Tag Archives: Arctic Tern

Retrospective Tribute; Hunter & Devi — 2007-2014

We have made many good friends while cruising the Caribbean.   Very good friends.  Friends for life.  Of those friends, with no couple have we spent so much time and had so many different experiences as with Devi & Hunter Sharp (Arctic Tern).  Alas, they will soon take their boat back to the States, where they will sell her and move into a house on land.  On land!

One of my earliest pictures of the couple was taken at a Parang concert in Trinidad.  Devi impulsively decided to enter into a maraca contest that was held during a break in the performance, and was getting a quick lesson from the professionals.  She didn’t win the contest, but she endeared herself to all in attendance.  A few months later the Terns and others were in Trinidad’s carnival parade Jouvert (also known as “dirty mas”) with us, chipping down the streets in the middle of the night.  Devi “panced” me at one point and left smeared-paint hand marks on the buns of my undershorts.  Ann Vanderhoof (Receta) later discovered hand marks on the breast areas of her blouse.

The Terns went to Venezuela with us in 2008.  We went to Angel Falls together, and to Merida, where we all took a two-week Spanish immersion course, followed by five days of hiking in the Andes.   When the Terns and the Takks returned to Trinidad, we joined Receta and Asseance and went down the east coast of Venezuela to travel up the Macareo River in the Orinoco Delta.  Surely our enjoyment of the fauna there was enhanced by Devi’s expertise at bird identification.

We have been on enumerable hikes with the Terns on almost every eastern Caribbean island.  During extended stays in Grenada, Hunter and I explored almost daily local trails in the southwestern corner of the island, but along with others we have also done some really major hikes, including ascending Petit Piton in St. Lucia, Mt. Catherine in Grenada, Boiling Lake and Mt. Diablo in Dominica, the eastern shore of Barbuda, the ridges of St. Martin and various heights overlooking Falmouth Harbour in Antigua.

Hunter has helped me with bunches of projects, including repairing the water maker, installing flopper-stopper poles, repairing a crack in our dinghy bottom and adjusting the valves in our generator.  He has patiently and tirelessly given Barb and I swimming lessons.

Barb and Devi have traded recipes and clothes and phone calls and emails and confidences and accounts of triumphs and disappointments and worries.  Devi provided the long-johns that became the “socks” for the fenders that we use to protect the boat when the dinghy is half-raised at night.  I provided the photographs used to illustrate Devi’s series of articles on sea birds that were published in All At Sea.

We learned to play Bridge together on our month-long traverse through the Venezuelan outer islands on our way to Bonaire.  We have played countless games of Spades and Hearts and Quiddler and Mexican Train.  We have watched many a movie on the screen of Tusen Takk II.  We have had some memorable feasts, including those with our Grenadian fisherman-friends Dwight and Stevie in Hog Island, Grenada.

It has been a great run.  We are going to miss them terribly.

Here is just a small sample of the many photos that have been taken during our times together:

Guadeloupe/Marie Galante — May 1-6, 2013

When the Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta concluded, we hung around Falmouth Harbour for a few more days, waiting for better weather for our trip southward.  When we could see that a weather window was on its way, we moved back up to Jolly Harbour, where we did some last-minute provisioning and cleared out with customs.  On May 1 we motored down to Deshaies, Guadeloupe, arriving early enough to go ashore, check in, and see a little of this charming little village.  On the way down we caught another Sailfish, and once again, intimidated about the prospect of getting injured while attempting to release it, I decided to use a gaff to land it.  Next day we continued south, stopping for a dive at Pigeon Island before continuing on to Iles des Saintes.  With the forecasts promising especially mild weather for the next few days, we decided to visit for the first time yet another island of Guadeloupe: Marie Galante.  We were joined in the expedition by Arctic Tern and Bodacious.   As is their wont, Arctic Tern was well on their way before we on TT2 had even cleared the sleep out of our eyes and breakfasted.  Bodacious brought up the rear.  Our initial destination was Grand Bourg, the main town in Marie Galante.  When we were about half-way there, Arctic Tern reported that the enclosed harbour looked much too small to accommodate our three vessels, so we all diverted to St. Louis, the main yacht anchorage and the second-largest village on the island.  Next day, we all went in early and rented scooters from two adjacent vendors.  Jack and Jo (Bodacious) were tandom on a larger scooter.  The rest of us were solo, with Hunter also on a larger bike.  The scooters were easy to master and a blast to ride.  Plenty of power, handlebar brakes, and automatic transmissions.   We circumnavigated the island in a clockwise manner, with a major diversion at one point to find our way to a windmill that we could see in the interior.

