Thursday, December 28, 2006

Christmas ‘06 - Island Style







Christmas in Antigua is pleasantly low key when compared to the frenzied three month build-up to the holidays in the U.S. There are decorations here, but not too many. There is shopping, but not that you would notice. Actually, the whole thing seems to run about three days. Our merry little Christmas on Crossroads was laid back and easy with good friends and good food.

We started our holiday celebration with a cookout on the beach with six other boats. Burgers and dogs were savored and then out came the guitars for caroling. We sang as the sunset and the beach gradually emptied. “Silent Night” sounded pretty with the gentle waves lapping on the beach for background.

Christmas eve brought more traditional activities - cooking and last minute trips to the grocery store. Michele and Una worked all day preparing a full-on Christmas feast with all the trimmings. We had a whole turkey, Michele’s Mom’s cornbread dressing, garlic mashed potatoes, green bean casserole, gravy, corn pudding, and Grandma Phillips’ spice gumdrop cookies - yum! After the feast we leaned back and watched “White Christmas” on Dragonfly’s wide screen laptop. The movie woke us up enough to leave the boats and head ashore to catch a choral group caroling over at Nelson’s Dockyard. Then it was off to our beds as visions of sugarcane danced in our heads.

On Christmas morning we awoke to find that Mr. Claus had again found and delivered presents to Crossroads (he must read the blog). Michele and I made a quiche and home fries for breakfast, since we couldn’t find pork tenderloin. Mid-day found us back at the dockyard for a fundraiser champagne party and cook out. Hundreds of locals and sailors
toasted the season among the 300-year-old dockyard buildings and the mega yachts.

Well, that may have sounded like a busy couple of days, but that was it. A quick, busy, fun island Christmas.

Glenn

Saturday, December 23, 2006

Merry Christmas from Falmouth Harbor, Antigua

We arrived in Antigua last Tuesday after our best sail yet!! We sailed 42 miles making 6 and ½ knots. Yeah! Last Thursday, Crossroads celebrated her one-year anniversary. Soon, we will post a write up with more information about our anniversary celebrations.

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A Day At the Races...




This is backtracking a bit, but during our time in Martinique I never got around to writing about our arrival. It was a beautiful day and we enjoyed a lovely sail from St. Lucia. We picked out the outer channel markers of Cul-de-sac Marin on Sunday afternoon and headed in. As we looked into the distance to find the next markers, we saw a whole bunch of brightly colored sails. From where we were, they looked like wind surfer sails but they were square on top--- strange. The mystery was solved about a half mile later when we could tell that they were traditional island sailboats, racing. Actually, they were racing right at us, side by side across the entire channel. I picked out a gap to pass through the pack and was heading for it when a motor powered race committee boat approached to wave us off. We turned hard to port and hit the gas (diesel) but I think a few racers still had to maneuver around us. We would have caused less of a disruption if we had stayed where we were but it is hard to hold your ground when people are yelling at you frantically in French.

The race passed by and we reentered the channel and proceeded into Marin. We anchored Crossroads at the edge of the channel and watched the boats head back towards town. Much to our delight, they rounded a mark near the beach and headed back out- a two-lap race. Now we would really get to see some action, and from front row seats. The boats were about 30 feet long with a square fore and aft sail on bamboo spars. They carry a lot of sail for small wooden boat but are able to counter the boat’s desire to flip over with movable ballast. The ballast is in the form of crewmembers that climb out on wood planks that stick out on the windward side of the boat. When the boat turns so that the wind is on the other side (tacking), the crew and boards are shifted to the new windward side. I’m glad we just have a nice big chunk of lead under our boat.

The Sunday traditional boat races add a lot of color to the harbor and its great to see islanders participating in sailing.

Glenn

Thursday, December 21, 2006

Dashaies, Guadeloupe

We arrived in Dashaies (pronounced Day-hay)yesterday at 9:00 am after a 21 hour passage from Martinique. Overall, it was a great passage we sailed half the trip and had to motor-sail the other half. I was lucky and had awesome winds on my 12:00-3:30 AM watch, I enjoyed the sound of the ocean and watching the falling stars, it was quite magical. Glenn came on watch at 3:30 am, by then we were behind Guadalupe and the winds died so, he had to tolerate the engine. Today, we enjoyed our last French baguette for a while. We plan to head to Antigua tomorrow for Christmas and New Year's. Our niece Lauren and he best friend Emily will be arriving on the 27th of December. Yeah!

