Aboard Lady

Astor, Mamora Bay and Nonsuch Bay

Antigua Various anchorages

March 20th to March 28th, 2010

We met Lani and Richard Straman one evening ashore at dinner when we first got to Falmouth, about a month ago.  We had dinghied by Astor, and Lani and Richard had been over to Lady for a meal.  The gentlemen who helped with waxing Lady's hull had been earlier working on stripping the masts on Astor.  Lani and Richard stopped by one day, and said that the varnishing was at a point that they could pause, and would we like to come for dinner on Sunday?

Astor, an 86foot LOA schooner, was built in wood in Scotland in 1923 at the Fife yard for an Australian family, and she remained in the South Pacific for many years.  Lani and Richard purchase her in 1987, and Richard has done most of the maintenance himself (he LOVES to varnish!).  They moved aboard her after their daughter graduated from high-school, more than a dozen years ago and have since cruised the west coast of North America, the South Pacific to Australia, and presently the Caribbean.

We loved touring the decks and seeing everything below-decks.  She's a treasure.  In the 2009 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta she won first overall (as well as first in the Vintage class) in the Concours d'Elegance event, much to Lani and Richard's surprise. 

It was a delightful evening - drinks on deck and a delicious pork-chop, polenta and peas dinner below, followed by Jenny's chocolate chip cookies. 

Thanks so much Lani and Richard!

I have included a link to Astor's website on the "Other Blogs and websites" part of the left side of this blog.

We set off Monday morning for Mamora Bay, recommended to us by Wendy and Dave on Elysium, who had been there a couple of weeks ago.  The 25 to 30 knot wind and 6 to 9 foot seas were on our nose, but it wasn't far to go, so we motored ahead and we pulled in to the marina for the St. James's Club shortly after 0930.  We needed to fill our water tanks, and we had been informed that the drought in Antigua had limited water at the marinas in Falmouth and English Harbours, so this was a good choice as they had RO water at about a quarter of the price of the other places.  The dockmaster wasn't available until 1000, so we made friends with a catamaran, the only other privately-owned boat at the marina.  Unlike some of the other resorts we have anchored near, this one is very friendly to cruisers.

Things were pretty quiet there, so after filling the tanks ($26 US), we hung around the docks until after lunch when we went and anchored.  There were two other boats at anchor, neither of them occupied.

We had seen one of the Atlantic Rowing Race boats tied up at the dock - but it was torn up, and looked like it had sustained some serious damage.  Charlie talked to the rower and found that the local rescue service ABSAR had rescued him from the reef outside the harbor (2 miles short of the finish line!) the previous night.  They later towed him to Falmouth. He was bummed out but Charlie told him that he was his hero!

The next morning, we went for a walk around the hotel and villas.  It looks like a really nice place.

We had dinner ashore that night at the Docksider restaurant.

The next day the wind was still blowing quite hard ("rough seas" was the forecast from English Harbour Radio), but we went ahead and motored the six miles along the coast to Nonsuch Bay, and anchored in the lee of Green Island, where there were a few other boats. 

There were  kite-surfers riding their boards from the beach on Green Island, but by the time we got ashore they were packing up to go home.  Green Island is totally deserted, with lots of century plants growing on it.

We picked up the anchor and took Lady for a cruise around the bay, noticing a few condo developments, but this eastern end of Antigua is pretty quiet. We anchored for the night in the calm water in lee of the reef.  We took the dinghy out to the reef to snorkel, but like much of the Caribbean, much of the coral is dead.

Nothing between us and Africa.

We moved around to the south of Green Island on Friday, and anchored in Ricketts Bay by ourselves.  There's a wreck on the reef here, but it was too shallow for us to get very close.

We snorkeled a couple of times, and had a lovely day.

Here's a picture of what we think is a keel on the beach!

Saturday we had a great sail back to Falmouth Harbour.  We anchored close to Astor, and had a lovely pizza dinner out with Lani and Richard.

Sunday we moved Lady over to Catamaran Marina.  Antigua Rigging will be here tomorrow with the new boom.  You can see the crease in the boom in this picture.

