Farewell to Jacques van Heijningen

Castries and the bucket

The last Friday of Tom and Laura’s visit we went to a street festival in Gros Islet, was very nice and we had some street food. Jacques had a fish with rice and beans and felt not good the next morning, cramping in the stomach etc., clearly the fish. Sunday it was a little bit better and on Monday we at last met our boat buddies from last season. To celebrate we went out for dinner, good food, but in the night Jacques got really sick and started throwing up about every 15 minutes.

A boat neighbor came by to say hello and said that Jacques should see a doctor, he went back to his boat to find the address of a doctor, came again and followed us to the marina “don’t forget the bucket,” he said. The bucket was not a normal size bucket or a somewhat reasonable bowl, no it was a BUCKET, very big and sturdy, stolen from the boatyard in Pensacola. I said that I had already several sturdy plastic bags in the backpack, but the two guys really insisted on the BUCKET. We took the bus to the walk-in clinic. The buses and the taxis are all the same type of minivan, only the buses have tried to put in as much seats as possible. So there was no space for the BUCKET except on my lap!

After filling out a lot of paper work the doctor could see us immediately, but took a look at the big white thing and said it should stay outside. Jacques said no and after two minutes she was glad we had brought the bucket in!!!!! After seeing this she made an EKG and went on a search for saline solutions. They were not there so she explained she had to send us to the hospital in Castries with the ambulance. So Jacques, me and the bucket were driven with a lot of noise and lights to Castries. At the ER they were very clear that the BUCKET had to stay outside, so it was dropped in the waiting room. Jacques was immediately connected to an IV and got pain medication, which made him sleepy, but he had to ask at least one time where the BUCKET was!!!!!!!!!!!

Later the doctor wanted him to stay overnight and that got me checking: did I really close all the windows on the boat? The boat was locked and the dinghy also, that I was sure. I started asking around for a hotel in the near, but they came up with a better solution; I could get a folding bed in Jacques's room.

The next day after 5 liters of fluid and Jacques feeling much better, we wanted to go home; that took several hours, the administration was not very efficient, we had to pay, the doctor was no where to be found, but around 4 o’clock we were ready. A taxi was called and suddenly Jacques remembered the Bucket and asked where it was. I said the last time I saw it was in the waiting room of the ER, but it will be gone and it is just a bucket, we can get another one! He was getting upset and the nurses were asking what the problem was, so Jacques explained he had come with a bucket and would like to leave with a bucket. Two nurses disappeared and after 10 minutes they came back with a big smile and the BUCKET!!!!!!!

We are home on the boat, Jacques is weak but feeling good and the bucket is back in her own spot!!! I just think that next to the stomach inflammation he had a severe case of BDD (Bucket Detachment Disorder)!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Thankful that everything came out well, I say goodbye and talk to you soon, Ria

Tom, Laura and the Kids

We had arrived in Vieux Fort two days before Laura, Tom and the kids would arrive, so we could check out the place. After attaching the dinghy in the harbor we met Capt. Ricky, who said he organized about everything around the harbor. We immediately made a taxi appointment to the airport for next day and walked through town. It was a very positive surprise, not touristic at all and the whole time we were in town we did not see any white people, really a town for the people, who live and work here, we liked it very much.

We stayed a day in Vieux Fort, so the kids could get used to the boat and the dinghy, had a nice beach day. On the way to Rodney bay the kids got seasick, was a little choppy, so we stayed two nights in Marigot Bay, very beautiful bay, but very expensive!! In Rodney Bay we went in the marina, what was easier for the kids, because it also had a swimming pool?

I have to make this piece of the blog new when we get home, because we have lots of photo’s, but they are stored on Tom’ and my cellphone and I have no clue how to transfer those to the computer. But we had a wonderful week, the kids did great on the boat and there was no need to go for a day or two in a hotel. It is a very good memory.

Talk to you all soon, Ria

On the road again

It is 9 o’clock on Tuesday, March 15 and we are since 6 o’clock on our way to Bequia, we will skip St. Vincent, it is everywhere very deep, hard to anchor, and it seems the boat boys are rather aggressive.

