Haiti Part 2: Captain James (Good Morning Motherf**ker)

Guest Post by James 

Port Morgan, Ile a Vache

Close your eyes and think of Haiti. What do you see?

Most likely images of poverty, destruction, crime, among others. From the water, what you see are the lush green mountains from which the country gets its name and the beautiful towns along the coast. Leaving the northern town of Labadee, we sailed west through the Canal de la Tortue,

surrounded by mountains and villages, and traditional wooden sailboats which use oars for propulsion when the wind is not favourable. This was the case for the next two and half days, during which we would round the northern cape, enter the Windward Passage separating Haiti and Cuba, and round the southern cape towards our next destination, Isle a Vache. Since we have no oars on our "modern" boat, it was up to the engine to get us there. Also our autopilot decided it had had enough somewhere around Turks and Caicos so it was all hand-steering. With the rumble of the engine to help us sleep a bit we motored on south. It was great to be travelling this stretch with another boat as there was very little traffic around and nice to have someone to talk to on the radio in the wee hours of the morning. We did get a low flyover from a US Coast Guard chopper that either (a) was especially bored (b) thought we were dreadfully lost or (c) thought our bilge was loaded with top grade meth.

Canal de la Tortue

With Isle a Vache finally in sight and the epic journey almost finished, the engine gave up with a mile to go - the tank was dry! We added a couple of gallons from the jerry cans we keep for just such an occasion and got ready to anchor in the town of Port Morgan.

Entrance to Ile a Vache

Port Morgan, named after the delightful Captain Morgan the Welsh pirate, is a small village surrounding a tiny, protected, and deep anchorage. The villagers have the distinct advantage of being able to spot arriving boats from the top of the hill on the island. When they do, what seems like the entire village paddles out to greet said boat, offering introductions, general knowledge, and of course goods and services: boat cleaning, polishing, diesel, gas, water, guide around the village, flags, taking you to customs to check in, home-cooked meals, Haitian art, laundry, fish, lobster, conch, or even a chicken with its head already removed. When the crew of said boat hasn't really slept in over 48 hours, this can all seem a little overwhelming. Nevertheless, we tried our best to keep track of names and who got there first (this is important because if you pass up the first person who approached you to buy from the second person it is in very bad taste!).

Getting some professional assistance with our motor! 

Besides meeting most of the village in under 30 minutes, the other cool part of this encounter was the preferred mode of solo transportation: the dugout canoe.

Dugout Canoe

Many residents of Port Morgan own (or borrow) a canoe made of an 8-10' section of hollowed out mango tree, painted to their liking. Add a palm frond paddle and a pop bottle bailer (a necessity since the canoes are constantly leaking) and you're all set. We had the good fortune of seeing one of these beauties being carved; our friend Michael had the good fortune of taking one for a test drive and immediately capsizing - apparently they take some practice!

We asked everyone to come back and see us later after we had slept a bit. And they did! Again and again and again until we knew everyone's name and they knew ours: Captain James and Kate. They would wish us "good sleepin'" at night and ask us how we slept in the morning when they came back and started calling "James, James, Captain James, Captain, Captain, hello, hello" until I came out. We became such good friends with one of the teenage boys that on the third morning he wished me "Good morning Motherfucker!" with a huge grin on his face. I had to explain that even though maybe he heard this word in some English song lyrics it's not the nicest way to greet someone if you're trying to sell them your boat cleaning services. I don't think he believed me.


It was certainly difficult to have to turn down most of the villagers that offered us goods and services. In their eyes, if you are white than you are wealthy and if you are white and arrive on a sailboat than you are extremely wealthy!!  There is not a lot of steady work in the area, unfortunately, so tourism is a small but important source of income for many of the islanders.

One of the services we did use was a guide for the island's twice-weekly market in the nearby town of Madame Bernard.

Fresh market produce

This large outdoor market sold everything from sandals, to toothpaste, to medication, to mangoes, to fish and meat that may or may not have been lying around in the sun for a couple of days. Unfortunately there had just been a massive downpour so the ground was extremely muddy making for some squishy browsing. After some time walking around I decided to put that grade 11 French into some use to do some bargaining, sans guide. After securing a deal that my teachers would be proud of (4 bottles of Prestige for two dollars), the guide strolled over and all of a sudden the price was $80! I had to walk away from that one.

Mdme Bernard Market

Near the market was an orphanage run by a nun from Quebec. Soeur Flora took time out of her busy schedule to chat with us and show us around. Many of the children have health issues that unfortunately could have and still can be prevented with modern medicine and hygiene.

Orphanage on Ile a Vache

 The next day Kate and I made the two-hour-each-way walk back to the orphanage to bring a handful of supplies from our first-aid kit and some clothing. This walk turned out to be the highlight of Isle a Vache: a long windy path through all of the villages around the island from beaches to farmland. We took in the sights, smells, and sounds of a snapshot of life in an afternoon in rural Haiti. Young men working in the fields, women braiding each other's hair, a boy getting his first lesson on how to ride a moped, laundry being hung out, fishing boats being repaired, dinner being prepared, the sounds of Creole emanating from every small house or yard. And everyone with a "bonswa" or "salut" and a smile for "Les Blancs". Especially the little kids walking home from school together that would call out to us - one of them would get up the courage to touch our white arms or give us a high-five, then they would all do it before running away squealing with delight. When I close my eyes and think of Haiti I will remember that afternoon. It was wonderful.

Mango trees everywhere!

On our last day Kate cut my hair on the beach. This drew quite the curious crowd of adults and children who found the event very fascinating. The ladies kept pointing out when hair had fallen on my back and the children were trying to catch pieces of hair blowing in the wind. There was a lot of laughing! In the early hours of the next morning we pulled the anchor up. It was time to move on.

