17.04’549N 061.53’552W - Jolly Harbour, Antigua - November 22 – Dec. 5
After leaving Deshaies, Guadeloupe, we headed into English Harbour, Antigua on November 16. English Harbour is adjacent to Falmouth Harbour and is the home of Nelson’s Dockyard. Admiral Nelson and the British navy used this harbour dating back to the early 1700’s. Many old buildings and facilities have been restored and are in use today. We had made an appointment to have a bit of work done on our transom while we were there.

The work was completed and made the quick hop to Jolly Harbour on the 21st to be ready for Shawnda’s arrival on the 22nd. On the way in we met up with Steve on Ancestral Salute who was anchored out in the bay. We anchored not too far away. Once we anchored Steve stopped by and gave us a shopping bag that he had made from an old sail that he had cut up. It was as good, if not better, than anything you could buy in a store and was “custom fitted” to fit 4 six packs of beer! Thanks Steve!

Shawnda arrived right on time on the 22nd. While waiting for her I bumped into Skip Pond of Pond Yacht Sales and Outbound Yachts. He had his left his boat at Jolly Harbour for the summer and was in the process of getting her ready for a season of sailing.

Steve and Spinnaker (Spinnaker is the one with 4 feet in the photo at Castle Hill – Barbuda) came for supper this night as well and we decided to head up to Spanish Point Barbuda for a couple of days with Steve on Ancestral Salute buddy boating with us. While Shawnda had been to Barbuda on her last visit, we had not gone into Gravenor Bay – Spanish Point area which has the best diving and snorkeling in Barbuda and I wanted her to see it before we left for Dominica. Once anchored amongst the reefs we took to the water and started checking out the various reefs and marine life.

The next day we all took the hike to Castle Hill. First walking up the beach to the hill – about a 3 – 4 hour hike and then back on the trail which takes only about 1 ½ hours…where there is no wind and it tends to get hot. Once we got back to the dinghy everyone jumped rather quickly into the water to cool off. We had planned on doing some more snorkeling when we got back but everyone was a little spent. (maybe more than a little???)

On the morning of the 26th we headed back to Jolly Harbour to clear outbound with customs with the intention of sailing through to Guadeloupe. We said good bye to Steve and Spinnaker who were getting ready to head north to the Bahamas, and set sail. By the time we got clear of Antigua it was getting late so we decided to anchor at Cades reef off the south west corner of Antigua – about a mile off shore. It turned out to be a great stop! The water was clear with sand bottom, fish were everywhere and there was an abundance of Conch under our hull. Shawnda and I jumped in to go snorkeling and check things out. After a bit I noticed what appeared to be boat parts on the bottom and swam over to Shawnda to point them out to her. She then tapped me on the shoulder and pointed to a whole sailboat on the bottom! It was a 40 something foot sloop sitting on the bottom. It was hard to tell but my best guess was that it must of ran aground on the reef and ended up sinking here, about 300 feet inside the reef. It had been there for a while so you could see that divers had picked it over. The cockpit was home to 2 Lion Fish – you can see those in the photos in out album.

We left the next morning for Guadeloupe. As we approached the north coast of Guadeloupe we hooked onto not one, but TWO Black Fin Tuna! We are going to have sushi tonight!

We ended up sailing all the way to The Saintes (south of Guadeloupe) arriving just after dark. Having been in there previously, it was fairly easy and all we had to do was to pick up a mooring ball – once we dodged a few fishing nets. We stayed in The Saintes the next day to check out the town. Shawnda had fun in the French shops (as did Laurie) and we had a great lunch at a French bistro.

