C A R I B B E A N On-line C MMPASSPASS DECEMBER 2010 NO. 183 The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore CARIBBEANWELCOME TO THE Seasoned Cruisers Share their Favorite Destinations — See story on page 20 © BILLY BLACK / WWW.BILLYBLACK.COM DECEMBER 2010 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 2 DEPARTMENTS Info & Updates ......................4 The Caribbean Sky ...............38 Business Briefs .......................8 Cooking with Cruisers ..........39 Caribbean Eco-News........... 12 Readers’ Forum .....................43 Doyle’s Deck View ...............14 What’s on My Mind ............... 48 Regatta News........................ 17 Calendar of Events ...............49 Meridian Passage .................29 Caribbean Market Place .....50 The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore Fun Pages.........................34, 35 Classified Ads ....................... 54 www.caribbeancompass.com Dolly’s Deep Secrets ............36 Advertisers’ Index .................54 DECEMBER 2010 • NUMBER 183 Caribbean Compass is published monthly by Grenada/Carriacou/Petite Martinique: Compass Publishing Ltd., P.O. Box 175 BQ, Ad Sales & Distribution - Karen Maaroufi Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. Cell: (473) 457-2151 Office: (473) 444-3222 Tel: (784) 457-3409, Fax: (784) 457-3410 [email protected] [email protected] Martinique: Ad Sales & Distribution - Isabelle Prado On Course www.caribbeancompass.com Tel: (0596) 596 68 69 71, Mob: + 596 (0) 696 93 26 38 [email protected] Island-made self-steering ......32 Editor...........................................Sally Erdle [email protected] St. Lucia: Ad Sales & Distribution - Maurice Moffat Tel: (758) 452 0147 Cell: (758) 720 8432. Assistant Editor...................Elaine Ollivierre [email protected] [email protected] Harbor History St. Maarten/St. Barths/Guadeloupe: U-boats in the Caribbean ...... 36 Advertising & Distribution........Tom Hopman Ad Sales - Stéphane Legendre [email protected] Mob: + 590 690 760 100 Art, Design & Production......Wilfred Dederer [email protected] [email protected] Distribution - Eric Bendahan J. WYNNER Tel: (599) 553 3850, [email protected] Accounting.................................Debra Davis St. Thomas/USVI: Distribution - Bryan Lezama [email protected] Tel: (340) 774 7931, [email protected] That’s Just Swell St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Ad Sales - Debra Davis A December phenomenon ....... 7 Compass Agents by Island: Tel: (784) 457-3527, [email protected] Antigua: Ad Sales & Distribution - Lucy Tulloch Tel (268) 720-6868 Tortola/BVI: Distribution - Gladys Jones [email protected] Tel: (284) 494-2830, Fax: (284) 494-1584 Flying Ray Barbados: Distribution - Doyle Sails Trinidad: Ad Sales & Distribution - Chris Bissondath, Hooray, ! DECEMBER 2010 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 3 Tel/Fax: (246) 423-4600 Tel: (868) 222-1011, Cell: (868) 347-4890, Post-storm service provided .. 11 [email protected] Curaçao: Distribution - Budget Marine Curaçao [email protected] Venezuela: Ad Sales & Distribution - Patty Tomasik Tel: (5999) 462 77 33 Tel: (58-281) 265-3844 Tel/Fax: (58-281) 265-2448 [email protected] Dominica: Distribution - Hubert J. Winston Dominica Marine Center, Tel: (767) 448-2705, JO-ANNE SEWLAL [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]. MICHELLE DANIELS 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. So Heavenly… Eatin’ Local ©2010 Compass Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication, Cruising Iles des Saintes ...... 26 Sampling real Lucian cuisine .... 40 except short excerpts for review purposes, may be made without written permission of Compass Publishing Ltd. ISSN 1605 - 1998 Billy Black’s cover photo says it all: a calm anchorage, islands, palm trees and a walk on the beach at sunset. Elaine Lembo strolls the Tobago Cays shore as charter cat Matau (www.charterworld.com) awaits 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. “I cannot wait to pick up your magazine every month.” — Richard Rolland Marie Galante II Seasons’ Greetings to All from the Compass Crew! 