Chatham Bay, Union Island, St Vincent and the Grenadines

 Wednesday January 31

We were delighted this morning when the wind conditions allowed ALL the sails to be raised as we cruised towards Chatham Bay on Union Island, also in the Grenadines. What a beautiful sight. We had hoped to go out in Zodiacs to photograph the ship from afar, but we were going faster than the pace of the Zodiacs ( which would make photography difficult not to mention getting back on board!). We also enjoyed watching a Brown Booby roost on a yardarm of the foremast, and Masked Boobies and Sooty Terns fly around the bow. 

Union Island is only three square miles, so it is well off the path of larger cruise ships. As we approached the island the sails were struck. Watching the sailors setting and striking the sails is fun -  there is an incredible amount of activity and coordination. We had a beach largely to ourselves to snorkel for the afternoon. We saw a number of beautiful fish.  The lighting was terrific which made the viewing excellent and made for much better underwater photography. At one point we looked above the water to find both a Little Blue Heron and a Yellow-crowned Night-heron standing on rocks at the waters edge. 

This evening there was a rum tasting before dinner ( the winner, in our estimation, was a local rum from Bequia). After dinner the crew assembled to lead a sing-along of sea shanties. Many of the crew (including kitchen and housekeeping staff as well as sailors) are from the Philippines; it was great to hear them sing a shanty in their native tongue. Then there was a dance party— the slight roll of the moving ship made that interesting (or maybe it was the rum punch). 

Pictures: lionfish ( yes evil but lovely), another fish, sailors raising the sails, Brown Booby on the yardarm 

Port Elizabeth, Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines

Tuesday, January 30 

One of the challenges for the captain is to balance schedule (being on motor is faster than sailing, and wind direction affects speed), sea conditions (too much wind and he can only put up a few sails or the ship will “heel” too much) and the passengers’ wish to be under sail as much as possible. Today we were unable to put up the sails up in order to get to Bequia in the Grenadines with enough time to see the town and also appreciate the beach. 

During the morning at sea (and on other sea days) we benefitted from lectures by the staff, on ship construction, regional history, photography and local geology. These islands were at the center of a proxy war in the 1700s when in theory Europe was at peace. Some of the shifting back and forth of island control, particularly between France and England, was based on the business strategies of the dominant merchant / shipping companies. Our historian on board is from the Basque region, and is a naval history expert, which lends an interesting perspective. During one of her talks a pod of Spinner Dolphins appeared alongside the ship so, of course, her whole audience stood up to follow the dolphins rather than her lecture.  Once they passed by, she said somewhat jokingly, “they could have waited a little while instead of interrupting my talk”.

Bequia (pronounced Beck-wee) is part of the British Commonwealth and has a fishing and shipbuilding tradition, with many immigrants from Scotland. Nowadays the primary economy is tourism, and a popular craft is model shipbuilding. We visited the Sargeant Brothers model shipbuilding shop in Port Elizabeth, in operation since 1966. The HMS Britannia yacht was built in Bequia, and in 1985 the Sargeants gave the queen a model of that ship when she visited Bequia. We haven’t seen many new birds but Kevin did find a cool spider. 

During and after dinner we were entertained by a local quartet of guitar and banjo players. The music ranged from sea shanties to local songs to tunes from the 1960s and ‘70s that had many passengers singing along. The musicians seemed to have as much fun as the audience. 

Pictures: sunset, model boats, Spinner Dolphin, spider  

Terre-de-haut, Iles Les Saintes, Guadalupe

 Monday January 29

Today, We moored off Terre-de-Haut (yes I know that’s bad French grammar) in the Iles des Saintes south of Guadalupe. Les Saintes is, like Guadalupe, an overseas territory of France, with signage in French and prices in euros. We took lifeboats (tenders) to the town dock and then vans up to Fort Napoleon. The fort overlooks the town, and was built by the English in 1776-1780. In 1783, shortly after Cornwallis’ surrender, there was a 4-day naval battle in the harbor. The English were victorious, essentially blunting the French plan to take over Jamaica. At that time, Jamaica was more important financially to England (because of the sugar cane) than all 13 American colonies combined. By 1815 the French took over Terre-de-Haut and from 1816-1822 there were 45 French soldiers stationed to protect the harbor during the reign of Napoleon III.

In the late morning we were able to go snorkeling again on a shallow coral reef. The highlight was watching a spiny lobster. The weather today was a series of windy rain squalls, but we were lucky to get both the fort visit and the snorkeling completed during dry spells. 

