C A R I B B E A N On-line C MPASS JULY 2009 NO. 16666 TheThe Caribbean’sC Monthly Look at Sea & Shore WEST INDIES REGATTA See story on page 12 JUSTIN SIHERA JULY 2009 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 2 JULY 2009 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 3 CALENDAR JULY 1 Public holiday in Antigua (Vere Bird Sr. Day) and Suriname (Eid-ul-Fitr) 2 Curaçao Flag Day. Public holiday in Curaçao 3 Emancipation Day. Public holiday in USVI The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore 3 - 4 17th Annual Firecracker 500 Race, Tortola, BVI. West End Yacht Club www.caribbeancompass.com (WEYC), Tortola, BVI, tel (284) 495-1002, fax (284) 495-4184, [email protected], www.weyc.net JULY 2009 • NUMBER 166 4 Independence Day (USA). Public holiday in Puerto Rico and USVI. Carnival in St. John, USVI 6 Public holiday in Cayman Islands (Constitution Day) and Guyana Trini Time! (Emancipation Day) 10 fun things to do ...............20 6 – 7 St. Vincent Carnival (Vincy Mas). Public holiday in St. Vincent SUZANNE AUSTIN & the Grenadines. www.carnivalsvg.com ELLEN SANPERE 7 FULL MOON 10 Independence Day. Public holiday in The Bahamas 10 - 12 Premier’s Cup Youth Regatta, Tortola. Royal British Virgin Islands Yacht Club (RBVIYC), tel (284) 494-3286, [email protected], www.rbviyc.net 11 Bequia’s 14th Annual Fisherman’s Day, [email protected] 11 – 19 Calabash Festival, Montserrat. www.visitmontserrat.com ‘Reef Jam ’09’ 11 - Aug 1 Cruzans party for coral ........ 10 Tobago Heritage Festival. Tel (868) 639-4441 14 Bastille Day. Public holiday in French West Indies 18 Volcano Anniversary. Public holiday in Montserrat Grenadine Scene 20 Luis Muñoz Rivera’s Birthday. Public holiday in Puerto Rico Canouan Regatta ..................14 20 - 21 St. Lucia Carnival. www.luciancarnival.com 21 Schoelcher Day. Public holiday in French West Indies 24 Birth of Simón Bolívar. Public holiday in Venezuela 24 - 26 USVI Lifestyle Festival, St. Thomas. www.usvimf.com 25 Constitution Day. Public holiday in Puerto Rico 25 - 27 Rebellion Days. Public holiday in Cuba STEPHANE LEGENDRE Cuba Updates 26 – 2 Aug 25th edition Tour des Yoles Rondes, Martinique. www.tourdesyoles.com What’s best in the west ......... 22 www.yoles-rondes.org 26 – 3 Aug 44th Annual Carriacou Regatta Festival. www.carriacouregatta.com 10th Transcaraïbes 27 José Celso Barbosa’s Birthday. Public holiday in Puerto Rico Going Down… 29 North Caribbean rally ........... 15 A sinking off Saba ............... 36 Carriacou Children’s Education Fund Potluck Barbecue, Carriacou Yacht Club. [email protected] DEPARTMENTS 30 – 1 Aug Canouan Carnival. Tel (784) 458-8197 31 Somer’s Day. Public holiday in Bermuda Business Briefs .......................8 Cartoons ................................ 33 31 Carriacou Children’s Education Fund Charity Auction, Eco-News .............................. 11 Cruising Kids’ Corner ............34 Carriacou Yacht Club. [email protected] Regatta News........................ 16 Dolly’s Deep Secrets ............34 Meridian Passage .................20 The Caribbean Sky ...............35 Cruiser Profile ........................30 Cooking with Cruisers ..........36 Book Reviews ........................31 Readers’ Forum .....................38 AUGUST Cruising Crossword ............... 32 What’s on My Mind ............... 42 JULY 2009 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 4 Word Search Puzzle ..............32 Caribbean Marketplace...... 44 1 Emancipation Day. Public holiday in Barbados, Grenada, Guyana, Island Poets ...........................33 Classified Ads ....................... 47 Jamaica, St. Lucia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines, and Trinidad & Tobago Sailors’ Horoscope ................ 33 Advertisers’ Index .................47 1 Emancipation Day Sailing Races, St. Lucia. SLYC 3 August Monday. Public holiday in The Bahamas, Dominica, Montserrat, Caribbean Compass is published monthly by Grenada/Carriacou/Petite Martinique: St. Kitts & Nevis, Turks & Caicos, and Barbados (Kadooment Day) Compass Publishing Ltd., P.O. Box 175 BQ, Ad Sales & Distribution - Karen Maaroufi 3 – 4 Public holiday in Antigua & Barbuda (Antigua Carnival) and BVI Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Cell: (473) 457-2151 Office: (473) 444-3222 Tel: (784) 457-3409, Fax: (784) 457-3410 [email protected] (Emancipation Festival) [email protected] Martinique: Ad Sales & Distribution - Isabelle Prado 4 Culturama. Public holiday in Nevis www.caribbeancompass.com Tel: (0596) 596 68 69 71, Mob: + 596 (0) 696 93 26 38 [email protected] 5 Editor...........................................Sally Erdle FULL MOON [email protected] St. Lucia: Distribution - Lisa Kessell 6 Tel: (758) 484-0555, Public holiday in Jamaica (Independence Day) Assistant Editor...................Elaine Ollivierre [email protected] 10 [email protected] Constitution Day. Public holiday in Anguilla St. Maarten/St. Barths/Guadeloupe: 10 - 11 Advertising & Distribution........Tom Hopman Ad Sales - Stéphane Legendre Grenada Carnival. Public holiday in Grenada [email protected] Mob: + 590 (0) 6 90 49 45 90 15 Feast of the Assumption. Public holiday in Haiti and French West Indies Art, Design & Production......Wilfred Dederer [email protected] Distribution - Eric Bendahan 15 – 16 Caribbean Dinghy Championships, Barbados. [email protected] [email protected] Tel: (599) 553 3850, [email protected] Accounting.................................Debra Davis 16 Restoration Day. Public holiday in Dominican Republic St. Thomas/USVI: Distribution - Bryan Lezama [email protected] Tel: (340) 774 7931, [email protected] 22 Great Race (powerboats) from Chaguaramas, Compass Agents by Island: St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Ad Sales - Debra Davis, Trinidad to Store Bay, Tobago Tel: (784) 457-3527, [email protected] Antigua: Ad Sales & Distribution - Lucy Tulloch 24 Tel (268) 720-6868 Tortola/BVI: Distribution - Gladys Jones Festival of St. Barthelemy, St. Barth. Boat races [email protected] Tel: (284) 494-2830, Fax: (284) 494-1584 28 – 3 Sept 56th San Juan International Billfish Tournament, Puerto Rico. Barbados: Distribution - Doyle Sails Trinidad: Ad Sales & Distribution - Jack Dausend Tel/Fax: (246) 423-4600 Tel: 868) 634-2622 Mob: (868) 620-0978 www.sanjuaninternational.com [email protected] Curaçao: Distribution - Budget Marine Curaçao 30 Feast of St. Rose De Lima, St. Lucia. Cultural folk festival [email protected] Venezuela: Ad Sales & Distribution - Patty Tomasik 31 Tel: (5999) 462 77 33 Tel: (58-281) 265-3844 Tel/Fax: (58-281) 265-2448, Independence Day. Public holiday in Trinidad [email protected] Dominica: Distribution - Hubert J. Winston Dominica Marine Center, Tel: (767) 448-2705, All information was correct to the best of our knowledge at the time [email protected] this issue of Compass went to press — but plans change, so please contact event organizers directly for confirmation. Caribbean Compass welcomes submissions of short articles, news items, photos and drawings. See Writers’ Guidelines at www.caribbeancompass.com. Send submissions to [email protected]. If you would like a nautical or tourism event listed FREE in our monthly calendar, We support free speech! But the content of advertisements, columns, articles and letters to the editor are the please send the name and date(s) of the event and the name and sole responsibility of the advertiser, writer or correspondent, and Compass Publishing Ltd. accepts no contact information of the organizing body to [email protected] responsibility for any statements made therein. Letters and submissions may be edited for length and clarity. Compass Publishing Ltd. accepts no liability for delayed distribution or printing quality as these services are supplied by other companies. ©2009 Compass Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication, except short excerpts for review purposes, may be made without written permission of Compass Publishing Ltd. Cover photo by Justin Sihera, West Indies Regatta 2009 Republic or arrives in the country by plane and is sign- ing on or off the crew list • Only when departing to a foreign port: US$10 (or equivalent in Dominican Pesos) for a Dispatch Letter, paid to the Navy A new vessel entrance form, to be filled out with the vessel, crew and passenger information, is reportedly in the works. This will be given to all governmental authori- Info ties and one copy to the captain of the vessel as proof of entry and clearance when traveling between mari- nas in the DR. This document is currently being devel- & Updates oped by the marinas and must be approved by the Dominican Port Authority before it comes into use. Rio Dulce Situation Report Ann Westergard reports: As the official hurricane sea- DR Eases Yacht Clearance Procedures son arrived, more and more boats crossed the bar to Cumbersome clearance procedures are cited by their summer quarters up the Rio Dulce in Guatemala. yachtsmen as one of the main turn-offs when select- —Continued on next page ing a destination. Responding to a campaign by the MAYAPARADISE.COM marine-related private sector in the Dominican Republic, that country’s government now allows yachts to clear in at marinas. Ports of entry now include Marina Zar-Par/Boca Chica (18°25.50N, 69°36.67W), Marina Casa de Campo (18°24’N, 68°55’W), Santo Domingo (18°28’N, 69°53’W), Punta Cana (18°32’N, 68°22’W) and Las Salinas (18°16’N, 71°19’W) on the south coast, and Puerto Plata (19°49’N, 70°42’W), Ocean World Marina (19°50N, 70°43’53”W) and