Caribbean Cricket Cruisin'

Yeah, I know, I know... you all think I suck for not keeping my much promised blog up to date... believe me I wanted to but I didn't realise how tired sailing in the Caribbean would make you....

SO I think I was somewhere at the Grenada Yacht Club when I last wrote you all. Grenada was fun. 6 matches in the Super Eight stage of the World Cup Cricket. Unfortunately the cricket was somewhat one sided. I guess that's what happens when the power houses of Pakistan and India get knocked out early on.. then you're left with Ireland competing against Sri Lanka in a match where the players are having bets with each other on who can smash Murali over his head for four (I spoke to one of the Irish players at a bar one night).

Let me summarise the cricket: West Indies cricket is in disarray.... the fielding is woeful, batsmen have no committment, the bowlers lack the intensity of the likes of Marshall, Garner, Holding, Bishop, and the fans in Grenada think Brian Lara is selfish. Apparently the future of West Indies Cricket is in the hands of Devon Smith. New Zealand showed promise but showed again that they stumble at the semi final stage. South Africa, chokers again, 5 for 27 in a semi final is pityful. England, no need for explanation. Bangladesh, getting better but not there yet. Ireland, should never have made it through but provided some entertainment and their players are good value at the bar. Sri Lanka, promising but totally outclassed in the end. Australia, never looked like losing a match. Absolute professionals. To quote a guy at the Australia v Sri Lanka match, "Ricky Ponting, he knows everything about everything and everything he does is right".

Non-cricket days were spent wandering around St Georges, recovering from previous night's happy hour, visiting rum distilleries, jumping off 10 metre high waterfalls, playing beach cricket with the locals whilst being filmed by the BBC and attending local "jump up" - the Caribbean word for massive party with live bands and strong rum.

So after 12 days of partying with the locals and watching some ordinary cricket, we headed towards St Lucia for the semi final. 3 days of exceptional sailing - we averaged up to 7 knots - including sightings of turtles, flying fish and dolphins (I tried to train them but without luck) and we were cruising alongside some of the most spectacular scenery of the Caribbean. Grand Piton and Petit Piton, on the south coast of St Lucia, Wallilabou Bay on the coast of St Vincent, film location of the Pirates of the Caribbean and of course the islands of the northern Grenadines.

The yacht club at Rodney Bay Marina was alive with crowds of Aussies, South Africans and Kiwis. NAturally the kiwis were soon drowning their sorrows after bowing out to the Lankans, and the Saffas eventually conceded that their team is junk in the business end of tournaments! The semi came and went with as much gusto as our 5 horse power dinghy. We partied again, got soaked after trying to pick up the crew from the beach, in the dinghy, with waves crashing in..... Dale fell in the water after trying to relieve himself over the edge of the dock..

We watched the final at a bar on St Vincent after a long sail from St Lucia. Concentrating on steering the boat in the storm (35 knot winds!) for 2 hours was like driving a car for about 10 hours straight.. still, we managed to get the boat back safely to St Vincent and our deposit back apart from a lost padlock and a broken plate.

So 4 weeks in the Caribbean on a cruising cat..... what was the highlight?? probably the fact that 12 months ago none of us knew anything about sailing, least of all me.... and we managed to navigate our way around with little or no issues.... and you doubted me..... oh yeah of little faith!......

We spent our last night on the concrete floor of Barbados airport, before we went our separate ways from Miami airport....

In the Caribbean! St Vincent to Grenada

Some people say that the longer you wait for something the better it is.... I hope that your wait for this blog is worth it..... It was certainly worth it when I landed in the Caribbean..

15 months of planning, of organising boats, visas, passports, insurances, accommodation, I was almost so exhausted that I didn't even want to go!

Barbados.... just the sound of the name made me excited, and when I finally stepped on the plane in Miami, I was so excited I could hardly sit still... Of course it was not without it's dilemmas. Almost all of us boys were put through the explosives testing machine. I guess we must have looked criminal, though I suspect it was the lack of sleep! I have heard someone say that if you look like your passport photo then you probably are not fit to travel!

Arrived in Barbados to a relaxed atmosphere compared with the nervousness of US customs, entering the West Indies was a refreshing change, with lots of locals wearing ICC Cricket World Cup Uniforms. Our connection was meant to be a couple of hours, just enough time to grab a quick bite to eat and browse the airport shops before flying to St Vincent. Here in the Caribbean, similarly I guess to Pacific Island nations, you soon realise that deadlines are not that important and our 5:50pm flight turned into a 9:30 flight. Luckily the friendly girls from Liat Air gave us some food vouchers for our trouble which eased the hunger and stopped Karweng from any more racing around the airport terminal in a borrowed wheel chair!

