I need to make one of these for myself...

The sailing season is coming to a close and if I don’t stop loafing around Saint Laurent du Maroni I’ll miss miss my chance to visit Martinique this year!

Solution….

Hang up the “Gone Sailing” sign and head North for a few weeks.

I’m at sea… ETA Tobago in 5 or 6 days…. if the fishing is good.

What are you doing?

Heading North from Fortaleza, Brazil

Already on your way to Saint Laurent du Maroni?

From Brazil it’s a leisurely sail with favorable winds. It took me 10 days to reach the Salvation Islands (Iles du Salut) following the rhumb line and while it would have been nice to visit São Luís (Saint Louis) and Belem on route, my tourist visa had already expired. They will have to wait for Eileen of Avoca’s…. Brazil take two adventure…

Reaching Saint Laurent du Maroni from Trinidad and Tobago

Heading South from Trinidad and Tobago isn’t as hard as it’s been made out to be. Yes, you may have days where the wind is on the nose and yes, there are places where you will battle a ferocious half knot of current, but if my boat can get there, so can yours…

The best departure point is Store Bay in Tobago. Head past Toco Trinidad, and take a direct bearing from there. The only obstacles you will encounter are Trinidad’s oil platforms to the southeast of the island.

Friends who have experimented with a more coastal route, following the 20m depth contour along Guyana and Suriname, have found that the winds and current are more favorable. Go for it by all means if you have crew. It takes about the same amount of time but you will avoid some motoring.

Here is the official list of buoys marking the entrance and route to Saint Laurent on the Maroni River.

Position of buoys on the Maroni River

NOTE: M14 may have been moved… I’ll check the position shortly.

Last but not least, tide data can be found here and here.

I expect to have a number of supervised moorings available for sailors wishing to leave their boat during the hurricane season. For inquiries contact www.marinaslm.com

For flights in and out of French Guiana, you have the choice of Paramaribo and Cayenne as departure points. They are about the same distance in terms of travel time from Saint Laurent.

Is this carnival... Brazilian style?

French Guiana has the worlds longest carnival… It can run for months….. As you can imagine, I’ve been busy…. but only on weekends!

The rest of the time I get to play castaway…

Sleepy Saint Laurant du Maroni

For those of you who can’t come join the party, here are a few photos to add a little colour to your day…

Carnival queen 2012

Looking rather leafy, it’s the carnival queen for 2012 leading the parade of… of…

It's Pirates of the Caribbean... not...

Pirates?

Closely followed by….

Dancing incognito?

The masked… the masked… OK, your guess is as good as mine…

You got something to say about my hair?

Apparently anything goes as long as it’s colourful…

Let me guess... Is it shrek?

Green is good…

It's Eliza Doolittle in French Guiana!

and so is pink…

Feeling blue?

But I’ve always thought I look better in blue…

So I’m off to the laundromat to take my mind off all this partying…

Now things are really heating up...

Friends think that this is more my pace…

More my pace? I hope not...

I beg to differ…

While I’ll never be able to compete with this fellow…  despite occasionally being labeled something of a  “space cadet”,

Welcome all Space Cadets!

I pride myself as being more the pensive type…

While everyone was at the parade, someone stole my hat!

But back to the parade… where young…

Young Amerindian on parade

and younger…

Children taking part in carnival parade

Make their way through the enthusiastic crowd of bystanders…

It's great to bee here...

Enthusiastic that is… until the weather puts a damper on things…

Don't rain on my parade!

Surprise surprise… a little rain but the party continues….

Bring forth the backhoe…

Even the backhoe gets a makeover for carnival

I mean the dragon…

Follow the music...

and the… the whatever it’s supposed to be…

one short cat nap later….

So that's what they carry in their handbags!!

and it’s off to my favorite bar for a nightcap…

Service with a smile at Mambari

Times are obviously tough…

As all good stories should, this one starts in Brazil…, you see, my inflatable Sevylor kayak, i.e. the deceased, was just too novel for its own good, and probably also too yellow for the local natives to ignore.

