JANUARY_____________________________________________________________2006

Sunday, January 1st

<Ruud> The first night of the year was dark and full of squalls. We saw them passing a few miles away carrying wind and rain. Luckily we were just enough north to avoid them all, but the cruisers somewhat south of us were less lucky, their tired voices over the cruiser's net telling the whole story. We continued westward at a good cruising speed of over 6 kts, carefully observing the weather around us, and when the evening fell, we were surrounded by big towering cloud formations, predicting no good, ...

During the night we arrange 3-hour-watches, mainly for monitoring the horizon for ships and for dark squally cloud formations. If necessary we wake the off-watch for trimming the sails, so the nights are never really a rest. We usually try to compensate for our lack of sleep during the day by having some short naps.

Monday, January 2nd

<Ruud> ... and then there were twinkling stars all over. The threatening clouds had all disappeared and we had a perfect sailing during the night. the view is so different here: the moon shows as a cup, and Big Dipper seems to stand on its head; so near the equator different stars appear, and for the first time I saw the Southern Cross.

In the morning we hoisted the spinnaker, and gentle trade winds brought us further west. While raising the sail we saw a huge white spot under the water, soon to be identified as the belly of a 10 meter whale. This beautiful creature, looking like an oversized dolphin, accompanied us for hours, then let itself fall back just to overtake us minutes later with an amazing ease. Only at nightfall it left us.

By that time we decided to put down the spinnaker new clouds were forming on the horizon. And of course the hood failed to come down again. We said some words in our best French and then decided to let it fly for the night, in the hope no squall would reach us. But sure enough this night we were finally attacked by this nasty phenomenon that bear so many surprises in it. We were punished with rain and wind, but the spinnaker held up surprisingly. Needless to say we were flying that night, reaching 14 kts at times. Sleep, however, well that was something we could only dream of.

Tuesday, January 3rd

<Ruud> In the afternoon we managed to get the spi down again (we are getting quite well trained in this). The lines that are used to put it down were completely entangled. How is it possible? I just don't know. Tomorrow, it will be top priority to find out. The wind has calmed down a bit, but a nasty storm rules over Florida and tropical depression Zeta is still not out of the way.

Dolphins came to visit us before nightfall, which showed it brightest colors, promising a peaceful night.

Wednesday, January 4th

<Ruud> Our sail problems do not stop: a part of the aluminum pipe used to roll the genua has gotten loose. Incredible, I had reviewed the system with an expert in the Canaries and we had tighten the screws with Locktite which normally should keep it together, but then we are on a boat... As a result we cannot use the genoa any more for the rest of the passage, a big handicap for advancing swiftly. At least we have repaired the spinnaker blocks, and hope now to have solved all the problems on that front. Tomorrow we will check, this evening dark clouds from the south tell us that it is wiser not to do it now.

We are not alone with our troubles, the yachts in the vicinity are reporting all kind of misery: a net caught with the propeller, a genua that came down because a rope was chafed through, batteries overheating, generators going wild, shrouds breaking, rudders lost. The wear and tear on a sailing vessel is simply incredible. And the weather is still not all right. Tropical depression Zeta is coming southwards again and is getting stronger; the storm over Florida is sending swelly seas. But then we did three quarter of the way and hope to finally arrive on Sunday.

Thursday, January 5th

<Ruud> All around us mighty clouds. Just a few miles further south, yachts are experiencing nasty weather with rain and gusts. We however raise our spinnaker and in very light winds are continuing west. In the evening even the last bit of wind dies down and it is motoring time again. We start to clean the boat, it has suffered a lot in the last weeks. Luckily a recent rainshower has washed away the thick layer of salt that had formed. The radio tells us about the cold weather in Europe and the US, while we are sitting in our shorts and getting nicely tanned while polishing the deck and the stainless steel. There must be some justice!

