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'when de volcano blow!'

4/24/2013

Ah don know, ah don't know, ah don't know where I'ma gonna go when de volcano blow. Jimmy Buffet

Montserrat is a British Overseas Territory and measures approximately 16 km (9.9 mi) long and 11 km (6.8 mi) wide, with approximately 40 kilometres (25 mi) of coastline. It is nicknamed "The Emerald Isle of the Caribbean" both for its resemblance to coastal Ireland and for the Irish ancestry of some of its inhabitants. Wikipedia

In 1997, Patrice and I chartered our first bareboat out of Guadeloupe. During our boat briefing, the local agent pointed to the nearby island of Montserrat on the chart and said: “dat dere island, she blow again dis year, you don go dere, ok?” OKAY! Can't argue with that.

It was actually in July 1995, that the Soufrière Hills volcano in the south of the island woke up and subsequently buried the island’s capital, airport and docking facilities in mud and ash. The southern part of the island was evacuated and closed. It erupted again in 1997 killing 19 people in a lava flow. Over the next few years, the volcano continue to vent and erupted again in November 2009 and February 2010.

16 years later, we’re back in the area and although the only warning we’ve received is to stay out of the ‘exclusion zone’, the volcano is still smoldering . Little Bay, the new harbor is in the northern part of the island is well out of exclusion zone, so we decided there was no harm in anchoring there for the night, but decided in the end that we would wait a few years before venturing ashore just in case old Soufrière gets in a bad mood again and feels like venting or worse.

The next day we sailed down the east coast towards Deshaies, Guadeloupe. As it was a clear day we got a good look at the mud and ash slides clearly visible on this side of the island. Even with Jimmy Buffet’s upbeat song ‘Volcano’ blasting onboard, we were both humbled and awestruck by this visual display and reminder of the destructive force of nature.

Before ending this last narrative of our tour of the islands that 'brush the clouds,' I must share the story of the tiny island of Redonda which we passed on our way to Montserrat with you. If you have time and are in the mood for a crazy story and a good laugh, scroll down and read on.

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long live the king!

4/24/2013

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On our way from Nevis to Montserrat, we couldn’t help but notice a rather large hunk of rock known as the island of Redonda. It is essentially a striking, but inhospitable remnant of an ancient volcanic core, one mile long and a little less than 1,000 feet high. First seen by Christopher Columbus, it was claimed by the British in 1872 who annexed it to Antigua. It was briefly mined for phosphates in between 1865 and 1914 and in those days there was a wharf of sorts and a few houses at the top, but nothing remains there today.

What does remain is the rather curious story of the Kingdom of Redonda. The ‘title’ of King is not hereditary and appears to have been passed from one incumbent to another as a result of literary connections. There have been several 'Kings' of Redonda and numerous pretenders--most of them certifiable. Fact or fiction? Who knows, but we like Chris Doyle’s version of this modern day fairy tale presented in "The Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands" and have copied it here in hopes you will enjoy it as much as we did.

In 1865 Matthew Dowdy Shiell, an Irish-Montserrat merchant, had a long-awaited son after eight daughters. Being a sexist, he wanted a kingdom for his son (the daughters could go marry) and as no one had yet claimed Redonda, he did. In 1880, when Shiell’s son, M.P. was 15, they took a day trip over to the rock with the Bishop of Antigua and other friends and Shiell had the bishop crown his son King Filipe I of Redonda. They all had a good time and consumed much alcohol.

M.P. Shiel (he dropped the second “L” on his name) moved to England and became a brilliant writer of Gothic romance and science fiction. Although never hugely popular among the general public, he was held in the highest esteem by literary figures of his day, including H.G. Wells. He maintained his title and held court in London, creating several literary duchies to the realm. In his later years, M.P. Shiel spent some time barraging the British government to get recognition of his title as King of Redonda. First they ignored him and then, to keep him quiet, gave him a pension for his contributions to literature.

Shiel died in 1947, but not before passing his crown to fellow writer John Galsworth (King Juan I). Juan I ended up taking to the drink, bestowed titles in exchange for beer, and tried unsuccessfully to sell the kingdom on several occasions. Before he died in 1970, he passed the title on to John Wyn-Tyson (King Juan II). In 1979, a group of Shiel enthusiasts, including King Juan II, paid a visit to the island and planted an ecological flag on top.

King Filipe I King Juan I King Juan II

King Juan II, tiring of his royal role, abdicated on April 1st 1998, and Robert Williamson, a writer and artist who lives in Antigua, announced it had been passed to him (he claimed he had to be on the short list as he was only 5 ft 2 inches). King Robert (Bob the Bald) kept a flamboyantly colorful royal yacht (used in the Pirates of the Caribbean). He mounted an expedition to Redonda with 16 loyal subjects, and appointed many nobles to the realm. Since no country recognizes the king, anyone can claim it, and Bob was the best and most entertaining pretender.

