C A R I B B E A N On-line C MPASS MARCH 2014 NO.O. 222 The Caribbean’sC Monthly Look at Sea & Shore SAILING INTO SANTA MARTA KRONIC-ADVENTURES.BLOGSPOT.COM ALBERTO MARINO JORDI FONT BAYO @ PANORAMIO — Story on page 22 MARCH 2014 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 2 DEPARTMENTS Info & Updates ......................4 Book Review ......................... 32 Business Briefs .......................8 The Caribbean Sky ...............34 Eco-News .............................. 10 Cooking with Cruisers......36, 37 Regatta News........................ 12 Readers’ Forum .....................38 Meridian Passage .................29 Calendar of Events ...............40 Sailors’ Horoscope ................ 30 What’s On My Mind ..............40 The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore Island Poets ...........................30 Caribbean Market Place .....42 Cartoon ................................. 30 Classified Ads ....................... 46 www.caribbeancompass.com Salty’s Beat ............................31 Advertisers’ Index .................46 MARCH 2014 • NUMBER 222 Caribbean Compass is published monthly by Compass Publishing Ltd., P.O. Box 175 BQ, Bequia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines. DEREK PICKELL Tel: (784) 457-3409, Fax: (784) 457-3410 [email protected] Whale Songs www.caribbeancompass.com Why do they do it? ................ 28 Editor...........................................Sally Erdle KIDO [email protected] Assistant Editor...................Elaine Ollivierre Martinique: Ad Sales & Distribution - Isabelle Prado [email protected] Tel: (0596) 596 68 69 71 Mob: + 596 696 74 77 01 [email protected] Advertising & Distribution........Tom Hopman [email protected] Panama: Distribution - Shelter Bay Marina Art, Design & Production......Wilfred Dederer www.shelterbaymarina.com [email protected] Puerto Rico: Distribution - Sunbay Marina, Fajardo Accounting............................Shellese Craigg Olga Diaz de Peréz, Tel: (787) 863 0313 Fax: (787) 863 5282 Grenada Week [email protected] [email protected] Compass Agents by Island: St. Lucia: Ad Sales & Distribution - Maurice Moffat Some spicy sailing! ............... 16 Antigua: Ad Sales & Distribution - Lucy Tulloch Tel: (758) 452 0147 Cell: (758) 720-8432 Tel (268) 720-6868, [email protected] [email protected] Barbados: Distribution - Doyle Sails St. Maarten/St. Barths/Guadeloupe: Seeing St. Maarten Tel/Fax: (246) 423-4600 Ad Sales & Distribution - Stéphane Legendre Colombia: Distribution - Marina Santa Marta Mob: + 590 690 765 422 Refreshing your view............. 18 [email protected] TOR PINNEY www.igy-marinasantamarta.com/en St. Vincent & the Grenadines: Curaçao: Distribution - Budget Marine Curaçao MARCH 2014 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 3 [email protected] Tel: (5999) 462 77 33 Ad Sales - Shellese Craigg [email protected] Tel: (784) 457-3409 Dominica: Ad Sales & Distribution - Hubert J. Winston Distribution - Doc Leslie Tel: (784) 529-0970 Dominica Marine Center, Tel: (767) 448-2705, [email protected] Tortola/BVI: Distribution - Gladys Jones Tel: (284) 494-2830 Fax: (284) 494-1584 Grenada: Ad Sales & Distribution - Karen Maaroufi Venezuela: Ad Sales - Patty Tomasik 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 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 Finding Harmony Turtle Time no responsibility for any statements made therein. Letters and submissions may be edited for length and clarity. ©2014 Compass Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication, except short … in Bocas del Toro .............. 26 A loggerhead rescued ............29 excerpts for review purposes, may be made without written permission of Compass Publishing Ltd. ISSN 1605 - 1998 On the cover: Scenes of Santa Marta, Colombia as captured by Alberto Mariño, Jordi Font Bayó and George of Lahaina Roads. At lower right, Mayor Carlos Eduardo Caicedo, Deputy Minister of Tourism Sandra Howard Taylor and marina owner Manuel Dávila Abondano welcome race winners to the city 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. ‘We discovered the Compass when we first went cruising in the late ’90s. By the time we both finished reading an issue, it was a patchwork of holes, as we’d clipped multiple articles, news bits, and ads for reference. Congratulations on giving us great info and entertainment.’ —Ann Vanderhoof and Steve Manley www.spicenecklace.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 the most popular anchorage in the area and it is great news for those who would like to eat ashore. The Hummingbird security will keep an eye on your boat and din- ghy while you are in the restaurant. This is a fishing priority area, part of the Soufriere Marine Management Area (SMMA), so if at 0600 the fishermen ask you to leave because they want to cast a seine, you must, and please do it promptly. It was complaints about non-coopera- tion with the fishermen’s requests that got yachts banned in the first place. While they do not fish every day, and often not on weekends, do not leave your boat Info here during the day as it may need to be moved at any time. If you have any questions, call the head SMMA ranger, Peter Butcher, on (758) 718-1196. & Updates New Coast Guard Base in St. Croix The US Coast Guard formally opened its new facility on the East End of St. Croix on January 24th. The two-storey, 5,000-square-foot leased property in Estate Solitude contains the resident inspection office and the boat forces detachment, including two new 29-foot Response Boat Small II generation boats. Exclusion Zone in Maho Bay, St. Maarten —Continued on next page The area west of the Princess Juliana International Airport in St. Maarten, known as Maho Bay, is frequently passed closely by large yachts going to or coming from French St. Martin, Anguilla, or the BVI. From time to time, vessels have stayed to watch planes land or take off. The height of their masts and superstructures has become a concern for airline traffic. WIKIPEDIA In order to increase the distance that all marine traffic passes in front of Maho Bay, yellow buoys with lights will be installed marking an exclusion zone between the buoys and the shore. All marine traffic must stay west and south of these buoys. Anchoring at Hummingbird, St. Lucia Chris Doyle reports: Yachts can again anchor off the Hummingbird Restaurant, Congresswoman Donna Christensen at the inauguration of new US Coast Guard near Soufriere, St. Lucia, and tie to the shore from 1800 to 0600 hours. This used to be facilities in Christiansted, St. Croix. At far right is Capt. Drew W. Pearson Our OCEAN PLUS sails are guaranteed for five years or MARCH 2014 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 4 50,000 miles. Built by sailmakers dedicated to building the finest, most durable and technologically advanced sails possible. British Virgin Islands Antigua & Barbuda Panama Star Marine Regency Marine USVI St Croix Doyle Sailmakers BVI, Ltd Jolly Harbour Panama City Wilsons' Cruzan Canvas Road Reef Marina Christiansted Road Town, Tortola Curacao Puerto Rico Tel: (284) 494 2569 Kapiteinsweg #4 Atlantic Canvas & Sail [email protected] Fajardo, Puerto Rico Dominica Dominica Marine Center St Lucia Barbados Roseau Rodney Bay Sails Doyle Offshore Sails, Ltd Rodney Bay Six Crossroads, Grenada Turbulence Sails St. Vincent St Philip, New Spice Island Marina Barefoot Yacht Charters Tel: (246) 423 4600 Blue Lagoon [email protected] Martinique voilerie du marin Trinidad & Tobago 30 bid allegre AMD Chaguramas THOMAS HOPMAN — Continued from previous page • ANDY WATTS The property includes a boat maintenance shop, an armory, storage space and Well-known Barbadian parking. The boat forces are a detachment of the US Coast Guard Boat Station in sailmaker Andrew “Andy” San Juan. Their mission is search and rescue, fisheries enforcement, homeland secu- Watts, former Managing rity and law enforcement including drug and migrant interdiction. The unit also edu- Director of Doyle Offshore cates the public on safe boating and escorts cruise ships and certain commercial Sails, Barbados, died sud- cargo vessels entering and departing St. Croix. denly on February 5th, Congresswoman Donna Christensen says, “The increased boat safety, search and reportedly of a brain hem- rescue operations and ability to interdict contraband on its way to St. Croix is impor- orrhage. A long-time stal- tant to us, but what is also important is the increased visibility of the Coast Guard in wart of the regional yacht- the community.” Captain Drew W. Pearson, Commander of U.S. Coast Guard Sector ing industry and the Bajan San Juan, says, “This new location reduces Coast Guard response times to Search sailing scene, he will be and Rescue and Law Enforcement cases and expands our ability