C A R I B B E A N On-line C MPASS DECEMBER 2015 NO. 243 The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore WELCOME TO THE CARIBBEAN: TALL SHIPS SMALL SHIPS ALL SHIPS! JEAN JARREAU PHOTOGRAPHY DECEMBER 2015 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 2 INGA BEITZ Happy Holidays The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore to all from the entire www.caribbeancompass.com Compass Crew! DECEMBER 2015 • NUMBER 243 IMRAY IOLAIRE Six Months Out Launching a cruising life ...... 31 LINDA LANE THORNTON DEPARTMENTS Info & Updates ......................4 Meridian Passage .................42 Business Briefs .......................8 The Caribbean Sky ...............44 Eco-News .............................. 12 Book Review ......................... 46 Regatta News........................ 14 Look Out For… ......................47 East Side Story Y2A ......................................... 18 Calendar of Events ...............48 Martinique’s other coast ....... 21 Destinations ........................... 21 Caribbean Market Place .....49 All Ashore… .......................... 34 Classified Ads ....................... 53 Panama Pleasures Island Poets ...........................36 Advertisers’ Index .................54 The canal and the city .......... 11 DECEMBER 2015 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 3 PARANG ASSOCIATION OF T&T Caribbean Compass is published monthly by Compass Publishing Ltd., P.O. Box 175 BQ, Bequia, St. Vincent & the Grenadines. Tel: (784) 457-3409, Fax: (784) 457-3410, [email protected], www.caribbeancompass.com Editor...........................................Sally Erdle Art, Design & Production......Wilfred Dederer [email protected] [email protected] Assistant Editor...................Elaine Ollivierre Administration......................Shellese Craigg [email protected] [email protected] Advertising & Distribution........Tom Hopman [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 no responsibility for any statements made therein. Letters and submissions may be edited for length and clarity. Holiday Events Buying Local ©2015 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. Special fun this month! ........ 28 Adorn yourself with seeds .....38 ISSN 1605 - 1998 On the cover, Jean Jarreau’s dramatic shot of the sail training vessel Danmark charging through the Anguilla Channel. See sail training news on page 4 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. ‘When Caribbean Compass first appeared in March 1995, it was a long overdue breath of textual and pictorial fresh air. Objective, informative, well written, covering an incredibly wide range of topics, fun to read and appealing to folks of all ages and from all walks of life, not just sailors. ‘Over the past 20 years, it has not simply maintained its standards but has developed and improved to the point where it is today one of the most widely respected marine publications anywhere in the Caribbean.’ — Narendra “Seth” Sethia Barefoot Yacht Charters St. Vincent Santa Marta Cartagena Click Google Map link below to fi nd the Caribbean Compass near you! http://bit.ly/1fMC2Oy As of this writing, in December there is still space for two youngsters on board the 40-metre (120-foot) Eye of the Wind, which will set sail out of Marigot, St. Martin just before Christmas for a ten-day Virgin Islands tour. If youngsters who have to fly to St. Martin are selected, they will be provided with free airline tickets. The other trip is on board the 50-metre (150-foot) overall three-masted topsail schoo- ner Oosterschelde, out of Martinique from February 15th through 23rd, 2016. Youngsters who live on another island will receive free airline tickets to Martinique and back. Caribbean Sail Training is a non-profit organization registered in St. Martin and the Info European Community. It aims to help in providing education and sail training for young people of all nationalities, cultures, religions and social backgrounds, especial- ly those living in the Caribbean. CST receives funds from businesses, private persons & Updates and other organizations to provide youngsters with sponsorship to board ships and yachts as trainees. CST selects cooperating and member sail training vessels including Tall Ships, square-riggers, large yachts and even race boats to take youngsters on sail training trips. CST accepts requests from schools, yacht clubs and institutions that are interested in placing a student on one of the vessels as a