Yep, we’re in Antigua, Jolly Harbor to be exact. After a few days at Grande Case, St. Martin; we motored around (it’s only 5 nm) to Orient Bay were the action was happening. This is described as the “French Riviera” of the Caribbean and indeed if I can imagine the Riviera since I haven’t been there; it was. Besides the lack of clothing on the beach there were things happening all around. Over 10 jet ski’s at any one time, two boats pulling the parasailers, wind surfers sailing by, snorkelers mosying by, and of course beach restaurants all along the shore.  We hung there for a day and thought the anchorage wouldn’t be too bad for the evening. We were farther out than we would have liked but the new motor on the dinghy made trips ashore much easier for

Wendy's New Ride

W/. Once all the boats and jet ski’s stopped the anchorage actually got worse. Waves broke over the reef on one side and curled in the channel on the other and the net result was more roll and less pitch. With the evening wind slacking we ended up with some slightly uncomfortable roll (not St. Thomas like ).

The following day we were to sail to St. Barts and hang out at a park then that evening head out to Antigua. The prior evening when I had risen about midnight the winds had shifted slightly N or NE. Great, the following evening should that happen we might actually get to sail some to Antigua. What a treat that would be.

Leaving Orient Bay we unrolled the Jib and floated along at about 3.5 kts.  Not fast but hey! We’re not motoring. However the sail wasn’t to last for long. When we slowed to around 2 kts (slower then a stroll on land) we rolled the jib in and started the Iron Genny (the engine). We motored the last 8 nm to St. Barts and picked up a free mooring at the park. The time waiting we watched the boats come and go, watched hikers climb the hills in the park, watched the charterers cruise around 10 to a dinghy, took a nap, and readied ourselves to leave soon after midnight.

Midnight arrived sooner then we would have wished. We set up the boat for leaving and slowly motored out of the harbor and then turned S for rounding St. Barts. Again we tried to sail, tried motor sailing and eventually rolled up the sail.  We kept hoping for the breeze that the gribs said would be and for the winds that the evening before we had but obviously Mother Nature just chose to not read the weather reports! We were cursed with burning more fossil fuels. On goes the engine and forward towards Antigua we traverse.

We motored slowly at first mostly 4-5 kts attempting to keep the spray down and because it was still dark. The current didn’t help and although the data shows the current at only .4 kts against us I think there was more. As daylight approached we added speed to the boat and cruised the rest of the way between 5 - 6 kts.

Still not fun. Although we didn’t take on much water; hardly any, we kept up a  steady misting of salt water. So in essence we were building up a layer of salt on the decks. The mist would hit the boat and instead of taking the salt and running off it would evaporate and leave a salty surface behind that was actually as rough as the non skid. Fortunately we hid behind the dodger for most of the trip (except for fishing).

I’m tired of motoring and I’m tired of reading and I’m tired of doing Sudoku. So I hang out a couple of lures. Two hours later I’m watching as one pole looks to bend then it stands right up. Damn, I check the line and it’s flying free. Damn. I discover I had way too much drag on it and the line broke at my knot on the swivel. DAMN! Ok, there goes 10 bucks. Get another lure out, another swivel, tie it on better ( I hope) and let her go. This time I check the drag and make sure it will drag.

About 5 hours later we’re coming up on the banks and have watched Antigua grow off the horizon. I’m getting ready to pull the lines in because mostly on the banks the fish that one can catch ain’t the fish I want. About 60 seconds before I summon the energy to move my behind from the seat aft the dodger the new lure I put out goes ZING!  Wendy rushes to slow the boat and I rush to the  line that now has a fish. As the boat slows she hauls in the other line (we don’t really want two fish at a time again) and I notice that what we’ve caught is a Barracuda. DAMN!  We don’t eat those because of the potential for Ciguatera. So we haul it aboard, using a pliers and leather gloves I take the hook out and then slide him / her over the side for the ocean to do with it what it will. It will either survive or be a meal for a larger fish. Out of the three parties; us, the fish, or the fishes main course, one will be happy. But now the Barracuda has torn up another skirt on another lure. Not a good day fishing.

