Sunday was a boat day to rest and recover from the overnight passage. We did dinghy over to visit our friends
Monica and Jason on Breathe. Had
not seen them since we were rafted to them in Vero Beach, Florida back in November,
so about 4 months ago.
Monday we went to town, had a nice breakfast out at Chez
Fernand bakery, with Breathe, and our friends John and Melanie on Shally
came over as well. The food was
delicious, as most French bakeries are.
After breakfast, we went to the paint store to get some bottom paint for
the boat, but they did not have any in stock.
Bummed, as that was the main reason for us to go to St. Martin. Oh well.
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| Dean by the "I love St. Martin" sign |
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French bakeries are the best
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| Melanie, Kris, Dean, Monica, Jason and John - fun to have time with friends. |
We decide not stay long in St. Martin, as we still have easting
to go, as it is 65 miles more easting before it is easy to sail north and south
in the Leeward and Windward islands of the Caribbean. Since there was a good weather window, and
the next one was weeks away we decided to move on quickly.
Back to boat, upped anchor and Breathe and us headed
out. We stopped on the south side of
St. Martin/Sint Maarten to get fuel, and had a better sailing angle than Breathe,
but we both did fine on a very tight reach to Antigua. Breathe even had a very close whale
sighting.
Passing the south end of St. Martin, lots of folks out watching the planes come in. St. Martin is famous for having the planes come in low, and the end of the airport is very close to the beach.
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| Plane coming in, with boat anchored out to watch |
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| You can see the plane close to landing, over the beach, full of people. |
On our overnight to Antigua around 2:00 a.m. we sailed into a patch of Sargassum. Not unusual, and usually no issue, normally
you just part the Sargassum as you go, and sail right out. This time was different. Sailed in, and the boat went from 8 knots to
1 knot of speed. We had 20 knot winds,
and we were moving at 1 knot. It was
also very quiet, no wind or wave noise at all, and the seas went from 3’ to
flat. Quite eerie, actually. Took a bit, but we changed course and sailed out and speed picked right back
up.
Got into Antigua around 4:00 in the morning, and went to
bed. Around 11:00 a.m. we were
recovered enough from the overnight trip to head in and check into
Antigua. That done, it was back to the
boat for lunch and naps. That evening
we headed back in with Breathe for the Tuesday pizza special at La Porta – only
$13 for a medium pizza. We all got our
own pizzas, so enough for dinner and lunch the next day.
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| I stole this picture from Breathe - thanks guys. |
Wednesday we decided to hike up Pearns Hill with
Breathe. Dean and I have hiked it
before, but first time for Breathe.
Unfortunately, the swell was rather large, and our beach landing did not
go as planned, with Jason and Dean staying dry, but Monica got a bit wet, and
Kris took a large swell over the side of the dink and got thoroughly
drenched. Oh well, clothes dry.
We had a nice, but strenuous hike up the hill, with a couple
of roads up being at least a 30 degree or more angle. It only around 325 feet tall, but steep
roads.
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| Made it to the top |
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| Very pretty views from the top of Pearn hill |
Back at the dinghy we knew putting in would be hard with the swell, but we did everything wrong. Key not in the motor, stern facing the waves, steep beach. Took a couple big waves over the stern and completely swamped the dink. Dean and Jason got soaked, Monica partly and Kris not at all, as she was still on the beach. The dinghy full of sand and water, we brought back on the beach, bailed it out, and then tried again. Everyone but Kris got in, and made a successful exit, Kris walked down to a breakwater, waded out on the rocks and got picked up. Exciting times. We were lucky, outboard motor and battery just fine. Spent some time back at the boat cleaning dink of excess sand, gave it a freshwater rinse and all is good. Felt a bit foolish though, as could have done a much better job the first time – oh well, good memories.
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| Still smiling after the dinghy dunking. |
Thursday we headed into town with Breathe. Went to Budget marine, and the grocery store,
and wandered around the new “container” market. Big changes around the marina, as they are
tearing down the old shop area, and have moved it all into remodeled shipping
containers, and apparently will be building condos where the old shops used to
be.
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| New container shops - they are moving into them just as we were visiting, so not open yet |
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| Nice large shady sitting area around the container shops |
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| Lots of boats in the Jolly Harbor marina |
Friday was boat day.
Dean made pizza dough, white bread, and his lemon breakfast bread. Kris worked on repairing the dinghy chaps,
which some sewing was coming undone on. We
also did a load of laundry, and general
boat cleaning.
Saturday we went in with Breathe, and caught the ”bus” to
St. John, the largest town on Antigua. Every
Saturday is market day, with people setting up tents and stalls to sell
everything from candy, shoes, clothes, and fruits and veggies. Had a good walk around town seeing the
sites, and then Jason gets credit for finding a nice restaurant for lunch. Good food at very reasonable prices. Even got to watch a cat stalk and catch a
lizard, but then the lizard got away and ran under our table – which was not
nice – we all picked up our feet and backpacks quickly in case it decided to
use them to climb up away from the cat.
The restaurant owners wife came out with a broom and dustpan and rounded
up the stray lizard and took it to the grassy area away from the outside dining
area. Good food and entertainment.
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| Bus depot - the minivans are the buses |
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Lots of people and stalls set up selling goods
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| Statue of the first Prime Minister of Antigua and a national hero |
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| Museum of Antigua - unfortunately closed during our visit |
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| Cathedral of St. John the Divine. The present cathedral was built on a fossilized reef, in 1845, and is now in its third incarnation, as earthquakes in 1683 and in 1745 destroyed the previous structures. |
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| Inside Cathedral of St. John the Divine |
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| Cute bus parked on a road in St John |
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| Inside the large Public Market Complex. More vendors outside than inside. |
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| Saw lots of cats in and around while walking. This mom and babies taking a nap inside the Market Complex. |
Back to the boat around 2:00 in the afternoon. Kris worked on putting in a new fan for our fridge, as the old one stopped working. Did not have the right size fan, so she put in a larger one we will use temporarily until we get the right size later on.
Today we will move to a new anchorage on Antigua.
