The Curse of St Lucia

We've had a very busy time since we were in Dominica, so sorry about the lack of updates to our blog. We finally left our mooring off Sea Cat's early in the morning and had a good sail (much to Sarah's relief) past Martinique and back into Rodney Bay, St Lucia where we arrived well before sunset in time for the traditional sundowner watching for the green flash.
The main reason for our return to St Lucia was to have a new part fitted to the watermaker. This was not only to cure the rather annoying and intermittent squeak, but also to upgrade and service the machine. Emails had been exchanged between the UK agent and his expat counterpart in St Lucia and the relevant parts ordered from Italy, with a promise they 'should' arrive on the Tuesday or Wednesday. We arrived on the Tuesday and, much to our relief, the parts arrived on the Wednesday. A 'happy' two hours was spent by Darrell disconnecting 2x16mm intake and waste pipes (easy), a 6mm delivery pipe (easy) and 2 coach bolts, one easy and the other only removable by a double jointed person of limited stature with cushioned knees. The unit being removed was under a saloon seat and had been fitted by Darrell so he couldn't really blame anyone but himself. The final coach bolt was removed by spanner turning it a sixth of a turn at a time with a rest and arm massage every full turn.
The decision to have new o rings fitted to the piston rod that provides pressure for the reverse osmosis process was made by experience that, whilst the machine needed to 'simply' be dismantled, the "x" rings fitted to the rod and then reassembled, such a 'simple' procedure had a number of possibilities for problems and so it was more sensible to pay someone else to fit the rings and reassemble the unit. It was somewhat disturbing then to have a text and email arrive simultaneously requesting that I contact the company 'as soon as possible'!
Sure enough, there 'was a problem'. The new x rings were a tight fit on the rod and, in attempting to fit  them, one had been damaged. A phone call to Italy revealed that the new rods fitted to the machines were, 'very slightly' larger than the one in my machine but that the x rings 'should still fit'! Jon at Regis electronics couldn't have been more helpful and apologetic, having fitted many of these before, but he had not been aware of the increased diameter of the new piston and neither was the UK agent. The only solution was to order a new ring and 'very slightly larger' piston rod from Italy. Normal delivery time, less than a week, but this was Easter time. We were trapped in St Lucia again!
Fortunately we were meeting up with some friends from the UK and we're going to be around for another 5 days, but we didn't know when these parts would arrive. Our friends left on the following Wednesday and, much to our relief, the parts arrived the same day and had cleared customs on Thursday so they were fitted and the machine reinstalled the same day. We had been unable to find a double jointed, vertically challenged person with cushioned patellas and so it was left to Darrell to refit the unit under the saloon seat, meaning we could depart the following morning for an anchorage in the south of the island ready to say goodbye to St Lucia for the last time! The water maker was duly tested and worked with no problem and no squeak. Grenadines here we come.

We did manage to do a hike on St Lucia and you can see some of the photos by following the link below:

https://plus.google.com/115186525797147432996/stories/64646c30-08c1-3171-a222-1559b98f263514bafd201ff?authkey=CMi-_Zi-o5vqxQE

The Fruit and Veg man, Rodney Bay

Getting "Lost" with SeaCat

When we were here earlier in the month SeaCat had told us about a trail he was trying to find to some waterfalls on his friend's land. He wanted to find a more challenging route in that went past the less accessible waterfalls and finished at the two that had recently been developed for the Cruiseship visitors. He asked if we fancied 'getting lost in the rainforest' with him on our return to the Island. A silly question as we are always up for a day out with SeaCat and most of the time we have no idea of our exact position, we just trust him to get us back to our boat. 

So it was with excitement and some extra food that we set off on our next jaunt. We went up into the mountains to the 'new' waterfall attraction and met the landowner. He was astonished that SeaCat hadn't managed to find the trail in when he had tried. They had a long and animated discussion in the local Patois. We politely admired the concrete road and steps down to the waterfalls that he had built by hand himself, for the Cruiseship visitors. 

Then we stepped over the fence and went into the rainforest on a very old narrow trail down to the river. We were using roots to go down steep cliffs and scrambling over rocks and crossing the river: all the normal activities on a day out with SeaCat. The river is in a steep sided valley, with dense rainforest on both sides. Along its course we found the different waterfalls and enjoyed swims in the very cold and clear water.

After a lunch of the different wraps that Sarah had made up, all that went down well. (Is this perhaps a new career opportunity?) We climbed and scrambled back up to the carpark. Lost and found in a few hours, all great fun!
We then went to visit 'Spanny waterfalls', this is another Cruiseship trip and is at first viewing fairly tame. But suddenly SeaCat had disappeared and then reappeared at the top of a cliff calling us to follow. 

We used ropes and roots to climb up after him and down into the next ravine, where there was a glorious waterfall hidden from the less adventurous. It's all in knowing what you will find, if you are willing to go off the obvious trails, according to SeaCat.

On our way back to Roseau we visited more of SeaCat friends and came back to the boat with bags loaded with fresh sweet juicy pineapples and avocados that we were assured that if we kept them warm would soon ripen.

Continuing adventures with SeaCat: The Garden of Eden in the rainforest.

