Preparing for the next leg of our Journey

Preparing for the next leg of our Journey

Saturday 28th - Sunday 29th December 2024

We felt sad saying goodbye to Tasha, Mac, Dolly and Don. We really enjoyed the time we got to spend with them. Shortly after noon yesterday, they took a taxi / shuttle from Deshaies to the airport at Pointe a Pitre and are still on route back to Spokane, WA and Eugene, OR. It’s a long 3-leg journey. Tasha and Mac have promised to send their blog contribution, but in the meantime we will fill you in on what we are up to.

We updated our checkout documents with Customs and Immigration and plan to leave Guadeloupe for Antigua on Tuesday. We needed to file new documents because of the change of crew - (6 people arrived in Guadeloupe onboard Cotinga and only 2 people will depart). The winds have gone round to the NE, or even NNE, and conditions are not good for heading north at the moment. However, we hope by Tuesday that the northerly swells (6 - 9 feet) will have settled down and the winds will have clocked around to the east. Right at the minute the swells are wrapping round into the anchorage and causing some unpleasant boat motion. 

After two weeks of ignoring the boat, during which we thankfully had no major issues, we have re-started doing some boat jobs. Amazingly, after 6 weeks on board, I finally found the missing spare parts that we brought out from the USA. Specifically, the zincs (sacrificial anodes) for our Tohatsu outboard motor and the machine screws that I need to repair the spinnaker pole. So these are two jobs for the near future.

Our rationale for going north to Antigua is that we will be able to do a number of regular maintenance projects quite easily - refill diesel, gasoline (for the outboard and generator), water and propane, as well as get our laundry done. It’s also a lovely place to hang-out. After that we hope to make a brief trip to Montserrat before heading north-west to Nevis-St Kitts, Eustasia and then the Virgin Islands.

More on that later …

Here are a few recent photos from Deshaies.

Tasha's sarong draped over the lifelines and winch

Captive Lorikeet in the Deshaies Botanical Gardens

Captive Maccaw ("Roger") in the Deshaies Botanical Gardens

Flamingos in the Deshaies Botanical Gardens. Obviously, Flamingos are bright orange but I show this photo in B&W to avoid the distraction of the color

A Purple Throated Carib (wild hummingbird) that landed on a branch about two feet away from me and posed beautifully!

Traveller Palm

Purple flower

Pink flower

Sunset from the cockpit of Cotinga in Deshaies harbor

Dolly and Don’s Guest Blog

Dolly and Don’s Guest Blog

Saturday 28th December 2024

After a wonderful ten days, Tasha, Mac, Don and Dolly start their journey home today. It has long been our tradition to have our friends and family that come and stay with us write a blog entry. Don and Dolly have taken it a step further and created a multi-verse limerick to capture their thoughts. This certainly raises the bar for Tasha and Mac who are planning to start writing their contribution this morning!

Mike, our captain, Gloria the first mate,

Made our sail a perfect date.

With Mac and Tasha, Don and Dolly,

We made our passage without a folly.

All in all, we left nothing to hate.

Dominica, Les Saints, Guadeloupe destine,

Our goal was to sail without a questin.

The rains they did pour like our North Pacific shore.

Visiting Dominica with hikes, waterfalls and more.

Only Don lost out and the bugs had a win.

Waking to a squall, 4 traveled with rain,

Only to find that boulders in the road were a pain.

Options arose that led to exploring,

Syndicate falls were much more alluring.

They arrived to Picard Cottages with much to explain!

On Christmas we sailed with the sun in our face,

Happy to make it to the magical place.

Isle Le Pigeon had tropical fish galore,

It left us wanting to snorkel more.

Reminding us that life is not a race. 

Arriving in Deshaies means our trip is near end,

What adventures are there just around the bend?

We'll be missing Mike's cooking,

Another trip on Cotinga we are a looking.

To the Captain and Crew all our love we send.

Limmerick writers we are not,

With some humor, we gave it shot.

To avoid walking the plank,

A Tale of Two Chemists we thank.

Let them know what you thought.

The photos in this blog are also from Dolly.

Tasha and Mac in the cockpit

Mike at the helm

Mike at work below Salton Falls, Dominica

Taking a photo of McKenzie (sitting off to the left) whilst Gloria to tries to stay out of the way!

Tasha, Mac and Don on the veranda of the cottage at Picard Beach, Dominica. The rain pours down in teh background!

Checking out a "Jacko" parrot in Dominica

Hermit crab

Mike and Don in the Captain's chairs

Merry Christmas!

Merry Christmas!

