Jost Van Dyke April 30,09

Saturday, May 2nd, 2009

We arrived in Jost van Dyke this afternoon around 5:00pm.

This morning we started hoisting the anchor within minutes of getting back on board at 11:00am. We were
under full sail heading for Jost Van Dyke within 10 minutes of getting the anchor up. We were all hands
for the day doing some ship work with several people working on Mr Bones caulking and sealing the
planks. The plan is to launch this boat sometime while we are here.

Sailing through the Virgin islands looks very much like the Gulf Islands with lots of narrow channels and
lots of charter boats going every which way. The radio traffic from them is pretty entertaining. We heard
one the other night that is a good example. Lynsey heard this call to the Coast Guard requesting assistance
because, apparently, the boats engine failed and they couldn’t figure out how to turn around. They were “sailing” south with their jib set and couldn’t figure out how to go North! To add insult to injury they
threw their EPIRB overboard to attract attention. Sigh.

Paul was telling me about another call he heard where a charter boat called in requesting “more anchors”
since they were out for two days and needed some more…!?! Apparently they just dropped the line over
board in the morning when they left the anchorage and since the boat only had two they need some more
to keep going.

It should be interesting here as the ship is well known and gets a lot of attention from people.

I’m on watch Friday and off Saturday Sunday so will get a chance to check it out.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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British Virgin Islands April 30,09

Thursday, April 30th, 2009

We arrived in BVI and anchored off Spanishtown on the island of Virgin Gorda (fat virgin).

Our arrival was pretty exciting. As we were sailing up towards the island the Canadian Barkentine
Caledonia was approaching the anchorage from the other direction. For us to get in we had to tack and
we did so just as Caledonia was motoring past. From where I was on the quarter deck it looked like we
were really close to them. The people on Caledonia were all taking pictures as we swung through the
wind directly abeam of them.

The island here is marked by very large granite boulders some 50′ or more in diameter all piled up along the waters edge. Apparently they were originally enclosed in a lava flow of some sort and once the softer lava eroded left them lying around on top of each other. We up anchored after clearing in and motored over to the National Park that covered the corner of the island and spent the afternoon climbing and scrambling around these giant balls of rock.

Then we up anchored again and motored back to anchor off Spanishtown again. Got a good workout
today :-)

After dinner I went ashore and spent the evening doing Internet stuff and chilling.

More later…

I’m in a little restaurant drinking coffee and waiting for my laundry to finish. We will be heading for Jost
Van Dyke around 11:00am this morning and we will be there for 4 days then it’s on to Bermuda which
should take 10 days or so.

I’m actually looking forward to another long passage, and this one will be the second last of the whole
trip.

These 6 months are nearly over and I have crossed a great ocean and passed through Neptune’s Court and
felt the power which is the Sea itself. So much beauty, hard work and fun. The next 20 days will be bitter
sweet as we head North back to the cold but also back to the warmth of our loved ones.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Sailing for BVI April 26-29,09

Tuesday April 28,09

Our night watch was gusty and damp with a couple of big squalls as we passed the islands of Montserrat,
Nevis and St Kitts. The wind was gusting up to Force 6-7.

I had first helm and the ship steered beautifully only a few spokes to a full turn needed to keep her on
course. We are heading North by West (and 1/4 west to be exact) with topsails, t’gallants, foresail set plus
the outer and inner jibs, fore topmast staysail and main topmast staysail.

I hear a rumour that Jost Van Dyke may not have any Internet connectivity so not sure when you will get
to read this as the next stop is Bermuda about halfway back to Lunenberg.

More later…

Just got off the afternoon watch which was relatively uneventful. The wind is steady and the skies
basically clear and sunny with some high puffy white clouds.

Earlier this afternoon we changed course towards the high volcanic island of Saba and just as we were
getting ready to go on watch we entered the lee of this cliff girdled high island. There followed the alarm
and the call of “This is a drill man overboard port side”.

These drills are organized chaos but everybody knows pretty well where to be and what to do. Today’s
drill was a bit different because we were; A) under sail and B) the wind and sea conditions were gusty and
lumpy respectively. The drill went really well, the overboard object was in the rescue boat in 3 minutes!
The rescue boat itself was launched in about 1 minute. The requirement is that the recovery be done in 9
minutes.

Once we got all the equipment stowed we headed back on our course to the north now under a reduced
sail plan, no t’gallants, so we don’t arrive in the middle of the night.

We should arrive in the BVI tomorrow sometime, rumour has it we will be stopping for groceries at
another island in the BVI before going to Jost Van Dyke.

Thanks for reading
KJ

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Sailing for BVI April 26-29,09

Monday April 27,09

Lynsey and Nicki went ashore this morning and caught a ferry over to Terre de Haut to clear out.
I am on galley today so spent the morning doing the dishes and cleaning out the veggie lockers on the
Aloha deck.

