Caribbean islands - Endless summer

Following on from our last Caribbean update....an island at a time...

Saint Barthelemy / St Barth

St Barth is an expensive but also one of the safest Caribbean islands. The Swedish colony of Saint Barthélemy existed for nearly a century. In 1784, one of French king Louis XVI ministers ceded St Barth to Sweden in exchange for trading rights in the Swedish port of Gothenburg. Swedish rule lasted until 1878 when the French repurchased the island. Street signs are still in Swedish and French languages.

Everything around Port Gustavia is chic and sophisticated. St Barth isn’t just a playground for the likes of Leonardo DiCaprio, Jeff Bezos, Paul McCartney and the Kardashians. Many sailors do a stop over here too 😊.

We ate a Bento box in a Japanese waterfront restaurant and just enjoyed the food, people and boats.

Check in at Port Gustavia, surrounded by lovely yachts.

The free glossy marketing books at check-in were promoting all kind of luxury goods which are available on the island.

St Barth is catering to clients who have everything they need but also want to spend their extra money on things they can have.

Most shops did not display prices in the windows and most of them had security guards standing at the door... Luxury goods e.g. Hermes bags, Cartier Jewellery etc are tax-free here, and are therefore about 20% cheaper than in the US or France…

The latest and greatest.

Gold or white gold snake necklace ? 

We preferred to stay away from the hustle and bustle and took a buoy in Anse de Colombier. This meant a steep 3 hours walk to Gustavia and back for the check-in and again for the check-out.

There are so many turtles in the water and we also came across many land turtles on our walk to Gustavia.

And then there was this spot.....where the turtles came racing towards us until we were suddenly surrounded by them. It was really strange. Locals must be feeding them here.

A protective mother hen made it clear to the turtle to stay away from her chicks

Le Fourchue island

also known as Île Fourche is an uninhabited island between Saint-Barthelemy and Saint Martin. The island is privately owned.

These beautiful flowering cacti were all across the island ...even in my sandals (some small ones were impossible to see in the long grass).

Ouch, I felt this through my sandals

Milla and Robyn had again a lovely surprise in store for us. At the top of the mountain they produced a cold and rewarding bottle of bubbles. What an amazing spot to do this!

A beautiful but dead coral..... it looks soft but actually is very robust.

Different corals and pebbles at the beach.

Sint Marteen island / St Martin

It was warm but rainy when we arrived in St Martin. Check-in was conveniently done in a chandler shop next to a fuel station. We did our check in on the french side.

There were 2 bridges which opened at certain times of the day to let larger boats through the canal and into the Simpson Bay Lagoon. The Simson Bay Lagoon is located on Saint Martin. The border between the French and Dutch halves of the island runs across the centre of the lagoon. We often visited the French and Dutch sides with our dinghy.

Below is the Laundry drop off and some restaurants along the canal.

Most of the buildings in Sint Maarten show some hurricane damage (Irma in 2017) and 60% of those buildings looked totally uninhabitable. There are also many damaged boats and debris everywhere. It is very sad.

We searched for a place near the airport to leave our dinghy. Sven found a place in front of an old abandoned building which was not fenced off and had an open gate leading to the main road. Dinghies from Boats Alba and Kwilena were securely locked (as we always do).

The Caribbean territory of Sint Maarten has long been a hot spot for aviation enthusiasts.

The end of the runway at the Princess Juliana International Airport is just metres away from the beach, giving beachgoers the chance to watch planes take off. The particular stretch on the Dutch territory is popular with tourists, partly because the planes fly extremely low over the sand before landing. The beginning of the runway is just 50m (160ft) from the fence on Maho beach, and about the same distance to the waterline.

There are prominent warning signs in the area instructing beachgoers not to stand near the fence because of the dangerous air blasts.

Despite the danger, a number of videos are circulating online which show tourists clinging or attaching themselves to the fence to prevent being swept away - and are, in some cases, almost being lifted off the ground.

We watched the people taking selfies and loosing their towels and hats in the process. We were wondering why they would do this... but as you can see later, it seemed to be contagious as we did it too.