Even before I’d reach the shore from my anchorage of the day, children would inevitably be climbing aboard or seeking a handhold for a free tow to the beach. Mind you, there were times when I didn’t seem to mind if it was treated a little roughly…

I'm not going to interrupt this...

and if the interest had stayed at just wanting to hitch a ride, perhaps my kayak would have survived a little longer. But no…, for some inexplicable reason, a surprising number of people seemed to think that inflatable kayak was a synonym for public trampoline! Even adults!!! Why on earth did they insist on walking all over it in their shoes and then feel compelled to take a nap on it? Right under my nose! The mind boggles…

I’d almost consigned my poor kayak to the trash while visiting Tobago, after a crowd of mini delinquents spent an evening leaping from one sailor’s dinghy to another, deflating the lot. But with a little first aid, Thierry and I managed to resuscitate the craft. At this point it’s innards were securely held together with bicycle patches, but how much patching can keep a kayak together when mysterious somebodies insist on stomping on it while you’re away?

So, what's the verdict doctor?

The straw that finally broke my kayak’s back remains a mystery. Perhaps it was being used as cushioned seating, or as a convenient step to climb over the pontoon fence it leaned against. I’ll never know..

Do tell however if anyone has an indestructible dinghy for sale…I’m in the market. Preferably an electrified one fitted with steel jaw traps to deal with stray budding gymnasts…

No marina... yet....

There are currently just four yachts other than Eileen of Avoca anchored off Saint Laurent du Maroni. Two aren’t all that seaworthy and the owners of the remainder have apparently settled in for the long haul (they’ve been living aboard in the same spot for years)!

So with new services (marina phase I) in the works, I guess it’s time to do something about attracting the active cruising community. Not so easy when you consider that there’s hardly a mention of Saint Laurent du Maroni in the sailing literature or even on the Internet for that matter.

Mind you, noonsite has recently updated its listing and Sail The World  (the Standard & Poor’s of the French sailing community) may be forced to upgrade its marina rating (currently CCB) once the word gets out!

Gendarmerie on river patrol

The security rating is particularly harsh given that the Gendarmerie regularly patrol the area ( I can report that there have been no thefts in the time I have been here), and I certainly don’t see how a free anchorage could have attracted a C rating…

For your web browsing pleasure, I’ve collated some web links to fill the information void:

First up, the official web site for Saint Laurent du Maroni:

Run through the translator it even starts to make sense:

More importantly (for sailors of course), what’s the weather like today?

And how’s the provisioning (for like-minded souls who also regularly think with their stomach)?

For the virtual tourist voyeurs, here are some photos of the place that I didn’t take:

And for the budding botanist, a video of the local flora.

Well, I guess it’s a start… More soon, of course…

Oil Painting of Eileen of Avoca?

I first read of the Yarmouth23 in a yachting magazine in 1999. Two years later, while working in London (and inspired by a weekend at the London boat show), I paid a visit to the yard in Yarmouth on the Isle of Wight where the little gaffers were originally built. I felt it was time to get a closer look at this diminutive classic cruiser.

It was love at first sight… Trite way of putting it, but true nonetheless, for it was at this point that I resolved to buy one. But it was not until I came across Eileen of Avoca in late 2007 that I had the means to do so.

While there were two other Y23s for sale at the time, the rather neglected Eileen curiously drew my attention. Like a mysteriously abandoned ship, the cluttered disarray inside gave me the impression of  a hurried yet temporarily departure. At the risk of being overly anthropomorphic, Eileen of Avoca seemed to be patiently waiting for her crew to return.

I was told that the owner (Bill Boyall) had died and that while his boat looked rather run down, it was  more or less only a cosmetic issue.  With a new injection of funds to spruce her up, Eileen was soon looking as good as new.

I am thrilled with number 9 and I can’t imagine anyone else with one of these boats being any less enthusiastic. Much to my friends and families distress it’s been where I’ve spent all of my free time. Dolly Parton’s song Joleen (just substitute Eileen) sums up how the significant others in my life have felt about my boat. lol

From what Bill’s granddaughter tells me, he was similarly bewitched by Eileen’s charms… With her permission (and while the PDF can also be downloaded from the Yarmouth23 Owners Association site), I am re-posting Bill’s journal of his adventures with Eileen of Avoca to ensure it remains online.

And for those of you who have always wondered about the vessel’s name and history, I feel it is best conveyed through Ellana’s ( Bill’s granddaughter’s) own words…

“Eileen of Avoca is named after my nan and the part of Ireland that she came from, Grandad bought the Y23 in 2001 and she was launched in 2002, my nan had died in 2000, they had been happily married for 50 years and the new boat gave him something to focus on.  My grandad loved sailing for as long as I can remember and Eileen was his 3rd boat, he previously built Ellana and Ellana II, the latter is a Lysander which is now owned by my brothers. Alas neither of these boats were actually named after myself nor my nan (and the name that her father called her when she was a child). She would not allow grandad to call the boats Eileen when she was alive!”

