02/21/2007
Yesterday, we had a land day. We took the local bus to St. John, the capital of Antigua (strickly speaking "Antigua and Barbuda" as these islands became an independant state in 1981). We visited the local museum, where we learned that Antigua has the highest concentration of frigate birds in the world. We also saw the cathedral, whose interior is built off american pine to sustain earthquakes and hurricanes (Grandpa, you would have loved it). Shelby found her pleasures in the local stores in the form of clothes and we had a scrumtious lunch at Franciance's french bakery. Several cruise ships bows loomed over the city and vomited tourists, so we opted for the bus to Jolly Harbour still in search of the alternator belt. Budget Marine, our last hope, lacked it. Bummer. We took the opportunity to load up on rare to find grocery items (like yeast, dental floss, whole wheat flour and the like). Too heavily laid down by our treasures, and still with no belt, we took a taxi, who knew exactly where to find it. It was a wild ride back to the harbour during which Shelby and mom desperatly tried to take pictures of the local students, each school having a different and adorable uniform. Today we will depart from Falmouth Harbour to visit the secluded area of Nonsuch Bay, on the eastern side of the island.
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Comments [3]
02/20/2007, Falmouth, Antigua
Aujourd'hui nous sommes all�s a St. John, la capitale d'Antigua. Le matin, on a pris un bus pour aller a la ville. Quand on est arriv�, on a �t� voir le mus�e ou on a appris l'histoire et l'evolution de l'�le. Apr�s cette belle visite, nous sommes all�s a la cathedrale. Elle est faite d'un bois special, comme �a elle ne se detruit pas quand il y a des ouragans. Juste avant de manger le dejeuner, maman et Shelby ont all�s faire un peu de shopping, car c'est un peu difficile de mettre les m�mes vetements longtemps sans les laver ;) Apr�s, la famille a �t� manger a une belle petite boulangerie. On s'amuse bien ici, mais �a nous tarde de retourner aux �les fran�aises.
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02/19/2007
After our first impression of Antigua (rich and famous, neighboring poverty), we enjoyed visiting what used to be the British naval base in the West Indies, Nelson's Dockyard. It is now restored and historical buildings host modern day caf�s and restaurants with an 18th century feel. We keep seeing incredible yachts, some which closely resemble a hotel on water. We had an emotional reunion with Georgia, an Atlanta owned mega-yacht that we encountered in our first visit to the BVIs five years ago. We also bumped into Vegas V, a Canadian boat with Karen and Jim we met in Martinique. Many yachts follow the same route, so it's fun to exchange tips and stories. Through one of their tips, we gave our laundry to Mavis, an Antiguan lady who takes laundry from the dinghy dock and brings it back there the next day. Because the island is hotter (due to dryness), we have set our math studying time to when the sun hits the hardest. Tomorrow we plan to go to St. John, the capital, to find an alternator belt in order to fix our overheating alternator. Otherwise, Norska is doing great.
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02/17/2007, Falmouth, Antigua
A super easy passage doing an easy 7 kts. in 4 ft. seas - sweeeeet! Arrived way ahead of schedule, but the clearance is two days worth of work. We're all zombies from the early departure, but it was nice to not be rushed as anchoring took a couple of tries. Still no joy on the fish :( Antigua is the mega sailing yacht capital: have a look at what we passed on the way in!
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02/16/2007, Deshaies
We've enjoyed a wonderful few days in Deshais including a great hike up to the cannon overlooking our anchorage passing by an incredible beach along the way. The folks here are the most wonderful we've encountered in the Caribbean so far and prices for most things are lower than those at home. For 3$US you can get a chicken or ham/ egg sandwich on baguette or 6$US for a basketful of fruit, which we do on a regular basis while not looking forward to the high price of food to come as we move up the chain. Seems pineapple includes many types of pineapple (ya got some for juice, some that are sweet, etc.) just as mangoes (not yet in season:() come in many varieties. Still, no place can touch Domonica for the fruit - fond memories of Christian selling fresh fruit from his windsurf. Deshaies is the last Guadeloupe anchorage going North and the first coming South, so we see half the boats leave each morning and another gaggle arriving in the afternoon. We did some snorkeling and its still a bit disappointing compared to places like the Bahamas or the Rhone in the BVIs. Must be some nasty weather up North because we're due for a large swell event in a few days. We'll be heading out in the morning before sunrise bound for Antigua, where we'll nestle into one of the Southern anchorages and catch up on school, boats tasks, etc. while the swells settle back down.
