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GOING "DOWN ISLAND"
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Photo: The anchorage at Les Saintes from Fort Napoleon
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The previous blog related our experiences in Puerto Rico, the Spanish Virgin Islands and the US Virgins. From there we were to spend another year in the high volcanic Windwards, exploring the French Islands and Dominica, then tucking Chinook safely away in the hurricane haven of Grenada Then, early in 2004 we sailed back up the island chain again back to Sint Maarten to prepare Chinook for the Atlantic crossing. Our time in Grenada is written in another blog: Grenada our Special Island.
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April 2003: Leaving the US Virgin Islands was for us, yet another big step. It commited us to heading "down island" as the locals say, several hundred nautical miles for another year in the Caribbean. We intended to spend the coming hurricane season (a little over two months away) in Grenada where the insurance companies say it is quite safe - below 12 degrees latitude. The high, lush volcanic islands known as the Windwards were particularly appealing to us - our conception of what tropical islands really are supposed to be. Besides, the trip down would take us to the French Islands of Saintt Martin/Sint Maarten, Martinique and Guadeloupe, all with their distinct "island French" and Creole cultures. Deborah was looking forward to visiting them with the interest she has in the French language.
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Leaving Honeymoon Bay in the US Virgins on April 21 (2003) we by-passed the British Virgins, partly a matter of choice, as they were very similar to the US Virgins – low, dry, expensive and crowded, but also because we wanted to spend the time in what seemed to us to be more interesting places. It was an overnighter to St. Martin (the French side of the island – the Dutch side is Sint Maarten), and we anchored for ten days in Grand Case. Roger and Adrianna on Igazu were there, and we had several get-togethers with them. Roger had severely damaged his baby finger in an incident when another sailboat had dragged onto Iguazu in a midnight squall, recuperating meant they were not sailing anywhere for a while.
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The anchorage was busy; a hundred boats of many flags, some moving south and some moving north as the hurricane season approached. The week spent there was interesting. A bus trip to the Dutch side proved disappointing as we found it not as "pretty" and dirty, although this was the place to be if you needed parts or services for your yacht – duty-free of course.
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On May 1st we left St. Martin bound for Guadeloupe, stopping overnight at Saba, St. Eustaisus, St. Kitts, Nevis and Monseratt. All were rolly anchorages We went ashore only at St. Kitts (where we actually stayed two nights) and Nevis. St. Kitts has a brilliantly designed 17th century fort, "Fort Brimstone", which we explored for an afternoon. Monserrat was blowing ash into the air from its active volcano as we were passing, and Chinook was beginning to get a light covering of it before we changed tack.
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Photo: Monsserat´s ash and steam - Chinook got a dusting
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The anchorage at Deshais on the northern end of Guadeloupe was reached on May 3, and we experienced fresh wood-fired oven baked baguettes made by a little old creole couple. We took a local bus around the northern tip of the island to the capital Point a Pitre, then back across the high centre of the island. Entry into the French islands was very "lax". We tried five times to go to customs and immigration – the officer was just never there. The Mango season was just beginning, and on Brian’s morning jogs being able to pick up ripe mangoes underneath trees and later having them for breakfast was a highlight.
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At Dominica, further "downisland , there was complete understanding about us not having customs and immigration clearance out of Martinique. While anchored at Portsmouth (Dominica) we were pleasantly surprised to have another Young Sun/Westwind anchor next to us – the only other sister ship we had seen to date. A young couple, Andrew and Melanie from Boston on Gamgee had just returned (a week earlier) from a year in Europe. We naturally got to meet them and we inspected with great interest each other’s boats. Gamgee was to follow us down the island chain and spend the hurricane season in Grenada with us. Andrew and Melanie inspired us with their story of crossing the Atlantic.

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Sister ship Gamgee in the anchorage at Dominca
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Dominica was a gorgeous island. Mountainous and lush, still relatively unspoiled. The people were poor, but seemed happy. Cruise ships visit Rosseau, the capital. It was here we first met "boat boys" – high-priced fruit and vegetable delivery – but now controlled somewhat by local regulation as they were not as pushy as the guide books told us, and once you had contracted one of them as "your boy" the others respected that arrangement. In Dominica we hiked up to a lake in the mountains, local-bussed it to the capital, and went up the Indian River in a row boat (no outboards allowed) seeing many white herons on the way to a banana plantation.