Michele
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Wednesday, December 13, 2006

CrossRoads Bistro Tour

guest blog:

CrossRoads Bistro Tour
St. Lucia Island
November 2006


The wheels of our American Airliner barely skimmed the blazing asphault of the Vieux Fort runway as we simultaneously glanced at each other with cocktail grins. We’d been up since 4:ooAM and we were confident Glenn and Michelle had a great adventure in store. We would not be disappointed.

Well, the euphoria didn’t last long as our rental car delivery peddled up to the baggage claim. “Is that it, cause I’m pretty sure I reserved a whole car.” There were four of us and the rental clerk to transport in a car built for me and my luggage. Glenn spots the bar and proposes he and the girls hang out while I see what can be arranged with our transport. How’d I miss out on the first round, uh, I mean first two rounds.

Hey, where’s the steering wheel? Oh crap, I think we might be in trouble. Driving in St. Lucia is on the wrong side of the road driving from the wrong side of the half-car. Did I mention a big adventure earlier? OK, I can deal with this, no problem. Wait, you mean to tell me we share the road with live cows, sweet. If one gets hit, fresh meat for all tourists.

So we breeze down the road to check out the windsurfing site and our villa. The winds are fresh and the sun toasty as we enjoy what would normally be a brisk winter day, but we are in paradise. Sorry suckers! This is really it. Nothing but blue skies and a week with two of our favorite people.

Our first view of the boat is delivered as we blast out of a small harbor in the rocket propelled dingy. When Michelle drives, the dingy has two speeds, docking and hold on to your hat. What a beautiful pic. The boat is nestled in the corner of a large bay against a backdrop of lush, forested cliffs. The turquoise waters reflect off the hull and we are both slightly dazed by her size and the reality of the Phillips’ voyage. It’s a fantastic sight.

Unfortunately, Crossroads was anchored in a large harbor that included a somewhat sketchy fishing and freight area and turned out to be quite distant from our prearranged villa. Coupled with the actions of some enterprising local youths who liberated our gas line from the dingy and then tried to charge us $50 to buy it back. (Little did they know we were guests of Captain Glenn who conveniently plucks his spare gas-line from the mothership, foiling their scheme.) We determine we’ve seen enough of Vieux Fort within about 2 hours.

We depart the industrial city of Vieux Fort for the unspoiled and scenic Northwest Coast. One of my first observations as we hit the highway is that they don’t really have highways here. The road more resembles the alleys of midtown Memphis. My second observation is that there are no speed limit signs, (my pearly whites breakout). Being a guy, I decide “why not” and rapidly accelerate to a nice even 100 KPH. “It’s my vacation, I do what I want.” Man did the adventure get exciting after that! Michelle, I barely ran off the road two or three times, you have to admit it was pretty damn exhilarating. You should have seen your face in the rear view mirror. Wait a minute, I’m having a flashback, that’s why I ran off the road that second time. It’s OK, one eardrum is all any salesman needs and old timers all say stereo sound is over-rated.

Where was I, oh, half way to Marigot Bay. So, I guess the island must be a rainforest with all these ‘nana trees. Wonder if its gonna rain while were here? We soon learned that it can rain every 20-30 minutes in a rainforest. Turns out that’s a great way to keep the heat down and the frequent showers soon became welcomed.

Marigot Bay turns out to be one of Glenn and Michelle’s favorite anchorages when they were on their way South last winter. They thought we’d like it too and they were dead on. The resort Marigot Beach Hotel is only accessible by a small ferry. There are no roads on that side of the bay and the road coming in is maybe half a road. Luckily we have the dingy, though its only about 100 feet from the dingy dock to Crossroads. We look out over her proud hull from the balcony of our 2nd story room and ponder what the poor people are doing.

The title of my little report is Crossroads Bistro for a reason. Glenn and Michelle are routinely cranking out the best cuisine of the trip. From the blueberry pancakes and sausage gravy to the full blown Thanksgiving dinner, they’re preparing unbelievable
meals from an abundantly stocked 4’ X 4’ galley (kitchen for you landlocked Memphites). We keep hearing about the friends they’ve made on the voyage and its soon obvious to both of us why their friends are hanging around. I suppose it’s a little more like stalking when their newfound friends actually follow them from the Bahamas to Trinidad. My only question is, “Do you ever get to eat dinner on Dragonfly?” Just kidding Jeff and Una, you guys are great and we’re glad you’re there to look out for our friends, and vice versa. That goes out to everyone crossing paths with Crossroads.

