2024-05-05 Falmouth Harbor and Antigua Race Week

We stayed a couple more days in Jolly Harbor.  We went for a nice hike to the top of Pearns Hill.  It was a pretty steep climb, and we were breathing hard at the top.  A development is planned so it has signs for the lots, and paved roads.

Hard to see in the photo, but the road is probably a 40 degree incline.

Since development is planned, some side of the road were planted with beautiful flowers

Top of the hill looking at Jolly Harbor.   Tiny spot on sand beach in photo is our dinghy

We were feeling pretty good about the hike, until we started down, and a young guy passed us going up - running.

When we got back to the beach, had a nice talk with one of the guys doing maintenance on the trees and area near the beach.  He gave us one of the coconuts off a dwarf coconut tree.  He said it was young, so would be full of yummy water.  Back at the boat Dean got out the drill and put a couple of holes in and we drained the water.

 A drill should be in every handy kitchen😀

Got out a lot of water.

Dean took a sip and made a face, but swallowed.  I spit it out.  - Not good tasting at all.

On Tuesday we went out for a nice 1/2 price pizza dinner with our friend Tracy on Wanderlust - a Manta 38 with stern extensions and met her friends David and Kim who have a Burramundi 47 named Melelana - which was designed by the same architect that designed the original Manta catamarans.

Almost stepped on this guy a Frangipani Worm.  Glad I did not, as there was another one down the walk that someone had, and it was a mess.   This one was probably 6" long and as thick as my thumb.

Frangipani Worm

Wednesday we headed to Falmouth Harbor.  Wind right on the nose - so just a 2 hour motor trip.  We came down to watch some of the races of Antigua Race week which was going on.

Thursday went for a 2.5 mile hike to get a good viewing spot on top of a bluff near the coast.  Tracy on Wanderlust went with us.

Trail up to the top of the bluff

Found a great spot to watch the race under the shade of a tree

We watched the first boats start, and then they passed just out of sight behind a small bluff, but then we heard a loud bang, so ran down the trail to see that one boat had dismasted, and was close to shore.  Help was close by, as they had a large rescue inflatable out on the course, and quickly got a line tied to the dismasted boat to keep them off the rocks.

Dismasted boat being towed while race goes on. Light spot on water behind boat is its sail and mast, still attached to boat and floating near the rudder and prop.

Winds were gusting up to 32 knots on the course.  When we got back, we saw another boat had been dismasted as well.  Rough day on the course.  Had a nice lunch/dinner out with Tracy at the end of watching races.

Next day we hiked to a different viewpoint.  Melelana and Wanderlust joined to watch the races.

Part of the hike, goats were quite frequent on this hike

Sat on a rock wall and looked over the top of a house, but great view again.

After we had watched some of the races, we decided to hike a bit further.  Trail had great scenery, but involved a bit more difficult hiking.

Entrance to English Harbor

Navigating the steep trail down

The trail came out at  Nelsons Dockyard, a UNESCO world heritage site.   We stopped and enjoyed a nice lunch with Mango sorbet for dessert.

Inside English harbor

Nelsons Dockyard, ate at Admiralty Inn restaurant, you can see restaurant awnings in left of photo.

Races ended Friday, so Saturday we just relaxed on boat and did some laundry.   In the morning a fellow came around selling pastries made at a local French bakery.  We could not resist and bought some goodies.

Only 20 EC, for 3 raisin, and 1 chocolate.   That's about $7.50 in US dollars

 Temperatures have been warmer than normal for this time of year by a couple degrees.  Highs are in the upper 80's but with humidity feels like mid 90's.  Saturday was a high of 90, but with humidity felt like 102.   

Will leave here Monday and head to Guadeloupe.

2024-04-28 More time in Barbuda, and on to Antigua

We hung out in Barbuda for a few more days.  Went over to our friends boat Matcha, and helped them start up their watermaker, which had been pickled for a while.  They recently purchased the boat, and just wanted moral support for the start up.  Everything went well, so no issues.

Sunrise at Barbuda

We took another beach walk, and just hung out on the boat.  On Wednesday the wind shifted to ENE, so it was time to move, and we had a brisk sail down to Antigua.  Supposed to have 10 to 15 knots, but had 16 to 18 with gust to 21, so we had a reefed main.  Scooted right along at 8 to 9 knots.

We anchored in Jolly Harbor in Antigua.   Next day we went into town, as even though we checked into the country in Barbuda, we had to pay the fees once we got to Antigua.   We had to stop at an ATM and take out some local money first - as we had to pay the port fees in cash.   Antigua uses the Eastern Caribbean dollar.   Tried an ATM at the grocery store, but they wanted too high of fee, so tried another, but it was broken, finally the third one worked.    

