Meeting Miss Beryl

2024 Wikipedia By NASA/Matthew Dominick
 https://www.nasa.gov/image-article/studying-hurricane-beryl-from-space/
 Public Domain, https://commons.wikimedia.org/w/index.php?curid=149984683

Living on an island, you learn to respect weather.  Not that we check forecasts every day, but it can be helpful to keep out of trouble.  Trouble though, sometimes finds YOU!  So here then, is our tale of Caribbean daring-do… 

In June 2024, after months of repair work on our sailboat, Windjammer 3 in Trinidad, we finally “splashed”.  Tropical waters under clear, blue skies beckoned.  Only days after setting the hook in Carriacou, we learned of a tropical system moving west towards us.  Time to pay closer attention then.  So, this is how we met Hurricane Beryl, up close and personal!  These are notes we took from weather reports as Miss Beryl progressed threateningly towards us.  

24-25 Jun 24.  Tyrell Bay, Carriacou.  A tropical system is moving west off the coast of Africa.  At anchor, we experience wild squalls and 53 km/h winds (a near gale) overnight.  Neighbours head into mangrove lagoons or boat yards for shelter.  Given the system’s track, our Cap’n decides north is best, rather than our pre-planned “Escape south to Trinidad.”  Very wise indeed!

26 Jun 24:  Bequia, SVG.  Atlantic system on the move.  Island-hugging, as we move north, lessens the impact of increasingly strong winds and choppy seas.

27 Jun 24: Rodney Bay, St Lucia.  Tropical storm on the way. Winds reach 65 km/h.  Locals seem non-plussed by this impending storm.

28-30 Jun 24: Rodney Bay Marina.  Record breaking hurricane coming!  St Lucia is gusty and overcast.  Moving into Rodney Bay’s sheltered lagoon, we refuel before taking a Marina berth.  After lashing WJ3 securely into her slip, canvas and sails are removed.  Hopefully, the lagoon’s narrow entrance will limit storm surge.  Preparations continued with re-stocking essential supplies.  Time to sit and wait.  We cling to a chance that Beryl wobbles south.  Every mile counts.

01 Jul 24:  Beryl (now Category 4) hits the Caribbean.  The eye passes over Carriacou, a mere 157 km away from us, at 220 km/h causing unbelievable damage.  Thankfully, St Lucia’s airport records 75 km/h, a strong gale.  Despite days of rain, flooding was minimal.  We were safe, this time!

Feeding off unseasonably warm waters, Beryl moved on, quickly intensifying into Category 5 with unimaginable 270 km/h winds.  Over two days, Beryl had strengthened into a major Hurricane; only 6 others have accomplished this record.  Spare a thought for Hurricane Hunters who fly through these beasts to collect meteorological data!  Days later, news and drone footage filtered out of unbelievable damage sustained by islands to our south.  

We remained in St Lucia for the remainder of 2024 Hurricane Season, making a decision not to haul out in Trinidad, but make a dash for Deltaville to a less exhilarating life on USA’s Chesapeake Bay.

Bless those Christmas Winds...

Blood Moon & a Jump Up - all a bit spooky in St Lucia

Our last night in Rodney Bay was celebrated toasting a spectacular rise of the Blood Moon and listening to the sizzling Caribbean vibes of the jump-up held every Friday night at Gros Islet.  Just far enough from our anchorage.  We had it all!  Wafts of BBQ (plenty of smoke & tantalizing aromas) all served up with a side of very loud soca & dancehall beats.  About 5.30-ish next morning, those still standing, go home.  So, having given St Lucia our best, it was time to point WJ3’s nose northwards towards Guadeloupe and the Windwards. 

We had especially good weather as we moved up the island chain but wondered if our luck would hold thereafter.  The easterlies met up out of Deshaies, on our first big crossing to Antigua.  We surfed into Falmouth Harbour and settled for an anchorage far from the madding crowd…  Falmouth is now kitted out for superyachts and elite racing; next door, English Harbour for charter boats (mostly catamarans now).  Facilities for simple cruisers are sparse.  Even our Cap’n (never the fashionista) remarked on the change!

