Barbados- 22 January 2024

We woke early and I had a swim. The water was warm and fresh. It was a bank holiday here and we were told that there will not be much open. We planned to visit the Harrison caves which were in land and decided to ring at 9.00am when they opened; however when we tried there was no answer. Their website said they were open. We decided to chance it and headed ashore where we left the dinghy at Independence Square. We found a taxi and negotiated the trip to the caves and the driver merrily pointed out buildings and landmarks on the way. They are used to cruise boats coming to the Island and when we told him we were not on a cruise ship he agreed to reduce his price.

As we left Bridgetown we went through a number of communities with little single-story houses and shacks painted in all sorts of colours. There was a certain charm about them although there were a number of run down shacks and abandoned wrecks. Some were well tended with plants outside and coloured stones and pots. There was clearly poverty and then we began to break out into green countryside with lots of trees and bushes and areas where there were no buildings and you got a greater sense of the Island and as we rose we could look back and see the coast behind us. There were some chickens, goats and cows grazing and it was very verdant and green and they must have quite a bit of rainfall here. The journey took about 35 minutes and the roads were quite rough with potholes etc. We arrived at the caves and it was an extensive and well-maintained centre with a number of attractions. We were first shown a film about the Island and it was interesting to learn that there are more British living here than any other Caribbean Island and that Barbados is the only Caribbean Island that is not volcanic and was created by two plates colliding and the Atlantic plate going under the South American plate. We were then taken to the entrance to the cave system where we were given a net cover for our hair and a hard hat!. We were taken down by a little train through tunnels and a roadway and there were lots of chambers where we saw lots of stalactites and stalagmites and underground waterways, It was very attractive and impressive. The caves had been known about for years but were properly developed for tourism in the 1970’s and opened to tourism about 5 years later. They are called Harrison caves after the person who owned the land.

We had a snack at the centre and then took the bus back t Bridgetown. This was quite a journey with the driver thinking he was Sterling Moss!! The driver would drive as fast as he could and we all wondered whether the bus would shake apart. It was cheap and got us back to Independence Square.  It went a slightly different route so we saw a bit more of the Island which was along the lines of what I have described.

We returned to Stormbird and we pulled up the anchor and moved in the bay nearer the town which should mean we do not have to go so far to town and so we hopefully are out of the reggae boats. Peter noticed that the bow rollers were not turning which made the anchor raising more difficult. He spent some time trying io free one of them. We then had rum punches as we watched the sun go down and had pasta pesto and a nice salad to go with it.

We are beginning to get to know Barbados a bit more.   

Reefing

I have been asked by one of the readers to explain more about our reefing systems and particularly the mainsail and I am sorry if I did not make this clearer before.

The Genoa and Staysail are on hydraulic furlers (rollers) and on the binnacle (by the wheel) there are in and out buttons for each sail so when we want to reef we loosen the sheet (rope) attached to the sail (to give is some slack) and then push the in button and it begins to roll the sail onto the furler. This means that we can roll in as much as we like so we can reef; accordingly, however the more you reef the sail begins to lose its shape. The Genoa and Staysail are like gears really and if you move from Genoa to Staysail then you are effectively reefing by reducing sail. Basically you fly the genoa until about 20-22 kts and then you would change down to the Staysail and then reef the Staysail if the wind gets too strong for a full Staysail.

In terms of the main I have what is called an in-furling main which means that the sail rolls on a metal cylinder/furler inside the mast. There is a hydraulic motor attached to it and buttons in and out at the binnacle. There is also a hydraulic ram in the boom which acts like an outhaul and pulls out the bottom of the sail again with its own in and out buttons. You therefore use them in tandem and when pulling out you use the main and outhaul buttons together. The important thing is that it is quite delicate and you need to do it carefully or it can jam. The best angle to bring out the main is to have the wind 30 degrees on the port side as that is the optimum for its slot and ideally you do the same when putting away. However if the wind is behind and I center the boom it will go in. On each side of the boom we have marked 4 reefing points and a storm point. So when we want to reef we do short little busts of the in buttons on the main and outhaul and it slowly comes in and we do not always need to always center the main or have it at the angle 30 degrees to port. If we treat it carefully then it works and have learnt how to work it. Hallberg Rassy are very good at inputting these systems and I inherited them when I bought the boat. However what it does mean is that we never have to leave the cockpit to reef and can do it all from the binnacle, which is a safe, quick and effective system.

The blog will continue as we explore Barbados and beyond.

If you have any comments or suggestions about the blog do email me on hine.nick9@gmail.com  I can only upload one picture a day.