Mai 2012

Debut Mai 2012 
Après le départ de Fred, nous avons passé 2 jours avec nos amis de "Taua" 
(des Suisse qui ont vécu au Bresil) autour de St Martin, puis sommes remontés dans les iles Vierges. 80 milles sous Gennaker, une arrivée de nuit un peu fantomatique ; c 'était formidable! 

Nous avons exploré plusieurs iles à vélo - dur dur parfois! - je pense bien à Nat quand je suis sur mon vélo! et du coup, j'essaie de ne pas etre trop chochotte! l
Mais ici, dans les Caraïbes, ils font les routes " droit en haut" (comme on dit en Valais ;-)) 20 à 25 % de pente!!! ils sont malades! ha ha

et bien evidemment vu que nous apprécions tant, chaque matin, notre "routine sportive" :  jogging ou gym pour Tor; yoga ou gym pour moi et plusieurs tours de bateau à la nage pour les deux; avant de se taper un super petit déj composé entre autre d'une grande salade de fruits frais ( préparée par Tor 9x/10 ;-)) on se retrouve à chaque fois sur les routes  pendant les heures les plus chaudes de la journée! 

17 mai 2012 Virgin-Anegada

Avec regret nous quittons notre mouillage idylique -Savannah, Virgin Gorda . 

La veille nous nous sommes enfilés entre les patates de corails pour ancrer devant une plage de sable blanc. L eau est turquoise, nous sommes seul au monde mis à part un pelican et quelques mouettes qui volent en surplace à la hauteur de Yum-Yum. Mais nous avons rendez vous le 24 Mai avec Des amis à Marie Galante pour le festival de musique et nous voulons à tout prix découvrir Anegada avant de quitter les BVI.

Approche de Anegada

18 Mai 2012 Anegada

Une bonne douche nous réveille ! le hublot au dessus de notre lit étant ouvert.
Le temps est orageux, la plupart des bateau quittent Anegada en direction du sud.
Nous décidons d'aller découvrir le coin à vélo. Anegada, île sans relief de 10 km de long sur 2 de large, située au nord est des British Virgin Islands.

Nous pédalons avec vigueur, ravi pour une fois, de ne pas subir les dénivelés!
La côte Atlantique au Nord de l'île est super sauvage. La piste suit le bord de mer et est par endroit envahie de sable mou ; bien difficile d'avancer. 













Il fait super chaud! L'endroit étant désert, nous ne résistons pas à la vue des piscines naturelles s'étirant entre la plage la barrière de corail , nous sautons de notre vélo, nous dépouillons de nos habits et courons dans l'eau turquoise



20 Mai 2012

Nous quittons Anegada au lever du jour. Cette île est si plate qu'il est difficile de la photographier. Vue du large, elle est semblable à un mirage, un oasis au milieu du désert bleu.
La nave de retour - direction sud, sud est - est épouvantable! Deux à trois mètres de vagues courtes et croisées; On se fait secouer comme des cocotiers pendant 18 h! même le Viking devient patraque! On met 2 jours à se remettre, à désaler et ranger le bateau! Plus jamais on donnera des rdv ou on doit naviguer contre le vent!

Painkiller ...

Peter, Monica et Tor

Taua et Yum-Yum

Colibris

Anniversaire de Monica

Le vent E-SE persistant, nous reconsidérons notre objectif et décidons de se la "jouer cool" . D ailleurs, nos amis de Taua se font la même réflection et nous nous retrouvons à Nevis afin de célébrer le 50 ème anniversaire de Monica ;-))






Nous  visitons St Kits;  plusieurs cols à vélo sous une chaleur d enfer ;-)) , puis Nevis - kayak et snortling- puis Monserrat , cette fois en voiture avec un guide. Les coulées de lave qui ont engloutis la capitale sont impressionnantes!

Coulée de lave

Monserrat

Notre guide et Peter

29.5.2012:Guadeloupe

Ca y est! Notre 3ème tentative de grimper au sommet de la Soufrière - le volcan de la Guadeloupe- aura été la bonne! La mauvaise météo nous en ayant empêché les fois précédentes. Notre ascension est rapide et nous parvenons à nous réfugier contre le vent dans un petit abris proche du sommet afin de déguster nos sandwichs.

Sommet du volcan

Au cours de notre randonnée, tous nos sens sont en éveil ; le chant cristallin des quatres espèces de petites grenouilles ( dont 2 endémiques à la Guadeloupe ) nous accompagne.
D'épais nuages, qui enveloppent le sommet environ 300 jours par an, masquent la visibilité. Nous parvenons quand même à observer 2 differents cratères- identique à une marmite à pression - d' où s'échappe un jet de vapeur acide.

Sommet de la Soufrière

Il commence à pleuvoir au moment où nous entamons la descente. Le chemin n est pas facile pour les genoux "foutus" et malgré l'aide de mes bâtons, je galère un peu. La pluie se transforme en mousson et nous sommes trempés jusqu'aux os à notre arrivée. Du coup, pour ne pas innondé la voiture de location, nous enfilons les seuls habits secs; resté au fond du sac: nos maillot de bain! 

