Antigua

Great to be back in Antigua again after so long. I keep bumping into old friends from what seems another lifetime ago, well it was 25 years ago!!

All the big, blue, beautiful super yachts that were berthed in Palma when we were there are now here.

Just a different car park for the Caribbean season really. The are all dwarfed by the huge 'Maltese Falcon', available for charter for $385,000 a week!

Whilst in Antigua it is a Sunday tradition to go up to Shirley Heights, the hill overlooking English Harbour and listen to the steel band and drink rather a lot of rum!

The view is spectacular and the sunsets are wonderful too, if the rum hasn't kicked in yet!

The steel band.

Daryl and I enjoying the rum punches.

Here we are anchored in Falmouth Bay.

Behind us is the grey naval-looking boat. Apparently the owner was one of the first 'tourists' in space and had his yacht positioned in the middle of the Atlantic, so that he could see it from space! Is that possible??

A change of scenery on the island of Barbuda, where we spent a couple of days. It is just a morning's sail from Antigua and the peace and quiet was a welcome relief.

There is also a frigate bird colony on the island. The marine reserve is only accessible by dingy and it was fabulous to see thousands of these beautiful nesting.

We are now back in Antigua and have a few jobs to do on the boat before heading north again.

Martinique and Dominica

A group of yachties hired a mini-van and had a tour of the island of Dominica. It apparently has the most rainfall of all the Caribbean islands and the lush vegetation is the result.

Here is one of the 365 rivers that run through the island.

It was a long day on bad roads, but worth the effort. It is often so easy to sit on the boat and not go ashore at all! Especially with a fridge full of wine and other boats in the anchorage willing to help us drink it!

One of the beautiful white sand beaches on the east coast of the island. No time to stop and have a swim, we needed to get back to base for sun-downers!

Portsmouth harbour in Dominica.

In 1995 a hurricane hit and there must be about a dozen wrecks around the bay from the severe weather that hit the island.

Here is Mount Pelee in Saint Pierre in Martinique. In 1902 it erupted, spewing molten ash over the city, killing all but one of the 30,000 inhabitants. Cyparis, the sole survivor was an inmate of the local jail and was rescued three days later, from a dungeon by French sailors.

Martinique

Diamond Rock - Rumour has it that two drunk yachties climbed the rock and hoisted the British flag.

The next day was the French Bastille day, and appalled at the sight of the foreign flag, troops were dispatched to climb up and retrieve the flag.

They couldn't make the climb and a helicopter had to be called in!!!

Our friends Gaby and Shaun, (with us in the photo) Jenny and Steve, were keen to experience catamaran sailing and so we had a great day out, it was like being on charter again!

Had a good downwind sail to Anse D'Arlet, lunch and some delicious wine. Then a motor back to base.

Waving goodbye to Gaby on the deck of 'Tabasco Jazz', anchored in St. Anne's Bay. Great to catch up with them and celebrate my birthday with them too.

Anchored off the beach at Saint Pierre, on the northwest coast of Martinique, we shall head north in the next day or so.

St. Lucia

Lisa and Jay on the boat steps, showering before heading off to the airport and New Zealand.

Jay is back to North Sails and Lisa is starting her first job, assisting with external film projects for Unitec in Auckland.

The boat feels so empty with them gone now, but I think they enjoyed the experience of sailing across the Atlantic with us, and hope they will come and sail with us again.

Approaching St Lucia is the spectacular sight of the famous Pitons. The island is fertile and very green, not surprising considering the amount of squally rain showers we have experienced since we arrived.

No more lugging heavy bags of fruit and veggies back to the boat. Gregory visits each day to the boats!

The girls in the bar again!

Great to catch up with Gaby and Shaun on Tabasco Jazz in Rodney Bay Marina and enjoy some good food and wine together.

The crossing

Christmas Day was calm enough to cook some roast ducks and have a few glasses of wine too!

Another one of those dreaded squalls, creeping up on us from behind, time to shorten sail and close the hatches. Easier said than done when flying a spinnaker though, we decided to snuff it during the night and choose a lighter sail that was easier to reef.

En route we were visited by a whale, can't tell you what type though. It stayed with us for over an hour and rolled over several time to take a good look at us.

Snorkeling around one of the wrecks in the Bay near the boat was great fun.

Diving with the turtles in Carlisle Bay, they home in on the people boats, where the crew feed them pieces of fish, almost by hand.

Caribbean

5th Jan

Sitting on the deck of the Barbados Yacht Club, sipping a Mountgay and Orange and trying to upload photos of the crossing, without luck.

So sorry, no photos this post.

Had a great crossing with lots of wind. About 2150 miles which we covered in 12 days. Hit a scary top speed of 18 knots, surfing down a wave, but averaged about 7.5 knots Flew the symmetrical spinnaker most of the time, which was great day and night, although we did have to watch for squalls!

Enjoying the turquoise blue water, diving wrecks and swimming with turtles, and the rim is good too!

5th Jan