The Windy Windward Islands

North Atlantic Trade Wind Circulation

The Windward Islands

No account of a cruise to the eastern Caribbean would be complete without a discussion of the trade winds, and the terminology that has sprung up over the years as a result. Early sailors to the western hemisphere from Europe soon learned that the most favorable winds for sailing west were in the latitudes between approximately 12 and 20 degrees north, not coincidentally, about the latitude of the Caribbean Islands. By heading south from europe until reaching those latitudes they could be assured of favorable easterly winds all the way across. To return to Europe they would sail further north along the coast of what is now the United States until reaching the zone of prevailing south westerly winds which would conveniently give them a speedy sail back across the Atlantic. These became the so called trading routes whereby cargo was transported back and forth between Europe and North America. But we digress. In sailing terminology "windward" always refers to what the wind strikes first, whether it be the upwind side of a ship, or the windy side of an island. In the case of the Caribbean, the Windward Islands became those which extended farthest to the east, and the Leeward Islands, of course, were the islands more to the west which were further downwind in the prevailing easterly breezes. Breeze may not fully do justice to the trade winds however since they frequently blow for days on end with a force of over 20 knots (about 23 miles per hour or greater).

To make a long story short we have spent the last three weeks or so in the Windward Islands, starting with Martinique. The Trade Winds have lived up to their reputation and we have seen some very breezy conditions as a result. That factors into the cruise plan of course and has a great deal of influence on the choice of harbors for spending the night, the route taken and the timing. It has also had the effect of turning us into "morning people" since the calmest part of the day tends to be from just before dawn until about 9:00 AM.

When crossing the open water between islands it pays to be there in the calmest conditions since wave heights during the mid-day peak frequently reach 6 to 8 feet, sometimes more. The result of all this has been a general strategy of finding a sheltered spot near the south western end of an island to spend the night, get a very early start before dawn, cross the open water south to the next island, and then find a protected harbor on the west side to anchor out. That is how we progressed southward along St Lucia, St Vincent, the Grenadines, and on to Grenada.

Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique and St Lucia

We have made a lot of south bound progress since our last post from Antigua and are now less than 150 miles from reaching our goal of Grenada. We've made some stops along the way of course, first an overnight anchorage in Deshaies Harbor in northern Guadeloupe, and then several nights in the small, scenic Iles de Saints in southern Guadeloupe. From there we skirted the coast of Dominica on the way to Martinique where we made landfall in the large, busy harbor of Fort-de-France. In the interest of getting south while we had a good weather window, it was decided that we would save Dominica for the trip back north, and go directly to Martinique where we have fond memories of a past vacation. Southern Martinique has changed a lot since we were there in the '80s and the port of Le Marin is now bustling with literally thousands of cruising yachts - all shapes, sizes and descriptions. We spent several nights at the incredibly busy Port Marin Marina feeling a bit like we were docked in Times Square or Grand Central Terminal. It is a very convenient location however with good access to all kinds of marine supplies and services, restaurants, grocery stores, etc. We also met up with internet acquaintances, Chuck and Barb, who have been cruising the Caribbean for many years on their nicely appointed Krogen 48 trawler. It is always good to get first hand information from people who have already been there. Today we made the next jump south to St Lucia where we will spend a few days cruising the coast and taking in the many scenic attractions before proceeding on to the Grenadines.

St Barts and Antigua

Very large sailing yacht in St Barts



Antigua - English Harbour in the foreground, Falmouth Harbour in the background. If you look really closely, you can spot our Grand Banks 49 anchored in the back of English Harbour.




Arguably one of the most unusual mega yachts in the world anchored in St Barts outer harbor. Construction price was reportedly in excess of $300M USD.

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We last left you in St Martins, home of great scenery, good French cooking, and literally thousands of cruising yachts from all over the world. We next took a short leg south to the island of St Barts, a logical stepping stone on the way to Antigua. St Barts has a well deserved reputation as a playground for the rich and famous. The primary harbor of Gustavia was totally filled with mega yachts in the 120 to 150 foot range, and with boats on permanent moorings. Everyone else anchors in the outer harbor which is quite exposed to northerly swells, but with a great view of the really large boats which can't fit in the inner harbor. See the attached pictures for a look at what really large, really means in St Barts.

