May 30th, 2001
After spending a few days around Virgin Gorda with Jérôme's
sister Amélie and her boyfriend Thierry, 
we raise our anchor and depart for St.Martin. Even though
the sea is calm and we enjoy a full moon, I spend half
the trip lying in the cabin with fever. On top of that,
myself and Jérôme have been infected for
two weeks with some mysterious virus that make us spend
half the day in the toilet. No wonder the food we had
while transferring in Santo Domingo looked weird!!! We
stop in St.Martin just long enough to refill our food
storage. As the wind conditions are favourale, we soon
head south and pause at Fourche Island to admire the large
bird population it hosts. Steep rocky shores are favourite
nesting places for frigates, cormorans, and boobeys. Every
day, the seabirds fly up to 30 miles away from their nest
to reach their favourite fishing ground. |
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We then stop in St.Barthélémy for and enjoy
an impressive sunset in the pretty town of Gustavia. 
The closest islands to St.Barths are Saba, Statia, and
St.Kitts, and we preferred to head their way instead of
Antigua. 
We arrived to St.Kitts shortly after dusk, and visited
the island the following day. The island's main produce
is sugar cane, and a small railroad carrying the cane
from around the island to the factory is still in operation.
Formerly a British colony, St.Kitts - Nevis is now an
independent country made up of the two volcanic islands.
Since tourism is not much developed, St.Kitts - Nevis
has to rely on offshore business to survive, like many
small independent islands. This is why institutions such
as the Royal Bank of Canada and Scotiabank are found throughout
the Caribbean. As the rough seas and unfavourable winds
continue, we decide to stay and relax an extra day in
the shaddow of Nevis before proceeding further south.
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10th of June
We move on to Montserrat, with 30 knot headwinds and 8
foot seas that have failed to dissipate. Zipolite struggles
in this type of weather and only manages to complete 20
miles in 12 hours. Exhausted, we stop in Redonda for lunch.
This amazing 3 mile long by 1000 feet high rock is uninhabited,
except for the seabirds that made their home here. As
we are approaching the anchorage, dozens of boobies come
to greet us by soaring behind our wake. They are not used
to seeing sailing vessels in this area. The experience
is exhilirating. A few hours later, we are sailing again.
Luckily, the conditions improve as we approach Montserrat,
famous for the deadly volcanic eruptions that have been
taking place since 1995. Unlike earlier this year, the
Soufriere volcano is now inactive, but the bright fresh
ash flows are still clearly visible on its southeast slope. |
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June 12th. We arrive to Deshaies in Guadeloupe
as usual late in the evening, after 25 pleasant miles
sailed. On this occasion, we take Amélie's car
to visit the island. The main attraction for us are the
numerous waterfalls and lush rainforests that unfortunately
are missing in many other Caribean islands. Traveling
is made difficult by a one week gasoline strike caused
by the too powerful labour unions. We nonetheless manage
to visit les chutes de La Lézarde on day three
with Christina who just joined us. 
The water is clear and cool beneath the thick forest canopy,
so we stay hours enjoying the site. The next day, Jérôme
drives us to the Carbet waterfalls, where we visit two
different falls in the same day. Here, the scenery is
even more impressive as we are higher up on the slopes,
about 400 metres below the volcano's crater. As you know,
we rarely stay in one anchorage for more than a few days,
so it is time to move on again. 
Les Saintes are a day-sail away, and we get there by -
you guessed it - sunset... This area is experiencing
the worst drought in years. In les Saintes, the vegetation
is brown dry, and some endangered iguanas are at great
risk. Fortunately the rainy season is now beginning, and
the situation should get better. From here on, sailing
to Martinique will be smooth with a day stop in Soufriere
Village, Dominica. [A little clarification is needed here:
There are several volcanoes named soufriere in the Caribbean,
like on Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, and St.Lucia.
The name comes from soufre, the french word for
sulphur, that these volcanoes often spew out].
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At last we reach St.Pierre, a little town in Martinique
that has had a long story. 
In 1906, the Montagne Pelée volcano erupted, sending
a nuée ardente down its western slope. St.Pierre,
the capital at that time, was right in the path of destruction.
The burning ash killed all 30,000 residents, except one
man. This man - in the town jail - was thrown in the basement
because he misbehaved. Talk about being the luckiest crook
ever! Actually stories abund that he was in fact innocent.
Of course, after surviving such a tragedy, he was released. |
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Well today there are no eruptions, so we take a bus uphill
and visit the mountains around les Pitons du Carbet. Up
there somewhere one can find the Slave River trail(Rivière
des Esclaves), constructed during the colonial era by
slaves. An two foot-wide water channel was erected, following
the mountain's contour intervals. Thus, freshwater was
diverted to be available year round, drought or not, for
refilling ships anchored nearby. After the long walk in
the mountains, we headed back to Zipolite for our last
journey. Our arrival in Le Marin was triumphant, having
completed over 2,000+ nautical miles (4000+ kilometres)
during our 8 months on the sea. |
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Back in Macabou, Martinique
In Martinique, we need to take a break from our
vacation. The program for two weeks is doing nothing,
in order to get ready for the real life waiting at home...
Christina spends hours working on her sculptures,
Amélie studies, while we go Kitesurfing. A party
is thrown at Jérôme's place in Macabou to
celebrate his father's birthday and our arrival with French
wine and champagne. |
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The kitesurfing spot in Macabou is at walking distance
from the house. The dogs, Macabou and Barbade, follow
us to the beach and admire our exploits (read wipeouts).
 No,
actually only Barbade comes because Macabou, the lazy
bum, turns around and goes home half way. The beach is
overcrowded at places, not by people, but by algae. It's
somewhat irritating when the lines get tangled up in the
jello, even more when we fall in the weeds, so we're forced
to improve our technique fast. The trades generally blow
in the 10-15 knot range, and the ideal setup seems to
be the Naish or Cabrinha 11.5 metre four-line kite with
a 150cm board. Add to that a smaller 7.0 wing and you
should be set up for most of the Caribbean. |
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The End of the Caribbean Adventure
Well folks, our incredible adventure ends here. After
travelling the tropics for nine months, we finally had
to call it a day and return to our normal lives. We hope
you found this story as interesting as we did. To finish,
here are some pictures that somehow never got added to
the site.
Below are some pictures of the beautiful Virgin Islands,
where the largest sailboats reign. A three-masted Dutch,
sailboat, and the scenic Baths of Virgin Gorda. |
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 Drew
and Valent enjoying the bar scene in San Juan on the left.
Cane Garden bay on the right.
Below, the beach near St.Jean on the island of St.Barthelemy
where we had great times and good windsurfing. Various
images of Old San Juan, Puerto Rico, and the Virgin Islands
follow. |
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| Goodbyes at the San Juan International Airport. Valent
and Jérôme on Zipolite during a calm day
off St.John Island, USVI. Stef, Drew, aboard Zipolite
somewhere arpound the Virgin Islands. |
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| Drew, Valent, with a nine pound lobster, while the capitain
is on duty.
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| Below, Valent taking it easy in front of large cruise
ships in Charoltte Amalie Harbour, St.Thomas, USVI. Stef
and Jérôme on the beach of Cane Garden Bay,
Tortola, BVI. Stef snorkeling inside a shipwreck off Buck
Island, near St.Thomas, USVI. |
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Every story has an end, and ours is no exception. As we arrive to
Bitter End after our trip in the 
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The
Virgin Island Crusaders