Let me explain this picture in some detail!! So as you have read earlier, we were well aware not to stand too close to the fence and watched the impact the jet blast had on people and their personal belongings. However, don't ask me what made us wanting to try.... even though we were standing further away from the fence, across the street. Sven was pushed backwards into the Sand when the airplane started, Robyn kneeled down. I was standing close to the waterline thinking I was far enough away but as you can see we all got soooo much sand blasted into our faces

My hat and sunnies still flew into the ocean,,, despite being close to the water ( I later recovered the items from the water). We were all well breadcrumbed Schnitzels from top to bottom. It took many showers and many days to get the last sand out of our hair and skin.

And here a short video....

We decided to do something more subdued on the next day and visited Fort Louis, a historic French military fort with a view onto Marigot Bay.

Well, maybe something between the stupid thing we did at the airport and the fort....

Boat Alba crew were keen to try the Flying dutch zipline, which the internet claims to be the world's steepest zip line. We were happy to join and took a local bus there.

We checked the cruise ship schedules to ensure we did not have to wait on the "ski" lift up or on the zip line down. We were the first ones on the lift.

You can see the singing and dancing "ski" lift person on picture below. He ensured that people got off the lift properly while at the same time rehearsing his songs and dance moves (a nice touch to the overall experience).

A bar at the top for people who need to have an encouragement drink before zipping down.

Once you are at the Zipline you get attached to a flight line and secured harnessed chair, launching you on the 1050-foot drop in elevation over 2800 feet,

Sven and I being put into the harness. You have to step onto the side planks before they can securely check the harness. The downwards ride lasted seconds only and honestly, was not scary at all.

Afterwards, we walked to the main port and had some drinks.

We took the Public bus back home. It was packed and all "aisle" seats were folded down. We sat at the very end of the full bus.

Many Rastas never cut their hair but do stick it neatly under some kind of beanie.

Time to check all the ropes and fittings. Sven is scared of heights, yet still does it regularly. Not sure I would want to do it... check out how high he is..

Meeting Robyn and Milla at the fuel station and heading out to get some food.

Korean BBQ with friends of 2 Swedish sailing boats (we crossed the Atlantic together)

Wishing Camilla and Robyn a safe journey back to Sweden - we will miss them. It was a lot of fun to spend time with them and catching up so often over the last 4 months . We got sometimes into mischief which cannot be shared online 🤣

This time some wings for Sven.

Saba island

Saba is a municipality of the Netherlands (since 1816). Saba island measures 13 square kilometres, has only 2000 inhabitants and 4 villages. It has a hospital with 10 rooms and 200-300 medical students. However, if you have a heart issues, you will have to be flown to Colombia! The island is surrounded by a Marine park and has many dolphins, sharks, stingrays and turtles. You can watch the sea life from your own boat.

A self-educated local engineer dedicated himself to the idea of creating a road, which was deemed impossible before him. In 1943, the first stage of the road “that couldn't be built”, was completed.

Throughout the 19th and 20th centuries much of the male population was put to sea, leaving the women to run the island’s industry.  There was a great gender gap between 1924 and 1929 e.g. in 1929 there were still only 492 men compared to 916 women.

We booked a 1 hour taxi ride to see the island (there are no public buses here).

The Ladder (photo below)

The ladder was cut into the cliffs edge during the nineteenth century. Concrete steps for “easier” access were built in 1934. Ships would anchor offshore and goods where brought ashore via longboats. All cargo had to be carried by porters up nearly vertical stairway and then further up to the Village. Cargo included not only building materials and household supplies, but everything from bags of flour to grand pianos. I was thinking of the people who walked these steps many years before me, but carrying heavy items and doing it all day long.

An excited dog greeted us on top of the "ladder" and was eagerly trying to lick our salty legs!

The hike to the dormant Mt Scenery Volcano is the highest point in the Dutch Kingdom (877m).  We did several hikes and loved the lush, tropical foliage and the changing environment.

We retrieved our Stand Up Paddle board after a long day/hike and paddled back to the boat.

I often look up the rocky mountains and think, wow, please don't let any rocks come loose just now (because you can see new tracks and sometimes even hear some rocks rolling down).

We were back at the boat when we heard a growling sound and rocks coming down next to the ladder.

Sven went snorkelling

We see turtles nearly everywhere we go. This one swam right up to us and I took the picture from our boat.