Friday, January 6th

<Ruud> Some 300 miles to go, the last heavy bits. The cruisers around us are sounding tired over the radio. No more small talk, no more jokes, they all just want to arrive. And tropical depression Zeta is still a pain in the ... Constantly up- and downgraded by the meteorologists, it just refuses to die. And now, although getting weaker, it is still chasing us by heading to the southwest towards us. The question is who is going to be first in Martinique: we or that nasty little bugger that will bring so much swell and gusts. For the moment, we are leading by a fraction.

And the gods of the fishes are teasing us too. We hooked six beauties in the morning and they all succeeded to escape. Aaaaarrrggghhh!!! Three nice lures and new hooks gone too. It starts to be cheaper to buy these creatures in the supermarket, not to mention the dent my ego is getting.

Saturday, January 7th

<Ruud> ...and the loss of fishing equipment continues. This time a whole new line is gone. Around midday the hook is picked up and the complete line runs within a minute from the reel. No way to stop it. A big bang and the line breaks. 400 meters further I see a huge Mahi Mahi jumping out the water, never seen such a biggy; no wonder that line and reel couldn't handle him. Good that we will arrive tomorrow, the fridge is starting to get empty and as the ocean delivers nothing...

We continue under spinnaker in light winds. In the evening squalls are coming in from the north though and we put the big sail down. While these massive dark clouds are passing one after the other, we put on the engine. No need to have a spi torn into pieces the last night at sea. If all go well, we will have our first night of continuous sleep tomorrow in the peaceful bay of St. Anne.

And on the radio they say that the trade winds will finally set in as of Monday. So far about timing. How did the song go? "it's too late, baby, it's too late".

<Araksi> For just a second we both saw that green flash again, just when the sun was being sucked in by the sea far on the horizon. After having the luck to see it on our first sunset after leaving the Cape Verdes, it seemed as if the seas were waving us goodbye and telling us that now they hand us over to regions where we are more likely at home: the land, safe anchorages, other people, and of course provisioning.

Sunday, January 8th

<Ruud> It is a dark and cloudy morning with a wall of squalls around us, all pouring their water into the vast ocean. But that doesn't matter because on the horizon we see mount Pelée, Martinique's highest mountain (1'300 meters). We are 40 miles away. There is excitement in the air combined with the longing to be there.

I do my morning "jogging" over the deck to see if there are any flying fish around, and yes one has just landed on the edge of the trampoline. Five minutes later it has been converted into a fine lure and off it goes into the water. And bang! A powerful Mahi Mahi has grabbed the hook immediately. A fight of 15 minutes starts at which end we are able to land 0.95 meters of beautiful colors into the cockpit. After seven misses it was about time. And what a perfect closure of our voyage (the fish might have thought differently about that, but was denied any right to vote).

We anchored in the beautiful bay of Saint Anne (014° 26'N; 060° 53,7'W), Martinique, at 14:15 local time, after 17 days and six hours at sea; much longer than we had predicted. In the evening while watching the suns set we were ready for a well deserved rest through the night.

Monday, January 9th

<Araksi> What a nice feeling it is to sleep all night long without interruption, side by side with Ruud! Today we just relaxed, the only "must" was to find an internet point to inform our family and friends about our safe arrival. So we dinghied to Saint Anne, which is a small picturesque village on the southwest coast of Martinique at the entrance of a deeply indented bay with green smoothly sloping green hills. The colors here are magnificent, where the dense green meets the azure blue of the sea, every now and then interrupted by the golden shine of a sandy beach.

I swam today for the first time since Porto Santo, Madeira, in August.

Tuesday, January 10th

<Araksi> Strong winds are forecasted for today, so we are on board. Ruud made a brief visit to Leslie and Danny on Magnum. We were in the same group of boats that left Mindelo more than two weeks ago.

We still have to check the damage on our furling system. Even though the predicted 30 kts of winds didn't set in, there is still quite a breeze, that would make it difficult working on the genoa. The boats still under way are reporting big seas of 4 meters and strong winds of 30 to 35 kts.