We never quite know what to expect when we go out for a day with SeaCat. He knows us well and understands that we are up for anything different, especially if it means we get to see the stunning and less touristy side of Dominica. He knows we will be up for a challenge and he likes to surprise us. This time he promised us the Garden of Eden, and he was not overstating the case.
We had a very fast hike up through some rainforest and onto the middle section of the Watikabuli trail. It involved the traditional crossing of rivers several times and the odd scramble up a slope, but it was fairly easy walking compared to our usual walks with him. We then were walking through old plantation land. This is all owned by the government and is 'common' land. We walked through coffee trees, citrus groves, bananas and other trees that have been left.

We took a track off the main trail that had a sign saying 'Pommes Residence',  here we went up the old plantation road. Made from stones to form cobbles by slaves that goes through the rainforest up steep slopes. We reached a plateau, surrounded by mountains and rainforest. 

The plateau was more like an English Country Park, with large mature trees amongst pasture land. Sheep and cows were grazing the land and some horses were off in the shade of the trees. It all felt a bit surreal at nearly 1000 feet up a mountain after walking in rainforest to find this wide open space.

We then dropped down and crossed a small stream and followed the path up. The sight that met us when we came up from the stream filled us with wonder. Pomme's Residence is a traditionally built simple wooden house, with a corrugated tin raised roof and shutters. It has a separate kitchen to onesie and the water for the outdoor sink is piped from the stream using bamboo. It surrounded by the most gorgeous and well kept garden. There were large terraces growing all kinds of vegetables: brasic as, carrots, onions, squashes, potatoes, as well as more tropical varieties, a herb garden, fruit bushes, an orchard and lots of beds of herbaceous plants, perennials flowers and dotted around annuals. The house was surrounded by flowers.

 

We were warmly welcomed and encouraged to explore all the garden in our own time and ask questions. We discussed ideas and plans that he had. Darrell shared tips on beekeeping. We found out the names of all the fruits we didn't know and tasted many. We were invited to share lunch, a delicious soup made from a variety of vegetables, followed by fresh coconut water and fruit. We looked through a catalogue and discussed what fruit varieties would work in the garden. It was a very special place and a fascinating time spent there. A truely unique and different side of Dominica shared with us by SeaCat and his friends.

When it came time to leave, we all decided that we were up for the long route back to the trail, this consisted of following a series of trails through the rainforest, up and down valleys and along ridges. We went through the farmsteads of three other Rastas and enjoyed some time with them.

We then wandered back down the mountain to the trail. As we went through the old plantation we collected grapefruits to take back to the boat. A glorious day out visiting with SeaCat.

Snorkelling on Dominica.

We had a reasonably calm sail down to Rosseau and picked up one of SeaCat's mooring balls. The man himself came aboard for a sundowner when he returned from his day out, we caught up and arranged to spend a couple of days hiking with him, but turned down the offer of a hike to The Boiling Lake the next day. We did the 9 hour hike last year and thoroughly enjoyed it, but we wanted a day snorkelling off Scott's Head and Champagne Reef when there were no Cruise ships in.
So the next morning we had a leisurely start and caught the bus down to Scot's Head at the Southern end of the island. There is a spit out to the Scott's Head, which is a hill with fortifications on the top. As you walk along the spit you have the Atlantic on one side and the Caribbean on the other. 

The Atlantic was full of crashing waves as the wind came roaring across. The bay on the Caribbean side was choppy but further out the sea was calm. The difference between the two was remarkable. I always find it quite unnerving that the Atlantic looks much higher here than the Caribbean.
We swam out around the edge of Scott's Head to the wall, which is a huge drop that divers love. The coral is fabulous and there are loads of fish. We saw a shoal of cuttlefish which swim backwards.

We then walked a couple of miles along the coast road to the fishing village of Soufriere, where we were dry enough to be allowed on a bus, to take us to Champagne reef. This is in a popular bay, as the water is warm and has streams of gas bubbles rising from the sea bed from the volcanic activity below the earth's surface. The warmth attracts the fish and the coral grows well on the protected area. It's fun swimming through the bubbles. We were lucky enough to see an octopus swimming and changing colour, although it took exception to Darrell and squirted ink at him!

Dominica: The Nature Island.

We had a good sail across from Les Saintes to Dominica, despite the wind shifts we made good time and Sarah was able to relax. Although, she is still very twitchy waiting for the gusts to go up above thirty and the boat to heel further. But Darrell had manage to persuade her that only one reef was needed and that all of the Genoa would be ok for most of the journey. Of course he had the added reason that two other boats were leaving just before us, so there was a race to be had! We took the narrow channel out which meant we were able to get into the channel ahead of them and Darrell kept the boat close hauled so he had a better line for our destination. So he was happy that we were in Prince Rupert's Bay and anchored well before they arrived.
We had a long hike to customs, but for once the online system worked and Darrell only had to sign four copies of the document when it was printed out. Being Dominica that means we are checked in and out for a two week stay, so we don't have to visit customs here again.
We decided to do the whole trail we had started last time we were in Portsmouth. This is a muddy and undulating section of the Watikabuli trail, with some very steep parts. This time we were well prepared with our hiking boots and managed to follow it well up into the mountains to the old railway line and across the ridges around to near to the American medical university. It was a good four hour hike up and down through the rainforest, listening to the birds and occasionally remembering to look at views and the forest rather than our feet.