Antigua - Customs
Day 2
You Can't Get To Guadeloupe From Here
Update from St. Martin to St. Barts to St. Kitts to Barbuda to Antigua . . All the while heading for Guadeloupe.

We left St. Martin for St. Barts through the 9:30 am Dutch bridge (not paying because we checked in on the French Side??). It was a wild windy day on the Atlantic Ocean with 25 - 32 kt winds coming you know where. Straight out of St Barts. It is only 14 miles to St. Barts, so we decided to tack. We made great speed (never in the right direction) but managed to pick up a free mooring in one of the most beautiful anchorages we have ever been in. It was 4 pm...6-1/2 hours for 14 miles.

We enjoyed the Saint Barts anchorage for a day under our Q flag, then took off for St. Kitts on our way to Guadeloupe. It was a great sail to the top of Saint Kitts, no engine just sailing in the right direction. High point caught a nice mackerel, low point lost the lure on the hand line and I had to cut the line on the rod when they both got caught on a fishing net. The 80 test line just wouldn't break. Still have the hand line left. We had to motor sail down the leeward side of St. Kitts into 20 kt winds to the ugliest anchorage we have ever been in.

We left St. Kitts around 5:30 am in the morning and wound our way through the rocks and reefs between St. Kitts and Nevis; then headed for Guadeloupe making sure we kept on the lee of Montserrat Island, on which a volcano is erupting ash and sulfur into the air that can ruin your sails and is hard ion the eyes. We tacked north east toward Barbuda then tried to sail south.Tacked north east toward Barbuda tried to go south, couldn't get around Montserrat. To heck with it. We sailed to Barbuda, 37 miles to the east north east and anchored off 11 mile long beach. I caught a mackerel and a snapper, you can't keep a good man down.

We left for Guadalupe from Barbuda with Antigua 30 miles away on the rum line. It was a nice day with light winds on " the nose" so we motor sailed into it until the wind shifted to the south west and we sailed into Deep harbor Antigua. It was a beautiful place to spend the afternoon and evening. The next morning we procrastinated but eventually we decided to make the run for Guadeloupe. We roared out of the bay at 7 kt to find the off island wind 20 gusting to near 25 knots, you guessed it . . straight out of Guadeloupe. We tacked back into Jolly Harbor, Antigua and I checked in and out of the country. We will be legal for 24 hours. Guadeloupe will have to wait.

Note:
You put up a "Q" flag - a quarantine flag (a Yellow Flag) when you enter a country and have not registered with customs. If Marg has dropped yours over board, you hang a yellow dish rag. Until you've cleared into a country, you cannot go to shore. It is said that you must present yourself (as captain) asap, thus the phrase " I just got here". We didn't clear into St. Barts, which was pushing it, since we were there for two days and went hiking. But the French are very easy going about customs. Don't do this on a British Island. We yellow flagged at St. Kitts and Barbuda both over nights, so that was acceptable. You can check in and out of an island if you are leaving within 24 hours. If you can't leave within the 24 hours, then I guess you should check back in with customs, immigration and the port Authority again. Not likely!!!