Haiti - An unforgettable experience

We never planned on visiting Haiti. I don't really know why. Maybe it was because of the rumours we'd heard about the social instability and insecurity of the country. I don't know.

But this quickly changed when, back in March, we went to see the Michael Beans (Michael Gardner) show in Leverick Bay, BVIs. At the end of the show, he tells the audience about the Good Samaritan Foundation of Haiti, an NGO he co-founded back in 2007. This organization built a school and is responsible for educating and serving lunch to 340 students per day. After discussing the idea for all of 1 minute, we offered to sail to Ile-à-Vache (a small detour on our way to Cuba) and take any supplies they had available. We were given books, shirts, but mainly snorkel gear for the fishermen of the village who consider this a small treasure as it makes their livelihood a lot easier. In Puerto Rico we also stocked up on soccer balls, school supplies, baby clothes, etc.

We set sail and after 3 days and 3 nights at sea, we arrived in Ile-à-Vache very early one morning. As we approached the anchorage and were looking for a spot to drop the anchor, a couple of locals came out in their dug-out canoes and welcomed us to the island. This, we soon learned, became a daily tradition.

Every day, no less than 20 people of all ages, though only males, came to the boat looking for the captain. With big smiles and very respectfully, sometimes in perfectly clear English, sometimes with a little bit of trouble, they offered to do anything: cleaning the bottom of the boat, polishing the stainless steel, cleaning the deck, getting fruits and vegetables, taking you to the local market, taking you to the city, taking you to a tour and even doing laundry or cooking for you. Basically, they offered to do anything. For any of this work, you'd need to provide the materials and the tools as they simply don't have the means to get them. Some of them asked for things you could spare: fishing hooks, lines, anchor and sails for the adults. Cookies, milk and soccer balls for the kids. Others simply requested that you refer them to any friends of ours.

The first afternoon, we decided to go and explore the village a bit. We quickly realized that we were not going to be able to go anywhere without a local acting as a guide. I'm not sure if this is tradition or simply another way for the locals to make a little bit of money. This is how we met Jasmin and he became our guide and local point of contact. He took us through the village, to a resort and a beautiful beach. There's no electricity anywhere on the island but you do see some solar panels. There's also no paved roads, making the task of walking a muddy effort after some rain. A fact that the locals don't seem to mind at all and many of them do it barefoot. There's also no cars on the island except a police 4x4, but we did see a few motor bikes. The big majority of the locals simply walk everywhere or take a water taxi. There's not a lot of tourism here and, therefore, we stood out. But other than just staring at you, specially the little ones, they are very friendly and they all greet you very politely.

Caille Coq

Traditional sailboats of Haiti

Walking around Caille Coq, with our guide Jasmin

The second day we decided to go to the market in Madame Bernard, a village that's a 2-hour walk away from Caille Coq, where we were anchored. This market is run twice a week, on Mondays and Thursdays. We had the option of taking our dinghy and arriving there in 15 minutes. Or walking through 3 villages for about 2 hours. Surprisingly or not, we decided to take the longest way and walk there to see more of the island. This proved to be the right decision although it got really hot and it was quite muddy from a rain the previous night. Each village was a collection of about 5 or 6 houses. All of them were very simple. Some had concrete walls, some had canvas walls. Roofs were made of zinc and fences were made of palm tree leaves. On average, I'd say they were about 5x8.

There are a lot of animals on the island too. Mainly cows, bulls, horses, donkeys, goats, chicken, pigs and the occasional dog.

The market was full of people. There was a lot of fruits and vegetables, rice, corn meal and salt in bulk. Dried fish (making the market quite smelly) and chicken (by pieces or whole and live). Some of them had tarp and wood stands. Some of them had simply tarps laid out on the mud.

Going to the market. Jasmin picked us up on his dinghy.

Walking towards the market.

A local building a fishing boat.

Arriving to Madame Bernard, where the market is.

Madame Bernard

Donkeys parking lot, next to the market.

The market, view from our water taxi.

A French boy, two Canadians, and 2 local boys. Hours of play time in the village!

On our third day, another local, Phelix, took us to the school in La Hatte. We walked for about 30 minutes and got to the farm. Here we met yet another local that showed us around and explained the efforts they are taking to grow chickens and vegetables to feed the children of the school.

We then continued to the school. The school is quite big and Phelix and the principal took us around each classroom, where all the kids stood up to greet us, sang to us and smiled a lot. The school has a big cistern that holds 2500 gallons of water, a nice kitchen and washrooms. The school is free and they provide everything to the students, including lunch. For many of these kids, if not all, this will forever change their lives. Being there, I realized what a small contribution we have made but even so, I felt quite happy being able to contribute my little grain of sand. If you can spare some time or money, please consider donating to the Good Samaritan Foundation of Haiti. The work they are doing here is amazing.

