Passages North
On Sunday, January 28, sea conditions had improved and we left the shelter of Rodney Bay, St. Lucia to resume our journey north. Martinique is just 23 miles north of St. Lucia and after 4 hours of wet and rainy motor sailing we dropped anchor at Grand Anse D'Arlet, one of several small bays on the SW side of Martinique. Because we wanted to get away early the next morning, we did not go ashore or even officially check in to the country. The anchorage was a bit rolly and loud music was playing well into the night, so our sleep was not the best.
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| Power plant on Martinique, probably diesel. Venezuela made long term contracts with many of the islands to provide fuel, making switching to wind or solar power difficult. We did see one wind farm. |
We were up and on our way at first light the next morning for a long run (62 miles) up to Portsmouth, Dominica. More than half of this trip was easy going behind almost the full length of both Martinique and Dominica, where the seas were easy and the winds were low. It was a different story in the Dominica Channel, the sea between the islands. There the winds were a steady 24-25 knots, with many gusts to 30, which qualifies as gale strength. We used our staysail, a smaller foresail, and reefed down the mainsail and zoomed right along. Still, this was a long and tiring day and we were very glad to be in beautiful Portsmouth harbor by late in the afternoon. We wished we could have stopped and spent a few days in one of our favorite places, but we were a bit behind schedule, so we just stayed one night on the boat and again did not check into the country.
The next morning we slept a little late and then made an easy 20 mile hop up to Les Saintes, a beautiful handful of islands that are a part of Guadeloupe. We found an open mooring in the bay and settled in for several days in this lovely spot that is a favorite of all cruisers. Guadeloupe is an overseas department of France, with full statehood rights, so its people are French citizens. They have an easy computer system for checking into and out of the country, and the costs are minimal. Groceries are cheaper, the restaurant food is excellent and the baguettes, Ooo la la! The only thing that was expensive was transportation. We paid 80 euros for a one day rental of a big golf cart,which we drove all over the island.
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| Mariners Church |
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| When you get good baguette you have breakfast sandwiches for dinner! |
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| Tall ship leaving the harbor, muslic blaring |
Our day of cart-based sightseeing in Les Saintes included a morning visit to the hilltop Napoleonic fort, which has a quirky but interesting museum covering the history of Les Saintes, including two major naval battles that occurred in its waters between European powers. The most important of these was the Battle of Les Saintes, 1782, which proved a decisive battle for the British Navy and ended the period of French competition for control of the Caribbean. The museum displays included dioramas of the naval battle formations, ship models, and other gear, so Rob was in naval history heaven!
The views from the fort and other island high spots were breathtaking. The beaches were lovely, if a bit wild. We ended our day with an excellent dinner at 1 Ti Bo Dou Dou..
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| Lots of tiny baby goats! |
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| Cemetery |
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| Beautiful Creme Brulee |
The next morning we were sad to leave Les Saintes, but we had a schedule to keep, so we set out on our 40 mile trip up to the north end of Guadeloupe. The skies were grey and threatening, and sure enough before we were across the 9 miles to the western side of Guadeloupe, a rainstorm dropped in on us. Winds were not bad, but I got soaked at the wheel and our visibility was greatly reduced for about 20 minutes. The rest of the day was in calm waters and fairly calm winds behind Guadeloupe, but cool and misty, with frequent short showers. All in all, a wet day but fairly easy travel.
That is until we arrived at our destination, the town of Deshaies, in a little bay at the NW corner of Guadeloupe. The wind picked up to a howl there. We made a pass through the moorings in close to the town, but none were available so we went back to the outer part of the bay and dropped our anchor. We got a good set of the anchor the first time and settled in for our evening. The waves in this anchorage, however, made Avventura roll from side to side during the night and was uncomfortable.
We noticed a nearby boat that looked almost identical to ours, called Aria. Brian and Shelly from Aria stopped by and introduced themselves. Aria was a Hylas 49, and because there are so few of us, we always enjoy getting to meet other "49" owners, hear of their adventures and "talk shop". They came aboard and saw Avventura, and then invited us over to Aria for drinks and finger food. We had a great evening and then parted ways, as Aria was headed South and we were headed north.
