Eye of the Wind

Patience folks, we can’t board until this evening. There’s no-one booked into the Guest House until tomorrow so they very kindly offered to keep our bags in the room and we can fetch them around 6:00 tonight. A trip to the botanical gardens seemed like a good idea – Bradley sent one of his minions (Jonavin) to pick us up. Six lush acres, waterfall and natural hot springs. Water tumbling down from the volcano changes colour depending the mineral of the day … today it was a light steel gray. Dodging the intermittent showers under convenient clumps of banana leaves, friendly Lesser Antillean Bullfinches kept us company … looking very smart in their glossy black plumage and bright red bowties. Exotic white and red-flowered ginger plants, cocoa and nutmeg trees, enormous bamboos – quite 6 inches in diameter -frondy palms and banks of tiny delicate ferns. A miniscule hummingbird zoomed past looking for nectar from a nearby hibiscus. Earlier throngs of cruise ship passengers had been and gone, leaving peaceful pathways, dripping foliage and a glorious aroma of fragrant damp earth like a moist, rich fruit cake.

A nearby waterfall turned out to be just that — a waterfall. Admittedly one could stand under it for a vigorous, full-force massage, but it was fairly unremarkable. Back in the bay another tall ship had moored nearby … a significantly larger vessel – Sea Cloud – originally a research ship with motor and 3 masts. It’s unlikely she does much sailing these days as a refurbished cruise ship. A deafening ‘volume’ war was being waged on the beach between the local beer hut and rival vehicle boom boxes – all belting out completely different rap/reggae/synthesized ‘songs’ (I guess we must be getting old). We returned to the Guesthouse for an hour and sat on the verandah watching the world go by. Martha was just finishing up cleaning the two suites – she has been an absolute delight, and gave us both a warm St. Lucian hug in farewell.

It was almost dark as we trundled our suitcases down to the public pier … just a line of tangerine-tinged clouds on the horizon. Two crew members checked us off the list as the ship’s dinghy pulled alongside. Four of us, sans luggage – (it would be transported out later) clambered down and perched along the sides, gripping the handles tightly as we zoomed toward the silhouetted ship. Somehow one imagined smugglers of old doing the self same trip across darkened waters. A wood and rope ladder over the side … a scramble and a well-placed handhold gained us access to the deck … the lights of St. Lucia dancing in the background (yes you could still hear the beer hut, but much quieter).

Our cabin was most acceptable. Starboard side slightly for’ard of midships. A fairly generous lower berth and a single upper – clambering up is an experience! Floor to ceiling locker for hanging/storing stuff. Suitcases fitted snuggly against the far wall of the lower bunk, a deep drawer underneath and a reasonably sized bathroom – toilet/sink/shower. There’s even a wide seat beside the cabin door with plug-ins for charging electronics — only problem is that wifi doesn’t reach below decks .. only top-sides. Luggage and backpacks arrived safely and were soon stowed …. we stood on deck watching the large bats swooping and skimming. Were they hunting insects … or the masses of small fish attracted by the ship’s lights? When everyone was aboard we gathered in the main salon for a welcome from Captain and crew, introductions were made, a glass of bubbly and our first communal meal: baskets of freshly baked bread, dishes of olive tapenade, a glorious spread made from cream cheese, ground dates and garlic, sliced meats and cheeses, salad, and vats of plump juicy sausages — chorizo, bangers and blood sausage. What a great start.

Breakfast at eight … rib-sticking porridge with a dash of cinnamon … home-baked bread (always) … 3 jams, honey, Nutella, cream cheese. Captain’s update at 8:45 — today a quick explanation of where we’ll be heading for the day, wind speed etc. Today the wind is ‘lively’ … meaning our help would be greatly appreciated … so no sitting around with pina coladas and a book. In at the deep end. “You three … Haul on my count … PULL, PULL. Quick, make fast …. move down the line. And again.” All a bit of a blur … it should get clearer as we go along. With the sails and yard arms set and trimmed there’s some breathing space, until the wind changes, drops or increases and all those beautifully coiled ropes get dumped all over the deck like spaghetti. Finding a secure foothold on scrambled wet ropes while hauling AND trying to stay upright can be downright challenging. <grin>

There are black ropes and brown ones and white ones (which are actually just slightly paler brown!) in single and triples … plain pins, ones with a ring of twisted yarn and others with raised buttons at the top for bracing. Some ropes can be tidied right away, others must be left until trimming is finished … then the ropes are coiled clockwise on the deck … some to be tidied ‘proper’ with a small loop through the coils and lifted over the pin, while others are ‘lazy’ – just loosely draped over the pins. We always ask before doing anything <grin>

The gap between St. Lucia and St. Vincent was open … all the way to Africa. And you could tell. Big, regular swells -12-15 foot high …. rocking … mesmerizing … then suddenly a couple of massive 20 footers like blue walls, before returning to the usual. No routine to the the larger waves … but certainly not every 7th as lore has it … more like every 25 or 30! Wind was a steady 28-30 knots – this ship doesn’t even begin to start sailing until there’s 15 knots of wind. Her usual speed is 5-8 knots.

Moorage for the evening was the setting for the movie Pirates of the Caribbean on St. Vincent. Unfortunate that a luxury Dutch sailing/motor cruiser had decided to moor bang in the middle of the bay… and with no shoreline this meant she would swing in a large 360 degree arc throughout the night. We slipped in along one side fairly close to the cliffs and hoped for the best. Those who went ashore in the ship’s dinghy said it was was more or less a ghost town with some ‘wax-work’ characters, a few souvenirs and facades of the buildings, but apparently they enjoyed seeing where various scenes had been filmed. There was swimming and snorkeling around the boat — some saw Lion fish, Glen spotted a Moray. The turquoise water felt deliciously cool after a hard day’s work.

Four am! Running footsteps …. the sound of winch motor and clanking anchor chain. We had dragged our anchor and were now too close to a rocky outcrop. Soon sorted, no panic, and crew went back to bed. There is ALWAYS one member of crew on anchor watch overnight.