Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten

Today we had hoped to depart for the BVIs but we were both feeling a bit under the weather and the wind had picked up quite a bit. We decided to delay a day and had a quiet day on the boat. Venturing ashore for a beer at the Lady C early evening, where quite a crowd of locals were gathered for an early doors beer. It was quite a good atmosphere, there are various pictures on the wall of drunken antics apparently centred around the friendly Irish barmen who is still there now. I think perhaps Kevin was disappointed to have missed the St. Patrick’s day celebrations which two girls attended apparently wearing only drawn on shamrocks!

Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten

   Today we decided to explore the island of Sint Maarten a little further by visiting the capital, Philipsburg. After our usual morning expresso we headed off in the dingy to the Sint Maarten Yacht Club dingy dock where we could catch a bus opposite. Like the other islands we have visited in the Caribbean, Sint Maarten has a local minibus service and for the grand fee of 1.50$USD each we could travel across the island to Philipsburg. Although the currency is nominally I think Dutch Gilders in Sint Maarten everything is labelled in USD$ and Gilders and you can even withdraw $USD at the cashpoints.

 

The anchorage / docks at Philipsburg

The journey to Philisburg is quite pleasant turning along the coast at the border to Saint Martin, the French side of the island and climbing up hill to skirt the coast all the way until turning inland along the large lagoon behind Philipsburg. It was not a particularly pretty looking town the most interesting landmark was a bar made from an old passenger airplane on the outskirts. We were dropped at the end of the bus route and got directions to the main promenade along the coast – Front Street, accompanied by Back Street running parallel behind it, a common naming convention in the islands.

The promenade/Beach at Philipsburg

The promenade is bordered by wide white sand beach and a lovely anchorage with very clear water. The promenade is wide and restaurants line the shore, overshaddowed by the ever present cruise liners in dock which tower over the building of the town. Walking down a side road we were confronted by the lovely wooden old courthouse building recently restored. Unfortunately that was where the charm of Philipsburg also ended. We were amused first of all by the number of jewellery shops nearby including a Tiffany’s. Then we realised that literally 90% of the shops on both Front and Back Street were jewellery shops. Obviously the duty free shopping for the cruise ships have dominated trade, but even so it is hard to see how there could possibly be enough trade to support all those shops.

The courthouse at Philipsburg

We had come to buy a new kettle (ours was unsuccessful in it’s dive off the hob in a swell and the handle was now attached only at one end) and a new hard drive possibly for the laptop (electronic stores were also supposed to be plentiful here) which died crossing the Atlantic. We were not successful on either mission in the town centre and were directed to a shop called Blue Point on the edge of town. Luckily here we found a really helpful guy who replace RAM and processor in turn to find that the motherboard itself was gone and the laptop was definitely unsalvageable. We decided to get a 1TB external hard drive to replace it, this laptop being mainly used as a backup anyway. Further walking we found our kettle and a supermarket, the best we have seen in months and fully ladened we returned back to the boat. Pleased to have seen a little more of the island albeit a bit disappointing.

Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten

Sunday was a quite day, doing accounts, catching up on email and a bit of blog writing. There is no end of coming and going as we are right beside the bridge channel with enormous superyachts and normal yachts coming in and out and anchoring beside us, you don’t need TV.

Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten

The island of Saint Martin (French side) and Sint Maarten (Dutch side) is the smallest divided land mass in the world and the two sides have been living in perfect harmony since 1648, when the island was divided according to legend by a walking race between the head Frenchman and the head Dutchman of the time to create the border. It is a mecca for sailing yachts having the best chandleries in the Caribbean and to add to the effect is duty free too.

We headed in the dingy under the road bridge which opens three times a day to admit yachts into the very large lagoon (the French-dutch border subdivides), all of the marine business are on the waters edge. We went to the first dingy dock we saw and walked down the road past large cinemas, hotels and casinos, there were lots of shops and big luxurious four wheel drives on the road, yet at the same time the pavements are rough and uneven or absent. Although the duty free formula and location appear to have brought the money into St. Martin/Sint Maarten, the infrastructure is still less well developed.

We managed to find a large Budget Marine, where we also realised we had walked the wrong way to check in. We headed back to the dingy and then back over the bridge by foot to check in, a very slow process with big queues (lots of superyacht agents with handfuls of passports) so decided to treat ourselves to lunch out. We had a fairly average lunch with undrinkable tea and coffee then headed to Island Water World by dingy. Here we managed to spend a fair bit of money on fishing tackle (obviously) and a USB Wifi signal booster as the computer shops we went to had never even heard of them. The staff at Island Water World seemed quite determined that we should spend no money at all and despite ignoring us and sending us to unstaffed areas to wait, eating lunch at the till and sending us to the one neighbouring one (I should point out there were at least 8 staff in the shop and most of the time we were the only customers). The guy who appear to be the boss (American I think) was very helpful but the whole process took about 30-40 minutes and 20minutes of that was trying to get people to help us.

We went back to the boat and decided to move to the other side of the bay as the swell had picked up over night and still had not died down. We go a good spot and plugged in our new Wifi Aerial and although it did boost the signal, it is still quite poor. We decided to head out for the evening, Kevin had seen an offer for 11.95USD, all you can eat ribs and could not resist the challenge! We had a beer first at the Sint Maarten sailing club and then onto to the Lady C floating bar and neighbouring Pizza Galley. It was a really good evening and very good service which made a really nice change!

Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten

Friday was the first race of the 14th St. Barts Bucket 2009, around the island, the staggered starts based on the rating system starting at 11am for the 35 boats participating ranging from the massive and always impressive Maltese Falcon (289ft) to Wild Horses (76ft), all but the last three entrants being over 100ft LWA.



