C A R I B B E A N On-line C MPASS APRIL 2016 NO. 247 The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore SAILING ON A CLOUD Story on page 20 SEA CLOUD CRUISES APRIL 2016 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 2 The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore www.caribbeancompass.com APRIL 2016 • NUMBER 247 Hey, Readers! If you’d like to receive notification by e-mail when each month’s new Compass HARRIS VENEMA is available online, just drop a note to [email protected] and we’ll put you on the list — it’s as easy as that! DEPARTMENTS Info & Updates ......................4 Book Review ......................... 44 Business Briefs .......................8 Readers’ Forum .....................45 Yachtie Eco-News .............................. 12 What’s on My Mind ............... 47 Regatta News........................ 13 Caribbean Market Place .....49 Appreciation Y2A ......................................... 19 Calendar of Events ...............52 Dominica celebrates ............. 11 Salty’s Beat ............................37 Classified Ads ....................... 53 Look Out For… ......................39 Meridian Passage .................53 How Jolly! The Caribbean Sky ...............40 Advertisers’ Index .................54 A Valentine’s Regatta ............16 Caribbean Compass is published monthly by Compass Publishing Ltd., The Valley, P.O. Box 727, TIM WRIGHT Anguilla, British West Indies. APRIL 2016 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 3 Tel: (784) 457-3409, Fax: (784) 457-3410, [email protected], www.caribbeancompass.com Editor...........................................Sally Erdle Advertising & Distribution........Tom Hopman [email protected] [email protected] Assistant Editor...................Elaine Ollivierre Administration......................Shellese Craigg [email protected] [email protected] Art, Design & Production......Wilfred Dederer The Divine DR [email protected] Caribbean Compass welcomes submissions of articles, news items, photos and drawings. Two shores to explore .......... 25 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 RORC 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. Caribbean 600 Fish Dishes ©2016 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. Eleven islands in 32 hours ... 17 Authentic island recipes ....... 42 ISSN 1605 - 1998 Cover Photo: Sea Cloud as seen from Sea Cloud II, which was built in 2001 as a sister ship. Sailing aboard the original 1931 Sea Cloud is a dream come true for sailor/writer D’Arcy O’Connor. See his story on page 20 My first experience in reading the Caribbean Compass changed my life dramatically. My husband, Peter, and I were spending hurricane season in Grenada, summer of 2002. I had just returned from St. George’s with wet laundry and the latest issue of the Caribbean Compass. I wanted an uninterrupted reading encounter. So I hung the laundry from every shroud and line. Two hours later, Peter snickered. “Uh, babe, the bed sheets went on walkabout, you know.” I wasn’t the only one to wander into a walkabout status when reading the Caribbean Compass. Peter quit his land job; formal schooling never materialized for the kids. We wanted to cruise these exotic islands. Thirty-five years later, we’ve circumnavigated the globe with our sons and have never looked back. I celebrate the Caribbean Compass for leading us into a rich and rewarding life full of adventure and knowledge. — Tina Dreffin bahamascatcharters.com 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. Santa Marta Cartagena Click Google Map link below to fi nd the Caribbean Compass near you! http://bit.ly/1fMC2Oy plete with shore power and water, plus clearance facilities, washrooms More dockage for and a laundry area. It is thanks to yachts in Barbados is the work of the Minister of Tourism now available thanks and International Transport Minister to the new facility in Richard Sealy and the Barbados Bridgetown’s Shallow Port Inc led by Chairman David Draft Harbour Harding and his board, especially Info Captain Billy Fergusson and Calvin Alkins and Acting CEO David Jean- Marie, all of whom went out of their & Updates way to make this a reality. For more information contact [email protected] or (246) 434-6100 EXT. 4202. More Yacht Berths in Barbados Barbados has extended its welcome to visiting yachts with the recent completion of a new Secure, Maintained and dock in the Shallow Draft Harbour at Bridgetown. The 600-foot long dock facility is com- Economical Moorings in Dominica Laurie Corbett reports: The Portsmouth Association of Yacht Security (PAYS), along with Offshore Passage Opportunities and the Government of Dominica, announce the significant progress of a program to provide a secure, properly maintained, yet economi- cal mooring system for the northern corner of Prince Rupert Bay in Dominica. Supplementing the eight safe moorings installed in past years, the present plan is to install 50 new moorings solely for the use of yachts visiting Dominica. Please note that it is intended that space will always be available in the secure part of the bay for those who prefer to use their anchor, and indeed the intention is to provide security for visitors while ensuring more boats can fit in the favoured areas. As of the end of “Yachtie Appreciation Week” in February [see report on page 11], ten new moorings have been placed in the Bay, seven new mooring blocks have been cast at the PAYS Pavilion on shore, and 40 more balls, tackles, lines, and pen- nants are in storage awaiting assembly and placement. The new moorings were available for free during Yachtie Appreciation Week this year, and will be available for US$10 per night for customers of any PAYS member for the remainder of the season. PAYS is an association of yacht service providers dedicated to providing, in the Prince Rupert Bay area of Dominica, a safe and enjoyable location for cruisers and charterers. Our members include government trained and licensed marine and land tour guides, taxi drivers, restaurant owners, and others. Our group cooperation has resulted in overnight anchorage patrols, safe mooring balls, regular group barbe- cues and entertainment, and other activities. —Continued on next page APRIL 2016 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 ers, marinas and storage facilities may be responsible. Offshore Passage Opportunities was begun by Hank Schmitt of New York as a crew In 2015 just four countries accounted for slightly more than 50 percent of all report- networking service and now has 1,900 members who rely on Hank for news, orga- ed crimes against yachts in the Caribbean: St. Vincent & the Grenadines (18), St. nized group passages and rallies, and now, charity opportunities. The major funds Lucia (9), Honduras (6) and French St. Martin (6). necessary for this project were raised among OPO members. The complete CSSN 2015 annual report is available at www.safetyandsecuritynet.com/ CHRIS DOYLE cssn-annual-report-2015-reported-crime-yachts-caribbean German Charter Guest Killed in Wallilabou, St. Vincent On March 4th, German charter guest Martin Arnold Griff, a 48-year-old IT manager, was reportedly shot and killed when two masked assailants boarded a yacht anchored at Wallilabou Bay on the west coast of the island of St. Vincent at approx- imately 1:30AM. —Continued on next page BEV BATE The Government of Dominica has demonstrated its support for this project by donating some of the money necessary for the construction of the mooring blocks, and promising an annual budget for their maintenance. Caribbean Yacht Crime 2015 Annual Report Available The all-volunteer Caribbean Safety and Security Net’s primary mission is the collec- tion and dissemination of accurate information relating to crimes against yachts in the Caribbean, enabling visiting sailors to make intelligent decisions about how and APRIL 2016 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 5 where they cruise. This is accomplished through the resources and information avail- able on their website (www.safetyandsecuritynet.com),