December 15, 2011, 6:24 am, Deshaies (Day-Ay) Guadeloupe

Guadeloupe is a French speaking country. And I mean French, and only French. This is the first time we have had a major problem communicating with anyone in the Caribbean. Sometimes communicating may have been difficult but one can manage to get the point across. Here, I had a very difficult time checking into customs. This is the first island where they had me use a computer to check in rather than fill out 3 pages of paper forms in triplicate. I thought this was going to be quick and easy. But did you know that French computer keyboards have the keys in different places compared to US keyboards? I spent thirty minutes correcting my typos. Do you know what the French call the United States? Etats-Unis. Try figuring that out from a drop down list of 200 countries. Checking into Customs still took an hour after all, and the nice customs official had to correct much of what I had entered into the computer. I could go on about it but let me just say that the experience taught us that we need to learn some French now, before we get to French Polynesia. By the way, the currency differences are starting to have an impact. So far we were able to use US dollars everywhere though we may have received change back in Eastern Caribbean Dollars. In Guadeloupe the currency is Euros and they don't wish to take any other currency.

We spent the afternoon at the Le Jardin Botanique, a botanical garden, which again was at the top of a mountain and we decided to walk there. We are getting our exercise. The walk was worth it as it was one of the better gardens I have visited with lots of exotic plants and great views. See the photos of Guadeloupe and the garden in the Guadeloupe photo gallery.



When we arrived back to our boat in the afternoon, a couple with their two young children came from their boat in their dinghy to introduce themselves. They are from Boston and are on a one year sabbatical from work to cruise the Caribbean. They kept their boat in the town next to ours in Rhode Island. Small world. We left of the Caribbean at the same time. We shared a lot in common about our adventures. I am sure we will see them again before we leave for Panama.

Friday, we leave for Les Saintes, a small group of quaint and picturesque French islands just south of Guadeloupe.

The Leeward Islands

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Mark
December 14, 2011, 2:23 am, The Passage to Guadeloupe

The passage from Antigua to Guadeloupe was eventful. No nothing to do with the weather, the boat or sea sickness. We caught a 4ft 5in Wahoo. We had about 4 strikes along the 6 hour trip but none of the fish took the bait. With an hour left on the passage, we got a big strike and the fish ran with the line. After 30 minutes of excitement, maneuvering the boat to keep the fish astern and lots of questions like "What do we do now", we were able to bring the fish on board.

Mark has not been fishing for 30 years and has not caught a fish in 40 years. The only thing he caught the one time he went deep sea fishing was sea sickness. If only we had it all on video. We learned a lot about how to be prepared when fishing next time. Wish we had bought that book that we saw in the book store in Antigua, "Blue Water Fishing for Dummies"

As we left Antigua, we passed through English Harbour one last time. We learned that there was a mega yacht boat show at the Nelson's Dockyard. At Last met her bigger sister there. Take a look at the photo gallery of English Harbor in Antigua.

The Leeward Islands

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Mark
December 13, 2011, 6:05 am, English Harbour, Antigua

Need we say more? The pictures are worth seeing in the Antigua photo gallery. Janet and I spent the first half of the day hiking (rather climbing) the trail to Shirley Heights, a site overlooking English and Falmouth Harbors. We asked the water taxi driver how long it took to hike the trail. He answered 20 minutes. He forgot to tell us that was how long it took to come back down. The views are fantastic. We have a photo that includes the path we took from our boat to the top of Shirley Heights. And yes, Janet worked up a sweat hiking the trail believe it or not.

We leave for Guadeloupe tomorrow, Wednesday morning. Another 50 mile day sail.

The Leeward Islands

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Mark
December 12, 2011, 5:59 am, Falmouth Harbour Antigua

The passage from Nevis to Antigua was pleasant. Seas were calm but the wind was on the nose at only 10 knots so we motor sailed the whole 50 miles. We pulled into Falmouth Harbor around 4:00 pm just in time to anchor in day light for a nice change. There are pictures of the passage in the photo gallery "The Passage from Nevis to Antigua" include Montserrat, the volcanic island, and the shore line of Antigua.