However, the king, according to the Antigua and Barbuda Museum, and as directed in a letter written by Jon Wyn-Tyson, is Javier Marius, the Spanish novelist. Javier may, at a literary level, be more deserving, but Bob is around and fun and makes the whole thing more local.

King Bob the Bald

Sadly since the telling of that tale, Jolly King Bob passed away in 2009. It was thought at first that he did not name a successor and in a press release from the kingdom of Redonda’s official site it was said: It falls to the Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua & Barbuda to seek applications from literary persons of note to make a case for their nomination as the next King of Redonda. Applications forms are available from the Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua & Barbuda. Conditions will apply which an applicant will be required to satisfy.

King Michael the Grey

Don’t get your hopes up though royal wannabes, papers were subsequently found in a sea chest in the bilges of King Bob’s ship, The Great Peter, which named one Michael Howorth, a freelance travel journalist who specializes in super yachts, yachting, boutique cruises, ocean side resorts and spas as heir.

King Michael the Grey was crowned on December 11, 2009 and he flew out from his super yacht to his new kingdom aboard his helicopter to raise his standard on the island--feat in itself as apparently there’s barely a place to stand upright on the steep-sloped island unless you’re a goat. Long live the King!

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third & fourth stop: st kitts and nevis

4/20/2013

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St. Christopher, aka St. Kitts

After the quiet charm of Saba and Statia, we were a little disoriented by the bustling capital city of Basseterre, St. Kitts. We did indeed enjoy a good night’s sleep firmly moored to a pontoon and treated ourselves to breakfast out followed by a pleasant walk through this busy colonial city the next morning.

Missing the cool breezes of the trade winds from being anchored out, that afternoon we moved on to a lovely calm anchorage just off the town of Charleston on Nevis, St. Kitts’ sister island, where we rested for two nights taking advantage of a beautiful beach and the culinary delights of Sunshine’s beach restaurant.

I won’t go into many details about these two islands as we did not have enough time to explore either one properly. Suffice it to say that both islands were first spotted by none other than Christopher Columbus and henceforth were occupied and fought over by some of the usual players of that time ( the French, the British and the Spanish) before becoming British. When they were granted independence in 1967, they were lumped together with Anguilla and told to form a country. Anguilla balked and after several battles was allowed to remain part of Great Britain. Nevis and St. Kitts reluctantly agreed and formed the Federation of ‘St. Christopher and Nevis,’ the smallest sovereign state of the Americas (260 km²/100 sq miles).

Figuring out how to pass through customs. immigration and port officials at each of our port of calls has been like running a new obstacle course in each new country we visit. It took three stops in three different buildings in Basse Terre to clear customs into St. Kitts (and Nevis), which although good exercise for our ‘sea legs,’ took up a fair amount of precious time. We were therefore very happy to see that to clear out of the country in Charleston, Nevis, it was again three stops, but all in the same building. We gave Nevis top marks for efficiency, friendliness and pleasant facilities.

We would’ve liked to spend more time on both Nevis and St. Kitts and read with longing the descriptions of beautiful anchorages, interesting hikes and lovely restored plantations in our guide books, but Guadeloupe beckons, so we put it on our list of ‘must-come--back-tos’ and moved on.

We have one more port of call on this whistle-stop tour--Montserrat.

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governor de graff’s great gaffe

4/17/2013

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Approaching Statia from the north.

I confess that until this year, I had never heard of the island of Saint Eustatius, named after the saint, who, bless him, was one of those mistreated and horribly tortured martyrs (if you’re into that sort of thing, you can read all the gory details by clicking here: Saint Eustace). Locals call the place Statia, probably because, let’s face it, Eustatius is a bit of a mouthful.

Little Statia, (21 km²/8.1 sq. miles) with population 3,500 or so, and like most of the islands on this trip was first spotted by Christopher Columbus in the late 1500s and was subsequently fought over by several nations changing hands 22 times before becoming part of the Netherlands.

It’s hard to believe today that this quiet, largely unknown island in the 21st century was known as ‘The Golden Rock’ and was apparently the place to be in the West Indes during the18th century. Due to its large harbor, duty free status and neutrality in the midst of several ongoing wars at that time, including the colonies’ war for independence, it was considered the center of trade, or as Chris Doyle* puts it, ‘the first mall of the Caribbean.’

Oranje Bay as seen from the old fort. In the golden days there were hundreds of boats moored here.

Its willingness to sell arms and ammunition to anyone brought the 13 new American colonies calling. In 1776 the current governor of the island, Commander Johannes de Graff may have gotten a little carried away with his enthusiasm in dealing with the American Patriots however, when he casually returned the salute fire of the Andrew Doria, a visiting American brig coming into town for a shopping spree.