Revisits to Jolly and Falmouth Harbours

Falmouth Harbour Antigua   March 7th to March 21st

+17° 0' 55.08", -61° 46' 29.34"

We were glad to get back to the quiet water of Jolly Harbour after being bounced around in the rolly Barbuda anchorage.  Perhaps we'll get back to Barbuda another time, when the wind is in a more favorable direction.  We had to motor to weather the twenty-six miles from Barbuda to Jolly, in the company of Farhaven, and we took adjoining moorings, and headed to Castaways on the beach for a nice dinner.  We spent a quiet week there.  Lesley and I took the bus to St. John's one day, were we shopped for shoes and got lovely vegetables from ladies at the produce market.  Another day, we went our on the Diving Belle, Jolly Dive's boat.  Lesly and I  snorkeled, while Charlie did a scuba-dive.  I saw three giant lobsters lurking in different caves on the (mostly dead) reef.  Charlie saw a small ray.

We moved on to Falmouth.  At Nelson's Harbour, there were some of the boats that have rowed across the Atlantic in the Woodvale rowing race from the Canaries to Antigua The first boat had come in about two weeks ahead of the second, and the winner, Charlie Pitcher, had presented a prize at the RORC Caribbean 600 race that had been going on the last time we were here.

We visited Carl Henry's store and decided to purchase a wooden turtle for Lady.

I,toipe and his son Rambo (one of eleven children!) started work on waxing Lady's hull.  This took them a week.  They also waxed the deck and cleaned the stainless.  I,toipe is quite scary looking, with his Rastafarian hair and cap, but very friendly.  He also farms, growing organic pineapples, and another of his sons, John, provided us with fresh vegetables one day.  I,toipe  (it means protection) informed us that juvenile coconuts should be drunk  daily and the interior jelly-like lining of the shell also eaten, for good health, so we ordered some coconuts from John, and learned how to open them and drinks the juice, with a lime squeezed in it, and eat the jelly.  "A jelly a day keeps the doctor away".

Ocean Pearl  (Danny and Yvonne from Mangonui, New Zealand) was in the harbor for a couple of days, and they came over for dinner and Mexican Train dominoes with Tom and Lesley.  Another evening we got together at a beach bar with the crews from Farhaven, Elysium, North Star and Estrella Del Mar.

Not a bad island to hang out at while waiting for the new boom...Charleston Spar did not get it to the first ship leaving Miami, but the word is that the boom is on its way, and should be in Antigua next week, and we are scheduled to have the old boom's fittings removed and the replacement installed on Monday March 29th.  Until then, we'll cruise the Nonsuch Bay and Green Island area of Antigua.
 

Barbuda

Barbuda March 5th to March 7th, 2010   +17° 33' 13.26", -61° 46' 7.92"

Antigua and Barbuda - it's part of the same country!

As we were leaving Jumby Bay, another yacht, Flash, a catamaran, was also headed the same direction.  We had met them in St. Martin, and had taken this picture of them at Great Bird.

Flash had made the trip to Barbuda before, and they were kind enough to guide Lady and Farhaven through the gap in Horseshoe Reef to the north of Antigua.  We had a good sail north to Barbuda.  We anchored off Cocoa Beach.  The wind had turned more southerly, and it was kind of lumpy, but in Barbuda there are no real harbors, maybe that's one reason why the cruise ships don't stop and there are only 1,500 people on the island.  We took the dinghy to the beach, and found a place right at the end of the beach where the rollers had been broken up some by the reef, and we could beach the dinghy and walk.  Again, an "all-inclusive" resort that does not welcome cruisers or other visitors.  However, we again were able to walk the beach, below the high-tide line.

We wanted to take a tour of the island, and visit the bird sanctuary.  Lesley suggested that we radio for a taxi, and arrange the tour, and let them tell us where to be to meet the taxi - the local must do that sort of thing quite a bit.  We did just that, and they told us to meet the taxi near the private airport's wind-sock that we could see from the boats.

