Left the tropics

Sea Bunny crossed the Tropic of Cancer northbound at 0815 this morning in 64 W. She has not been in northern temperate latitudes since crossing southbound on 23 November 2001. It is likely that this will have been her final departure from the tropics, at least with us on board.

The first 2 days of this passage were roughish - winds only up to about 25kn but very confused 3 m seas which didn't make moving about down below easy, Richard did a near somersault over the table and now his back is suffering.
A lot of sea water was sluicing over the decks, some of this found a deck leak, unfortunately above our clothes locker. Susan's gear on the top shelf was nicely packed in polythene bags. Richard's, on the second shelf, was not. Photo shows his supply of underpants drying in the cockpit after being rinsed by Susan.

Wind and sea now moderated. Indeed we will most likely be motoring a lot to reach Bermuda. We're nearly half way so a small tub of ice cream may be in order to celebrate along with tamarind prawns.

If it ain't broke - don't use it

Eileen Quinn's song title on one of her CD's (all cruisers should listen to them - they are so accurate of the cruising life) may be a recipé for ensuring nothing further goes wrong - but it does limit your options!

From this you may guess that things have been breaking on Sea Bunny!

While in Portsmouth, Dominica, we wanted to reactivate our diving skills. Apart from diving on the boat to clean the hull and fix things, we had not done any diving since Borneo in 2010, so we booked an refresher course in Cabrits National Park, Portsmouth.
This is where the broken bits started coming to light. Susan wanted to put her gear on and go in the water from Sea Bunny before going on the course. Her (BCD) had a major leak which prevented this. She dived with the dive centre's BCD. While we were down on the first dive the instructor observed that Richard had a leak from the high pressure line connecting the air tank to the pressure gauge. A sudden failure of this at depth would be "interesting" as the entire air tank, starting off at 200 bar pressure, would empty very rapidly and noisily. Finally Susan's dive computer was recording random depths but failing to operate  on a dive.
We did, however, update our skills and even saw a sea horse.
Later in Guadaloupe we did more diving at the recommended site of the Ilets à Goyaves (Ilets Pigeon). The first time we cobbled together one working set of equipment - R used the dive operator's regulator assembly and his own BCD. Susan used the operator's BCD but her own regulator and Richard's dive computer. R carried Susan's dive computer in his pocket to check it had a problem - it did . It seems weird to dive with only a pressure gauge but no depth information.

A priority when we hired a car for a couple of days was to update dive gear. The only equipment shop in Guadaloupe is at the marina at Pointe à Pitre. We acquired new hoses for Richard and a new BCD and dive computer for Susan, so we were all up to spec for our next dive at Pigeon Island.

FIXED

In parallel with dive issues the genset had ceased to work, or even start. Symptoms were no compression and evidence of oil, fuel, soot and water around the base of the cylinder head. Aha! thought Richard; blown cylinder head gasket. No problem, we have a replacement, the necessary gaskets and o-rings and I've done this several times.We can go to the marina at Jolly Harbour, Antigua, lift the genset into the cockpit in calm conditions and replace the gasket and o-rings.

Unfortunately, this diagnosis ignored the fact that a broken cylinder head stud, which could not be moved, would give similar symptoms but be significantly more difficult to fix! Coming up to Easter we decided not to fix here as we have a dead line of crew joining us in Bermuda.

Old genset base - surprising it had lasted 16 years

Compounding this, on trying to lift the genset, one of the mounting bolts jammed and we lifted the glassed-in base with the genset. Probably best that the bonding failed in Jolly Harbour rather than half way across the Atlantic but it took 4-5 days to build and glass-in a new base and reinstall the now non-functioning genset.

New base being glassed in

Many yachts cross oceans without the luxury of a genset. We have a powerful alternator on the engine, solar power and wind generators.


NOT FIXED

Ready to lift the set onto its new base, which will be bolted to the new frame

Our Iridium GO satellite communications unit, which we use particularly for email and weather forecasts at sea, normally works well with an external antenna. On arrival at Jolly Harbour it had ceased to do so - failing to connect with the Iridium satellites. Checking resistances appeared to reveal an intermittent fault with the very thin connector between the external antenna cable and the unit itself. We ordered a replacement shipped out from Miami thinking this would fix it.
It hasn't, so we may have to rely on whatever signal we can get with the GO on deck. As it sometimes gets a signal there is just a possibility that the numerous masts etc in Jolly Harbour Marina are preventing a good signal.

? MAYBE FIXED
.