Walking to the school.

Agriculture farm of the Good Samaritan Foundation

All in all, our experience in Haiti has been great and one I will forever remember. We have to move soon, though, as we still have a lot of miles to cover and hurricane season is quickly approaching.

Busy Week, Relaxing Week, in La Isla del Encanto

Time to move again and get some chores done. With that in mind, Taia and Nordic Belle II sailed to Culebra, one of the Spanish Virgin Islands (all of which belong to Puerto Rico). An uneventful sail, on the slow side, but quite pleasant. The stop in Culebra, however, wasn't part of the chores we needed to accomplish. Anchored in Ensenada Honda and enjoying a solid cellular connection, we could get some of the tasks started. Just some of them, lest we get bored.

The weather continued to be on our side, mellow as we've ever seen it in the Caribbean. So we took advantage of it and spent a couple of nights anchored in Culebrita, a smaller island a few miles east of Culebra. There's a beautiful lighthouse on Culebrita, unfortunately fallen in disrepair since it was replaced by a much more modern and utilitarian steel tower to prop up the light. The lighthouse, an actual house from the 19^th century where the person responsible for the light and his family lived, still stands proud and pretty.

In Culebrita we met with Sila, a boat we had met a couple of days before in Culebra. And we had a chance to go aboard another true ocean-going sailboat. Sila has been cruising for a few years, but not in your run-of-the-mill vanilla cruising grounds! They went roughly from France to Panama, thence Galapagos, Easter Island, southern tip of South America (can't remember if they rounded the Horn or went inside), Falkland Islands, South Georgia Islands and then back to the Caribbean. Real sailors, them Sila crew!

Young crews of Sila, Nordic Belle II, and Taia at the top of Culebrita

Some of our blog followers (all one of them) might remember that last year we spent a couple of nights anchored in Puerto Ferro, Vieques. Puerto Ferro isn't particularly beautiful, but it provides the best protection from wind and waves imaginable. Last year was very rough when we were in the area, and Puerto Ferro gave us two nights of well-earned rest. And the reason we went there was because it is just 2 miles east of Bio-Bay, or, more properly, Mosquito Bay. The bioluminescence in Bio-Bay is second to none. We had to see it.

The problem we ran into in 2015 was that the 2 miles between Puerto Ferro and Bio-Bay were too rough for a dinghy ride. And the anchorage outside of Bio-Bay was not tenable in those conditions. After 2 nights in Puerto Ferro, hoping that the swell and wind would give us a break, we called it quits and sailed away without seeing the water light up thanks to the bioluminescent dinoflagellates that inhabit the bay.

But it's 2016 now, and the weather has been most agreeable. After Taia and Nordic Belle II were safely anchored in Puerto Ferro, Torstein and I went on an exploratory dinghy ride to Bio-Bay while there was still daylight. We got a good GPS track of the entrances to both bays and confirmed that the dinghy ride, though on the rough side, was doable. Before it got dark we all piled up on the dinghies, motored outside to the entrance to Mosquito Bay, and then paddled into it—no fossil fuel burning allowed in the bay.

Waiting for dark in Mosquito Bay

When it got dark nature, once again, amazed our frail little minds. Any disturbance to the water excites the dinoflagellates and they light up. Hands went in and shook the water, oars went in, lit-up water was splashed. Watching bioluminescence is akin to staring at a fire, it's just as enthralling and mystifying. As we paddled in the dark and scared the fish that were under water, we could see the trail of light they left behind when they hastened away from the dinghy. Magnificent nature.

The way back in the dark, to the boats anchored 2 miles away in Puerto Ferro, was better than we anticipated. The waves we had seen in the afternoon had come down in the evening and the wind was also diminished. Even so, we came back slowly, both dinghies within sight of each other, and making sure we followed the GPS track we had saved earlier.

After seeing Bio-Bay, we got back in chore mode. We had reserved a slip at Marina Puerto del Rey, in Ceiba, Puerto Rico. Taia had not been to a slip since December/2014 and we weren't particularly looking forward to it. However, the feeling of freedom that stepping off the boat onto dry land affords quickly obliterated our cruiser snobbery. We were instantly happy to be tied up to a slip. And when the wind died entirely, we were even happier to get shore power and run the air conditioners.

The sail from Vieques to Marina Puerto del Rey was fun and fast

We had several tasks to accomplish, mostly administrative to maintain our tenuous presence in organized society. Natalia and I spent several hours on the phone with various people, as well as writing and reading emails. Other manual maintenance tasks were also accomplished. We thought a week in a marina would be relaxing, and the error of our thinking quickly became apparent. It felt hectic!

Mixed with all those chores, we did some sight seeing in Puerto Rico with Nordic Belle II. We visited the Caves of the Rio Camuy, San Juan historical town, and tourist-infested El Yunque National Forest. All three sites are extremely interesting. I'll spare our readership the gory details of our sight seeing.