HMS Diamond Rock, once dressed as a ship with sails and cannon

In 1804, Diamond Rock, Martinique, was dressed as a ship, manned by 20 English sailors with 4 cannon causing much damage to the French fleet.  It is said though, that the French easily evened the score and took the island back.  Simply by "wrecking" boats on shore laden with casks of rum. "Know your enemy!"

Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe.  The busiest port in the Caribbean
& an early start for our daily "Shipping News" watch! 

A complete rainbow arc to mark our leaving Deep Bay,
Antigua for the 83 mile sail to St Bart's.

The easterlies remained and GS “pilled” up for the next long leg to St Bart's then on to St Martin.  All went well as we find ourselves in Simpson Bay Lagoon (on the Dutch side) yet again.  Close enough to regularly access takeaways from all nations – Indian curries, Korean spicy soups and French pastries.  Will we ever leave?

Not just yet.  It seems that huge sweeping systems called “Christmas Winds” are now regularly belting across vast swathes of the US, the Bahamas, Turks Caicos and northern Caribbean islands.  Doing their worst by removing our favourable Trades with winds from the north.  Better sit this out...  Pass round those chocolate croissants before they go stale then!!

Photos to follow...baby steps as we're learning the ropes now with Starlink and a brand spanking new (much larger) inverter to power it.  

Mixin' with the really big boys (lots of them) in Simpson Bay Lagoon.
No swell, just chop.  Lots of sleek go-fast boats & jet skis with
too much engine power (and not enough brain power). 

Eating Humble Pie

Rodney Bay Marina (still), St Lucia

Dear Friends,

Specifically, those who have commented on our blogs and never been answered, we send to you our most humble apologies.  Having managed our blogs for some 17 years now, the Galley Slave/Blog Manager has only just stumbled upon the Comments section.  Here lie many missives, that until now, have mostly sat forlorn and unnoticed.  This apology also extends to you too Alexandra, one of our most loyal readers.  Oh dear!  

Our Galley Slave has just finished revitalising the now ageing blogs.  A perfect job indeed when on hurricane watch sitting in a marina for a few months.  Low season maintenance tasks!  We have six blogs to manage, with only two connected to our regularly accessed, email accounts.  These are the busiest blogs, although I hasten to add that none of them are appearing in any top ten popularity lists (just yet!).  That’s fine with us; we’re not in it for glory, money or bow-bunny pix.  We started our blogs as an easy way of keeping contact with family and friends as we moved about and to have journals to remind us, in our dotage, of “our wilful youth.”  They are also a way for us to participate in and share with our communities.  The Cap’n writes of his boat maintenance efforts and GS, her travel, textile and other arty stuff finds.  Our Cap’n is also a big fan of the Cruiser net community.  Many a problem has been thus solved.  

Thank you all for your efforts to engage us.  We shall endeavour to be more attentive and prompt in the future.  Always learning!  And a big thank you to everyone who reads and enjoys our adventures.

Saturday, 9th November, is nearly upon us.  WJ3's nose will then be pointed north, after a couple of days acclimating in Rodney Bay, to the hardship of wind, swell and waves.  We heard it was snowing in the US already... Just whose idea was this?  

Shellfish grow at an alarming rate in our sea-water plumbing

Hunter Moon over Rodney Bay

Rodney Bay Marina, St Lucia

Well, we just can’t seem to get those dock lines loosened from WJ3’s cleats right now!  Here in the Rodney Bay Marina, under the Hunter moon, we’re having a real-life “Hotel California” moment.  That involves watching the weather daily, with fingers crossed; hoping weather systems, still rocketing off the African coast, don’t develop into something nasty.  Unfortunately, USA’s south eastern states, particularly Florida, have been really copping it.  Also, we’ve heard little on how Grenada & St Vincent and the Grenadines are doing with their recovery from Beryl.  There’s not been much traffic passing through the marina since we’ve been here.  Everything takes time and life in this part of the world seems to have reached a low-season standstill.

Here in the North, this is known as the Hunter Moon.
Bright enough for the last night hunt before winter sets in.

November is thankfully, the last month of Hurricane season.  However, we are counting days down to the end of October and monitoring...  That said, there can be the odd December ’cane spin up.  So, if all settles down, our plan (which changes daily!!) is to make the leap north to Pointe-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe in mid-November.  Here, we’ll take a short break to catch our breath, seek out all those delicious French foods (and champagne), and once we’ve seen what’s predicted for Nov/Dec, begin the slow, slog north. 

