Marigot Bay - Rebecca's 16th Birthday!

Lunch at Doolittle's

On Sunday we went to Doolittle’s restaurant in Marigot Bay. The restaurant has this name because it was where the original Dr Doolittle movie was filmed. After lunch, Rebecca and I went to go try out the tree swing on the little beach and naturally Rebecca swung the wrong way around the tree on her first go and cut her toe on a rock. All the local boys were sitting by the tree laughing at us on the inside as we attempted this rope swing. We both gave it two tries then decided maybe we should just stick to swimming in the water. So Rebecca and I swam back to the boat, only to see a new boat full of French boys had anchored next to us. They were cheering Rebecca on and clapping as she jumped off the bow of the boat into the water. Once my mom came back to the boat, they cheered her on as she jumped too. My sister and my mom were swimming at the front of the boat and my mom started walking on the bridle lines. “I haven’t been drinking Mr. Officer, “she claimed as she wobbled down the anchor bridle line, eventually splashing into the water.

On Monday we went to shore for breakfast, only to figure out as we were going that our dinghy was having a problem. Once we had started the engine kept on cutting off and we constantly had to restart it. After restarting it more than once, we finally got to shore. After breakfast and a bit of Wimbledon for my parents, we went back to the boat with a dinghy that kept on cutting off. My dad spent the afternoon servicing the dinghy and found out he needed a part from Yamaha that St. Lucia did not have. So our dinghy will stay like this until we get to Barbados to get the part. In the afternoon, my dad, my sister and I put on our snorkeling gear and snorkeled all along the side of the land around the corner. We saw quite a few fish, the highlights being squid and a moray eel.

On Tuesday my dad was fixing something else on the boat . . .he was adjusting the rigging so that the shrouds would not be so loose as we sailed. I went for a run that started with a massive uphill, followed by a massive downhill and then another massive up hill . . .needless to say my run didn’t last very long.

Wednesday brought along new surprises as the generator raw water impeller failed for the third time, Rebecca’s toilet pump broke due to the fact that Rebecca over uses toilet paper and we found out we had no more gas in our gas bottle for cooking . . .the joys of having a boat! My dad spent the morning fixing the generator and the toilet pump, but the gas bottle would have to wait until we got to Rodney Bay as that’s the only place we can get gas from. Later on in the afternoon, we packed our bags and hopped into the dinghy and were taken to the Discovery hotel in Marigot Bay. We were spending two nights there for Rebecca’s 16^th birthday. We went to the rooms and unpacked and then got dressed up for dinner. We got onto a ferry to a restaurant on the other side of the bay called the Rainforest Hideaway. It was Jazz night so they had local jazz artists playing throughout the night. It was a great spot and a great evening.

Hotel Discovery

Dinner

Thursday morning was the big day. . .Rebecca’s 16^th birthday. We went for breakfast at the hotel restaurant and she opened her presents at the table. The staff sang to her as they gave her a free glass of champagne and orange juice with her breakfast. The rest of the day was spent relaxing by the swimming pool and in the room. Rebecca was so glad to have live television again and found herself watching quite a bit of Spongebob during the day. We got dressed up again for dinner that night and went to the hotel restaurant for dinner. We found out the restaurant was closed but they had made an exception for us as there was one table set up with candles and flowers just for the birthday girl. The dinner was absolutely delicious and they made Rebecca a special cake for dessert. After that we went back to the room and watched movies until we needed to close our eyes.

Getting hair done

Happy Birthday!

Friday morning, Rebecca and I went for a massage at the hotel spa to finalize her birthday and to make it special. They put Rebecca and I in the same room, and she fell asleep half way through her massage and snored so loudly you could swear she was chopping down trees. After that we packed our bags and hopped back into our dinghy with the shady engine and headed back to Jangles. Friday afternoon, we lifted anchor and motored to anchor outside Rodney Bay awaiting the impending arrival of my brother. 

Rodney Bay - Marigot Bay, St. Lucia

 Seeming’s though we missed jump up on Friday night due to two tired crew members (not mentioning any names. . .), we decided to go to a party at Point Seraphin on Saturday evening. We arrived just after 9pm and there was hardly any one there. . .but by 10pm, the local artists had started and people were piling in. We stayed until 11:40pm, dancing and listening to the hottest artists in St. Lucia.

Off to the party

Saturday was partying, so Sunday was schoolwork. Rebecca and I spent the whole day getting a great deal of schoolwork done and dusted.