Having rented a car for all that land travel, both crews took the opportunity to do two or three provisioning runs. Taia is loaded up with enough provisions to last us through Haiti and Cuba, places where we expect little opportunity to stock up on frozen food and other first-world delights. Fruit and produce shouldn't be a problem, though.

Yet again, the time came to say good-bye to friends. Nordic Belle II was going north west while Taia needs to continue west. We said our good-byes, which gets ever more tiresome as we do it, and promised to meet up again when we're all back in Canada.

The busy week at the marina came to its end. We left it in the middle of the calmest weather we've had. The trusty Perkins engine isn't used to running more than 30 to 90 minutes at a time. Fortunately, it does it flawlessly and without complaining. We've come most of the way to the west end of Puerto Rico, 100 miles of westing, under sail and engine. Hurricane season will be with us soon and we still have a few countries to visit. Time to haul ass!

As soon as the wind returns we'll head to Ile-a-Vache, Haiti. We're very much looking forward to meeting the people from the Good Samaritan Foundation there. While in the BVI we connected with the founder and picked up all sorts of stuff to bring to the local community and the school that the Foundation built and runs.

Cavernas del Rio Camuy: stalactites, stalagmites, and local denizens

South entrance to Cueva Clara, Cavernas del Rio Camuy

Walking around San Juan Historical Site

Mischief on the ramparts

Street musician in Old San Juan, playing tango-ish salsa

Where did the Plaza de las Palomas get its name?

Cemetery right next to one of the forts. Omen for the soldiers defending it?

Part of the fortifications in Old San Juan

La Coca Waterfall, El Yunque National Forest

Some bird we saw in El Yunque. Pretty bird, pretty view, pretty photo

View to the east from El Yunque National Forest (do you recognize the bird behind me?)

The Virgin Islands

I re-discovered the Virgin islands and fell in love with them this time. It's amazing how weather conditions can impact our experience as cruisers. Exactly an year ago, in March, we got to the Virgin Islands. That time we had strong winds and north swells during our stay in the virgin islands. Finding good anchorages wasn't easy and we were rolling like crazy. This year, however, the conditions were much mellower and and our experience improved considerably.

This time, we stopped in Virgin Gorda for one night and then moved to Norman's Island to spend another night in The Bight. After that, we sailed 35 miles south to visit St. Croix for the first time and meet with friends. We had a wonderful day of sailing with calm seas and light winds that enabled us to fly the spinnaker all the way there. What a joy!

St. Croix, being the one US Virgin island that it's further south from all the others, doesn't see a lot of traffic in terms of charters and even cruisers, setting this island apart from all the rest.. The town is very quiet compared to the rest of the other islands and it even feels more authentic. We met up with our friends from So What, whom we last saw in August in Grenada. We spent a few great days with them and then sailed to Gorda Sound, in Virgin Gorda, our favourite place in the BVIs. 

Boardwalk in Christiansted, St. Croix

The old customs House.

Entrance to the fort.

Inside the fort.

The government house. This building still being used by the current government and, therefore, the 3 floor is not accessible to visitors.

Another view of the Government House.

The kids dancing in the ballroom, Government House.

We spent several days anchored behind New Eustatia island, the island rumoured to be owned by Google's co-founder Larry Page. The crystal clear water with sandy bottom and the protection of the reef makes this a great spot for anchoring. We had a beautiful beach close-by (thanks Larry for letting us used the beach!) and it was the perfect spot for kayaking and kite surfing.

New Eustatia Island.

Hike up Prickly Pear. View of Bitter End Yatch Club.

We saw the Michael Beans' Happy Arrrrr! Show again this year. And again, the kids won the conch blowing contest :)

After a few days anchored in New Eustatia, we decided to leave to go to Anegada with Wind Whisper, Korrigan and Nordic Belle II. Anegada is a pretty island with some beautiful beaches. The island is so flat that you barely see it until you're a few miles out. We rented a car and drove to the north part of the island, where we explored the two most famous beaches. The island is known for its flamingoes but we couldn't see a single one.

Walking around the town in Setting Pt., Anegada.

Matias and Elea building a fort.

The whole gang driving around in Anegada. I'm sure we looked as locals.

Playing soccer with a ball we found at the beach.

Bonfire time! Korrigan and Taia at the background.

After that we went to the north side of Tortola, to explore a few bays we haven't visited last year. We found a few very nice spots but finding a good anchoring spot proved to be difficult in most parts: we had trouble getting our anchor set or there were too many mooring balls and not enough spaces to anchor.

Next we decided to go to St. John and spend a couple of days in Cinnamon Bay. This is a beautiful bay, with crystal clear water, nice snorkelling and a great beach. It even has a nice camping space and small cabins for rent.