Easy Clearance

Clearing in in Jolly Harbor Antigua was sweet. Although the guide said that the officials were there till 1700 we had arrived too late. We made the dock by 1630 and were informed that Customs had already left but we could stay tied here and it would be ok if we ate ashore. W/ was happy. We tied up, cleaned up, and then Jim and Cheryl arrived on Orion. They were Antigua regulars and had just arrived from Guadaloupe and needed to clear in too. So they tied on the other side of the finger pier and we shared some stories w/ them as well as bored them with ours.

The following am we cleared in with Customs, Immigration and the Port Captain. We’re now good to go. So out to a mooring we motored to finish getting the boat ready for Antigua. Mike and Jenny (from Annopolis) are down on a chartering / diving vacation so we’ll see them on their return.
Good times; Soon come.

Fair Winds

Yep, Mike and Sue on Infini are now Shellbacks. The boat’s been there before but never with them. They’ve crossed the Equator and are now in the Galapogos. If you want to read about their trip they posted every day, I believe, and you can begin here.

As for us we’ve moved out of Simpson Bay and the Miami of St. Martin. We bought a little 2 hp for our rowing

Crepe' Hunt

dinghy. As W/ liked to say it wasn’t easy rowing my Lard A___ in!  She rowed to keep the dinghy balanced better which allowed us to avoid shipping any water aboard.  I did buy a spare set of oar locks but haven’t
installed them yet. We’ve been enjoying some new and different culture (not the canned culture of the VI’s). I’ve looked for the perfect crepe, we’ve tried to learn some French and we’ve been back and forth between two countries (Dutch and French) every other day. Fortunately, if you only take your person and dinghy you can freely move from one to the other here as long as you’ve properly cleared in.

We spent en expensive evening with some soon to be new cruisers (Jan and Darwin on Family Affair) eating a

Carnival in St. Martin

Valentine’s dinner on the French side. There too we saw the tail end of the Carnival Parade.  We’ve met more cruisers here in 1 week then in 2 months in the VI’s. One neat couple  (Will and Ann on Como No)that anchored next to us are just about to complete their 13 year circumnav and we were lucky enough to trade charts (and books) with them. They’re heading towards Texas and we’re heading S yet.

Lobsters Soon Gone

We’re currently in Grand Case, basically a tourist hotspot with more restaurants then people (see all the live - soon not to be - lobsters). A couple of grocery stores and a beautiful beach. We didn’t think the guy pulling the dinghy full of tourists off the beach would make it but sure enough a little larger swell rolled in and he was

Will it Move?

able to haul their; as W/ call it Lard A____s off ) It’s nice moving the boat and being somewhere else but there is a little swell running here. Still it’s ok. As Dirk say’s on Lison Life “we like sissy anchorages” and he’s entirely correct. Today we’re thinking of going to Oriental Beach (on the other side of the top of the island) and then I’ll take the bus in to check out for Antigua.  We’ll see. The wind piped up last night and remember: We’re sissies.

Fair Winds

Yep; the BVI’s are to cruisers a vast desert. And yes I did name this blog after a GREAT book, Dune by Frank Herbert. I’ve just finished the last two in his series (yeah, he’s been gone 20 years), but his son and another author found an outline for the last book and since they’ve been writing Dune offshoots they  took it upon themselves to finish Herbert’s  last book (which they turned into two). What a great read.

However; traveling in the VI’s and the BVI’s is akin to traveling in a desert.  All the people are so foreign. Yeah, they may love boats, they may speak English, and love sailing but they don’t wish to share with cruisers. They’re here to party and see everything they can in a week or maybe two (Why one charter boat was giving people a tour of the BVI’s - 5 islands in one day!). About 1/2 of the charterers will wave back at you if you wave to them first! But actually meeting someone, sitting and having drinks with them, telling stories about boats, cruising and life; that just doesn’t happen here (It did happen once - we met a cool couple from NY of all places). The young want to party till the sun comes up, the older ones want to hang with their friends they’ve chartered with. Nothing wrong with that; just that  there is so much of it here we feel like we’re in exile.  We’ve not really met many new people, something we’re not really use to. All the people that we’ve met new here either work or are chartering.  And the charters are like lightening bugs. They last for a few minutes and then they’re gone. The  people working are cool but they have an agenda; a goal and they’re not loosing site of that goal. One “set of workers” said that they were working their tail off for “freedom chips”; aka $$$’s.  What for?  I guess they don’t figure anyone hanging around St. Thomas or the BVI’s is worth knowing. LOL