The morning of Feb. 1, we left Deshaies for a 42 mile run nearly straight north to Antigua, and island that we did not visit on our way down the chain two years ago. This would prove to be the most uncomfortable passage of our entire trip. The wind was howling at 20-24 knots the whole way, much higher than the 14-18 predicted and the waves were 6 feet plus. The worst part was the wind and waves were largely ahead of us, in sailing terms we call this a "bash". The boat hobby horses along and with the wave heights, numerous waves were breaking over the boat, sending walls of seawater over the prow and into our backs. Add to that several rain showers, and this was nearly 6 hours of misery. Cindy was scowling, and all my clothes were clammy and stinky. Everything was sticky with salt. Rashes and shriveled skin on your fingers. Bad - you get the idea.
So with great joy we pulled into English Harbor, Antigua and after something of a wait, we were allowed to come into the marina. This is what is called a "Med mooring" type of marina, where you back into a stone seawall and tie off after dropping your anchor in front. This was all new to us and challenging as we had several marina dock hands yelling orders and quite a crowd of tourists gathered to watch Avventura come in. Also, this marina is primarily for megayachts, so lots of very big and very expensive boats around for newbies like us to possibly damage. In any event, we managed this new procedure without hurting our boat or any other.
The Nelson's Dockyard Marina is actually a historic site and tourist attraction in Antigua, hence the crowds of tourists. This was the leading dockyard and supply storage facility for the British Navy in the Caribbean for decades. As a young man, Horatio Nelson was the commandant here for three years before he gained fame for being the victor in the Battles of the Nile and Trafalgar. A number of Georgian era buildings are preserved and the whole place is quite charming. This is one of the places that Rob has dreamed about visiting on his own boat, and Nelson is one of his heroes.
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| The ramp in front of the building on the left was used to roll huge logs up to make spars. Now it is a sail loft. |
Two events were headquartered at Nelson's Dockyard that added to the unique ambiance of the place. An upcoming race for very large "megayacht" sailboats filled the facility with huge, beautiful racing yachts. These are 100 foot plus boats with large racing crews (10-20+ uniformed young people per boat). This was also the headquarters for completion of the "Transatlantic Challenge", a race of rowboats across the Atlantic. The winners had already arrived, with the best time of 34 days set by a crew of 4 women. We were privileged to see two teams come in while we were there, one was "Team ALS", a 4 man crew, one of whom was afflicted by ALS and could not walk. They raised money for ALS with their 50 day, 3000 mile crossing. The other was a two man French team that took 51 days. Their arrivals were quite spectacular, with a gathered crowd cheering, the megayachts booming their thunderous horns, and flares lit and waived. When they come to the dock, champagne was popped and splashed, and the rowers struggled to get off their little boats, and fall into the arms of their girlfriends/wives, crying and beaming. What an experience!
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| These were 2 of the boats used in the rowing race. They had watermakers and solar power. They carried 2 - 4 people with enough freeze dried food for the entire journey. |
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| This rower from the 2 man French team greeted his pregnant wife with joyful tears after 51 days at sea.. |
Our time at Nelson's Dockyard was capped by a lazy lunch and afternoon at a pool club that is just across the small harbor at what used to be the gunpowder magazine for the dockyard. For obvious reasons, back in Nelson's time you would not want to store the gunpowder right in the middle of the dockyard! Now the structures house a lunch spot and pool club called "BOOM" (very clever). The food was very good and the view was magnificent.
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| Cap'n Rob enjoying the pool |
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| This colorful fellow joined me on my lounge chair. His cousins were busy eating up the nearby hibiscus bushes. |
Our departure from Nelson's Dockyard was dicey. The wind was blowing strongly across Avventura, which made our departure from our tight spot in the marina difficult, as the dock hands released our lines and told us to speed up, a mega sailboat just to our right also decided to pull out , intersecting with us and making for a possible collision. In the midst of this as we raised our anchor, it became clear that the big sailboat had laid their anchor chain over ours, so that we had hooked their chain as ours was pulled up. A passerby in a dinghy saw our problem and came over to help me release their chain from our anchor. All of this made for a nervous few minutes in the marina! We were happy to exit the small channel and harbor with no damage to Avventuura or any other boat.