Life in the marina has been a life of idyll – happy, peaceful, and simple.  We’ve kept ourselves busy doing stuff, as long as it’s mostly in air-conditioned comfort.  One of the joys of being dockside!  We have hardly ever made use of the aircon but it’s been a real blessing in this humid, tropical weather.  Lately, temperatures daily reach the low 30’s (in Celsius).  Meanwhile, the Cap’n has been researching and then fixing stuff – always a challenge.  His current task is to set up a new furling system for the spinnaker, designed to make life easier.  And of course, finally make use of that sail ordered in 2010!  As always, check his Hunter460 blog for our technical ups & downs.  The Galley Slave has soldiered on with refreshing the WJ3 blogs, doing some family history research and digging out the Walmart $70 special sewing machine to make up some quilt blocks.  With thanks to Mr Lozza who serviced it for her last year, it worked a treat!  Yeah!  Happy campers all round!!

Doing the weekly shop, without fail, attracts those on the hum.
This time though, GS wanted to enlist a new crew member!

Of course, October is anniversary month – married 45 yrs & sailing WJ3 17 years (2007 BVI purchase), so the Cap’n made a special effort in buying an expensive ring.  To celebrate his years of togetherness for the Other Woman, naturally!  GS will bide her time…  

WJ3's expensive custom new stainless ring
(for the furling spinnaker fitting)

Windjammer's Holiday

Innocent looking cumulus clouds just looking for some very warm Caribbean water to grow into something nasty!!

Here we sit, in an often bouncy lagoon (even though WJ3 is still very securely tied to our berth, D21), daily watching towering cumulus clouds drift overhead.  This means yet another tropical wave is gliding over us; some offering more kick than others.  The end of August approaches, and this season’s outlook is expected to heat up until November-ish.  Fortunately for us in the Windwards, Atlantic conditions have changed a wee bit and these waves, with little to feed off (to develop into tropical storms or worse, hurricanes), are mostly drifting north-west of us – a bit of a reprieve, for now! 

So, tucked up in our little berth, we are pretending we’re on holiday.  A white sandy beach on a green tropical island somewhere...  Oh, wait – we are!

Looking oh so innocent, but we all know that means trouble ahead!!

Now that our second month here in St Lucia draws to a close, we tell ourselves we really have put time to good use.  The Cap’n continues to update his Hunter 460 Blog.  Exciting reading if you’re into mechanical & electrical mayhem and the many other wild and wacky delights of ongoing sailboat maintenance!  He’s also spending time doing heaps of research to help solve all those incidents that might just crop up one day – as they often do.  At present, we are still at a loss to explain why the main sail continues to get stuck in our mast.  Is it a bid for freedom?  Or why the cabin roof continues to leak every time it rains.  It is the tropics and rain it often does.  All this angst despite a fortunes-worth of sealants squeezed into every possible nook & cranny.    

An early evening gathering of our quietest neighbours, roosting egrets?

Meanwhile, the Galley Slave has prepped-up a handy to-do list of boat chores for herself and will one day get round to thinking about doing them.  Her current area of domestic expertise is fishing out little squidgies that find themselves sucked up in through the bathroom salt water inlet pump.  Meanwhile, last year’s troublesome laptop has become this year’s troublesome laptop, so uploading photos for WJ3 and the H460 blogs may have to wait until the nearest Walmart.  Meanwhile, there’s always a basket of stitching or a book to read…

So stressed out we are not; the aircon is working beautifully!  We check the weather daily, have an escape plan in mind and intend to stay in St Lucia rather than back-track south.  Anyhoo, it’s been lovely chatting but it’s almost beer time.  And a chilly, blue can of Piton definitely has our name on it. 

Looking right (south) from our comfy seats in the cockpit. Can you find the egrets?

And looking left (north)...it's a big marina for sure and a long walk to the bathrooms.
We are at the top end of the island and its flattest part.