And the VI’s  are beautiful; but anyone can see the beauty in pictures. So we’re left to

Driving Range

entertaining ourselves. We’ve actually found a couple of tennis

Nanny Cay Tennis ?

courts and although we’re not golfers one driving range. One disappointing one was at Nanny Cay (where we paid to stay at the marina). At Nanny Cay there was no net, no fence, and obsticles on the court. The others we’ve seen (one requires you be a guest at their Expensive resort and the other at Leverick Bay charges $20 / hour. So, we’ve been walking as much as possible. We’ve not really been diving as in the BVI’s I can’t spear fish or lobster. :(  So I’m not really interested in going in the water then. But we’ve enjoyed walking and there are some hiking trails to the tops of the mountains where there are maintained lights for navigation or antennas or simply junction boxes for phone lines or electrical wiring.

Personal beef: I can’t really stomach that in places that don’t have the acrutiments we’re use to want to charge more the places that do!  Such as tennis. Here you get a carpeted court with sand brushed on, no strap on the fence, no club house, sometimes water sometimes not.  Where do they really get off thinking that they are worth more then in the US?  In Jost Van Dyke, you can get a pig roast dinner, eaten on picnic tables on a sandy / dirty floor for $30!

View Hiking (Saba Rock)

Leaving the trails we took a complimentary ferry to Gun Harbor and walked to Leverick Bay. Up the mountain (and they don’t really seem to believe in switch backs here) and then along the ridge past the Elementary school and down the other side. One noticeable difference here is that there aren’t as many cars nor as many people as in St. Thomas. Thereby making walking on the roads 100% safer. In St. Thomas we tried some walking along the roads but actually felt that it wasn’t safe so we had to either look for sidewalks or take a Safari ( a locals taxi). Here we walked with narry a car passing us and when they did there was plenty of room. The most dangerous part of the walk was the goats by the road and the steep inclines. Going up the road wasn’t near as difficult as going down, and the the goats were more warry of us then we of them.

In Leverick Bay we discovered that they have laundry machines that we can use; showers that come with the mooring, and a couple of restaurants. But the down side is no internet at the boat. A horrible down side. So I’ll either take the computer ashore (which I don’t like to do) or wait till we’re back on the Saba Rock side for the internet.  We don’t have to have it but it surely makes checking out the wx much easier and to add pictures to the blog  is then possible. We can’t send pics over the ham network.

Now we’re getting ready to leave. Tomorrow am early we should be on our way to St. Martin. The winds have finally calmed down enough that we can motor for 12 hours what would otherwise take 24 to sail or more. With the wind and current against us sailing isn’t much fun. And the saying that “Gentlemen never sail to windward” we’re trying to abide by. So hopefully our next post will be in St. Martin and there I’ll finish up on any observations of the BVI’s.

Fair Winds

I’ve finally figured out why I wasn’t enamored with the BVI’s.  They’re too much like Disney world. The country is setup for tourists. They bring tourists in by the boat load, (or plane load), everything is as neat and pristine as can be, most everything is done for you, the characters all play their parts and you go away with a great vacation experience. The place is beautiful beyond a doubt. The beaches are for the most part clean,  the water crystal drinking clear (don’t try to drink it as the salt will do wonders to your stomach with a brief visit only to return the same way), the mountains. The people are nice but not really open and one can’t really expect them to be.

I mean; how many people really get to know Goofy, or Mickey, or Mini at the World. The only way to get into Disney World  culture is to get a job there (one thing we’re not really interested in doing). So all the tourists see is what’s on the surface.

Wendy described getting to know a Caribbean Island as speed dating. However in speed dating you have two people making a connection. In the BVI’s (and AVI’s) you really only have one couple trying to make a connection (us). I would say visiting the VI’s is more like partaking in an escort service (I’m only surmising here). Maybe a fun evening; but one would never know the truth.

I understand St. Croix is different. Sorry we didn’t get there. There are so many places to see in the Caribbean that only if we wanted to spend 10 years or more cruising this area could we expect a better experience. And we’re not going to hang in the Caribbean for 10 years. There are too many boats here already!

Fair Winds