2025-01-11 Antigua, to Montserrat to St. Kitts

Our plan was to stay in Antigua longer, and go around to the west side and check out some anchorages, as the weather forecast called for light winds, but a strong north swell in the coming week.    

We had some high winds on Monday, so we stayed on board, and glad of it, as 3 boats drug, and all next to us.  People were on two of them, so no worries, they took care of the issue, although one was down below, so we had to yell a bit to get their attention.  The third was a small boat, no on it, but we got in the dink and talked to neighboring boats, and someone knew the owner, who was contacted.  The boat drug about 2000' before they got there, but no issues, so all good.

May not look close in the photo, but the little blue boat came rather close to us.  Mostly worried about it snagging our anchor chain.

Windy days always good for boat projects and baking.  Dean made his two loaves, white bread for sandwiches and poppy seed loaf for breakfast bread.

Deans baking - he is getting rather good at it.

Tuesday the winds died a bit, so Kris headed off in the kayak to explore the shore a bit, and took a walk for some exercise.

This boat must have washed up during a hurricane, as it was at least 500' from shore

Antigua is a "dry" island, very much different from the islands with more rain

We also spent time with Mike and Gloria on Cotinga who were anchored next to us, and had an enjoyable evening with Kelly and Todd on Zing as well.

When cruising, plans need to be flexible, and we try to keep the boat ready to go at a moment's notice.  On Wednesday morning, after a quick weather review, we decided to check out, get groceries, haul anchor, and head to Montserrat instead of hanging out at Antigua.  Weather would not allow another opportunity for at least a couple of weeks or more.

Our friends on Cotinga were also heading to Montserrat, and were going on tour, so we asked to join them, which they graciously agreed to.

Nice sail over to Montserrat, and after checking in, we realized that we did not have the required courtesy flags for Montserrat, or our next anchorage of St. Kitts.  We were going to buy them in Antigua, but last minute change of plans to sail, so we had not done that yet.

Kris got out the fabric and sewing machine, and made up the base for both flags in a matter of minutes, and then got out the fabric paints and slopped together a couple of passable flags.  Not pretty up close, but passable from a distance.

Not pretty, but passable

Thursday we headed off on the tour of Montserrat.  In 1995 the volcano on Montserrat, Soufrière Hills started showing some activity.  It erupted and continued to have eruption activity until 2013.  Mud slides still occur and has basically made half the island uninhabitable, destroying the capital of Plymouth.  It was sad but fascinating to see the devastation that the volcano wrought.  They allow tours in the exclusion zone, but they are controlled, and monitor all persons who go in and out for safety.

Bunch of photos from the trip.

The dingy dock is just tied along the main wharf.  Very surgy and not the best place to leave the dink

View of anchorage 

Natural fresh water spring, notice pipe to left for filling water jugs

Our tour driver, Leslie, showing us a tree that grew up and enclosed the water pipe.  Now water comes out of the knothole of the tree

View of Soufriere Hills volcano from observatory.  Excellent movie in the observatory showing history

19 people died from the volcano.  It was amazing to see the video of the pyroclastic flows.  It looks like a big dust cloud, but using infrared at night you can see that it is really dust and rock superheated and glowing red - scary stuff considering they can move around 100 miles per hour.  The volcano would push up material from under the earth, and builds up "domes".  These are unstable, and eventually collapse, with rock flows, or pyroclastic flows depending on other factors.   When the normal tropical rains come, they wash down this dry loose material in huge mudflows.

The Capital of Plymouth was pretty much buried from mudslides up to 40' deep.  There is a small area near the coast that tourists can go, that wasn't quite as buried, but only with approval from the government and with approved tour operators.  Check in and out, and two-way radios, are required.  Any rain and you are not allowed due to threat of mudslides.  Any seismic activity occurs while you are there, and you leave immediately.

This was a school

The superheated gas killed all living things, but building remained

You can see this building partially buried

View of the volcano, and debris field.

Was a nice place at one time.  Those rocks are from the volcano

You can see it is still active, venting hot gas constantly

Dean and Gloria from Cotinga looking at the volcano and view

We are standing on the old large cruise ship pier.  A lot of shoreline has been added to the island, and the dock is much shorter than it used to be over water, as much of it is now buried 

The soil is dry, and somewhat dusty, but more sandy/pebbly.  Can you imagine coarse sand falling from the sky.

Our tour van.  A Toyota Voxy.  Always interesting seeing the car models that are not common in the USA

The entire south end of the island is no longer habitable.  The population of 12,000 is now down to under 5,000.  

Montserrat is a British territory, so is heavily subsidized by the British Government.  At one point the population was so low, the government considered "closing" the island, but then the local government opened it up to immigration, inviting anyone to come live there.  This got the population up enough that the island was not closed.

