How our boat was nearly impounded and other tales of woe

Canouan, SVG

To make a very long and somewhat stressful story short we did not have a very nice welcome to St.Vincent and the Grenadines. We spent our first night anchored in Chateau Bel Air (yes, we had the Fresh Prince of Bel Air theme song stuck in our heads the whole time). Here we were greeted by some lovely locals and offered various services. One of our favourite and most memorable people we met in SVG was an older gentleman named "Boy-Boy". He sold us some incredible fruits from his garden and told me how to make passionfruit juice. When he learned that the three of us were interested in gardening he told us all about what he grew and offered to take us on a tour of his garden. We were all very excited to do that and planned to do it the next morning after we had checked-in with customs. That is not quite how our day ended up going.

Chateau Bel Air anchorage

We got up the next morning and James went to customs to check-in. The weather had started to change and the wind was getting strong and changing direction. James needed help from some men on shore to even land the dingy as it was becoming so rough. When James started the check-in process, he realized he hadn't brought enough money. He explained this to customs and said he had to go back to the boat. When James got back to the dingy it was banging around in the waves and the concrete "dock" had already ripped a huge chunk off our rub rail. By the time James got back to the boat we were on a leeshore in over 30 knots of wind.  Waves were crashing onto the beach making it impossible to get back ashore and land the dingy.  The holding in the anchorage wasn't great and we were dragging a little. We made the executive decision to move to the next anchorage to check-in there since this anchorage wasn't feeling safe in bad weather. Turns out this was a huge mistake.

We didn't realize that James had left our exit paperwork from St. Lucia in the customs office in Chateau Belair until we got to the customs office in Bequia. Bequia is also where we had the misfortune of meeting the most miserable customs officer on the planet. When he found out we had left our paperwork at another customs office (despite explaining our valid reasons for leaving), he threatened to impound our vessel and arrest or extradite us!!! Jesus we had to leave an anchorage without a piece of paper - we didn't kill anyone! We tried to troubleshoot a way to get said piece of paper: Can St. Lucia fax another one? Can the other customs office fax it? Can we pay for a courier to bring it? The customs officer was not budging - we sail back and get it and return it to him within 24 hours or our vessel is confiscated. Perfect. The words every cruiser wants to hear.

This all happened on a Friday - we specifically asked if the Bel Air customs office was open on a Saturday and he said "yes" and gave us it's opening hours.  When I asked what happens if the weather is too bad to sail there and back tomorrow what would happen he said "your vessel will be impounded". I hated him. Oh did I hate him. It was an honest mistake and we only left Bel Air because we felt we were acting in the best interests of the boat and crew.

Sunrise Saturday and we were on our way back to Chateau Belair. The wind in the channel was pretty harsh and it would not have been weather I would have chosen to sail in with my 70 year old mum, who is a bit afraid of the water and brand new to sailing, but nevertheless off we went. With the strong winds we were making great time and we arrived in Chateau Bel Air before lunch. The usual crew all came out to the boat to see why we were back. We explained that there was a mix-up and we had to pick up our paperwork from customs. "But it's closed" they said. "Impossible" we said, "the other customs man said it was open today". "No, I saw him getting on the bus this morning to go back to his village, he's not here" they said. Mmmmm it's probably open I thought.  It wasn't.

Since the holding in the anchorage wasn't great I stayed on the boat with mum and James went ashore to see if he could find customs or a contact for someone at customs. He went to the police office, where they act as immigration, to stamp our passports. James explained the whole story to the police officer who was horrified and kept apologizing. He checked the three of us into the country but obviously couldn't do the customs to check-in the boat. The police officer called customs to explain that we were following their instructions but that customs wasn't open. We were instructed to go to the next possible check-in point which was Wallaballou. We were assured this was open. You have one guess as to whether or not it was open. If you guessed "no", you would be correct.