The bustle of race day in the harbour of Gustavia

I went in early to check us out of St. Barts as we planned to leave after the start of the first race to go to Sint Maarten. After taking my life into my hands negotiating superyachts, race dingies, superyachts dingies, spectator dingies, film crew dingies and the crush and swell at the dingy dock I arrive at the Capitainerie, shaking slightly by unscathed. Luckily the younger friendlier assistant that had visited our boat by RIB was on duty and didn’t ask for any extra paperwork though did charge us 22 Euros for anchoring two nights.



The majestic Maltese Falcon cruising the azure waters of St. Barts

There was a real party atmosphere in St. Barts though and activity everywhere, some of the boats were heading out already and there were a lot of people in crew uniforms on deck looking busy with sails etc. It really is impressive just how many crew they have on these big racing yachts. Some are old classics like the old J-class of the Americas Cup fame and others are carbon fibre fat head sail modern racers. Some just looked like luxury cruisers with such big coachouse/deck saloons you can’t imagine that they are competitive although according to the programme the organisers insist that it is the winner of the party that counts in the St. Bart’s bucket. Can’t imagine convincing someone who has spend multimillions of pounds on a yacht and a crew of 20 plus to race it that it is not the race winning that counts, but still…



Competitor yachts circling the Les Saintes rocks – the start line for the St Barts Bucket

We had by chance ended up opposite the start line on our boat so we watched them all circling, then hosting sail and finally building up speed to pass over the line to a horn from the start boat. To be honest it was very confusing at first what was going on and it was certainly sometime after 11am when the first boat started, however it was fantastic to see these enormous yachts undersail. Especially the futuristic Maltese Falcon, for whom even sail handling is automated as they are deployed on wires and the booms rotate to wind so he didn’t even have to circle round, merely hove-to but adjusting the angle of the foresail.



The last starter – ICAP racing yacht – note the large crew on deck

The start took about two hours and we left to landward of the last competitor a fantastic super racer with an amazing number of crew. We crossed the bay under motor with just the genoa up when we hooked our first fish, another barracuda and within literally 5 minutes of releasing him we had a Crevalle Jack. As we headed north to pass to the west of Ile Fourche to cross the 15 miles to Sint Maarten I saw the first of the competitors coming round the north of the island. The speed that these things travel I soon deduced that we were about to be on the race track, so decided to bear off and take us further west. We did get to see them travelling downwind with spinnakers (very large light head sails) then dousing those to turn round Ile Fourche and head back into Rade de Gustavia.



Crevalle Jack

We were also passed by another Mahe 36 on our way to St. Maarten only the second we have seen since leaving La Rochelle and the first under sail. They were obviously less excited than us and didn’t even wave. We were soon in to Simpson Bay. St. Maarten where we dropped our anchor outside the lagoon in beautiful clear blue water, surrounded on all side by hotels, this is really a different side to the Caribbean as we now head into the more touristy islands to the north west.



The St. Bart’s Bucket race rounding the Ile Fourchue

Rade de Gustavia, Saint Barthélémy

Thursday morning the first job was for me to go and check us in with customs, dispose of some rubbish and get some fresh supplies at the supermarket. We were just literally lowering the dingy when the harbourmasters rib came out to ask us if we had check in, this being only 9.30am we explained we were literally just leaving to do so. We were surprised at their enthusiasm as this is a French dependency our English passports are not even stamped.

I dingied round the busy bay into the harbour which was an amazing sight, to the south there were half a dozen super motor yachts all moored stern to the docks and to the north there was 8-10 super sailing yachts moored stern to. This rather disguises the size of these boats, having no normal comparison in the photos, but I assure you from our little dingy they were very impressive.


Super motoryachts at St. Barts


St. Bart's Bucket competitors lined up on the dock

I managed to find a spot in the dingy dock despite the 1-2m swell and the abundance of dingies which I had to muscle through and went straight to the Capitainerie to check in. There were several skippers in there already apparently from the superyachts taking part in the Bucket and there check in was quite straight forward. When the harbour master took my mine he insisted that he did not agree with the beam measurement of our catamaran and because this is not a field on the UK SSR (Small Ships Registration) papers he insisted on me bringing further papers when I checked out. The other skippers were supportive of me but he was insistent, I could not work out why as we were only anchoring until he told me that we were to be charged to anchor in the bay by our area (in square metres). I don’t begrudge paying to anchor in a marine reserve or harbour where there is a cost associated with upkeep or a benefit is being derived but having had little sleep listening to chain on rocks in the only area left just outside the bay this seemed a little excessive, especially when this has never been queried in marinas where our beam does actually affect their ability to moor another boat alongside.

I had a wander round the town which is beautiful, well kept and with more designer shops in such a small area than I have seen anywhere, I could not believe the difference from Dominica just a few miles south of us. The other people walking around seemed to be in uniform of belted khaki shorts and polo shirt with boat shoes (men) or designer outfits for the women. I felt a little out of place in my usual vest top and shorts and decided to return to the boat after the supermarket.


Beautiful streets and exclusive shops of St Barts

In the afternoon we both went for a snorkel off the boat in the lovely clear water, Kevin saw a Turtle, school of Tarpon and Crevalle jacks which I just missed on all occasions, but there were lots of little reef fish too. We didn’t stay in too long though as we were on the path of several superyacht tenders (inboard diesel engines, uniformed crew, leather-look seating) which were delivering guest back and forth all afternoon. We were both rather tired and settle down with a book and had an early night


Sleek J-Class Classic Yacht under full sail with the island of Saba in the background



Small arcade of your usual high street stores in St Barts – Hermes, Ralph Lauren and Cartier

Rade de Gustavia, Saint Barthélémy

We were up at 5am this morning, before daylight, hard to imagine that only a year ago I was up at this time most mornings for work. We had breakfast and dropped the mooring just as it came light, leaving Jolly Harbour at 5.45am. Today we will pass to the north of several smaller islands which we plan to visit on our return journey south for the hurricane season – Nevis, St. Kitts, Statia and Saba.

