Week 36 August 18 - 24 2014

There is a saying, not sure who said it, but if you stop learning you may as well be dead. Well this week I learnt how to make bread successfully! I have made bread in the past but it just was not quite right. Well Week 36 started off with a lesson from Mira on sv Fata Morgana on how to make bread. Like with most baking – in my experience – it is the technique.

Monday morning while Ivo and Mel went for a run, Mira showed me how to make bread. It tasted good – even if I say so myself.

Afterwards Mel and I pottered around on the yacht until late afternoon when we all decided to go for a walk and look for mangoes.

On our walk down from the waterfalls on Sunday, Mira spotted a tree full of mangoes, so off we

went up the very steep hills to find mangoes.

Ivo is such a character – he climbed up the tree so he could shake the branches while we caught the mangoes from below.

Tuesday morning we decided to hire a car and drive to the volcano and to the many waterfalls that can be found along the Route De La Traversee – this road cuts right through Basse Terre.

The volcano – La Soufriere is an active volcano but it last showed signs of erupting in 1976 which caused major panic and disruption to the Basse Terre – the capital city of Guadeloupe which is at the foot of the volcano.

We arrived at the car park for the walk up to the top of La Soufriere at about 10.30am. It became cooler as we drove higher and the vegetation became thick and lush. Some of the roads were so steep and narrow that the poor little car we were in, seemed to struggle.

There are a number of trails of varying difficulties around La Soufriere which falls under the national parks board. There are signs indicating the length, estimated duration and as mentioned, degree of difficulty.

Every one (including myself) was keen to walk to the top of the volcano as it is not something one does every day, so off we went.

The first part was very organised and relatively easy – it finished at an unused car park. This was when I looked up and saw how high the trail up to the top was and you could also see people walking along the trail, meandering their way up – when panic set in. I told the others that I was the tortoise of the group but would slowly make my way up. The estimated time to get to the top was 1hr 45mins. Well it sure took me that long to reach the top!

It was amazing to see how the vegetation changed as one climbed higher and the temperature became cooler and quite refreshing.

The smell as you reached the crater of the volcano wasn’t great as it was spewing sulphur and it irritated our eyes but it was an amazing sight to see and experience! We spent about an hour walking around the crater of the volcano.

I managed to walk up the volcano now it was a matter of walking back down. As always it is the very last bit that seems the longest as once we had reached the unused car park what should have only taken 15mins to walk took what seemed like forever. It felt good having accomplished such a hike and for the wonderful views, scenery and vegetation that I saw along the way. It was well worth the pain, suffering and two bruises on knees and legs.

On our drive up to the volcano, Mira noticed a tree full of avocados, so on our way down we found the avo tree and took some lovely BIG avo’s. They are SO good!!!

We were back in the car and driving off to see one of the many waterfalls along the Route De La Traversee by 3.30pm. The most popular one is the Cascade aux Ecrevisses but the one we would have liked to have seen was yet another 45mins hike from the main road. We knew that the trail would be closed after 5.00pm and we would never make it in time.

The traffic along the side of the road where the Cascade aux Ecrevisses was, was interesting – peak hour traffic jam. The falls were lovely and the water was very refreshing and very much appreciated after such a hike up to the top of the volcano. Many of the locals spend time relaxing in the pool and waters around the waterfalls and river.

We eventually arrived back on our boats around 6.30pm utterly exhausted but feeling good of what we had seen and achieved.

Wednesday we decided we would sail south to Pigeon Cove. This is where the Cousteau Underwater Park is situated. It was only 8nm so we were in no rush to leave Deshaies.

We naturally had to stop off at the Bakery before leaving Deshaies and Mel and Ivo went for a snorkel at the north entrance of the bay where we had snorkelled on Saturday.

While the men were snorkelling, a Customs boat arrived in the bay and custom officials proceeded to come around on their dinghy to ask where each yacht moored off the bay, came from.

About an hour later as we were preparing the boat for the sail down to Pigeon Cove, the customs officials came back to our boat and asked permission to board the boat. You can’t really say “No!” so three officials boarded Passages.