We were a little late meeting Deely, our taxi-driver the next morning, as the wind had back even more, and we had to beach the dinghy about a mile south of the meeting place (neither taxi's nor cruisers could enter the resort without prior arrangements with management.)

Deely talked about the abandoned K-club (for sale, only $50 million  US) and other things we saw as we headed in to Codrington, Barbuda's only village.  When all the resorts are open, there is full employment on the island.

Pat was our guide for the bird sanctuary visit.  Only local Barbudans are permitted to be guides.

We boarded Pat's skiff, with a high-speed Yamaha outboard, and after a quick fifteen minute ride we approached the sanctuary.  It was deep in the mangroves, and hundred of Magnificent Frigatebirds (Fregata magnificens) were swooping around.

Pat turned off his engine, and keeping outside the marked area, poled us in deeper, and closer to the nests, telling us all about these man-o-war birds.  The birds have a huge wing-span for the size of their body.  Although the feed on fish, they cannot take off from the sea - they have to take off from a tree.  Many times they will get their food by stealing fish from other gulls and booby birds.  The females have a white breast.  The males who are looking for a mate swell out their breasts,which turns brilliant red.  They will only be breeding for about another month.  The female will lay a single egg, and the male seems to take most care of feeding the chick, which is white.  It's quite a few months before the chick take on the adult coloring.  It was amazing to listen to their cluttering chatter, mostly babies calling for food.

Back at the dock, we bid good-bye to Pat, and Deely took on to Two-Foot Bay, on the western side of the island, where we saw a ruined house, caves, and pretty beaches.  Just one other taxi was taking tourists like us around.

Back in the taxi, we stopped in the town of Codrington for a yummy lunch - lobsters - grilled for Charlie and Tom, sauteed with veggies for Leslie and I.   

On our way back to the boat, Deely took us by a pink beach - tiny shells are mixed with the weed, and make a very pretty sight.

We had another rolly night, the wind backed even more, and next day we motored in to the wind back to Jolly Harbour, Antigua.

Great Bird Island, Antigua

Great Bird Island, Antigua   March 3rd to March 4th, 2010 

+17° 8' 39.48", -61° 43' 46.62"

After a stop overnight back at Jolly Harbour, for provisions, fuel and water, Lady and Farhaven  left together, and had a great sail past St. John's Harbour and around to the north side of Antigua.  We saw Elysium, with Wendy and Dave aboard, anchored off Jumby Bay, Long Island, and spoke to them over the VHF radio.  The anchorage at Great Bird was busy when we first arrived there - four other boats, including Strider, with Sue and Moss aboard who had helped us get a mooring when we first arrived in Jolly Harbour.  Lesley and Tom, Charlie and I had a great time snorkeling in a lot of different areas around the island.  It's also a day-trip destination for people aboard cruise ships from St. John's; at one of our snorkel stops we saw a picnic set up on the beach, unguarded, and Lesley wickedly suggested that we could do a Yogi Bear, and steal their lunch.   By 1600 the day-trippers had all left.

The next day, we all went ashore, before the crowd arrived, and were amazed to see a lady setting up her T-shirts for sale!  Her husband had dropped her of on his way to work taking cruise-ship passengers out kayaking, and then to Great Bird for snorkeling and lunch.

We scrambled up the path to the top of the island, where we had a magnificent view of Lady and Farhaven at anchor.

There were holes in the rock, and we could look down, and see the ocean beneath the cliff.

There were great views of other islands in the north sound of Antigua, and we enjoyed exploring the paths, noticing a number of bird bones. There were not too many birds around, although when snorkeling, we notice that we had disturbed a tropic bird on one of the smaller islands next to Great Bird.

Although our next destination was Barbuda, we decided to stop overnight off Jumby Beach on Long Island, so that we could get a close start for the longer passage.  The resort there does NOT welcome cruisers - we were informed that although we could use the beach (they are ALL public), we should not step over the high-tide line into the resort's property.  Lesley and I had a nice walk along their beach, and we had a great dinner aboard Lady with Tom and Lesley and Dave and Wendy (Elysium), who had been to Parham and back while we were in at Great Bird.