Since we will soon be heading North where it is cold(er) we also were told to clean the ship inside
thoroughly. This is because as we get into colder climes moisture will condense inside the ship and if the
surfaces aren’t pretty clean they can begin to mildew and smell. Lovely…

We got our anchor up and began sailing North around 2:00pm. We have a strong force 5 breeze on our
Starboard quarter to move us along North. We are currently sailing briskly towards Guadeloupe wit all
sails but the Royals and Flying Jib set. I suspect that once in the lee of Guadeloupe we may need to motor
but the consensus on the lower deck is that we will only motor if we really have to. This would be just fine
with me I prefer to sail :-)

I went up to loose sail today and helped to loose the Mizzen Staysail as well. My hand is doing much
better and it felt good to go aloft again.

My tattoo is doing pretty well, it hasn’t been itchy and the colour hasn’t faded much even though I’ve
been in the bright Sun pretty much continuously since I got it. Some of the other people’s tattoos haven’t
fared so well. The finer lines have disappeared on some of them and others have faded a bit.

Current guess is that we will reach Jost van Dyke in about 2 days or so.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Sailing for BVI April 26-29,09

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

Sunday April 26,09

Our watch was on duty today, which was just as well as I suspect that everything ashore was closed if
yesterday is any indication.

First thing after breakfast we shifted the ship into the middle of the bay to give us a bit more swing room
as the winds have been variable making the ship swing almost 360 degrees!

Last night the on watch had taken in about 10ft of chain because our stern was only 20′ or so from the
rocks!

Surprisingly we had a normal Sunday, ie there was no official ships work, which made for a fairly relaxing
day.

I was safety lookout for several of the crew who went snorkeling along the cliffs that surround this little
bay we are in. The Sun was bright and there was a really strong wind blowing out in the channel between
the islands which brought some swell into the bay. The water is incredibly clear and you can see the
bottom from the taffrail.

This evening we had another fancy dress dinner which was fun. My anchor watch is 1:00am to 2:00am tonight and the plan is to hoist anchor as soon as we can tomorrow morning so we can get cleared out and underway to the British Virgin Isands which is 250 some miles to the North.

The trip should take 2-3 days.

Odd to think that Jost van Dyke in the BVI is the second last port of call before we get back to Lunenberg
and the end of my passage. Lots of sailing to come but the end is less than a month way.

Hmmmm….

Thanks for reading.
KJ

A quick hop to Basse Terra Sat Apr 25,09

Wednesday, April 29th, 2009

We were supposed to leave for BVI today but when the Captain went ashore to clear out there was
nobody around to do it. While we were waiting we worked on several small projects including the
Grenada Boat, now known as “Mr Bones”, and getting stuff in the hold lashed down ready for sea.
Just after lunch the Captain came back and announced that we would be shifting over to the largest island
in the Saints, Basse Terra, for the weekend then clear out on Monday.

Our watch was off today so David and I went ashore and had a quick look around. This is a very quiet
island! The town is very small with only a couple of bar/restaurants and a couple of souvenir shops and a
small grocery store. No ATM, or Wifi to be found :-)

Unfortunately in my rush to catch the skiff I forgot my camera so I don’t have any pictures of this quaint
little place.

We arrived jut as a funeral was being conducted so everything was shutdown completely. Just to add to
the atmosphere it poured rain, in those huge drops only a tropical rain squall can bring. I tried to shelter
under a tree but got soaked anyways, I also forgot my rain coat, blah.

Bill found a small hotel for the night which also had a restaurant so we were able to have a nice dinner,
which as an added bonus was pretty cheap.

The anchorage here is a bit dicey so we may have to move the ship in the morning.

Thanks for reading
KJ

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Photos from the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Found the site of Tim Wright who was taking pictures at the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta.

From his site:
——–
Tim Wright
In 1993 Tim Wright was living on his 34 ft sailing boat in the Caribbean and started to photograph yachts
as a means of survival. Today he still spends most of the year afloat in the Caribbean where he is now
considered the leading practitioner of marine photography in the region. Over recent years he has become
increasingly active at regattas in the UK and the Mediterranean.
Many sailors will instantly recognize his unique style. Where other photographers shoot from larger boats
Tim works from a tiny 12 foot inflatable which serves double duty as his yacht tender. This gives him
incredible maneuverability, allowing him to get frighteningly close to the action.
——–
There are some amazing pictures there including some of the Picton Castle
Check them out here: http://www.photoaction.com/clas09/clas09.htm

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Ashore on Ile des Saints Wed April 22,08

Friday, April 24th, 2009

Went ashore on the first skiff run of the day.