We were happy to leave the next morning for Antigua which is also home to a number mega yachts, but Antigua has large well protected harbors with room for everyone. After finding a good place to anchor we went ashore in the dinghy to complete the usual bureaucratic rigamarole of clearing in with the Port Authority, Customs, and Immigration, each a separate department with its own set of forms to be filled out, signed and stamped.

Antigua is a great cruising port with good access to supplies of all types. I stocked up on spare parts and bought some small tools which had escaped our pre-departure check lists. Next day we took a hike up the side of a nearby hill called Shirley Heights, about 500 feet above sea level. The objective was to get a good look, and some pictures, of the start of a sailboat race known as the RORC Caribbean 600. We akso got quite a bit of much needed exercise. Time passes quickly in a good port and we have now been here a few days longer than intended but in return we'll also get better weather tomorrow for our next leg south to Guadaloupe.

Turks and Caicos to St Martin

Click on the above graphic image to get an enlarged view of our position reports via http://www.shiptrak.org/

We have made a lot of progress toward our goal of reaching Grenada since last leaving you in the Turks and Caicos, but let's talk more about the T&C before moving on. We had a very enjoyable stay at the South Side Marina in Providenciales thanks in no small part to the wonderful hospitality of Simon the marina manager and his wife Charlynn. They live aboard their own boat at the marina and are well tuned in to the needs of visiting cruisers. Free transportation runs in the marina truck are cheerfully provided for shopping, repairs, lunch or whatever else is needed. There is a daily marina party at 5:00PM with ever changing participation by an interesting group of cruisers, some with vast global experience, and all with good stories to exchange. Simon runs a daily cruisers net and weather briefing on the radio, and everyone is very alert to the passing of good "weather windows" since it is at least 100 miles in any direction to the next secure port. The prevailing winter winds are 15 to 25 kts out of the east which makes for very difficult eastbound cruising except for the occasional respite preceding a new frontal system.



Most of us were headed south towards the Dominican Republic and/or Puerto Rico. Both destinations involve long open water passages which can be quite rough, challenging and dangerous in the prevailing conditions. As luck would have it, we completed our long awaited alternator repair just in time to catch the next good weather window for moving on. Leaving on the mid-day high tide we took a short leg south across the Caicos Banks to French Cay and anchored there for the night, well positioned for an early start the next day if the winds moderated as forecast. We were off at dawn with the wind still blowing 20+ so we stayed behind the shelter of the reef, proceeding east toward the Fish Cays and South Caicos while waiting for the wind to let up. By mid-day the wind had eased off to the low teens so it was time to make our move south towards Luperon in the Dominican Republic. Our plan involved several options depending on weather and our own state of readiness. If the wind did not moderate, or if we did not feel up to continuing for one reason or another, our destination would be Luperon, arriving before sunrise. A second option was to continue eastward along the DR coast, putting in at Ocean World Marina in Puerto Plata or Bahia de Samana, both of which are authorized Ports of Entry in accordance with the DR's rather rigid customs and immigration procedures. Our third option was to continue on across the Mona Passage to Boqueron, Puerto Rico without stopping in the DR at all, and that is what we ended up doing.

The wind not only moderated but actually went to almost dead calm for a while letting us get some rest while underway. For the entire second day we were left with only huge northerly swells coming down from the winter storms off the east coast of the US. The swells were big enough that they looked like small hills with valleys in between. As they approached shore, the swells turned into big breaking waves over 30 ft high in places. It was an incredible sight but not at all dangerous from a distance. After 36 hours of running we were east of Bahia de Samana, the good weather continued, and we made the decision to push on 100 nautical miles across the Mona Passage to Puerto Rico without stopping in the DR. The weather opportunity was just too good. The Mona Passage has a well deserved reputation as a rough body of water due to strong currents and an irregular bottom contour but it was passably decent on the night we crossed, showing only small hints of what it was capable of.


