C A R I B B E A N FREE C MPASS JANUARY 2012 NO.NO. 196196 TheThe Caribbean’sC Monthly Look at Sea & Shore ARC 2011 See story page 18 MARTIN MAIER JANUARY 2012 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 2 DEPARTMENTS Info & Updates ......................4 Island Poets ...........................42 Business Briefs .......................8 Dolly’s Deep Secrets ............43 Eco-News .............................. 10 The Caribbean Sky ...............44 Regatta News........................ 12 Cooking with Cruisers ..........45 Destinations ........................... 21 Readers’ Forum .....................46 Meridian Passage .................22 Calendar of Events ...............49 The Caribbean’s Monthly Look at Sea & Shore All Ashore… .......................... 35 Caribbean Market Place .....50 www.caribbeancompass.com Book Review ......................... 41 Classified Ads ....................... 54 Sailor’s Horoscope ................ 42 Advertisers’ Index .................54 JANUARY 2012 • NUMBER 196 Caribbean Compass is published monthly by Martinique: Ad Sales & Distribution - Isabelle Prado Compass Publishing Ltd., P.O. Box 175 BQ, Tel: (0596) 596 68 69 71, Mob: + 596 696 74 77 01 Bequia, St. Vincent and the Grenadines. [email protected] Tel: (784) 457-3409, Fax: (784) 457-3410 Puerto Rico: Ad Sales - Ellen Birrell Pull It Out [email protected] 787-504-5163, [email protected] Caribbean Calendar 2012 .....27 www.caribbeancompass.com Distribution - Sunbay Marina, Fajardo Olga Diaz de Peréz DEAN BARNES Editor...........................................Sally Erdle Tel: (787) 863 0313 Fax: (787) 863 5282 [email protected] [email protected] Assistant Editor...................Elaine Ollivierre St. Lucia: Ad Sales & Distribution - Maurice Moffat [email protected] Tel: (758) 452 0147 Cell: (758) 720 8432. Advertising & Distribution........Tom Hopman [email protected] [email protected] St. Maarten/St. Barths/Guadeloupe: Art, Design & Production......Wilfred Dederer Ad Sales & Distribution Stéphane Legendre Mob: + 590 690 760 100 [email protected] [email protected] Accounting............................Shellese Craigg St. Thomas/USVI: Ad Sales - Ellen Birrell Match This! [email protected] 787-504-5163, [email protected] Distribution - Bryan Lezama Unisex yacht racing .............17 Compass Agents by Island: Tel: (340) 774 7931, [email protected] Antigua: Ad Sales & Distribution - Lucy Tulloch Tel (268) 720-6868 St. Vincent & the Grenadines: [email protected] Ad Sales - Shellese Craigg Los Roques [email protected] Tel: (784) 457 3409 Barbados: Distribution - Doyle Sails Distribution - Doc Leslie Tel: (784) 529-0970 Isles of peace and beauty ...... 22 Tel/Fax: (246) 423-4600 JANUARY 2012 CARIBBEAN COMPASS PAGE 3 Tortola/BVI: Ad Sales - Ellen Birrell Curaçao: Distribution - Budget Marine Curaçao 787-504-5163, [email protected] [email protected] Tel: (5999) 462 77 33 Distribution - Gladys Jones Tel: (284) 494-2830, Fax: (284) 494-1584 Dominica: Distribution - Hubert J. Winston Dominica Marine Center, Tel: (767) 448-2705, Trinidad: Ad Sales & Distribution - Chris Bissondath, [email protected] Tel: (868) 222-1011, Cell: (868) 347-4890, CHRIS DOYLE [email protected] Grenada/Carriacou/Petite Martinique: Ad Sales & Distribution - Karen Maaroufi Venezuela: Ad Sales & Distribution - 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 short 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. Trinidad & Tobago Hang Out Here ©2012 Compass Publishing Ltd. All rights reserved. No reproduction, copy or transmission of this publication, except Doyle sees pros and cons ...... 24 Cruisers’ living rooms ........... 32 short excerpts for review purposes, may be made without written permission of Compass Publishing Ltd. ISSN 1605 - 1998 Cover photo: Martin Maier’s bird’s-eye view of the Class 40 Vaquita eating up the miles to St. Lucia in ARC 2011 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. “Thank you for years of great entertainment and knowledge presented in Caribbean Compass, my favorite read each month.” — Captain Art Ross USCG Licensed Master New Hope, Pennsylvania 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 Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou Navigation Hazard Removed Under the auspices of the Carriacou Port Authority, Tyrrel Bay Yacht Haulout and