Hey Mon
20 December 2010 | English Harbour, Antigua
JY-Hot
I finally made the decision of my timing for a return to Australia for personal reasons. The Caribbean will clearly take longer than one winter to enjoy, therefore why not return to Australia for 10 months from January 2011 and then return to paradise and have an extra 1-2 months to lap up what is on offer here. On the basis of this decision, I have been arranging my flights for a return to Australia with the first port of call being by boys 21st birthday party. To finalise the bookings, I had to return to the dock prior to leaving St Barts so I could get a good wifi signal.
Once completed, I commenced my journey to Antigua which was 69 nautical miles away. I was hoping for a start prior to day break because I have never liked entering a new harbour after dark.
Today was to prove again how important daylight is when entering a new harbour.
The days' sail included up to 20 knots of wind, waves regularly breaking over the bow together with the occasional wave over the after port quarter. All this meant that it was a rather wet ride across to Antigua.
The sun had been out all day with only a few clouds scattered across the horizon. The chart plotter indicated that I would be arriving around 7.30pm. Well after dark. As the moon came up around 3pm, I thought that would give me plenty of light to enter Jolly Harbour.
Well with the luck of the Irish, clouds increased as the sun disappeared and the rain started soon after. At this time visibility was most important as I was on the lookout for navigational aids. Hence I got wetter than I had all day. As it turned out, the clouds and rain disappeared 5 minutes before I was about to pick up a mooring. Therefore I had full light from the moon.
Jolly Harbour is a modern condominium development with full yacht services, excellent provisioning, a great beach bar in Castaways and a well protected anchorage. I spent two nights here with the first day taking the local bus to St John's. St John's is the capital of Antigua, has the highest population, loud music in many stores and the place where cruise ships enter. St John's has its own appeal and is clearly good for shopping as most items can be bought duty free. It is also home to the great Sir Vivian Richards, one of the all time best cricket batsman on record.
In the afternoon I went to Castaways Beach Bar for happy hour and the sunset. They also do a mean shrimp fritters entrée.
The cruising guides suggest English and Falmouth harbours are the yacht meccas of Antigua. Well they are not wrong. At first light I left Jolly Harbour and sailed over to English harbour. The sailing down the west coast of Antigua was brilliant, however the beat to the east to English Harbour wasn't as pleasant.
What a delightful place. It was made even the more enjoyable with one of the solo female yachties in the harbour having a shower on deck as I was having breakfast each morning. It made it very hard to look elsewhere.
While I was waiting for my next breakfast, I filled in time by hiking up to Monks Hill. The pathway seemed to be blocked at one point, so I decided to climb up this area that had recently experienced an avalanche. It did get the better of me towards the end and only metres from the top. Anyway the views were excellent form that point.
Both English and Falmouth Harbours are excellent anchorages for hurricanes. This was recognised in 1723 when the English commenced work on developing the harbour. Most buildings remain today and are being used by various businesses. Just be careful of the general store. The ceiling would be no higher than 180cm with areas around 165cm. These guys must have been short in those early days.
I spent the next two days swimming at the nearby beach, snorkelling and admiring the mega yachts in both harbours.
Sunday nights on the island requires all tourists to descend on Shirley Heights for views of the sunset, a BBQ dinner, entertainment by two local bands. One a steel drum band and the following band which got the crowd rocking, was a reggae band. They even played "I come from a land downunder" in reggae style.
This is a "must do" item on anyone's list who visits the island.