MARIGOT BAY and CASTRIES HARBOUR

Marigot is a Moorings charter boat base and there are a few small hotels around the bay so all the services and prices are geared accordingly.

But it is such a beautiful setting that it would have been criminal to pass it by with out spending a night or two there so Gisela could sample it's charms.

The bay is in two parts seperated by a narrow spit of land carrying a fringe of palm trees. The story goes that an English Admiral once fooled the French by hiding in here with palm fronds tied to his rigging. The French sailed past and he doubled back and attack their undefended settlement.

We heard this story many many times as a steady stream of big catamarans and powerboats all carrying their quota of "Q Tips" did the circuit with the onboard commentary blasting out across the water.

CASTRIES
We moved up to Castries to do a little shopping at local prices and soon found out where all the tourists were coming from. There were 4 giant cruise ships tied up in the harbour and the Queen Mary 2 relegated to the anchorage outside the entrance.


The organisation all seemed to run smoothly though with shuttles running to and fro all day and squadrons of taxis / catamarans / speedboats loading and unloading the tightly packed white haired tourists.

We wondered where they found the passengers for all these giants and as the last one prepared to leave we watched as they were marshalled onto the top deck and given flags to wave. They waved so long and so strongly that Gisela thought they must have been being paid to do so. But it was when the kareoke or sing song started that we found out where they were from. Gisela's ears and eyes grew wide and she was soon singinging along with at least one of the songs.

Jerusalem
Rule Britannia
English Country Garden
My old mans a dustman
Roll out the barrel #Gisela's song#

the big P&O job had a bunch of Brits aboard!

WALLILABOU and CUMBERLAND BAY

Pirates of the Caribbean



Wallilabou Bay has been used as the set for much of two of the “Pirates” films and there are many relics of these days on display including the coffins from the famous opening shot.

Gisela was reluctant to take my picture in one of the coffins leaning upright for that purpose.

As interesting were the scripts, daily shoot schedules and logistical charts detailing who needed to be where and with what to make it all happen, still pinned up on the walls.








Beach front buildings had been transformed into period pieces with fibreglass facades old drilling rigs given a wooden cladding and antiqued to provide a scaffold or crane, I am not sure which.









Hurricane Tomas had spared much of the set work but not this building which may have been the governors house nor the old rig or the pier it had stood on as both were torn apart and left with splintered planks dangling down for the birds to inspect.


















































Wallilabou Falls







As a respite from the film world we walked up to the falls.

We passed this strange fellow at the side of the road on the way.


I had been waxing lyrical about the Bromiliads and other air plants which I remembered as festooning the wires along the roadside but as we walked up all we could see were shiny wires with no hint of growth. I thought that Tomas might have blown them all down but the reason turned out to be much more prosaic; the electric and phone companies now employ gangs of men to keep the wires clear. Ahh such is progress.

But the falls were even better than I remembered as a EU project had built a welcome centre, paths and some protection to the falls. We had a beer, chatted with the staff, relaxed under the supervision of a friendly lizard before going for a dip and a session in natures massage center and jacuzzi.



At one time the falls had been part of a watermill site and this archway over part of the stream still stood even though a giant tree had grown up centered on the arch with roots that stretched for at least a 150 feet down the side of the stream.

Beach Front Service Provider

I had mixed memories of Wallilabou as in the past I had been met miles away by boat boys who would demand you use their services, insisting then on a tow back to Wallilabou, demand a drink . On arrival they would do their job of taking a line ashore so you were tied stern to a tree which is essential there but would return and hang on to the side of your boat with their boat grinding gouges in your topsides while trying to sell you everything and nothing.

However I was pleasantly surprised at how restrained and well behaved the boat boys now renamed and trained as “Beach Front Service Providers” were. No pressure and other than a fairly serious attempt to convince me that the price was double the going rate no hassle to buy.

The gentleman who tied us up in Cumberland bay though greeted us with a dreamy look on his face which might have been due to the giant spliff he was sucking on as he rowed hard to get our heavy stern line to the old pier he tied us too.

Joseph the rasta came out to greet us and explained that we needed to ask for Joseph the rasta as there was also a Joseph the old, who was also rowing around anytime a boat entered but could be seen rebuilding the roof on his beach front emporium; hurricane Tomas of course!

Hurricane Tomas relics







As the hurricane came with very little notice some had not had time to move their boats and when the heavy swells arrived they were quickly flung ashore. This small trimaran was going to be a write off and surprisingly had insurance as we met the claims adjuster who had come from Martinique to inspect it.

The catamaran which should be salvageable even though it had some hull damage was a charter boat and the charterers were probably in hot water as there are strict guidelines for charters to follow in the event on a hurricane watch/warning and staying in Cumberland Bay is not on the list.