After the Volcano tour, we stopped at the botanical gardens for a tour. Small but nice.

Mangoes

Star fruit

The volcano also affected the wildlife, including the Montserrat Oriole, and the Mountain Chicken, which is of course really a giant ditch frog.  Both are endangered.

End of tour we enjoyed a nice late lunch out with Gloria and Mike of Cotinga.  

We did have one more join us for lunch, but they stayed under the table most the time

Yes, Dean shared his burger with the kitty.

We were inundated with bugs on the boat that night, they did not bite, but were attracted to the light.  Around 100 dead inside, and more outside.   Yuck.

Leftover dead bugs on the deck.

We left Montserrat the next day, and headed to St. Kitts.  No wind at all, so motored the entire way.  Worked out OK as we needed to make water, and were low on power.   Was actually a nice motor.

Not often the Caribbean Sea is this glassy and flat.  Island of Redonda in the photo

The last time we had been in St. Kitts was 34 years ago when we were still dating, we did a boat charter and spent two days in St. Kitts.  Boy has it changed.   The anchorage we were at was very remote, with no habitation around, now 34 years later, there is a large marina, resort nearby, and several mega-yachts anchored offshore.

Marina with mega yachts.  

 

Bad weather coming, so we either stay here a couple of weeks, or head out Monday for St. Thomas.  Haven't made up our minds yet.

 

2025-01-05 New Year, Antigua

Lindsey's visit meant we were on a schedule, so we moved up to Deshaies early Sunday morning.  We were all up early, as the anchorage had gotten quite rolly overnight.  There was going to be a mass exodus of the anchorage - so glad we got up going early.  

It was a bit rolly in Deshaies as well, and the bay is deep, but we were very lucky to get a mooring close to shore where the roll was not as bad.

The anchorage/mooring in Deshaies.  Charm is just left of center

There is a BBC show called Death in Paradise that was filmed in Guadeloupe, with the main base in Deshaies.  We have been watching the show, so we had to stop and see the main police office often shown in the show.

The Police station - in the show only, not real life

We had a nice walk through town, and lunch out, then back to the boat where Lindsey did a quick snorkel, then a relaxing evening on the boat.

Lindsey relaxing and waiting for the sunset

No green flash

Town of Deshaies, Guadeloupe.

Monday morning, early again - we headed out to Antigua.  The weather was not in our favor, with predicted winds out of the NE, and we were headed north.  First hour was a bit lumpy, but the wind shifted just enough we were able to sail halfway in not bad conditions, then the wind died, and had a relatively smooth motor the rest of the way.  Much better than we had planned for, so very happy.

We found a nice spot in Jolly Harbor anchorage, went into town and checked in, and also enjoyed a nice dinner out. The next day, the 31st, Lindsey flew back home.

We did not stay up until midnight, but did get up briefly when the fireworks started and watched them for the 5 to 10 minutes they lasted, - nothing impressive, then back to bed.

We have been debating back and forth about a new main sail.  Our sail fabric seems to be in good condition still, but our luff bolt rope broke, and we have worn some holes in a couple of spots where the sail rubs the shrouds.  The holes are in fabric covering the battens, not part of the sail structure, and we have patched those.  We can look at getting our current 20-year-old sail repaired, or getting a new one.   Hate to put money into a 20-year-old sail - so we are thinking new.    That means getting quotes, and also measuring out our rig, so the sail designers can design a new sail.

New Year's Day we stared measuring out the rig.  Dean went up to the top of the mast with the camera and tape measure.

At the top, yellow line is our tape measure.

View of Jolly Harbor anchorage from the mast top, looking east

Jolly harbor anchorage looking WSW, Monserrat is behind the boat on the left.

After lots of measuring, and some computer work, we had our rudimentary sketch ready for sailmakers.

Emails sent off, we will wait to hear back on price and lead time.  Time for more projects.

We have had an issue with our port engine.  The raw water for the engine cooling comes in, then goes to a filter. The raw water pump driven by a rubber impeller, then to an anti-siphon loop, then into the engine cooling heat exchanger.  Finally out mixed with exhaust gas.   We replaced the anti-siphon loop, but still had an issue.  Then all new hoses - but still had an issue. Then old anti-siphon back on, but still had an issue.   After a rough bouncy trip, we would have an air lock when starting the engine that would not allow water to flow.  After a couple of times, the rubber impeller would break, from being run without water. Kris would have to drain the coolant, remove the hoses, fish out the rubber parts, and re-install.  We were running low on impellers, so Lindsey brought a couple down with her.   Our next "fix" was to move the hoses to the other side of the engine compartment, to get rid of a "S" curve one hose had.  Hoping this will work.

