Ile Fourchue and to Antigua
28 February 2017
The 90 or so miles to Antigua is another awkward distance, so we decided to leave on the 0830 bridge opening and motor the short 13nm trip to Ile Fourchue, picking up a mooring.
Oh the shame of it – this island has superb topography with rocky peaks and outcrops that would have been paradise for some landscape photography, but we were leaving that night for Antigua. Well, we just have to go back at some point (see photo).
We left at 0220 with expectations that the wind would have backed to ENE, and with a course to the north and east of St Barth’s we could improve the wind angle by 5 degrees, so our course of 150degM would lay Antigua. However the wind remained south of east until the sun was up, when the welcome backing began and we sailed in a useful 11-12kts. A squall as we approached Antigua sucked the wind out of the air and we motored the last hour to anchor at the entrance to Jolly Harbour.
After clearing in the following morning, Monday 27th February, we re-anchored well inside at Mosquito Cove in preparation for the higher wind and in 2.3 metres … aahhh, OVNI.
Old friend Tim from Mina2 was here and we spent two lovely evenings catching up on six years’ of sailing adventures (Tim took his Oyster 485 to the Antarctic in 2012 – a true adventurer). We hope to see him and Maria in England later this year.
So, what next eh? Well there are lots of OCC members here so socially it is just great and a crowd of us are off to the England vs West Indies ODI cricket on Friday. So that’s all good then.