Antigua and North – 8th January 2009

 

Well a very happy new year to you all.  The Christmas festivities are over for another year and I must say that as much as I miss Christmas at home with the family, it has been a nice change not to be running around like a headless chicken for days before, just in case something has been forgotten. 

 

We met up with Darleen and Neal Petersen from the Catamaran El Geeco, who we became acquainted with in Martinique.  Another cruising couple Lyn and Lewis on Sea Wings from Jacksonville Florida, also because regular companions.  We met them in the Mad Mongoose, a bar at Falmouth, amongst the many wi-fiers eager to make contact with home and checking the internet to see how the $ was doing. 

 

Sundowners on the various boats wiled away a couple of very pleasant hours on various evenings.   Neal and Darleen were waiting for their  guests to arrive in on their private jet to take them to St Barth for New Year where they were to spend the evening being entertained on one of the mega yachts.   Darleen however suggested that we should spend Christmas afternoon on their boat, and have a “pot luck” for Christmas lunch.  They had a trainee stewardess on board, Katy and it would be a good experience for her in entertaining guests.  I don’t know if Katy agreed with the experience but she did well. 

 

I had bought a turkey in a very unlikely place in Guadeloupe and I roasted it with some potatoes.  Darleen made some lovely  stuffing and roasted a chicken and Lyn provided a salad and a delicious shrimp dip. We had a really good day. 

 

Neal and Darleen sailed off on 29^th December following the arrival of their guests and we continued the festive season with our friends on Sea Wings.   The sailing fraternity is very friendly and invitations for “Painkillers” was on offer on New Years Eve.  At about 11.30  we went ashore for the turn of the year firework display and so 2009 was welcomed in.

 

One of the big boys in Antigua - the Maltese Falcon

New Year’s day we decided that we had been at anchor for long enough and to the fanfare of festivity horns and the waving of hands, we headed out to Five Island Harbour for a quiet night before heading out to Barbuda.  Barbuda is the sister island of Antigua to the north and the island is surrounded by reefs and can only be approached with care.   The thirty mile trip went well and we safely negotiated the various reefs on the west coast and anchored in Lower Bay.  With the approaching full moon the water was being picked up with  big swells and this made the anchorage rather uncomfortable.  

 

Barbuda was one of my favourite islands from our cruising several years ago, and imagine my horror when the clump of palm trees that we anchored in front of last time now on this near perfect white sandy beach with a wonderful pink hue, formed the backdrop for a new hotel complex.  Absolute sacrilege

The hotel within the palm trees in Barbuda

 

This was to be a brief stop.  Paul wanted to see the frigate colony again as it is now the mating season and the birds are parading their stuff to their potential mates.  We also had to clear out at customs to avoid having to go back to Antigua to do so, and so we trundled into shore in the dinghy.   Looking at the surf along the beach we realised that we might have a  problem in landing.   Our fears were founded.  We looked for the quietest area and headed for it.  We counted the waves in.  The sixth and seventh are always the strongest.   We waited until the big wave had passed and motored in.  Why oh why does it always happen.  Glyn jumped out and shouted “hurry Helen” all to no avail, wave numbers 8 and 9 came in and believe me, six and seven looked very small in comparison.   Our calculations had gone seriously wrong.  The breaking surf crashed over us, filling the dinghy to the brim.  Loads more waves continued to hit us and I just waited for the “You’ve been framed crew” to pop out from behind a bush.  I bet we would have won  the £250 prize money.  Needless to say we were somewhat wet.  Drowned would have been a better description, but at least the water was warm 29.9°c.  Sorry.  

 

Time to make a plan.  HMG was bucking on the swells and we decided that our wish list had to change.  Glyn and I headed back to the boat and left Paul ashore to go to customs.  We could then see whether or not the sea state changed.   Glyn went to the shore when Paul arrived back at the beach and on the advice of a couple of Norwegians headed northwards where the sea was a little more settled.  A safe collection of the skipper ensued. 

 

Paul said that the inner lagoon was very choppy and so we had to abort the bird sanctuary trip. 

 

We were cordially invited to a beach barbeque by the two Norwegian families which we accepted, taking along our food in the customary way.  The surf had subsided. There were six adults and eight children and therefore needless to say we were kept amused all evening.

 

Early on the 4^th January we lifted our anchor and headed out through the reefs again heading for St Barthelemy.  The sixty mile trip was a nice down wind leg but obviously the slowest point of sail but it took us just under 8 hours to reach our destination.  St Barth is a French island in the heart of the Caribbean.  Very much changed since our last visit and boy is it geared up for another world.  Gustavia, the main town has so many upmarket designer stores you just wonder who they are aiming the market at, until you look at the cruise ships that come in on a daily basis, probably three at a time.  It is not the place for mere mortals such as us and so we found our old bar from the late 1990s which was still serving food and drinks for what can be considered a reasonable price in the scale of things.  A beautiful island for beautiful people, where the wealthy live.  We decided to head off to St Martin in the hope that reality could reign once more.

 

Wednesday 7^th January we headed out to St Martin also known as  Sint Maarten. The short 20 mile sail once again was a swift down wind leg and we covered that in no time at all.  

 

So you find us now in St Martin where we have locked into the lagoon for a week to carry out some maintenance jobs on the boat and in search of a good night’s sleep.  The winds continue to blow with the occasional squalls. The lagoon is a twelve square mile stretch of land locked water.   No doubt we will have another story to tell you in the next update, but until then keep warm, keep safe  and  most importantly keep happy

 

Love to you all

 

Helen and Paul

 

A footnote by Paul

 

The Caribbean as a cruising ground for sailors, as we know it is vanishing fast.  There may be a world wide recession but out here they have raised their charges.  In one island  5 euros per square foot for  boat to drop your anchor meaning for a 47 foot boat for three days it costs 36 euros to anchor in open water.  Anguilla charges the equivalent of £400 for a weeks cruising permit plus entry fees.  In the guide book it says that the benefit of this is that the anchorages are empty.  I wonder why?  The downside of this wonderful strategy is that the local population earn nothing.

 

Barbuda, an island that we visited many years ago now charges US$20 dollars one way to take you on a three minute boat ride to the customs dock.

 

We hear that the British Virgin Islands has filled the harbours with mooring bouys at US$25 per night.   You can almost hear the doors closing and the exhaust sounds over the horizon as the people are leaving these wonderful cruising waters in their mega yachts.   To anchor in the bay at St Martin is US$40 for a week and to anchor in the   lagoon for the same period is US$70.   Unfortunately the cruising guide book that went to press at the end of 2008 is so horribly out of date with regard to fees, with some charges being quadrupled.  However you only find that out when you have dropped the hook and by then it is too late.

 

We know of spectacular charter yachts which have only had one booking this season and these bookings would have been taken the season before the crash. 

 

I was paying my anchoring fee in St Barth when one of the super yachts paid his mooring dock fees.  It was over 10,000€.   The inmates have taken over the asylum leaving the rest of us only the back waters to explore, which are seldom reached by a boat drawing over two meters. 

 

So for our part rather than leave the boat in the Caribbean to do another couple of seasons out here sadly we are returning to Europe where, believe it or not as the marinas are becoming half full they are discounting their fees.    Ramsgate berth holders take note.