We sailed into Wallaballou and negotiated the price for a mooring ball and all headed ashore to find a locked customs office. We met the owner of the local restaurant "Chef" and he took pity on us and called head office customs in St.Vincent who told us the Chateau Belair office should be open and to check-in there - I nearly screamed. After calmly assuring them it wasn't open they put us on hold and promptly hung-up on us. Chef then called the number he had for the local customs office which was closed. A woman answered but apparently she had been on call last week and had already given her "stamps" to the customs officer on call for this week. This week's customs officer was not answering his phone. After hours of calling and waiting we decided we needed to head back to Bequia where at least they had an open customs office. Back we sailed and my poor mum who is an absolute trooper - getting up before the sun, eating lunch on a rocky boat while underway, didn't really like night sailing but we couldn't quite make it back before dark. Anchoring in a packed anchorage at night isn't my favourite activity either.

Sunday morning we head off to customs and met the polar opposite customs officer than the first one we met. He didn't say anything but his body language and facial expressions made it clear that what had happened was total BS. He let us write a statement and sign it and checked us in, of course with overtimes fees.

We hadn't intended on visiting Wallaballou Bay but we essentially were forced to by customs. The silver lining was that we got to see one of the sets for The Pirates of the Caribbean movies. Some of the props are there from where they filmed some pirates being hanged. There is also a funny little "museum" that isn't related to the movie at all - it's more of a barn full of old rotary dial phones and bats hanging from the ceiling!

Wallaballou

By far the absolute best part of SVGs was Tobago Cays. I think this was one of the most spectacular places I have ever seen. Not only is there a breeze, since you anchor behind a reef and not behind land, but the water is clear and blue and perfect. We also did some of the best snorkelling there! We had got my mum to try snorkelling in St. Lucia and after a few hilarious lessons, that included her walking on her flippers with the flipper bent under her foot reminiscent of a Chinese bound foot, she got the hang of it. My mum isn't the most confident swimmer and since some of this snorkelling was offshore we devised a way for her to be able to snorkel with us. We inflated our tube and James put his flippers on and floated on the tube with his feet in the water - this made sure he could help direct the snorkel crew. My mum then held onto the tube so she felt supported. I then snorkelled ahead of her and my snorkel gave James a point to follow. We must have looked nuts getting ready! It was worth it - we saw so many beautiful fish and saw our first Octopus! We got to watch it for a long time sitting in the grass and coral and even saw it change colour and texture to camouflage itself. There were also lots of turtles and small sharks. Please put this incredible place on your must-see list!

Tobago Cays

School of grunts

Squid

Blue Tang

Hawksbill Turtle

Southern Stingray

Snorkel Crew

Spotted Trunkfish

Bluehead fish & West Indian Sea Eggs

Scrawled Filefish

Caribbean Reef Octopus

Trumpetfish

Before leaving SVGs we visited several other islands and splurged on a beach dinner on Union Island. As we started heading further south James and I realized that our focus was now on getting to Grenada and organizing where to leave the boat for hurricane season!

Beach Dinner

Bequia

St Lucia

If we had low expectations for Martinique, we had somewhat higher expectations for St Lucia. After all when you're sitting at home having shovelled the driveway for the eighth time that day, you would do almost anything to take your coworker's place on the flight to St Lucia in the morning, right?

When we arrived at Rodney Bay we realized why you hear so much about St Lucia - the giant bay is home to several high-end resorts with all the perks. And the anchorage is a jetski playground for drunken adults that like to use anchored boats as pylons in an obstacle course.

Normally this wouldn't have been our kind of place, except for an exciting bit of news. My mum was flying in to St Lucia in a few days to sail south with us! We were very excited to see her and to have a new guest on board. The Rodney Bay anchorage would be the perfect place for her to get adjusted to being on the boat before we sailed off.