J’ouvert or Not to J’ouvert

We find ourselves in St Lucia for Carnival.  Wiser, much wiser, following our experiences in Grenada, we’ve listened to the goings-on and gatherings from afar.  (Well, from our marina berth, actually!)  The resort opposite has had rather lively fire dancers performing over the last couple of Saturday nights and there’s been some local bands playing loudly, outsde the marina compound.  Mr L approves the music.  He assured me they were playing the Banana Boat song last night!  Interestingly, there’s been no sightings of steel pans.  Mind you, the weather has been consistently inconsistent and tropical waves, bringing humidity, frequent showers and the odd storm, still regularly blow over us.  A real tropical experience.

We booked in to stay here for a month - a bit of a luxury with restaurants, a large grocery store, laundry, tap water and…electricity!  Also, the island boasts an international airport, so Mr Lozza can make his escape at the end of July.  The hurricane knocked out those airports south of us (not Trinidad) and we’re a bit wary of heading too far north until the end of the hurricane season.  So, here we sit, taking it easy.  

Sunset over Rodney Bay Marina (Photo by L.A.)

That’s not to say, there hasn’t been any repairs or maintenance to do.  We just get the chance to space those chores out, interspersed with dingy rides to Pidgeon Point (off Rodney Bay) for some snorkelling, a game of golf and dinners/breakfasts out.  The Cap’n managed, with help from the crew, to get the main sail out of the mast and leaks in the cabin have been located and sealed.  We are watertight again!  Now there’s just some canvas work to do.

The Cap'n trying hard on this beautiful green but it was Mr Lozza,
game, set & match!  (Evidence provided by Mr L.)

There’s also been time to do even more planning!  At last report, the Cap’n had booked us in to Power Boats, Trinidad for an early September haul then fly home.  Our latest thoughts though, are to stay in St Lucia for another month, then move south to anchor in Grenada for September & October (peak months).  If another Beryl blows by, we can make an easier run south for Trinidad from there.  

In November, we’ll start heading back up the Caribbean chain, through the Turks Caicos and Bahamas, making US landfall in about Jan 2025.  We’re aiming to start in Florida from West Palm Beach.  With Mr Lozza along for the ride, we’ll follow the ICW to the Chesapeake and our “home” base in Deltaville.  It will just be a wee bit chilly at this time of year.  Indeed, a similar, speedy trip to the one we did in 2018 returning from the Med.  This will be our 5th run of the Caribbean chain, so we’re not needing to stop except for bare necessities - fuel, food and water.  So, there you have it.  We’ll hopefully be home in March giving us a whole year to tend the garden, repair the house and best of all, spend time with family and friends.

Of course, this could all change tomorrow...  

June too soon… (Oh, sure!)

Always hoping to catch sight of the green flash as the sun goes down!! 
The view from our mooring in Grenada.

Firstly, and importantly, WJ3 Cap’n & both Crew are safe and sound in St Lucia.  We are nested in a web of mooring lines, secured to a very solid concrete marina berth, and surrounded by mangroves (and the odd water-front housing estate!).  Rodney Bay Marina is also on the far north of the island.  As luck would have it for us at least, Beryl wobbled south a bit leaving us to manage with just a few intense gusts and some rain.  Not so lucky for those islands south of us!

So, why are we here?  With June too soon and July stand by ringing in our ears, we set off for a cruise of the southern Windwards.  All in aid of a dive on Tobago Cays, a chance to visit more remote islands in the chain and some sunny, clean, calm anchorages.   Our rule of thumb however, was not to be further than 2 sailing days away from Trinidad.  That made Martinique, at a stretch, our northernmost limit. 

Having left Trinidad, we set course for Grenada, arriving after a brisk sail at the moorings off St Georges Harbour.  A vast marina, set up with visions of attracting flotillas of super yachts, now occupies a section of the harbour called the Frying Pan (due to its shape).  Still, the outer mooring area was fine and we were still able, without risking life or limb, to access a small supermarket deep in the Pan, to replenish supplies.

Our skitterish hitchhikers wouldn't pose for the Cap'n

Of course, halfway across to Grenada, we attracted some rather suspect hitchhikers and soon after were nearly collected by a determined freighter.  An eventful trip this time.

From Grenada, we moved on to Carriacou, anchoring in the protection of Tyrell Bay.  Here, we became aware of a couple of tropical waves (atmospheric depressions) moving across the Atlantic from Africa.  There was potential for them to develop into tropical storms so we decided to go further north, moving on to Bequia.  Bequia must be the quintessential Caribbean harbour.  Beautiful clear turquoise water, white sandy beaches, friendly locals and a neat, tidy town.  Except the two storms were growing larger!  So, the next morning we hot-footed it to St Lucia.  Yet another rocky ride in our progress north through the Windwards!

