Caribbean Cruising - feel the serenity, mon
12 February 2016 | Falmouth Harbour, Antigua
John Rowling
The Caribbean is a vast cruising ground, ranging across the greater Antilles (Cuba, Jaimaca, Haiti, Dominican Republic and Puerto Rico), The Virgin Islands, The Windward and Leeward Islands plus a smattering of southern islands near South America. Trilogy is "just" cruising in the Windward, Leeward and Virgin islands this winter, and will venture further afield next season.
Rick handed Trilogy over to John, the Ferraris (Lee and Paul) and the Wains ( Peter and Janice) at the famous and picturesque Nelsons Dockyard, English Harbour, Antigua at the end of January.
The passage plan had been to start sailing south towards Grenada via Guadaloupe and Martinique, Saint Lucia, Dominica and Saint Vincent as soon as we got on board. We hadn't counted on the need for significant repairs, however, including replacement of a bow thruster and one of the new chartplotters installed for the voyage across the Atlantic last November. Trilogy has been sailing now constantly since last April and, not unexpectantly, is starting to show a little wear and tear.
While the delays in making repairs was character building it did give us plenty of time to go touring around the island to places like St John ( shabbily chic) and Jolly Harbour ( characterless but excellent marina facilities) and to explore some of the famous historic sites of English Harbour.
We also took the opportunity to go swimming at a number of attractive beaches, dealt with a medical emergency ( Paul got bitten by a spider), checked out some good restaurants and ventured tentatively towards a little designer shopping. While Antigua looks cheap and cheerful, however, the presence of the biggest collection of super yachts in the Caribbean plus their high roller owners does push the prices into sometimes eye-watering levels.
The big event while Trilogy was in harbour, however, was the arrival of rowing teams in the Atlantic Challenge- teams of 1, 2 and 4 rowers crossing the Atlantic from the Canaries to English Harbour, Antigua - about 3000nm. Made Trilogy's Atlantic crossing seem like a picnic. All boat crews got sirens, horns, flares and steel bands playing reggae at any time of day or night of their arrival. The winning team was a group of 4 young English women who came home 2 days before their closest (males) competitors. But the really big celebrations were reserved for the Antiguan team - the oldest in the competition and with the oldest individual competitor crossing any ocean, not just the Atlantic.
Trilogy has now been slipped and the bow thruster repaired. The crew has been wined and dined, the weather is warm and balmy, the trades are blowing steadily from the east - it's time to go sailing downwind to Guadaloupe and to taste some French Caribbean fare.