Falmouth, Antigua

Falmouth, Antigua  17 00.918N 061 46.489W

Monday, February 22 to Monday, March 1st, 2010  

We arrived in Falmouth just at some of the yachts racing in the Royal Ocean Racing Club's Caribbean 600 race were leaving.  Blesma was crewed by disabled British Veterans; it was cool to see so many men with articifial limbs scrambling around the race boat.

There are three good-sized marinas in the harbor, many of them host mega-yachts.  There are also a good number of moorings available for rent, and plenty of room to anchor.

Falmouth Harbour is separated from English Harbour by a small isthmus.  English Harbour is where Lord Horatio Nelson had a dockyard.  IV had sent us mail to the marina at English Harbour, so we walked over there.  The old buildings have been restored, and many are now in use by yacht service companies - a sail-loft, riggers, marina office, customs and immigration, restaurants and shops.

The pillars of Nelson's sail loft has been partially restored.  The additional concrete on the top of the pillars was an attempt to stop the roof being blown away by storms.

We found the marina office, but our package was still in customs at the Antigua airport.  Charlie made arrangements to fax our ship's papers to a customs broker, so that our mail could be released.

We spent a week in Falmouth.  Some days we took the laptops ashore, and went to the Mad Mongoose for lunch, where they offered free wifi and we were able to check email and update the blog.

We kept in touch with the Nelson's dockyard marina, and were finally able to get our mail after paying the customs broker $120 EC for his services.  We will have to find another country for our next mail delivery.

As the yachts returned from the RORC Caribbean 600, many of the boats in the harbor sounded their horns in congratulations.  The first to finish was a trimaran from Guadeloupe.  There had been very little wind for much of the race, and many yachts retired and motored back to Falmouth so that they could get back in time for the awards party on Friday.  The public was invited to the party at the Antigua Yacht Club, so we attended that event, and met some of the crew who had been on the Lloyd's of London yacht (which did not finish).

Charlie had thought that the discoloration on the port side of our boom was bird- droppings, but when he had washed Lady  in St. Kitts, he discovered that is was not that, but that there was a crease in the boom.  We contacted Antigua Rigging, and after they had inspected it, taken pictures, emailed them to Charleston Spar, the manufacturer, the report was that we should get a new boom.  So, a boom could be shipped from Charleston to Miami, where it will be put in a container, with other items destined for Antigua, and put on the weekly ship coming this way.  The rigging company has copies of our ship's papers needed to get the boom out of customs, and will let us know when it has arrived, in about three weeks.  Antigua is a great place to cruise, so we decided to do that.  We can sail, but they recommended that we reef the main in other than light winds, and reef more than usual if the wind comes up.

Sunday afternoon we admired this wooden yacht sailing in the harbor.  We were amazed later when Charlie heard a distant crunch, and saw that the bowsprit from this boat was impaled  through the starboard hull of a catamaran near the boatyard.  We watched the two crew disentangle themselves from the catamaran and sail off past us an out of the harbor.  All we could do was take a picture of the yacht that did the damage, and wait until later to report it.  We got in the dinghy and went to look at Cream's  damage, a nasty hole in a newly-painted hull.  Cream was obviously undergoing extensive upgrades, as she had no mast and there was no-one aboard.

We met up with Lesley and Tom on Farhaven, and along with their guest from Idaho, Bruce, took a taxi up to Shirley Heights.  On the way we passed a parade of people whose church was having an event.  That was fun to see - kids marching carrying banners, a band with drums, trombones, saxophones, ladies wearing fabulous hats.

 Every Sunday evening, there is a party on the top of Shirley Heights  with a steel band, food and souvenirs for sale, and a magnificent view of the sunset, on on this particular evening, the rising of the full moon. We enjoyed the steel band, they had every-one in the crowd moving.  It was impressive to see a dozen or more musicians working with different percussion instruments, at amazing speeds in perfect time together.  The view of English and Falmouth Harbours is the one on classic postcards of Antigua.  After dinner (fish-burger for me), the steel band packed up and another band started, and we were able to dance until is was time for cruisers to go home.

