Fred on Dakota Dream with Maria and Dawn (Cat Tales) at his New Year’s Eve party
Aspen in the early morning light off the volcano on St. Vincent
Maria on Aspen in Bequia, St. Vincent/Grenadines
Panorama of Admiralty Bay, Bequia with Dawn (Cat Tales) admiring the view
Conch pizza at the Fig Tree in Bequia with Maria and Dawn (Cat Tales)
Martinique doing their part to eliminate plastic straws. This one is made of pasta!
Lunch in St. Anne, Martinique with Maria enjoying octopus and Steve having chicken.
A huge cruise ship passing Aspen at anchor in Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe
Hiking for rum at Bas du Fort, Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe
Steve’s favorite drummer in Guadeloupe
Aspen on a mooring ball again in sweet Bequia
S/Y Aspen – January 7, 2020 – Log #168
Aspen Position: 16 degrees 13’ N 061 degrees 32’ W
Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe, Caribbean
It has been a busy month with Aspen taking us to sweet Bequia and then on to Martinique for Christmas and New Years.
Bequia found us getting together with sailing friends from past seasons, eating great lobster and conch pizza as well as hiking some shorter trails.
Our good friends on Cat Tales (Dawn and Laurie) were in Bequia to meet us and help us savor the nice places to eat and visit with the friendly locals.
As you know, our movements are determined by the weather so off we sailed to Martinique, a 17 hour sail, with Cat Tales when the weather gave us a window to do so.
Ah, Martinique, the land of French wine and cheeses. The sail from Bequia, past the volcano on St. Vincent and into the lee of St. Lucia was breezy and bouncy but a nice sail. However, the squalls hit the fan as we rendezvoused with Fred on Dakota Dream at sea off Rodney Bay, St. Lucia. Winds up to 40 knots were recorded from the never ending squall lines that constantly pummeled us, Cat Tales and Dakota Dream the entire way to St. Anne, Martinique. It was as bad as Mr. Toad’s Wild Ride! Welcome to France.
Christmas Eve was spent on a catamaran named Jumbie (Kathy and Tom) with 25 sailors. The next day saw us eating Christmas dinner at Ta Lou Lou’s on the beach at St. Anne, Martinique with 29 sailors. The number of sailors partying gets larger as time passes, or so it seems.
Then it was onboard Dakota Dream with our North Dakota friend Fred where we watched the Caribbean fireworks unfold from our tranquil anchorage. Maybe the rum tasting had something to do with the colors painted in the sky from the explosions?
Again, another weather window appeared and we sailed further north to Iles de Saintes and finally Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe where are are currently anchored, waiting for a blast of strong winds and high seas to rock Aspen in our anchorage for a couple of weeks.
We have a car rented and plan on touring Guadeloupe with Cat Tales (Dawn and Laurie) as we enjoy another French island. There will be a lot of hiking, lying on the beach and Ti Punches to pass the windy days. Ah, the Caribbean in winter.
Sail on, sail on Aspen…
PS - More pictures can be found at: http://syaspen.blogspot.com/
1. You can track our location using this: https://us0-share.inreach.garmin.com/SYAspen
2. Our sailing book, Voyage Into Hell, is available at Amazon.com (www.voyageintohell.com)
3. And the new book, Leadville Trail 100; History of the Leadville Trail 100 Mile Running Race is also available at Amazon.com (www.LT100history.com)
