Happy Thanksgiving

Happy Thanksgiving to those of you who are US citizens.

As requested, let me take a moment to show you where we are. If you don't have Google Earth on your machine, you should certainly download and install it. It is great. The picture below is of the Caribbean. The sailboats "mark the spots" we've been over the past month; we're currently on the island of Martinique.

"Martinique?!?!" you say? "How did you get over 100 miles from your last blog entry?" Yes, we've been quite busy over the past few weeks, and there's a lot to tell. We've seen Guadeloupe, Dominica and Martinique AND we'll be leaving for St. Lucia in the next week. Additionally, we had our first visitors – my step mother, aunt and uncle.

I’ve started this blog several times, but just couldn’t seem to get the ball rolling. Those who know me might be able to see how my tendency toward perfectionism seems to fuel my tendency toward procrastination. With that said, I’m forging on in spite of all the details I may miss. Additionally, I’m going to ask our recent visitors to submit a blog entry to cover their time on Eyes of the World. I figure asking for that in a public forum really puts the pressure on.

As I was saying, we’re on the southern tip of Martinique in a little village called Le Marin. We've had family visiting for the past three weeks, so we decided to dock the boat at a marina so we can take advantage of unlimited electricity and water to prepare for our next round of visitors.

We had a fantastic Thanksgiving dinner with our very good friends Margit and Chris whom we met while in Guadeloupe. Margit is from Austria and Chris is from Australia. They were still very happy to help us celebrate. As they say, any excuse for a bottle of Champagne is a good excuse. For now, let’s step back to where we left off nearly two months ago. Just relax and think back…..

We arrived in Guadeloupe on September 8th. What's that you say? Why were you there for such a long time?! Well, there are a couple of reasons. We'd like to say the primary reason was to wait out hurricane season on an island with a good place to weather a storm. However, the French culture, wine, food, wine, language, wine... You get the picture.

Rick's prior blog Eyes of the World: Puff the Magic Dragon, Lived by the Sea... he told you a bit about what we've done since we were on Guadeloupe. Well, my job is to fill in some of the details, because there are many, as we've seen quite a lot while in this "Department" (read: state) and we absolutely love this group of islands.

We arrived in Deshaies after a very nice (and uneventful sail) from Antigua. Deshaies is on the island of Basse Terre. Guadeloupe is comprised of many islands with the two largest being Basse Terre and Grand Terre. They are what make people think Guadeloupe looks like a butterfly.

It was a Sunday when we arrived and as a result didn't have to worry about clearing into customs, so it was straight to town with two little dogs crossing their legs. Now, Rick and I have been to Paris quite a bit over the past 11 years and we (Rick) knows how to get by in the native tongue, French. In Paris, most of the people we’ve run across know how to speak English. And once we've done our due diligence by attempting to speak their language, they are more than happy to show-off their multi-language skills.

In Deshaies, this was not the case. And having not been in France for a few months - our (Rick's) French was rusty. We were successful in getting ourselves a bottle of wine and dinner, but it was not without its struggles and Rick was even successful in getting permission for the dogs to sit by our table while we ate.

Deshaies is a fishing village and it's beautiful. It is very small and has two main streets each running in one direction. You can walk from one end of the town to the other in about 10 minutes. Each evening, a million (ok, maybe 25) fishing boats go out to get the fish from the traps (again, see Rick's blog about the fish traps) and you can see their lights all night.

While in Deshaies, we rented a car and drove down to the capital city of Basse Terre. We had several agenda items for our trip. First, we wanted to hike in the rain forest. But we also wanted to investigate the marina there. Remember that we're still in hurricane season and so we have to be prepared in case we have to ride out a storm.

The hike to the rain forest was fantastic. We saw all kinds of lush forests and wildlife. We had the dogs with us, because we felt guilty about leaving them behind. We climbed about half way to the top of the volcano on the southern part of the island when we saw a sign indicating that dogs were not allowed. Additionally, there were indications that sulfur gas could cause breathing problems along with skin rashes. Needless to say, we elected to go back down the mountain to the safety of our French rental car.

We left Deshaies on the 13th bound for Pointe-a-Pitre. There are two ways to get there from where we were. One involved going north and then navigating the Riviére Salée which divides the two main islands. There are two draw bridges on this river and they open at 5:00am and 5:30am. I'm not kidding.

The other option was to go south around the southern coast of Basse Terre and then turning north to go back about the same distance north to Pointe-a-Pitre. If you can imagine, we chose that option. Getting Rick out of bed for a 5am departure would be quite a feat.

Upon leaving Deshaies, we chose to make the trip to Point-A-Pitre in three days. That would give us enough time to stop at Pigeon Island. This island is about half way down the west coast of Guadeloupe on the way to the capital of Basse Terre (yes, it's the same name as the island). At Pigeon Island there's the Cousteau National Park. You all know how much Rick and I like diving, so we had to stop there for a dive or two.