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02/15/2007
Nous sommes a la pointe nord de la Guadeloupe jusqu'a samedi ou nous partirons pour Antigua. Deshaies est un village tres mignon (photo plus tard) ou nous retrouvons la boulangerie juste en face du ponton ce qui nous attrait pour le petit dej. Ici il y a de nouveau des fruits frais et sucres (melon, ananas) ce que nous avions perdu aux Saintes. C'est comme la Guadeloupe garde les meilleurs fruits pour l'exportation. Pour la St Valentin nous nous sommes payes le restau avec de la langouste, du cabri (petite chevre), du poulet au colombo, de l'espadon cru, et du flan au coco. Le bureau de douanes est ouvert une heure par jour, et on a eu la chance d'y arriver au bon moment pour faire notre clearance de sortie de la Guadeloupe.
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02/13/2007, Pigeon Island (anchorage)
As we leave Les Saintes in our wake, the best word seems to be 'delightful'. What a delightful place to hang out for a week, not to mention affordable. The anchorage was terribly rolly the night before so we relocated a bit for our last night and a good night sleep it was. This morning was a short passage up to Pigeon island, home of the Cousteau Underwater Park. We had made reservations for a dive, but at $125 for a one tank dive we did a little risk reduction snorkeling to check out the park. Very nice snorkeling, but we'll pass on the dives. Didn't look that interesting below 40 feet and the prices are clearly a rip off given that the dive boat has only a ten minute trip. In fact, the whole area strikes me as a cheesy one act (the park) tourist play. We were going to stay here for a couple of nights or so, but we move on in the morning instead.
Still no joy on the fish. It was disappointing as we saw several schools of ballyhoo spooked into tail walking and the dorado are supposed to be out there. (That said, we haven't seen any in market either.) This weekend should be our passage to Antigua - eight hours or so in fairly deep water so maybe... We're also kinda bummed not to hook any barracuda. Haven't seen any while swimming either. Up to Guadaloupe, its OK to eat them so we were hoping for a hook up since they aren't on the menu further North. In the Bahamas they are such a nuisance...
The winter Caribbean climate is amazing - absolutely perfect. Warm during the day, just cool enough at night to sleep well without fans. Quick showers here and there, but nothing like the every 30' dump we had in Dominica (at wasn't that bad because it wasn't hot enough to keep the ports open, but it did wear on us after awhile.) Water is cool enough to be refreshing, but not cold. Truly perfect to our tastes.
We have a problem with our alternator (Balmar 6 series 100 A) overheating that limits us to running the engine about thirty minutes before having to let the alternator cool down - frustrating. Despite fastidious alignment, belt tension, and detuning (an adjustment on the regulator), the thing gets hot and the belt dusts. Hoping to switch from the Yanmar belt to a Gates or other heavy duty and see if it helps matters. We'd be in a world of hurt if we had only the engine to charge the batteries. Passages are going well now that we always deflate and lash down the dinghy and remove and lash down the bimini. This particular dink (Mercury 310 Hap.) doesn't having any fittings stout enough to lash it in the davits to control the swinging. One splice gave way, another glued on fitting busted through during the rolly night (we keep the dinghy in the davits at night.)
The seas were down to 5-6' today with a good 20 kt. beam reach - really, really good sailing with a double reefed main and the #3 and doing an easy 7-8. Until we hit the lee of Guadaloupe. We ended up beating into a NW wind (the other side of the island had an E wind) that went every five minutes from nothing to 20 kts and back to nothing. Put in a reef, shake out a reef. Very dirty air. Everyone's fat and happy, though ready for some more sleep after losing one night to the swells. The standing joke now is about have a 'swell' night. It becomes funny with enough rhum...
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02/11/2007, Terre de Haut, Les Saintes
Yesterday a Norwegian family approached Norska, puzzled by the Norwegian design on the boat. They left Norway last July and crossed the Atlantic in 18 days with 3 kids under the age of 6. They are half way thru their sabbatical year, but mom already decided she was flying back next summer :) It has been eye opening to see how many Europeans crossed the Atlantic on boats smaller than ours. I even got a free wine bottle for rescuing a French sailor whose outboard died. He grew up where I grew up in France. Small world.... Saturday we took the ferry over to Guadeloupe (Norska is safer in Les Saintes) to hike up the Chutes du Carbet, the highest waterfall in the Caribbean. The hike was strenuous (for sea legs like ours!) and slippery (wet wooden steps) but the reward was incredible. We learned that Guadeloupe is prone to earthquakes, the 2004 seismic event now prevents tourists from dipping in one of the pools. While driving, we got stopped twice by Carnival youth group raising money for their costumes - a bit spooky the way they stopped the car, dance and sing around with scary masks until you give them money. We took the car opportunity for loading on groceries we cannot find in Les Saintes. We miss the Dominican fresh fruits sooooooo much.
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