In their broken English, they explained that they were doing some officer training and they appreciated our time. They checked all of our boat papers, registration and passports then proceeded to inspect the boat, opening up cupboards, looking behind our seats where all the hidden storage compartments are, under the floor boards where other hidden areas are. They were very pleasant but it still don’t feel good having our “home” invaded and searched. They left after about half an hour on the boat.

We continued preparing Passages for our sail to Pigeon Cove – we left Dehsaies at about 1.30pm and had a very short but pleasant sail.

Ivo, Mira and Maya had left for Pigeon Cove a few hours before us, so they were already anchored and settled when we arrived about 2 hours later.

In Pigeon Cove there are so many turtles!! You can look out over the water and see up to 3 -4 turtles at a time – all varying in size. It was amazing and wonderful to see.

Thursday morning we decided to spend the morning snorkelling around Pigeon Island which forms the Cousteau Underwater Park. The park actually consists of two island, Pigeon Island and Petit Ilet with a few diving and snorkelling spots around them. Anchoring is not allowed but there are mooring buoys around the island – you just have to use the correct coloured mooring ball. The white and blue ones are for dive boats and professional groups while the yellow ones are for yachts or dinghies.

We first went to the NW side of Pigeon Island to the Aquarium and snorkelled there for about an hour. There were lots of beautiful fish and a few corals – some fish I hadn’t seen before and need to find out their names. The fluorescent blues/lilacs of some of the fish are quite beautiful and amazing.

We then went around the west side of Pigeon Island and in between Pigeon Island and Petit Ilet – here the snorkelling was ten times better. The amount of fish was amazing – in fact there were schools of fish. The coral was much better as well although the seabed consisted mainly of rocks and boulders.

Mel and I had brought along some stale bread – left over bread from the bread I had made earlier on in the week. It has no preservatives so it goes stale very quickly. We broke up the bread and were immediately surrounded by fish. It was awesome!

While we were snorkelling it started to rain – it was much warmer being in the water than out and it was fascinating to see the raindrops falling on top of the water and looking under the surface of the water.

We stayed here for about another hour until we were all rather shrivelled up from being in the water too long.

Weather wise, we were watching a low pressure system that was passing north of us – over Antigua. We felt we were protected from the wind but we didn’t expect the swell that we had been experiencing for the past day and night (Thursday night) and would experience the rest of Friday. The boat was facing into the wind but the swell was coming to us from the side which meant we were rocking and rolling big time! We had two nights of very little sleep so were keen to find a quiet anchorage that would protect us from the wind and the swell.

Friday we spent on the boat rocking and rolling – it wasn’t fun!

The weather forecast also predicted very strong easterlies over Tuesday and Wednesday of next week so we thought we would sail down to Iles des Saintes (Islands of the Saints) which are south of the mainland of Guadeloupe, on Saturday. There we hoped that the anchorages would protect us from the predicted winds.

Saturday – 6.00am the anchor was up and we were heading south. The forecast said strong SE but that is not what we had. At one time we were going 1.5knots!!!

Ivo is a bit of a purest – he has an engine but does not believe/like using it. At times he will use his canoe and pull the yacht, instead of putting on the engine. See their blog: http:/www.TheLifeNomadik.com – They are an amazing and awe-inspiring family, living life to the full, appreciating everything that comes their way after growing up in communist Bulgaria.

After about 2 hours of bobbing along, Mel said we needed to make water so we had to put on the engine.

The sail down to Iles des Saintes was only 28nm and technically according to the weather/wind forecast should have taken us 6 – 7 hours with doing only two tacks – well like most things in life,

things seldom go according to plan. The sail took us 10 hours and we tacked about 6 – 7 times! (I lost count!) When we had about ½ nm to go I begged Mel to put the motor on so we could be anchored by the time the sunset and the fast approaching rain storm, arrived. We put down anchor at 5.00pm in Baie De Marigot off the main island of Iles Des Saintes – Terre Den Haut.

Despite all the tacking, I thought it was a comfortable and enjoyable sail – only half the sails were out – Mel wanted more but I was concerned about the gusts (some reaching 23knots) and the rain storms that periodically came our way.

