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
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
posted by Glen Phillips at
Thursday, December 07, 2006
