Goodbye Baguettes and Patisseries - Headed South Again

We are finally on our way!  The heat exchanger was replaced by a mechanic named Cedric who also showed Roger a few little tricks and tips. A heat exchanger works like the radiator in your car to cool the engine. The difference is, rather than using a fan and the air to cool the hot radiator fluid that circulates in your car engine, a boat motor takes in the water from the ocean, runs it through a series of capillaries and thus cools the hot radiator fluid and returns the water to the sea though the exhaust pipe, thus cooling it too. Virtually all boat motors work this way. The inherent problem is that salt water rusts everything. Hence the capillaries walls get thinner and thinner until they fail and your engine is ruined by the salt or you catch it in time as we did.  

We also had our dinghy outboard motor tuned-up so it starts much more easily now.  And Roger bought a bunch more spare parts, including a new alternator, to make sure we will have everything we need for the rest of our journey.  We also splurged on a couple of deck chairs, perfect for cocktails on the foredeck!

In our final night in Le Marin, Martinique, I enjoyed my last night of Montreal-style bavette and frites at Ti Toques, and Pirate enjoyed the leftovers for her second breakfast 😄

As we were getting ready to head over to Ste Anne, it was hard not to notice how our 47 foot sailboat fit in with our dock neighbours.  This is our boat, hanging out with the big dogs.

We spent our last night in Martinique just a few miles away at Ste. Anne. We all went for a wonderful swim, watched the sunset and then went to bed early so that we were ready to head out for St Vincent at 12:30 a.m.  

The 2/3 moon shone brightly as we hoisted the main and headed out of the anchorage.  It was a beautiful evening with a light breeze and a temperature of 78 degrees. A large catamaran was departing at exactly the same time, and was off our starboard side for the first part of the journey to St Lucia.  It was kind of re-assuring having a companion boat, and I fully understand now why the groups like the Salty Dawgs and the ARC have their rallies so that boats are sailing as a group on long hauls and able to help out one another if need be.  

I helmed for a few hours, and then Roger took over while I dozed in the cockpit.  During the night, the royal yacht Britannia showed up on our AIS instruments, passed just behind us and called on the radio for a pilot to bring them into port.  By sunrise, we were passing the southern tip of St Lucia and the Pitons stood majestically as the sun rose behind them.

Roger got some much needed sleep in our cabin in the bow and awoke as we were getting close to St Vincent.  The wind had picked up and we let out the jib for a nice sail.  Pirate was very excited to see land, especially as her last bathroom break was at 7 pm the night before.  

Our original ETA for St Vincent was about 12:30 pm, which worked out perfectly because we had a 3 pm check in with the vet in St Vincent, which we had been told is one of the more ‘particular’ places to get your dog imported.  While we were motor/sailing, Roger noticed that our speed was going down, affecting our ETA.  What we hadn’t realized is there is a significant current in that area that was impeding our progress and making it a tight timeline to meet with the vet.

We moored at a beautiful spot by Young’s Cut in St Vincent, just south of the capital city Kingstown.   With no time to spare, we got the dinghy in the water, outboard on, and headed out to customs and our meeting with the vet.  The immigration and customs officers were an absolute delight, and the vet was very timely, so we had a very smooth entry into St Vincent.  Now it’s time to relax and enjoy!

We were the only boat in this little anchorage right near Fort Duvernette behind Young’s Island.  This fort sits atop a 190 ft volcanic rock and was built in the 1790’s to protect the colonial hub of Calliaqua where sugar was loaded onto ships bound for English ports.  Somehow, the British soldiers were ingenious enough to get cannons to the top to help defend against a French invasion.  Today there is a set of 250 concrete steps, but they would not have had that luxury.  The next morning, Roger hiked partway up the steps with Pirate to take this beautiful photo of our boat in the anchorage and a patrolling police boat.

We have heard some concerns from cruisers regarding security in the St Vincent area, so we were very pleased to see the police boat.  They even stopped to ask if we had checked in yet, as we had forgotten to change our courtesy flag from the France flag to the St Vincent flag. They were all smiles when Roger thanked them for keeping us cruisers safe. Unfortunately, we couldn’t find our flag for St Vincent, so we’re off to Bequia where there is chandlery that likely sells flags.