It is going very good, not very much wind so we motor sail (is fine with me) and the seas are quiet enough for me to write on the computer. We moored last night between the Pitons, was really cool, we only looked a few times if there was not coming any smoke from the tops, both are volcanoes, and I did two snorkel trips.

A few miles out of the anchorage we saw a big school of dolphins (yeah!!!!!), they were much smaller than in Florida, but there were a lot more. We also are keeping an eye out for whales, it seems to be there mating season and they are on the road (that’s what the books tell me).

We still going good although the seas are getting a little rougher, but that is always the case between the islands, you have swells, waves and the current and they will not always come from the same direction.

It is now 12.30 and we are since an hour under the coast of St. Vincent, we have dropped the mainsail, because it was completely covering the fore sail, the waves and wind nicely from the back. Going to make some crackers with cheese, we have still some way to go.

It’s 2 o’clock now and we are sailing away from the main island, course Bequia, the mainsail is up again and it is starting to get bumpy. Until now we are very happy, St. Vincent looks very pretty from the waterside, so I think we should make a stop here next season.

At 3.10 we dropped the anchor in Admiralty Bay and a half hour later we sipped our arrival drinks. The last hour was a little heavy, but overall we had a very good trip. We will be in bed early tonight with a satisfying feeling.

Talk to you all soon, Ria

Sailing towards the Pitons

Saint Lucia

This was the easiest crossing we have done till now, only close to the harbor were some high waves, but the rest went great. We anchored first in Rodney Bay and got pretty quick a visit from a German gentleman, who has the same boat as ours (there are only 55 of this type) so that was pretty special. We still have to go and see each other’s boat and that will happen today or tomorrow.

We needed urgently to do laundry, so we tried to call the company who would come out to the boat and pick up and deliver it back. We heard nothing and loaded the laundry in the dinghy to deliver it ourselves and then we had a little mishap with our dinghy propeller. We were on our way to the dinghy dock when the motor started running faster without the dinghy going faster. We had to return to Ladyhawk and could barely make it. Jacques took the propeller off and noticed that the rubber sleeve in the prop hub had sheared off. He found a piece of stainless steel tubing that he cut off and used it as a washer and then tightened the nut as strongly as he could. That gave sufficient friction to use the dinghy in a slow pace. The good thing is that Tom can bring a new prop this Saturday because this model is not available here.

The German told us that on Tuesday there would be strong northerly swells, so we first tried another anchor spot. But after 3 tries and the anchor dragging all the time we decided to go for two days in the marina The first time since Puerto Rico! Very big and very nice marina!

We met again some real nice Dutch people and had a fine dinner together. Today we will go to Marigot Bay, must be a very busy spot, but very beautiful, and after that up to the meeting point in Vieux Fort to pick up Tom and Laura with the kids.

Talk to you all soon, Ria

Martinique

Saturday we arrived in Martinique and anchored in Ste. Pierre. This was the capital till 1902 when Mount Pelée erupted and nearly killed everyone in town. They did a nice job mixing the ruins with new buildings, very nice town. There was nobody in the weekend to check-in so we sailed yesterday to Fort de France, that lies in a big bay and we went to Anse Mitand to anchor and will do the whole immigration thing here.

Dominica is a very beautiful island, has seven active volcanoes, very friendly people. We were there way too short, so we now definitely have decided to do this part of the trip next year again and wait with the ABC islands. We met here a very nice Dutch couple and had two evenings talking about everything. They are doing the Atlantic circle and will be back in Holland in October.

In Dominica we had internet on the boat and Jacques could Skype to Verizon to sort out our cell phone problems. It now works again and we can use the phone although the roaming fees are very high. We also can send and receive E-mails from our phones again.

During the passages I sometimes like to play a little bit the ostrich game, if I do not look at the waves, they will not be that high!!!!!!!! We had two reefs in the mainsail and the sailing from Dominica to Martinique was great, we went 7+ knots with 12 ft. waves and Lady Hawk is handling herself pretty good, we are proud of her.