Sentier sur la Soufriere

Ce soir, nous irons à l'aéroport chercher Rasmus- le fils de Tor- et son amie Ellen qui viennent passer 2 semaines à bord.

Rasmus & Ellen visit, June 2012

Inside volcano shelter

Finally: Rasmus and Ellen are coming to visit us on Guadeloupe.

As we wanted to give our long planned Soufriere Volcano hike another try before their arrival, we anchored on the south

west corner outside the Riviere Sens Marina and rented a little car for a couple of days.

The marina itself is now slowly being rebuilt after hurricane damage many years ago.

Hiking conditions were acceptable this time, and the trip was quite successful even though we had little sight on the the top and a lot of rain on the return.

On the top we joined a little group that knew their way around behind the fences, so we followed all the way up to the

Beautiful flowers in the mist

Mountain with a serious bad breath pro

sulfur-spitting roaring gaps. The close encounter with the volcano is for us a more exotic experience than a great mountain top view.

Hello there!

There is a natural hot bath where this hike starts. As our hiking clothes already were soaked by heavy rain, we finished

the trip by jumping directly in. We drove back wearing the only dry clothes we had left; our bathing suits.

The visitor pickup at Point a Pitre airport was late in the evening, about an hour's drive from the boat.

Our guests' suitcases turned out to bee just a little smaller than the Citroen, but somehow we managed to get everything in there. (in the car)

After one hour under the suitcase in the backseat, and a fairly rough dinghy ride to the Riviere Sens anchorage, our guests were safely on board Yum-Yum.

Ellen and Rasmus had been racing hard the last week at home to prepare for this short notice visit.

And since the swell in the anchorage was a little more than we want for newly arrived guests, we were glad to have the Citroen for one more day. We had a nice little hike to one of the waterfalls on Soufriere's east side, a much needed shorts shopping for father and son at an Intersport along the road, an extensive provisioning in Basse Terre, and when we returned from that, the day was gone. The planned internet cafe visit were postponed to the following day.

The guests were happy to join the Yum-Yum yoghurt/fruit/cereals breakfast community. After enjoying the mango-based morning fiesta we started the next day with mounting the bikes and preparing for a few hours landfall before sailing north to the Cousteau underwater eldorado at Pigeon Island / Malendure. E&R had some urgent internet work to do, and V&T biked to Basse Terre to do the customs/immigration paperwork.

After following the traces of the customs office from one deserted office building after the other, it turned out that the

check-in point had been transferred to a location in Riviere Sens, yes, exactly the internet cafe were our guests sat bent

over their computers..

A good morning bike trip has a value of it's own. Besides, the trip could not be described as fruitless, as we were bringing back a very heavy load from a good fruit and vegetables shop in Basse Terre.

It turned out that the staff at the Baracuda place did all the work with our immigration registration for free, and after a short email session and a good lunch there we set sail for Pigeon Island.

Pigeon Island: Great snorkeling.

Deshaies: A good hike following the river into the forest. Extensive after sun treatment.

Ilet Fajou: Very calm and shallow anchorage, a not very remarkable snorkeling,

an interesting dinghy ride several miles up a river through mangroves and farmland.

Riviere Sale: An alternative route from north to south, following a narrow mangrove passage between the two halves of Guadeloupe. Two lifting bridge passages in the extreme morning hours, the south one barely wide enough for Yum-Yum.

Gosier: Difficult dinghy landing. Guests had to do the provisioning alone, which they managed very well.

Marie Galante: Good sailing, we found a nice desolated beach anchorage which we enjoyed for a couple of days. Finally some badminton practice again.

The local fly-fishes were ready to preform late night shows when chased by our strong flashlight beams. We had a big party of swarming ants ending their queen hunting day (and their short lives) in our cockpit.

Point a Pitre: Ellen's departure day. The first people that we asked for direction to bus/taxi offered her a ride to the airport. The Guadeloupe-ans keep on impressing us by their kind helpfulness.

Provisioning and shopping before departure to Petit Terre.

Petit Terre: We don't like so much to take advantage of Yum-Yum's abilities as a motorboat, but when five hours directly against the wind can take us to such a place, we are happy.

The best snorkeling ever. Very nice and varied landscape, ideal snorkeling depths, beautiful and colorful corals, lots of fishes. We also met a turtle and a fairly big lemon shark with proper pilot fish and everything.

Petit Terre has a very well protected mooring area that we had for ourselves except from some hours in the middle of the days. Lots and lots of iguanas. And the very poisonous Mancenilla trees, that are more scary and dangerous than anything under water in the Caribbean.

But we will still remember the contours and glowing eye reflections of countless sharks surrounding Yum-Yum in the night. The next morning the big barracuda under the boat looked far less scary than the days before..

This was also the place where wee took out the instruments and the sound system, and Rasmus proved that my hand bongos can sound extremely groovy under the right hands and with a little amplification magic.

We let our very dear furling genaker take us back to Point a Pitre and Rasmus' return flight in a soft and efficient downwind ride.