Jolly Harbour, Antigua

Jolly Harbour, Antigua    +17° 4' 14.22", -61° 53' 9.24"  

Antigua looked so pretty as we approached Jolly Harbour.

Other yachts looked pretty comfortable in the anchorage.

Charlie hailed the marina on the radio, and was advised that before we could pick up a mooring, we should go in to the customs office (next to the big yellow flag), tie up there, and clear in.

We has to visit three different offices, but they are all located in the same building. As we were busy with the first official, Seraphim arrived, so Tom, Tom and Brigitte had to start filling our their paper-work outside - One person did not get to work today, another wanted to leave early (Friday), man they were really busy, with five different officials in three different offices (each with a different soap opera on their TV sets), a few more hanging around on the deck outside.  Eventually we got through the last official (cashier), and found our way to mooring #2.

Ashore we explored around the harbor area, purchase a few provisions at the American-style grocery and had a beer at the quarter-deck.  Dinner that night was at a Swiss steak-house.

The area reminds of S. Florida - recently-constructed condos and private houses built around dredged canals.  Attractive properties, for the most part.

Saturday morning, we caught the local bus (EC$3.25, about $1.20 US) to St. John's, the capital city.  The bus station is next to the central market.  It was market day, and there were fruit and vegetable stands spread out all over the place.  We walked up Market Street; it was busy, with lots of people around.  After visiting the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda, where we learned about geological history, we stopped in the cruise-ship area for lunch. 

It was not the establishment who's menu is pictured here.

We passed the statue of Sir Vere Cornwall Bird Snr. on our way back to the bus station.  We don't remember ever before seeing a painted statue like this.  V. C. Bird, Sr, was "The Father Of Our Nation", born in 1909, had an elementary education, was elected to the legislative Assembly, and later became Antigua and Barbuda's first Prime Minister when the country became independent from Britain in 1981.

The bus ride back to Jolly Harbour was hot and dusty.  The twenty-two passenger bus was full.  We were the only fair-skinned people on the bus, and so far as I could tell, the only ones who paid the driver.  However, the EC$3.25 fare was a lot better than the US$20 that a taxi driver offered.

Seraphim  had caught a wahoo on their trip between Nevis and Antigua, and with the arrival of spouses Annie and Becky, it was time to party (Unfortunately Brigitte's husband was still working in Abu Dhabi.)  We had a lovely evening aboard Seraphim, and Tom did a great job cooking the fish.  Thanks so much for such a good time!

Next day we decided to move off the mooring and go to the anchorage.  We went in to the marina area to get fuel and water and waved goodbye to Seraphim. 

It turned out that the wind had clocked, and was coming at us from an unusual direction, and swells were building, after lunch we moved to the better shelter of the next harbor to the north, Five Island Harbour.

We could see the volcano emissions from Montserrat, way off in the distance. 

It was more comfortable, although there were places on the shore where the swells created big spray.

Another great sunset.

 

St Kitts and Nevis

St. Kitts and Nevis

The fishermen next to us in the Basseterre harbor unloaded their impressive catch.

We walked around the town, enjoyed a beer or two.  Supposedly, the Circus is a round-about in the town center modeled after Piccadilly Circus in London, England.  I didn't really get the same feeling.

After two nights in the marina, we decided to spent a night at anchor in White House Bay, where there would be some protection from the wind.  The cruising guide indicated that there was some snorkeling in the area.  We saw what looked like a dinghy mooring, and were please to find a lot of fish hanging around a wreck.

The next day we departed St Christopher, noticing all the clouds over Mount Liamuiga, that have yet to produce a shower this month, and headed to the next island, Nevis.

As we cruised past the Four Seasons Resort, we saw a beautiful yacht,Gitana, that we recognized.  We anchored off the port of entry, Charlestown.  Nevis is part of the same country, so although we did not need to clear in, these islands also require that you clear out.  We had received permission form St. Kitts to exit from Nevis. 

