After the kids departure we have a full week with my sister Bini. And what a wonderful week it is.
The opening act is something special, even for us: a night sail. It is born out of a quandary. A massive winter storm system is passing eastward over the northern Atlantic. Its counterclockwise winds are eliminating the usual trade wind pattern and create two days of dead calm, starting the morning after the kids leave. However, we have to make it south from Antigua to Guadeloupe to stay on schedule. Motoring 47nm for some 8 hours would be really annoying and is to be avoided at all cost. However, leaving a day earlier and the kids high and dry sitting around in Antigua is equally unappealing.
So the night sail becomes the solution. Once Anika and Krissi are off in their taxi from Jolly Harbour, we get everything ready, store a hot dinner in our thermoses, and get going. By 4pm our sails are up and we are cruising south. It is golden hour with the sun ever lower over the western horizon. The breeze is holding a steady 10-14kn on our beam. With all sails up and in a relatively calm sea, JACE is making solid 6kn with very little motion.
Things aboard are great. We are thoroughly enjoying ourselves, take many sunset pictures, and listen to some old tunes from days long past. Soon it is dark and our navigation lights come on. The moon is almost full and illuminates the night sky enough to clearly differentiate it from the sea and thus the horizon is easy to see. That helps against seasickness. And soon we also see lights on the northern headlands of Guadeloupe.
Warm dinner feels good and everybody is in great spirits as we take turns steering the boat. The winds picks up a little throughout the evening and our ETA keeps coming down, from initially close to 1am to midnight and soon 11:30pm. All too soon, it seems, our night sailing adventure comes to an end after 8 hours as we reach the Bay of Deshaies in northwestern Guadeloupe. Quickly the sails are furled and we motor into the bay. The moonlight helps with finding a good spot and the anchor drops and bites on our first attempt. Engine off. We made it. And it was a lot of fun. We talk a bit more and then find our bunks, tired and happy.
As forecasted, the calm arrives the next day. But now it doesn’t bother us because we are in the lee of Guadeloupe anyway and now have lots of anchoring options and can motor along the island in smaller hops. After sleeping in and a lazy morning and a short visit to town to check in, we continue our trip south. Just two hours south is Pigeon Island where we stop for the afternoon. With Bini, Karin has found an avid snorkeling partner. Anchorages are carefully selected based on snorkeling options. Pigeon Island is know for its turtles and they set off for quite a long session and sight a few of these majestic creatures.
The anchorage is however a little rolly, due to the unusually winds from the west. So we decide to carry on for another hour to a smaller, more protected bay we have never been to before. It is deeper and the boat lies much more still. Here we spend the night, after some more snorkeling and a delicious dinner.
On day two of no wind we let our diesel push us further south, past the southern tip of Guadeloupe and to the beautiful group of islands called the Isles de Saintes. This time we pick an anchorage behind a small islet. The ladies find exceptionally clear water and beautiful underwater scenery of rock formations and many types of healthy corals. This is probably the best underwater visibility we have had on this trip.
During the night the wind finds us again, the calm is over, and we are ready to set sail again. It is time to say goodbye to Guadeloupe and point our bow toward Dominica. In a nice breeze on our beam and slightly choppy seas we cruise under partially reefed sails and make good speed. Dominica is due south and we are expected to reach the beautiful Prince Rupert Bay by mid afternoon. As we sail along more and more clouds roll in. As we drop anchor close to where we had the incredible experience of swimming with a dolphin, the scene could not be more different. The sky is dark gray and looks menacing and like a lot of rain. We had planned to go for dinner ashore but instead improvise a makeshift dinner aboard and prepare for a rainy night.
Only the rain never comes and we wake up to sunny blue sky and a few clouds capping the peaks of Dominica like always. We are excited and the timing is great for we have booked an all-day land excursion today. By 9am we are picked up and on our way with our guide. Dominica is a beautifully rugged and wild island, very high with rainforests and waterfalls and more rivers and hot springs than any other of the islands. We drive up high into the nearby mountain, one of the three peaks of Dominica. We take a walk through the rainforest and our guide shows us many of the species of plants and animals. We had hoped to maybe spot one of the native parrots but aren’t lucky this time.
