Joe versus the Volcano

We were all looking forward to visiting Montserrat and taking a tour of the areas destroyed by the volcanic events that took place in the late 90s and early 00s.  Unfortunately, it was another rough travel day to get there. The trade winds reliably blow from some point between south and north of east. On our travel days to the south and east, the wind was pretty reliable about being from south of east. There was always plenty of (and then some) wind for sailing but we were bouncing along against the prevailing conditions. It's a minor, tiring, irritation for us but it becomes a pretty sorry situation when Cubby barfs endlessly every time we go somewhere. And that brings us to The Mutiny on Montserrat.

After our planned tour of the island I couldn't figure out why we were all so down in the dumps all the time. Was it the rough conditions and seasickness? The constant travel? The (embarassing and therefore unspoken) disinterest in the sights? The hemmoraghing of cash everywhere we went? What it finally amounted to was that it was all of the above, all the time, with no end in sight and no balance of effort to enjoyment. One look at the charts and calendar made it obvious we would have to continue at the same bombing pace for a couple months without the option to wait for our preferred travel conditions, get our routine things done, relax, or do our favorite recreational activites. All of that was compounded by the fact that we were going in the wrong direction! The boat was pointed south but our heads were pointed north. Well, we couldn't live like that for the sake of more cannons and waterfalls (sorry beautiful Caribbean islands full of history and sights). It was time to stop feeling guilty that we weren't thrilled to be there and couldn't muster a lot of enthusiasm for any of it. We've done a lot of sightseeing in the past couple years so there was no reason to feel bad that we want to take it easy while we still can.  Plus, we live on a boat, for pete's sake! We want to play in the water, not wear clothes and sneakers! So I asked Andy, "how do you want to spend the next four months? Like THIS? [pan arm across messy salon, sink full of dishes, kids with sad faces stuck in ipads with neglected school books in the background]. Or snorkeling, swimming, paddling, fishing and looking for more kitesurfing spots?" It was pretty easy to make the call to turn around sooner than we planned.

It's always great when the right people show up at just the right time. Not many hours after I brought up the possibility of u-turning, Greg and Paula from Day Star anchored behind us and stopped by to say hello. It only took a minute to make the connection that we are all on the homestretch of our cruises with kids and facing a return to the unknown. We got together with them the next evening and had fun talking over the open-endedness of our lives. It also gave us a chance to step out of our little bubble and have someone to chat with about our desire to turn around. They gave us the good advice to get as far as Dominica before turing around. We could handle that! So we said goodbye to them with a tangible and doable goal lined up, some places of interest along the way, and a huge sense of relief washing over us. Phew!

Now, to get down to the business of our visit to Montserrat...

20knots right on the nose. Nice!

On our way to Montserrat we passed the Island Kingdom of Redonda. Which is just a big rock with a pretty funny "royal" history. Tedze decided to crown himself the new King of Redonda. 

Clouds gather over the volcano and mix with the sulphuric steam coming out of the crater.

We arrived on a Sunday so customs was closed and we couldn't clear in. Andy and Drew went for a snorkel off the boat and saw this Goldspotted Eel.

Montserrat has some unique Irish history so shamrocks appear here and there and that's why it's called the Emerald Isle of the Carib.

There's a lot of fresh water on Montserrat. 

Everyone except Drew drank from the ghaut. He is still too traumatized by the stomach illness in the Dominican Republic.

Our tour guide Joe Phillips pointing out a few things from the observatory where we watched a good film about the volcano. Joe is supposed to be the best guide on the island. If you aren't sure, just ask Joe.  I don't know if he's the best but I'm pretty sure he's the most expensive. He did take us through his old neighborhood which you wouldn't even know is there. All the houses are abandoned and so overgrown you can't see them. 

A view of the volcano

The outlined zones limit entry. You can get into Zone V with a guide but have to get permission in advance. 

Entering a ruined church.

