June 2017

Date: 25th June 2017

Position: Man of War bay, Charlotteville, Tobago

Hi Land folk and Salty Sea Dogs,

Captain Bonzo here. Time for an update from the Caribbean sea!

Remember when I last wrote to you, we were awaiting our replacement windlass .......

Marigot Bay, St Martin, 22nd March 2017

The old windlass is out but the new windlass that was supposed to arrive on the 20th is still in Memphis being held by customs for some reason! Hoping it will arrive soon and we can be on our way again.

Well – it is now the end of June and we finally concluded the windlass replacement a couple of weeks ago – it’s quite a story....

The windlass finally arrived 5 days late on Friday evening. With the buoy only booked until Monday, Alex immediately opened the box only to find a unit covered in oil, with some dings and scratches (damaged in transport) but it didn’t look too bad, so we took the decision to assemble and see if it worked and then try and claim damages from fedex.

So by Monday we were operational, all seemed ok with the windlass, so after spending some time with friends Bill and Caroline from Juffa, we decided to catch up with Sisu and Wild Bird in Dominica, before they sailed away towards Curacao. An overnight sail, complete with catching a wahoo saw us arrive in Portsmouth – the intended surprise didn’t work, as Tim spied on us on vesselfinder :-)

A day after our arrival, we found that the windlass was leaking oil into our forward locker. Cause unknown, but likely to be an oil seal. Backwards and forwards with the supplier in the UK, and after 2 weeks the decision was made to send us a new gearbox, as we were concerned that there could be other damage that we did not see. I was mad as a dog (not as easy as it sounds, due to being stuffed...). While we were waiting, the crew took the opportunity to do the famous boiling lake walk with friend Graham from Karma and enjoyed an extended dip in the famous hot sulphur pools – a real treat for wary muscles – and Carla collected 2 bags of mud, which Alex and Graham had to carry all the way back! The next day she proceeded to slap the mud on her face – I am not sure which facial expression was more amusing – Carla’s with mud on or Alex looking at her...

Minnie B, Sisu, Wild Bird, Fairy Queen, Karma and Rosanna all joined up for various social activities, including BBQs on the beach, hiking etc etc. – a great time, were we not waiting daily for the update on the windlass.

Eventually it was on it’s way so we set sail north to Point a Pitre, Guadeloupe to receive the new gearbox which is easier on Guadeloupe as only little planes fly into Dominica.

Thanks to weekends and bank holidays delivery was again a couple of days later that expected. How many bank holidays do the French get by the way! Finally it arrived, we unpacked, and - there was oil – only a little, but nevertheless. We swapped out the units to try it out – and had an oil leak!! Bigger than before.

On the phone with tech support, they concluded that the oil seal must have gotten damaged in transit (“what else could it be”), so they sent a new one – actually, Alex asked for 2 to be sent.

Carla is really struggling with the whole situation and finds it very stressful, Alex is just pissed off – and me – still barking mad.

One week later (still at anchor in Guadeloupe (not the nicest harbour to be in) the new seals arrive. New seal is being installed, tested – we still have an oil leak!!!!!!

Back on the phone with tech support, and talking through what we have done, it turns out that the seal assembly was inserted the wrong way round on dispatch – that means the team in the UK messed this one up – our anger at that was offset with the relief we felt when there was no more oil leaking out. YES!!

Being in Point a Pitre, it meant we could do a detour to Marie Galante, a sleepy lovely island about 25 miles from Guadeloupe – lovely anchorage with lots of space, lobsters for Carla to hunt (amazingly she actually managed to get one after hours and hours in the water!) and a chilled atmosphere that is so relaxed, it’s unreal. The team hired a scooter and explored the island – and tried to check out from Customs, but we were told they were closed until Monday (this was Friday morning) – “is it a public holiday today” we asked – “No” is the answer and nobody knew why customs was closed. Now that is chilled – but also a pain in the arse.