On Wednesday morning there was great excitement on the boat as my dad was arriving home. We all woke up early to give Jangles a nice scrub so she was all clean and shiny again. I stayed on the boat to finish up my set of PACE tests as my mom and sister drove to the airport to fetch my dad. They arrived back at the boat just after 4pm. I ran outside and hugged my dad, we had all missed Mr. Captain. My mom and sister were all smiling as we got back onto the boat. We took my dad out for dinner at our favourite spot, the Starfish restaurant. We all caught up over dinner and then took a very jetlagged Mr. Captain back to bed.

Sunset on kayak trip

I woke up on Friday morning not feeling great at all. So Rebecca, as the trooper she is, went alone to training with Rodja. As for me, I drugged up and went back to bed. By the early evening, I was feeling much better and decided to go for a light paddle on the kayak and then a slow jog along the beach, it was beautiful as I got back just as the sun was setting. We all headed to the nice long hot showers we were allowed to take on shore and got ready for dinner and the Jump Up. After a quick dinner at Starfish, we took a taxi to the street party. My dad spotted the lady he sat next to on the aeroplane so him and my mom went to sit with them whilst Rebecca and I went to check out the dance scene. As usual, all the tourists were standing around watching two locals dance all by themselves. Eventually Rebecca and I joined them and after a while, everybody started to dance with us. We left pretty early, just after 11pm, as I was starting to feel sick again from all the smoke hanging around from the cigars and cigarettes that were being passed around. Once in bed, I slept like a baby.

Dancing at the Jump Up

Santa's treats

Saturday morning was finally time to leave Rodney Bay. We cleared out of the office and said goodbye to our friend, Fiona, who works at the Ocean Club in the marina. As we left the dock, my spirit soared as we were finally on the move again. The genoa went up and we sailed down to Marigot Bay. It was a short sail, only 9 nautical miles, but it felt so good to sail again! Once we were anchored in the bay, we had lunch. Over lunch I showed my parents a video of the Tough Mudder race some friends of ours are doing today in Vancouver. We looked around grateful for the blue water and sunny sky. As we were finishing lunch, we heard cheerful singing coming towards us. Shortly after, we were greeted my Santa himself in a little yellow kayak. He was bringing us presents by giving us all tasters of his delicious mangoes and bananas! We ended up being very spoilt on christmas as we left with bundles of mangoes,  bananas, starfruits, cucumbers, peppers, and limes. We spent the afternoon lying on the couch watching NCIS. As evening came around, we all got ready to go to Doolittle's for dinner. We called the water taxi to come fetch us but no reply. . .we kept trying. . . .Eventually we decided to go take the dinghy down and go ourselves but just as we took the cover off, heaven forbid, it started pouring with rain. Eventually we decided that it was time to call it, peanut butter sandwiches for dinner and we would do Doolittles tomorrow evening.

Santa with his goodies

Click on the link below to see a video of our day trip to the botanical gardens and diamond waterfall.

St. Lucia - botanical gardens and diamond waterfall

Exploring St. Lucia

Sunday morning, Rebecca and I met with our trainer, Rodja, and went for a jog. We ran to the beach; stopping to do little exercises along the way such as pushups, jump ups etc. After our morning exercise, we spent the rest of the day tackling schoolwork . . .by the evening Rebecca and I could definitely feel the work out we had done that morning. Once I lay my head down on my pillow . . .I wasn’t going anywhere until the morning . . . .

Monday morning we met with Rodja again. . .this time, we did an ab workout. We couldn’t even laugh for the rest of the day as it hurt too much! But naturally when you try not to laugh. . .whatta ya do? You laugh. After our workout, we went across the road for Rebecca to get a blood test. She took a test to see what foods her body doesn’t agree with. We then went for chai lattes and wraps at the shopping mall for lunch

Tuesday morning was a very entertaining one. We met a dance instructor at Rodja’s gym and he tried to teach us how to dance hip-hop. Now, just imagine three girls with no rhythm and hardly any coordination . . .and I think you get the picture. It was more of an ab workout as we found ourselves laughing at each other the whole time. Something new to do everyday I suppose . . . .

Climbing to Fort Rodney

On Wednesday morning was training again . . .full body cardio workout, which luckily gave our abs a rest from our previous session. We went for breakfast after training and we had . . . doubles! We found a Trinidadian restaurant and had a breakfast double for old times sake. Couldn’t help but remember my old tradition . . .running with Robert in the morning followed by a double. After doubles it was time for a geocache. We went to Pigeon Point National park and paid our entrance fee. It was a beautiful park, with lots of old forts and buildings. We climbed to the lookout point (the highest spot) to look for the geocache. I climbed into the thick bushes following the little black arrow on my GPS. After a while of scratching and climbing through long grass, my mom casually walked to a big rock and pulled the box out from behind it. I laughed at myself on the inside as I looked at the bushes I had climbed over and under. I opened the box and found the object I was going to take . . .the coolest thing since sliced bread. It was a large round coin, a copy of an old Dutch Lion Dollar that was made in the 1600 and 1700s. I spent the rest of the day flipping my new found treasure over and over again . . .wondering about who could of put it in the box. . . .