Wednesday, January 11th

<Araksi> Strong winds up to 30 kts kept us indoors today. Nothing to complain, we still are enjoying the anchorage here, the beautiful colors, and even the rain-loaded squalls. Garabes likes them the most, she hasn't been that shiny since a long time!

I worked on our homepage, read and cooked the big pieces of Mahi Mahi and preserved them in glass jars.

Thursday, January 12th

<Araksi> We took the bus from St. Anne to Le Marin, which is the main yachting center in Martinique. The pleasant 15 minutes bus ride gives an impression of the surrounding land, brings you in contact with the locals, and it is much cheaper than a taxi. The roads here are apparently the best in the Caribbean, the houses look new and well maintained. Martinique doesn't have a colonial status, it is considered a department of France and is accordingly administered. Therefore it has a much higher standard of living compared to many other Caribbean islands, but this makes it also one of the more expensive islands in the West Indies.

Friday, January 13th

<Araksi> We tried to get the genoa down this morning. No way. The sail is stuck in the furling system, and it still is to windy to work on it; I have to climb up there most probably. Now that we don't need the winds we have them!

At noon we both were dragged from our workstations by some calls and whistles. Up in the cockpit we saw Orient Express just next to us. They have been cruising for a while here around Martinique. In the afternoon Ruud went with Selcuk on his fast dinghy to Marin, while I had a nice chat with Cathrine here on Garabes.

Saturday to Sunday, January 14th to 15th

<Araksi> The winds are still quiet strong to put the genoa down. I start wandering if here in these steady trade wind belt zone the winds will ease at all. We were most of the time on boat on the week end. On Saturday evening we were invited for dinner on Orient Express. Cathrine had prepared a delicious dinner. We met a nice couple there; Levent, a Turk, and Ghislaine a French lady with their son Adam.

Monday, January 16th

<Araksi> We moved this morning deeper in to the big bay and anchored in front of Le Marin (014° 27,6'N; 060° 52,3'W). The main reason to come in here was our genoa. We were hoping to get lesser winds here in this much more protected anchorage for getting the sail down. But that didn't work out for we still have quite a breeze and even stronger winds are forecasted until the end of the week. For the time being we enjoy it here and do not have a hurry to leave this place, as long as it doesn't take too long to do the repair job. We found our way around -shopping wise. Once you find where to go shopping, it is far less expensive as people told it to be. Here in Marin there are a couple of bigger supermarkets. Champion, and Leader Price are close to the shore next to the out haul dock, there is even a pontoon close to these stores where one can tie up the dinghy. Not far from Le Marin they even have here the mega supermarket Carrefour, which has a much bigger variety, with a little higher prices. The next step is to find a good internet place. Martinique is real backward in terms of telecommunication. The internet centers are small, connection not real fast, and fees very expensive as if internetting were something exquisite. Not even in the Cape Verdes we had such a fuss. We were told that one of the Cafés (Mango bay) in the marina has a wireless connection, so in the afternoon we went there equipped with our new computer for a drink and an internet session. But alas, it was again one of those half truths. The place had a connection, but it had to close it because of the protest from the internet centers. Here again no real free market, no real competition, and the customer suffers! New hope was coming from sailors telling us about the existence of a "hot spot", where wireless internetting should be possible. We found the place (Caraibe Yachts), but no connection could be made. Maybe it is because the office was already closed; we will try tomorrow.

Tuesday, January 17th

<Araksi> This morning we were back to the internet spot in the marina that we had so unsuccessfully left yesterday evening. The aisle was full of people crouched in a corner with their computers in their laps. That was a very positive sign! We did the same thing and surfed the internet for an hour; rapid connection, no payment, and especially no comments from Caraibe Yachts to whom the network belongs. We wonder how long we will be able to profit from this opportunity.

Wednesday and Thursday, January 18th and 19th

<Araksi> Strong winds are predicted for the next several days. Therefore I am a little uncomfortable with our spot in this very well protected anchorage. We are namely quite close to a shallow behind us, and therefore couldn't let out enough chain for the comfort of my soul. So I have been nagging on Ruud to change our place since the morning. Finally at noon time a boat on our starboard side left and we re anchored, letting out lots of chain (65 meters). I was happy.