Monday 23rd - Tuesday 24th December 2024

Happy Christmas Everyone! It’s 9.30 pm on Christmas Eve and we are ready to call it a day and head to bed, so this will be short and sweet. We’ve been having a wonderful time with Tasha, Mac, Don and Dolly. It’s cosy on board with 6 people - but it is working well and we are really enjoying the opportunity to hang out together. Tasha and Mac are sleeping in the aft cabin, Don and Dolly in the main cabin and Gloria and I up in the V-berth (as we normally do). The biggest challenge is finding 6 shady spots on board to hang out during the day.

We are happy to be on a mooring off Isle a Cabrit - the water is flat, it’s peaceful and we can snorkel right off the boat. The only down side is that it’s about a one mile dinghy ride across fairly open water to town. We all went in yesterday and with six people on board our little dinghy, with bumpy conditions, we all got quite wet. The main problem was water coming over the transom because we were so heavily weighed down! Anyway, we arrived safely and went separate ways to explore the island. Despite our independent activities we somehow all managed to find our way to the ice cream shop!

Today was a lazy day, mostly hanging out on board, swimming off the boat and walking the trail on Isle a Cabrit. Gloria and I did go in to town briefly to do some final food shopping before Christmas. This evening Tasha and Mac made us tacos, which were excellent, and we played games out in the cockpit. We all marveled out being able to sit outside in shorts and T-shirts on Christmas Eve, feeling comfortable warm / cool and not being bothered by insects.

We hope you all have a wonderful time over the holidays

Mike

Brown pelican on the bow pulpit

The beautiful Bay de Pompiers on the main island of Terre de Haut, Les Saintes. I waded across the shallow water  (up to my arm-pits) separating the small island that protects this bay.

A view down from the cliffs on the main island to the barrier island creating the Bay de Pompiers

The footpath meanders across teh grassy islnd

The cliffs on the ocean side of the island are so undercut and unstable that it would be insane to go close to the edge

A very young kid on the cliffs adjacent to the island (split tone B&W)

Unbelievable Rain

Unbelievable Rain

Friday 20th - Sunday 22nd December 2024

After a busy day on Thursday visiting several waterfalls we opted for a quieter day on Friday. In the morning we took a boat tour up the Indian River. It was beautiful, but showery. However, this was only a prelude for what was to come on Saturday. We had planned to meet at 9.30am, drive down to the southern, mountainous region near Trafalgar, and hike, visit waterfalls and immerse ourselves in the hot springs. Torrential rain overnight and into the morning caused us to delay our start. Gloria and I finally made it to the beach cottages where the others were staying around 10.30am, but we were pinned inside our rental car by the torrential rain. When we finally made it to the cottages, Don and Dolly opted for a quiet day at home, whilst Tasha, Mac, Gloria and I decided to head south and go the hot springs. By this point it had mostly stopped raining.

The coast road south was litter with rocks washed down from the hillside. When we finally started up into the mountains towards Watton Waven, the home of the hot springs, we found the road was closed due to bridge repairs. We switched plans and decided to go up to Trafalgar falls, which was close by. We got to within 1 mile of the falls when we found the road was blocked by a massive landslide that had happened ~ 24 hours previously. We contemplated walking across the slide area, but then heard more rumblings and saw substantial boulders being washed over the debris. We beat a hasty retreat and with some concerns about the safety of other mountain roads, we decided to headlock up the coast.

On our way north, Gloria came up with a fall-back plan, and we were able to make it up to the Syndicate Nature Trail. The clouds had finally started to clear and it was lovely to walk around the rainforest, through some enormous trees. The lookout spots gave great views of the lush forest all around. We must have seen a dozen parrots during our walk, mostly from a distance flying away across the valleys. We did hear countless others, making their loud squealing calls.

Overall, we had a good time in Dominica, but the unusually wet weather did make it difficult to do everything we hoped. This morning we met up on the boat and sailed north from Dominica to Les Saintes, a group of islands off the south coast of Guadeloupe. It was a fine broad reach in 12-20 knots of breeze and quite lumpy seas. Everyone did fine and after a 3 hour sail we were delighted to find an empty mooring off Iles a Cabrit. We are all six of us living on board for the next 4 nights - which will be cosy, but hopefully fun!

Mike

15 52.462 N, 61 35.818 W

Our tour guide Andrew on the Indian River

At the dock by the"Bush Bar" in Indian River. The Dynamite punch at the bush bar lived up to its name!

Showery conditions during our return

Andrew, our tour guide, also known as De De.

The landslide on the road to Trafalgar Falls. The large blocks that fell on the road are about the size of a minibus (far left) and a house (center left)

Gloria, Tasha and Mac at one of the Syndicate Nature Trail overlooks.

The view from another overlook.