                                             

Mom

                                             

Looking through the bushes

Lion Dollar

Diamond waterfall

Thursday, we went for another dance class.  . .this time, Caribbean style dancing. I’m sure our instructor must have been laughing at us on the inside as us three girls tried to move our hips and wine like the locals. For the afternoon, we hired a car and drove to the south of the island to the diamond waterfall and the botanical gardens. I held my breath as my mom zoomed around all of the little roads. After getting lost twice, we finally arrived at the entrance to the botanical gardens. They say the mineral baths here are supposed to make you look ten years younger. A local trying to sell us some jewelry asked my mom if she was going to go into the baths . . .he told her she needed it. Needless to say my mom didn’t buy any jewelry from him. We walked into the gardens just to be greeted by the calming sounds of nature . . .water running in the distance, birds chirping . . .it was serene. The gardens were beautiful and well looked after. We took a walk to the diamond waterfall . . .the sign said that we weren’t allowed to swim beneath the waterfall, but I climbed down to it and stuck my toes in anyway. It was a beautiful waterfall and it was disappointing that we weren’t allowed to go in it. We walked back to the mineral baths, which we were allowed to go it. We changed into our costumes and slipped into the warm water. We soaked up the minerals for a while and decided to leave once we started going wrinkly. We walked around the gardens for a while more before finally deciding to tackle the long drive back before it grew dark. Once we got the marina, we went to the Starfish restaurant where we had the most delicious dinner! I was so exhausted that I lay on my bed and by eight thirty my lights were out.

Mineral baths

                                   

The pitons

Friday was pouring with rain . . .a lovely break from the hot humid sun we’ve been having non-stop! Rebecca got her results back from the doctors today as to what foods her body reacted to . . .and two of the main ones were dairy and wheat. . .I laughed as I thought no more pizza. . . .

Rodney Bay, St. Lucia

Off to the shops

So three girls alone on Jangles without Mr. Captain. . .the fun begins! Click on the link below to see a video of our sail from Antigua to St. lucia:

Sailing with Jangles

On Tuesday morning I decided to head for a run to Pigeon point national park, as there was a geocache there. I ran to the entrance to find that they only open at 9am, and as my runs start just after 6 to avoid the heat, I was very early. So I decided to run back and come another day at a time it was open. The rest of the morning consisted of schoolwork as they are doing so whilst we are on the dock for two weeks. We went shopping in the afternoon for some groceries and ended up with some new clothes too . . .what can I say, this is what happens when three women are left by themselves. I also went to get my eyebrows waxed, which I now know was a mistake. Cause later on I couldn’t figure out why my eyebrows were still so sore, until I looked in the mirror and discovered that the lady had taken a small strip of skin off on either one of my eyebrows! I won’t be going again any time soon . . . .We also found a shop that sells DVD’s! We left with a few new ones to watch on the boat. The evening consisted of a delicious homemade Caesar salad and one of the movies we bought.

            

 

Ready for the shop!

 On Wednesday, the day was filled with schoolwork once again. We also met an American family who were sailing with four children under the age of 12! They were a lovely family and we shared stories for a while. That evening, at around five, I decided to try out my new running top that I had bought the previous day. I took the kayak and paddled out of the channel around the corner to the beach, where I left the kayak. I then started my beach run and as I was running there were two guys running the opposite direction, and one of them started running backwards beside me as they passed. He then turned around and began running next to me . . .I gained a new running partner named Hervan for the evening. We ran the beach twice and then I paddled back to the boat for dinner and bed.

What a Great God we serve

On Thursday, I took the day off schoolwork as I had just completed six pace tests. I spent the day cleaning and touching my record stash on the boat. I was reminiscing about the times when I would lay on cushions on the floor of my candle lit room with a cup of tea in my hand just listening to the sweet sound of my records spinning round and round. My records just have to sit quietly on the boat until one day, I will let them sing sweetly to me. They needed a field day though so I took them out to see some daylight. I played my Pink Floyd Cd, singing along as I cleaned my records. . .

My sweet records. . .

Our fish!