trainee. Private persons, The Tall Ships Are Coming! youngsters and parents, are also encouraged to contact the association to partici- The Tall Ships are coming — and Caribbean youth can go sailing on them again. pate in a sailing adventure on board one of the ships. Applicants need to have the The non-profit association Caribbean Sail Training (CST) has announced that several minimum age of 15 and be not older than 25 years on most of the ships, but older Tall Ships and sail training vessels will arrive again soon in the Caribbean. trainees are sometimes accepted on board some of the sail training vessels. Sail training embarkation possibilities will be announced on the CST website www. Through CST, Caribbean youths can sail on CaribbeanSailTraining.com and on their Facebook page. Tall Ships such as the three-masted Youngsters interested in sailing on the CST member vessels can e-mail CST at info@ topsail schooner Oosterschelde CaribbeanSailTraining.com To learn more about CST visit www.CaribbeanSailTraining.org New Year’s Eve Fireworks in Bequia The Bang Gang reports: Thanks to the consistent generosity of a wide range of private and business donors, Bequia continues to boast a spectacular fireworks display in Admiralty Bay to see in the New Year. WILFRED DEDERER As Old Year’s Night approaches, the popular harbour of Admiralty Bay in the Grenadines fills with hundreds of boats of every description, water- front restaurants take bookings thick and fast, vantage points are dis- cussed and the island is abuzz with expectation. Then, on the stroke of mid- night, right on cue, light Maritime Experience Day trips for schools are offered by CST free of costs to young- and sound explode over sters in the Caribbean. CST also offers one-week and ten-day sail training voyages the head of the harbour. to youngsters (ages 16 to 21 years) on board two of its member vessels. —Continued on next page DECEMBER 2015 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 4 OUR OCEAN PLUS SAILS ARE GUARANTEED FOR 5 YEARS OR 50,000 MILES British Virgin Islands Barbados Doyle Sailmakers BVI, Ltd Doyle Offshore Sails, Ltd Built by sailmakers dedicated to building the finest, most Road Reef Marina Six Crossroads durable and technologically advanced sails possible. Road Town, Tortola St Philip Tel: (284) 494 2569 Tel: (246) 423 4600 [email protected] [email protected] Antigua & Barbuda Curacao Grenada Martinique Puerto Rico St. Vincent USVI St Croix Star Marine Zeilmakerij Harms Turbulence Sails Voilerie Du Marin Atlantic Canvas & Sail Barefoot Yacht Charters Wilsons' Cruzan Canvas Jolly Harbour Kapiteinsweg #4 True Blue St George 30 Bld Allegre Fajardo, Puerto Rico Blue Lagoon Christiansted Bonaire Dominica Jamaica Panama St Lucia Trinidad & Tobago IBS b/v Dominica Marine PJG Regency Marine Rodney Bay Sails AMD Kaya Atom Z Center Kingston Panama City Rodney Bay Chaguramas Roseau — Continued from previous page When and where? In the BVIs the place to party will be Mayette’s on January 30th, Flares fly up from yachts and packed crowds line the waterfront to watch the and in St. Maarten we will gather at the Buccaneer Bar on February 6th. No register- unique display. Each year seems better than the last and this year will surely be ing, and the parties are free! no exception! Visit www.tradewindsradio.com and www.cruisingoutpost.com for the full itinerary. New Year’s Eve Fireworks in Union Island Bequia Mount Gay Music Fest in January 2016 Heather Grant reports: Union Island, also Top quality acts with broad-based appeal for all musical tastes, consistently in St. Vincent & the Grenadines, is anoth- excellent organization and presentation, and outstanding support from sponsors er great place to be this New Year’s Eve. have all led to Bequia’s unique musical event proudly reaching its 13th anniversa- Don’t miss the fabulous fireworks display, ry. The Bequia Mount starting at midnight and visible from Gay Music Fest 2016 will Clifton town and Clifton Harbour. Party take place January 21st all evening in Clifton and then join the through 24th. throngs of partygoers in the road, danc- Built around the hugely ing to the music, singing, and grooving popular annual one-night- to the ambiance. Or watch from your only Bequia performance yacht in the harbour. It will be truly magi- of Basil Charles’ Mustique cal. Blues Festival, showcasing The fireworks display is sponsored by Erika’s Marine Services, Anchorage Yacht the London Blues Band Club, Palm Island Resort and the