It was a pleasant beam reach to St. Barts although we had 70 miles to do before nightfall so we needed to press on, the wind was with us though a beam reach all the way, compromised only by the need to balance boat speed with fishing speed! However, we were rewarded with 2 barracuda (released) and the biggest tuna caught so far, additionally we had another tantalising encounter with a marlin. I was resting my eyes for just a moment on the cockpit seat after our early start when Kevin work me to say there was a marlin just behind the boat and when I looked up I saw a dorsal fin in the water just behind the boat (about 20ft back). This is apparently classic hunting behaviour as the decide which fish / lure to attack one of the reels started screaming but only briefly and when Kevin pull in the line the leader (line leading to the lure) was ragged but the bait untouched.


Our biggest tuna yet!

The last hour or two getting to St. Barts were quite anxious as we were keen to arrive before dark, however luck was with us as a big squall descended obscuring the view of the entire island when we were about 7 miles away and provided 20 knots winds to boost our arrive. We dropped anchor at 5.45 into the only spot we could find, as it was very very busy for the annual St. Barts Bucket race when all of the classic / superyachts get together for three races over the weekend. It was like superyacht soup, not only with super sailing yachts there for the race but also super motor yachts there for the party and lots of normal yachts there to watch.

Kevin got straight to processing the tuna in the approaching dark whilst I tidied up and we had a lovely meal of (very) fresh tuna fillets and potato wedges before getting an early night after a long day. However, sleep was to prove elusive as by 11pm we were up again with the anchor dragging, the first time ever since we bought this one, but you tell from the growling sound of chain on rock that the holding was not good. We then had the unenviable task of reanchoring in the dark on a crowded anchorage. Luckily we did manage to find some sand on this occasion and it dug home, though some of the chain was still grating and sleep was rather intermittent.

Jolly Harbour, Antigua

On Tuesday we thought we really ought to snap out of lethargy and make the next step towards the BVI’s before the hurricane season is upon us. We had really enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere and beautiful surroundings of English Harbour but as we have been warned by several cruisers in the past, if you get too comfortable in a place you may end up there forever and indeed in every anchorage we arrive in there is always one or two yachts with liveaboarders who look like they are there to stay. As the next step to St. Barts is a fairly long hop to do in our favoured day hops, we are moving the boat round to the other side of Antigua today and then heading away at first light to St. Barts the following day.

The trip round to Jolly Harbour is only a couple of hours though the west side of Antigua is strewn with reefs and has a depth of only 5m for several miles out so you have to pay attention. However because of that the water was a fantastic blue and we enjoyed being out at sea again even if under motor. On the way we had a great view of Monserrat to the south west which had a catastrophic eruption of it’s volcano – Galway’s Soufriere in August 1997, when the entire south of the island was buried in dust thrown 10,000m into the air, the capital of Plymouth had already been evacuated as the volcano had been active since 1995 but still several lives were lost. When we pass the volcano still seemed to be smoking infact, the exclusion zone is still in place for the south of the island.


Monserrat - still smoking?

Jolly Harbour was apparently a swamp area which has been dredged and reclaimed and is now a large resort covering acres of land consisting of a large lagoon lined on all sides by apartments with their own docks and a hotel, casino, boatyard and marina. There is an anchorage to the south of the channel on the way in but we decided to motor in and have a look around first. It was obviously all built a few years ago and mostly in concrete though it is fairly well done the low docksides make it feel a bit like a canal side within the lagoon. We had to go and check out of Antigua with customs and immigration as soon as we arrived so decided to pick up a mooring in the entrance to the lagoon and went in for a wander round. There were a couple of super yachts but this place clearly doesn’t have the following of Falmouth and English Harbour. The centre itself has a few shops and restaurants, car hire etc but the concrete architecture makes it look a bit dreary.

We found the marina office to pay for our mooring where we were met with the usual surly service which is unfortunately fairly wide spread in the Caribbean. Although we were pleasantly surprised at by the reception at Customs and Immigration a little up the waterside where the officials were very pleasant and welcoming and despite the usual forms in carbonised triplicate it was over quite painlessly. Anyhow we had a beer in the Dog Watch bar in the marina complex to say our goodbyes to Antigua before heading back to the boat.

We’d been warned by Ian about the mosquitoes in Jolly Harbour (the bay is called Mosquito Bay) and we saw the first before sunset as we were sat in the cockpit reading, the biggest we have seen so far and quickly escaped indoors closing/flyscreening all hatches rapidly. This didn’t prevent one persistent brute from flying past Kevin’s ear just as we were getting to sleep which wakes you up again very abruptly, particularly as you then have to switch on all the light to find the thing again. We gave up though after a while and decided to spray the whole room as we were tired with an early start and a big day ahead. While having a cup of tea upstairs in the saloon waiting for the air to clear the mosquito appeared again, luckily the electric swatter which my dad had brought out (a tennis bat with a current running through the strings) soon killed him and we finally got to sleep.

Freeman's Bay, English Harbour, Antigua

We depart tomorrow for Jolly Harbour and said our goodbyes to Ian and Tracy today and picked up some fresh bread etc. I went to try out a local bookshop recommended by Ian and Tracy to see about a pilot book for Central America to see if we might be able to manage it early next season, but was not impressed with the details of those on sale and decided to try on the internet. I swam ashore to the beach this morning and had a little walk around the bar and small hotel / bungalows along the shore this morning, swimming back from the other end. Kevin spent sometime on the internet researching what we may do after our travels which kept him busy all day as we have a rather intermittent Wifi signal.