After getting some Euros from the ATM David and I went to the hotel where Rick was staying. We then
rented some scooters for the day and tore off down the narrow roads to explore the island of Terre De
Haut.

Went up to Fort Napoleon which commands the heights above the town and harbour. The fort is pretty
well preserved and a good example of French forts from the mid 1800s. The museum there had a good
display on the Battle of the Saints between the British fleet under Rodney and the French fleet under
Bouganville. They had couple of nice ship models of vessels in the battle.

After the fort we decided to do a beach tour so we picked up a baguette, cheese and a bottle of cheap
wine and headed out to see the sands.

The beaches here are really small, with the exception of one they are all only a couple of hundred feet
long. But they are usually in nice coves so are fairly picturesque.

The weather was hot and sunny but there was a fairly strong Northerly wind blowing which made sitting
the shade quite pleasant.

Our watch is on tomorrow but we get Friday off so I think I will do a bunch of Internet and chilling for the
day :-)

Thanks for reading…
KJ

Here are some photos from my day ashore.

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Sailing for the Saints Apr 20-21,09

Tues Apr 21,09

Had a fairly calm night watch.

We wore ship sometime before I came on watch and have been sailing to leeward of Guadalupe. I had
second lookout which was just at dawn as we approached the island. The sky slowly brightened and with a
this crescent moon low in the eastern sky it was beautiful to watch.

The Western side of Guadalupe is high, very much like Dominica and has a cap of clouds as well. As we
sailed into the lee the wind dropped and we started to take in sail preparatory to motoring when the wind
actually picked up again. We reset the foresail and mainsail and we are still ghosting along to the South.

If we end up motoring we should arrive at the Saints this afternoon.

More later…

We motored through the afternoon and got pasted with some really sstrong rain squalls as we passed
Guadalupe.

We arrive at the Iles des Saints around 3;00pm anchored in the little harbour and got cleared in without
too much fuss. Our watch is off this evening and tomorrow so we went ashore to check out the place. It is
like a little chunk of France very neat and tidy and pretty laid back.

I’m going with David and our new doctor Rick to rent some scooters to see the island tomorrow. I’ll fill
you all in on how it goes.

Thanks for reading.
KJ
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Sailing for the Saints Apr 20-21,09

Monday Apr 20,09

This morning was really busy.

First thing after breakfast we hoisted aboard the dory and skiff. Then we got all the sails ready to set, fired
up the engine and hoisted the anchor. A little light exercise to start the day :-)

While we were doing that there were lots of yachts sailing by heading for the start line of the race.

We set our fore lower topsail and outer jib and backed around. Then, once facing the right way, we set all
sails and headed out just to leeward of the course. We could see many of the smaller boats racing along to
windward of us. There was a collision between two of them and one yacht was completely dismasted! An
expensive day for them.

As we approached the “mark” we hove to and watched the fun for 20 minutes or so.

As the big “J”s were coming up we tacked and headed back along the line so we got a really good look at
these magnificent thoroughbreds racing with spinnakers set. In fact we set our flying jib just as they were
setting their spinnakers   The two big schooners were there as well with their spinnakers set a well. Very
impressive.

The big French schooner was sailing with a replacement mainsail so they must have had a spare.

After they passed we tacked again, set all sails and are now heading South(ish) towards Guadalupe and Ile
des Saints which is part of Guadalupe.

More later…

Just got off of our afternoon watch.

We sailed close hauled on the port tack towards Guadalupe all afternoon.

As we were sailing Full N Bye my trick at the helm was fun :-)

As we approached Guadalupe it became apparent that we could not weather it and had to tack just after
dinner. We are no sailing North back towards Antigua and will tack in the morning some time and try to
get around the Eastern side of Guadalupe again.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Galley Day in Antigua Apr 19,09

Tuesday, April 21st, 2009

Today Nico and I had galley duty and being Donald’s official day off we had to cook.
The key to that is planning, as Bruce and I found out on the crossing :-)

Once we had a plan for what to do for lunch and dinner it was just a matter of coordinating the timing
around the vagaries of our old diesel stove. For the record lunch was onion and tomato soup with bread
and jam and dinner was “bubble and squeak”, corn beef and cabbage, bacon and corn meal dumplings
quite yummy actually.

One advantage of being on galley is that you can stop to watch what’s happening around the ship. Which
today meant watching the fleet of beautiful classic yachts parade out of the harbour to get ready for
today’s racing. Like watching a parade of very expensive peacocks that.

Just as we were getting dinner ready the big French schooner came in with her mainsail torn in half. What
a mess! That one sail probably has almost as much area as all of ours together, or so it seems. Th noise it
made when it ripped must have been tremendous and frightening.