Sint Eustatius island

Sint Eustatius is part of the Caribbean Netherlands and has a population of 3000 plus 8'000+ goats!

Our boat with some goats in front of it.

LOVE the goat sign "DON'T LET THE GOATS IN NO MATTER WHAT THEY TELLL YOU!

Sadly, St Eustatius' position allowed it to become a hub for slave trade, which was a significant contributor the the island economy during the 17th and 18th centuries. The slave path is still there today and leads down to the water.

The village on top of the hill is gorgeous and the view from Fort Oranje looking onto our boat was lovely too (current stone structure was built by the British in 1703, replacing the original wooden fort the French erected in 1629)

Of all the islands in the Caribbean, Sint Eustatius claims to have the largest number of old monuments per square kilometer, most dating from the 18th century when it was much more populated than today. The 3rd picture shows the Court of first instance for Bonaire, St Eustatius and Saba. The 4th shows abandoned trucks, machinery, old fridges etc.

Interesting hike, with ropes towards the top

At the edge of the volcano

St Kitts & Nevis

St Kitts, Christophe Harbour Marina is extremely fancy. It feels more like checking into a 5 star Hotel than completing the check in process for immigration, customs and harbour. This is also where it ends. The rest of the island and apart from the few spots below, there was not that much to see. We hired a car for 2 days.

Our anchor spot with the fancy Marina in the next bay at the back.

We were really hungry and planned to find somewhere to eat. We were unable to get past this group of lovely Indian people who had a day off. They work in the kitchen of one of the beach restaurants and insisted that we eat lunch with them. Bryani rice with chicken, drinks etc. Anyone of you who has experienced Indian hospitality will know what we mean - they did not take a no for an answer. They would have given us their last shirt. Sven's OM shirt symbol was also a tattoo of one of the guys - so maybe he felt an immediate connection with Sven. Sven took them around in the dinghy in return for being so kind to us.

Tropical rains happen more often now. The rain is warm, strong and passes quickly. During the night the drops fall directly onto us when we sleep due to our boat hutches being wide open so we can enjoy the lovely breeze.

We drove to the Black Rocks which consist of lava flow from the volcanic Mount Liamuiga which dominates the northern half of the island of Saint Kitts. All the tourist shops were closed and there was only us and a goat.

We walked through some lush and wild tropical forests.

Wingfield is one of the island's oldest sugar estates which was founded in 1625 and in operation until all cane processing was centralised in Basseterre in the 1920s.

Very interesting. We came across some boat yards which are prepared for the Hurricane season. They lower the boats into a "ditch" and secure the boats on both sides.

Next stop was the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park which is a UNESCO World Heritage Site and includes a well-preserved fortress on a hill It was designed by British military engineers, and built and maintained by enslaved Africans, Its construction began in 1690, and continued, in phases, for 100 years

We were the only ones there at 9.30 am. An employee told us to park our rental car between the canons!

There was not that much to see on St Kitts but this Fortress was definitely worth visiting. We watched a short video and also attended a good exhibition.

The exhibition showed the difficult life of the slaves.

It also showed that obedience and orderly conduct was expected by the military of their solders. Severe discipline was considered essential to keep the army together as an effective fighting force.

Loss of pay, punishment by flogging, being put behind bars etc. Other ways of punishment included the wooden horse (Pict 4 - the solder was placed with weights on his ankles, with the sharp edge of the wooden saddle forcing a way between his legs and causing severe pain). Another way as shown on picture nr 5 was a spinning cage in which the prisoner was placed and rotated until violently and physically sick. Assault on a senior rank, murder buggery and sex with an animal were capital crimes and punished by death as shown on picture 6.

This was the first time that we were allowed to just drive through all the gates instead of being asked to walk up.

African green, or “vervet” monkeys have lived on St. Kitts & Nevis for over 300 years. Estimates vary widely, but we read that there are thousands of free-roaming monkeys on the islands. The monkeys live in mountain forests, where they feed off leaves, flowers, berries, fruit and insects. We saw them everywhere near farms as well. What a pain it must be for growers trying to protect fruit and vegetables from that many monkeys. We also saw some pigs.

You can see our boat in the background. Sven tried to explore another road.... The Road was like this pretty much for 1 km. I got out of the car at the top and walked back - I could not bear to look into many big holes again on the way down,

Sven is sitting there and the dinghy is behind him? He had the anchor of the dinghy too far out and therefore decided to just climb up and reach the jetty another way....

