December 2011No
Total Page:16
File Type:pdf, Size:1020Kb
C A R I B B E A N FREE C MPASS DECEMBER 2011 NO. 195 The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore WWHEREHERE DDOO YYOUOU WWANTANT TTOO BBEE FFOROR TTHEHE HHOLIDAYSOLIDAYS? See calendar on page 41 KAY WILSON / INDIGO DIVE DECEMBER 2011 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 2 DEPARTMENTS Info & Updates ......................4 Dolly’s Deep Secrets ............33 Business Briefs .......................8 The Caribbean Sky ...............34 Meridian Passage .................11 Eco-News .............................. 35 Regatta News........................ 12 Cooking with Cruisers ..........37 Product Postings ..................29 Readers’ Forum .....................38 Book Review ......................... 31 Calendar of Events ...............41 The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore Sailor’s Horoscope ................ 32 Caribbean Market Place .....42 www.caribbeancompass.com Island Poets ...........................32 Classified Ads ....................... 46 Cruising Kids’ Corner ............33 Advertisers’ Index .................46 DECEMBER 2011 • NUMBER 195 Caribbean Compass is published monthly by Martinique: Ad Sales & Distribution - Isabelle Prado Compass Publishing Ltd., P.O. Box 175 BQ, Tel: (0596) 596 68 69 71, Mob: + 596 696 74 77 01 Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. [email protected] Tel: (784) 457-3409, Fax: (784) 457-3410 Puerto Rico: Ad Sales - Ellen Birrell Back in the Day [email protected] 787-504-5163, [email protected] In Marigot Bay ......................26 www.caribbeancompass.com Distribution - Sunbay Marina, Fajardo LUMBADIVE Olga Diaz de Peréz Editor...........................................Sally Erdle Tel: (787) 863 0313 Fax: (787) 863 5282 [email protected] [email protected] Assistant Editor...................Elaine Ollivierre St. Lucia: Ad Sales & Distribution - Maurice Moffat WORLD CRUISING CLUB [email protected] Tel: (758) 452 0147 Cell: (758) 720 8432. Advertising & Distribution........Tom Hopman [email protected] [email protected] St. Maarten/St. Barths/Guadeloupe: Art, Design & Production......Wilfred Dederer Ad Sales & Distribution Stéphane Legendre Mob: + 590 690 760 100 [email protected] [email protected] Accounting............................Shellese Craigg St. Thomas/USVI: Ad Sales - Ellen Birrell [email protected] 787-504-5163, [email protected] ARC 2011 Distribution - Bryan Lezama A good year for cats .............15 Compass Agents by Island: Tel: (340) 774 7931, [email protected] Antigua: Ad Sales & Distribution - Lucy Tulloch Tel (268) 720-6868 St. Vincent & the Grenadines: [email protected] Ad Sales - Shellese Craigg [email protected] Tel: (784) 457 3409 Dear Santa… Barbados: Distribution - Doyle Sails Distribution - Doc Leslie Tel: (784) 529-0970 Tel/Fax: (246) 423-4600 DECEMBER 2011 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 3 What cruisers want this year .. 16 Tortola/BVI: Ad Sales - Ellen Birrell Curaçao: Distribution - Budget Marine Curaçao 787-504-5163, [email protected] [email protected] Tel: (5999) 462 77 33 Distribution - Gladys Jones Tel: (284) 494-2830, Fax: (284) 494-1584 Dominica: Distribution - Hubert J. Winston Dominica Marine Center, Tel: (767) 448-2705, Trinidad: Ad Sales & Distribution - Chris Bissondath, [email protected] Tel: (868) 222-1011, Cell: (868) 347-4890, [email protected] Grenada/Carriacou/Petite Martinique: Ad Sales & Distribution - Karen Maaroufi Venezuela: Ad Sales & Distribution - Patty Tomasik MCMILLEN-JACKSON Cell: (473) 457-2151 Office: (473) 444-3222 Tel: (58-281) 265-3844 Tel/Fax: (58-281) 265-2448 [email protected] [email protected] Caribbean Compass welcomes submissions of short articles, news items, photos and drawings. See Writers’ Guidelines at www.caribbeancompass.com. Send submissions to [email protected]. We support free speech! But the content of advertisements, columns, articles and letters to the editor are the sole responsibility of the advertiser, writer or correspondent, and Compass Publishing Ltd. accepts no responsibility for any statements made therein. Letters and submissions may be edited for length and clarity. Island Feast Bad Fish! ©2011 Compass Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication, except A taste of Trinidad ................24 Lionfish found in Grenadines .. 