Inside the church. I believe Drew captured the moment when Cubby found a stuffed bunny face down in the ash and fell apart about it being lonely. So we asked Joe if we could rescue it and he thought it would be ok. Blueberry is now clean and with the rest of the boating bunny family. And as it turns out, Blueberry is part of a video tour of Montserrat on youtube made by our friends we met in Dominica. He is quite the famous bunny.

We were able to go inside an abandoned house. It was sad to see so many things people had to leave behind. Many people left the island but it seems they weren't given a lot of choice. Benefits if you leave, nothing if you stay. Some have returned but many have remained in England. Around 2/3 of the population left. 

The same house and more personal things that were left behind. It looks like people were mid-something when they had to leave.

A view toward the volcano and the former, now totally wiped out, capitol of Plymouth. 

We could smell the sulfur from this spot and see the location of the pyroclastic flow.

Donkey diversion: This guy yelled at us as we drove by.

Drew is pointing to the spot where the town of Plymouth was located. We were standing (and anchored in) Little Bay up in the Northwest end where main harbor activities have been relocated. 

Overlooking Little Bay from the shore. Before Plymouth was ruined this area was simply a quiet, isolated stretch of beach with only a dirt road for access. 

These buildings were put in to enliven the harborfront. They're really attractive but Joe explained it's hard to get reliable business owners to use the space. 

Some local fishermen showed us their catch. Nice wahoo!

As we sailed south we got a really good view of what used to be Plymouth. 

We had seen pictures before it was ruined and it looked like a large, picturesque, bustling town overlooking a very pretty harbor. Now it's just buried. Very sad. 

In Search of Monkeys

Our visit to St. Kitts & Nevis was brief yet longer than it should have been. A couple days in to our arrival we were still floundering around unsure of what to see and do. We made a couple hops around St. Kitts in search of monkeys and kitesurfing spots and then moved on to Nevis. At some point we perused our guidebook again trying to figure out what to do. A visit to one of the plantations on Nevis would have been really nice but at that point we had already wasted too much time. We realized that as we continued to island hop on a pretty tight schedule (and, let's face it, at this point in our trip, a very tight budget) we would really have to pick and choose where to spend time and money. Here nothing really felt like a must see experience for any of us. We were definitely a little baffled by our lack of interest in the place. Hmm. Ambivalence was a new one for us. But since this wasn't the usual, we brushed it aside, wrote these islands off as a "miss" and moved on.

The sail from Statia to Basseterre in St. Kitts was, thankfully, barf free. We were in the lee of St. Kitts for half of it so the sea state was comfortable but that also meant we lost our wind so we motorsailed. Andy and Cubby entertained themselves catching air on the bow when we went over waves. 

We haven't done much fishing lately so we had our hopes up for a nice mahi or something. But all we got was this barracuda. It didn't even take out line. I just happened to glance back for a seaweed check and saw it being dragged along. 

Basseterre is a big cruise ship destination. Two to three arrive in the morning and then leave in the evening. Day in and day out. We checked some of the itineraries online and laughed that so many depart from and return to New Jersey. It took us a year and a half to get here from New Jersey! 

I guess we look like typical passengers because we walked right past security and up to the gangways. We enjoyed the rush of freezing cold air pouring out of the doors. The kids loved peeking in to the gleaming, ornate interiors. Especially the brand new Anthem (which is currently recovering from an exciting offshore adventure!)

Basseterre has a Payless shoe store of all things so Cubs got some new kicks. 

We walked around the shops for an afternoon after clearing customs. It was entertaining at first and the leashed monkeys were cute from afar. But after a while and up close it got kind of depressing. Especially this poor thing licking someone's weird mush off the ground and having people toss tomato slices and french fries at him. The cafe ended up having a nasty pile of food on its terrace rather than a well-fed monkey.