ST LUCIA MARIGOT BAY

I am glad we waited for a better day as we had a cracking sail up from St Vincent with a reefed main and just the staysail for most of the time.

Even so we saw 6 knots and when I unrolled a smidge of the headsail we were seeing 7s. We held the course needed easily and it was not untill we hit the wind shadow from the Pitons at the South end of St Lucia that I needed the engine.

Elephants Child received a pretty complement from a fellow cruiser and 5 times circumnavigator aboard a 45 foot fast cruiser called Nero. He asked what kind of boat it was and how come we left after him and got into Marigot Bay an hour before him.

I told him we were cheating and had our swing keel down drawing 10 feet, to this he retorted well I draw 8 feet and I got a lot of lead down there but we still could not keep up.

CUMBERLAND BAY St. VINCENT

It has been a year onboard Elephants Child. I took possession in Chocolate Hole in St Johns on November the 23rd with a multi tool and a tin can as my culinary instruments and a pile of dreams.

I am looking back on a great year and the peaceful days cruising with Gisela who joined Elephants Child in Antigua for a short visit then came back on board in Grenada making many of my dreams reality

Today Gisela and I are holed up in beautiful Cumberland Bay on the West coast of St Vincent and waiting for a weather window to sail up to St Lucia.

We have some great pics of the some of the sets used for Pirates of the Caribbean 2 and 3 which was filmed in Wallilabou bay just south of our current anchorage but I will save them for another day.

We poked our noses out yesterday but we could not lay the course as the wind was well North of East and that was before the westerly setting current took effect so as cruisers we took the easy way out and turned around looking for a quiet anchorage. We left it to the charter boats to bash there way up wind and up current back to the Moorings base or the Sunsail base on there last sailing day in the West Indies. I am sure there would have be some very tired and seasick charters by the time they got there as the seas were running short and square on the North end of St Vincent.

So we will wait for a day or so checking out some of the victims of Hurricane Tomas and keep on checking the weather.

VISITING KINGSTON

We left the boat in Young Island Cut and took the bus into Kingston. But as we dinghied in and waited for the bus we were entertained by the ongoing screw up abaord a Moorings charter yacht. He finished up aground with a half raised sail and I presume a rope around his prop as a diver went to his aid.

Walking around Kingston the first impression was so many people all trying to sell the same things. As promised by the guide we walked under the covered walkways created by the builders extending the first floor over the pavement, which was just as well as it was pouring with rain.



After some undistinguished buildings we came into a church littered section. We decided to concentrate on only two. St. Marys Roman Catholic Cathedral and The Anglican Cathedral.

The Anglican Cathedral is the clear winner in terms of size. It occupied a significant expanse of Central Kingston and was longer, wider and probably higher than St. Marys. However, it was relatively uninspired being something a child could design easily with it's building blocks. But we were warmly welcomed by the Verger, Mr. Ulrice Doyle who showed us around and pointed out the highlights. One of these was a magnificent stained glass window which had been destined for St. Paul's in London until Queen Victoria saw it and 'was not amused' by the red robe on the angel and thus the window was rerouted to St. Vincent. On the way out we noted that even churches out here have termites and parts of this significant old building were closed off and under repair.






St. Marys was a complete contrast. The Anglican Cathedral was deserted. We had been the only visitors and the Verger plus the cleaning lady were the only people we saw. St. Marys was full of happy children who used part of it as a school, several very old ladies were resting and snacking on the entrance benches, a nun said please come in then disappeared into a doorway leaving us to explore on our own.









It was full of interesting nooks and crannies adorned with the essential statues of the Saints.







But it was the architectural part of the church that catches the eye. We would not have been surprised to see Harry Potter come around the corner as the soaring Gothic spider work of the spire could have come from Hogwarts.


But it would appear not all Vincintians are God fearing and law abiding citizens, I went into a pharmacy to buy some shampoo and found I was heavily guarded by at least three security staff. Gisela needed a stamp so it was off to the Post Office where we found a magnificent figure of a man, immaculately turned out with the shiniest of toe caps on his police issue boots guarding the stamp counter. Gisela escaped from this encounter possibly as she resisted the temptation to photograph him.


However, Gisela did not escape from the terrors induced from the local bus driver who clearly was in training for the Caribbean Grand Prix. Extracting maximum speed from his Japanese van fitted with shiny polythene seat covers, we all slid from one side to the other and prayed that on coming traffic would give way whenever he undertook an overtake maneuver. Gisela stated she did not think it was the end of her days yet and still felt queasy at dinner time.

