Christmas In Antigua

Last Christmas, I was sitting in a hospital in Freeport, Bahamas, waiting to have the end of my left pinky stitched up. This year, we are hoping for a somewhat different holiday -- in Antigua, but definitely not in an Antiguan hospital!

Today, we are Med-moored (i.e., without a finger pier) in Jolly Harbour Marina, next to cruising buddies Tropical Blend and AfterMath. John and Debbie on AfterMath have just flown back to U.S. to be with family, leaving Kirby -- their Wheaton Terrier -- at a local kennel. Larry and Debbie on Tropical Blend are remaining here in Antigua, their soon-to-be home, as they are in the process of closing on a house here.

So, the four of us will celebrate, which will probably involve the beach and some lobsters!

Martinique

I should probably back up a bit, as I haven't posted since Martinique. We spent a bit of time on that particular French island enjoying our favorite anchorage and town, St. Anne. That was where we had a small adventure getting Quincy, Tropical Blend's nearly 22-year-old cat, to the veternarian. The first problem was finding a vet and then finding out if the clinic was open. Of our little group, I am the only one that knows any French -- and when I say "any" I am saying pas beaucoup. I tried to listen to a telephone recording, but between the usual garble and the French that I didn't know, I was unable to pick up much of anything. Larry and I set off in the dinghy from the anchorage toward town, where a very nice gentlemen who runs "Bou Bou Snackette" had been very helpful when we first checkedin, despite his limited English. En route, I spotted a Canadian-flagged sailboat with a Montreal hailing port and it occurred to me that she probably had bilingual crew. We motored up, introduced ourselves in English and, sure enough, the couple aboard was able to help us. We still had time to get Quincy -- who was suffering from a tumor-like growth -- into the vet's office. All is well and Quincy is still alive and kicking on an (almost) daily diet of KFC.

Debbie and Quincy en route to the vet in Martinique.

Owners of the Bou Bou Snackette in St. Anne. As you can see, they are Breaking Bad fans!

Scott doing brightwork in Grand Anse D'Arlet, Mart.

Sea turtle in Grand Anse D'Arlet.

From St. Anne, we decided to move up to Grand Anse d'Arlet for Thanksgiving. That's where we, at anchor, we experienced the worst of our sailing experience. Ironically, it all happened on the very same day that I wrote the previous post about anchoring in which I joked about tempting the gods! The wind suddenly went west, strongly (30-40 knots), which means we swung around 180 degrees on our anchors and were backed up to a lee shore. For landlubbers, this means that our anchor (and everyone else's) was "set" in one direction, i.e., against the prevailing easterly winds. So, the fluke, or hook of the anchor was dug into the sandy bottom so that it is secure from that direction. When the wind goes the opposite way however, things get interesting. Pulling in the opposite direction of the set is a very good way to pull the anchor out. Worse, spun around in that direction, if the anchor loses its hold on the bottom, we go on the beach instead of (safely) out to sea.

It was much drama for a few hours, but our anchor held and no one dragged down on us. AfterMath did have some trouble and called on the radio for help. Larry, who already had Tropical Blend's dinghy in the water, shuttled over to Symbiosis and picked me (Scott) up, so we could go help. At this point, a several foot swell was coming into the anchorage, and Larry's maneuvering to get himself, and then me, aboard the dinghy was impressive. By the time we got over to AfterMath, the problem (entanglement with another boat) had been resolved. Although AfterMath did sustain some damage, it wasn't, luckily, more than cosmetic.

A few days after the anchorage excitement, we went up the west coast to St. Pierre, a passage that brought us around Diamond Rock in a 30-knot squall. It wasn't the most pleasant sail, especially given the rain.

St. Pierre is a small but interesting town that we had visited on our way south. And, a very tricky anchorage. In front of the town, there is only a narrow near-shore shelf where the water is shallow enough to set the hook. On the way south last summer, we opted to anchor at a beach adjacent to the town, where there is more room. But this time we had a strong swell coming in from the west that would have set us onto the beach. After Symbiosis reconned the spot, we made an executive decision not to use it.

The main goal in stopping at St. Pierre was to shave a bit off our next passage to Dominica and to check out (clear) immigration and customs. In the true spirit of the French islands, however, the customs office was closed, despite posted hours that suggested that should not be the case. Stay another day to clear customs/immigration or just leave for Dominica and hope the officials there are understanding? The latter option was the one we chose, and it worked out fine. We got the distinct impression that the customs officers in Dominica had heard this story of their errant French colleagues before.

Dominica

Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth, Dominica.

We arrived back at Prince Rupert Bay, Portsmouth, for another stay of several days. This was one of our favorite spots on the way south. Unlike some other places, the boat boys are well-organized in this particular harbour. "Daniel" helped organize a tour of the south end of the island for the four of us on Symbiosis and Tropical Blend. We had seen the north end on the way down, so we wanted to see the rest of the island. Another great day at the sulfur hot springs near Soufriere.

Guadeloupe

We finally got to see Les Saintes, a set of islands just south of Guadeloupe that we had skipped on the way down. However, Debbie and Larry, had stopped there for a few days at that time and had (along with everyone else we spoke to) great reviews on the place. It is indeed a lovely little spot and is now on our short list of favorites. The town, Terre de Haut, is nearly the perfect French Caribbean town. Not too big, not too small. Lots of little shops to browse. And the rest of the main island is stunning.

Lastly, a word about the sail from Guadeloupe to Antigua. Symbiosis had a bone in her teeth and kicked butt in 20 knots of wind and 6-foot beam seas. The windvane steered all the way with just a bit of tweaking. With two reefs in the main, the staysail flying and a one-third rolled Yankee, we blistered along to make a 6.4-knot average, our best "non-surfing" performance! Video below!