After 50 hours and 400 nautical miles of non-stop running, we pulled into Boqueron, Puerto Rico bright and early on Monday morning. We were immediately greeted by a US Coast Guard inspection team who were polite but thorough, and they ended up giving us a clean bill of health. Customs and immigration clearance was easily obtained by telephone using the US "Local Boater" option. We anchored and got some rest before going into town for a walk around, and later dinner ashore. Boqueron is an interesting little place with a very nice public beach, narrow streets, and a number of waterfront pubs and eating places. We had a good dinner at a place called Galloway's which overlooks the water and has a school of large Tarpon which circle around looking for handouts from dinner patrons.


After two nights in Boqueron we cruised eastward down the very scenic southern coast of PR making overnight stops at picturesque Gilligan's Island, crowded but interesting Bahia Salinas, and continued on to Puerto Ferro on the island of Vieques, one of the so called Spanish Virgin Islands. Puerto Ferro is known for its luminescent water and it lived up to that reputation in fine fashion.

Our next stop was St Croix in the US Virgin Islands where we had several shipments from stateside waiting for us, and the lowest priced diesel fuel in the northern Caribbean thanks to a nearby refinery. We filled up for the first time since George Town in the Bahamas, over 800 nautical miles behind us. Both of our packages arrived on time, one of which was a new alternator custom built for us by friend Tim Schnautz in Illinois. Next morning I installed the new alternator and confirmed that it was working OK and capable of putting out 160 continuous amps at 12 volts. That meant we now had a second spare alternator onboard and that we could continue using the 12 volt inverter to power the refrigerator and freezer while underway. That capability saves a lot of wear and tear on the generator which leads to reduced maintenance costs. Alternators are a lot less expensive and much easier to repair than generators.


After checking the new alternator and refueling we took a last minute look at the weather forecast which confirmed that we were once again fortunate to have a good window for our last long overnight passage to St Martin in the Leeward Islands. We arrived at Marigot Bay at 3:00AM the next morning and dropped anchor while waiting for customs and immigration to start work at 9:00AM.
That was easily accomplished at the Fort Louis Marina where we were nestled in among a large fleet of international mega yachts. Marigot has a bustling waterfront with many stores, restaurants, and a scenic old fort perched on a hill above town. We took a long walk around town to get some exercise and take it all in. Diane's expertise in the French language once again proved to be a useful skill as she easily conversed with all of the locals.

The next morning we moved a few miles north to the very scenic and nicely protected Baie Grand-Case where we are now anchored for the second evening. The town of Grand-Case is well known for its excellent French restaurants and we have not been disappointed.

Staniel Cay to the Turks and Caicos

We have finally arrived at Providenciales in the Turks and Caicos after a week of sometimes challenging conditions. Provo, as it is known locally, is our first stop after the Bahamas, and a logical stepping stone to the Dominican Republic and Caribbean Sea which lies 100 nautical miles to the south. As you can see by clicking on the chart of Provo Harbor, navigation here requires a knack for dodging coral heads and reefs which seem to be everywhere and have no markers. We are docked at the very accomodating and friendly South Side Marina with an interesting group of international cruisers. South Side arranged last minute customs clearance for us late in the day on Sunday which was quickly and easily accomplished for the minimal fee of $23.

Our last post was from Staniel Cay, mid way through the Exuma Islands.

Departing Staniel in good weather we took a short leg south to Black Point Settlement and enjoyed a tour of Willy Rolle's "Garden of Eden" which he has imaginatively formed from driftwood and rock sculptures. Willy is Loraine's uncle, Loraine of Loraine's Cafe fame that is. Following the garden tour we stayed around at Loraine's to watch the Jet's playoff game and enjoyed some of her good conch fritters and high speed internet connection, one of the last internet connections we were to find for a while.

The next day we took another short run south to Cave Cay marina which had been recommended to us by Marv Market at Royal Palm YC in Ft Myers. Marv told us that the marina offered excellent protection from the weather and it certainly does that although Diane was disappointed by the lack of a working laundry facility. The owner appears to have ambitious plans for expansion but it looks like everything is on hold at the moment.