Freeman's Bay, English Harbour, Antigua

Today being Mother’s Day in the UK, I spent a good deal of time on Skype to family today. Kevin decided to push ahead on his advantage using the leftover chicken and stock to make a risotto. We spent sometime on the pilot books today deciding where to go next and are planning to head round to Jolly Harbour Antigua then on to St. Barts, where the St. Bart’s Bucket races are due to soon be held, a forerunner to the Antigua Classic week. St. Bart’s is another French island, though somewhat exclusive following planning rules requiring single large well landscaped plots which has resulted in very large houses and apparently virtually no crime. There was virtually no wind today and in the evening we were rewarded with a fantastic sunset and unfortunately flying ants with it which invaded the deck and sent us inside, we decided against the Fort Shirley barbecue after hearing that there were now entrance fees etc and the barbecue was rather over priced but enjoyed the sound of the steel pan band which reverberated over Freeman’s Bay. We enjoyed more Patrick O’Brien aboard instead, I am now on the last one and Kevin number 19, so we will soon emerge from our POB stagnation!


Beautiful sunset over the anchorage

Freeman's Bay, English Harbour, Antigua

Today we had a fairly leisurely day, Ian and Tracy came over to swap iPods back and everyone agreed they were ready for a quiet night. I did a bit of reading, swimming and catching up on the blog whilst Kevin prepared one of his favourites ginger chicken which he cooks in the pressure cooker to save gas and results in falling off the bone tender chicken which he assured me I would like. To economise the gas, of which we have limited supplies, he brings it up to pressure two to three times during the afternoon and switches off the heat which results in a slow cooker type affect. After the second pressurisation we decided to go for a walk ashore to the headland opposite us, Fort Berkley.


Kevin taking aim

The fort now consists of a guardhouse, powder store and one canon though the original emplacements and walls still stand and it gave a lovely viewpoint out to sea. The headland is quite stunning and the water clear though crashing in, undercutting the stone to create low arches from centuries of wear. We had a quick beer in the old Galley building but there were lots of very loud yachties in there who were disturbing our quiet reading of the free yachting newspapers with their tales of poor service on airlines etc and their witty and usually rude retorts to the poor staff which is rarely interesting when retold. We retired to the boat where Kevin had promised me The War of The Worlds album (recent swap from Ian & Tracy) followed by chicken. Perhaps not every newly wed vegetarians dream evening, but I have to say I did enjoy both. I am not sure I would yet order chicken from a menu over fish for example, but we’ll see.


Fort Berkley

Freeman's Bay, English Harbour, Antigua

Today was the final stage of the boat jobs to clean the boat from top to bottom now that all the maintenance was finished for now. We were expecting Tracy & Ian to pop over for iPod swaps and as their boat was spotless when they showed us round we thought we better make sure Invincible was too. We also popped to the shops for some fresh supplies. I have finally relented after 22 years as an ever decreasing vegetarian (I now eat fish) and I have said to Kevin that I will try some chicken to make life easier for cooking onboard; so he doesn’t only get meat when people visit or we eat out. So he made sure were straight to the shop to buy some!


Views of Freeman's Bay


Views of Freeman's Bay

Ian and Tracy came round in the late afternoon and had the grand tour, they have been slowly wavering towards the extra living space on a catamaran and so made suitable noises of approval about Invincible. I then trained Ian up on the iPod software I have to swap tracks and we swapped iPods for the evening. They also invited us to the Wild Mongoose bar’s Happy Hour to meet some other cruising friends of theirs – Tim & Bev from Keighley who came across on the ARC. Tim is an ex-undertaker and so had some very funny inside stories to tell us! As these things go the couple of drinks turned into several more and then a pizza on the way home so I had a stay of execution on my chicken eating!

Freeman's Bay, English Harbour, Antigua

Thursday was day 2 of jobs, I was still on metal polishing, Kevin was working on cleaning up the hull which gets smeared with black ink each time the portlights (windows) get wet. Apparently this happens in even the top end of the range catamarans too and the black takes quite a bit of cleaning to remove. I think they are Goiot portlights, so not a Foutaine Pajot fault, anyway, we have just tried smearing some Vaseline round them for now to see if that seals them a bit.

In the afternoon we had a visit from Ian on Loon that we met briefly in Grenada he and Tracy are also planning to visit Central America so we have been in touch on email hoping to meet up to discuss in more detail. We hadn’t realised they had arrived in Antigua yet, though they are actually moored fairly close, so we met them for sundowners which ended up seeing the sun over the horizon by someway and something of the moon and stars too. It was a really good night though although I think at least Tracy and I are feeling slightly the worse for wear today.


View into English Harbour from Invincible

Freeman's Bay, English Harbour, Antigua

Well we didn’t make it to Shirley Heights yesterday afternoon by the time we had finished our shopping and then a rain shower started, so we put that off for another day, perhaps Sunday when they have a barbecue and entertainment which has been highly recommended by several people. We decided as the boat was now rinsed from the few recent squalls that we would do some boat jobs. I was on metal polishing, rust removal, cleaning which even on a small boat like ours it took all day – though we do allow a generous lunch break as it is too hot to sit on deck polishing during the heat of the day. Kevin managed to fix the prop on our outboard engine, a job that had been needing doing for sometime. It seems that all outboard props are now connected with the shaft via a rubber bush which if you contact the bottom shears the rubber as we did going to Janti’s Happy Island (and every other boat visiting that night too). The old method I gather was a shear pin which would snap before your prop did and you could replace it, now if the rubber shears you have to buy a whole new prop for £150! Anyway, of three boats we discussed this with, all had managed to shear the rubber so obviously selling props is a good business to be in, except everyone found the cost so excessive that they have just drill bolts etc through the casing to stop it shearing. Kevin first tried Araldite which held for a while, but has now engineered three screws of exactly the right length that the dog ends only penetrate the inner casing and therefore it still has the ability to snap before the prop itself smashes which he was quite proud of. A trial run to the chandlery showed we can now get full revs without the prop slipping hurray!