36 short excerpts for review purposes, may be made without written permission of Compass Publishing Ltd. ISSN 1605 - 1998 Cover photo: A visiting yacht with local vendor, Tobago Cays, St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Photo by Kay Wilson of Indigo Dive Compass covers the Caribbean! From Cuba to Trinidad, from Panama to Barbuda, we’ve got the news and views that sailors can use. We’re the Caribbean’s monthly look at sea and shore. “The arrival of the latest Caribbean Compass is always an exciting moment. I put down whatever I am doing and settle down for a great read.” — Chris Doyle www.doyleguides.com Click Google Map link below to fi nd the Caribbean Compass near you! http://maps.google.com/maps/ms?t=h&hl=en&ie=UTF8&msa=0&msid=112776612439699037380.000470658db371bf3282d&ll=14.54105,-65.830078&spn=10.196461,14.0625&z=6&source=embed tion of remarkable underwater sites such as coral heads and turtle grass to snorkel above. The park is included in a safe zone marked by four yellow buoys and a surface line, where no engine craft are allowed. A white mooring buoy is available for tenders. If you’re at the Antigua Charter Show, see a presentation on the new park on December 9th at 7:45AM at the Copper & Lumber Store Hotel — all are welcome. For more information contact Ariane Graf at [email protected]. Simpson Bay Bridge Times Now Year-Round Info As of November 1st, there are no longer different High Season and Off Season bridge opening times at Simpson Bay, St. Maarten. The bridge opening times now & Updates CHRIS DOYLE Snorkeling Park Opens in Guadeloupe Joining the existing Cousteau Reserve at Ilets Pigeon on the leeward side of Guadeloupe is the new Snorkeling Park of Ilet Gosier on the south shore. Ilet Gosier is one of the favourite anchorages in Guadeloupe: a tiny island just off the coast with are: 9:00AM outbound, 9:30AM inbound, 11:00AM outbound, 11:30AM inbound, 4:30PM outbound, 5:30PM inbound. Contact the bridge operator on VHF Channel 12. Change in St. Maarten’s Immigration Policy An information buoy being placed in Guadeloupe’s new snorkeling park at Ilet Gosier. You can now take a self-guided snorkeling tour The St. Maarten Marine Trades Association (SMMTA) informs the yachting communi- ty that nationals from many countries are now exempt from obtaining a visa to enter the island by air or sea when they are in possession of a Dutch Caribbean visa; a lighthouse, coconut trees, iguanas, and a reef with gently breaking waves to pro- a multiple-entry visa for the US, Canada or the European Schengen region; or a resi- tect the anchorage. dence permit for the US, Canada, the Schengen region, the UK, French St. Martin, On the beach, there is a sign with a map that explains the safe conduct in the Bonaire, St. Eustatius or Saba. Snorkeling Park. Three big, bright orange-pink buoys labeled 1, 2 and 3 show the loca- —Continued on next page DECEMBER 2011 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 4 — Continued from previous page in the November issue of Compass, the skipper told the Royal Gazette, “We came For professional yacht crew on the visa-required list without one of the abovemen- through in a sort of ‘S’. We were maybe a hundred feet off the rocks and it was tioned visas, entry is granted with a Seaman’s Discharge Book and an Agent dark, so we didn’t really know what the lay of the land was. We could hear the Guarantee Letter that a local agent will prepare. CHRISTOPHER MELROSE / BERMUDA ROYAL GAZETTE For yacht guests on the visa-required list without one of the abovementioned visas, a 48-hour transit exemption to go from the airport to the vessel or the vessel to the airport can be arranged with a local Agent Guarantee Letter. The SMMTA hopes that this new change will encourage yacht crews and yachting tourists from around the world to visit St. Maarten and enjoy what the island has to offer. The changes come just in time for Spotlight St. Maarten, a month-long cele- bration of education and recreation that began November 11th and continues until December 17th and includes seminars, concerts and various outings. Spotlight St. Maarten also offers discounts at participating marinas, chandleries, restaurants and more. So come to St. Maarten and start the season with a blast! For a complete list of countries that require a visa to enter St. Maarten visit www.smmta.com. Trinidad Curfew Lifted Katy Young reports: The curfew that was in place in Trinidad has now been lifted, along with the maritime curfew, so yachts are free to move as before. On August 21st, Trinidad & Tobago was placed under a “limited State of Emergency” (SOE) by Prime Minister Kamla Persad-Bissessar in order to deal with gang-related crime in some areas of Trinidad. The SOE reportedly had little impact The crew of the sailboat Elle being taken aboard the container ship Oleander on visiting yachts in Chaguaramas except that a curfew was in place from 11:00PM to 4:00AM. After September 14th, the curfew extended three nautical miles seaward waves crashing against the land, so we knew we were close.” from the coastline. Tobago was not subject to any curfew restrictions. According to various reports, both Elle and Riot had reportedly suffered