Where are Eileen of Avoca's fans?

The USA always tops the hits statistics, but this is certainly because most of the automated indexing and search engine robots come from there.

France and the UK fight for second place, which is really quite amazing considering that the French followers are mostly using translation software. How does my site read when literally translated into another language? Awkwardly?

I suspect that the Ukraine is my never ending source of SPAM blog comments, but that I do indeed have a small following in Russia after this article:

http://www.yacht-com.ru/news/v-odinochku-cherez-atlantiku.html

Then there’s my ex-colleagues from Luxembourg, my dear friend from Hungary (singular), and the odd but consistent visit from places I’ve never been.

Do I really have someone reading my blog from Japan? If so, greetings and salutations!

Now take a look at this… Popular Google search terms that have lead people to this site:

• yarmouth 23
• eileen of avoca
• ifno.info
• sailing solo across the atlantic
• port of alexandria
• brazil beaches
• crossing the bay of biscay

No surprises here but how about:

• small boats that can cross the ocean
• the best small boat for ocean
• how many yachts sink during atlantic crossing
• is sailing across the ocean safe
• is there any money in sailing solo across the atlantic

Do you suppose they found their answers from reading this blog?

I certainly know these people didn’t derive much in the way of enlightenment:

• why am i an inferior being
• cost of diesel in fortaleza in november
• pots and pans as radar reflectors
• white men less desirable

However, it’s the more esoteric ones that I like the best:

• fat dog chania … apparently he’s a celebrity
• becoming a sail bum …. I’m opening a franchise…
• sailing with tiny bikinies … Wouldn’t be caught dead wearing one…
• i ve been to jail … Do I know you?
• not much just chillin at the pool … Do you suppose they typed their sms reply in the wrong spot?
• خريطة الاسكندرية … Your guess is as good as mine..
• position eileen of avoca … I really must update my map
• bill boyall … Ah… which reminds me… I have more to write about this…

The secluded anchorage of Saint Laurent du Maroni

As I am now involved in this ambitious project to promote and develop Saint Laurent du Maroni as a commodious stopover for visiting yachtsmen, I might as well pass on the following supplementary information….

Despite what noonsite states, Saint Laurent is in fact situated on the Maroni river rather than the Moroni…., though I must say that the later does have a certain humorous dyslectic ring to it.

Oh, and it really doesn’t rain here 9 months of the year…. It’s more like 7… lol. OK, so I’m nit picking, but some of you might find the following useful given that the only data currently available for yachtsmen on Saint Laurent is…

Quote (without spelling errors): “This is French Guiana’s biggest and busiest river, and is is on the border with Suriname. There is reported to be a marina 20 miles up the river, at St Laurent.”

If this can reach Saint Laurent, so can you...

 Climate:

• The big dry, from August to November
• The small rainy season, from December to February
• The small summer, from February to March
• The true rainy season, from April to July

Paperwork:

Saint Laurent du Maroni is an official point of entry.

Visit the PAF (police aux frontières ) at the car ferry to have your passport stamped (entry and exit). Not obligatory for European citizens, but prevents issues when your next stop is Suriname.

Customs (la douane) is in the administrative center.

See image for directions (X marks anchorage, yellow highlights for offices mentioned above).

X marks the anchorage

 Docking:

Saint Laurent is approximately 15 miles from the mouth of the Maroni River. A buoyed channel for cargo vessels marks the route (3m minimum depth at high tide). If in doubt (buoys are widely spaced), keep as close as possible to the French side of the river.

Beware of fishing nets when approaching the Maroni river’s safe water mark. While night entry is possible, it is not recommended as buoys closer to Saint Laurent are not lit.

Yachts anchor on the upriver side of a semi-submerged (tree covered) wreck in 4 to 6m. Holding in mud and sand is good.

 Local services:

• The anchorage is within walking distance to all amenities and the city center.
• The tourist office is situated beside the anchorage.
• A public swimming pool is located at the opposite end of the park from the tourist office.
• Water by Jerry can from the old prison yard (turn left upon entering the main gate. Fuel at local service stations.
• Several Internet hot-spots,and cybercafes in town.
• Good provisioning.