View across to Fort Berkley from the back of the boat

English Harbour, Antigua

Today is a quieter day catching up on the blog, collecting the washing etc, though we are hoping to get up to Shirley heights a fortification on the hillside above English Harbour which gives views over both that and Falmouth harbour and also apparently fantastic sunsets so we are planning on heading up this afternoon. Photos to follow later.

English Harbour, Antigua

Monday was finally time for our sightseeing tour of the Dockyard museum which is housed in the old Clerk’s house, there are displays on two floors and lots of old photos archaeological remains, accounts of life at the time in the British Navy and Army and the building and history of the dockyard. The Patrick O’Brien series is renowned as one of the best researched historical novels of all time, nearly all of the events being actual battles and ships of the time but using fictional characters to portray the story therefore Nelson is referred to regularly as a hero of the Navy. It was also great to see the cannons and carronades mention plus detailed explanation of how they are loaded the different parts of the ship and even a model of the Diane and brig which Captain Aubrey commands in the series. We spent an hour or more in the museum reading all of the information and seeing the various artefacts. We had a beer in the Cooper and Lumber store now converted to a hotel which has been immaculately decorated with period furniture, although it does not serve English bitter as we had hoped. I then had a wander round the gift shops and Kevin round the boats before the squalls set in again and we decided to head back to the boat for more Patrick O’Brien reading, now I understood some of the terms better!


Looking forward to the entrance - Sail Loft & Guard House


Clerks House - now the Museum


Copper & Lumber Store

English Harbour, Antigua

Sunday being day of rest and also the Six Nations Rugby game between England and France, we had already decided that the day was a write off. We made our way to the French HQ which was showing all the games run by a very nice Parisian called Anthony who could not look more stereotypically French if he tried and who took the invasion of dozens of English rugby fans with great spirit. We were literally 3 minutes late for kick off and amazed to see 7 points on the board to England already, so despite the 11am kick off we decided like everyone else to have a beer to celebrate a good start. It was a fantastic and good spirited atmosphere, predominantly English supporters though with respectful applause for good French play and respect for their supporters cheers which is to be expected with rugby fans. The first half England played better than I have seen them play for years with try after try going into halftime with a score of 29 - 0. All the English fans, I think like ourselves had set themselves up to be disappointed and therefore were in very high spirits, commandeering the bell behind the bar to mark each try and conversion, amusingly returned by Tony when France managed to edge back slightly just after halftime at a rather muted volume contrasting with the louder and longer repetitions which each of England’s points had been greeted by the increasingly enthusiastic fans beside it.

The second half was rather move defensive on England’s side but was nevertheless very good entertainment and everyone was fairly merry, Tony graciously shook Kevin’s hand who was wearing an England shirt. Several people were straight onto their mobile to declare how they had just watched the game in Nelson’s Dockyard built predominantly to protect England’s interest against France and not only that but with the French HQ within it!

We retired to the nice café on the waterfront next and met a few people from other boats before returning back to the boat and not being used to lunchtime drinking I was in bed by 4pm!

English Harbour, Antigua

Saturday we started fairly early after a good night’s rest and read our Patrick O’Brien’s for a while before heading a shore to a much brighter sunny morning. We were quickly at English Harbour and had to attend to the formalities before we could start our sight seeing, first clearing customs and immigration and then getting some cash. We were mesmerised as soon as we walked into Nelson’s dockyard it is a beautiful oasis of the historic architecture of the Lesser Antilles’ brought all the more to light by the fact that we have both been obsessively read Patrick O’Brien’s Aubrey-Maturin series of novels set in that era around the British navy which made it feel as if you had stepped into the story. Although some of the structures such as the Sail Loft have not survived the enormous pillars which it stands upon have. The buildings have been put to use as a museum, a couple of pubs, a restaurant, cafes, gift shops, bakery etc and there is a lovely village feel to the place. Nelson apparently was less enamoured when he was here called it a hole of a place after he fell out with the local merchants for his enforcement of the navigation Act which prevented their lucrative trade with the US, at that time an enemy, not to mention the epidemic Yellow fever and mosquitoes which killed large numbers of those stationed there.


Kevin admiring the Classic Yachts


The Copper and Lumber Store - now a hotel and pub

However as much as we wanted to explore first we had to visit the customs and immigration where the usual form filling took about 40 minutes though was fairly straight forward. Next we went to get cash from the bank, the ATM being out of order I had to queue, not realising that with a bank holiday the day before, the ATMs had been out of order for 2 weeks following a run on the bank caused by a fraud case against one of the directors which meant our simple cash withdrawal took an hour. However, the others in the queue were mostly local and it was quite fun listening to their local gossiping and cries of exclamation when they saw the queue very well managed by the very nice security guard. It was now well past lunch time and we decided to have lunch at the cafe housed in the old galley building and over looking the capstan used for careening ships (cleaning the hulls by leaning them over) plus two beautiful classic yachts presumably here for the world famous Classic Regatta in April. We were so enamoured with the place we decided to shift to the anchorage as soon as we had had our lunch and take our time with our sightseeing over the next couple of days.