St Vincent - a garden island

Hatches, hatches crew!!  Downpour on the way...  St Vincent

At this point (28 June), it became apparent that we now had a sizeable hurricane on our heels.  Also, best advice was that Miss Beryl could wobble further south given conditions in the Caribbean.  An escape back to Trinidad therefore seemed unrealistic, so we decided to take our chances in St Lucia. With canvas and sails stripped down, everything strapped securely to the boat, provisioning complete and water tanks filled, here we are on Monday (1 Jul) crossing everything humanly possible and waiting our fate.  

At its closest, Beryl was about 112 miles (181 km) from us.  But she did wobble south.  The eye, with predicted maximum sustained winds near 130 mph (215 km/h) made a direct hit over Carriacou and tiny Petite Martinique wreaking havoc.  Barbados to the east, Grenada on its south flank and Bequia to its north, all fell into the line of fire too.  Our thoughts are with those whose lives have been so dramatically changed as a consequence.

Beryl is certainly a gal braking records!  She’s the earliest recorded in the season, quickly gained strength, intensified from a tropical depression to a Category 3 hurricane in 42 hours then became a Category 4 hurricane in 48 hours.  Now she’s heading for Jamaica as a Category 5!

(Back in 2010, Hurricane Earl (link) met us up in Maine.  We were only 90 miles away then and well hidden thanks to Maine's amazing landscape and robust trees!)

One very smart bird...

This great lump decided that WJ3 was the perfect observation post for spotting flying fish in our wake.  Its a breakfast of champions obviously.  Despite his webbed feet, he balanced very well indeed (better than us!!) and rode with us, standing lookout, for quite a distance.  Flying off as necessary, then coming back to wait in luxury.  Better than wasting energy flying!

Sargasso weed in great clumps off the coast of St Lucia. 
 It's at the point of being a small craft hazard in some places 

Know Egrets

OK, so where is everybody?  Oh, it's Carnival today!  Really?
And we're stuck in Rodney Bay on anchor...

We arrived, with great expectations, in Rodney Bay only to find it was a public holiday and the marina closed.  It was Carnival time, a multi-day, serious party event, so we were told.  The only one working, and acknowledged our arrival, was the floating rubbish collector and seller of “interesting” objects, pineapples, bananas and maybe something to smoke if you felt uptight.  Boat boys have certainly come a long way since 2008!   

Marina life has its challenges...

The next day we moved into the vast Rodney Bay Marina and decided that we needed a week of down-time to recover from our voyage so far.  Besides, it was the The Ancient Mariner's Birthday. It was time to eat out and try some local food.  So, we chose a Thai restaurant…  Don’t be alarmed, the food had an exotic, creole, spicy spin.  The Cap’n was bereft though; no pie shops and lamb roasts still few and far between.  We did celebrate with ice-cream – our first since leaving home.  It lasted all of a minute before melting!  Life’s tough in the tropics…

Partying over, it was time to settle in for a few boat maintenance chores and with internet (of sorts) available onboard, time to catch up on our past patchy communications.  Mr Lozza, inspired by his bottom cleaning experience (actually, WJ3’s bottom) in Les Saintes, must have decided WJ3’s sides needed a good scrub too.  GS found him wedged between the dock & WJ3 with quite a few nasty boat-bites.  Both he and the Cap’n had to have a few shots of duty-free scotch (Black Label to go with the mood!) to recover.  Well, that’s their excuse…

Of course, there's always chores

As we had had little luck to date trawling our Kiwi lure (see, we told you we were hopeless, Kiwi!!) both lads ventured off on an organised coastal fishing trip.  World records were not set (definitely), and any tiddly survivors released to grow - a lot.  Later, over a prawn pizza (oh, the irony) we shared with Marie, fishing stories and other tall yarns were discussed at length.  Marie, from Perth (WA), and a permanent liveaboard and now kitten minder, lives on her well set up catamaran in the marina.  It was nice to talk “strine” and share a laugh.