With Family in Dominica

With Family in Dominica

Tuesday 17th - Thursday 19th December 2024

Douglas-Charles airport is not exactly like Heathrow. As I approached the airport in my rental car I drove round the eastern end of the runway where spray was breaking over the seawall. I left the car in a small parking lot surrounded by vibrant shrubs and wandered a hundred yards along a sidewalk adjacent to a river to reach the terminal building, where I was informed I should wait outside. Tasha, Mac and Mac’s parents, Don and Dolly, emerged into the bright sunshine less than 30 minutes after their scheduled arrival time. It was great to see them! However, Tasha and Mac’s checked bag did not arrive - it was still back in Miami (which apparently shares some similarity with Heathrow). More of a concern was the fact that Mac felt lousy. We filed the baggage claim paperwork and headed back to Portsmouth.

Whilst in Dominica, our visitors are staying at the Picard Beach Cottages on the south side of Portsmouth. The cottages are lovely, in a fantastic wooded location right on the beach, with an unrestricted view of the ocean and the sunset. By Wednesday morning Mac was feeling a little better, but Tasha had come down with a migraine and gastric upset, so the two of them stayed at home recovering for the first day. Don, Dolly, Gloria and I went up to the beautiful Syndicate falls and had a walk and a picnic. Mac joined us aboard Cotinga for dinner in the evening - Yellowfin tuna in a coconut, ginger and lemongrass sauce with sweet potato. 

By Thursday morning, all family members were on the mend, if not completely back to full strength. We headed south in our two hire cars and spent the day visiting Salton, Emerald and Jacko Falls, all of which are impressive in different ways. It has been surprisingly wet the past three days with relentless heavy showers. Salton Falls was particularly atmospheric with spray everywhere and torrential rain! Tasha was brave and swam in the pool below the upper falls, but I think the rest of us felt we got just as wet standing in the vicinity. We were all excited to see Red-necked (Jacko) parrots near Emerald Pool and Jacko Falls. We may have seen a couple of the larger Imperial (Sisserou) parrots the day before, but they were too far away to be certain.

We have two more days left in Dominica before we all board Cotinga and head north to Les Saintes off the south coast of Guadeloupe.

Mike

Mac and Tasha sitting on a rock in the pool below Jacko Falls. This beautiful photo was taken by Dolly Woolley on her Samsung phone.

Syndicate Falls

Dolly in the pool below Syndicate Falls

Tasha and Mac by the lower of the Salton falls 

Lower Salton Falls

Brown Trembler in the picnic area at Emerald Pool

Emerald Pool in wet and overcast conditions - still beautiful and atmospheric

Mac, Tasha, Gloria and Dolly at an overlook near Emerald Pool

Chilling in Portsmouth, Dominica

Chilling in Portsmouth, Dominica

Sunday 15th - Monday 16th December 2024

Life on the mooring in Portsmouth is pretty chill. Our first order of business was to get checked-in with customs and immigration. In the past we have taken the dinghy over to the government offices about 3 miles away, but we weren’t sure they were open on a Sunday. We then heard from some other cruisers that PAYS (Portsmouth Area Yacht Services), from whom we rent the mooring, would organize the process for us. I completed the electronic submissions on-line through “SailClear” and we went to shore around 9 am to talk to PAYS. “Yes, we can sort this for you, give me your documents and come back at noon” - so we left our passports and check-out papers from Martinique with PAYS and left. When we returned sometime after noon … and mid-afternoon … and late afternoon … the office was all locked up. We were a little concerned about not having our passports, but when I returned on Monday morning, Eddison (PAYS) greeted me with the words “I expected to see you yesterday”. Anyway, it was all sorted and we now have passports and clearance documents in hand.

We have been doing some boat cleaning in preparation for the arrival of Tasha, Mac, Don and Dolly (Mac’s parents). We were able to buy some gasoline and diesel at the local petrol station and we have filled up our water tanks with jerry cans from shore. All told it’s been fairly relaxing. We have taken a couple of short walks along the main beach-front road through Portsmouth. It's a scruffy but colorful little town and the people are super friendly. I needed to get a temporary driving permit before picking up a rental car, and even the police officers were charming!

Monday became a display of tall-masted sailing ships, with four in the bay at one time. We often see boats, small and large, that we have seen previously in other harbors or out on the ocean, and the tall ships stand out because they look so beautiful.

Mike

A traditional fishing boat on the beach in Portsmouth. The main road crosses a small river on the bridge in the background

A three-master anchored of Fort Shirley

Vela anchored in Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth

Vela at sunset

Five-masted clipper ship that we have seen around the Caribbean a lot

Working boat anchored in Prince Rupert Bay, showing the mountains behind Portsmouth