Proposed Marina:

Development is currently underway for a marina, providing finger pontoons, mooring buoys, secure dingy dock, club house, and Wi-Fi.

Eileen at anchor, Saint Laurent du Maroni

After a week at sea, the little blue boat is back in French Guiana…. Saint Laurent du Maroni to be precise. Why?

Is it because the leopards here are considerably more desirable than zebra?

Perhaps… I’ll certainly endeavor to devote some of my time and energy to properly reflect upon the pros and cons of each regions disparate fauna.

But there is another underlying reason for my abrupt shift in sailing itinerary…

Model of proposed marina

Had my stay in Chaguaramas been pleasant, had it adequately accommodated my yacht maintenance requirements and had it more or less met my expectations, I would now be on my way to Martinique and beyond.

Instead, my disenchantment with the yachting services and facilities in Trinidad and Tobago have prompted me to seek out alternatives….

Model of boat yard

Unfortunately, there are very few, and evidently the yards at Chaguaramas are well aware of this, (having adjusted their pricing and work ethic accordingly).

This particular sailor wasn’t happy. Nor were many others I’d met along the way. So, with a little help from my friends, some of us decided to do something about it.

The idea of a marina and yacht maintenance complex in Saint Laurent du Maroni was born. Plans were drawn up, a proposal submitted to council. Upon acceptance, Thierry and I sailed back to French Guiana to make it all happen.

View of proposed yacht service complex

Does this spell the end for the adventures of Eileen of Avoca?

Not likely, if anything, it is a new impetus, the stimulus required to ensure Eileen’s adventures continue. My Yarmouth23 has simply found a temporary home in the jungles of French Guiana, and if all goes well, Saint Laurent will soon offer everything a sailor needs.

Undoubtedly I will derive considerable satisfaction in developing a new viable alternative to Chaguaramas.

Feel free to come and visit!

My cell block comes with a view.

Here I am doing time with hard labor in Chaguaramas prison… Well it may not look like prison, but it certainly feels like it!

It’s  hot here… much too hot. I’ve never been anywhere where I’ve suffered the heat as much as in the yards of Chaguaramas, and that includes the deserts of Egypt and Australia.

Not the slightest hint of a breeze. The sultry air saps your strength so that just walking between the yards and the chandlers is exhausting, and here I am hoping to carry out maintenance work on Eileen of Avoca. Absurd isn’t it?

Another dawn in sultry Trinidad

The smart people leave their boat with a to-do list for the yard and fly back home until the end of the hurricane season.

The not so smart (smart here being a synonym for wealthy), live aboard, hire an air conditioner, and deal with their own to-do list before the end of the hurricane season.

Then there’s me….

Eileen of Avoca entering the stocks in Trinidad

I don’t even have a fan on board, I think someone’s dog ate my to-do list, and I’ve apparently confused hurricane season with leopard hunting season…

Unfortunately Trinidad is under a declared state of emergency.

What does this mean for wandering yachtsmen? It means that after you’ve labored all day in the stifling heat you get to stay in your boat all night to enjoy more of that stifling heat, plus a swarm of mosquitoes and cockroaches as a bonus. Did I mention the stifling heat?

It’s lock down by 11pm or a 5000 US dollar fine and possible imprisonment if you’re caught wandering about at night.

To top it off, sailors are falling ill with dengue fever by the dozen, and there is at least one death a month through yard accidents…. Will I survive the hazards of boat maintenance in Trinidad?

Well, here is what I’ve been busy with during the day…

I've removed the propeller shaft and rudder

and…

Replaced the old stuffing box with this...

and…

Machined a new rudder pin and cutlass bearing...

and…

Bolted it all back together...

voila!

Now I just need to give Eileen a new coat of anti-fouling

And this is what I’ve been doing at night.

Nightlife in Trinidad

If anyone is reading this, please post bail and get me out of here….

Perhaps I should have done a little more research, because Chaguaramas is:

• Uncomfortable…. NOTE: Understatement of the century…
• Expensive! Watch out for poor quality work…
• Bureaucratic to say the least. BTW, should customs officers really be hinting at extra storage fees, overtime, and travel expenses when clearing goods?
• No longer tax free, unless you are willing to wait months for your ordered “yacht in transit” goods. Items stocked by chandlers incur VAT.

