11 August 2024

If you have been reading along with our travels through the Caribbean you will have sensed that we haven’t had the easiest of times and that, for many different reasons, it definitely hasn’t been our favourite cruising ground.

In lots of practical ways, it has been challenging but it also somehow didn’t always offer us the kind of cultural stimulation we crave when visiting new places. Often that wasn’t because it wasn’t there, it was because we just couldn’t access it.

We talked at the very beginning of our time in these paradise islands about the nature of tourism to them – the quick in and out of the cruise ships to their beautiful sites and the high walls of the equally high end resorts – making independent travel more difficult but we did sometimes get to see beyond those barriers put up to promote that paradise. And we are grateful for that.

With the benefit of hindsight, we reflect a lot about whether we should have crossed the Atlantic or stayed in Europe. The crossing was without doubt one of the greatest experiences of our lives and amongst the achievements of which we are most proud and, although it may not be up there with our favourite regions to visit in the world, we did find a lot to love about the Caribbean, quirks and all.

Each of the islands we have visited has its own unique sights, flavours and culture and it would be impossible to do them justice in one post but here are just a few things that have made our experience uniquely Caribbean.

Sailing

Everyone who knows us knows that, although we’ve come a long way in our sailing (literally and metaphorically) over the past 10 years, this adventure has been much more about the travelling than the actual sailing. And everyone who has followed our Mediterranean odyssey will know that much more of that was actually done under engine than by sail!

There is no question that the sailing here is the best we have ever had. We could probably count the decent sails we had in the Med on the fingers of just one of our hands but in the Caribbean, we actually sailed – everywhere!

There was always a good breeze, the sails were always full and the swell, on the leeward side of the islands at least, was barely there. Pintail flew along at average speeds she has rarely reached before under our helm and we actually learnt to love sailing. Importantly too, Sue and her diesel tanks took a well earned break.

From our first passage from Saint Lucia to Martinique on a beautiful beam reach

to gentle downwind sailing through the Bahamas, every sail has been a very different experience from the other side of the pond and we have embraced each one with a new enthusiasm.

Even when our wonderful sail on the cruising chute was cut dramatically short heading to the BVIs you couldn’t keep the smiles from our faces when we were out on the water. We actually looked forward to days on the water and we would absolutely take sailing in the Caribbean over the Mediterranean every single time.

Borders and customs

In our five months in the Caribbean we travelled through 24 islands belonging to four independent countries and four overseas territories of three other countries. We got used to raising and lowering courtesy flags far more frequently than on our European travels. None had an opportunity to fade in the sun and our Q flag for customs has never had so much use.

Each new island nation required checking ourselves and Pintail in when we arrived and out before we left. We needed stamps in our passports and entry and exit papers for the boat, except in Dominica where, to save on bureaucracy, all cruisers are automatically issued a two week stay without needing to check out before leaving. We got so used to the visiting customs and immigration offices that it simply became part of our normal routine. Sometimes I was allowed to follow along but sometimes I had to stay on board until Stefan, as Skipper, had completed the formalities.

Finding the office in Dominica was a bit of an adventure but generally we never had any real issues checking in and out and almost always found the officials courteous and friendly. I remember Stefan returning from the chore in Antigua and declaring the officers, despite their fierce reputation, the friendliest yet and extoling the virtues of their pristine dinghy dock!

In the French territories of Martinique, Guadaloupe and Saint Martin we didn’t even have to see an official – all formalities were done on a computer in either a marina office or local chandlery. Yet despite this seemingly lax procedure, Saint Martin was the only place that we were actually boarded and had the boat searched.

But bureaucracy and a little time aside, sailing between all those islands and in and out of all those countries and territories was generally a breeze. Visiting customs and immigration just became part of the fun.

Chickens in the street

If there’s an image that will come to mind whenever we think of the Caribbean, it will be of chickens in the street. Everywhere we went, from the smallest town to the biggest city, there were chickens (and the occasional turkey) in the streets – wandering across the road, hanging out in the park, coralling their young, in fact behaving just like their human neighbours.

Many a morning we cursed the cockerels for heralding the day long before we wanted to be awake. “They are just like the Caribbean equivalent of the call to prayer in Turkey!” moaned Stefan.

On Culebra, we could have come up with a new joke.

“Why did the chicken cross the runway?”

They weren’t the only non-human citizens who seemed to own the streets. There were plenty of cats and dogs. Strangely there were no cats to be seen on Cat Island in the Bahamas where we found goats instead.

And by far the most unusual sight was the pigs of San Juan. In no other city anywhere we’ve been have we seen pigs hanging out like they have just as much right to be there as anyone else!

