04/13/2012, Deshalies
We went to the airport last night to pickup Becky ... No mishaps on this pickup this time - what a surprise
This morning we ended up going to town around 8 to get a Baguette (who ever invented the Baguette should get an a world wide award)
(Nothing better then grabbing a freshly baked 1m long piece of bread in the morning)
Then we motored out of the windy channel towards the open water ( takes about 45min) .. once outside the reef we noticed a few snorkeling boats with tourists and decided to do a little side tour to check out the spot
As it turns out this is one of the best spots we've seen around here ( according to the expert Jill) So Becky and Jill stayed in the Water for some time and enjoyed it.
In the early afternoon we left and started our nice sail westward towards Deshalies ... unfortunately with no Wind ???? (yesterday we had to motor 2 Hours into 15 knts of wind... and I was really looking forward to sail in the other direction today - Well so much for that !)
- Sometimes sailing reminds me of riding a bicycle= ALWAYS INTO THE WIND IT SEEMS
On the way to Deshalies we must have picked up a fishing ball = I noticed low speed and it just didn't feel right when using the engine..
When we dropped Anchor in Deshalies and I asked Jill to back up a bit I heard this strange noise (and so did Jill and she put the gear in neutral ASAP)
I Jumped into the water and saw a big piece of bamboo wrapped around our Keel and two fishing balls.
We must have dragged this thing for a while and when we backed up our Prop knife must have cut one of the lines (that's the noise we both heard)
!!! YOU NEED TO HAVE A PROP CUTTER AROUND HERE !!!!
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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04/12/2012, Baie Mahault Guadeloupe
Left Antigua at 6AM ... Forecast called for winds turning to the south and thats exactly what we got ( not what I needed of course)
It turned out to be an Ok crossing at an average of 7knts (we definitely left EVERYBODY in the dust today) she was just dialed in perfect ...
We had to motor sail the last 8 miles or so ... but that was expected and really not that bad for the situation.
We entered the North end of Guadeloupe through a narrow bouyed channel and dropped anchor at Baie Mahault ... we are definitely in the right spot, as any approaching air plain flies right over our heads at low altitude
So then we went in town this afternoon, thinking we could arrange a taxi for tonight....as it turns out there are NO taxis In Baie Mahault and no public transportation that would get you close to a center with Taxis or .....
- also on a side note - what a waste of time to try to teach me French in school - I could have missed all classes and would know about the same about French ...
We tried and tried and at one point we had a cashier lined up at nine to make a call for a taxi from a grocery store
- Oh second side note - NO restaurants in town
Finally Jill talked to a women in a vegetable store and she ended up offering to give us a ride to the airport tonight ... It seemed the only option from here (and she lives in this town !)
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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04/10/2012, Antigua
We moved from Barbuda to Antigua on Sunday ..
It did not work out quit as expected that day .. but that's really nothing new I guess
We started on the Southwest end of Barbuda and where heading towards the Northeast end of Antigua (starting in the west heading towards the east always indicates some sort of trouble in the Caribbean ..)
We had no access to any weather forecast for the past 3 days so I should get a little bit of slack on that call..
The started out great and it shure seemed like we would make our target .. but then the winds turned and soon we where heading towards the west coast of Antigua (I also managed to do a nice pirouette = full circle, at one point after a squall because sleepyhead(me) was not paying attention and we backfilled our Jib)
I had to motor sail 1-1/2 Hours straight into 6-8 feet swells to get us back on track - I hate doing that - but we ended up with a decent close haul down the east cost of Antigua
All In all it really wasn't that bad - Next time we start at Coco Point Instead :-)
We stayed two nights at the anchorage at Green Island and today move towards the Yacht capital of Antigua = English Harbor and Falmouth Harbor
The fist anchorage was FULL so we ended up In Falmouth Harbor ....
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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04/06/2012, BARBUDA
We moved around the reef of Coco Point and dropped anchor just west of Spanish Point.
We also have figured out the schedule for the next week until we pickup Becky..
We will move up the west coast of Barbuda tomorrow across the lagoon - maybe we will do a short frigate bird tour ....
Then on Sunday we'll sail down the east coat of Antigue and stay overnight somewhere around Green Island ... we will see ..
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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04/04/2012
Left Antigua around 8:30 AM and dropped anchor in Barbuda around 3:30 PM
(not much wind 8-10 knots but beautiful close haul with pretty much no swell)
About 5 miles of Barbuda we saw two Whales!
To our surprise the anchorage was "filled" with boats - we counted 11 at our arrival ... Last year we had the place to ourselves.
In the morning most of us had to move south and more behind the reef as a groundswell was effecting the anchorage ..
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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04/03/2012, Just north of Jolley Harbour ,Antigua
We left Guadeloupe at 9:30 AM ( Coffee shop to clear out didn't open until 8:30 )
and arrive in Antigua (Jolley Harbour ) at 4:15 PM - just as Jill predicted ...
We were also able to check into Antigua at 4:45 :-) - lucky day ...
.. I have to admit that we lost the race across the channel to a similar boat :-( not sure what I did wrong but he was just faster then us and gained close to 1 Mile over the 45nm crossing ....
We still went ahead and "celebrated " our arrival with a nice meal at the restaurant ..
We also filled up water today (we were OUT of water) .. Our tanks have not been smelling to good lately so I decided to add some sort of conditioner to the water this time (usually we don't do that) This conditioner comes in powder form packaged in 2oz packages ....(1 Package / 15 Gal .. bla bla bla don't really matter anyway - its just to warm up the story)
Smart ass Jorge the engineer thought - well that's going to be messy - filling the tanks and having to pure the 8 packages into the tank at the same time or so .. Solution - we do it well ahead pour the packages into a glass jar and the pour the powder into the fill opening before we fill the tanks - sounds like the right way to do ....
Here we go - onto the fuel dock getting the Water hose ready ( (first I did "annoy" jill a bit, as I started talking to another Skipper for 5-10min about some BS before starting refueling - sorry thats just how I am :))
Anyway water On ... but whats going on - Water doesn't want to go down the Pipe for some strange reason ...Darn the powder plugged up the fill hose ..
I had to use 4-5 feet of Coax cable for 10 min or so until I could get any water down that fill hose . I guess I won't do that again ...
So tonight we anchor on a small beach just a couple miles north of Jolly Harbour
Tomorrow we will head up to Barbuda where we will spend 2-3 nights before heading back to Antigua (we won't sail farther up north this year then Barbuda)
| March 2012-May 2012 |
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As far as the powder goes ... I'll try something new next time - you know me -I don't always like to go down the easy route :-)