This one is for you John D.  See what you are missing out on!
Found in St Lucia. A favourite Med tipple for some of the crew!!

By now, it was well into July and tropical depressions were starting to sweep steadily across the Atlantic bringing even more wind, rain and storms.  We decided to delay our crossing to Bequia, in St Vincent & Grenadines, to avoid one that promised lots of flooding rains & winds of 30+ knots.  

Sailing the easier Windwards at last.  Early departure from Rodney Bay.

Err!  Excuse me.  Just who is driving the boat today??

No time to put our nose into Marigot Bay,
so a glide by the Pitons will have to do.

In the calm that followed, we set off in choppy seas, coasted in the lee of St Vincent and then made a dash for Bequia (said beck way) and arrived, 80 miles (11 hours) later, in the late afternoon to a swelly anchorage off Lower Beach.  Even so, it was good to be back to this tiny and very friendly island.  

(In case you are wondering, the post title was the name of a sailboat in the marina.  We’re now into serious Caribbean style boat-naming territory!)

Still Rockin’ Along

Bidding Guadeloupe, hiding its volcano
under a blanket of clouds, a fond farewell 

Finally, we checked out of Guadeloupe and set sail (yes, we really do sail sometimes!) for a pleasant day’s run, down island to Dominica.  We had the lure out, but were short on both luck and fish fingers.  Dominica is very steep and very deep; its main activities are adventure tourism – hiking up volcanoes through tropical rainforest or diving off steep sea walls.  All a bit active for us.  We were met in Roseau by Marcus and took one of his moorings located only about 40 feet from shore, but with 110 feet of water under the keel.  (Sorry guys, you have to do the math!  We’ve got an American made boat – but take it from GS, 1 metre is a tinsy bit over 3 feet.  Right?).  Aside from local chickens, roosters, dogs, goats and traffic noise, we slept very well overnight in calm, calm waters.  It was like being in the Caribbean - at last!

Colourful Dominica

Early next day, we made the crossing to Martinique.  The sail was rather sloppier than we cared for but once in the lee of Mount Pelée, with the sun shining and a joyous welcoming committee of acrobatic dolphins, we cruised leisurely down the coast.  We bypassed Saint-Pierre, very prettily dressed in beautiful green fields, but with something of a death wish.  Founded in 1635, it has twice since suffered total destruction.  In 1780, a 25ft (8m) tidal surge caused by a hurricane killed 9,000.   Then, in 1902, the town was victim of an overwhelming eruption of nearby volcanic Mount Pelée.  Only two people survived.

Going gang-busters in the chop between islands
(Oh, that's not us!) 

All this sad news clearly affected our most comfortable steering chair.  With the Cap’n below decks and GS & Mr Lozza madly cheering the dolphin gymnastic team, nobody noticed said chair’s bid for freedom.  To make matters worse, its best buddy also tried to escape.  Unbelievable in such calm waters!!  Luckily though, chair #2 did not succeed.  Our Cap’n promised faithfully to find it a friend at Island Water World (a large chandlery chain) when we docked in St Lucia. 

We were exhausted from all this chair over-board & rescue activity and with rain squalls closing in over Fort de France Bay, busy with ferries, shipping and other sailboats, we hurried on toward our next anchorage, Anse Mitan.  Although a coastal holiday town, we managed to find a quiet anchorage away from the mayhem.  This area is quite near the home of Joséphine de Beauharnais, first wife of Napoleon Bonaparte, now a museum.  A stopover in Martinique will be added to next year's float plan for sure.

But we didn't linger.  With interesting "weather conditions" this year, we decided to burn up the miles while we could.  We flashed past Diamond Rock, wondering how the British could ever have disguised it as a sailing ship (to keep the French at bay for 18 months in 1804). It is said to have been dressed with sails, cannons and a contingent of men. How they scaled its steep and rugged sides with all their gear makes this even more incredible.

Diamond Rock.  Photo link: https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Diamant_Beach.jpg

Our destination was to be a rewarding stay in St Lucia’s Rodney Bay Marina.  This marina is home to the Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC), where a gathering of more than 200 cruiser boats meets each Feb to celebrate a successful Atlantic crossing.  Also, the Round the World group depart for their Panama & Pacific leg.  We were trying not to be too regretful about our decision to stay in the States.