Ivo, Mira and Maya arrived just after 7.00pm – they had had an awful sail.

Needless to say, Saturday night we were in bed very early and slept like babies – we were exhausted.

It is times like these when I think about the whole concept of sailing – “sailing off into the sunset”. Hollywood movies often have the two main characters (particularly in romantic comedies) on a yacht with the full sails out, calm flat seas, drinking champagne, hair, make up and nails immaculate and wearing some smart lovely sarong or item of clothing. Well I did say Hollywood – the truth between reality and fantasy - the TOTAL opposite!!!

My hair is always a mess – yes, I do tie it up and my “true” colour is apparent, make up – what is that!!, Most days I put on a swim suit or a pair of shorts and T shirt. Our T-shirts are all looking worse for wear – we don’t wear any shoes on the boat, in fact even when we go to somebodies boat, we don’t put on shoes. We actually leave our shoes (thongs/slip slops/ flip flops) in the dinghy and only put them on when we go on land – of course. AND yes we do spend quite a few sunsets with a lovely cool drink in our hands (alcoholic and non-alcoholic).

Sunday we made our way into town – Boug des Saintes. The Saintes is French and is beautiful – it has a Gallic atmosphere and appearance and has changed little over the years. The houses are brightly coloured (see photos below) and there is an abundance of flowers! Not many cars are found on the island as scooters are the main mode of transport.

We spent most of the morning walking along the main road where most of the shops and restaurants are as we were keen to find some Wi-Fi to check on the weather. Unfortunately or fortunately most places close at 12.30 until 4.00pm so we weren’t able to check on the weather. We decided to go to back to our boats and enjoy the rest of the afternoon snorkelling, reading and relaxing.

What a week – full of wonderful and exhausting experiences. Who knows what next week will bring!

Until next time.

Love

Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn/xx

 

 

 

 

 

The volcano

 

 

Sunset at Pigeon Cove

 

Basse Terre and the Volcano from the boat

Some of the lovely colourful houses in Ilse des Saintes

Week 35 August 10 - 17 2014

One of the many wonderful experiences we have had while sailing this year, are all the interesting and wonderful people we have met. Some people we only chatted to for a few minutes, while with others, we spent a considerable time in their company.

View from Passages of Falmouth Harbour and Antigua Yacht Club
Skullduggery behind the big white boat.

For example, while we were at the dinghy dock, we started chatting to a couple – Sue and Jon who were having a drink at Skullduggery – the “restaurant/bar” at the dinghy dock in Falmouth Harbour – then another sailor Ron and his dog Bella, who we had met at the Jolly Harbour Marina and then later when we were anchored in Falmouth.

Each person/couple we met, has their own interesting stories to tell and they are always willing to offer or pass on any advice about a place we may be visiting in the near future or inform us about something that worked well on their yacht. For example, Ron told us about Deshaies (Day-ay : our first port of call when we arrive in Gaudeloupe) that there are mooring balls now which at the moment are free to use. At bit of information that we also found on Active Captian (Android app).

At the moment Mel is gathering as much information as possible about solar panels and the amount of power one needs on a boat as we are always very low on power so are having to run the generator almost on a daily basis to keep our batteries charged. The biggest comsumption of power is the fridge and freezer which we have noticed is having to run  more often the further south we go.

As planned, on Sunday we left Jolly Harbour Marina and headed for Falmouth Harbour. We said our “Good byes” to John and Linda of Blue Moon who are staying in Jolly  Harbour Marina for the rest of the Hurricaine season before heading south to Grenanda.

 We had to motor sail as we were going directly into the wind. It was quite surreal as we had visited Falmouth Harbour in December 2011, but not from this vantage point. We sailed passed Pigeon Beach, one of our favourite places the past time we were here. Falmouth Harbour looked quite different from when we were last here for two reasons: one, the way we were approaching the harbour and two there were not many yachts, mega yachts and boats in the harbour and marinas. Most people are either further south or north – out of the Hurricane zone.

We found a good place to anchor and made ourselves comfortable and settled down for the evening.