Hoses now run to inboard side versus outboard side.  "S" curve is gone

We also found a small tear in one of our saloon cushions.  Taking it apart found it was on a seam line, but where there might have been a manufacturing defect in material.   Can't resew this spot, so worked up a patch with glue.

Working on cushion fabric patch.

Of course, after guests, there is always laundry.

Bedsheets hung up to dry.

And we found a line fraying on our jib lazy jacks, so Kris went up the mast to replace that.

Up the mast replacing a line.

Of course, we made a trip for groceries.

Dinghy dock for Antigua.  Nice dock

Soon enough it was Friday - which means - Pizza!!

Our Friday half-and-half pizza.  Cheesy goodness.

And this Friday - special treat, as we had found Mt. Dew in the grocery store.  First Mt. Dew for Dean since getting back from the states in October.

Happy guy.

We will stay in Antigua a bit longer, not sure of plans except that now Derek will be flying to St. Thomas for a visit in February, so we will plan around that.

2024-12-29 Guadeloupe - Lindsey visit

Sunday we sailed north to Pointe-a-Pitre Guadeloupe.  Had a nice sail.   There is a very nice mooring field in Pointe-a-Pitre so we were happy to pay the $52 for 4 nights on the mooring ball.

We headed into town on Monday, and saw the sights, had lunch out, and got groceries.

Marina Christmas decorations

Touristy area near the marina

Walking downtown - Dean said the tree had a big butt

Pointe-a-Pitre has more of a Parisian feel than other towns

Church in large open square

Inside of church

Downtown narrow streets

Shopping district was very busy with everyone out before Christmas

Lunch - easy and cheap - but not delicious.  

High rise buildings downtown

Near the downtown dingy dock

There was not a great dinghy dock near downtown.  We found a nice dock to tie up to at the yacht club, but the yacht club was closed, so we had to use the pallet that was leaning against the fence to climb over - which is why the pallet was there.  On the way back, the yacht club gate was open, so that was much nicer.

Tuesday we went into town to look for a boat part.  There are about 5 chandleries right at the marina.   We found on part, and on the way back saw that this large catamaran had a little accident.   They were working on the mast hydraulics, and must have lost a shroud.  Luckily no one was hurt, and they did manage to get the mast upright again.

On Christmas day, we had a relaxing morning, and then in the afternoon, our niece Lindsey flew in to join us for the week.  She brought us some stuff we ordered on Amazon, and also two precious blocks of Tillamook cheese.  She wrapped them up in Christmas wrapping paper - so it was fun to have something to unwrap on Christmas.

Kris unwrapping the cheese

The next morning, we left Pointe-a-Pitre and headed south to Les Saintes.  Had an OK motor sail.  Encountered a large cruise ship coming in as we left.  Pointe-a-Pitre had cruise ships coming in and out regularly, and it is also a major port, with container ships coming and going as well.

We gave them plenty of room in the channel.

In Les Saintes, we walked the town of Terre-de-Haut, and had a nice lunch out, then that afternoon headed out for a nice snorkel.

Touristy main street in Terre-de-Haut

Beautiful plant, but don't brush up against it.  It was sitting in the middle of the sidewalk

A narrow walkway, Dean had to turn a bit sideways.

We headed out to Islet a Cabrit to snorkel, and we were not disappointed.  It was finally some decent snorkeling

Lindsey coming up from a deep dive

An octopus and a fire worm were our snorkel highlights.

The next morning, we headed up the hill to visit Fort Napoleon des Saintes.  It was never used, and is a nice museum, with a garden and beautiful views.

What would a fort be with a cannon

Entrance is decorated for Christmas

View looking East

View looking Southeast

Many beautiful plants 

Harbor view, we are out of sight anchored close to land in middle of photo

Had never seen a spiral cactus before

The fort

After the fort tour, we had a nice lunch onboard, and then decided to sail north.

Kris and Lindsey, reading books while eating lunch

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Had a beautiful sail up to the Vieux Fort Lighthouse, where we anchored briefly, while Dean and Lindsey snorkeled around the lighthouse area.  Then we headed further north and anchored near Pigeon Island in the Jacques Cousteau reserve.  

Next midday we headed out by dink to Pigeon Island to snorkel.  Had good visibility, and although there were lots of folks out snorkeling and diving, it was not too crowded.

Lindsey helped Kris scrub the waterline when we got back to the boat, and we spent a relaxing afternoon on the boat. That night winds shifted NE, so we all got a minimum of sleep with the rolling of the boat, so early in the morning we headed to Deshaies and got a mooring.  Still rolly, but calmer.    We have to go to Antigua on Monday, might be a motor sail, for Lindsey to catch a flight back home.