Winter in the tropics … it is not always as we imagine it!

With this article I will try to catch my phenomenal late, cheating a little I admit by just sharing with you the pictures of the last few months (see links below). More detailed articles will follow later, I promise.
For those who have not followed the events, we spent the winter between the Grenadines and Guadeloupe sharing our adventure with friends and family. So far, it sounds good. The heat, the golden shores, small romantic islands and lush vegetation … You already feel the straw floating in your glass of Piña colada!?  We’re almost there.

To view photos click on these links:
http://flickr.com/gp/3metz/Tf4wd7/
http://flickr.com/gp/3metz/npR23N
http://flickr.com/gp/3metz/73Kb35/
http://flickr.com/gp/3metz/S24Ve3/

 In March we had an extended stay on earth in Martinique to do significant work on PlanetOcean. Work that we constantly pushed back since we bought Planet but if we want to cross the pacific ocean next year, we had no choic but ?reaking inour bank account.
This long layover got children back on the benches of the school. To the delight of Noand « misfortune » of Camille (who prefers ?chool on the boat he says)… We rented a small house in the west of Martinique near Le Francois and every morning we could admire the breathtaking scenery of the wildest ocean coast. Meanwhile, Olivier had stayed on the boat, in the drydock , to keep him company he had the mosquitoes, cockroaches and rats without counting the 35 degrees in the cabin at night in the absence of sea breeze.
Olivier:
« Our Martinique stop was very technical and I met more mosquitoes than grains of sand. We put PlanetOcean on the drydock for a refit session:
Starboard hull was pierced in a very vicious place and we had to make some holes in the hull before deciding any repairing action. So to the most curious: rudder tube (1) was drilled under the waterline (2) and the leak filled a crashbox (3) rear engine. Nothing very serious because the volume of embedded water could not increase thanks to judicious partition (the leak had already been present for a few months.) But a repair was needed, and I was lucky, we had to an appropriate site and had a careenage (4) to do.
PlanetOcean has thus found her buttom out of the water for nearly a month, and in that same time I suffered the dust, resin fumes and the incessant attacks of mosquitoes (well organized in 8 hours shifts). Fortunately, Stephanie and the kids were able to stay on the ground and avoid this hell.
The boat has enjoyed a good fitness, including: review of the windlass (5), the engines, the steering system and transmission, new hot water circuit (Mmmm), new jib and revision of the safety gear.
Anyway, here we go again in our adventures with a safer boat, a honed crew who know their boat and at the same time a serene captain!

Good wind to you all and we’ll send you more news about Cuba later… Then it will be Panama in July.
Planetocean

A Christmas special.
Shortly before Christmas, while we still had a heavy heart having said goodbye to the family who had come to spend a few weeks on board, nature offers us an unforgettable gift.
We wake up in the morning, anchored at Le Pain de Sucre, Les Saintes. The weather is beautiful, very quiet we are only two boats in the bay.
I am preparing breakfast when Oliver shouts: « Dolphins ». At first I thought it was a (bad) joke because we had never been visited by dolphins at anchor. But knowing my captain, I do not think that his brain had been awake enough to have that kind of humor before his first cup of coffee. I therefore rush on deck. He told the truth! Two dolphins are swimming around the boat.
Neither one nor two I put my mask slipped my palm and I jumped into the water. So much for coffee, farewell morning toast and cereals! The visibility is not great, the sun still low on the horizon (it is only 6am), fresh water … (only 24 degrees)! I swim, I do circles around the boat, then in the bay … Nothing. Oooh … But where are they …? After a quarter of an hour (this is long quarter of an hour swimming in circles in the water without seeing anything! ..) I felt as if someone was watching me. I turned and found myself literally face to face with two dolphins who were starring at me, curious and probably wondering what I could well be looking for. I know that dolphins are nice .. nevertheless they took me by surprise and I « made a jump » out of water (yes, it is possible for humans too!). So much so that I scared them too. Then we meet, the baby dolphin provokes me to play under the watchful eye of his mother. They move away a little, I caught my breath, my spirits and warn Olivier and the children to come and share this moment of great happiness. Noé jumps into the water and we leave again in search of the dolphins. Five minutes later (it’s long 5 minutes!) .. as we began to think they were maybe gone, they are right there, back to play with us again… The baby swims towards Noé to play, it turns around him very close, comes right in front of his mask to make noises with his mouth, passes between his legs. Noé makes some apnea dives to play under the water with the dolphins (to the delight of the youngest). Later Camille will join us too, with Olivier. I forget my breakfast, also that I am freezing cold and we stay good 3 hours swimming and playing with these beautiful creatures! Then other boats arrive at anchor, we are now about a dozen swimmers around the dolphins. This is too much for our taste. We take this opportunity to swim back to Planet to warm up and eat. Later, when bathers have gone we go back to the water, just to say goodbye to our new travel companions.
What an amazing encounter with these beauties of nature, free of their movements, free of their destinations, free of their lives. Unforgettable!  Noé and Camille were so comfortable with these huge animals. They played with them with respect, love and admiration. Noé « recorded » every detail of the two dolphins (the shape and function of the vents, the spots on their body, the shape of the fins, the scars, the look, the way they communicate, swim, their facial expressions, sounds etc…)
 

We thank you life, thank you nature for this precious gift!! We enjoyed every second of it and we will keep this treasure within us foerever!

Stephanie
I attached some photos of poor quality but it certainly helps to imagine … especially that of Olivier playing with the youngest one.

