turned the engine on to head up the channel into the anchorage. It doesn’t get better than that! I lie,  actually it does,  a Mahi-Mahi, Tuna or Wahoo would have been icing on the cake, but that was not to be, despite trailing lines the entire journey. On arrival we had a bit of excitement. We had just re-launched the dinghy when I detected a strong smell of gasoline. Gloria noticed that our outboard motor gas-can, at the back of the boat, was squirting out gasoline like a baby peeing on a changing mat (from personal experience!). The rubber bulb in the feed line had perished and the pressure from the tank in the sun was squirting petrol all over the aft deck. We opened the cap and replaced the rubber bulb (we had a spare !!!) And everything was sorted. I took off to clear immigration customs, which compared to a lunar landing was trivial, but compared to the same process in France is a nightmare!

Going back to the Sunday visit to the botanical gardens. This was a lovely day, but an exercise in photographic frustration! I had the best hummingbird photo opportunity I have ever had … he would perch no more than an arms length away, turn around, fly off and return a few minutes later … and I left my flash gun on the boat! He liked the shady spots, and even with a tripod it was hard with no extra light. I eventually resorted to using my phone as a flash light to try and fill in the light. I did get a couple of decent shots (out of many attempts), but I can’t help wondering what might have been…

Mike

17 04.581 N, 61 53.639 W

The following bird and flower shots have been formatted with a "vignette" (brightening rather than darkening) to give them a similar "stylish" look. The great thing about digital editing is nothing is irreversible ... if you don't like the result, try something different! The fact that I got any decent shots of the hummingbird is a tribute to my camera sensor. I had to push the exposure 2-stops during the work-up.

Purple Throated Carib

Purple Throated Carib

I love these "heliconia" type plants. There seem to be several varieties and I think they are great!

Close up and abstract - a focus stacked image

A different variety

Similar to a a peace lily

Hibiscus ... an old favorite

The Deshaies river ... the warm light is completely natural, sunlight filtering through the trees

The river winds its way under overhanging rocks

Not a waterfall ... just a small overflow between rocks (~ 2 sec exposure)

Planning - Two Steps Ahead

Planning - Two Steps Ahead

Friday 15th - Saturday 16th March, 2024

We have known for more than a month that we will be flying home to Massachusetts on 28th March for a two week break and that we must be back in Jolly Harbor to put Cotinga on a dock two days before that. So over the past several weeks we have been planning our travels to make best use of the time available, and there we have been fortunate to have the flexibility to go where we want, when we want. There is an old cruisers saying that it’s fine to agree to meet at a certain place OR a certain time, but never to be specific about both, because circumstances change and weather can be unpredictable. To get to Jolly Harbor from Les Saintes (before the 26th March) we would need to cross the short passage to Guadeloupe (~8nm), travel up the west coast of Guadeloupe to Deshaies (~25nm) and then sail northwards across open water (~45nm) to Antigua. The first two legs should be easy enough under any conditions, but the final passage could be easy or hard depending on the winds and seas. Specifically, we would want to avoid winds with a northerly component, so that we wouldn’t have to beat all the way. So sitting on Cotinga in Les Saintes we have been monitoring weather forecasts and looking at predictions for the passage up to Antigua and it has started to look like Monday 18th or Tuesday 19th March might be a good time to go, with moderate trade winds (< 20 knots) from east-south-east. Given that, we decided to spend an extra day in Leas Saintes on Friday and head up to Deshaies on Saturday.

We were keen to check out the Pain de Sucre anchorage, and so on Friday morning we dropped our mooring at Ilet a Cabrit and motored over to Pain de Sucre and picked up a mooring there. It is a pretty location, but overall we found it to be quite rolly and our least favorite of the three locations we have stayed at in this area. We did get to go snorkeling directly from Cotinga and say some beautiful fish including a puffer fish, a couple of trumpet fish and some large iridescent blue parrot fish. 

On Saturday we were up early and departed Les Saintes. We had a very fine broad reach sail over to the south west tip of Guadeloupe. As expected, winds accelerated around the point and there was a period where we were consistently sailing at over 8 knots. I personally saw 9.2 knots and our log recorded the top speed as 10.1 knots! The remaining 20+ miles up the coast were a bit of a challenge. The winds varied from < 5knots to 17 knots and so at times we were sailing well and at other points we had to motor. It’s weird, we even experienced light winds from the west, which we think are due to convection winds behind the mountains. We arrived at Deshaies in the early afternoon … in time for lunch! 