Arawak Divers removed the last of the floating debris left from the sinking of the Phebeana Corion last September. The debris has been piled on shore just south of the commercial jetty in Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou. Georg Schmitt of Arawak Divers, who did the underwater work, advises that there is still a considerable amount of non-floating debris in the form of ropes and lines, the old engine, and a couple of anchors, which they were not able to raise. Info Therefore, although the wreck is no longer a hazard to navigation it continues to be a hazard to anchoring at 12°27.490’N and 61°29.134’W. There are currently some seven or eight fish pots and mooring buoys around the site but none of those are & Updates permanent markers. For this and other useful notices visit www.safetyandsecuritynet.com/NEWS. Trinidad & Tobago’s State of Emergency Ended Sailing by the Volcano The State of Emergency (SOE) designed to combat crime in Trinidad & Tobago If you’ll be sailing to or past the volcanically active island of Montserrat, be aware ended at midnight on December 5th, 2011. Prime Minister Kamala Persad-Bissessar of the new Hazard Level System, had declared the State of Emergency on August 21st, 2011, imposing a curfew in cer- which was updated on tain land and sea areas of Trinidad, including Chaguaramas. Tobago remained cur- November 4th, 2011, and check few free. It is reported that crime fell during the 106 days that the SOE was imposed. the hazard level within the two For more information contact John Stickland at [email protected]. Maritime Exclusion Zones. The Soufrière Hills Volcano erupted Caribbean Marine Association Concludes Technical Assistance Project violently in 1995, leaving large The Caribbean Marine Association (CMA) recently completed a technical assis- portions of the island covered in tance project aimed at building the CMA’s capacity for policy dialogue and pro- ash, and has rumbled now and motion of the regional yachting sector. then ever since. The project ran from January to September 2011. It was supported by the Centre The new Hazard Level System for Development of Enterprise (CDE, www.cde.int), which contributed Euro 29,738 to has replaced the Alert Level the overall project budget of Euro 44,927; the remainder was contributed by the System and is not related to the CMA in cash and kind. old Alert Level. The Hazard Level During the life of the project, the CMA was successful in completing the following: System divides the southern two- • Hosting of the CMA Annual General Meeting and appointment of the new Board thirds of Montserrat into five zones, of Directors (2011-2013). At this meeting, the core priorities for the CMA were identified; with two Maritime Exclusion Zones. • Development of the CMA website (www.caribbeanmarineassociation.com) into Access permission for each of an informative and interactive website for CMA members and interested parties. The these zones is dependent on the website development included training for the CMA member associations which will Hazard Level, which ranges from 1 allow for country-specific updates. The reconfigured CMA website is a portal for (least threat) to 5 (highest threat). information on the yachting sector, events and services available in the region; One of the Maritime Exclusion • Increased visibility of the CMA through the publication of press releases to key Zones is off the island’s west yachting and tourism publications and organizations; coast, extending two kilometres • Development of the CMA work-plan, which will be used as a tool for implemen- offshore between Sturge Point tation, development of policy positions, and lobbying and advocacy to govern- and O’Garra’s. The other is off the ments and key stakeholders and strategic partners. island’s east coast, extending four In concluding this project, CMA President John Duffy stated, “The revitalization of kilometers offshore between the CMA is essential to the increasing recognition of yachting in the Caribbean’s Roche’s Yard and Spanish Point, tourism industry… The CMA needs to be the authoritative voice on yachting matters decreasing to two kilometres off- in the Caribbean and much of this project was directed at establishing this position. shore from Spanish Point to Pelican Ghaut (see waypoints on map). We are only on the