Carriacou
Before the first cyclone Ernesto, we found refuge in Tyrell Bay on Carricaou just before Grenada. This island offers a large protected bay and a large mangrove.

But Carriacou is not only that …
For the record: the first inhabitants were the Arawak Indians then the Carib who named the island Carriacou: « the land of reefs. » Then the island was colonized by the French in 1763 but ceded with Grenada to the United Kingdom under the Treaty of Paris.
In the 60s, many carriacouans emigrated to the United Kingdom, the United States or other Caribbean islands because of the lack of jobs. The island has no manufacturing and agriculture is the main activity on the island. But Carriacou has no rivers, the water comes only from rainfall which sometimes can cause real problems during the dry season that extends from January to June
In the 2000s, many carriacouans returned to their island to retire and repatriating a bonanza of a lifetime rewarding work and by the same improved the local economy. Today, the British influence is still strong on the island in the manners and customs but we find also a French influence in the names of villages and local Creole. In the village of Windward, located in the north of the island, you can still see traditional boat building following the true legacy of Scottish and Irish descendants.

When we arrived for the first time in Hillsborough (admittedly a Sunday afternoon!), The streets were deserted. Only a few stray dogs were hanging into gutters dodging bushes rolling on the road under the hot wind of August. Rather gloomy atmosphere far from the images of postcards that we had made. Once the formalities done, we quickly left to Tyrell Bay which we had heard great things.

Again we were a little surprised when we landed to find just along the beach one road, lined with a few small restaurants, two « supermarkets », a diving center, a sails workshop, two huts vendors of fruits and vegetables.

But soon we realized that Carriacou would offer its true beauty, unveiled its wealth to those who take the time. Because if Carriacou has a reputation of being one of the most beautiful Caribbean island with its white sandy beaches, protected bays, varied landscapes and sites of exceptional anchorage, it is up to you to discover and explore! As the most beautiful in all of this is that it is not a tourist island. There is no real tourist facilities, no big hotels, no international airport. The Carriacouans welcome you just naturally as travelers, curious to know you and to share their island, if you wish to.
Over the past three months in Carriacou during hurricane season, we have been able to forge real connections with people, share with them our lives. Here we take the time to meet, to learn, to apreciate. No more relationship based on money only, where we, tourists,  are perceived only as a source of easy revenue. No. Everybody here pays its bananas, its sweet potatoes the same price, same with the bus ride. Here we are again  travelers that Carriacouants are proud to host.
So, without really realizing we turned to the rhythm of Carriacou « neither too fast nor too slow » and simply enjoyed life.

You can enjoy a nice walk in the surrounding countryside. We talked with fishermen and  vegetables vendors. Fridays evenings we celebrate the arrival of the weekend with the whole village around a Steel Drum concert before spending the weekend with everyone on the beach. At anchor as well as in the village, there is a warm summer camp feeling: aperitif for some, BBQ with others, activities for children on the beach, crafts, fishing. Most boats are moored there for several weeks or months, and the separations are more difficult when it’s time to leave.
Yes life is simple and sweet in Carriacou without being cut off from the world (there is internet everywhere). It’s just that people here know how to take  what was good in our modern society itself (health, education, culture, communication, etc.) while not losing the human ties, family and  not succumbing  to the « always more ». Here, a cellphone is a cellphone, although it is  2, 3 or 5 years old. Here children play outside freely and everyone keeps an eye on them.
The vegetable vendors, Denise and Dodline, have a vegetable stall in a small wooden box made of four boards and a « roof » at the edge of the road. They have become our « cuddly » offering us daily scarce resources according to arrivals the moment.

Then there is Johnny who came on board for coffee in the morning and  for diner when he couldn’t bother preparing himself some food, alone on the catamaran of which he had « custody ». Sometimes he goes fishing with his friend Cigarette. Well, he watches him diving while he keeps the boat, just in case … . Because Johnny, he is not ready to put his head under water and even less to look at what lives down there. « Naa! » As Johnny would say …. « I do not like all that stuff down there that swim. » .
There is also Andy who runs the unique sail workshop on the island. The british corner that illuminates our days of his smile, his composure and his positivism. The epitome of the expression « if you do not have good brain, you have good legs » … Although, in his case, it’s a good dinghy that allows him to flutter and twirl from boats to boats for his work.

Oh I should also tell you about Geneviève and Dominique. Genevieve who has so generously shared with me her knowledge as masseuse-physiotherapeut. I hope I’ll be at the height of my « master » and her talents. In any case since then,  I’m having good fun giving massages to anyone who is ready to receive it. Dominique (aka Domino), her husband, has invented a concept simply awesome. He has set up his workshop welding seam on the water in the middle of the bay on an old trimaran (which admittedly takes a little water, then he pumps, he pumps  Dominique ..). The space is very open and welcoming in the image of Dominique. And boats that need repairs can come to moor directly to his workshop and get an expert hand, welding aluminum and stainless steel .. Too strong this Domino!

I forget many other figures of Tyrell Bay in Carriacou, as Richard and Diane: Canadians who run one of two dive centers, the team at Lambi Queen where one can enjoy « fricassés  of Lambi » or beautiful grilled lobster while listening to the local group of Steel Drum and many others …

This island and its inhabitants have marked for simplicity and sincerity meetings, Carriacou soon!

To see more pictures: http://flickr.com/gp/3metz/2Pb729/