Portsmouth - but no HMS Victory

As befits a place with as illustrious a name as Portsmouth the one in Dominica is well organised for cruisers. The "boat boys" have organised themselves into a cooperative - Portsmouth Association of Yacht Services (PAYS). If you deal with a member you get a professional service whether it be a mooring or a boat or land tour. There is a dinghy dock, an office and even a Sunday night BBQ and disco. We were approached offshore by a member of PAYS, we duly check in the Doyles guide and from then on it become apparent that the members  worked as a happy team.

Treehouse of Tia Dalma 

The Indian River trip, in Providence's boat, is up a small river into the rainforest. Our boatman was proud that one of the first things he showed us was a set from the Pirates of the Caribbean films - not having seen the film we cannot comment!

Heron

 Bird life was sparse, more crabs were in evidence.  The dappled sunlight shining through made it a very pleasant.

Crab on fungus

Buttress tree roots are everywhere

Most interesting was the vegetation..

Bird of Paradise flower - it hangs down , other heliconias go up.

Providence proved skillful at producing sculpture out of palm leaves - ours was a humming bird. On the way back, while rowing, he sang in a deep baritone voice the national anthem of Dominica which was heart warming to hear.

While in Portsmouth we caught up with Phil and Norma (Minnie B), spending a couple of evenings with them and their visitors, including an evening at the PAYS Sunday night BBQ and disco. Stewart and Anne, Bright Eyes also joined us and Stewart reinforced his reputation for stamina by extended dancing with two of the very active local girls - sometimes with both of them together.

Return to Martinique

After saying goodbye to our visitors in St Lucia we headed back to Martinique, with stops in Le Marin mainly for lots of provisioning for future passages and for nostalgic reasons Fort de France. Here we anchored off Fort St Louis to find that the whole area ashore had been pleasantly revamped with walkways and gardens. Once yet another sim card for another country had been purchased so we could go and have fun.
Our hire car was eventually found at the correct cruise ship dock. Tourism has now taken off so much that there are now two.
A leisurely drive up to Grand Riviere through the rain forest, was followed by a leisurely lunch. The sim card didn't do phone tethering and it was quite nerve racking trying to negotiate downtown Fort de France after dark. Fortunately we remembered that the cathredral should be kept to the right side when returning just like the IALA  B buoyage system.

Sacre Couer de Balata

Grande Riviere - end of the road

Wimping out!

Dominica beckoned! We adored Dominica from its high mountains and lush rain forest to the welcoming boat men. In the capital, Roseau, we were able to check in late on a Sunday afternoon. Yes we paid overtime but didn't have to go back, and we got the coastal permit to go to Portsmouth and our outward clearance for up to 2 weeks later all in the one visit.

There are many "boat boys" after your business. Octavius (Sea Cat) is one of the popular ones. We went on a land tour with him in company with Stewart and Anne of Bright Eyes. Although close to us in age, Stewart appeared to have a significantly higher stamina and risk threshold than us. First stop was at Freshwater Lake for a hike around it.

We hadn't realised that to walk round the lake involved crossing a mountain ridge - probably less that 300 m up but still significant.

Onwards and upwards - into the clouds

The vistas through the clouds were stunning and the gentle rain modified the heat.  The arrangement was that Sea Cat would move his taxi to the end of the walk to meet us. We were therefore surprised when he came from behind to meet us. It transpired that he had hidden while we walked past!

Clouds roll in

Titou Gorge

Next stop was the Titou Gorge. Here you enter the river and swim up the gorge to a waterfall, accompanied by a young guide. The water is 15' deep and there is, obviously, current against you. It is quite strenuous and we all required a tow from the guide to get to the end, where there is fortunately an indent in the rock face where you can stand and rest.

Approaching the waterfall

At the waterfall, you "walk" along a semi-submerged ledge to the waterfall which you then climb and jump or dive back into the pool at the bottom. Stewart went first, after the guide.

Stewart being helped to the top - We wimped out at this point!

We wimped out having seen the effort required to get up the waterfall against the flow of water. Stewart reported than he landed on a submerged rock when he made the jump.
Risk assessments do not appear to be part of the deal here!  but it was all great fun.

Trafalgar Falls - Papas

After an excellent creole lunch in a riverside restaurant, it was on to Trafalgar Falls. These are twin waterfalls - 125 m and 75 m high. Sea Cat asked who wanted to go to the top for another swim. The falls were some distance away across a boulder field.

Stewart & Sea Cat at the base of the falls

Not seeing any path or other way of ascending beside the falls we opted out again, but Stewart was still game. Maybe we had misunderstood as, in fact the swimming pool and a nearby warm pool are at the bottom of the higher falls -the top of the boulder field,