Friday was the night of Jump Up. We spent the morning doing schoolwork and I went grocery shopping with my mom. Around 8pm, it came time for us leave for the Jump Up. The Jump Up is a local street party that takes place every Friday night. They have food stalls and stalls selling local arts and crafts and of course, loud Caribbean music blaring for everybody to dance in the street. As we got there, a local guy came up to my sister and I and made us a fish out of a bamboo leaf. We thanked him kindly as we walked off with our new pets. Rebecca found a stall that made hair braids, so she sat down whilst a lady made a braid onto a small plait she had made. We then decided it was time for some food. We went to a food stall, told them what we wanted and then found a small table to sit down at with our food. Rebecca and I then ventured down the street to see what the dance scene looked liked. There was one girl dancing all by herself whilst everyone else was standing around watching her. After twenty minutes of just her dancing, she pulled Rebecca and I into the circle with her. We started dancing whilst everyone stared on. Eventually, all of the tourists started to loosen up as they saw us dancing and joined us in the circle. The circle soon lost its shape as everybody, locals and tourists, started dancing together to the music of the Caribbean. Rebecca and I danced for a little while with two small local St. Lucian girls. They were shy at first but eventually had both arms raised and were jumping up and down. Rebecca also yelled at some guy who tried to dance with me (they both yelled for about a minute and then broke into smiles and no hard feelings were done). Before we headed back to the boat, we went into the ice-cream shop only to have the tastiest scoop of peanut butter ice-cream I have ever had. We got back to the boat and headed to the showers before enjoying a soft pillow beneath our heads.

Bamboo leaf fish

Rebecca getting a braid

Saturday morning I went with my mom to get a few more groceries from the mall. We then went for lunch at the ocean bar. Our friend Fiona was working so I went to fetch my bottle of peanut butter from the boat as she always makes me a special peanut butter smoothie. Rebecca and I went for a personal training session in the afternoon and then went for a jog back to the boat. Everybody asks Rebecca if she is Jessica's sister. . .all the security guards know my name. . .Rebecca thinks i'm too friendly but hey, how can you make a friend without talking to a stranger first?

Montserrat - St.Lucia

Eric Clapton's hand print

Old recording studio

We awoke on Tuesday morning to a new island that was just waiting to be uncovered. My dad headed to shore to clear customs and immigration but shortly after came to fetch us all. A smiling man named Joe, who was to be our tour guide for the day, greeted us as we got off the dock. Our first stop was the cultural centre where we got to see the hand prints etched into the wall of some famous musicians such as Elton John, Eric Clapton, Paul McCartney etc. We were told that there used to be a recording studio on the island where a few of these musicians came to record . . . some others including Sting and the Police. The studio was no longer working as it was abandoned after hurricane Hugo and also once the world changed to digital recording. From the cultural centre we went to the volcanic observatory of Montserrat and watched a 20-minute video about some of the history of the volcano. The volcano caused a lot of the people living on the island to evacuate, thus changing the population from over 11 000 inhabitants to the small 5 000 that still reside here today. Nineteen lives were lost in the eruption itself. Eight years ago the volcano destroyed the town of Plymouth, which still to this day, lies in ruins, buried beneath volcanic ash. We drove to the abandoned recording studio to see where magic was once produced. It was very cool looking around the studio and seeing the thick doors, separate instrument rooms, sound boards etc. Joe then drove us to Plymouth to see the site of devastation. He first drove us through his old village which had also been evacuated. . .I felt as if I were in a horror movie driving through the small roads, overgrown with green bush. Death hung in the air as we drove on, not death as such in actual lives lost, but death for the lives that had once been lived in these houses, death to the memories that abided in them. We drove past what was once a school, where children ran and played, but was now nothing more that an old building hidden by thick overgrowth. Buried beneath lush green bush, we passed house after house. My mother asked him how they all just packed their personal things and left without looking back. Joe said they did it because it was what they had to do, they looked forward and moved on. Eventually we arrived at Plymouth. . .what a contrast compared to what we had just been through. Here, before my eyes, there was no lush green overgrowth, no life had been reproduced. Everything was grey and ghostly. I stood for a while, lost for words, gazing at the destruction caused only eight years ago. The volcano still releases volcanic gases so we could smell it in the air. Joe took us to an abandoned hotel that had been destroyed in the eruption. Everything was covered in volcanic ash and mud. . .the rooms. . .the reception. . .everything. We finally left the barren, solitary side of the island and headed back to where there was still some life. As we drove, I heard my dad say softly behind me to himself, “Material things mean nothing in the big picture.” How true that statement was . . . .We went for lunch at the hotel where all the band members stayed when the recording studio was still working. After lunch we drove up a big hill and looked over Montserrat. It was heartbreaking yet breathtaking all at the same time. You could clearly see the contrast from Plymouth to the rest of the island. The island changed instantly from lush green forest to grey desolate land. After a great day, a real eye opening one too, we went back to the boat, all grateful for what we had.