Traditional sailing boats used for fishing and transit

Hait Part 1- Les Blancs

I will post our Haiti travel experience in separate sections since it's a lot to take in! While in Haiti we were travelling with Michael and Becca on SV Dark N Stormy.

Cruising Haiti was the single best decision we have made on this trip so far! We absolutely loved it and are already hoping to return one day. We motor sailed the 23 hours across the Turks and Caicos bank and Atlantic into the northern coast of Haiti. We anchored in Labadee - a town used by Royal Caribbean to dock their cruise ships. Royal Caribbean has a "compound" there - an actual caged in area for their guests complete with a roller coaster, restaurants and lots of toys like jet skis. The shocking and insulting part of that is when you visit the Royal Caribbean website (like we did trying to get free wifi) they tell their cruise guests that they are going to Labadee in "Hispaniola" (the entire island encompassing Haiti and Dominican Republic) and mark Labadee as part of the Dominican Republic!!! It appears that people don't even know they are in Haiti. The bonus for us is that the massive concrete cruise ship dock acts as a very nice breakwater for the anchorage! The anchorage was spectacular - surrounded by mountains on three sides and a colourful village from which you can hear chickens, goats, and people singing in church. When we arrived we were greeted by every boat in the area - something we would come to learn is commonplace when you arrive at an anchorage in Haiti. Fishermen, children, water taxis and anyone who can get their hands on a boat rows, paddles and motors out to greet you and offer their services- everything from security, tour guide or garbage disposal!

Contrast of traditional fishing and cruise ship at Labadee 

We spent 3 nights in Labadee. Our first day we were there we arranged for a ride and tour guide to take us to Cap Haitien, the second largest city, and into Millot the site of the UNESCO World Heritage site of The Citadelle and Sans Souci. Our tour guide met us on shore in Labadee and we all hopped into the back of a pick-up truck for the harrowing drive through Cap Haitien to Millot. It was an incredible experience whizzing through mountains and then through the busy, vibrant streets of the city.

Riding in Style to Cap Haitien

As four white people sitting on the floor in the back of a pick-up truck we got a lot of waves and smiles and heard "Les Blancs!" for the first and certainly not the last time on our trip! Children especially liked to exclaim "Les Blancs" or "Whites" and shyly wave and smile once they had our attention. For part of the drive we had an armoured and heavily armed UN jeep behind us returning to one of several UN compounds in the city. We had read that the presence of UN soldiers has done much to bring stability to the cities in Haiti and it seemed like the locals were happy the UN soldiers were there and seemed to have a good relationship with them.

Chilean UN Soldier in Cap Haitien

Once we arrived at Milot we took motorcycles up to the first level of the La Citadelle - it's almost 10km uphill. The Emergency Department nurse in me just kept thinking "don't think about the possible head injuries that could result from riding a motorcycle with no helmet on"! I mean if entire families ride one motorcycle and are holding infants then we must be fine!

James at La Citadelle

After we reached the first level we travelled by horse for the remaining portion of the journey.

La Citadelle was built in 1813 by self-crowned King Henri Christophe after Haiti became the "World's First Independent Black Republic". During Haiti's civil war of the early 1800s Christophe became the king of the North of Haiti and began construction of La Citadelle: an enormous fortress on top of a mountain. It was designed to be impenetrable (with 4 meter thick walls and 40 meters high) and large enough for the entire city and surrounding villages to hide in if they came under attack. It took 15 years to build and ALL the building materials were carried up the mountain by hand using a "human chain" - it has been estimated that 20,000 people died during it's construction. The views from the top of the fortress are breathtaking and it is understandable why no one ever tried to attack the fortress. The palace of Sans Souci is about 3 kilometers below La Citadelle.  Apparently it was built to rival Haiti's previous colonizers Palace of Versailles in France.   Sans Souci was destroyed in an earthquake in 1842 so sadly only parts are visible.

La Citadelle

Palace Sans Souci

After we left Milot we went back into Cap Haitien for lunch. We ate at a local restaurant with our driver and watched a Real Madrid and Barcelona match - two teams who are VERY popular in Haiti - the streets and bars were packed with happy cheering fans. We enjoyed fried plantains, peas and rice and the three meat eaters had chicken and "boulettes" (a meatball that must be the world's greatest meatball since the three of them talked about it for the entire time we were in Haiti!).  And of course, Prestige, which all Haitians consider to be "the best beer in the world". On our ride back to Labadee we were accompanied by three young boys who ran as fast as they could and leapt into the moving pick-up truck! They drank our gatorade and asked all of us to remove our sunglasses and hats so they could see what colour eyes and hair we had - despite having a red head among us they did not seem particularly impressed!

Hitchhikers 

View of Cap Haitien in the distance 

Water Taxis, Labadee

The trail to La Citadelle

Busy city of Cap Haitien

Sweet travel outfits at Palace Sans Souci

King Heni Christophe

Lots of students on school trips to Citadelle

View from the fortress

Cannon at La Citadelle

Some mean break dancing at La Citadelle

Our tour guide Antonio

Traditional fishing pots being rowed out to be dropped in ocean

Anchorage at Labadee

Exit of anchorage of Labadee

Guest Blog!

When our friends came to visit us in Turks and Caicos I informed them that in order to stay on our boat a guest blog post should be written. Like all good parents they passed the buck to their six year old son. The result is adorable:

My name is Nathaniel.  I played Uno on my friend’s boat in Turks and Caicos.

And we went stargazing with my mom and my dad while my little brother was sleeping.

Kate taught me to remember the front of the boat because it is called a bow and you can just bow to remember.  James taught me all different types of boat knots.

Sleeping on a sailboat was comfy, but when I woke up my belly started hurting.

My experience was fun on a boat.

Thank you for teaching me all of those things, Kate and James!