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Gone Cruis'n

Dave and Gail went cruising after 5 successful years in our YPSMP.

Here's a short excerpt from their trip. They had 2 boats in the program--first a 42' monohull, then a 42' Fountaine Pajot Catamaran. After 5 years with the Catamaran in the program, they retired and are now out there sail'n. Here's a part of their story--enjoy. 

Eric Smith   President 

"When taking care of our clients is our #1 priority,  all other priorities become much easier to attain."

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Chapter 3

Dear friends and family,

We send our greetings from St. Vincent, an island that is a member of the British Commonwealth. We’re back to speaking English, buying bread in plastic bags from the grocery stores, and eating breakfast on the boat.  It still feels a little odd to hear people saying hello instead of bon jour (good day).

We spent seven weeks enjoying the French culture on the islands of Guadeloupe (gwa-deh-loop) and Martinique.  We spoke French, bought fresh bread that was wrapped in paper, and had breakfast of coffee and croissants or pastries on shore After our friends, Gary and Linda, left us in Guadeloupe, we sailed up through the Rivihre Salie (salty river). Guadeloupe looks like a lop-sided butterfly, with a separate island making up each wing and the Rivihre Salie making the body. We sailed from the south to the north and then went around to the west coast to make our way down the island.

We stopped and stayed for a week in Malendure where we got to know a French couple who just started their own canyoning tour company. Dominique leads the tours while Anne manages the office, sometimes with their 18-month-old son as company. Dominque has been doing canyoning tours in France, Spain, and Gaudeloupe for 15 years, so he has great experience to draw from.  Their web site is knopgwadloup.com.

We joined a group of three other people to go canyoning with Dominique, and we were thrilled to discover this new pastime. We drove up into the hills, donned helmets and wetsuits, and walked through a heavily wooded area down to the bed of a river. We spent the next three hours going down river and learning about the plants, insects and birds we encountered along the way. What was really cool was how we went down. Sometimes we walked in the river, hopping from boulder to boulder. Other times we would lay flat on our backs and let the rushing water carry us over the smooth, rocky riverbed. Other times we would jump from as high as 25 feet into deep pools of water. There was even one place where we rappelled down a 60-foot rocky face. We had a great time and are anxious to go canyoning again!

We hiked to the top of La Soufrihre, the active volcano with a bubbling, steaming, sulfurous summit.  There was a light rain falling as we started up the path to the summit, and we could already smell the sulfur. As we walked the rain became heavier, the winds stronger, and the clouds thicker. By the time we reached the summit we couldn_t see more than a few feet and the wind was trying to strip us of our hats and rain jackets. We have to take the word of others about the bubbling and steaming sulfur because all we saw was the thick mist of the clouds. Fortunately, we had the rain to keep us cool so heatstroke wasn_t a danger as we got some really good aerobic exercise.

We spent one afternoon diving at the Cousteau Underwater Reserve, which was quite spectacular. There were lots of colorful corals and sponges and the water was crystal clear. We swam with the biggest schools of blue tangs and sergeant majors that I_ve ever seen. We saw tons of fish including queen angelfish, gray angelfish, queen parrotfish, stoplight parrotfish, queen triggerfish, spotted drums, spotted trunkfish, squirrelfish, foureye butterflyfish, trumpetfish, and eels.   What was really remarkable was how plentiful were the fish of every type. After the dive we were served punch planteur made with local white rum agricole. I have to admit this rum is one French taste that I just can_t seem to acquire. We’re planning to use the bottle we bought in Guadeloupe to kill fish when we catch them.

We left Guadeloupe and made way for Martinique. On our passage we saw our first whales, but they were too far away to determine what kind they were. We had a real thrill when we got to the northern end of Martinique.  A pod of 12 or more dolphins came rushing through the water to the boat and proceeded to swim along with us for about ten minutes. They seemed to be having a contest to see which one could swim closest to the front of the boat, bumping and nipping each other to get next to the hull. For those ten minutes they swam with us our faces were plastered with huge smiles and we talked, whistled, and made smoochy noises. I wonder if they take bets on whether or not the people they meet will be as silly as we were.

We decided to have our anniversary dinner on a French island so stayed at Martinique through the end of May.  It was well worth the stay. On our anniversary we drank French champagne all day, ate croissants and baguette (French bread), dined on lobster, and sipped wonderful coffee. We didn’t do a lick of work and filled our day with reading, playing music, snorkeling, and eating. This was definitely one of our most relaxing anniversaries.

We next sailed to St. Lucia and spent several days there hiking and swimming. The island is very developed, with large resorts on the beaches and a multitude of restaurants. The people were unfailingly polite and friendly and helpful. The island is very fertile so it_s easy to get fresh produce _ young men who come out in small boats filled with produce make it even easier.

Today (June 9) we sailed from St. Lucia to St. Vincent and will spend a few days. Then we head further south to the Grenadines.

One thing we finally got working was our ability to download pictures from our digital camera to the computer, so we’re sending several pictures attached to this message. The first is a sunset viewed from our back porch (our cockpit) in the Virgin Islands. The second is a shot from our canyoning trip on Guadeloupe. The third is a view of the Petit Piton on St. Lucia. We hope to have our web site up soon with lots of pictures of our travels.

We hope this message finds you well and enjoying the long days of summer!

Love, Gail & Dave

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