But it’s the chickens that were omni-present and we can’t think of the Caribbean without them in the frame.

The characters

But of course there were the human characters that made our experience in the Caribbean all the more special.

Without doubt, the people of the Caribbean live up to their laid back reputation.

The people of Dominica were probably the friendliest we encountered. Roots in Roseau, who helped us in our most fed up days, was so gentle and chilled that some of that rubbed off and we stopped talking about shipping Pintail back to Europe. And Providence, on his tour of the Indian River, he taught us so much more than just about the flora and fauna of the island. We talked politics and society and he gave us a real flavour of what life was really like on the island.

But, without exception or agenda, everyone there was so friendly and welcoming. After a series of encounters along the main street in Portsmouth, Stefan said “I just want to take them all with us“!

Everywhere, on every island, the people’s vibrant nature was reflected in their street art

but in Martinique it was their enthusiastic celebration of Carneval that showed us their truly defiant spirit.

Food and drink

The food and flavours of the Caribbean were certainly different from our usual diet. We didn’t actually eat out very much at all during our time in the Caribbean. Our daily routine was very much dictated by the sun which rose at 6am and set at 6pm. When it got dark we were nearly always back on board.

This meant though that we were able to resurrect the tradition of the breakfast picnic and enjoyed them on beaches and in rain forests throughout the islands but it doesn’t mean that we didn’t take the opportunity to try out the local food and drink.

We shopped everywhere from tiny roadside honesty stalls in Dominica to giant superstores in Puerto Rico and unicorn-like farm shops on Eleuthera. On Saint Lucia, we bought fruit and veg direct from the boat from the likes of Gregory and Eddie. On the French islands, supermarkets like Carrefour and Auchan also enabled us to restock Pintail’s stores at half the price of other islands.

There were lots of familiar products too, sometimes with a Caribbean twist. The French islands served up Gallic favourites like brie, camembert and creme fraiche. The boulangeries sold French sticks and other baked treats, perfect for breakfast picnics. Pots of crème caramel brought back memories of childhood holidays across the Channel. And everywhere there was plenty of different local hot sauces to satisfy Stefan’s need for spice!

In Martinique we stocked up on local creole spices and added to new favourite to our recipe journal – jambalaya, made with the last of our frozen mahi-mahi from the crossing.

The Caribbean diet consists mainly of a lot of meat, fish and root vegetables and there were lots of different types of banana and plantain for us to get our heads around. One day I accidentally bought cooking bananas instead of eating bananas. When they resolutely remained hard and green, I discovered a new recipe for green banana curry which was utterly delicious cooked with more of our Martinique bought spices and which we ate served with rice and peas. Well, when in the Caribbean…!

Our most memorable meal out, in fact our only meal out eating typical Caribbean food, came in Point-à-Pitre on Guadaloupe. A very non-descript entrance served up beautifully flavoured fish dishes and a selection of different, and new to us root, vegetables.

We never did try anything from the ubiquitous roadside, recycled gas bottle, barbeques though and we left before Stefan had any curried goat!

For desserts and sweet treats, there was always local chocolate and pineapples. We enjoyed the most delicious coconut sorbet, made on the roadside and eaten looking back at Pintail in the anchorage at Deshaies on Guadaloupe.

As for drinks, each island offered more than one type of local rum and more than one bottle was sampled by half of the crew! But we steered clear of all the different, potent rum punches on offer.

For my own alcohol free alternatives, I found lots of worthy new favourites to enjoy at sundown.

The scenery

There is no denying that the scenery of the Caribbean is stunningly beautiful.

From Saint Lucia up through the Leeward islands to Antigua, the islands look fairly similar – a beautiful, lush green coated volcanic landscape.

but after that the different regions offered us surprisingly diverse scenery. From the lagoon of Saint Martin/Sint Maarten through the rugged, almost UK like, coastlines of the BVIs to the ethereal sea and sand of the Bahamas, it took us somewhat by surprise.

When we got the opportunity to travel inland and immerse ourselves in the landscape we were rewarded with more species of trees and plants than we could name and pretty waterfalls. The Caribbean is so much more than just palm fringed beaches.

But even there, at the water’s edge, where we spent most of our time, those beaches were very far from shabby.

Even all the abandoned cars everywhere just blended in with the scenery!

And it’s beautiful even when there is always a cruise ship trying to get in the shot!

But there are two subjects that we can’t reflect on the Caribbean without addressing and they hung like the ever present dark clouds over our time in these gorgeous islands and, to do the justice they deserve, they need their own post…