We therefore went back to Falmouth harbour picked up our anchor and motored round the headland into English harbour finally finding a spot in the crowded anchorage infront of Freeman’s beach where we spent a pleasant evening onboard.

Falmouth Harbour, Antigua

Another early start for our final leg north to windward, in the company of another larger Fountaine Pajot catamaran all the way across the channel, beating to windward and into the several squalls passing over however we arrived about 3.30pm into Falmouth Harbour decided to take the nearest bay as another big black squall could be seen just ahead. We found a spot to anchor fairly easily and indeed saw a few boats that we recognised from other anchorages on the way up. Falmouth Harbour is a very large bay surrounded by relatively low lying hills on each side dotted with local houses and some larger villas. There are several marinas which cater almost exclusively for the huge superyachts which berth here year round as their base for Caribbean tours usually under private charter. There is quite a selection of styles, they are not all gin palace motor yachts, some are large sailing yachts some are designed to look like old steam boats but all share a gleaming spotless appearance.

We were quite tired after several early starts and multiple sail changes for the squalls on the way across and confined ourselves for a short walk ashore planning to visit Nelson’s dockyard the major tourist attraction of Antigua the next day. There are a few cafes and restaurants plus yacht brokers, boutiques and sailing schools ashore, then a short walk past some local restaurants and houses takes you to the entrance to English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard the two separated by a headland only 200yds wide at it’s narrowest. It was a bit of grey rainy afternoon, half the places were shut for a national holiday and to be honest we were a little disappointed by our first impressions and decided to get an early night as look again the next day.

Anse Deshaies, Deshaies, Guadeloupe

Another early start to make our next leg north, again using our day hopping to take us to the North West corner of Guadeloupe a small fishing town called Deshaies. It was not the most inspiring of sail either being in a dead calm in the lee of the island or picking up a lumpy swell if standing off to get more wind. Sailing to windward is not a favourite for either of us, so a steady wet pounding day lightened only by me rigging the speakers so we could listened to music on the way. As the saying goes Gentlemen do not sail to windward and we are both looking forward to getting to Antigua where we can bear off the wind again to head west toward to the British Virgin Islands. The coast of Guadeloupe is quite heavily populated and had highways etc worthy of mainland France. However, due to an early start we made it to Deshaies by early afternoon and I went ashore to get our fresh baguettes for our salads which we now have for every meal, enjoying good fresh produce for a change.

Deshaie had a small harbour and a little estuary where a good dingy dock has been installed but it is not the most beautiful of towns, there were a number of disgruntled looking people hanging around the streets and the graffiti all around the town with the same slogan which unfortunately my school French lessons could not decipher but evidentially related to the recent unrest. There were other signs written on cardboard plaques covering another apparently government building the only word of which I could understand was town hall, but suggested that the dispute was not yet entirely settled. However, the local Spar the only shop in town was still well stock and I got our fresh goods and went back to the boat. There were quite a few more arrivals that evening, some arriving at some pace into a crowded anchorage after dark with varying degrees of skill at anchoring and we were happy to stay onboard.

Terre de Haut, Les Saintes

Today we decided to explore the town a little and we tempted to walk to Napoleon’s fort which we could see from the boat, however as we started walking (as we always seem to time in the full heat of the day) and discovered it to be much further than originally anticipated with no shade whatsoever we decided to confine ourselves to the town. It is beautifully kept with nice little squares, brightly painted French style houses, many small restaurants, boutiques and souvenirs shops. The town was buzzing with people, many of whom were tourists but also I think many local residents who all seemed to stop to pass the time of day together. It is said that in the small island of Terre de Haut which because of its arid and small land mass which made it unsuitable for plantations and therefore did not receive a new population of slaves that the people on Terre du Haut claim a direct ancestry to the Breton and Norman sailors who populated it and certainly the island has a very much minority black population and the locals seem to be predominantly European in looks.


Le Bourg high street


Le Bourg town square


Town church


Ferry Pier


View over anchorage - we are right at the back on the centre right

We really enjoyed the relaxed holiday atmosphere of Le Bourg and wondering around the town, however we’d had an interrupted night’s sleep with a swell that crept into the bay after dark and decided to move around into an anchorage off a beach on the south side of the island we spotted on the way in. So we motored round and dropped anchor in a bay with one other catamaran, the least crowded we have visited in the whole Caribbean so far. Unfortunately, the low isthmus in the centre of the beach and the headland to the east gave us winds from two directions at once which didn’t reveal themselves until we were anchor but which immediately threatened to trip the anchor, albeit they were at this stage quite light. We decided to ensure a decent sleep that night to drop out a kedge anchor too, so a small amount of additional faff we could relax again, take a swim and enjoy another fantastic fresh salad this time complete with authentic French baguettes (we were too late the first day) on the back of the boat in relative isolation.

Terre de Haut, Les Saintes

After a few days in the poorer island of Dominica the difference provided by the short sail to Les Saintes could not have been greater. Although the Maltese Falcon the most prestigious of yachts did pull into visit Dominica during Monday night, the small bay off the town of Le Bourg on Terre de Haut had a beautiful tall ship the Sea Cloud in at anchor with beautiful squared yards and prisitine decks as a direct contrast to the ultra sleek and modern revolving masts of the Falcon which we last saw in Mustique.


Terre de Haut, Le Bourg anchorage


Sea Cloud at anchor

Les Saintes is absolutely beautiful pair of islands which could be any town in the south of France, the hills of this island being considerably low than neighbouring Guadeloupe or Dominica the land is more arid looking adding to that feel of having been transported to the Mediterranean in full summer. The anchorage was fairly busy and the holding in places not so good but we managed to find a spot and I went ashore for fresh provisions. We were not sure what we would find following the strikes in Guadeloupe recently over the price of food which we had heard only the day before may still be ongoing. However, despite some gaps on the shelves we found supplies to be much better than anywhere we had been for sometime and stocked up on French cheeses, wines and cured meats. We enjoyed a salad on the back of the boat and a swim in the lovely clear water.

Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth, Dominica

Monday morning started fairly early with a 07:30am collection for our Indian River tour with Albert, who is one of the official guides. His boat was full with 6 others, an American family called the Williams, Cathy and Keith being on a 4 month Sabbatical. We headed into the entrance to the river passing the wrecked boats in the harbour which we noticed still had life rafts and RIBS on deck not to mention large bronze props still attached, not to mention the scrap value of the hulls themselves and were amazed once more that these have just been left to litter the shoreline.


Indian River

Once into the river, Albert lifted his outboard and took out his oars, diesel/petrol engines not being permitted in this now protected area, the boundary being the road bridge passing into the town. Within only yards of passing under the bridge though you could soon forget that you were near civilisation at all, with thick grow covering both banks, there is a branch heading into the swamp area to the south which is now no longer passable even by kayak. Albert told us how the large areas of swamp which surround Portsmouth prevented it from being the main settlement on Dominica it having the better harbour, as at one time the mosquitoes carried yellow fever and malaria though both now have been eradicated. He also explained that the river was once the reserve of the Carib Indians who lived in huts along the shore and fished the waters being thick with mullet especially which we could see just below the surface through the tour. The Carib people have now been resettled on the Atlantic side of the island in an area to which entrance is restricted. Albert said that if a local Dominican man wished to settle with a Carib lady then they would not be permitted to stay in the settlement but apparently local Dominican women are allowed to settle there with a Carib husband.


Tropical Garden


Bar down river


Hummingbird


Bougainvillea - apparently used locally to make rum punch!


Hand feeding a cheeky bird in the bar

We were paddled up the river for over a mile pausing to see herons poised to dive and iguanas which in these forested areas rest at the end of tree branches hidden amongst the leaves to catch the sun and would never have been spotted without Albert’s keen eyes. The roots of the trees are intricate and lie on the surface if the bank helping to prevent some of the soil erosion which is nonetheless making the navigable sections of the river sorted with each rainy season, the high land mass of Dominica getting more than it’s share of rainfall. Apparently part of the Pirates of the Caribbean films were shot in the river – the part where they visit a witch in her house. The houses were built and then dismantled on the rivers edge and the haunted look was manufactured by smoke machines. Albert proudly described how he was part of the crew of local boats recruited to help deliver props etc to the sets up river.

Now there are little signs of human life except one small gauge rail bridge installed by the British as part of the sugar plantation infrastructure when the island was under British rule. However, only a year after independence was granted in 1978 vast parts of the infrastructure of the island was destroyed by Hurricane David which took a direct hit on the island. Finally however we did arrive at a clearing where something of a garden has been formed with recreations of the Carib Indian huts have been made with a very rustic bar with tree trunk stumps as seats and tame finches flying throughout. We stretched our legs here and saw some of the beautiful plants and lots of hummingbirds and the sound of distant parrots before returning back to the boat to head back to modern day once more.

In the afternoon we went ashore briefly, this time leaving the dingy at a bar with a jetty and heading from the other side of town. We got a few provisions though the supplies are fairly limited and the prices relatively high. There is a certain amount of hassle from locals wishing to sell souvenirs as this island definitely has more signs of poverty than others which we have visited. However it was pleasant afternoon, a quick beer ashore as a thank you for the use of the dock and back to the boat where we got to see one of the tall ships which do cruises of the islands setting off under full sail towards the setting sun.


Cruise ship under full sail

Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth, Dominica

Sunday our traditional day of rest was just that having managed to get a much better night’s sleep with Saturday’s disco being further along the shore. I am on the usual blog updates and we have both been trying to catch up with a few emails when we can tear ourselves away from Patrick O’Brien’s series of books for long enough!

Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth, Dominica

Saturday we went to check in with customs and took our spot in the dingy dock which is given shelter by the wreck of one of the six large vessels wrecked on the shore in one of two hurricanes in the last 10 years and just left to rust there ever since. The dingy dock is actually at the entrance to the Indian river which we have booked a tour of for early Monday morning, as the trip can only be done under electric motor or oar, petrol outboards not being allowed. We eventually found the customs & immigration officer at his house, this being the weekend and the service being conducted on overtime from the young and friendly officers from room which was filled with the crews from four boats. His friends were outside playing basketball in the backyard and as he was dressed from head to toe in American basketball team gear, as was his female assistant that came in the process was done very speedily and efficiently. When asked how long we were staying we replied until Tuesday morning when the forecast is due to improve for our next longer hop north. We were told then that we could check out at the same time as well, we have been given a two week pass now, so can leave at anytime during that period, requiring a visit back only if we wish to stop longer. An excellent system which should be adopted elsewhere, to prevent the needless paperwork and two visits at each island on the chain which for short visits are a real inconvenience and for what real value it is hard to tell.


Wrecks line the shore in Portsmouth

We went along the main street of a time to explore, there being a market that day, however we were not keen to be gone long after Kevin had heard whispering outside the boat last night (which must have been very close considering the volume of the music). He got up and switched on a light and a pair of guys rowed away rapidly from the boat. We also found on the internet that there was an attempted boarding and a robbery from a boat whilst the couple were sleeping last month. We were told by the guide with whom we booked our tour on Friday night, Albert that the local vendors pay for a security service of two guys to operate every night, however we have still not yet seen any signs of then operating. We had a look in some of the small shops and several snack bars but Dominica is certainly one of the poorer islands we have been to and the selection is very limited. Kevin was also sworn at by two youngish teenagers whilst waiting for me outside a shop, obviously trying to provoke a reaction which is more sensible not to give but to honest we were not feeling to welcome by now.