A good nights sleep in a comfy bed in St Vincent and we rendezvoused at the Barefoot Yacht Charters in Blue Lagoon to finalise our boat payment and sign some documentation.

A chart briefing for some insight into the best anchorages and eating places around the Windward Islands, some shopping for provisions at one of Kingstown's supermarkets and a quick lunch at a roadside bar and we were set for our maiden voyage as charter boat customers...

Luckily we had a skipper on the first leg from St Vincent to Bequia who ran us through the operation of the boat and gave us some more pointers on points of sail as we would make our way down towards Grenada over the 7 days.

We learned our first valuable lesson in Bequia, the morning after the skipper left our boat. Someone had left the fridge on overnight, as well as fans and lights operating and we couldn't start the engines to raise anchor and move on. After calling Barefoot to explain our situation, they sent a local mechanic from Admiralty Bay, Bequia who informed us that he'd have to take our batteries and charge them overnight because they were so dead...

A day of exploring Bequia and getting the dinghy underway was not a bad plan B, and a relaxing day was topped off by a game of dominoes with the locals. Of course it took Liam and I a few rounds to get into the local rules but it wasn't long before Liam was slamming down dominoes like the best of them!

From Bequia to Mustique with charged batteries and a better understanding of charging routines, and daily checklists and our first day of sailing by ourselves. They really did give up the yacht far too easily!!
A few boys feeling seasick on our first solo voyage as we navigated our way through the passage to Mustique. Macaroni Beach was the highlight here along with the Wednesday night "jump up" at Basil's Bar.

Having run out of water, we made our way to Canouan to wait for the "Iceman" who would apparently cometh and deliver us our water, diesel and ice. Again, Caribbean time dictates how long you wait, and we had to anchor overnight after waiting until almost sunset for our supplies. Not a lot to do when it's Easter Friday on Canouan!

With a few days of anchoring/mooring experience we cruised into Union Island to clear customs from St Vincent and the Grenadines, before making our way to the Tobago Cays, the jewel of the Grenadines. A spectacular place to wake up, with uninhabited, pristine sandy beaches, coral reefs and the Atlantic Ocean to the East we snorkeled around for a couple of hours before setting sail again for Carriacou. Monkey was exceptional with his navigation into and out of the the narrow passage to the anchorage, it definitely made my job a lot easier guiding the $400,000 catamaran over the bottom and keeping that damage deposit in tact!

One night in Carriacou for some paperwork for entry to the nation of Grenada, I walked around Hillsborough for an hour or so to take in the atmosphere of a "christening party".
We set sail early in the morning for our long journey to the port of St George's in Grenada where we would dock for our stay during the cricket. A pretty easy sailing day although the winds were in the wrong direction for a quick sail south, and we had to take a wide berth around "Kick'em Jenny", the underwater active volcano to the north of Grenada. Andy was at the helm for a few hours and it was a nice rest for me to be able to lie down on the deck and relax. The responsibility for the boat is everyone's obviously but a bit of added pressure for me, if only applied by myself!

So we arrived in St George's, a few of us having a go at contacting the yacht club to announce our arrival on radio, and we were guided through the harbour to the yacht club marina. Let me just say, reverse parking a Datsun 200 B wagon is a lot easier than a 42 ft catamaran with 7 blokes and a dock master yelling instructions at you! Still I managed to get her into the dock stern-to (that's backwards for those lacking nautical terminology) without a scratch, the only issue being when I had to slam it into reverse coming into the lagoon when I got confused over which side of the marker to go to avoid the coral!! Easy boys..... everything's under control!! Phew...

The yacht club is nice, with showers and a restaurant and bar, our boat parked with easy access on and off. It is nice to be able to step on and off at your leisure without having to organise the dinghy to be started..... Have to keep pinching myself... I can't believe we made it here on time and in one piece, all 8 of us for the World Cup Cricket!!

Trains, Delays and Hockey Games

Gee Auckland was fun, I mean not fun like you're an adult at a kids carnival dominating on the jumping castle sort of fun, but the fun you have when the landing gear won't go down so you have to fly around for a while and then turn back to the airport to wait while another airplane is made ready.

5 hours after our original Auckland to LA flight was scheduled we finally got on another plane and headed towards LAX. Starving and grumpy, we managed to fght our way through lack of sleep and pretty ordinary airline food to find a shuttle bus to take us to our accomodation in LA. About 2 miles (notice I'm into their way of measuring now) from the airport in an area of town devoid of anything apart from fast food joints and a 24 hour sex shop with LIVE nudes. We ate right next to the Live nudes at Carl's Jr. Given the size of the medium meals, I'd hate to see an upsize from Carl's Sr!