We left the kids on the boat for a quick stock up at the fruit and veg stands. The non-refrigerated stuff always stays fresh longer and it's an easy way to shop. The lady in blue scolded me for taking her picture. Oops. 

We hopped down to White House Bay to get out of busy Basseterre and find something to do but it was a bit of a bust. Andy and Drew tried to land the dinghy near a newly developed mega-yacht marina but were shooed away. But nobody puts Andy in a corner so he went over and made pals with the young guy and got some scoop on the marina and the area. 

Drew and Andy went for a walk and saw lots of wild monkeys. Which made Cubby cry because she had opted out of the walk.

Monkey in da woods.

Da monkeys runnin'. One has a baby hanging off his front. 

Another hop brought us to Banana Bay where we were in search of alcoholic monkeys and a kitesurfing beach. Well, we didn't realize the Reggae Beach Bar caters to cruise ship passengers so it was shutting down as we were showing up. So we took a walk to look at a potential kitesurfing beach and it was pretty disappointing. But we did get to see more monkeys! We went back to the boat where I chopped off Cubby's hair (her idea!) and then we all pitched in to give the boat a scrub. After a sleepless night of little waves hitting the hull (which sounded more like someone whacking it at random intervals with a baseball bat) Andy made the call to bail and not bother with kiteboarding. No arguments from me! 

A few miles later we were on a mooring ball in Nevis. We tried our hand at finding some actual groceries. There were some more really good fruit and veg stands in a covered market but the walk to the sad little grocery was pretty chaotic. This picture does not do it justice at all. 

Tangent on a mooring ball. This is probably when we decided to not bother with any major outings or spend any money. Five confusing days were enough. 

We cleared out and got ready to go then snuck in an extra day waiting for better weather and hit the beach. This is one way to get to the beach from your cat!

One good thing we can say about the visit: the sunsets were beautiful!

Statia

It's only 40ish miles to St. Eustatius (Statia) from St. Martin. It doesn't sound like much but 40ish miles takes us HOURS. We were able to sail most of the way but the seas were pretty rough. After three weeks in a flat calm lagoon eating chocolate everything we were feeling pretty wiped out. We originally wanted to go further to St. Kitts but, of course, got of to a late start so decided to stop in Statia. The ocean swell usually wraps around these steep little round islands and makes for very rolly anchorages. But we lucked out with very calm conditions. What was supposed to be a one night stopover turned into three nights and we loved it. Statia is the kind of place you should go if you want to go scuba diving or write a novel. It's quiet and friendly with enough charm and history to make it special.

On a mooring ball overlooking The Quill. The mooring is included in the park fee you have to pay.

We visited the park office and learned about the flora and fauna. 

Lots of flowers make it pretty and occasional showers keep it cool.

These guys aren't easy to spot but we saw a couple hiding in the trees.

There's one!

Walking up the Old Slave Road to upper town.

Soldier crab which is a large land hermit crab.

Statia is the site of the first acknowedgement of the US as a sovereign nation when the then governor of Statia ordered a return salute to the Andrew Doria. They even celebrate Statia America Day here. 

At the fort overlooking Tangent in the harbor.

One of the local hotels keeps pet macaws.

Oranje Bay.

A restored Dutch warehouse called Mazinga. The Dutch architecture, some of which has been restored, is really cool. 

We decided to hike up The Quill but got off to a very late start because, yet again, we moseyed around the boat and Customs was shut when we arrived to clear out. Thankfully they came back but our morning hike turned into a hot afternoon trek. 

There was a viewpoint partway up the trail. Tangent is the one sailboat right at the tree line along the harbor. True to its history, Statia remains a central point for the transfer and distribution of cargo throughout the Caribbean. But now it's oil instead of sugar and rum. 

Overlooking the old volcano which was very dense and lush. 

More architecture. This is for sale if anyone is interested in a restoration project. It would be a great retreat and has a nice view and private courtyard perfect for a little pool. Someone please do this so I can come back for a visit.