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| Kathy scrabbling up river |
Jeremy made a full recovery from the jellyfish sting. We enjoyed Pigeon
Island in Guadeloupe snorkelling in the Jaques Cousteau National Park. We saw
the underwater statue of the great diver, which was rather disappointing. We’d
expected something grand. Perhaps it is more impressive if you see it
underwater. From the surface, it appeared to be little more than a bust, which
could easily have been mistaken for the base of a boat mooring.
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| Deep Bay to the right, the lagoon to the left |
Deshaies in the north west of Guadeloupe was our last port of call. We
decided to hike up a river and return by road. Our cruising guide told us a
five year old had hiked this with no problems. The child must have been unusually
tall and strong because I found the two hour trek quite strenuous as I stepped
from rock to rock, sometimes scrambling and slipping. It was a lovely, shady
experience with many waterfalls and pools. Next time, I’ll take a spare pair of
socks!
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| St Johns Harbour, capital of Antigua |
The passage from Guadeloupe to Antigua is about 40 miles. We motored
all the way in almost calm seas. We couldn’t believe it after all the extra
strong trade winds we’ve had. We checked in at Jolly Harbour where we met up
with our Canadian friends, Ann and Barry, from Cat’s Paw IV, last seen at St
Helena in February 2013. It was great to catch up with them, exchange news and
play bridge. Then we had to move on to St Johns to meet my sister, Pat. We took
her to nearby Deep Bay, which has a quiet, sandy beach and an inner lagoon. The
Grand Royal Antiguan Resort takes up only a small corner of the beach. In
contrast, Dickenson Bay, our next stop, was a mile or so of resorts, sunbeds
and sunshades stretching along the sand. It was a good starting point for the
25 mile passage to Barbuda. The wind and swell were near perfect for a good
sail. Pat helped with the steering and hauling the lines. We had a lunch stop
at Cocoa Point, where there is an exclusive resort with a private airport. No
yachties allowed.
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| Off snorkelling on the south of Barbuda |
We eyeballed our way through the reefs on the south coast and
spent two wonderful days snorkelling in clear water, going ashore only once to
walk in a wilderness of old dry scrubland, finding empty beach huts and
shelters. One of them had two upholstered sofas and picnic tables made from
pallets giving the impression that the owners would be returning soon.
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| Jeremy and Pat on Barbuda's 11 mile beach |
We needed some provisions, so we motored round to Louis Mouth, the
nearest anchorage to the only town on Barbuda, Codrington. The next day we
could not safely go ashore as a ground swell was crashing on the beach and the
breaking surf was 10ft high. After 24 hours the swell had abated and we went
ashore prepared to get wet.
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| The sea, sand bar, lagoon and Codrington in the distance |
We hauled the dinghy over a narrow sand bar to the
inner lagoon, jumped in and motored into the wind for 2 miles. Pat and I
changed in the toilets at Codrington; Jeremy dried out in the sun. We found the
well-stocked supermarket and had lunch in a local restaurant. Soon it was time
to depart, so Pat and I put our wet clothes on and we returned to Sal Darago
without incident. It is possible to call a water taxi for the lagoon crossing.
We chose not to pay the 50USD charge for this service.
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| Two great birds on an island |
On return to Antigua, we spent a night at Great Bird Island, protected
from the Atlantic by a reef. The snorkelling was good and a short walk on the
island led to two deep sink holes. A few small tourist boats call here and some
enterprising locals have set up clothing and jewellery stalls on the beach. The
next day we went to a massive boat haul-out facility at Crabbs Point to fill up
with drinking water. There is a shortage of water on Antigua at the moment. We
were able to fill up with non-potable water but had to go to a shop to buy
bottled drinking water. After a bar lunch in Parham, we returned to Deep Bay
for the night and Jolly Harbour the following day. Here, we took on diesel at
the fuel dock and water. A rusty looking brown liquid filled our containers and
we were not charged for this “water”. Fortunately, the supermarket had plenty
of bottled water.
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| Nelson's Dockyard, Antigua |
After a night in Carlisle Bay on the south coast, we anchored in
Falmouth Harbour. We spent an hour or two looking round the historic Nelson’s
Dockyard, which is the only remaining working 17th century dockyard
in the Eastern Caribbean. After a steep walk over the hill to Pigeon Beach, we
refreshed ourselves at the beach bar before walking back to Falmouth on the
road. Just a few yards from the dinghy dock Pat slipped on the dirt track and
fell full length, twisting her ankle badly. With support, she made it to the
dinghy dock, placing her foot in the sea as we motored gently back to SD. Soon
she was resting on deck with an ice pack on her ankle having taken pain
killers. The accident did not prevent her from thrashing us at Trivial Pursuit
that night! Today, her ankle is much better, but she is staying on board to
rest it. She returns to the UK on Thursday, so we all hope she will be walking
all right by then.
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| Walking to the beach from Fort Berkeley |