We had an uneventful run of two hours around to the west side of Antigua and entered Jolly Harbor, where we took a slip in the marina for several nights. Here again, we met several great Hylas owners at a gathering to watch the Superbowl at the marina's sports bar. Our time at Jolly was occupied with laundry, grocery shopping, and loafing on the beach and at the pool. We also spent a morning in the nearby capital city of St. Johns, where we saw a unique Anglican church, the interior of which is paneled in wood to resemble the interior of a ship. We also toured the small but interesting National Museum. Against a gorgeous sunset we had probably the best meal we've had in the Caribbean at Sheer Rocks, a restaurant clinging to the side of a cliff The last night in Antigua we moved to a mooring ball outside the marina to allow for an easy early morning departure.
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| St. John's Anglican Churrch |
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| One of many old grave stones in the church yard, dated March 20, 1720 |
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| Donut worry be happy - Rob's new motto |
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| Part of the national museum |
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| One of 5 dishes on the tasting menu at Sheer Rocks, Wahoo Crudo |
At 6 AM on Feb 7 we slipped our mooring to head NW on the last few long passages which would get us to our destination of the British Virgin Islands. This day's run was 74 miles to Saint Barthelemy, otherwise known as St. Barts. This was one of the nicest days we have ever had on passage in the Caribbean, with relatively calm seas and low winds. We had sails up to steady the boat, but they were not producing much power, so we had the engine on the whole way. Kind of a boring, long day, but after our miserable run up to Antigua, we will take boring any time. Cindy says if it's calm enough to read it's a decent passage, she finished her third book of the cruise on this one.
We were able to take a mooring at St. Barts off Corrosol Beach, but the night was rolly and the sleeping not great. The next morning, we took the dinghy into town, checked into and out of St. Barts and walked the shopping areas. St. Barts has positioned itself as the Caribbean Island for the wealthy, so many of the shops are designer boutiques and very expensive. You see shop names like Gucci and Fendi. I saw an advertisement for a 91 euro hamburger made of Kobe Beef! The whole thing looks and feels a bit like the French Riviera, all very pretty despite ongoing recovery from the hurricanes of 18 months ago. We enjoyed some grocery shopping and a French lunch at a streetside cafe. Then back in the dinghy, back to Avventura, and secured everything for our 17 mile trip up to Sint Martin.
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| Salade Nicoise |
The afternoon sail up to Sint Martin was easy and fun, and we found a good anchoring spot in Simpson Bay. Again, we planned an early morning departure so we did not check into the country. Unfortunately, as the sun set, the roll increased in the anchorage, so we had another somewhat uncomfortable night at anchor and our sleep was short and disturbed.
AH, the last big push to the BVIs! I awoke at 3 AM and prepared for our departure at 4 AM. No moon, so the night was quite dark. The star field was beautiful, but also obscured in places by clouds. We were anchor up and on our way on schedule, but there is something unsettling and spooky about heading out to sea in the dark. As we left the harbor, there is a concern that you will hit an unlighted buoy, or a fish trap buoy, or perhaps even an unlighted boat. Then as you move away from the island, you realize how alone you are. The lights of Saint Martin receded behind, and off to the side there were lights from a few cruise ships and the distant island of Saba, all many miles away. Then we saw flashes of lightning behind, and we wondered if those storms were going to catch up with us in the dark. All imagined disasters dissipated as light began to creep across the Eastern sky and the sun dawned. It became clear that the storms to the south would march west and not affect us.
This passage was long- nearly 90 miles west to our destination in the British Virgin Islands. The seas built during the day, but never turned terrible. The wind started on our rear quarter, which made for fun sailing, but gradually moved to directly behind, which is a difficult angle for a sailboat and leads to lots of banging around of the sails, so we gradually relied on more engine power as the day wore on.
After a long passage, the last 20 miles or so are always the worst, because you are tired and your destination is right there in front of you. You are almost there. You can taste the rum drink already. But you are not there, and you still have three hours to go! This is what our late afternoon arrival was like, but we finally found a lovely place for the night's rest on a mooring in Great Harbour, Peter Island. The wind was blowing to keep us cool, but the water in Great Harbor is always flat, with no roll to disturb sleep. We slept long and luxuriously, and awoke refreshed after our big push to return to the BVIs.
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| This yacht at Peter Island was called TOUCH, the tender is NICE TOUCH |