To our despair, we found yet more oil leaking from the windlass – a very small amount, but still.... So we notified the supplier and by this time, the old windlass had arrived back in the UK. The report we got from the supplier essentially outlined extensive interior damage and blamed it on incorrect assembly and forced running (whatever that means) – so suddenly it was supposed to be Alex’s fault. I’ll spare you the details, but it took a day to formulate the response, with pictures etc to prove what had been done at what time and that it couldn’t have been our fault.

That night, just after dark, a thunderstorm tore through the anchorage, with winds of 40 knots from the (unprotected) north, so after an hour, we had seas breaking over the bow. The crew was on deck, engine running and wondering if we could raise the anchor (a 40kg rocna) if we had to – not a nice feeling. We were fine, the anchor held and the wind got less after a couple of hours, but it was scary. The next day Carla snorkelled on the anchor and saw that it has reset in position, no drag, and that it was still set in the direction of the storm with our chain at right angles. Good anchors those rocnas.

So, enough was enough, we needed an expert to have a look at our windlass, check it was ok, find out why it’s leaking oil etc – so we set sail south to Martinique, with the only certified service center in the windward islands. We sailed via Dominica and Martinique, staying in bays where we could rent a buoy, so we didn’t have to anchor and went straight into the marina in Le Marin.

The next day the specialist took the unit apart – and in short, it was not good news and if we had used it more, it probably would have died on us. Nobody could be sure of the reasons, but we have concluded that internal damage had occurred when Fedex dropped the box, which in turn meant increased wear on the motor shaft, which then in turn damaged the replacement gearbox. Or the replacement gearbox they sent was not new and damaged itself. We’ll never find out. Bill from Juffa had suggested on day one to return the damaged box – well, Bill, you were right!! The hurricane season was approaching, the berth in the marina may not be available for long and stress levels were up again.

Amazingly, after sending the report to the supplier, within 48 hours, we had confirmation that a new unit will be sent out under warranty – BUT, it had to come from Italy from the next production run – and it would be 3.5 weeks. Well, nothing we could do about that, so we booked the marina, settled in for the wait and made plans for boat maintenance.

Meantime, friends Jack and Fizzy on Carpe Diem returned from the UK to Martinique, so the crews hooked up with a hire car and went north to climb the famous Mt Pelee. It was quite a climb up and at the top some local guys were puffing some wacky backy! They told Carla that the circuit around the top was only 10 – 15 minutes. 1 ½ hours later after lots of steep ascents and descents they made it back to start of the main descent!

Carpe Diem kindly invited the crew to spend the weekend with them in St Annes so that they could get away from the marina. I stayed guard onboard – Carpe Diem have two very large Labradors and I think Lucy would have had me for dinner!. The crew had a great time though and enjoyed bacon and eggs and a Sunday roast and played cards – lots and lots. A few days later Carpe Diem started their trek south to St Lucia, while Ari B was still waiting – the team went through 2 weeks of boat jobs, which were to be done at lay-up in Trini (dinghy anti-fouling, windlass cover, rain water collection system (Wild Bird design that we copied), plastic water tank repair, gas bottle cover, bbq cover, generator alternator repair, generator diesel leak repair at the high pressure pump, etc etc..), so the time was used well and spirits were up.

Hurray – the replacement has arrived, installed, checked and declared working by the specialists – we are free again!!

As a reminder - we decided to purchase a new windlass middle of January – and it now was the middle of June – crazy or what.

Around the same time, a massive storm had developed in the North Atlantic and had hit the OSTAR race fleet (Original Singlehanded Transatlantic Race), which is a race from Plymouth in the UK to the US Eastern Seaboard. It is a tough race and our friend Keith on Harmonii was taking part. He experienced over 70knots of wind and 15 meter waves. We are lacking all the details, but believe that a number of boats were abandoned and the crew rescued. Keith suffered damage to his mainsail, genoa and engine and had a trysail and a damaged staysail left to work with. He managed to nurse his damaged boat for 900 miles to the Azores where he arrived about a week ago – unharmed. It is the second time he had attempted this race and was forced to retire. Keith, maybe it’s trying to tell you something...