Nelsons Dockyard English Harbour

Monday morning we walked to English Harbour and reminisced about our previous visit. Naturally we had to go to the Bakery where there are always fresh goodies to buy. We enjoyed lunch at one of the local restaurants before heading to Skullduggery where the Wi-Fi was fast and strong. We stayed there for sundowners.

Tuesday as we were preparing to spend the day at Pigeon Beach, we heard from Linda and John on the VHF radio that they were in Falmouth Harbour and had come through from Jolly Harbour to spend the day with us. It was good seeing them once again.

We walked down to English Harbour once again and showed them around and had lunch at yet another local place along the main road between Falmouth Harbour and English Harbour.

Linda and John had caught the bus   - in fact two buses to get to English Harbour. One from Jolly Harbour to St John’s, then from St John’s to English Harbour as there is not a direct route from one to the other.

We are hoping to see John and Linda in October when we will be in Grenada at the same time.

Mel fast asleep on Pigeon Beach

Wednesday morning we went to Pigeon Beach and spent most of the day there. It is a lovely beach as the water is so clear and a great temperature. There is plenty of shade to park under and there are places to buy drinks and food if you want. Many locals spend their free time there and it was good to see families spending quality time together.

For sundowners we had a visitor – Han from Amsterdam on his boat Condor. We had noticed Han coming into Falmouth after dark on Monday evening and we recognised him as having seen him and his boat in Simpson Bay in St Martin. He came on board and spent the next 1 ½ hours telling us how he had sailed from Amsterdam to St Martin. It was an interesting story.

View from Shirley Heights of English Harbour
 and Falmouth Harbour

Thursday we checked out of Antigua as Friday looked like a better day to sail to Guadeloupe. Afterwards, we caught a taxi up to Shirley Heights for lunch. It is a magical place as it seems as if you can see forever. One can also see why Antigua and English Harbour in particular was such an important place strategically for the English, as their ships were safe in the harbour, nobody could see them, but they could see others coming from miles away.

FYI – English sailors were often called Limeys because they would eat limes from Antigua to prevent themselves from getting scurvy. When they were in town and their ships were in the port, they had plenty of time on their hands so the local phase “to lime” came to mean to “hang out”. -  Information taken from Chris Doyle’s The Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands – 13 edition.

Mel and I both felt quite sad to be leaving Antigua but the weather was good to be heading south, so on Friday morning by 6.00am our anchor was up and we were heading out of Falmouth Harbour.

Our sail to Deshaies was a fast one. We anticipated that we would get to Deshaies by 4.00pm at the latest as we try to make the sail comfortable for BOTH of us (mainly me) which means that the sails are reduced accordingly and we try to maintain at least 5 knots. Well we averaged 6.5 knots with only the genoa out and we were tied up to a mooring ball by 12.45pm!

The wind was between 15 – 20 knots but it was coming aft of the beam – meaning it was coming from the side of the boat towards the back – it was pushing us in the direction we were going! Hoorah!!! Yes the seas were a little too rough for me, the swells were 1.5 – 2 metres and it took some getting used to bu,t I eventually did settle down and relaxed.



Mel fight with our first bite.

Most of the first hour of a sail is my worst, as I find it takes me quite a while to settle and to get used to the movement of the boat. It is quite difficult at times with a captain like I have who is like Skippy – the bush Kangaroo – is always up and down trimming the sail or doing something or other. Once Captain Skippy is happy with everything, then I seem to start relaxing into the sail.

Our second much smaller catch
It was VERY small.

We actually had “some” success with our attempts at fishing – most times we are sailing we have our trolling rod out. We had a HUGE bite from a Mahi Mahi - it gave Mel such a fight that our whole line reeled out. When Mel reeled the line back in, it had gone but it had taken some of our lure. We put the rod out again and within 10 mins we had another bite. We  caught a small Mahi Mahi, but decided to release it as it needed to grow a bit bigger.

Information taken from Chris Doyle’s The Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands – 13 edition.

“Guadeloupe is French and is a department of France. Basse Terre is the capital of Guadeloupe. Guadeloupe is known as Karukera (Island of Pretty Waters) by the Caribs and it has a population of 330,000. Sugar cane is widely grown and the local “rhum” is of great importance to France. Tourism is also very important.