Tomorrow we plan to join the fleet for the racing, heh :-), at least until they go upwind then we will head
off to Ile de Saints which is an overnight sail apparently.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Racing on “Charm III” Sat Apr 18,09

Saturday, April 18th, 2009

Had a great day racing on board the Charm III captained by Richard West. We actually beat the one
schooner the skipper was most anxious to beat which was the Astor.

I have never been in a sailing race before so this was an interesting day.
The schooner Charm III is a staysail schooner, this means that instead of a gaff rigged foresil she has a
staysail on a boom. Above this she carries a Fisherman’s Staysail. The advantage of this rig is that it is
essentially self tending in tacks and is supposed to be marginally faster upwind. This schooner was
designed and built in 1923 so she is a bit older than the Picton Castle actually. She has the distinction of
having the oldest masts still afloat on their original hull :-)

She sails really well and ha a very friendly and fairly laid back crew. Which was good cause I’m not sure I
was all that useful a hand. Shackle and Sarah and I were the Picton Castle crew that were aboard for
today’s race.

We headed for the starting line about 9:30 this morning. We got the sails and lines sorted and ten tacked
back and forth waiting for our class to start.

One of the schooners in our class is called “When and If” I believe. Her owner planned to sail her around
the world when and if he had chance. He died before he could do it. His name was George Patton.
We crossed the starting line bang on time which was met with much rejoicing. This is not an easy thing to
do apparently.

The race was on a course that had two downwind legs and a couple of up wind slogs, very cool, lots of
room for tactical sailing.

On one of the downwind legs we set a massive sail called a “Gollywobbler” that fills the space between
the fore and main and is used as a downwind sail like a spinnaker. Setting this monster is quite a process.
We first had to douse the Fisherman, un shackle and stow it, then set the Golly and take in the staysail.
When we rounded the buoy we had to do the opposite.

During the race the giant “J” Class boats roared by. They sail like giant fish more than boats. They are
very impressive and they create quite a wind shadow as they go.

Watching all these classic yachts, gaff riggers, schooners of all sizes all churning along in the beautiful
tropical blue seas was wonderful.

The last leg is upwind and here the tactics get tricky. Our skipper elected to do a bunch of short tacks
really close to shore and this made all the difference. Although we got very close to shore at one point.

Once the race was done we motored into the dock and stowed away the sails. A couple of Gin and Tonics
to celebrate our victory and a nice lamb dinner prepared by one of the crew ended a fabulous day.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

There are some photos of the race here.

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Ashore in Antigua Thur April 17,09

Friday, April 17th, 2009

Had a very interesting day today.

I went ashore expecting to spend a quiet day surfing annd chilling while everybody else went racing. The
first half of the day went exactly like that but just about 11:30 John came by. He had rented a car the day
before and driven Spencer to the airport so he could go home. After a bit of Internet surfing we headed
out in his car, with blessed AC, and found a local bar for lunch which was wonderful and CHEAP!

Then we headed down to the shore near Rendezvous Bay and watched the all the boats racing. It was a
fabulous panorama of great sailing vessels like the “J” class sloops, schooners and ketches all the way
down to our brightly coloured brave little dinghy ” Sea Never Dry”.

After the race we went back to the harbour in Falmouth to meet our crewmates who were sailing on some
of these vessels.

I have been shanghaied into sailing on a staysail schooner named “Charmed III” which is an Alden
designed Malibar 5(?) ship. Deb, Bruce and Charlotte sailed on her today and it appears that I will be
sailing on her in the racing tomorrow.

Hmmm…

Should be fun, I’ll let you know how it goes. I’m off to get in on the free food and booze action down on
the docks amongst all these expensive yachts.

Wish me luck for tonight and tomorrow :-)

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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On Watch in Antigua Apr 16,09

Friday, April 17th, 2009

We were on watch today so spent the day doing ship work.

In my case I spent the morning spot painting the breeze way overheads “tropical blue”. This was
interesting actually cause the last time I did this was April last year and it was rainy and cold!

I spent this afternoon sanding the starboard quarter deck rail in preparation for it being varnished. The day
was sunny and hot so the breeze through the bay was very welcome. While we were working a whole bunch of boats from small dragon class sloops to the giant “J” class racing yachts and several schooners
and ketches of various sizes sailed past heading out to sail in the strong alongshore breeze. Our dory with
it’s gaily colored gaff sail joined them and made a brave tiny splash of colour far out amongst the giants.

Once we were finished working we went for a sail in the dory, my first, and just as we passed the headland
out to sea and had gibed back into the harbour the tiller broke! A mad scramble ensued as we doused the
sail and shipped the oars to row back to the ship. An exciting end to the work day that :-)

Dinner tonight was really good. Gunner and Susie were on galley today and they cooked up a great meal
of Spaghetti Carbonara, green salad and mango cobbler. To make it special Lynsey ordered the watch to
“dress for dinner” so we all put on clean and fancy clothes and ate in the salon accompanied by wine and
ice water. The ipod was playing big bang music, Frank Sinatra and Louis Armstrong. Lovely.