We are VERY happy you are back in one piece, please don’t try again J

By now, the hurricane season had started (1st June), so we had to get extended cover from our insurance, and we were keen to go to the safety of Tobago (Tobago and Trinidad are outside the hurricane belt – they say) as quickly as possible. So we checked the weather forecast – and there was the potential for a tropical revolving storm to form in 5 or 6 days time, so we had to decide where to go. Unusually, the predicted track was quite far south, potentially even hitting Tobago. To make things more complicated the forecast models cannot accurately predict where a storm will track – and the predictions change all the time...

So we decided to join Carpe Diem in Marigot Bay, St Lucia (which not only has a luxury hotel attached to the marina, but is also probably the safest place in the windward islands when a storm is threatening) and rafted up on a buoy, waiting for the storm to decide where it wanted to go. As the track was bending further north and closer to us, we decided to assume the worst case scenario and prepare accordingly.

The two boats split up, took a buoy each and tied themselves into the mangroves (this is the best way to survive a storm if it hits you), insurance was informed and we each had 4 lines out the back into the roots of the mangroves, only a few meters away from the greenery and a sizeable amount of mosquitoes. Additional lines and our anchor was at the ready, should the storm get any closer. Many local boats joined us in the bay, just in case. The waiting could begin, and we did it in style, lounging around the hotel pool, getting free coconuts, nibbles and an exclusive atmosphere – all for the price of $20 a day for the buoy.

The storm did develop, was named Bret and went over Trinidad and Tobago which are outside the hurricane belt according to all experts and insurers. It was classed as a tropical storm not a hurricane and did not do much damage apart from a few trees uprooted. Charlotteville in Tobago – where we would have been, was it not for the windlass - was also quite safe. In Marigot Bay, we slept through the whole thing – no wind at all.

So after the exciting interlude, Carpe Diem set sail for Grenada and we decided to stick with our plan and go to our favourite place in the Caribbean – Charlotteville, Tobago, where we are now. We left St Lucia at 5am and were lucky enough to have fairly calm conditions and favourable wind heading SSE between St Lucia and St Vincent. We still had the normal adverse current but were able to make a good angle and sailed all but 2 hours to arrive in Tobago 33 hours later. Carla even managed to catch a couple of tuna on the way and lose her favourite lure, bitten clean off by some toothy monster! As we approached Charlotteville we were greeted by hundreds of dolphins and birds that were in a feeding frenzy. The sea is so rich with nutrients here that it is full of fish. The dolphins were jumping and the birds were diving – spectacular.

I am boat bound, as dogs are not allowed ashore unless you go through a massive process, Carla is in hunting mode for lobsters, Alex is fishing for squid and there are fresh mangoes hanging in the trees just waiting to be picked. Carla has already made jars of mango chutney (thank you to Joan from Karma for the recipe), fresh squid was on the menu last night and the fishermen’s daily catch is yellow fin tuna. Every other day the crew set off hiking in the forest exploring trails they found last year and discovering new ones. There are green parrots everywhere and countless other bird species including the mot-mot, Tobago;s national bird (saw one yesterday). The snorkelling is amazing with great visibility down to over 12m and loads of fish. Carla saw a beautiful eagle ray on the reef just a few hundred metres from the boat.

The team is happy and content and so far the windlass is behaving (touch wood). There are only two other boats here and they are anchored off of the village beach so we have Pirate’s Bay all to ourselves. Heaven.

We will stay here for a few weeks, then head to Trinidad and lift the boat out while we visit family in the UK and Austria.

We’ll check back in with you after our return but exciting plans for next year, presently including the British, US and Spanish VIs, Puerto Rico, Turks and Caicos, Bahamas, Cuba and Columbia. Carla has already made the flags but let’s see what we will manage – after all, cruisers plans are written in the sand at low tide....

Until then

Ari B out

Captain Bonzo

The old market in Roseau, Dominica. This is where runaway slaves were once executed.