Plymouth in ruins

Destroyed hotel room

contrast between Plymouth and the rest of Montserrat

Abandoned hotel

Wednesday we woke up to the beautiful site of Montserrat once again. After making a breakfast of Spanish eggs for my parents, I set about on schoolwork. Most of the day was schoolwork, I did, however, go for a paddle on the kayak in the afternoon. Beaches and little cliffs surrounded the island. The waves had created small caves in the cliffs, so I paddled to get a closer look. After my kayak, we lifted anchor and moved in closer to the beach in hope of being better protected from the wind. The whole day we had felt the anchor tug as a huge gust of wind kept howling through. The bridle had even fell off we discovered, so the anchor chain was taking the brunt of the pull. We were satisfied with the new spot as we were much more sheltered from the wind. We had a night of peaceful slumber.

Click on the link below for a video of our time at Montserrat. . .

Montserrat

Thursday morning our plans changed once again . . .we left Montserrat and headed for Jolly Harbour in Antigua. Something had come up that my dad needed to go sort out in Australia so he will fly to Australia tomorrow. We arrived in Antigua and I went for a run . . .I started off on an old dirt road that looked as if it hadn’t been traveled down for a while. The road eventually led me to a beautiful beach . . .I left my shoes by a beach chair and went for a beach run. My run came to an end as the sun began setting. I met a guy on a golf cart who offered to take me back to the marina so off I went. As I was walking back to the boat, by chance I saw my parents having a drink at the bar, I went to sit with them for a while before heading back to Jangles.

Sailing away from Montserrat

Friday morning began with a bang. The buckets and brooms came out as we gave Jangles a good scrub. As we were cleaning her exterior, a lady came and introduced herself as Jill. She came to say hello and to say how amazed she was that she saw a family working together to clean the boat. We chatted with her for a bit and then said our farewells as my dad had to go catch his plane. Us girls felt lost on the boat without Mr. Captain. We went shopping for provisioning and then got take aways for dinner and sat around the table watching a movie together.

Checking the rods

Saturday was the arrival day for Lee. My mom got up early to begin preparing things for dinner and baking a cake so that she wouldn’t have to be in the gallery a lot during our sail. As we were still getting ready, I heard a knock on the hull. I surfaced to see who it could be and it was Lee, he had arrived earlier than expected. He got settled into his cabin (his one little backpack didn’t go very far with all the space I had cleared) and we departed just before one o' clock to the customs dock. We made it to the customs dock in one piece. . .and surprisingly there was no tension or stress on the boat at all. . .this was going ot be a great sail. Sure enough as we left Jolly Harbour and headed off into the big blue, the sea was calm and the wind was great. We averaged between 8-9 knots from Antigua to Guadelope, where the wind died instantly and we had to turn the motors on. It was also a full moon tonight so the water and the sails were all lit up with a magical glow. As we sailed on past Guadeloupe and then reaching Dominica, we realized something was missing. . .other boats. We hadn’t seen anyone boats since reaching Guadelope. We spoke too soon obviously cause as Lee went down to sleep and left me on my night watch, a large cargo ship started inching its way closer and closer towards us. They passed about 0.7nm behind our boat, but they were lit up like a shopping mall as all their twinkling lights came past. We had a little concern about the starboard engine as it was making a really loud humming sound and it started to smell as if someone had ridden the clutch on a car. Lee did some investigating and eventually it went back to normal. . .the sound evened out with the port engine and the smell slowly disappeared. We had decided on doing an hour and a half on watch and then three hours off. . .this worked well and we eventually worked our way through to morning.

Steak on the braai

We all found ourselves on deck at 5 am on Sunday morning. . .why were we all awake? So I went back to sleep for a while. As we were passing Martinique, we had a sweet surprise. . .dolphins. We saw a new born baby who could not of been more than a few days old. We all kept on glancing at the rods over and over. . .where were the fish? We had caught a small tuny the previous day but other than that, the ocean has been filled with fish that weren’t hungry! We even switched lures on both rods and nothing happened. We arrived in Rodney Bay around 3pm on Sunday afternoon. All in all it was a very pleasant sail. . .calm seas, good wind between islands, dolphins, full moon to give us light at night time. . .and the list goes on. Thanks Lee for bringing us girls here safely xxx

Washing hair on deck

Chilling with drinks after a good sail