Classic yacht alongside us perhaps in the area for Antigua Classic week soon, under the newly restored Fort Shirley over looking Prince Rupert Bay

We went back to the boat and enjoyed a pleasant afternoon in the sunshine with a bit of reading and a visit from Peter, an retired fireman from Wisbeach who has singlehandedly sailed his 20ft boat across from Portugal via the Canaries and Cape Verdes who popped over to do a book swap. We exchanged a few travelling tales and compared experiences and the dates we’d visited the same ports, he heads back to Portugal via the Azores around May.

Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth, Dominica

Friday morning and another early start, we had another fast and exhilarating sail across the channel to Dominica looming tall and green in the distance. After passing halfway I was at the helm to catch a splash out of the corner of my eye about 5m off the starboard quarter. I saw only the dorsal and tail fin, but the streamline shape and blue colour of both persuaded me it must be a blue marlin from all the pictures I have seen in Kevin’s books and from the one hoisted up at the Grenada Fishing tournament. I called excitedly to Kevin knowing that he was desperate to catch one from the boat and literally seconds later his newly rigged marlin lure was taken and the reel was running off at quite a rate, there was only one thing it could be and Kevin leapt up as fast as I have ever seen him move to pick up the rod. We could see a big splash on the surface, technically referred to as a hole I’m reliably informed, where the marlin dashes up from the deep and snatches at his prey to stun it before going carrying it away. However pretty much as he’d picked it up the line was slack again and the marlin was gone, not to be defeated though Kevin said that if he reeled in it might come back. Kevin was therefore reeling in that lure when we saw the quite unmistakable dorsal fin come in the water behind the lure not 20m off the back of the boat, we were both hooting with excitement now, me from something more like fear as Kevin put it afterwards which such fast and perfected predators it is not always clear who is hunting who. Kevin next released the line off again as he saw the characteristic bill coming toward the lure and sure enough the marlin took the bait and was hooked up again the reel buzzing at high speed as it swam off. The rod was bent right over and Kevin was carefully trying to tire the fish out, whislt I start to try and slow the boat by reducing the jib. However within a couple of minutes it was all over again as the marlin had spat out the lure and disappeared leaving us both shaking and exhilarated. When the lure was brought in it showed one of the hooks, not really bought for this purpose had been bent which presumably aided the marlin’s escape. Kevin has been firmly hooked, if you pardon the pun on game fishing since he caught the big wahoo off Grenada and was fairly buzzing all afternoon after this episode swapping and changing lures to increase the potential of another hit but unfortunately the sailing routes are not usually the optimum ones for game fishing which are usually considerably further offshore.

However, to sooth the disappointment we were greeted by two different shoals of dolphins that day, one in a very concentrated hunting party passing us to leeward up the coast making a steady procession north in convey breaking the surface only occasionally. The second pod were however far more fun and introduced themselves with a very impressive jump out of the water and with such clear water in this area we could see them below the surface as well as on it as they played at the bows before disappearing as fast as they arrived with a couple of very nice leaps as they left just fast enough to avoid a photo of anything other than the splash.


Dolphins playing at the bow

We came in at Roseau the main town of Dominica just after lunch but north finding Papillon here and still not reaching him by VHF we decided to carry on to Portsmouth on the north west coast where he had planned to take a tour of the Indian river. We arrived into Portsmouth after a slow motor in the lee of the island and yet another false alarm on the fishing as the line ran off just on the entrance to Prince Rupert Bay, under the eye of one of the local tour guides come out in his boat to try and sell us a tour. However, as always with the bigger catches, this one got away and we headed in the anchor, we didn’t manage to find Papillon here either but found a good clear space to anchor just off the town. By 7am the following morning we had discovered why there was so much space at this part of the anchorage when the music finally stopped at the Old Skool disco just on the shore here.


Roseau

St. Pierre, Martinique

We managed to get away at 06:30am ready to try and make it to Dominica in one hop if we could and we made a great start across the now familiar channel to Martinique, this being our fourth crossing of it since we arrived in the Caribbean last November. The swell was relatively slight and we managed a good 7 knots most of the way across, we decided to run up the lee of Martinique which was somewhat slower arriving at St. Pierre the last anchorage in the north west about 2.30pm. It was going to be hit and miss whether we would be able to make the anchorage at Roseau in Dominica in daylight (18:30), so we decided to anchor up for the night there and cross in the morning. We weren’t able to reach Lawrence on VHF or pick up any Wifi to email him, so we hoped we would get him the next day.


The famous Mount Pelee which erupted in 1902 levelling the town of St. Pierre and killing an estimated 29,000 people the only survivor was Cyparis in the town jail

The water along the coast of Martinique had been noticeably clearer than we had seen elsewhere, perhaps due to there being less sandy beaches and despite the water being quite dark at St. Pierre from the black volcanic sand there the water was crystal clear when I got in to check the anchor. It is a pretty little town with the very French architecture of dormer windows, shutters and balconies but with the slightly more rustic edge of the Caribbean. Like all the towns we saw along the shore there was an ornate predominate church in the centre of town and we were in the company of about 15 other yachts in this very sheltered and quiet anchorage overnight.


St. Pierre today


French architecture in Martinique

We did not go ashore and so cannot say what the current situation is in Martinique, however we did see smoke from several fires in different towns including apparently in the centre of Fort de France the main town so we decided to stay away, the customs office in St. Pierre by all accounts being rarely manned and our stay being less than 24 hours without going ashore.