Photo: Albert shows Debby how bananas grow .
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On to Martinique on May 25, anchoring at St.Pierre at the northern end for a few days, then at Anse Mitan. St. Pierre’s volcanic cone, Mount Pelee declared "dead" by the incumbent town council looking for votes (voting day was coming up soon and the townsfolk were thinking about leaving), but declared "rumbling by the experts, erupted on May 8th , 1902, destroying the town completely. Killing every resident except for one lucky inmate of the jail and sinking all the ships in the harbour, the museum records a grim reminder of the potential of these islands.
Martinique is definitely "upscale", especially Anse Mitan, a holiday playground for France. The French islands are actually annexes of France, and much money has been poured into them, improving roads and services. Tourism is the reason – not much in reality is exported from these islands.
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From Martinique it was an overnight (125 mile, 30 hour) sail to Cariacou, a lttle island just north of Grenada (and belonging to Grenada) where we could check in to customs and immigration. Bypassing the islands of Bequia, St. Lucia and St. Vincent and the Grenadines at night, intending to stop there on the way back up the chain in the future, we wanted to get safely to Grenada.
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Sleeping volcano St. Pierre - will it erupt again...
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It is not always easy or plain sailing in the Caribbean. The winds are often 25 or more knots and the waves high. The best forecaster we found for down island was Eric who operated a private ham frequency service from Trinidad. He would advise when the winds were likely to be lower in force and the best days to move through the islands. And if you did not take his advice you may have been beaten up by a rough passage. The eastern coasts of all of the islands are sheltered (meaning motoring) from the both the trades and Atlantic swells and currents, but these all "wrap around" the islands creating lumpy waters at their north and south ends. Tidal currents help roughen them up even more. Traveling the western coasts was something we did not do, but a good option when the winds are lighter – a perfect 15 knots.
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GRENADA REACHED
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Grenada was finally reached on June 5th, Chinook was firmly anchored by noon in Prickly Bay on the south coast after quite a rough sail around the south-eastern point into the face of force six trade winds. The south coast is where all the main anchorages are, below 12 degrees latitude, with sheltered bays.
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Here we were to spend over seven months, getting to know and love the island and its people, making new cruising friends and just enjoying the warmth. Grenada is the subject of another blog because of the length of time we spent there. We had many experiences we would like to relate separately together with photos to do it justice.
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AND NORTH AGAIN UP THE ISLAND CHAIN
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We left Grenada to sail north on February 20, 2004. It was hard to leave. Chinook had been taken out for a few shakedown sails before we left to make sure there were no glitches after seven months of basically just sitting still. There were none and she sailed as sweetly as ever.
We anchored for four nights at Cariacou again (a 40 nm sail), but this time in Tyrell Bay, socializing with Tom and Molly on Caper and several other cruisers we had met in Grenada. From there to Union Island in the Grenadines where unfortunately it was too windy to anchor in the shallow islands surrounded by reefs. Caper came with us. On to Cancoun – a "Moorings" base - for three nights. We dined on freshly caught grouper we bought of a local fisherman, "Ted" who stopped by Chinook for $5 ECD and two cans of corned beef.
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At Bequia a peasant week was spent anchored in Admiralty Bay, and ashore hiking, visiting a turtle sanctuary, and socializing with Caper, Gecko and Chrysalis. The ferry to St. Vincent for two day-trips was preferable over anchoring there as some of the cruising guides suggested this was an island that would likely mean hassles with boat boys and officials.
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In fact we also by-passed St.Lucia for the same reasons and sailed overnight under a reefed main, yankee and staysail (motoring in the lees) the 90 nm to Martinique, dropping anchor in St. Ann. After 5 days in St. Ann we sailed into Marin for some refitting – in particular taking all of the chain plates out one by one for examination. One of them we took in to be professionally examined for minute cracks and corrosion, but it was fine. Rebedding them assured us of the lessened potential for deck leaks. Replacement autohelm belts were purchased, new line bought and the rigging carefully adjusted. Here also the short wave radio finally decided to transmit properly after much fiddling with the antenna tuner switch, a relief for our planned Trans Atlantic sail.
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Another long day’s sail (52 n.m.) to Dominica where we only stayed one night and a shorter 20 mile hop the next day to Les Saintes. Three nights in the pretty Les Saintes meeting up again with Itzapurla, Willow and Cheshire Cat. Day hikes and sampling French wines are part of the memories from here.
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An overnight stay in DesHaies after motoring the 25 miles, then on to Antigua (another 45 miles) our next stop. it was Classic Race Week and we were very pleased to be there for that event. Anchoring in the crowded Falmouth Harbour with the rest of the above gang, meeting up with other boats we knew, partying with everyone, hiking and exploring this historic island (one of Nelson’s hangouts) was a treat.
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But we now had a deadline. We had to get to St. Martin to ready Chinook (and ourselves) for our next big adventure – crossing the Atlantic. The 90 mile trip we broke up by stopping at Nevis and on April 20th we dropped anchor in Simpson Bay, Sint. Maarten, the Dutch side. Debby’s son, Andrew came for a week to visit and Dave Fish, a friend from Vancouver came for another week. The weather was getting hotter, and the island is quite dry.
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The busy anchorage at St. Martin.
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The next month was spent in a blur of preparations for our ocean crossing. New house batteries, a new stove, rigging checks again, going over Chinook from bowsprit to stern. Meeting and planning with other boats (all rookies like us) was comforting to a degree, but by the time we were ready we were both pumped up and nervous beyond belief. But that also, is another story.

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