Anyway, I'll let Rick regale you with the story of how I dropped the boat hook while going up to a mooring ball. In case he doesn't, I'll give you the short story. In most of our sailing, all the mooring balls that we've happened upon have had a pennant (aka line) hanging off of them. This allows us to motor up on them and pick the up out of the water and hook them to the boat. We attach the pennant to the boat using a shackle and a bridle. The bridle is a line that runs from the bow of one hull to the other with a shackle in the middle. Bridles make the stay at anchor or mooring ball more stable.

Anyway, here we are motoring up on the mooring ball when I realize that there wasn't a pennant for me to grab. This means, I have to reach down about 5 feet and grab the mooring ball with one hand while using the other hand to attach the shackle to the ring on the top of the ball. I, like most of us, only have two hands which leaves me with no hands to hang onto the boat.

Our first attempt and second attempt resulted in much cursing on my part - and Rick having to swing the boat around for another try. He offered to switch places, which was a good idea considering he is much taller than I, but I wouldn't hear any of it. On our third attempt, I managed to grab the mooring ball with the boat hook and pull it up a few feet. I quickly grabbed the ball with the other hand and like a pro snapped the shackle closed on the mooring ball.

I turned around, very pleased with myself, to Rick smiling. He asked "where's the boat hook?" I looked on the nets which is the place I always leave it after such a feat. To my surprise, it wasn't there. I looked back to Rick and he pointed ahead of the boat. There it was about 10 feet from the bow floating in the water. I then had to retrieve the boat hook and admit I had/have a stubborn streak.

We had two great dives while at Pigeon Island. We bought a new underwater video camera that allows us to capture the "big fish" as it swims by. We took it on this dive with us - and lo and behold, we found an Octopus. I refer you to the blog entry: "Someone’s knocking at the door; somebody’s ringing the bell…" for the details on why this is important. But Rick passed the camera to me, and I kept shooting in Hollywood style for about 15 minutes while the two of them did the octopus two-step. When we got back to the boat and downloaded the video, where we realized the camera was off when Rick handed it to me. So nothing was captured... it's the old tale of the one that got away.

We spent the night at between Pointe Malendure and Pointe Du Mont Criquet. I'd give you a name, but for the life of me I can't find it on any charts. It's basically due east of Pigeon Island for those of you on Google Earth. It was a pleasant anchorage, but the beach was black sand which didn't go well with the dogs’ feet and our white fiberglass decks. But all was well in the end.

We set sail for Basse Terre the next day and as expected, the wind was on our "nose." That's sailor speak of having to motor directly into the wind, which us sailors always seem to end up doing more than we'd like. The motor down was fine, with the exception of the fish traps. Have I mention Rick's blog about fish traps? read it!

It was a smooth day, so we decided to let Coco have the helm for a bit. Call us crazy.

We arrived in the evening and after setting anchor, went out for a quick bite at one of the local Marina joints.

The next day we were off for Pointe-A-Pitre. You’d think since the prior day we’d motored south directly into the wind, that our trip up to Point-a-Pitre would be a pleasant sail. You’d think… However, Murphy has a set of laws that apply to sailing – and I believe the first one reads: “Where ever you want to sail, you can expect the wind to be on the nose.” And so it was for our trip to Point-a-Pitre.

About 6 hours after setting out from Basse Terre, we arrived at Marina Bas du Fort. At the time, we didn’t know that it would be our home for nearly two months. It is also where we met Margit and Chris Mills.

Rick met Chris while walking Coco and Cooper. Margit and Chris have a Jack Russell named Jackie. She has several nick names including “JD”, ”Jackie Dog” and one of my favorites “Munchie.”

Chris and Rick hit it off immediately. I think that happens when two extroverts run across each other. Especially in a country that doesn’t have many English speakers! By the end of the first meeting, we’d been invited over for coffee and home cooked bread.

Margit and Chris are on an aluminum boat called “Lucky Star.” You can read their blog at http://sailluckystar.blogspot.com/. They’ve been out for over 2 years and had an abundance of valuable knowledge and accounts to share.

We decided to stay put for the remainder of hurricane season largely because we had new found friends. Margit and Chris have brought so much to our lives. We share similar interests in wine, food and travel. Margit has brought several additional pounds around my waist with her fantastic cooking. Chris has brought us nearly every tool we’ve needed. But mostly they brought us company, friendship and fun.

So on this Thanksgiving, what am I thankful for? Well, I’m very thankful for all that I have in my life including Rick, family, my business and business partner, and the best friends. But I’m also thankful for Chris and Margit for helping make the past two months even more spectacular than I could have imagined. And thankful for their willingness to travel with us over the coming months and discover the wonders we have yet to find.

Oh, and I’m thankful that Sue, Sam and Steve are going to write an account of their time with us over the past three weeks. So everyone stay tuned for what they have to offer. Until then, stay well and be happy.