On Thursday we first went to that aisle in the marina for wireless internetting, but it didn't work because Caraibe Yachts had turned it off for their lunch break. So we went on with our program and did some shopping. On our way back to Garabes we noticed "A Cappella" with Mike and Angela on board, so we knocked on their hull to say hello and to invite them for a drink in the afternoon. We had met them during our stay in Rome in the winter of 2003, small world.

<Ruud> In the afternoon, the wireless internet was up and running again and I could finalize all the administrative things that had piled up during our long voyage. So I forgot the time and went back to Garabes only to see that Mike and Angela had already arrived and the first bottle of wine was about to be opened. They had been sailing the Caribbean for a year now and were full of information on what to see and what to omit. That means another change in plans for us. We are now thinking of going up north, maybe even to Florida. But that might change again in a few days.

Friday - Sunday, January 20th -22th

<Ruud> the winds refuse to calm down, on the contrary the gusts are getting more violent and the waves in the Atlantic have now reached 6 meters and several yacht are reported to be in difficulty. Good to be in this well protected bay called Le Marin. We work on our internet site, and do some little maintenance work on Garabes. The French weather stations talk about improvement as of Wednesday. Let's hope we can put the genoa down then. I have swapped a lot of books at a nearby fuel station, good timing, I didn't have anything to read on board anymore. Here on French territories I finally could also swap our empty French gas bottle for a full one. This gives us another three months of care free cooking.

Monday, January 23rd

<Araksi>The weather is still quite rough and rainy. Nevertheless life on board is enjoyable, heaving things to do in a beautiful surrounding and mild climate. Ruud revisioned the watermaker. He dissembled almost the entire machine, cleaned each part, and reassembled it. The result was clearly detectable; the output per minute did increase and it seems to be running more quietly. A satisfying end of a job that took eight hours.

Tuesday, January 24th

<Araksi> We were in the marina for wireless internetting: first on our regular spot in that narrow aisle then in the Mango Bay café. The owners had succeeded to reinstore WIFI in spite of the numerous objections from competitors. The highlight of our internet session today was Skype! We had recently installed this software that enables its users to call via internet anyone anywhere on the globe for a few cents. Calling Skype users is even free. We made the first try by calling our friend Ed in the States (he is a Skype user therefore this was a free call) and my mother in law in Luxembourg which was a call to a regular phone line. It didn't even cost half a Euro (for info check their website www.skype.com). We were amazed by these technological improvements that make our life so much easier. We met Levent in the café, had a nice chat with him, and were back on Garabes around 18:00.

Wednesday to Friday, January 25th to 27th

Wednesday shopping, Thursday internetting and calling my mother and sister again via the internet in Mango Bay café at the waterfront. There we met Levent again who took us for a ride to the neighboring hills with spectacular views. Martinique is a very green island, it is the biggest of the windward island (1080 km2) and has a population of 380.000. It has a very pluralistic society with a mixture of blacks, mulattos, descendents of Indians (brought from India in 1853 to work in the plantations after the abolishment of slavery), and of white creoles (descendents of the first European settlers). There seems to also be a growing group of recent Europeans (mainly French) who are mostly engaged in the tourist business. We did not see any racial discrimination; on the contrary we observed a very natural harmony between the different groups with their different origins. The official language is French but we were told that Creole is the language of emotions and spontaneity, that developed in the course of centuries by those working on the huge plantations that covered the island for many centuries. It is a simplified French with lots of English in it. Martinique was, as many islands in the Caribbean, a constant object of conflict between French and English but was one of the few islands that the French managed to govern most of the time.