We got caught in a bit of a rainstorm on our way to the port authority office and spent some time under the eave of a building, but did make it to the office around 9:00 a.m., where the nice fella took our papers and said - come back at 1:00 p.m.   Oh well.  We then went to Budget Marine as still having issues with our port engine raw water not priming and got new hose, then to the grocery store for some fresh stuff.

Really nice dinghy dock in Jolly Harbor

Small fruit and veg stand outside grocery store

One of the purchases we made at the fruit and veg stand was a pineapple,  Specifically the Antiguan Black Pineapple.  It is said to be the world's sweetest pineapple, and although we are not pineapple experts - we can agree that it is pretty darn sweet.

Antiguan Black Pineapple

At 1:00 we headed back into town, and paid our fees to be in Antigua.  $85 EC, which is about $32 dollars.  

Jolly Harbor Bay is quite large, with lots of homes on the fingers of the bay.   There are a couple of large marinas, and a large boatyard as well.   A sailboat charter company as well, so there is quite a bit of traffic in and out of the harbor, as the anchorage is on the outside of the harbor.   

Jolly Harbor

The bay to anchor in is nice, but there are flies.  Maybe we anchored too close to shore?

Saturday we got on a bus to head into the largest town in Antigua of St. John.  They have a Saturday Market, and we thought we would check it out.    

The bus was only 3 EC per person, about $1.11 dollars US.   Bus is really an exaggeration.  It was  a van that had seen better days, but it got us there just fine.

The market was interesting.  All along the main street for about 1/2 a mile, and in a couple of  lots along main street people had set up tents, and had tables selling stuff.   All new stuff, but at a table you would see hats, shoes, laundry soap, potato chips, and paper and pencils - all at the same table.   The next table might be all clothes, in a big pile.  The next table would be all fruits and veg.   Then a table of shoes.  Then a mixed table.  

There were officials walking around making sure everyone was following the rules for table placement and tent placement, and security as well.  There were lots of folks walking around shopping.  I think we saw three other white faces besides ourselves, so definitely not in the tourist area.

Lots of clothes in this section.

Always watch where you are walking, lest you fall into a hole in the sidewalk

Tents on the side of the road, lots of cars on the road, and people crossing the road back and forth to go to the tents.

Mostly fruit and veg on this section.

The street market is only on Saturday.  We asked about it, and were told that the vendors all have stores around the area, but bring stuff to the Saturday market as well, as they have no big malls or such where you can go to one spot for shopping, so the shopping all comes to one spot on Saturday.  They also have a everyday market inside a covered area.  It had mostly fruit and veg, and was not as busy as outside.

Inside market area

Large statue in park of V.C. Bird, the first prime minister of Antigua.

We enjoyed walking around the market, and strolled some side streets as well.  Even went down by the cruise ship terminal - no cruise ships were in, but did find an ice cream store, and shared a cone.

We walked into a new large modern grocery store near the market as well.  Get a kick out of seeing the familiar foods packaged as different brands.  

Took the bus back.  We always see the countries from a coastal perspective, so nice to take an bus inland to see a different view.

Inland Antigua.  Hilly

When we got back, we upped anchor and moved a bit further out into the bay to see if we get fewer flies.   

Will be here a few more days before moving.

2024-04-20 Moved to Barbuda

We stayed in St. Martin a few more days.  

One of our hatch screen had a rip in it.  Kris had sewn it up a couple of times, but we decided to replace/repair the whole screen.  We did not have any white screen material, which was what the hatches originally had, but had black.  It turned out OK, other than not matching the rest.  At least no rips in it anymore.

New screen installed.  Kris holding old ripped one up.

On Tuesday we went and saw how our friends on Salty Fish, manta 42, were doing with their haul out.  They needed to replace their rudder bearings and a few other projects.  They were in a yard In St Martin that used a trailer and we wanted to see how that worked since when we haul in Trinidad they will also use a trailer.

The hydraulic trailer used for lifting catamarans - worked quite well

After a short visit with them, we headed to a nearby marine store to get a spare impeller for our raw water pump.  As we got to the door, a nice little cat was waiting for someone to open it so it could go in.  We were happy to oblige.  It was a hot day, and the marine store had a nice water cooler inside, so Dean and I both had a drink of nice cool water.  It was after we had our water that the cat decided that water was a good idea as well.  Guess it is good we don't mind cat germs.