Our time on Antigua is strictly pleasure. We are going to act like tourists and check out the top attractions. No cleaning or boat work. So, Day One, we visit Nelson's Dockyard. This is the naval base of British Admiral Lord Nelson in the 1700s. It is a historic national park that is quite interesting. Aside from serving as a major tourist site, the restored naval base hosts the annual Antigua Classic Sailboat Races. A major sailing event that brings sail boats from around the world. All this nostalgia gave us the desire to visit on of the best sailing book stores in the Caribbean and pick up a copy of first volume of the Master and Commander series of books by Patrick O'Brien which came highly recommended by Bob Killebrew whom we met on the Caribbean 1500. All the pictures of Nelsons Dockyard are in the Antigua photo Gallery.

The Leeward Islands

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Janet
December 10, 2011, 5:34 am, Charlestown, Nevis

While checking into customs on Nevis, Mark met two other sailing couples who are living on their boats in the Caribbean area. They invited us over for cocktails at 5:00 pm. Mark and I are amazed at how experienced each couple is. We call ourselves newbies for the entire evening as each couple shares how they met, how they started sailing and their best advice for us. We have a fantastic evening and leave with all sorts of new information and ideas about how to survive the challenges we will face over the next two years. To our new friends David and Trudy on Persephone and Janice and Steve on Sailacious - thanks for a great evening and all of the encouragement. Hope to see you again when we pass through the Caribbean after the World ARC in April 2013.

We spent an afternoon at the Golden Rock Inn. It is a former old sugar plantation estate at the top of the mountain that is now a wonderful hotel and restaurant. It features hiking trails with magnificent views and some of the most interesting flora and fauna in the Caribbean. One can walk along the trails and see the Green Monkey.

We had a wonderful lunch at the Golden Rock Inn after hiking through the trails. We met the owner, who is from NYC and she shared some of her thoughts about having such a resort in the Caribbean, wished us well on our journey and said she would reserve us a table for lunch 16 months from now.



Check out the rest of the photos of Nevis in the gallery.

We leave for Antigua on Sunday, December 11, 2011. A little 50 mile day sail.

The Leeward Islands

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Mark
December 8, 2011, 5:28 pm, Sailing from St Maarten to Nevis

It is 9:00 am Thursday we are heading out of Simpson Bay St Maarten. It is difficult to decide where to go but after consulting with the cruising guide (a book written for sailors telling you where to go, what to do, and the regulations for checking in and out of each island), we decide to head to Nevis. We choose to sail a bit out of our way to see Saba, Statia and St Kitts. These are islands on the western side of the Leewards that also include Montserrat. They are volcanic islands that rise to 4,000 ft above sea level and thus, have their heads in the clouds.

This is an 11 hour sail, so once again it looks like we won't be getting there until dark. But the sail is beautiful and we wish we had more time to stop at the islands we passed because the islands all look very inviting.

See the photo gallery of our sail to the The Islands With Their Heads In The Clouds.

When we get to Nevis, the moon is full so we are able to see without relying on radar. Another boat sees us coming into the mooring filed and helps us by telling us where open mooring balls are. We pick up a mooring ball rather easily at about nine o'clock at night and then eat a quick dinner. The next morning we realize we are right next to a boat that sailed with us to Tortola with on the Caribbean 1500, Archangel. Small world.

The Leeward Islands

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Some of the diversity one finds in Simpson Bay
December 7, 2011, 11:00 pm, Simpson Bay, St. Maarten

The picture above is what our boat actually looks like now (with the new awning).

But, this is how I feel our boat looks like, to me. I wonder if At Last could be their dinghy?


And, this is what our boat will probably look like after we finish the trip around the world

The Leeward Islands

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