Our first major stop was on the northeast side of the island at Gueule Grand Gouffre, a round sinkhole that features a rim about 200 feet high with an arch at the bottom opening to the sea.

We had lunch at a restaurant at Capesterre, right beside an extensive and beautiful beach.

We stopped at two rum factories.   The first, Habitation Bellevue, had a nice tasting station and gift shop.  There were trailers arriving with cut sugar cane, and all phases of the production cycle seemed to be underway.  Fermentation vats were bubbling away.   Others were being filled.   Some were being cleaned in preparation for the next batch.  Cane was being fed into the presses that squeeze out the juice.   Fermented juice was being distilled.  And everything was open, with no apparent restrictions on where an observer could go.

At another rummery, much smaller and more primitive, it was apparent that the cane is delivered by old-fashioned wooden-wheeled carts pulled by oxen, and that the cane is fed to the press by hand or pitchfork.   As we arrived, everything was being shut down for the day, so we could not stay and observe the processes.

We were required to return our scooters by 4 pm.  Afterwards, as we strolled toward the town pier where our dinghy was tied, it became apparent that a crowd had gathered at the base of the pier and on the adjacent beach.  Chanting and singing and blowing of conch.   We soon realized that the crowd was there because a long dugout canoe had just arrived at the beach.  Posters on the side of a small building revealed that the canoe was a reproduction of the kind that had been used by Arawak Amerindians for ocean-going passages.   And then we noticed that yokes were being affixed to two pairs of ox bulls.  The yokes were set upon the necks of the bulls just behind their horns, and were then securely tied to the horns.   Each bull had a large nose ring, to which was attached a long rope that ran up over the forehead of the bull and then up over the bull’s back.  Verbal commands, reinforced by pressure applied to nose rings, were used to control the bulls.   As we watched, the oxen teams were positioned in front of the canoe and chains were attached to the yokes.   The lead team’s chain was attached to the rear team’s yoke.   The rear team’s chain was attached to a line that was tied to a ring near the bottom of the front of the canoe.   When all was arranged, commands where shouted, control lines were tugged, and the canoe and teams surged forward.   When the canoe was about three-quarters ashore, the line attached to the canoe broke.   After several attempts to refasten the line, aided by Hunter who jumped in with his handy Leatherman tool to cut off the old knot, the canoe was brought fully ashore.   A remarkable and unforgettable spectacle.

The next day we all motored north a few miles to anchor near Ilet du Vieux Fort, where we had heard there was good snorkeling.   As we approached by dinghy it became apparent that the island was teeming with nesting Bridled Terns.   They seemed unperturbed by our presence, so we anchored our dinghies and had a marvelous snorkel, circumnavigating the small island.   The west side was especially captivating, filled with arches and eroded caves.   Later I returned with my telephoto lens and took a few pictures of the birds.   When we returned to our boats, we found that the anchorage had become somewhat rolly, so Tusen Takk II and Arctic Tern moved one harbor south to Anse Canot, where we found blissful comfort.   Bodacious had her stabilizing fish out.   Although intended for stabilization while underway, they provided just enough area and weight to render sufficient at-anchor stabilization in the captain’s judgment to render a move unnecessary.

Next day, May 6, we all moved back to Les Saintes.   But to read about our adventures there, the gentle reader will have to tune in to the next exciting episode of “Chuck and Barb go cruising”.