Currently the watch is hanging on the welldeck listening to reggae and I’m chilling below typing with both
hands for the first time :-)

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Ashore in Antigua Wed Apr 15,09

Friday, April 17th, 2009

We had to move the ship closer to shore this morning so after breakfast it was hands to the windlass!
Once we were anchored again I went ashore on the first skiff and spent the day wandering around
Falmouth and Nelson’s Dockyard at English bay.

Today was the start of the Antigua Classic yacht Regatta and there are an amazing number of beautiful
classic yachts here. I have never seen so many schooners and ketches in one place before. There is even
one massive three masted staysail schooner from France that is almost as long as the Picton Castle! There
are also some very pretty smaller boats mostly ketches and cutters. The glare from the varnish was almost
blinding in the bright Sun :-)

Needless to say the place is swarming with people from all over the world. Most of whom are either very
“well heeled” or the paid crew for said well heeled people. Several of our crew managed to get on as
volunteer crew on several boats. There are a nice clutch of wooden sloops built on Carriacou some gaff
rigged as well as bermudian sloop rigged. They are noticeable mostly because they are painted using
ordinary paint. No fiberglass, varnish or brass anywhere. Doesn’t seem to hinder their sailing at all.
English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard (which is now an Antiguan National Park) was once the
equivalent of Halifax for the Royal Navy. The dockyard has been restored fairly well and has a lot of
plaques and information boards even though the buildings are now hotels, bars and concessions so you get
a good idea of how the place worked when Nelson was in charge (hence the name).
Tomorrow our watch is on and then we get the next two days off.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Here are some photos from my trip ashore in Antigua.

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Sailing to Antigua Apr 14,09

Tues April 14,09

Had a good night watch, pretty uneventful.

I had first lookout which was wonderful as the skies were pretty clear and the mostly full moon was
bright.

Last night at the change of watches around midnight they tacked ship. It was nice that they didn’t have to
wake us up   When we went on watch this morning we were again sailing North towards Antigua.
Paul caught two more Baracudas this morning, one of which he threw back because it was small.

We may arrive in Antigua later this afternoon.

More later…

We arrived in Antigua and anchored next to a very large yacht in Falmouth harbour at 6:00pm.
I’ll be off tomorrow so will have a chance to check out the lay of the land.
Many of the crew are looking forward to crewing on some of the classic boats in the races here. I’m
happy to be looking on I think

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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Sailing to Antigua April 13,09

Mon Apr 13,09

Just got off our very wet night watch.

I woke up around 3:00am to the sound of heavy rain beating on the deck over my head. Just before we
came on watch the squall passed bringing with it a big wind shift. We came up on deck just as the order to
brace the yards around came. Nothing like starting a watch off with a bang :-)

A half hour later we braced them again as the winds returned to their pre squall direction.

About midway through our watch the skis opened up and I spent my lookout in the pouring rain.
By the time our watch ended the winds had dropped and shifted such that we were pointing directly at
Dominica. So we fired up the main engine and took in all sails and are now motoring North off the eastern
shore of Dominica. FWIW you can see the steam from the boiling lake, like a cloud stuck in the forest,
cool.

My hands are a mess, even my “good” one is a bit torn up. Callouses and water don’t mix.

More later…

Just got off a very busy watch.

We tacked this evening at around 5:00pm and it went very well.

Since then we have been sailing full and bye but in the wrong direction. That leads me to believe that we
will be tacking again. Possibly even later tonight which means we would be doing it in the dark. Fun fun
that!

One of the islands we have been sailing slowly past is Marie Gallant (?!?) this island is NE of Dominica
and is actually the edge of the Caribbean tectonic plate thrust up over the Atlantic plate. The volcanoes of
Dominica are the molten remains of the Atlantic plate melting as it descends. This is the classic plate edge
volcanic system but normally you can’t see the edge of the overriding plate so clearly.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Sailing for Antigua Apr 12,09

Tuesday, April 14th, 2009

Sunday April 12,09

I hope Eostre’s Hare was good to you all and you didn’t overdose on chocolate :-)

We had a busy day today.

This morning we cleaned up the ship, re-lashed all the stuff that had been unlashed over the last few days
so the on watches could paint the topsides. We also stowed a lot of stuff preparatory to getting underway
for Antigua.

We up anchored and motored away from Martinique at 3:30pm this afternoon. We kept motoring using
the fore and aft sails until we passed out of the lee of the island then took in the sails and motored North
East until around 6:00 when we set all sails.