You can see our boat on anchor.

The glittering in the distance looked like diamonds being poured down the hill. It is very pretty.

We have now started to head back south due to the hurricane season, which is starting June 1 and lasts until November 30th. It is so much easier now that we have been to some of these places previously.

Back at Guadeloupe

We took a public bus into Pointe-de Pitre (2 hours bus ride there and 90 minutes back), Photo is of a house we saw from the bus and later walked past

We bumped into the Crew from boat Blue (Catharina and Peter) and had lunch together. We came to Pointe-à-Pitre to get some Coolant for our Yanmar engine but also took the opportunity to see the slave museum. It was truly impressive and often reflect on it

I have added a few impressions.

The slave museum is very interactive. Sven can be seen with his earphones watching re-enacted scenes

Before the slaves were loaded onto ships, captives were made to circle the "tree of Forgetfulness", a ritual that would force them into an artificial state of consciousness to make them forget their past lives....

As difficult it is to understand how cruel the slave trade was, the exhibition also raised the issue that modern slavery is still everywhere today, Sex Trafficking, forced labour, domestic servitude, debt bondage, child labour, unlawful recruitment, use of child soldiers etc.

We all are the lucky ones.

We decided to have a few drinks at the beach and play some games (I lost) before paddling back to the boat.

It is very humid and we sit wherever we can to catch a breeze of wind.. Sven is reading on the ipad at the helm, with the bar and Reggae music in the background 😊..

How our life has changed. Sven paddling back after getting some take away and dealing with birds who are tyring to build a nest in our sail bag!

This is the worst seaweed mats we have encountered so far. We were able to avoid them when motoring, but once we were under sail we had to go through it and dived later to ensure that there was nothing stuck under the boat.

Back in Martinique

We hired a car since we needed to get our Code 0 sail fixed and also to get some ropes spliced. We also used the opportunity to visit some places and do some hikes.

Drove past the city and up some mountains to get lunch with a view (second picture).

A nice but difficult (steep) hike in Martinique.

We anchored in l'anse à l'Ane and took the ferry (10 minutes ride) to the capital Fort-de-France. We visited some markets, listened to a local street band, then returned to the boat after lunch.

Local Caribbean produced fruit and vegetables currently in season and sold at the super market.

Various home made rums sold by locals in the street. Ladies wearing traditional Caribbean clothing.

Local sailing boats (picture 1 without open sail, picture 2 with open sail in the back)

WE SAW THE GREEN FLASH AT LAST - IT IS REAL AND IT IS REALLY GREEN

(not the best picture... sorry) but the main point here is that it is not just a myth but now we can confirm that it does exist. It appeared just as the sun was fully set and lasted 2 seconds. No squeezing of eyes required , it was there and very green and clear (picture does not do it justice)

What is next: Friday May 24 we will try to sail from Martinique to Barbados (it is normally against the current and winds and traditionally is done the other way around). We seem to have a weather window to be able to do it. We both agreed that we will turn back South West if it is not feasible or if waves are getting too high (forecast is perfect for the 24 hours trip with gusts below 20 knots and waves below 2 m). We will spend a few days in Barbados then continue another 24 hours to Tobago. As mentioned earlier, the Hurricane season has started, it is from June 1st to November 30th. Barbados, Trinidad and Tobago are outside the Hurricane belt but we obviously still need to watch the hurricane forecast every day (you never know).

There is not a single day where we do not appreciate how lucky we are in life. Having our freedom, being healthy, have food and shelter. Many people live in poverty, are exposed to historical and modern slavery, political unrests and living in areas where they could be hit by bad weather events (volcanos, hurricane, tsunami etc). Here we feel this more than ever.

Greetings to all of you - our families and friends.

The AIS link is currently not working  (we are waiting for an AIS replacement)

https://www.marinevesseltraffic.com/vessels/KWILENA/CURRENT-POSITION/1/503113040 

Below is our interactive map of all anchorages and marina stops to date (road trips are not shown on the map).

https://www.google.com/maps/d/edit?mid=1j2hVU8cenT9-aasLyDWIAIpBTASPo44&usp=sharing