Guadeloupe consists of two islands in the shape of a butterfly – a rather lopsided one. It has a narrow channel running through the middle of the two islands. This channel mainly consists of mangroves.

The larger mountainous island is called “Basse Terre” (low land) while the smaller, low island is called “Grande Terre” (large land) which is the older of the two. Grande Terre was once mountainous but over time – millions of years its mountains have eroded. Basse Terre is a young volcanic island.”

Deshaies is in the northern end of Guadeloupe on its west coast. It is pronounced Day-ay.

As we were coming into Deshaies a lady on a cat shouted “Hello” to us – she was flying an Australian flag and is from Brisbane.



Deshaies Harbour

Not far behind us another boat came into Deshaies harbour – this boat had also been sailing south from Antigua, but had sailed out of English Harbour at about the same time we sailed out of Falmouth. We instantly recognised them – they were on the cat Fata Morgana – Ivo, Mira and Maya – we first met them in Nevis, then again in Montserrat. They are originally from Bulgaria but are now living in Canada. They have taken two years off work to sail and have already been sailing for over a year now.



Once we had settled down and had some lunch, we took the dinghy down so Mel could go into town and check us in, although we were not very optimistic as we knew that Friday 15 August was a public holiday in Guadeloupe – Assumption Day. As Mel made his way to the main dinghy dock, he stopped off and spoke to the lady on the Cat with the Australian flag – Bev and then on to Ivo, Mira and Maya. As predicted, everything was closed so we could only check in on Saturday morning which we did.

Bev invited is for sundowners – so we went across to her cat a Voyage 38ft – it is South African made.

Bev sails solo – she has sailed for the past 30 odd years. She is in the same line of business that Mel is in, but with another software company. She has lived all over the world from Zambia to the U.K., New Zealand, Senegal and a few other NW and NE African countries. We spent about 2 hours on her boat chatting away before we went back to ours and settled down for the night.

Saturday morning and Mel was up early to check us in. The French actually make it so easy – it is all done on computer and on line.

There is a dress shop/gift shop in Deshaies called Le Pelican where you pay 4EU for the use of the computer and you check in.

When Mel had checked us in, he came to fetch me and we went for a “walk about” the town. Naturally we ended up at the Bakery! The town centre is lovely and very colourful but most people only speak French! Never mind we will manage. There are of course LOTS of restaurants and they seem to stay open quite late at night! One restaurant had their music blaring until 3.30am!!! (While writing this update a few people are singing at one of the restaurants – all in French of course – we are hoping they don’t continue until the wee hours  - it is already sailors midnight – 9.00pm!)

We thought we had better work off what we had consumed so we went in the dinghy to the entrance of the harbour where there was some good snorkelling spots.

It was quite magical as there were SO many fish swimming about. We were at one point totally surrounded by little fish. We had to be careful as well as there were a few jelly fish around and we didn’t want to take a chance as we didn’t know what type of jelly fish they were.

Sunday we decided to go on the river walk that the Chris Doyle travel guide had suggested. We radioed Bev to see if she wanted to join us and she was keen along with Mark and Tina on Rainbow, who we had met briefly the day before. Mel thought he would also invite Ivo, Mira and Maya, so at 10.00am we all met on the dinghy dock and started our river walk. In the guide book it mentioned that when we reach one section of the river walk where there was a lovely waterfall, if you walk for an extra “20 mins” you would find an even better waterfall.

Mel relaxing in the
lovely cool waters

We walked along the river, over large boulders, sometimes along the very leafy river banks and over fallen logs until we reached a lovely pool just below the first waterfall. We stopped and had a swim in the pool – after walking, climbing over big boulders for almost 2 hours, it felt good to relax in the cool water.

Mel, Ivo, Mira, Maya, Bev and I were keen to walk/climb further up to the top waterfall which should have been 20mins further up but took us a lot longer as we took the wrong path but was it worth it!

I couldn’t take my camera to the waterfall as it was behind a HUGE boulder and there was a very small space to climb up and over to the waterfall – you also had to “swim” to this very small space which of course I couldn’t

do with a camera.

