Home » BLOG » Archives for December 2014

Month: December 2014

The Grenadines: First stop, Union Island

Spending the summer in Grenada was hardly boring. Every night was just as exhausting as the next and we had no trouble finding things to keep us busy.

In September, our friends Patty and Luis on SV Brett Ashley took a mini vacation with us up to the Grenadines. We checked out of Grenada, left Mt. Hartman Bay and made our way to Union Island to check into St. Vincent and the Grenadines.

to union-1

We passed Hog Island and Prickly Bay. Both were packed with sailboats waiting out the rest of Hurricane Season at a safe 12-degrees North.

to union-3 to union-2

A few gorgeous rainbows made an appearance.

to union-4to union-6to union-8

Easy day.

to union-5to union-7

It was a leisurely sail along the Grenadian coastline with only a few passing ships…

to union-9 to union-10

We arrived at Clifton Harbor on Union Island a couple of hours later than Brett Ashley and darkness was falling. It was our first time into the anchorage so our friends met us in their dinghy and guided us safely around the reefs showing us where it was safe to anchor. This anchorage is best approached in full sun unless familiar with the reefs.

to union-11

One of my favorite sunsets…

to union-18

The next day we got a clear view the area including the neighboring bar on Happy Island built on top of conch shells. The tropical water colors made us feel like we were back in the Bahamas, except with a lot of coconut trees!

to union-13 to union-12to union-14 to union-15 to union-16

Up next… The Tobago Cays!

We are currently anchored in Magen’s Bay, St. Thomas while the north swell is running. Surf’s up in Hull Bay!

A Coconut Christmas

xmas

Wishing you all a Very Merry Coconut Christmas!!

We will be enjoying a cozy Christmas Eve on our boat tonight with our family and extended cruiser family for a lobster feast and fresh baked pumpkin pie…

Merry Christmas from everyone on Mary Christine!!

Salty Myths and Secret Lore: Superstitions At Sea

SALTY MYTHS AND SECRET LORE… stories we’ve heard, and tales galore…

For ages, salty sailors have told stories of strange happenings out at sea. Though intrigued by the legends of those that have gone before us, the stories we tell here are first hand accounts and shared in detail by those directly involved.

dolphins-1

SUPERSTITIONS AT SEA:

After a quick consultation with Google I found at least a hundred different sayings, superstitions and lore of the sea. Many of these you have probably heard before, like “it’s bad luck to change the name of a boat.” Well, I think the precautions we took to avoid this one have worked out pretty well for us!

Most engrained into my memory is a saying my grandfather always told me when I was little. Whenever we would see a red sky at sunset the night before going boating in the San Juan Islands of the Pacific North West, he would tell me “Red sky at night, sailor’s delight! Red sky in the morning, sailors take warning.

Apparently the saying originated in England, where weather systems move from west to east. According to Wikipedia, weather systems typically move from west to east, and red clouds result when the sun shines on their undersides at either sunrise or sunset. At these two times of day, the sun’s light is passing at a very low angle through a great thickness of atmosphere commonly known as The Belt of Venus. The result of which is the scattering out of most of the shorter wavelengths — the greens, blues, and violets — of the visible spectrum, and so sunlight is heavy at the red end of the spectrum. If the morning skies are red, it is because clear skies to the east permit the sun to light the undersides of moisture-bearing clouds coming in from the west. Conversely, in order to see red clouds in the evening, sunlight must have a clear path from the west in order to illuminate moisture-bearing clouds moving off to the east.

BUT DID YOU KNOW THIS?

Because of different prevailing wind patterns around the globe, the traditional rhyme is generally not correct at lower latitudes of both hemispheres, where prevailing winds are from east to west. The rhyme is generally correct at mid-latitudes where, due to the rotation of the Earth, prevailing winds travel west to east.

Now that we live in the tropics, the prevailing winds are Easterly Trades, moving from east to west. Even though he hasn’t caught many waves this summer, Peter will always be a surfer at heart and prefers the version from surfline.com which has been adjusted for the tropics: “Red skies at dawn, surfers surf on. Red skies at evening, surfers start leaving.

OUR #1 FAVORITE SAILING SUPERSTITION:

Dolphins swimming with the ship are a sign of good luck!