When the big day arrived we rented a car to drive to the airport which is on the south side of the island. Unfortunately the closest anchorage would have been a bit rolly, but the rental let us see the island and get mum back to the boat in style. When we arrived in Vieux-Fort, we discovered that Carnival would soon be in full swing! Everyone was getting ready with crazy costumes, lots of paint, music, and dancing. And then of course came the trucks. Massive flat-bed trucks half-filled with speakers and sub-woofers and the other half with dancers. Some trucks were even outfitted with a full bar to serve dancers and people lining the streets. Soon it was time to pick up mum from the airport but, even though she'd had a long day, she was a good sport and wanted to go back to see a bit of the festivities. Before long we were making the long and windy journey back to Rodney Bay with our new passenger.

Floats making their way into town where they all converge for Carnival

While my mum got adjusted to boat life (ie. riding in the dinghy, keeping her balance on board, and the utter lack of any kind of privacy) we waited for some decent weather to continue along the coast of St Lucia.

Trying to convince my mum to jump off the side of the boat!

The next stop was at the Pitons.

The Pitons are a national symbol of St Lucia (depicted on the flag and also the name of their national beer) and recognizable from a long distance. Grand Piton and Petit Piton are two very tall, conical peaks that fall directly down into the sea - and you can take a mooring ball right between them! This was a beautiful spot with amazing views and we were almost the only boat there. We all went for a swim but didn't stray too far from the boat as the current was very strong and it was a fight to get back to the boat. The next morning we set off for St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

One of my all time favorite photos of the two os us! 

Swimming at the Pitons

SVG bound

Martinique

We saw another pod of pilot whales on our sail to Martinique! Sadly, still no photos.

Aside from access to all the French goodies we had enjoyed in St Martin and Guadeloupe, we didn't really have any expectations for Martinique. We had read that it's a more industrial island with busy highways and not much green space.

However, when we arrived in the little town of St Pierre, we were pleasantly surprised! St Pierre was once an important strategic port and was known as the Paris of the Caribbean, until the eruption of the volcano, Mt. Pelee, towering above it in 1902 completely destroyed it. One of the sole survivors of the volcanic eruption was a man named Cyparis who survived because he was housed in solitary confinement at the jail! The walls of his enclosure were so thick he survived with only burns to his shoulder. Apparently he was hired by a circus in the States and spent the rest of his days on tour with them as the man who survived the volcano.

Remains of Opera house post volcano 

Solitary Confinement Cell

The city has been rebuilt and in places merges some of the original volcano damaged structures with new buildings.

Anchorage to ourselves! 

It is a nice place to explore with cobblestone streets and ruins from the old city. As is our style, we skipped anchoring in the busy anchorage near the town and anchored near the beach, having it all to ourselves. We both had a craving for pizza and and beer and a movie and low and behold there was a pizza place nearby. Throw in a couple of cold Lorraines, a swim, and a beautiful sunset and you've got yourself a pretty great day on the water - these are the days we're glad we didn't pack it in in Miami!

We decided to skip Fort-de-France as it sounded like more of an administrative capital and it might be difficult to anchor nearby anyway. Instead we headed further south to the tiny beach towns of Grand and Petit Anse d'Arlet. Here we enjoyed beach walks punctuated with cold beers and accras de morue (bite sized cod fritters) - we even shared some with a cheeky crab who basically sat and begged beside our table! Here it is eating some of our accras de morue...

The next day was Canada Day and we fought our way upwind past the

Diamond Rock

Diamond Rock and into the anchorage at Ste-Anne. Little did we know this wouldn't be our only visit here, but for now it seemed like the perfect anchorage: well protected, calm, big enough to accommodate hundreds of boats, a nice beach, and a boulangerie a few minutes from the dock. It was the perfect spot to rest up and celebrate - Martinique is considered the "top of the hill" in terms of sailing upwind into the trade winds in the Caribbean. At 60 degrees 53 minutes 07 seconds West, we would not be going any further east. From here on, we could coast with the wind to the side or behind us, a much more comfortable ride.

Atlantic Coast 

Blue Crab

Anse d'Arlet

Cleaning the bottom of the boat is a never ending job