We had to return back to the first waterfall the same way, but from there we could go back to town on the road which should have taken us about 15 mins but it took us longer as we were all feeling a bit weary and it was extremely steep going downhill.

Our plans for the week ahead all depend on the tropical wave which has a low attached to one end and could develop into a cyclonic system. We intend staying in Deshaies for another day or two, then sail south (8nm) to Pigeon Cove, then we can’t make up our mind where to next…. Do we stay longer in Guadeloupe or head further south ….. tough decision! There are so many interesting people to meet along the way.

Anyway take care. Until next time wherever we might be.

Love

Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn /xx

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Week 34 August 3 - 9 2014

Antigua is an extremely popular and well known yachting destination. There are many beautiful anchorages, Antigua Sailing Week and for its history – English Harbour.

Mel and I spent 10 days in Antigua in December 2012 – we actually spent Christmas Day at Nelsons Dockyard, in English Harbour.

Falmouth and English Harbour are well protected ports and have been used to protect ships/boats from Hurricanes since 1745. In 1789, English Harbour was Britain’s main naval port in the Lesser Antilles.

Information taken from Chris Doyle’s The Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands – 13 edition.

“In 1784, Horatio Nelson was stationed here under Sir Richard Hughes, who had recently blinded himself in one eye while chasing a cockroach with a fork. Later, Nelson took over as naval commander but he did not enjoy Antigua and did not get on well with the Governor General - Governor General Shirley (after who Shirley Heights is named) or the plantocracy who did not like the way Nelson insisted on enforcing the Navigation Act. This meant he kept the port closed to trade for all but British ships. “

Nelson’s Dockyard is named after Nelson – obviously.

Sunday was a lazy day spent on the boat and going to the local beach.

The celebrations for Jouvert actually start at 3.00am!!! We decided we would be at the bus stop by 7.00am to catch a bus into St Johns to see some of the celebrations.

We arrived in St Johns just after 7.00am to find it throbbing with extremely loud music and hordes of people drinking and dancing in a parade down the main street of St Johns – Market Street. We found a place to watch and observe the whole festivities – well it was an eye opener as we felt that it was just a public orgy. The “dance” moves were not dance moves – I am not trying to be a prude but they looked more like a  few positions out of the book of Kamasutra.

We stayed and watched for about 2 hours before heading back to the boat.

The rest of the day was spent doing domestics on the boat.

The Jouvert festivities take place over two days – Monday and Tuesday. Each day the festivities start at 3.00am, continue until about 10.00am, then the participants change into “elaborate” costumes for another street parade later in the day – starting at about 2.00pm.

We decided we would go back into St Johns on Tuesday afternoon to watch the street parade.

See photos below.

The rest of the week was spent on the boat cleaning, fixing and catching up with the many chores that had to be done. We went for walks on the lovely beach close by, going out for dinner at Shells, an outdoor restaurant that has a London double decker bus where if you want to, you can sit and have your meal. They serve English food – great fish and chips!

At the marina there is also cable T.V. which has been great as I have watch a bit of cricket and tennis and a “few” of my favourite T.V. series.

The weather hasn’t been great either as we have had quite a few days of rain but then again it is the tropics.

Our plans are as follows – Sunday, the weather looks good for us to leave Jolly Harbour Marina and head south and then east to Falmouth Harbour and English Harbour where we intend anchoring until next week Thursday or Friday when the weather looks good for us to sail south to Guadeloupe.

As you can see this week has been a week of chores on the boat – not that exciting.

Until next time – take care, keep well

Love

Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn/xx

 

 

 

 

Week 33 July 27 to August 2 2014

Sunday morning, we were up bright and early preparing to leave Nevis after spending just over a week at this beautiful and extremely friendly island. We were sailing to Montserrat via Redonda.

As promised in last week’s update, I would tell you something about “The Kingdom of Redonda”

Redonda is a HUGE rock some 1000 feet high and one mile long. One can NOT anchor there; it is a difficult and dangerous island to land at and climb.

 Information taken from Chris Doyle’s The Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands – 13 edition.

 “In 1865 phosphates were discovered and mining began. In 1872 the British decided they had better take over Redonda before the Americans did and they annexed it as part of Antigua.