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 October, was designated Tropical Storm Tomas on October 29th. Although seven of the last ten years have had named storms in November, it is unusual for late-season storms to develop so far south. After taking a sharp northward tack during the night, Tomas tracked just south of Barbados during the early morning hours of October 30th as an intense Tropical Storm with gusts to hurricane force. Fortunately for yachts anchored or moored in Carlisle Bay, the island’s main anchorage, the strongest winds were from the east. Nevertheless, a local day charter catamaran was destroyed on the rocks at the Info entrance to the Careenage, a Fountaine Pajot cat on a mooring in Carlisle Bay cap- sized, and a handful of smaller vessels either sank at their moorings or went ashore. Later that morning, the system became a Category 1 hurricane and moved & Updates through the channel between the Windward Islands of St. Vincent and St. Lucia at approximately 4:00PM. The southern part of Saint Lucia, including severely hit Soufriere and Vieux Fort, was within the strongest, northern eyewall of Tomas, while the northern part of St. Vincent received the southern and leading/trailing eyewalls. (See the following news item regarding the effect of Hurricane Tomas on the north- New Immigration Fee in Margarita ern part of St. Lucia.) The southern and western parts of St. Vincent, where a number A new Immigration fee of 360BsF (currently approximately US$80 at the official of yacht charter bases and anchorages are located, avoided hurricane force winds exchange rate) has been implemented in Porlamar, Isla Margarita, a port of entry owing to the protective effect of the interior mountains. The leeward coast of St. for Venezuela. Vincent, however, received rare onshore westerly winds as the storm passed to the For current Venezuelan international and national clear-in and clear-out charges, north, causing at least one charter catamaran anchored at Cumberland Bay to plus more information on Isla Margarita, visit www.wifiguy.co.cc/info.html. end up on the beach. The Grenadines received Tropical Storm force winds, high in the north and minimal Yacht Sector Mainly Spared by Last Hurricane of 2010 towards the south of the chain. There were anxious moments in Bequia’s popular In a burst of late hurricane season activity, Invest91, an area of disturbed weather anchorage of Admiralty Bay, but only one boat went ashore. which developed to the southeast of the Eastern Caribbean during the last week of Tomas then proceeded into the Caribbean Sea, causing flooding in Curaçao, then WWW.CCRIF.ORG took a sharp right-hand turn, and grazed the western tip of Haiti, the southeastern Bahamas and the Turks & Caicos Islands before fizzling out in the Atlantic. In becoming the 19th named storm of the season, Tomas made 2010 the third busi- est year on record, tied with 1887 and 1995. The only years that were more active were 1933, with 21 storms, and 2005, with 28 storms. Saint Lucia Says, “Welcome Atlantic Rally for Cruisers!’ Saint Lucia’s Director of Yachting, Cuthbert Didier, is pleased to report that the island’s yachting facilities remain strong following the passage of Hurricane Tomas in October, and ready to welcome the 233 yachts from 26 nations participating in the 25th Atlantic Rally for Cruisers (ARC). “Our yachting berths both in Rodney Bay and Marigot Bay are not only state-of-the-art, they are resilient, and yachtsmen and women can rest assured that the solid infrastructure and legendary hospitality for which Saint Lucia is known await them,” he says. Organized by the World Cruising Club, the annual ARC is the largest trans-ocean sailing event in the world and regularly attracts more than 200 boats of many differ- ent types and lengths. The journey takes between two to three weeks and covers more than 2,700 nautical miles. The fleet departed from the Canary Islands on November 21st and the fastest boats are expected to arrive in Rodney Bay during the first week in December. A full schedule of activities welcomes the sailors in St. Lucia and extends into the Christmas holidays. St. Lucia marked the ARC’s start on November 21st with a simultaneous flotilla sail of 50 boats of all shapes and sizes from the capital, Castries, to Rodney Bay. —Continued on next page DECEMBER 2010 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 4 — Continued from previous page stole a number of valuable articles. Noel was sentenced to ten years’ imprisonment Located on the north side of the island, Rodney Bay Marina sustained no damage by Justice Lyle St. Paul, having acknowledged that he had five previous convictions, thanks to the mountains