We departed The Saintes at 1045 on the 29th for the relatively short hop to Portsmouth, Dominica. We had been to Roseau, Dominica twice but this was our first time into Portsmouth. We were met by one of the “boat boys” on the way in. I had already called ahead to book a mooring so I did not have to put up with “the boys” jockeying for our business. We took the mooring and then settled down for a sundowner on the boat. I had arranged for a car rental in the morning so that we could tour the island for a few days. We took the dinghy into shore in the morning, picked up the rental car and went to clear customs down the road. One thing that is nice about customs in Dominica is that you can clear in and stay up to 2 weeks and not have to clear out when you leave. It is too bad more islands don’t do that.
On our first full day we just went exploring. We crossed the island to the east side and drove along the coastal road. The scenery was just great. The mountains, valleys and gorges, the forests and seashore on the east coast were breathtaking. We stopped at a small roadside restaurant for lunch and a beer. It was perched on the side of what only could be called a cliff although there were a few trees that you might be able to grab if you fell over.

After the stop we continued south and then took a road into the back country. As we passed some of the locals they looked at us like we might be lost. As the road became smaller and smaller we finally ended up pulling over to walk around. There was fruit everywhere! Avocados where lying on the ground under trees that were just full of them. When we had visited in the spring in had been Mangoes but they were now out-of-season. But, Avocados where in! Needless to say, we took quite a few back with us. Guacamole would be the order of the next few days as was sushi! And then there were the Guavas. They were everywhere as well. We pick a few ripe ones and ate as we picked. They have a great aroma that does not let up!

On our way out of the back country we picked up a young lad looking for a ride to his home town. We knew where he meant and were going that way so we all agreed that it would be okay. It turns out that he spent long days working at a government agriculture research farm not far from where we picked him up.

After dropping him off we headed back north past the road that we had taken from the west coast and headed up and around the north side of the island. The road does not go right to the north coast as it is too rugged. As we traveled across the mountains we headed up higher and higher, finally into the clouds. The fog was so thick you could barely see. This was an area that was not populated except for the odd small farm. Most places had been abandoned many years ago. We pulled over once and I took the opportunity to pick 3 huge pink grapefruit – just growing alongside the road. As fresh, juicy and flavorful as you can get!

Once we started descending on the west side of the ridge we came out of the clouds and were overlooking Portsmouth. You can see Hedonism in the photo if you look carefully.

The next morning we drove south for our first stop, Middleham falls. On the way there were multiple detours around washed out bridges and area where the road bed had washed away – all from Tropical Storm Erica. Erica hit in August so Laurie and I had the opportunity to see the “before and after”. Although Erica did not have extremely high winds she dumped around 15 inches of rain over a period of 8 hours; including 8.8 inches of rain in just one hour!!! The death toll is now at 31.

The hike up to Middleham falls took about an hour. This time there were perhaps 5 people that we saw on the hike but for the most part, we were alone. When we arrived at the falls Shawnda and I took the plunge! They had had some rain as of late so the falls and the current were much stronger that the last visit but we persevered. The falls are the highest in Dominica at 200 feet!

After the cooling swim we had lunch at the falls (thanks to Shawnda who made the wraps) and then hiked out back to the car. From there we drove to Titou Gorge where Shawnda and I swam up into the gorge. Again, the current was stronger that our last visit but it was still great and we had the place to ourselves for the most part. If you recall, a scene from “Pirates of the Caribbean” was filmed inside the gorge.

On our last full day in Dominica we headed south through Roseau to Champagne Beach. The volcanic activity underneath the beach is so close that the water resembles Champagne bubbles. They have put some stones around to create a small hot tub on the shore line but in fact the whole area is bubbling – even in the ditches in town! If you stand in one spot in the water your feet will start to burn as you sink in the sand. You can only stick your finger about an inch (2.54 cm for you metric folks) before it is too hot. And people have their homes here???

Time was flying by and it was time to start heading back towards Antigua. We departed Portsmouth at 600 AM on December 3rd and sailed to the notorious Deshaies, Guadeloupe. This time however the winds were light and we didn’t have any unattended boats floating (dragging) by…. We went in and checked out the town including the town square.

The following morning we left Deshaies around 6 am again. We made good time so we did a lunch stop and swim again at Cage reef for a couple of hours before going on to Jolly Harbour.
Shawnda headed to the airport around noon on the 5th ….I could not get over how quickly 13 days blew by.