30 March 2008Hi All,
Just a quick note from the Hog Island anchorage here on the S coast of Grenada. We are nearing the end of a 3 week sabbatical getting Jean's right knee (15 year-old artificial joint) rested up for upcoming physical therapy sessions in Trinidad. Tom has been busy sailing our 10 foot Cape Dory dinghy around the Hog Island anchorage. This dinghy is our principal tender; she rows, sails, and we ocassionally put a 3.3 HP kicker on her. So far Schatze has survived his intoduction to dinghy sailing, but not with much enthusiasm...
We had to leave Trinidad & Tobago so that we could restart the 3 month immigration clock - and the change in scenery, and attitude, is refreshing. This last Tuesday we hired a local mini-van, organized 9 other cruisers, and set off on an all day tour of Grenada. We had a fantastic time, and Jean will post some pictures and a description of the tour on the Blog in the near future. We plan on sailing for Trinidad Thursday evening (3 April), arriving back at the Trinidad & Tobago Sailing Association on Friday morning. The following Tuesday morning (8 April) Jean has her next doctor's appointment in Port of Spain.
All is well onboard S/V Jean Marie: unfortunately, that is not the case with the southern Windward Islands of the Caribbean in general. Hog Island is one of the few islands off the S coast of Grenada that has not been bought-up, developed, and fenced off for the rich white folks. (Similar to what is going on throughout the Eastern Seaboard of the United States, and most of the Caribbean...) Roger's Beach Bar (actually just an open shack with a solar powered refrigerator) provides an isolated spot for the locals, yachties, and cruise ship tourists on local catamarans to just hang out and socialize on the beach in the manner that one often visualizes as being typically the laid-back Caribbean style. Yet this scene is rapidly vanishing throughout the over-priced, over popular, over visited Lesser Antilles. Apparently the Four Seasons Hotel Chain has bought the island, building lots have been laid-out and bulldozed, an access road is being cut, and there are plans for a short bridge to the mainland.
Roger, a hard-working Grenadian (but a squatter) and his beach bar will be pushed out, and that will be the end of another piece of paradise open to average people - black or white. Understandably, the local people are quite upset, and frustrated because there is very little that they can do about it. Hog Island is the only local beach available to them. The reality is that money is power, and the rich guys can take what they want. Unfortunately, a very small minority of the locals have miss-identified the mostly white, mostly middle-class, yachties as part of the rich white folks who are actually driving them off Hog Island, when in fact we cruisers will be just as unwelcome here as the locals once this place becomes an upscale resort. The situation has boiled over in violence during the last month or so. Three weeks ago shots were fired during the popular Sunday evening barbecue, and last Sunday afternoon, in broad daylight, 3 of the visiting yachties were beat-up by local young-toughs. One of the men attacked was a father of a cruising family with two young children (present on the beach along with their Mom) who were coming to S/V Jean Marie that evening for a pot-luck supper.
The vast majority of locals are just as put-off with this behavior as are the yachties, but the anchorage has noticeably fewer boats present than before these incidents. Roger is trying to get police or Coast Guard presence at Hog Island for the weekends, but he has very little horsepower, and the politicians who control the government are part of the problem of selling-out the island in the first place. Currently, we only go ashore at Hog Island when there are no large gathering of locals present - too bad, we all loose... Soon there will be one less place in the Caribbean for yachties to hang out.
PIRATE ATTACK - Last Friday evening (28 March) our Kiwi friend Richard and his Canadian crew Svetlana were in transit from Trinidad to the S coast of Grenada aboard Richard's 30 foot steel sloop S/V Mr. Hopper, and were attacked approximately 25 miles N of the Bocas of Trinidad, in the vicinity of the Hibiscus natural
gas offshore production platform.This 70 mile stretch of the southern Caribbean across the old Spanish Main is a very well traveled route, with hundreds of boats coming and going in these waters every year. A large colorful open pirogue of the Venezuelan style with 3 outboard motors and a crew of 6 latino men approached them at sunset, and opened fire on them with small caliber high-velocity rifles. Several rounds impacted the vessel's coach roof, and the upturned dinghy on deck. Richard fired his flare pistol at them, and they fell back astern of him. The sea was quite rough, making it difficult for the pirates to fire their weapons accurately, and fortunately, neither Richard, Svetlana, nor Trouble his dog were injured. Apparently Trouble was putting up quite a fuss, and after being the recipients of the white phosphorus flare-ball that Richard fired back at them, the pirates reconsidered the attack and then departed the area. Richard called the Trinidad & Tobago Coast Guard on VHF channel 16, they then switched to a working channel and took down the details of the incident. Richard said that the T&T Coast Guard made follow-up calls to him throughout the night on the radio, but to his knowledge no vessel or aircraft were sortied in response to this act of piracy. As he approached the S coast of Grenada in the early morning hours, he was intercepted by a Dutch warship on patrol, but after illuminating S/V Mr. Hopper with a powerful searchlight, and hailing them on VHF channel 16, the Dutch ship gave no indication that they were aware of the earlier attack.
When Richard cleared-in with Grenadian Immigration & Customs that morning, they did say that the authorities in Trinidad had been in contact with them regarding the incident. As you can imagine, this situation has us quite concerned. Just a few weeks back a similar attack, conducted by pirates with a similar description, took place against a yacht anchored in Los Testagos (nearby offshore Venezuelan island) when other cruising friends of ours were present: and sadly that incident resulted in a fatality. Three weeks ago we sailed through these same waters, and we will return to Trinidad through this area again on Thursday night. We will take all necessary precautions: flare-gun out and ready, VHF radio on channel 16, HF radio on 2182, searchlight at the ready, close radar watch, and darken-ship with running lights off. (Schatze sez: Attack dog on watch and at the ready - GURRR!) Actually, after this incident - and the attention it has hopefully attracted from the maritime authorities - we suspect that the pirates will be laying low, and that this particular area will be relatively safe.
Well, there you have it. All is not perfect in Margaritaville, but then again it never was. We will check-in once we safely arrive in Chaguaramus at the end of the week.
Warm regards,
Jean & Tom Service, and Schatze the Dog
S/V Jean Marie
Hog Island, south coast of Grenada
