Tough Decesions
At last! The Duogen is working again, but that did not happen without a long scratch of the head after the first rewire. As it turned out, although we wired it back up in the same way as before, having replaced the bridge rectifiers, a wire was missing. This was discovered after lengthy staring at the photographs provided by Duogen. Oh well. Mind you it did take a while to confirm it was working as on the day of the repair, we had no wind at all, how ironic.
We have noticed just over 13 amps contribution in the early afternoons on typical days for the solar and wind combined.
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| Battery Monitor |
This seems to suit our systems OK, and indeed the other day, whilst on passage from St.Lucia to Martinique, we had pretty much everything on, fridges, autopilot, both chart plotters and all the instruments, and we were still producing a few amps over the consumption. We have even run the water maker just off the batteries. This is possible as our Schenker system only draws 8 to 9 amps. We last ran the generator some 3 days ago.
So what next? Well our plans are slowly evolving, and we are cautiously weighing up a number of options. Whatever we do will be decided on two main factors. A safe place to stay during the hurricane season (June to November), and safety.
Our initial thoughts include a visit to Cuba, and we managed to obtain tourist passes from the Cuban Embassy in St.Lucia for $15 each. We then consulted the Jimmy Cornell Ocean Cruising Guide for routes, and a good jump-off point looks to be Antigua, heading towards St.Kitts and Nevis. After that we have a few decisions to make.
For the hurricane season we would really like to visit the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. This however, is not without issues. Of most concern is a spate of pirate attacks on yachtsman off the coast of neighbouring Honduras, as reported via the Caribbean Safety and Security Net. We have published links to the reports at the end of the blog. The other issue is a little more unusual. A sand bar near the entrance of the river means that even at high tide, we would not be able to clear it. The solution as it turns out, is to employ the services of a local boat that will take the spinnaker line from the top of the mast, and lean the yacht over by 45 degrees. We would then be towed at that angle until we reach deeper water. We would control the angle of lean by steering to, or away from the boat. Not something we have been taught on our various RYA courses!
If the pirate attacks escalate, then we will need a Plan B.
It would be nice to be able to leave the yacht in a marina and go exploring. Other than a few nights here and there in marinas, and some extended periods at anchor, oh and one haul out (in Trinidad), we have been on the go since leaving Almerimar in Southern Spain, way back in April 2015. Compared to a 'normal' sailing season in the Med, which lasts only from about April to October.
In the meantime we are now anchored once again off Sainte Anne in Martinique, which suits us for the next few days. We are anchored slightly outside of the 'herd', as strong winds are forecast over the weekend, so we have plenty of room to let more chain out if we need to. We also have plenty of food on board. However, we did notice we are running low on packets of Angel Delight (Steve's favourite, butterscotch flavour of course). We will need a visitor from the UK soon!
Having cleared into Martinique via the PC terminal in Snack Bar 'Boubou', we headed back to the boat, and spotted Northern Sky. We had intended to just say a quick hello, and ended up staying for dinner! A special thank you to Gerry and Isolde for such generous hospitality, and the evening was rounded off with some inspiring guitar playing, and singing from Gerry.
A couple of days later we spotted a familiar yacht in the anchorage, and it turned out to be Ailsa, with friends Richard and Shelley, who also did the Rally Portugal, in 2012. What a small world!
We had a fun evening ashore with Richard and Shelley. We picked a restaurant from reviews on Trip Advisor, called Le Rondesvous, and managed to book as inside table. The meal was indeed very nice and we had a lovely time catching up. However, conversation became a little more difficult as we had inadvertently chosen to dine on Karaoke night. Must compliment all those who got up and sang, everyone was in tune, and had a very good voice. It brought back memories of our attempt at Bohemian Rhapsody in Almerimar. Someone recorded us on a smart phone, but nothing ever appeared on YouTube, yet!
The experience in Sainte Anne has been wonderful, but of course we need to move on.
If we can we will try and anchor further up the island to within striking distance of Fort de France, as we did not have a look around on our last visit.
We are reminded below, that this lifestyle, as truly amazing as it is, is not without risk.
For anyone considering chartering here or crossing the Atlantic to the Caribbean, we would strongly recommend to sign up to the Caribbean Safety and Security Net. It is free, and you can opt for low bandwidth alerts. https://www.safetyandsecuritynet.com/
We also refer to Noonsite for good information on Countries we intend to visit. http://www.noonsite.com/
Piracy Attacks as reported by the Caribbean Safety and Security Net.
The Caribbean Safety and Security Net (CSSN) has received a firsthand report from the second yacht boarded by pirates near Gorda Cay on 1/19/2017. Review the complete and fully updated report HERE.
There have been 3 reports of piracy off Honduras in the last week, two (includes the one above) in the Gorda Bank area, and one off the north coast near Puerto Cortes. A 4th incidence of piracy occurred in the disputed waters near Media Luna Cays in late December, 2016.
CSSN advises a high level of caution and careful planning if you are travelling in any of these areas, near shore and offshore Honduras or Nicaragua.
Review each of the 3 previous recent firsthand reports here:
Some circumstances, while not likely the pirates themselves, are common in these reports. Weapons ranged from steel bars and knives to automatic weapons. Locations varied from relatively near shore to well offshore. The number of pirates varied from 8-30, in single or multiple approaches involving from 1 to 4 pangas. Crews complied with most instructions from the leaders of these groups, and attempted to limit the number of pirates allowed below, with limited success. None of the yachts stopped, and no serious injuries were reported. Well hidden backup communication and navigation devices proved helpful to some crews.
A well thought out response plan that is discussed beforehand and understood by all members of the crew is essential in these tense and difficult situations.
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