Phosphate production grew, 100 people worked the island and personnel and equipment were pulled up and down on a two-bucket cable car designed so that the weight of the up-going load was balanced by seawater, which was first pumped into a reservoir at the top, then used to fill the descending bucket. In those days there were houses on the top and a wharf.

In 1914 the phosphate production stopped and the mining lease was finally given up on 1930. In 1978, Antigua, now independent and keen to confirm owner ship of the rock, set up a post office and issued a series of stamps to commemorate 100 years of phosphate mining. There was talk of reopening the mine. The post office was abandoned a year later and subsequent landslides and hurricanes have destroyed it”

There is also the story of the “Kingdom of Redonda” which is quite entertaining reading about Matthew Dowdy Shiell who in 1865, after having eight daughters eventually had a son. He was a bit of a sexiest and wanted his son to have a kingdom while he felt his daughters could just go and get married, so he laid claim to Redonda. This son was crowned King Filipe I of Redonda.

Other equally interesting characters like John Galsworth who was crowned King Juan I of Redonda followed by Jon Wynne-Tyson (King Juan II) and King Robert (Bob the Bald) – who obtained the royal role after King Juan II became tired of his “royal role” and abdicated on April 1, 1998. Bob the Bald was a colourful character who lived in Antigua. His royal yacht which was apparently equally as colourful as its owner, was used in the film the Pirates of the Caribbean. There are a few discrepancies as to who exactly is the rightful king of Redonda which makes this “rock” a rather interesting place to sail pass.

Our sail to Montserrat was enjoyable and it took us about 7 hours to sail the 35nm. The port of entry is now Little Bay, so we headed for Little Bay which is exactly that – little. We eventually found a spot to anchor and we were relaxing in the cockpit by 2.30pm.

Since it was Sunday we were unable to check in, otherwise we would have to pay the custom officials between $80 - $100US for over time so we decided to fly our yellow quarantine flag and wait for the Customs and Immigrations Offices to open on Monday morning at 8.00am

Monday morning Mel and John checked us in and by 9.30am, the four of us were walking up to the main road to catch a bus that would take us up to the Montserrat Volcano Observation Centre.

Montserrat is known as the “Emerald Isle of the Caribbean”.

Information taken from Chris Doyle’s The Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands – 13 edition.

“Montserrat’s first European settlers were Irish who arrived from St. Kitts in 1630, having experienced problems with the Kittian Protestants. A second wave of Irish settlers arrived in 1649, after Cromwell conquered Ireland. They began as smaller farmers growing mixed crops but once sugar became the main crop, the economy changed. Slaves were introduced and the smaller farms became uneconomical and many of the Irish returned to their homeland. They left behind smiling eyes, Irish names such as O’Brien, Dublin and Ryan and an Irish stew called “goat water”. Today, Montserrat is known as the other Emerald Isle.

Montserrat is the only other country in the world – other than Ireland, that celebrates St Patrick’s Day by having a public holiday – apparently they have a whole week to celebrate St Patrick’s Day!

Montserrat has two different and contrasting landscapes. The southern part is very stark and barren and is dominated by the Soufriere Hills volcano. Plymouth was once the capital but all that remains of this once vibrant town are ash covered burnt out buildings.

The northern part is where most of the population now live – Little Bay is where the new capital is being developed – slowly.

In 1995, the population of Montserrat was about 11,000 and they farmed, fished and were involved in the tourist industry. In 1995, the Soufriere Hills volcano first erupted. Major eruptions happened in 1997 which led to the evacuation and eventual destruction of the capital Plymouth.

A few years later in 2003, the dome of the volcano collapsed and the volcano showed signs of going to sleep but in 2006, there were several more eruptions. In February 2010 the biggest ever eruption happened and the exclusion zone was extended. The volcano continues to smoulder and smoke.”

We enjoyed our time at the Volcano Centre and our time walking around Salem where we waited for another bus/taxi to take us back to Little Bay.

The rest of the afternoon we spent on the boat relaxing and preparing for our sail to Antigua.

While we were in Little Bay, a Royal Navy Battle ship was also anchored close by. The ship was on its way to Martinique.