After the delays on the flight, our 2 days in LA turned into 1 but we managed to make the most of it with a few rides on the BIG BLUE BUS and some time spent at Venice Beach, Santa Monica and UCLA. I may from time to time pass judgement on some of the things I see here in the USA but I'll give them one thing, when someone says catch the big blue bus.... that's exactly what it is......

A few shots hussling some black guys at the recreation area basketball courts (where they filmed parts of White Men Can't Jump), some enchalada's from the local mexican cafe, a stroll along the santa monica pier and boulevarde and a bus ride to UCLA where we saw some stunt man attempt a bungy jump into a pool full of green slime for Nickolodean kids TV show and our self made tour of LA was over.

Delta Airlines flight from LAX to miami was hassle free in comparison, the only issue was that it left at 10 pm LA time and Arrived at 3:30 am LA time. Some people think sleep is overrated... I tend to disagree. 20 hours total in 5 days is not a lot.

Arrived in Miami tired of course, but at 6 am local time at Fort Lauderdale Airport you look at getting down to Miami - South Beach so you can get some sleep. Train cancellations won't help. Monkey came up with a genious plan though to fill in time and deal with hunger...

We ate as much as we possibly could at the Marriott Hotel breakfast buffet. $8 was well worth it and our energy levels picked up accordingly. After tri rail train (a bit like v-line), metro train, metro loop and a couple of buses, we made it to Jazz Hostel on South Beach. Hostel like.. mostly friendly staff, crappy rooms, but a bed's a bed and to have one to yourself will be a luxury for the next 4 weeks on the boat.

Dale had tickets to the Ice Hockey at Bank Atlantic Centre in Florida somewhere....... We found out the stadium is about 35 miles outside of Miami and really hard to get to.... even harder to get back. Bus train, train, train cancellation, train, taxi, $50 US later, we were sitting 5 feet from the glass, almost centre ice right next to one of the players' bench. What an atmosphere! It's like the NBL used to be back in the 80's with music and cheering and really expensive food and drinks... The gyros and pint of Budweiser was all part of being there we thought so we joined the crowd at chow time, made friends with the locals and got into the spirit of the game. Being so close to the perspex screen meant I could see the player's faces squashed against it when they copped a 'body check' and hear the slap of sticks... it was really exciting. I reckon the Hockey fans would enjoy AFL, especially the hits.

For the record, Florida Panthers beat the Washington Capitols 3-2 in overtime, there we heaps of body checks into the screens, plenty of penalties handed out by the referees, and the Panther's cheerleaders rivalled the Swanettes from the 80's.

The taxi picked us up from a Burger King in the middle of nowhere after our attempts to get a lift back with someone to Miami failed, dismally, and we were forced to pay $90 US for the priveledge. Great experience though, and I'd already forgotten the cost.

So 3 of the other boys are here now in Miami, there's 6 together now (Dave, Dale, Matt, Andy, Brad, Karweng) with Brian and Liam to arrive at Miami airport tomorrow morning when we fly to Barbados and on towards St Vincent, the location of our charter base at Blue Lagoon, St Vincent and the Grenadines.

Miami is like a mix between the Gold Coast and Chapel Street, with pimped up Hummer's dropping off glamour people to clubs along the boulevardes while we laugh into our glasses of Stella and marvel at how we got this far and the fact that in a couple of days we will be on a catamaran and really starting to enjoy the whole thing...

Last minute packing is always the best

Well, it's 1 30 am and I'm up copying music on to my computer to make sure when the boys are giving me the shites I can escape to a bit of Midnight Oil while we're anchored at Palm Island in the Tobago Cays......

Actually, I'm up watching Australia vs West Indies getting myself really excited about the fact that in less than a week I'll be on board a 42 ft catamaran as I embark on possibly the greatest adventure of my life.

4 weeks of sailing through the Caribbean stopping to explore the apparently beautiful islands and watch some cricket as part of the 2007 ICC Cricket World Cup.

It's been a plan of mine for many years now to attend the cricket in the west indies and when I knew the WC was on I was determined to go....

So 15 months of planning and I can hardly believe that I've managed to get 8 blokes together to travel on a large multihull yacht through the Caribbean with someone who less than 6 months ago had only been on a yacht once!

Still I'm quietly confident that with the sailing training that we've all done and a little bit of team work, this thing can go off without a hitch, or should that be a half hitch, or bowline........