Our plan was to get an updated weather forecast on Sunday morning and make a final decision on sailing to Antigua on Monday or Tuesday. However, when we went to shore we found that the “Pelican Store” that used to have a customs and immigration computer for clearing in and out, no longer has that facility. We presume that you now must go to the customs office south of town, which isn’t open until Monday morning. So there is no longer a decision to be made, we can’t leave on Monday because by the time we check out it will probably be too late in the day. It makes us a little nervous because when we checked in at Deshaies several weeks (when the “Pelican” computer was broken) it took us many attempts before we found the customs office open. By Thursday the winds are likely to be out of the north east and strengthening, so we definitely have a window that we are working with.

Mike

sorry - not to many photos today.

Although we had good weather on our sail from Les Saintes,  showers kept rolling through all afternoon in Deshaies, meaning we had to keep opening and closing the hatches ... a bit of a pain.

Boat jobs, hiking and octopus

Boat jobs, hiking and octopus

Wednesday 13^th and Thursday 14^th March 2024

Wednesday was mostly devoted to boat work.  Mike pumped both the bilge and the shower sump, checked the voltage of extra zinc vs. no extra zinc with the silver electrode and polished the stainless steel (a really big job). While he was hard at work, I cleaned the galley and both heads.  It’s not glamorous but the boat needs constant maintenance to keep it in good shape. Later in the afternoon, we went snorkeling along the west side of the bay at Ilet a Cabrit (where we are moored).  The best thing we spotted was an octopus that was swimming near the bottom.  After a while, it sat down on the sand and we could observe the color change as it tried to blend into the sand.  It’s the first time I’ve seen an octopus while snorkeling and I was pretty excited.

After sunset, we travelled by dinghy to the main town, picking up our friends Wendy and Darrell on the way.  Tragically, while attempting to lock the boat to the dock, the lock dropped into the water!  We faked locking the dinghy and proceeded to the restaurant for dinner.  We enjoyed a nice meal and strolled back to the dock.  Careful examination revealed that the lock was quite visible on the bottom.  We thought it should be possible to retrieve it with some snorkel gear.  It was a dark and fairly long ride back to Cotinga.

Our plan for Thursday was to walk up Le Chameau.  This mountain is the highest point on Terre d’en Haut (the big island of Les Saintes). At about 1,000 ft, the views from the top are reported to be excellent.  We set out at about 9:30 am.  Before we had done much more than walk through the town, we were thinking it was a hot day.  The route to the top is along a road that is no longer open to traffic.  That meant that the footing was less of a problem but the gradient was a bear.  Personally, my t-shirt was fairly damp by the time we topped out. The views were quite amazing.  Les Saintes is a small group of islands with many bays.  We have done a fair bit of walking around these islands and it was great to get the big view of all the places we have visited and the various mooring fields.  Fortunately, the tower on the top of the hill cast some shade, allowing me to recover enough to make the downward hike.

When we got back to the dinghy (after some food shopping and a stop for lunch), we could still see the lock on the bottom of the harbor.  Mike was very brave and dived down with his mask and snorkel and retrieved it! Neither one of us loves to be underwater, so he did very well.  Upon returning to the boat we both fell compelled to shower.  The remainder of the day was considerably less energetic! 

Gloria

15 52.361 N, 61 35.762 W

p.s Don’t forget that you can follow our position and see our track at our predict wind web page

https://forecast.predictwind.com/tracking/display/Cotinga/?mapMode=useAtlas&windSymbol=BlackArrow&weatherSource=ECMWF&trackDuration=0

Looking down on the main town Terre en Haut from partway up the Chameau

A couple resting and looking down towards the main town from the summit

A similar view, but you also see the Ilet a Cabrit more clearly in the middle / left. This is where we are moored currently and you can see it's a pretty long dinghy ride to town.

The view to the south with the fringing islands of Les Saintes in the foreground and Dominica in the background

The view to the west with the island of Terre en Bas in the center, the Pain de Sucre anchorage on the near right and the south west tip of Guadeloupe in the top right. We didn't realize at the time but a path continues down this side back to the beach

A cooperative lizard on route up the Chameau

Ditto - in portrait

The sun filters through the clouds Thursday evening - from our mooring off Ilet a Cabrit

A passing squall near sunset Wednesday evening

 panoramic view as the sun sets behind Terre en Bas