Moreover, Trinidad in general:

• Is rather dangerous and currently under curfew to curb crime… (may it only briefly remain so). But if the street gangs don’t get you, perhaps the dengue will…
• Is not in the least bit tourist friendly… I’ve been accosted in the street just for taking mundane holiday snapshots. The only other place this has ever happened to me was in Suriname.
• Is almost clueless when it comes to “customer service”. Fortunately there are occasional exceptions (so perhaps there is still some hope)…
• Doesn’t have any leopards… (so much for that glimmer of hope)…

Does Trinidad have at least one saving grace?

Might things be looking better after all?

Or perhaps two?

I appear to have my hands full....

Nah, they never did call me back after my phone was stolen…

Final verdict on Trinidad and Tobago?

Get me back in the water a.s.a.p.

I liked it so much that I’ve decided to give up on the Caribbean and sail back to South America for Christmas. I suspect that the lure of the leopards and continued PBBS are to blame.

I am not ignoring your calls and text messages. I’ve had my phone stolen in Tobago and despite the thief answering my SMS offering a reward for it’s safe return with:

“THE SIM IS IN A BLACK BAG BY THE BUSSSHED BY RAINBOW HOTAIL”,

I didn’t find it, and I don’t have a backup of my contacts!

While I have recovered my former Trinidad and Tobago number, there is nothing I can do about my Belgian SIM. You will have to call or text me if you want to keep in touch. Alternatively, send me a message via my web site here.

Warmest regards,

David

Getting to grips with the local terminology

What new adventures or rather misadventures have befallen our not so intrepid navigator?

I’ve been “liming” and “wineing” after lavish dining in Tobago…

For those not in the know, liming is hanging out and partying without any particular reason. Any excuse is good for a loiter or a lime. Wow, I’ve been liming for years and I didn’t even know it!

Let me see...... how does this dance step go?

But to wine on the other hand, is something I’ve not been exposed to, despite my penchant for exotic dance styles. It had me rather confused at first because I’d always, (perhaps naively) assumed that you need to occasionally face your partner to dance with them.

Well. in Tobago it all works somewhat differently from what I’ve grown accustomed to.

For me, the singles scene (in which I reluctantly reside once more) in western Anglo-Saxon culture is all about men standing around with beers in their hands admiring girls dancing with each other.

OK, sometimes they drink whiskey or rum, but you kind of get the picture, yes?

Obviously I’m generalizing because Latin night with your local dance school doesn’t count, nor does that ecstasy induced rave you went to the other day!

So back to the single men standing around with beers….

Only when sufficient liquid courage is imbibed, does some inebriate soul (magically transforming into John Travolta a la Grease… but only in his own mind), try to break the unspoken rule (stay disinterested) and strut his stuff on the dance floor in vain attempts to break up the girl posse.

A gyrating drunken stranger awkwardly lurching toward his desire of the evening will affect a universally standardized reaction….

“Who the #$%@ is this guy?”

“Haven’t a clue, just ignore him”

Half a song later the wannabe Travolta has stumbled off to “the white porcelain telephone to god”, and the beer toting wall flowers (that’s us macho types) are left elbowing each other with feigned nonchalance.

“Did you see that?”

“Yeah, what a jerk”

“Glad that wasn’t me. Let’s get another beer…”

Care for a wine with a Zebra?

In Tobago they’ve developed an interesting variant..

Girls still congregate in packs on the dance floor, but the inebriate male (realizing he can’t possibly be John Travolta reincarnated), sneaks up behind the girl, and demonstrates his interest by rubbing his pelvis against her derrière.

If she likes him, she rubs back…. most vigorously. Why it’s called a “wine” is a mystery but I’m not complaining!

If she doesn’t like him, she moves off and places herself closer to more appealing dance partners.

But how does she know if you’re deserving of a good wine or a quick exit? Especially when she’s been facing the other way the whole time?

I suspect it’s either a trick involving mirrors or some secret signal communicated by members of the girl posse.

The intricacies and formal etiquette on a wine currently escape me. Many questions remain including:

• Is it OK to wine with your work colleagues, boss, brother?
• Despite what it looks like… is a wine no more intimate than shaking hands or exchanging partners in a country square dance?
• And more importantly, why are there no leopards in Tobago?

Perchance these mysteries will be resolved when I reach Trinidad… I’ll keep you all informed.