The plan is to sail North towards Antigua on the Windward side of the islands. This will mean some tricky
steering as we will have to steer really close to the wind to make the Northing we need.
We finally had some luck with the fishing lines. We caught a Barracuda and a pretty big Marlin within a
half hour of each other.

Just as we were getting ready to go off watch at 8:00pm a big rain squall came in and thoroughly drenched
us before hitting us with strong wind gusts that necessitated taking in the flying jib in the pitch dark and
rain. A damp but effective way to get everyone back into sailor mode.

My tattoo looks good still, which is a relief frankly as I was afraid of a bout of “buyers remorse” this
morning :-)  There were lot of tattoos done while we were in Martinique something like 20!

The trip to Antigua will take a couple of days so we should get some good if tricky sailing.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Getting Inked in Martinique Apr 11,09

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

So after much consideration I have decided to get a tattoo.

I know Biz, my daughter, thought I should get one to mark the trip but I couldn’t decide on a pattern I’d
like to live with for the rest of my life :-)

The primary reason we are here in Martinique is to visit a tattoo artist that does Polynesian style tattoos
and is well known to the Picton Castle crew.

Many of the crew have got new tattoos, some small some very complex all beautiful and unique. Her style
is very light, which I like, not heavy and blocky like most tattoos I’ve seen.

John got a nice one on his calf you can see it here.

This is the place then to get it done, after crossing both the Atlantic ocean and the Equator I’ve an idea
that I think will work well, a combination of traditional and artistic. I’ll see what the artist thinks.

My appointment is at 2:00pm today and I’m sitting in the cafe drinking cafe ‘o lait listening to the
buzz/wine of the tattoo gun…

More later…

It’s later and I have a nice tattoo on my left forearm.

At least all the pain and healing itching will be on the same side :-)

Now the dilemma is to post pictures or surprise everyone when I get home?

What do you think?

Thanks for reading.
KJ

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St Pierre Martinique Apr 10,09

Saturday, April 11th, 2009

My galley day yesterday went by without a hitch.

Luckily Donald was cooking, boo yeah!, so we just had to stay ahead of the dishes. Keeping my freshly
bandaged hand dry was a challenge but a bright yellow rubber glove managed that :-)

This morning I came ashore on the first skiff run for a look around. Being Good Friday it was very quiet
but the museum was open. There were lots of before and after photos of the city in 1908. The most
powerful display to me was the huge bell from the cathedral. This inch thick bronze bell looks like a
squashed beer can! The force of the blast and the extreme heat simply mashed it flat as it fell from the
tower.

There are also examples of things found in the ruins as people began to build anew. Blocks of fused nails
and screws from a hardware store, melted coins and smashed ships portholes plus many ordinary things
made into macabre artifacts by the sheer power of the volcanoe.

Nicko and I wandered through the town and saw the ruins of the theater, a large church and the prison
where one of the only two survivors was in solitary confinement in a small cell deep inside the prison.
The ruins show the power of this event. There are great blocks of masonry piled up like they were
children’s blocks dumped out of a bucket.

The current town, built amongst the ruins, has made no attempt to hide it’s charred and blasted
predecessor. Many of the houses incorporate the walls directly, they are usually blackened bare stone and
mortar whereas the new walls are painted cinder block. The streets are the same as well, many with the
original cobbled surfaces.

All in all St Pierre is a fascinating, if slightly macabre place to see. Rising above it, to the North, is the
grey peaked Mt Pelee still rumbling a bit and being very carefully watched.

The crew has adopted a restaurant bar tattoo parlour called L’ Escapade which has WiFi even :-)

Unfortunately they closed at 3:00 this afternoon as did everything else in town. Apparently this weekend
will be very quiet so not sure what we’ll end up doing tomorrow as we also have it off.

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Here are some pictures from my look around in St Pierre Martinique.
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Sailing to Martinique Wed April 8,09

Friday, April 10th, 2009

This morning after breakfast and domestics we began the process of heaving up our anchor and the three
shots of chain hanging almost straight down from the hawse pipe. Pulling this up with the windlass was a lot harder than normal because we had to lift the whole kit ‘n kaboodle. Normally the chain is laying on
the bottom and we drag it along only lifting the part that goes up to the ship.

Once the anchor was up we motored away from the shore and set all sails as we got out of the lee of
Dominica. We were under sail by 11:20am.

We are now sailing along at about 5 knots headed south towards the French island of Martinique. I mostly
know this island for the destruction of the city of St Pierre by the volcanoe there. Many of the crew are
looking forward to this stop because they want to get a tattoo. I may do so as well but haven’t decided for
sure yet :-)

We will be in Martinique for at least 3 days probably 4.
More later…

Just finished cleaning up from dinner.