The booklets we read about this beautiful island tell us that Martinique, as many of the West Indies isles, was populated by the Arawaks some 2'000 years ago. They inhabited them for about 1'000 years until the warlike and expansionist Caribs decimated them. Christopher Columbus landed in Martinique in 1502 during his 4th expedition. The Martiniquoise are also proud of the two celebrities who lived here; Josephine, the wife of Napoleon, was born and raised here (in Trois Ilets), and Gauguin, on his search for an initial, primordial place, came here in 1887 and lived close to Saint Pierre for about six months. This city - in those days the capital - was destroyed in 1902 when mount Pelée erupted, burying the entire town and population under its outburst. It is said that only two persons survived the inferno: Leon Leandre, a cobbler, who was in his cellar, and Cyparis, imprisoned for murder, was protected by the thick stone walls of his cell.

On Friday evening we went out for dinner. It is nice to be out every now and then, but at the end we usually regret it mainly because of the disappointing meal. We decided to take only a small snack in he future (not much can go wrong there), unless we are really sure about the quality of the place.

Saturday and Sunday January 28th and 29th

<Araksi> The weather was not that good for working on the genoa. It wasn't the rough and rainy weather of two days ago but still not moderate enough. We need winds less than 10 kts, but the weather gods seem to ignore this whish. We do not want to leave this anchorage without having fixed it, for here, in this maritime center, it is easy to find all kind of spare parts including parts from Profurl, our furling system. We also would like to sail again and be in some other anchorages, but, yet again, Garabes being our home it doesn't really matter whether she floats in one beautiful anchorage or in another. We are slowly getting adapted to this mindset and so we now do many things which are relevant to the moment. For instance we had to clean the hulls of Garabes because the weed and the barnacles on her belly are thriving again in these warm waters (27°C). The job was accomplished in two days.

Then I started with a new project! In Las Palmas we had bought a Spanish language course, a CD with an interactive teaching program. This allows the student to practice her pronunciation, grammar and speaking skills, while it evaluates her progress. We will need some Spanish knowledge in many Caribbean countries and beyond. Even though Ruud's Spanish will help us in many cases, I myself like to speak the language of the country I am visiting, especially for being able to communicate with the locals.

Monday, January 30th

<Ruud> A cold, wet and windy day. We decided to stay on board as going ashore with our dinghy would mean to arrive at the dock like wet poodles. I finally found the reason why our batteries are overcharging: one of them was simply dead, giving the regulator the false signal of still being empty. I just disconnected the culprit, let's hope the other five will survive for a while, it is an expensive adventure to change them all and moreover it is difficult to find the size that will fit in the pre-shaped boxes that hold them. Changing that will be a nasty carpenters job and will require also a rewiring of the system. Maybe I find the right ones in Trinidad.

Tuesday, January 31st

<Araksi> Hardly the year started and we can already cross out the first month. We chased one day after the other hoping that the following one will bring calmer days with less winds for getting down our genoa. Well it took almost a month but today is "ti day" - as they would say here. It was so silent by the time I was coming to my senses this morning. Looking out of the hatch I saw a flat sea. I jumped out of the bunk, rushed into the cockpit and tried to figure out whether this was one of those calms just before another squall with lots of gust. It didn't looked like. I immediately yelled Ruud out of his dreams. Poor boy, he had to heave me up that mast without a decent breakfast. Normally nobody has to go up the mast for letting down the sail, but the detached tube had to be brought in line so that the sail could glide through the track along the forestay. I also had to unbuckle the head of the sail from the top attachment of the furling system. All went quiet smoothly and in half an hour that cloth of 45m2 was down. What a relief! We packed it into its bag - which was not an easy task -, and brought it to the sailmaker. It will be ready in a week, we were told.

In an exalted mood we went to Mango Bay café for a lengthy internet session.

We had arranged at the sailmaker for someone to fetch our spinnaker in the afternoon: we would like them to check the system, that had caused us so much headache during the crossing.

The entire day tuned out to be a very pleasant, sunny and a calm day. This was a real surprise, maybe a gift from the weather gods. Actually winds of 25 kts were predicted for today.