Cold water with a little cat germs - yum yum

We then went to the French bakery, and had a nice fruit crumble treat.  Hard to resist the goodies at the bakery.

Fruit crumble - was delicious

Tuesday evening we pulled anchor, and left Simpson Bay Lagoon, went and anchored on the north side of St. Martin in Marigot Bay.   We wanted to clean the bottom of the boat, and get ready to head to Barbuda.

Wednesday was a super busy day.   Dean got in the water and cleaned the bottom.  Boy did it need it.  The Lagoon is known for making boat bottoms dirty and get barnacles - and boy did it do its job.  We had lots of small barnacles.

Before scrubbing

After scrubbing

Dean did a great job, and it was a lot of work, scraping off all the barnacles.   Not much slime or grass, so that was good.

While Dean scrubbed the bottom, Kris tackled and irritating issue we have had with our port engine raw water pump not being able to prime.  Each time the boat sat, we would get an air lock and would have to fiddle with the system to get the raw water flowing for our engine cooling system.   Kris ended up removing almost every hose and re-doing all the connections, but finally got the small air leak out, and now it is working well again.

Dean finished the bottom shortly after Kris finished her project, so Kris went out to help Dean clean up after scrubbing.   Don't know if the Lagoon, or the outside in the Bay was the source, but the hull was also covered with tiny little shrimp like critters which Dean dislodged with scrubbing.   Many decided that Dean should be their new home.   Not sure what they are - could be amphipoda, or small brine shrimp, or skeleton shrimp, but whatever they were Dean was crawling with them.  In his hair, beard, ears, and all over his body.  These little critters are very small - could could put 50 of them on the face of a dime.  He took a shower and stripped on the back steps, and got 99% gone.  The other 1% were stuck in his beard and ears, which Kris then helped clean out.  It was somewhat disgusting.  Guess you know you still care for each other when you clean now dead shrimp out of your spouses ears. 

Creepy crawlies

After Dean was clean, we headed to town to get groceries, and then pick up our packages that we had sent to a shipping service in St. Martin.  The shipping service was $40 to forward packages from Miami to St. Martin, but buying on Amazon saved us $120 versus local price  - so still came out ahead.  

Next back to boat to drop off groceries, then back to town to check out, and pick up bottom paint.

Kris sitting under the stairs at the marine store doing the check out paperwork on the computer

Thursday morning, we hoisted anchor and headed out early.  No wind, so motored to the south side of Sint Maarten to fill up on diesel.   

Cruise ship at the dock in Sint Maarten

Leaving Sint Maarten.  Notice the glassy flat water

We decided to motor to Barbuda, as we still had about 70 miles of easting to do, and no weather window looked good, so we took the no wind weather window to motor.  Pleasantly surprised that we had around 7 to 8 knots which allowed us to motor sail the entire way.

The next day was pretty much taken up with checking in to Barbuda - which was a bit of a mess - but we got it all worked out in the end.   Kris picked up Matt from Matcha - who we had met in St. Martin, and dinghied the 2.3 miles from the anchorage into the town to check in.  We had wanted to plan checking in with calm weather, as we knew the long dinghy ride would be bad in any chop.  We had flat calm - which made the dinghy ride easy.

Flat calm in anchorage off Barbuda

Walking to the Customs office in town.  Passed lots of wandering horses

Lots of donkeys wandering around town as well

Kris and Matt made it back just in time, being chased by a ominous looking rain cloud.

When we were last at Barbuda 11 years ago, the town was not easily accessible by boat, as it was located inland on the edge of a lagoon with only a narrow shallow entrance to the lagoon on the north of the island - Hurricane Irma in 2017 changed all that, but obliterating the sand bar between the lagoon and the ocean - making it now possible to easily take the dinghy into the lagoon and to town, although a long trip.

Once the sand bar was gone, the ocean did its job, and has eroded the sand bar more every year.  A beach resort that was high and dry, is now tumbling into the sea.

Barbuda in 2014 - no gap to get from Lagoon to ocean

Barbuda now - Lagoon open to ocean

We took a nice walk on the beach.

Barbuda beach looking north

Charm at anchor off Barbuda

Nice pink sand line in beach

Looking south back toward the dink near the buildings in the background

We went to explore the ruined resort, but did not get far, and there are several feral dogs that seem to live in the area that did not want us around.

Resort that was destroyed by Irma and time and erosion of beach

Pretty soon, it will all be junk in the ocean

Surprised how much stuff still in the buildings

We will stay here a few more days - don't know how long - will move again when the mood and weather align.