I had first helm on our afternoon watch. We were motorsailing towards Martinique and ran into a
rainstorm with gusty winds. I had my foulie jacket on but hadn’t done it up yet. I ended up standing my
trick at the helm with my jacket open. Luckily the rain was fairly warm :-)

We took in all sails around 5:30 and motored into the anchorage at St Pierre and dropped the starboard
hook. The Captain says the holding is not great here but the anchorage is fairly sheltered so we should be
OK.

St Pierre never really recovered after the eruption of 1908. From a population of 40,000 there are now
only 7,000. The current city is built inside the ruins of the old city. There is a good museum here which I
intend to check out.

I have looked at the picture taken the day after the eruption so many times that my mind overlays that
scene of utter desolation over the current lush green countryside. We are anchored near to the point where
the photo appears to have been taken so it’s almost like a temporal shadow. It is a very odd sensation.

Our watch is on tomorrow and I have galley so it will be a long day.

Thanks for reading.
KJ
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Boiling Lake Dominica Apr 7,09

Friday, April 10th, 2009

Went on a great hike up into the mountains of Dominica today.

WT, Nicola, Susie, Nicko and I took a bus up to the mountain town of Laudat where we paid our $5.00 US
site fee then started our hike by Pitou Gorge.

Our objective was the Boiling Lake and the Valley of Desolation high up in the Morne Trois Pitons
National park. The trail is very good and fairly easy to follow but it is essentially a 6 mile stairway! The
valleys are very steep and covered in lush rainforest. The first part of the trail we climbed relatively
slowly under scattered showers and then we came to the top of a ridge and started a 2 mile up and down
that was a real workout.

Eventually we came to the top of a high ridge and looked down into the valley of desolation with the
steam from the boiling lake rising from the forest on the mountainside beyond it.

After a very steep scramble down into the valley we passed hotsprings and boiling pools with steam rising
straight into the sky. Everywhere there was sulphur coated rocks and bubbling hissing sulphurous steam.
In places the ground was hot and you could here the steam hissing and roaring beneath your feet. Very
cool.

The valley of desolation is indeed desolate the result of a massive phreatic (steam) explosion in the 1880s
sometime. There was a smaller one in 1997 as well.

From there we followed the hot streams down the valley a bit and then climbed up to the edge of the
Boiling lake. This lake is the largest of it’s kind in the world and is a very impressive example of the power
of the tectonic and volcanic forces beneath our feet. The lake is in the bottom of a perfect cylindrical pipe
maybe 300′ across. The center of the lake is in a constant state of roiling boil. It makes a steady rumble a
it does so.

Very impressive.

On our way back through the valley of desolation we stopped to look into many of the boiling pools and
steam vents and followed some of the sulphur mud flows. The guide of another party gave us a hard time
for “analysing” things without a permit?!? Apparently looking too closely at things is considered
“research” and needs a permit of some kind. Go figure.

Susie figures I must have looked like a geologist or somebody scientific. Who knew :-)

Of course every downhill we had done meant a subsequent uphill and vice verse. My knee which
occasionally gives me trouble when hiking was really sore by the time we got back to the Pitou Gorge.
Susie took off ahead on the way back and was down almost a half an hour before Nicko and I stumbled
out the forest. WT and Nickola followed us out maybe 15 minutes later. All safe and sound.

Tonight the Ruin Rock is putting on a BBQ for us so that’s where I will be heading once I get cleaned up.

Thanks for reading
KJ

Here are the pictures from our expedition.

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Dominica Apr 6,09

Monday, April 6th, 2009

Spent the day yesterday doing shipwork like sanding and painting, all of which can be done one handed
We also loosed all the square sails so they could dry. Unfortunately I couldn’t go aloft to help. Bruce did
however which was a first for him and I have a photo to prove it!

This morning we had to hoist the anchor and motor a little further out to give the anchor a better grip on
the steep side of this island. We are now anchored in about 100′ of water and almost the same distance
from the shore. Nothing like a little anchor work after breakfast to start the day off on the right foot!

I’m thinking of spending the day fairly quietly today and will join a bunch of people heading into the hills
tomorrow. We will be going to the boiling lake and the “valley of desolation” the most recently active area
of this volcanic island.

More later…

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Dominica April 3,09

Friday, April 3rd, 2009

Woke up this morning with my hand throbbing. Blah!

Eric our Doctor arranged for a tour guide for the day so I went ashore on the early skiff after a hurried
breakfast. Once there we had a bit of time to kill so Eric bandaged my hand properly. At least this way it
might actually heal in a timely manner.