The Port Authority gentleman was the first official to receive us.  He insisted that we HAD TO take a mooring, and pay the overnight fee, despite our request to anchor.  There are LOTS of new moorings in some of the popular places where yachts like to anchor, and I guess they have to pay for them somehow.

We spent a couple of hours exploring the town on foot, then headed back to Lady, and motored north, picking up a mooring off Sunshine's a colorful beach bar and grill, where the umbrella and deck-chair attendant helped up pull the dinghy up above the waves breaking on Pinney Beach. 

After a delicious lunch we motored around the coast, back past The Fours Seasons (Gitana had left). 

We were surprised to see this little collection of English thatched-roofed buildings.  The swells an wind were in an unusual direction, and we finally found some shelter off Oualie Beach.  Of course, the required moorings had not yet spread this far, so we were pleased to anchor, and see Seraphim  close by.  We were able to find some snorkeling on a small area off Cades Point, where we saw a couple of large angel fish.

Next morning Seraphim and Lady were up early.  We had over 50 nautical miles to go, east to Antigua.  The wind was against us, but it was light, no more than 9 knots, and we made it to Jolly Harbour uneventfully.

Taxi Tour of Saint Christopher

Saint Christopher    Basseterre, St. Kitts.

Along with the Seraphim group, Tom, Tom, Brigitte, we engaged Emile and his taxi to give us a tour of St. Kitts.

He met us at the marina gate, and we boarded this comfortable van.

He showed us where the egrets nested...this picture is mostly fledglings. 

He pointed out the difference between the local sheep and goats.  The sheep might look like goats, they might be the same color as goats, but they are fairly hairless, unlike the ones we are familiar with.  Once we  learned that goats' tails go up, and sheep tails go dow, we became better at identifying them.

We passed a plantation that had impressive yard art.

And we paused in a village to photograph this ancient tree, may of its lower branches removed to allow room for traffic.

The views were magnificent as we traveled the coast road above the cliffs.

Teachers was a popular scotch in this village.

There is an old railroad that was used to collect sugar cane from the plantations.  Part of the old system is now used for a tourist train.  We had thought that we would like to take the train, but the two cruise ships in port that day had all the seats booked, and Emile informed us that only half the tour is on the train, the other half is on buses, and that he would take us places that the train tour didn't go, and his fee was only $20 US per person, rather than the $89 US that the train company charged.

One ruined plantation, the Wingfield estate, dating from the 17th century is now partly used for farming.  I found a pig, and there were lots of cattle grazing in the ruins! There is also an archaeological dig in progress there.

We also walked around the Romney Manor estate that hosts Caribelle batik.  Lots of pretty clothes were for sale, but this wasn't a shopping trip, although Brigitte did find a lovely oven mitt for her sister.  We enjoyed their gardens, amazing fan palms and the native crotons.

The Middle Island Anglican Church is closed during the week, because of stealing.  It was the first Anglican Church in the Caribbean, and the cemetery hold the remains of Samuel Jefferson, one of President Thomas Jefferson's ancestors.

We spent quite a bit of time walking around the Brimstone Hill Fortress National Park, a World Heritage Site.  We viewed the video, and learned how 1,000 British soldiers held out for a siege of a month against 8,000 French soldiers in 1782, before surrendering.  The French did not keep the island for long...in 1783 the Treaty of Versailles returned the island to the Brits.  This history of so many of these Caribbean islands is based on the sugar trade, and the politics and economies were dependent on the price of sugar.

Emile had phoned and made lunch reservations for us at the Rawlins Plantation, now a charming Inn.  We sat in the shade of the porch and ordered our drinks.  They had a delicious West Indian Buffet set up.  We sat at a gorgeous highly-polished dining room table, and the six of us enjoyed a wonderful meal.

Well-fed, we resumed the tour and stopped on the windward, north-east side of the island to marvel at the waves breaking on the Black Rocks.

We briefly drove through some of the newly-developed areas before stopping at the local grocery store for a few provisions and ending our great tour.