This evening we learned more about the history of the Sea Cloud, including her rescue in 1978 by German investors who found her languishing in the Panama Canal having been abandoned 7 years earlier. Then we were allowed to tour the original owner and guest state rooms on the lower level of the ship. We are grateful that our co-passengers allowed is to do so — the level  of comfort and luxury was amazing. 

Pictures: spiny lobster, view of Terre-de-haut and the harbor from Fort Napoleon

Dominica

 Sunday January 28

Today we docked in Dominica, an independent (since 1978) island nation that was at different times a colony of England or of France. Dominica is the most mountainous and least developed of the Lesser Antilles, with over 60% of the island still “wild”. We spent the morning on a nature hike through one of four national parks, and were successful in seeing one of two endemic species of parrot. 

In the afternoon, we toured Fort Shirley, an English Fort built in 1765 to protect the harbor, mostly from the French. Dominica sits between Guadalupe and Martinique; the French wanted all three islands to form a wedge between English colonies to the north and south, so of course the English wanted Dominica to be a wedge between the French possessions! Dominica was an important supply location for ships traveling to the mainland north, west and south. In fact the original Jamestown settlers stopped here for provisions in 1607.  Fort Shirley used the natural terrain of a volcanic caldera, minimizing the need for defensive wall construction. The English abandoned the fort quite abruptly in 1854 leaving many artifacts and all the cannon behind. It had fallen into complete ruin until a historian born on Dominica and trained at Oxford made it his life’s mission to restore the fort. Only a portion is complete, but it is still impressive, and having him personally take us around was a treat.

Later in the afternoon we snorkeled in the harbor. While we were close to shore and the water was shallow, we saw many beautiful small fish, three squid, a spotted snake eel (yes that is really a species, in the same family as the morays) and a large school of mullets that swirled all around us. It was wonderful to be in the water! 

Pictures: Red-throated Parrot, Antillean Crested Hummingbird, Spotted Snake Eel 

Barbados and a day at sea

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 January 27

We arrived in Barbados late on January 25. We spent Saturday morning looking for birds (of course) on our hotel grounds.  Recent eBird data suggested that very few species have been seen recently, only five, but we saw 14, including 9 that are new to us. We also explored Fort Charles, named for Charles II of England. The fort (originally named Fort Needham) in 1650 to protect against attack by forces of Oliver Cromwell, as Barbados remained royalist during the English Civil War. As far fetched as it sounds to send troops 

to Barbados, Cromwell actually did, and the militia repulsed them in 1651. In 1652, a peace treaty formally ended the hostilities between the English Commonwealth and Barbados (who knew?). We also learned that George Washington visited Barbados when he was 16, the only overseas trip he ever took. 

Friday afternoon we joined our group and boarded the Sea Cloud. On our arrival evening we saw the ship illuminated and in the harbor. By morning the ship had docked, but then two Very Large cruise ships docked in front and behind, effectively trapping our ship. We 

could not leave port until one of the other ships left to give us room to maneuver. It was actually quite interesting to watch that process. The big cruise ships have side thrusters so they can essentially move sideways of the pier. But the Sea Cloud has old fashioned engines — so we had to be pulled away from the pier and turned around by two tugboats. 

The Sea Cloud is a 100-meter-long, 4-masted prIvate sailing yacht built in 1931. It has had several iterations but retains teak and gold plated fixtures and amazing carved molding in the dining room. Overnight we motored about about 80 miles. Saturday morning we watched the crew set and raise the sails (manually with a couple of winches to help) and we covered another 80 miles under sail. Tonight we will be back on engine power for the final 80 miles to Dominica.  We saw very few sea birds, though one, the White-tailed Tropicbird, was new to us.  We also got a quick viewing of a pod of dolphins, and enjoyed watching Brown Boobies diving to catch flying fish. 

Photos: Sea Cloud at night, Brown Booby taking off, Green-throated Carib 

First Trip of 2024

 

We are heading to the Caribbean on January 25 for a week-long trip on the Sea Cloud (a 330-ft sailing yacht built in 1931 for Marjorie Meriwether Post and E.F.Hutton, with 30 cabins). We will sail to Dominica, St. Lucia, Guadalupe, the Grenadines and Grenada.  We hope to snorkel nearly every day, as well as spending time on the beautiful islands seeing native species of plants, flowers and birds... and appreciating the cultural diversity on the different islands. We are also looking forward to seeing Guadalupe (the filming location for Death in Paradise), similar to our looking for "Shetland" locations in Lerwick last June.

I don't know how much internet we'll have, but we'll post updates when we can!

Katharine and Kevin