The tour was fantastic. Kurt, our driver, is actually the captain of the whale watching boat at the
Anchorage Hotel and has access to the hotel’s 4×4 so we were able to get up high in the mountains. The
roads on Dominica are very narrow, many are literally a single lane. Plus there is a lot of road construction
underway which means they are rough and muddy in places.

We went up to Freshwater Lake which is in the crater of an old volcanoe. Very nice high up in the rain
forest covered mountains. We also went to Trafalgar Falls which are beautiful. A quick side trip to Pitou
Gorge was interesting. That is the narrow channel part of Pirates II was filmed in, when they fell into the
gorge in the cages.

The landscape here is very much like the West Coast of Canada but with tropical foliage. In fact part of
the trip today was in deep V shaped river valleys very much like the area around Sandon near Kaslo B.C.
We went all the way across the island to the Carib Territory which is the last indigenous area in the
Caribbean.





Here is a picture of me wandering through the Carib museum.
Note the bandages on my hand!

After we got back to Roseau we had a great dinner of fish and chips and I’m now hanging out with Eric at
an apartment he rented here.

Thanks for reading.
KJ






Eric is a bit of a video wiz so check out his latest here: Picton Scullery Ackbar (alas no longer online)

Pictures of my day ashore as soon as I can upload them.

They are here.

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Dominica April 3,09

Friday, April 3rd, 2009
(Actually I think this was written on April 4th)

Spent the morning doing osfo and doing spot painting of the starboard bow topsides.

It was nice and cool, sitting on a plank suspended off the rail, as that was the shady side of the ship. This
afternoon we are going to be doing the same but on the port side which is facing the sun which will be
really hot.

The schooner Spirit of Massachusetts was anchored here. Her captain was 2nd mate on the third world
voyage of the Picton castle and came alongside for a visit. When she was leaving she sailed across our
bows and saluted with a shot from her cannon and a proper dipping of her ensign. We responded with a
good horn blast. Very cool.

David and I went ashore yesterday and wandered around the town of Roseau. The town is beautiful and
still pretty much as this area was 50 years ago. The buildings are mostly two story with the lower story
stone and the upper story wood.

The current crew hangout is a fabulous bar/restaurant called the Ruin Rock Cafe. It is built inside the
ruins of an old building and serves an amazing variety of flavoured rums that they make themselves. The
Guava was definitely “dangerously yummy” :-)  They also have things like coconut pineapple, ginger,
tamarind, lemon and other fruits as well as very exotic ones like snake and centipede ?!?.

I’m hoping to go on an around the island tour when we get ashore tomorrow.

More later…

It’s later and I have a very sore left hand. Blah.

I’m going to file the following under the “It seemed like a good idea at the time” file or maybe the “20/20
hindsight is a bitch” one.

After lunch I shifted the scaffold over to get at the last spot on the starboard bow. In doing so I tried to position it such that I could reach it from the rail. Well, as I tried to lower myself down I realized that the
plank was about a foot too low! Unfortunately I didn’t find this out until I was so far over the rail that I
couldn’t get back up!

Then I made my big mistake. I figured I would just hand over hand my way down the rope to the plank, it
was only 1 foot after all right? Wrong! The line was too thin to hang onto and before I could get both
hands onto it I slid down the rope, missed the plank and ended up hanging off the end! I also badly rope
burned my left hand, ripping most of my callouses off and giving myself second degree burns on my index
finger and the palm of my hand! Ouch.

So there I was hanging over the brilliant blue sea by my fingertips feeling like a right great goof. I tried to
climb back up onto the plank but because my weight was on the end it kept swinging away from the ships
side. I yelled “On deck!” and got an immediate response and then yelled “Help!”. There wasn’t anything
anyone could really do and in hindsight I should just have dropped into the drink to swim over to the
ladder. Ben and Susie were working alongside in the skiff and they came over to see if I could clamber
into it before letting go but I ended up swimming anyways.

To everybody’s credit nobody laughed, which was nice

David, helped me bandage my hand, fresh water rinsed my gear and hung it all up for me while I found
some dry clothes. Thanks David!

It’s a good thing I have a couple of days off to let the blisters break and get a start on the healing process.
Hauling on lines is going to be a pain for a while.

It’s also a good thing I mostly type with one finger :-)

Thanks for reading.
KJ

Posted in Ashore, On Watch | No Comments »

Dominica Apr 1,09

Wed April 1,09

We took in our sails and fired up the engine midway through our watch.

We arrived in Dominica at 9:30am this morning and am now anchored “stern to” just off shore The shore
is very steep here our stern, which is maybe 40′ from the shore, is in something like 20′ of water and our
bow is in more than 70′! We are waiting to get cleared in currently then I will be going ashore to check out
what there is to see.

Here is a wonderful picture of us anchored "stern to" taken by our ship's doctor Eric Eder.

Thanks for reading
KJ