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Published: January 19th 2007
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Sunset
One more beautiful sunset!!! Hi everyone,
We have now been in Haiti for six weeks and it has been some fourteen weeks since we set sail south from Lake Champlain New York. Annie & I are doing great and we are taking everything in stride. Our Creole is improving and our adaptation here is on going day by day. Since our last update this is what we have been up to.
Still after six weeks we have not met even one other foreign cruising vessel. We are told that there are a few cruising boats at Ile la Vache, we’ll tell you more once we see them!!
On Wednesday we set sail for a short day sail to IBO beach which is located due east from Montrouis, on the northern gulf coast. During this sail we passed a village called Arcahaie, which is a central market place for the charcoal production on the northern coast, we also sailed passed the Arcadins, a small group of island just of the coast here. Not much to talk about other than we do have a few pictures to show you. But in fact we did surpass the 12,000 nautical miles mark in just one year!!
during this trip…. not bad for 12 months of sailing!! After sitting down with a calculator and figured out that this represents at a 6 knot average into some 2000 navigation hours! Who said sailing was not a full time job!!
On Thursday we drove once again into Port au Prince, and during our stay there we had the chance to drive up into mountains as to see the city of Kenscoff, seen here in one of our pictures, later that evening we were invited to a Reggae ton concert near by. We had a great time and it was refreshing to change the pace in what we have been seeing here, we somewhat felt like we where back home.
After driving back on Saturday, January 13th we set sail for Saint-Marc, Haiti, only some 25 nautical miles away. We arrived before sun set, dropped anchor in front of the beach which is located in the northern part of the city. While the sun was setting we were entertained by a local Haitian that was practicing some sort of voodoo ritual on the beach before us. Many Haitians here are very strong believers of this Voodoo practiced religion.
The locals here say every time that they hear bongo drums beating it is a Voodoo ritual, and not what we are used to, for example when we hear the beat of a bongo in lets say Reggae music. The type of singing we hear here, is of the evangelist preaching in song, and singing during events like the Carnival, and Rara which takes place on many Sundays after the Carnival in late February.
On Sunday, January 14th we set sail early morning for la Gonaives to stop for lunch. There is not much to see here, other than close to a dozen half sunken cargo ships scattered all over the harbor. As you approach the city you see that it is not a good place to spend any more time there than to have a quick lunch and set sail for a better anchorage for the night. After lunch we set sail for Anse Rouge, some 25 nautical miles north west. We arrived at 4pm and we were, as usual, greeted by the local villagers. The villagers here, we were told, work in the salt flats and their village shows that they are very poor here, no tin
Les Arcahaie, Haiti
A small village along the Northern coast of the gulf here, This small village is very active in charcoal trading here as you can see.. roofs only roofs covered with banana leaves. The villagers, at least the ones that came to see us, were quite young and friendly. I would say in their late twenties or early thirties. The harbor here is well protected as you go between two reef before you enter, and then it is surrounded by mangroves all round. They told us that there was a population of about two thousand people living there. They have no fresh water source and have to transport drinking water by boat from Saint-Marc, where we are guessing that they sell there salt. Later that night, around 9pm and as the forecasted winds picked up, I went to the fore deck to check the anchor. While I was checking the anchor I noticed that there was a line tied to our anchor chain, looking around to see where the line led to, I found that it came from the shore line. They must have come after dark or during the time we where having dinner, to tie this line to us. After some serious thought, we made the decision to set sail, since we were not sure of their intentions. We are speculating that they had
the intention of coming to steal some articles we had stowed on deck, or maybe worse…who knows. Not wanting to be naïve and not wanting to take any chances, we set sail out of their harbor and headed back towards the safety of Saint-Marc. It is sad that we had to set sail due to this uncomfortable situation, since our initial impression was the thought that the villagers were friendly and had even offered to bring us ashore in the morning so we could visit their village. We are still not really sure what their intentions were, but we play it safe first…Better to be safe than sorry! We arrived back in Saint-Marc after a bumpy ride back, sailing thought some gale winds topping at 47 knots!! but all went well as we kept a vigilant watch on radar for any possible Haitian sailboats crossing our path, which have no navigation lights rendering them invisible at night other than on radar. We arrived around 1am and dropped our anchor close to the same location we were the night before. Now that we look back, this was the right and safe thing to do.
On Monday late morning, we set
Les Arcahaie, Haiti
A small village along the Northern coast of the gulf here, This small village is very active in charcoal trading here as you can see.. sail for our mooring back in Montrouis, arriving around noon time. The seas were back on the calm side and we had a smooth uneventful sail back.
Now that we have seen what there is to see on the Northern coast line of the gulf here we will be setting sail for the Southern coast line shortlty, starting in Baradères, since this was the last place we visited.
Please keep sharing your great comments with us; it is a real encouragement for us to read.
We have been actively updating our web site www.WeBeSailing.com with new web pages, updated pictures, new recipes of the month ect.. which all should be updated shortly.
Here is something I read: A Mariner’s Weather Sayings
Barometer high - heave short and away
Barometer low - let the mudhook stay;
Barometer shifting - prepare the reef tackle,
Barometer steady - set sail without fear.
&
Long foretold, long last
Short notice, soon past.
A rainbow in the morning
It is a sailor’s warning;
But a rainbow at night
It is a sailor’s delight.
Red in the east I like the least,
Red in the west I like the best.
When the mist takes to the open sea,
Fair weather, shipmate, it will be;
But when the mist rolls o’er the land,
The rain comes pouring off the sand.
North - stormy - stormy and bold,
East - steady - cool and brisk;
South - rain - with troubled sea,
West - squalls - and helm’s a lee.
Cheers and till soon,
Annie & Capt Eric
Aboard s/v my Love III
E-mail: WeBeSailing@yahoo.com
Web site: www.WeBeSailing.com
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Louise Caty
non-member comment
Tres interessant de vous lire. Je vous suis depuis votre depart. Votre visite a Haiti nous permet de decouvrir avec vous une ile qui se fait discrete dans les media. Je vous souhaite bon vent et de belles decouvertes.