This was actually the first international acknowledgment of the independence of the United States: A momentous occasion for Americans (Go Johannes!!), not so good for the Governor, as the wrath of Britain in the form of Admiral Rodney came swiftly down upon him and Statia. War was declared between Britain and Holland, the Governor surrendered the island without a fight and was deported in disgrace. Although the Dutch regained control over the island three years later, the economy had collapsed and it never returned to its glory days.

Our trip from Saba brought us alongshore mid day and after clearing customs once again, we enjoyed a pleasurable afternoon wandering around the colonial ruins of the old fort and warehouses along the waterfront and exploring the lovely little town of Oranjestad with its friendly inhabitants. The place is being nicely restored with funding from the historical society in Holland and the economy has picked up thanks to a big oil storage depot and refinery in the north of the island.

Although it’s not a place we would make a special trip to come back to, especially as our anchorage in Oranje Bay, the only one on the island, was yet another uncomfortable one, it’s old-world charm and and pleasant atmosphere made an impression on both of us.

Next stop: A good night’s sleep moored up to a pontoon in the marina of St. Kitts

*The Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands by Chris Doyle

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saba: small island, short stop, BIG impression

4/15/2013

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With that title I’m tempted to end this post right there, but it would not be fair to the valiant little island of Saba which definitely merits a full description. ‘Saba’ refers to the Biblical queen of Sheba. Christopher Columbus sighted the island in 1493, but he did not land, probably because the coast is so treacherous. In 1632 a group of shipwrecked Englishmen managed to land and during the next 200 years the island passed from English to French and eventually to Dutch hands in 1816. It has been a pirate and smuggler’s haven, a manufacturer of sugar and rum and more recently a home to fishermen, lace-makers and medical students from the American University of Saba.

To say that Saba is an island unlike any other Caribbean island is an understatement. Everything about it is extreme. It’s the smallest municipality of the Netherlands (5.019 sq miles 13 km²) with a population of 1800, but has that country’s highest point: the potentially active volcano called Mount Scenery.
No fancy resorts or sandy beaches here. In fact, no beaches whatsoever, just massive cliffs plunging down into the sea on all sides. Our anchorage in Ladder Bay was the most spectacular one we’ve ever known and gave us a taste of what we think it might be like to sail in southern Argentina.

The 'Ladder'

To get ashore we took our dinghy about 2 miles over to Fort Bay where there is a small man-made harbor for which we were extremely grateful as prior to its construction the only way onto the island was by climbing the 800 steps carved from stone that reach from Ladder Bay to the settlement known as The Bottom (which is actually at the top of the steps!). Until the late 20th century, everything that was brought to the island was carried by hand up these steps including a piano and a Bishop! Queen Beatrice is reputed to have made the trip several times to visit a close friend on the island.

Fort Bay.

After clearing customs in Fort Bay, we took the easy way and hired a taxi to take us from the harbor on a tour of the island via the only road on the island aptly named ‘The Road.’ The Road was built against all odds and expert opinion by the determined Josephus Lambert Hassell who took a correspondence course in civil engineering and started building the road by hand with a few locals in 1938. It took 4 years to complete the first section up to The Bottom and another 16 years to bring it to the town at the other end of the island known as Hell’s Gate.

The spunky Sabans didn’t rest after this accomplishment. Determined to have not only a road, but an airport as well, they flattened a hill at the bottom of Hell’s Gate and found a pilot crazy enough to fly in and test the landing strip--a scant 400 meters long (about the size of an aircraft carrier). He was successful and the island now boasts the smallest commercial airport in the world with four flights a day. You gotta love the gumption of these people!

Admittedly it was with some trepidation that we asked Wilhelm, our taxi driver to drive us on ‘The Road to Hell’s Gate’ and although we made it safely there and back, it was a wild ride skirting some ridiculously steep cliffs and gave new meaning to term ‘hair pin curve’ (even driving in Paris is nothing compared to this!). Despite the crazy drive, we managed to have a good look at the charming villages whose decor is determined by national decree--only white, green and red may be used, which may seem extreme, but is actually very attractive to the eye. Perhaps not so attractive is the local custom to bury the dead in one’s own backyard.... I’m going to give them the benefit of the doubt that it has more to do with a shortage of land than anything else...

By the end of Wilhelm’s taxi tour, the sun was low on the horizon, so we headed back to the boat with all intentions of coming back the next day to hike up Mount Scenery and explore a bit more, but our anchorage proved to be far too uncomfortable for us to spend more than one night. In fact, it was rolling so much, we high-tailed it out of there at first light. So it was a short stop, but we will be back.