Our hike gets increasingly adventurous, crisscrossing a creek multiple times, with just a few rocks to balance over and a rope to hang on to. Surprisingly, we manage to keep our shoes mostly dry and eventually reach the bottom of a waterfall in the middle of the jungle.
We hesitate just a few moments, then change into our swimsuits and carefully wade into the pool at the bottom of the falls. It is warmer than we expect and slowly we advance to where the water comes crashing down some 25-30 meters. We laugh and have a great time, hiding behind the curtain of water and daring each other to step right through it. What a wonderful experience – we are so glad we overcame our initial hesitation.
Our guide now takes us to the Atlantic coast where we enjoy lunch while watching a local dad teach his two kids how to spearfish octopus. Afterwards we visit a curious red rock formation and finally a chocolate factory where we learn the entire process from cocoa plant to chocolate bar and, of course, sample and buy a number of different delicious flavors. It is almost 5pm by the time we get back, tired but elated about the wonderful and very different day we just had.
It is Sunday and as every Sunday during the season, the locals are putting up a huge BBQ on the beach for the cruising community. It is a large bay and many dozen boats are at anchor and many of them join us on the beach.
We meet lots of other sailors from many different countries, a few of the locals, enjoy music, and rum punch, and a hearty chicken and rice BBQ dish in a festive atmosphere until late at night.
The rain that looked inevitable the day before finally hits us that night. It pours again and again throughout the night and we wake up to a wet, gray, and somewhat depressing morning. And the hangover certainly doesn’t help.
The river tour for Bini won’t work and after short deliberation we decide to pull up the hook and head a bit further south to Roseau to make tomorrow’s leg to Martinique a bit shorter. We motor as there is no wind behind the tall mountains of Dominica and are glad when we arrive and it is finally quiet onboard. We’re still feeling tired and a bit out of it. A hearty lunch doesn’t really help and we nap most of the afternoon in the heat of the windless and slightly rolly anchorage. As the sun sets we finally come back alive and dinghy ashore for a walk and dinner in town.
Encouraged by the success of our night sail, we develop a new plan: we get up at 5am the next morning, snack a tiny bit of breakfast, and get underway for a sunrise sail. The sky is partly cloudy and the sun rises shortly before we round the southern headland and is partially obstructed by clouds. But the scene is still special as we motor into the open stretch of sea between Dominica and Martinique. Strangely there is no wind and we are forced to motor on for another hour before finally the breeze finds us.
When it does, it goes quickly from nothing to almost 20kn, just aft of the beam, and we cruise with 7-8kn straight for the northern promontory of Martinique. Bini has become an expert sailor during our week and spends much of the time on the wheel, enjoying the constant balancing act between waves and wind.
Martinique is shrouded in towering rain clouds and we can see the downpour over the mountains. As we approach most of the clouds move off and our destination, the town of St. Pierre, lies in the sun on the west coast.
As we get into the lee of the island and the breeze moderates, the conditions are perfect and I have enough crew onboard to finally do something I have been wanting for so long: fly our genacker!
The genacker, often called ‘kite’, is a huge, light, very colorful, balloon-cut sail. It is used in broad reach to almost downwind sailing in moderate conditions. Quickly we schlep the heave sail bag on deck, furl away the genoa, rig all the lines, and together hoist the long ‘sock’ the genacker is stored in all the way to the top of the mast. Then comes the big moment: with Bini on the wheel and Karin adjusting the sheet, I pull up the sock and inflate the massive blister of a sail. With a big ‘pop’ the kite opens up and after a bit of adjusting the sheet and downhaul, the sail is set perfectly and pulls us quickly along in 10-12kn of breeze. It looks and feels amazing!
Ever since we bought JACE, that big sail bag has been beckoning, me wondering if it is even in there and not eaten away by moths and moisture. Finally I have my answer: yes, it is there and it is beautiful and in perfect condition. I wish I had a drone right now to take some great footage of us sailing along under this attractive sail in front of the scenic lush green coastline topped by clouds and basked in the sun.
What an experience and what a way to arrive in Martinique! This is Bini’s destination. Tomorrow she will have to head back to the real world. But what an amazing week it has been, full of different experiences and little adventures. We so enjoyed having her onboard and are sad to see her go. But we still have today and tomorrow to make the most of her time here.