By 7.00am, Tuesday, we were on our way to Antigua sailing passed the NE part of Montserrat where we could see the volcano from another angle.

We had a great sail to Antigua. The distances between the islands are not great distances – from Montserrat to Antigua it was only 25nm so it took us just over 4 hours as we were doing about 6 knots.

We arrived at Jolly Harbour Customs by 12.00 and were all tied up along our dock by 12.30.

Blue Moon were not far behind us.

We had decided to stay in the Jolly Harbour Marina for about a week as we were a bit concerned about a low pressure system that was forming in the Atlantic. We also had quite a few things to fix on Passages like our battery charger had packed up, our macerator pump had also given up the ghost and there were a few other things to fix – the never ending maintenance on a boat. Maintenance in paradise!

Wednesday, Thursday and Friday Mel organised, fixed and repaired the battery charger, macerator pump and a few other things while I cleaned the inside of the boat and polished the port holes and some of the stainless steel. It is amazing how the salt air rusts the stainless on the boat. We use a product called Spotless Stainless which gets rid of the rust and acts as a protective coating for a while.

We were also receiving 6 hourly updates on the low pressure system as we were concerned that it may turn into something nasty. On Thursday afternoon, the low pressure system became a named Tropical storm – Tropical storm Bertha. We noticed on the updates that Bertha was passing 120nm south of us but we would still experience winds 25 – 35knots over the next day or two (Friday and Saturday).

Friday, we made sure the boat was secure along the dock and Mel put out some extra lines. We took down any items on the boat that could go flying away in the wind and enjoyed a night staying on the boat. At the marina we have cable T.V. which is a real treat so we have been catching up on the worlds news (what a sad state of affairs – plane crashes and planes being shot down, the awful and continuing situation in the Middle East – oh dear!)

Saturday, we spent the morning waiting for an electrician as our air-con is playing up. We only use our air con when we have shore power. The electrician came and gave us his pricey quote and then Mel, Linda (from Blue Moon) and I caught the bus into St Johns (the capital of Antigua).

Antigua is preparing for Jouvert (Joovay) – information taken directly from Wikipedia.

J'ouvert (French pronunciation: ​[ʒuvɛʁ]) is a large street party during Carnival in the eastern Caribbean region. J'ouvert is a contraction of the French jour ouvert, or dawn/day break.

J'ouvert is celebrated on many islands, including Trinidad and Tobago, Saint Lucia, Anguilla, Antigua & Barbuda, Aruba, Grenada, Haiti, Jamaica, St. Vincent and the Grenadines, St. Kitts and Nevis, Sint Maarten, Dominica, the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands. It is also a feature of New York City's West Indian Day Parade held on Labor Day, in the Crown Heights neighborhood of Brooklyn and Notting Hill Carnival in London, both areas that have a large Caribbean ex-pat communities.

The celebration involves calypso/soca bands and their followers dancing through the streets. The festival starts well before dawn and peaks a few hours after sunrise.

Carnival was introduced to Trinidad by French settlers in 1783, a time of slavery.^[1] Banned from the masquerade balls of the French, the slaves would stage their own mini-carnivals in their backyards — using their own rituals and folklore, but also imitating and sometimes mocking their masters’ behavior at the masquerade balls.^[2]

The origins of street parties associated with J'ouvert coincide with the emancipation from slavery in 1838. Emancipation provided Africans with the opportunity, to not only participate in Carnival, but to embrace it as an expression of their newfound freedom. Some theorize that some J'ouvert traditions are carried forward in remembrance of civil disturbances in Port of Spain, Trinidad, when the people smeared themselves with oil or paint to avoid being recognized

We walked around Market Street in St Johns for about 2 hours before heading back to Jolly Harbour marina by taxi.

Monday and Tuesday of next week are public holidays here in Antigua due to Jouvert and we intend going into St Johns to watch some of the activities. So here we are in Antigua at the end of week 33 – until next week when we can tell you about our Jouvert experience.

 

Keep well. Take care.

Captain Mel and Admiral Caryn/xx

 

Montserrat from another angle - sailing to Antigua