Next day we cruised out into Exuma Sound via Cave Cay Cut to find that the forecasted strong easterly winds had continued to build. It was a brisk run southward to George Town in 15 to 20 kts of wind, open water and building seas. The forecast was for more of the same, at least another 3 or 4 days, and that proved to be unfortunately accurate as we continued south and east. After a brief fuel stop at Emerald Bay Marina we finally arrived at George Town late in the afternoon amidst a howling easterly wind. George Town is a popular cruising spot with a large fleet of winter liveaboards and a very active social scene with many structured activities. The best anchorage spots are already taken by the liveaboard population so you have to fit in where ever you can.

The strong easterlies continued. Braving the elements and getting hit with some large waves for a while, our next stop was Thompson Bay on Long Island which turned out to not only offer good shelter from the weather but was also a nice little settlement with a good store, excellent cell phone service, a dinghy dock and the newly opened Thompson Bay Inn. We enjoyed a nice dinner there with recently met sailing friends, Tim and Diane from Kingston, NY, and ended up spending an extra day waiting for a break in the weather which was slow to arrive.

The water south of George Town and west of Long Island is very shallow with only the long, narrow Comer Channel allowing a way out to the south. Comer has numerous 5 foot spots so we left on a rising tide and were able to get through with no problems. After catching a very feisty 3 foot barracuda, we exited south into deeper water and another set of 6 foot waves coming from multiple directions. Not fun. I had hoped to reach the southern end of Long Island that day but opted for Dollars Bay instead due to the challenging conditions. Dollars has a narrow, shallow approach that requires some extra tide and a lot of visual navigation but we entered successfully and had the entire harbor to ourselves. It is very unique and beautiful with vast areas of sand flats stretching off to the horizon in every direction.

Once again faced with a very brisk south easterly wind, we stayed close to the Long Island coast as we pushed on the next day. The forecast was for moderating winds clocking to the west later in the day but that was slow in arriving and the anchorage at South Point was not well protected, with only a small reef between us and 5 to 7 foot breaking seas. Not liking any of the available options we decided to make an over night run to the Turks and Caicos across the north side of Acklins and Crooked Islands, hoping to find some protection there from the south easterly wind and seas. That strategy worked reasonably well for a while, and the wind did moderate somewhat, but at 3:00 AM a nasty little chop developed from dead ahead. Faced with another 60 miles of bad road in the middle of the night we elected to pull in behind the reef at Mayaguana Island and catch a few hours of much needed rest.

Morning dawned bright and sunny with the wind blowing 15 knots from the south with large easterly swells breaking on the reef near our anchorage. The Turks and Caicos offered protection 55 miles to the south so we weighed anchor after breakfast and ducked back out into the elements. The chop had moderated somewhat and the swells also diminished farther south. We made an uneventful landfall and entrance late in the afternoon on Sunday, the 31st of January, two weeks after leaving home, and about 785 nautical miles closer to our goal of Grenada.

In the Exuma Islands

Hello everyone, good to hear from all of you.

We were finally able to depart on Monday, January 18 after several unexpected delays. Things are going well, and we are now at Staniel Cay Yacht Club, mid-way south in the Exumas. From here we'll continue on to George Town and then through the southern most out islands before going on to the Turks and Caicos.

The high point of our cruise so far was catching a really large MahiMahi (dolphin the fish as opposed to a Bottle Nosed Dolphin). It measured out at 57 inches and weighed somewhere around 40 or 50 pounds. We filleted him immediately and had fresh cooked MahiMahi for dinner. Delicious. Next night in Nassau we shared the left overs with 7 of our dock neighbors at an impromptu pot luck dinner.

We docked at the Nassau Harbour Club and the boat next to us was an absolutely gorgeous 53 ft sloop which had been totally hand built by the owners. It was hell for stout with a welded steel hull which looked totally professional in appearance. The bottom line was 10 years of construction and a great deal of expense. No pictures unfortunately but the owners, Wade and Diane, have a very nice blog site:

www.joana.ca