When we returned from the airport I felt a touch of emptiness, something that almost never happens in these Yum-Yum days.

It was really great to spend some time with my son again. And finally, with Rasmus and Ellen on board, after several previous failed attempts, the Knock / Gin Rummy card game is now an official and established part of the Yum-Yum game culture.

British Virgin Islands 4th April-5th May 2012

One of Valentine's old sailing buddies, Fred, came over from Switzerland to spend some days with us. And as we were ready for a little testing after our long working stop on St Martin, a week sailing in the BVIs sounded like a good idea.

This writing is conducted from a relaxed position in our cabin as we motor directly towards the weather back to St Martin. The guest is at the helm, I study the waterdrops in front of me. Both the window and the mosquito mesh frame on the inside have drops on them. The outside ones are sea spray, the latter remains from last night's rain. We always sail with closed hatches, so you would expect the inside environment to be on the humid side. But the slight air movement induced by the small fan next to the bed, and the perfect temperature in this area make this a pleasant spot to stretch the corpus right now.

Under me a happy Yanmar, humming peacefully at 2400 RPM, newly treated with QMI teflon in fresh oil, and receiving it's modest 2 liter pr hour diesel request through very clean Racor filter / water separator.

Life is supposed to be good for everybody on Yum-Yum.

Traveling in the opposite direction last Friday we had an easy going gennaker day from 6 in the morning to anchor drop just as the daylight left us a few minutes before 7 at the North Sound of Virgin Gorda.

After a slow start we checked in and spent the following day in Spanish Town.

The Baths on the southwest of the island is an interesting constellation of huge rocks and white sand. The marked trail inside the formation's caves has a lot of sidetracks that is fun to explore for the visitor who respect the surge of the waves.

The next stop was the wreck of British Mail steamer Rhone at Salt Island.

Being the most spoken about sunken boat in the Caribbean, we had to give it a try.

And behold: this is a spot where anyone able to open their eyes in a diving mask can experience by self sight the wreck dive images we know from the adventure documentaries.

The mooring system in the BVIs is really something that should be copied on every frequently visited seabed around the world. Paid for at customs clearance. Simple, clever color coded, well laid out and maintained, with a limited 90 minutes max visiting time, this both saves the bottom from devastating anchor damages, and secure a good circulation of visitors. Bravo!

With the proximity to US Virgin Islands, and the huge Moorings charter boat base on Tortola, this is really a crowded area. We were pleased to find out that there still exists quiet hideaway anchorages all around, and that even in Road Town there is the free anchoring spot for the low-bud cruisers at the mangroves in the inner harbor.

Pussers still serve a selection of Painkillers to cure three levels of discomfort, but still not quite strong enough to compensate for the wallet-ache induced by their pricing.

It's a been-there-done -that kind of place, but the maritime interior reminds us of Peter's in Horta, Fajal, Azores, and that is good for Valentine and me.

Road Town was the starting point of the Moonlight Serenade Atlantic crossing in 2010 with skipper Pål, plumber Hallvard and me, a trip on which we encountered many adventures. Under our boarding of the Lagoon 57 Soleil in Horta harbor I came across a lady named Valentine with a big laughter and a cabin with big mirrors.

Since our respective captains and the turn of events at that time were pushing us in different directions, it took some months before we were able to meet again. Now we meet quite frequently... wellwell. Back to the Virgins.

Fred wanted to offer us a meal in Road Town, and our random choice of not-fancy-at-all dockside restaurant resulted in a surprisingly pleasant dining experience. Normally we end up having winners and losers around the table when food arrives in this class of facilities, but this time all three; the tuna, the rib-eye and the jambalaya had to share the gold medal. Even the house red wine was fine. Another Bravo!

From Tortola we sailed to Peter Island, a crossing where we had exceptionally many opportunities to practice the “traffic rules” that applies when sailing vessels are on collision course.

On Peter's we had this anchor drop. Not much worry about dragging that night.

Actually, we feel safe with our anchoring in general. This is something that is much easier here than back in Norway. The steady tradewinds and the shallow anchorages in sand make things very predictable.

I have mentioned before the three levels of boat “parking” that applies in our kind of cruising: dockside marinas, moorings with a daily fee, and the free anchorages. We usually end up using the latter, as we dislike crowds and love to jump directly from Yum-Yum into clear, turquoise Caribbean water.

At the Dogs, the small islands west of Vigin Gorda, there are some good diving spots / day anchorages with the unique Virgin Islands mooring system. The best spot was fully occupied. But the 90 minutes circulation worked this time, so after a little waiting the most attractive inner mooring became available for us.

The Chimney is a dive between sandbeds and impressive coral and stone formations. Underwater life here is influenced by the proximity to open Atlantic waters. We see bigger and slightly different fishes, and less of the brown algae that seems to cover more and more of the used-to-be colorful Caribbean corals these days.

This was yesterday. Last night we dropped the hook in Nelson's Anchorage in the North Sound, and early this morning we set off back to St Martin.