We’ve seen so many dolphins in all of our travels. They have led us into and out of the majority of our anchorages and they have appeared on many of our passages.

My favorite dolphin encounter was before we even started our journey when we were living on the boat at Burnt Store Marina in Florida. We were taking a late night stroll with the dogs and noticed a bunch of splashing in the channel headed toward the North Basin docks. The moon wasn’t out and the darkness filled the sky. A bright bluish-green glow appeared at the water’s edge and swept back and forth and around and around in a sparkly pattern. It was absolutely MAGICAL! Unlike anything we have ever seen. The bioluminescence was being stirred up by a single dolphin feeding at night. It swam around near us for about 10 minutes as we watched the show, then slowly disappeared as the dolphin swam away. Even if we had one with us, our cameras never would have been able to capture what we saw. It was one of those moments you have to see with your own eyes. Ever since then, every dolphin we see has been extra special!

nevis to guadaloupe-2 st lucia-6 st lucia-15

What are your favorite superstitions at sea?

LOOK Insurance wants to uncover all the sailing superstitions they can find for a fun little project they are working on. Please click over to their survey HERE and tell them your #1 favorite sailing superstition, where you first heard about it, and what you do to stop bad luck when sailing.

If you have any salty myths or secret lore that you’d like to see published here, please contact us on the blog or through our FACEBOOK PAGE!

Random Photos From Grenada

random grenada-1

Here are a few extra photos from this our Summer in Grenada that didn’t make it into any other posts…

The coastline was gorgeous.

random grenada-2 random grenada-3 random grenada-4 random grenada-5 random grenada-6 random grenada-7 random grenada-9 random grenada-10 random grenada-11 random grenada-12 random grenada-13 random grenada-14 random grenada-15 random grenada-16 random grenada-17 random grenada-18 random grenada-19 random grenada-20 random grenada-21 random grenada-22 random grenada-23 random grenada-24 random grenada-25 random grenada-26 random grenada-27  random grenada-36random grenada-37

We checked the surf at Prickly Bay…

random grenada-30 random grenada-31 random grenada-32

…and spent a lot of time anchored near the Secret Harbor Marina in Mt. Hartman Bay.

random grenada-28random grenada-42random grenada-8

We saw countless rainbows over the anchorage!

random grenada-33

random grenada-34

random grenada-35 random grenada-40random grenada-41

For a totally random photo, take a look at the nasty critters Peter collected when cleaning the bottom of the boat. The anchor chain grew algae that hosted thousands of baby shrimp! Every time we would clean the boat, these little critters would attach themselves to our shorts/swimsuits and hair. They die quick with fresh water but it takes a lot of scrubbing to get them off.

random grenada-38random grenada-39Nex

We are currently in USVI spending time with family and getting ready for the Holidays :)

Grand Etang National Park and Mono Monkeys!

Take a look at some of the photos from our trip up to the Grand Etang National Park in Grenada…

rainforest-1 rainforest-2 rainforest-3 rainforest-4

The Annadale Waterfalls were cool and refreshing.

rainforest-5 rainforest-6 rainforest-7rainforest-9rainforest-11 rainforest-12

On the windy road up into the mountains we caught a spectacular view overlooking St. George. A heavy rainstorm moved swiftly off the hills and we were glad we weren’t down there.

rainforest-15rainforest-17rainforest-21rainforest-23

We stopped at Grand Etang Lake, a one of the two crater lakes produced by the extinct volcano in the center of Grenada. Rumor has it this lake is connected to Kick ’em Jenny, the underwater active volcano just North of Grenada. When Kick Em Jenny was observed bubbling, so too were the waters in Grand Etang Lake.

rainforest-24 rainforest-25 rainforest-26 rainforest-27 rainforest-28

Just up the road from the lake was one of the adorable Mono Monkeys. Yes, mono means monkey in Spanish, but in Grenada they call them the Mono Monkeys! :) This little guy was too cute I couldn’t decide on just one photo…

rainforest-29 rainforest-30 rainforest-31 rainforest-32 rainforest-33 rainforest-34 rainforest-35 rainforest-36 rainforest-37 rainforest-38 rainforest-39

We’re enjoying time with family up in the Virgin Islands! Stay tuned as we catch up on photos from our last few months in the Grenadines…