Next stop: Sint Eustastius (Statia)

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"the islands that brush the clouds"

4/12/2013

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Saba, St. Eustacius, St. Kitts, Nevis and Montserrat are a chain of 5 small volcanic islands between St. Martin and Guadeloupe. Also known as ‘the islands that brush the clouds‘ because their mountain peaks, ranging in height from roughly 2,000 to 5,000 feet (600 to 1,500 meters) literally touch the clouds on most days. With such a romantic name, these islands sound very enchanting to us and we’ve been itching to go and explore them for some time now. But I’m getting ahead of myself and must first explain, as promised in my last post, what’s next for the crew of Taka Trois.

Strictly speaking from a calendar perspective, we are now at the end of our ‘sabbatical year’ and it will soon be time for us to get back to work. Patrice has been actively seeking out consulting possibilities in water resources both here in the Caribbean and in Europe, but until it becomes more clear where the best options lie, our future is still somewhat in limbo. We hope to divide our time between our two favorite saints (Saint Martin and Saint Nom la Bretèche), but the work will eventually determine exactly how that happens.

For the past month we’ve been hanging out here in St. Martin making improvements on the boat, getting to know the island and following up on some work leads. However, before hurricane season starts in June and work begins to take up our time, we’re going to do some more cruising and extend our sabbatical year a bit.

As we have several reasons to be in Guadeloupe by the end of next week, we thought we’d indulge ourselves and sail there via these intriguing-sounding five islands and spend a day or two at each one getting a little taste of what they’re like. This plan has the added advantage of no night sails as we can easily island-hop from one to one in a few hours.

The disadvantage however, means spending lots of time in immigration and customs offices as except for St. Kitts and Nevis which are the same country, we will have to check in and out of each island. No worries, Patrice has now had a lot of experience with these custom officials and is quite adept at charming them, especially when 'said official' is of the female persuasion...

So we’re off again. First stop and the subject of my next post: Saba.

View of Montserrat from Antigua last February--one of the 5 islands that 'brush the clouds.'

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so why st. martin?

4/5/2013

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Sunset in the marina in Anse Marcel.

Click to enlarge.

In 2004 we chartered a boat out of St. Martin and spent 10 days sailing around the island as well as neighboring St. Barts and Anguilla (see photo of us on left from that trip). Even then, we felt an inexplicable connection with this island. I think it has something to do with the fact that like us, the island is a mixed marriage between two countries and therefore as a French/American couple, we fit right in, not only because we speak two of the three main languages spoken here, but because many people here are internationals like ourselves and have a love of sailing.

When we began thinking about where to to base our boat and our business in the Caribbean, we were attracted to this island for other reasons. To start, St. Martin is French which means fiscally, culturally and medically it’s home for us. It is therefore a perfect place from which to run the Caribbean arm of Taka Technologies, our consulting business. It also makes my Frenchman very happy as he can find his French newspapers, baguettes, cheese, saucisson and a decent bottle of French wine in the local shops.

Patrice goes and gets a fresh baguette every day.

Moreover the fact that the other half of the island, St. Maarten, is actually more ‘American’ in style than Dutch really appeals to me. I love its large modern supermarkets and hardware stores bursting with U.S. products, its cinemaplex with all the latest films in English and an abundance of American style eating establishments and watering holes. You may never think of me the same way after this, but yeah, I confess, I’m a girl who enjoys a Big Mac once in awhile.

Then there is the joy of the direct flight. When we lived in Trinidad, it took us more than 24 hours to get home as there were no direct flights to France from there. St. Martin is a Caribbean transportation hub and has an excellent international airport on the Dutch side with non-stop flights; not only to the U.S. where my family resides, but every day to France, effectively cutting our travel time to Paris by less than half. Pas mal!

Finally, it is a sailor’s paradise With many beautiful anchorages, several active and well-maintained marinas, an abundance of excellent ship chandlers and marine experts and its proximity to several other interesting islands, it’s a sailors paradise and the perfect place to keep Taka Trois. Moreover, Anse Marcel, where she is moored, is a ‘hurricane hole’* which gives us some peace of mind during the upcoming hurricane season.

So that being settled and now that our ‘sabbatical year’ is coming to an end, what’s next for the crew of Taka Trois? Tune in next week to find out.

*Definition: Hurricane holes are deep, narrow coves or inlets that are surrounded by a number of sturdy trees which block the wind and provide a tie-off for anchor lines, preferably far enough inland to avoid the most severe winds and tides, yet close enough to reach under short notice.

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'when de volcano blow!'

long live the king!

third & fourth stop: st kitts and nevis

governor de graff’s great gaffe

saba: small island, short stop, BIG impression

"the islands that brush the clouds"

so why st. martin?

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