OLD HEGG TURTLES

We visited a truly remarkable man this morning. Orten King is a retired Bequia fisherman, for 30+ years he used scuba gear to harvest lobster and conch from the waters of the Grenadines. In 1995 he retired to his pleasant beach side house and one day saw a hatch of turtles where the hatchlings were not getting to the sea. Something moved him to gather up these tiny scraps of newborn life and find a bucket of seawater. 15 years later his Old Hegg turtle operation has been responsible for raising and releasing over 800 Hawksbill turtles into the wild.




Before plastics were around, these turtles were hunted and killed for their shells for the purpose of making combs, spectacle frames, buttons, and other decorative items. Now, both adults and their eggs are hunted for human consumption and their reproductive cycle is disrupted by human development along beaches causing the hatchlings to travel at night not toward moonlight as their instinct tells them to do, but the wrong way, toward the brighter lights of the town. But the trade in shells still goes on, we were offered a beautiful shell of an immature hawksbill in the market in Grenada, the seller either unaware of its place on the critically endangered species list or uncaring of that fact.
Orten has built a pens, sheds, concrete pools and turtle isolation wards all without outside assistance and is a well known stop on the cruise ship circuit as he and his assistant give tours and talks on their efforts.
We were impressed by the practical knowledge that they had garnered and I must say I was a little skeptical that their releases were making it out in the wild as they had only known concrete pools and hand feeding since birth. But they acclimatise the larger turtles in the sea by allowing them out on tethers then watch them on the day they get released. Still it will be a few years more before they have proof positive of their success when a Old Hegg release with its characteristic two holes in the back of it's shell comes back to that beach and lays her eggs there.

Orten says “ I have 250 different sizes of hawksbill turtles ranging from three inches to 14 inches long, and I expect to get more hatchlings before the end of the year. I am getting the youth of our country involved by inviting our schools to visit so I can teach them the values of a healthy environment, which will be to their benefit in the future. “


 


After the visit I walked out to have a look at the piece of space debris that has washed up on the beach, possibly a part of a French Ariane rocket.




We had taken a taxi over but chose to walk back and were escorted off the property by a small flock ov extremely vocal guinea fowl who seemed appalled by our behavior and wanted to warn the world we were at large.








We walked by the old Spring sugar plantation where I decided to take cover behind the large cable reel that had been recycled as a roadside sign. Why? well this fellow was just ahead and as far as I could see he had sharp pointy horns and complete set of spherical objects dangling between his legs. Gisela said though that she felt he was a friendly bull and we should walk past thinking pleasant thoughts.


There are some very expensive houses around in this area, way beyond the means of tha average local. Here is one.

BEQUIA Friendship Bay and Petit Nevis

Bequia is a great place to stop and smell the flowers. We have been exploring it from the popular anchorage of Admiralty Bay. This is a popular anchorage with both liveaboards and charter boats because it caters to boaters rather than cruise ship visitors. There are stores, restaurants, chandleries, a fuel barge that delivers to your boat, customs facilities, ferries, dive shops and more.

But we sailed around to the other side of the Island to visit the island of Petit Nevis and the Friendship Bay anchorage on the south side of Bequia just a little easy of Petit Nevis.


I wanted to stop at Petit Nevis because it was the place they used to cut up the whales they harpooned. It turns out the whaling station was established in 1886 and remained a working site untill 1993 when two whales were caught and processed there.

But there has been a resurgence of interest in whaling and whaling in Bequia today is done just as it was when Nollie Simmonds' ancestor, William Wallace, started it. The whale is hunted from an open wooden boat, launched from the shore and powered by sail and oars.


"With a double ended wooden skiff, six men, some wrought iron harpoons and a lot of rope. A lot of sweat and muscle."



As Petit Nevis is now a privately owned island [ but looking for new owners ] a new working site was built on Semplers Cay by the entrance to Friendship Bay and a whale was procesed there on the 6th of April 2010 according to a local we spoke to.





We enjoyed a snorkle around Petit Nevis and I got this good shot of an angel fish being cleaned of parasites by a little blue fish.

We headed over to Friendhip Bay and were hoping for a sundowner at the famed Mosquito Bar but it did not seem to be open.




When we went for a walk ashore we found out that although Lars and Margaret Abrahamsson have operated the Friendship Bay Hotel for the past 19 years they have had it tough since 2006 and on Friday, April 23, 2010, three receivers of Roy Bailey of Ernst & Young in the Cayman Islands and Guardsman security took control of the premises and asked the hotel’s guests, as well as management and staff to leave the property.

We met one of the receivers who made us welcome on the site and even offered us free water from the hotels tanks but we had just filled up before coming round here [RATS]

Aparently the property has been shown to a variety of potential buyers but all have shaken their heads and walked away.

So this Caribbean Hotel is still for sale [ price negotiable ] as is Petit Nevis.

Did I mention the price for Petit Nevis? No; well just $15 million US to you sir.