Today we go to a quiet bay called Pte. Anse d’Arlets. It is only 7 miles so we wait until the rain has stopped. After that we plan to go to Le Marin which is the capitol of sailing in Martinique. We hope to have Wi-Fi there so that we can Skype. It looks that the weather calms down on Wednesday and Thursday when we will cross over to St. Lucia and hope to find nice places where we can go when Tom and Laura and the kids are visiting us.

This blog entry is a little bit of going back and forth between now and Dominica, but you all will be able to get the message. 

Have a nice Valentine’s day, Ria.

Marie Galante

This is a quiet and peaceful place and we have two internet spots to go to. They have small stores here, like we had them long ago, it looks like a mess, but they have everything! We went to look for a new crew member, a little ducky, called Canard Marie, who is guarding the back side of the boat when we are on anchor. In that small store we were explaining for a long time what we want. Then she went to some corner and did some intensive digging and yes! She came back with a blow up duck. We then thought let’s try some clothespins (we also had no clue what the French word could be) and after some hands and feet movie like explanation, she went to another corner, digging and Yes! We have new clothespins. Really great experience. The store lady also had a lot of fun and was really happy to be able to help us.

We find a lot of European food on the different islands and are enjoying raclette cheese and old gouda, Dutch cookies and Swiss chocolate.

We intend to go to Dominica tomorrow, it will be a wild ride, but is only 16 miles, the next better weather would perhaps be in the weekend, but we want to be in St. Lucia before Tom and his family are coming, so we will take the waves tomorrow and will perhaps take the other weather window to go to Martinique. I am also thinking that we should perhaps do another season here, there is still much more to see here, but that is just a thought that’s swirling in my mind.

Au revoir et a bientot, Ria  

Pointe á Pitre, Guadeloupe

The Saline river was a really nice change, to the north we had to go zigzag through the reefs and islands and we ended up just in front of the bridge in the late afternoon. We were luckily the only one, there was not much space there, but a lot of no-see-ums. That we had expected so we closed off the boat pretty good. 

I had set all the clocks we had to the alarm time of 3.30, but we were already awake by then (the built-in clock). We tied all the fenders we had on both sides and were ready to go at 4.15. It was very dark and I did not see any movement on the bridge. At 4.35 I tried to call the bridge on the radio, got no response, except that the bridge opened. This bridge was really wide enough and after a shouted “allez” we went. 

After 15 minutes on the river we arrived at the other two bridges. These bridges were much narrower and we only had 2 feet on each side but we managed to get through without touching the pillars. Shortly after the last bridge we anchored and went back to bed for a short nap. It was only 3 miles to the anchorage north of the marina where we put the anchor down. 

The marina is very large and destination to the sailors from the “Route du Rhum”, a multi-hull race from France to Guadeloupe. It has many cute restaurants and a variety of other shops. We wanted to rent a car to go the volcano at Basse Terre but because of carnival there were no cars available and the vulcano was any how in the clouds the whole day. 

So we dinghied to town and walked over to a second hand chandlery along a back street with “ladies of the horizontal”. I was greeting them in the beginning with a pleasant "bonjour", but they did not really looked back at me, suddenly I said to Jacques,: there are a lot of single women on this street!!. So he had to make me a little wiser!!! The owner is a Dutch woman who lives there already 16 years. She was happy to be able to speak Dutch with us. Afterwords we went to downtown which is the first typical creole place we visited. Really nice with lots of open markets full of fresh fish and spices, a town that lived its own live and not that of the tourists.

At lunchtime we met a couple from Rotkreuz, Switzerland; it is a really small village where we lived for three years when we arrived there. The world is really small when we are discussing live in Rotkreuz on the island of Guadeloupe. Was really nice. We promised to send them an E-mail with our blog address so that they can follow our progress.

The next day we left for Marie Galante, 18 miles down the road. It was supposed to be calm weather but we had some near-showers with a lot of wind and waves. We made it safely to Grand Bourg at Marie Galante and anchored in the harbor, waiting for better weather to sail to Dominica.

Beaucoup de baises amicables from Ria