Like those coveted bottles of fine wine, our trip crescendos rapidly through the last days. We’re sad to have to leave, but we have many vivid visions to reflect on as we make our journey home to the awaiting thermal shock. The most important of which are the smiles, stories, and chapters grown over the course of lifelong friendship. Some people like to say, “those were the good ole days.” To me, “THESE ARE THE GOOD OLE DAYS,” This is the time we’ve been working for. Enjoy your life, enjoy the people close to you, and never forget to tell your friends how you feel about them.

Glenn and Michelle, you guys are the best. Congratulations on Living the Dream!

John and Elizabeth Heeren
Memphis

Thursday, December 07, 2006

Bonjour, Winter in the Caribbean

Bonjour,

Michele’s daily French Diet: One baguette, smoked Gouda cheese, Brie, pain au chocolate, and a glass of red wine. Strangely enough I seem to have lost a little weight on this diet.

Once again, I don’t expect a lot of sympathy for the following rant but here goes. For the past two weeks it has rained several times a day, sometimes a dozen times. I know, I know - at least it is 84 degrees. I can usually deal with the rain and have even gotten used to the hatch drill. However, for the past 10 days we have had extremely high winds, so high that you feel you shouldn’t leave your boat because the anchor might drag. Yuck! Last week we were in the lagoon at Marin, Martinique. We thought we had a good hold; the wind had blown for 3 days at 20 knots with 30-knot gust. Glenn and Jeff decided to go to the hardware store and Una and I planned to stay on our boats in case the anchor slipped. I was really looking forward to having the boat to myself. I love to putz, clean, rearrange, etc. while Glenn is off the boat. About 10 minutes after they took off I was down below, when a huge gust of wind blew and shook the rigging. I went up on deck and sure ’nuf the boat had slipped back a little. So, I turned on the engine and watched and waited to see if we might drag again. We had a lot of anchor chain out so it should catch and dig back in, but you never know. About an hour later Glenn and Jeff returned and Glenn and I re-anchored. No big deal, much easier this year than a year ago but it still makes you a little nervous about leaving your boat and going ashore. So, while we don’t have snow and ice in the Caribbean we do have high winds and rain and squalls that tie us to our boat.

On Monday Glenn and I moved Crossroads about a mile or so from Marin to St. Anne’s. Many people spoke very highly of this anchorage and we were ready for a slight change. We could not really leave Martinique yet because of the weather forecast and we were hoping to see our friends Jill and Dean from Delilah before we headed north again.
The day we moved the wind direction changed and was coming from the south, well that makes this anchorage rolly. Yuck! I was very depressed. The next day the wind shifted again and came from the east, which was much better. Glenn and I decided we needed an outing and some time off the boat. We decided to go hiking on this great trail hugging the coast. We packed our bag with our fresh hot baguette and cheese, sausage and bottle of red wine and headed off for our hike/ beach picnic. It rained all day; I don’t think I have ever been so wet - everything we had was soaked and sandy. We made the best of it, every time it rained we would jump into the ocean and body surf the waves. Later that afternoon when we decided we were not going to get a clear sky, we finally loaded up our backpack and headed back to the boat in the rain. By this time Glenn and I were laughing about how drenched we were and how much fun we had in spite of the weather.

Au revoir

Michele

Saturday, December 02, 2006

St. Lucia-Visit from Friends..








While sailing into Vieux Fort harbor of St. Lucia, Glenn caught his first fish. It was a mahi-mahi, 2ft long. We ate two yummy dinners out of the fillets. We spent the next day clearing customs and checking out the area in anticipation of the arrival of our friends.


We had a wonderful visit with our friends John and Elizabeth from Memphis. They came bringing gifts and goodies. It felt like an early Christmas. We were overwhelmed by their generosity.

John and Elizabeth are excellent windsurfers; we drove to a beautiful beach on the south east side of St. Lucia. The beach was spectacular but the wind was very weak. They took it stride and we made the best of a rainy week.

We enjoyed a wonderful Thanksgiving meal aboard Crossroads; we ate roasted bacon wrapped chicken topped with fresh pineapple. The dinner also included, sour cream-garlic mashed potatoes, stuffing with cranberries, vegetable casserole and Glenn’s delicious bread pudding. Yum! Yum!

Guest blog coming ....