by Judy Handley | Apr 7, 2011 | Caribbean - Leewards, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 165, Year 6 Happy 2nd B-day to Ziggy from Antigua
Date: Thursday, April 7, 2011
Weather: Sunny (one little squall); Winds E 15-20
Latitude: 17 00.794 N
Longitude: 061 46.645 W
Miles Traveled: 43.20
Location: Falmouth Harbor, Antigua
Happy 2nd Birthday, Ziggy! We celebrated Ziggy’s birth on the island of Ko Lanta in Thailand. For his first birthday we were in the Peros Banhos Atoll in Chagos. And today, for his second birthday we are in Antigua. Hopefully next year we can be in New Mexico for his third birthday. But from wherever we are, Ziggy, just know that we are thinking of you and hope you had an incredible day.
The sail here today was upwind and sloppy, but fast. We were bucking a knot of current and still made speeds better than 6 knots all the way. We were heeled over so far that it was hard to get around on the boat, but the consolation was that we were making good time. Sailing north through the Caribbean seems to be ALL (fast and on your ear) or NOTHING (motoring with no wind when on the leeward side of islands). We left Deshaies, Gaudeloupe at 6:30 am and arrived here at 1:30 pm. Even though we were really heeled over most of the way, making it a bit uncomfortable, it was a good sail. Once we arrived, Steve took Mark in to the Antigua Yacht Club and dropped him off so he could go check in. Technically, crew is to stay on the boat until check-in is processed, so Steve returned to Windbird and we waited for Mark to call saying it was legit for us to come ashore. Steve had already seen some of the beautiful big boats at the yacht club and was anxious to get back to shore to see more. Mark had to walk across the peninsula to English Harbor to check in and then called us to come ashore. It took us a little longer than it should have as we had to stop and oogle at the Maltese Falcon. According to our friend Alan Kanesgberg in Concord, NH, this is the largest sailboat in the world that looks like a futuristic square rigger. It is hard to describe, so photos will have to fill in the gaps here. We walked the docks at the Antigua Yacht Club and almost immediately I saw Selijm, a beautiful boat we had first seen in the Sakatia anchorage in Madagascar. It was Selijm that donated their spinnaker to the local Rotary Club there and that Mark volunteered to turn into pirogue sails. We stopped by the boat and met Steve, the captain. We had met the crew in Sakatia, but not Steve, and he was delighted to meet the man who had turned the spinnaker into local sails. Selijm’s owner is Portuguese and they are headed there at the end of the season, but will first participate in the Classics regatta here next weekend. It was great to see Selijm once again. She is a beauty. We saw her in Madagascar and in Cape Town and now here in Antigua. We walked on down the dock looking at the other huge beauties. There were a few racing machines, a few classics, and some mega yachts. We came back to the yacht club and visited Lord Jim’s bookstore, and then walked over to English Harbor just to have a quick look. We will return there tomorrow morning to tour Fort Nelson and the boats in the marina there. When we returned to Falmouth Harbor we walked up to the Falmouth Marina to see the boats there. Again, there was a mix of racing machines, classics, and mega yachts, but it was the “J” boat, Ranger, that caught my eye. I didn’t realize at the time that Ranger was a “J” boat, but I did make mention of the fact that this looked like the boat that would win the race. She is long and sleek and in beautiful condition for an 80 year-old boat. In order to get a good photo of her we have to return in the morning and get the shot from dinghy. In front of Ranger was Rebecca, a yacht out of Newport, RI. She is also a beauty, but Ranger won the beauty contest today.
Antigua is all about boats and all three of us wish we could be here next weekend for the Classic Regatta and the last week of the month for Antigua Race Week. But we must leave here last tomorrow afternoon to do an overnight to St. Martin. Mark’s sister Jeanie arrives on Sunday and we want to get there a day early just to be safe. Once she arrives we will be sailing to either St. Barts or Anguilla or both, and possibly to Saba. The snorkeling there is fantastic, but the winds have to be just right in order to anchor there safely. So we’ll just have to see what the winds allow before we make definite plans for next week.
by Judy Handley | Apr 6, 2011 | Caribbean - Leewards, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 164, Year 6 From The Saintes to NW Guadeloupe
Date: Wednesday, April 6, 2011
Weather: Mostly Sunny, Then Afternoon Heavy Rain; Winds E 20
Latitude: 16 18.429 N
Longitude: 061 47.866 W
Miles Traveled: 32.25
Location: Deshaies, Basse Terre, Guadeloupe
Guadeloupe proper is an island that looks like a huge butterfly with the west wings being Basse Terre and the east wings being Grande Terre. Today we sailed from the islands known as The Saintes just south of Guadeloupe proper up the northwest coast of the west wing-Basse Terre, Guadeloupe. We are anchored off the delightful little fishing village of Deshaies. It is not a fancy village which makes it all the more charming. We took the dinghy into the small boat basin and then walked down the main street along the waterfront and then back down a street just one block inland. We arrived just after noon, and everything in town was closed. In the French islands it seems most everything is closed from noon until 3:30 pm. We wanted to buy a few groceries and buy new line for the fishing rod, so we took a walk up the little road that follows the river inland. It was a great little walk. But when we returned to town, it was still only 2:30. We walked past the shop that is supposed to sell fishing gear and they were definitely not open, so we found an open restaurant and had a couple of beers while waiting. We were right on the water and we watched a local boat put out a huge net and bring in a catch of small fish. And just about the time we were ready to leave and head to the grocery store, the rains came down, and down, and down. We tried to wait for slack periods to get from the restaurant to the grocery store, but by the time we got there we were absolutely drenched. We bought a few essentials plus some ice and tonic water so Steve could have a gin and tonic and then we headed to the fishing tackle store. We were so bummed to find it still closed, so we will have to move on with the short fishing line we have. But by now, the rain was really pounding. We stayed dry under the eve of a church, but it became evident that the rain was not going to stop, so we continued on to the dinghy in the small boat harbor. When we got back to Windbird we were absolutely soaked. All of our clothes are now hanging out on the lifeline, but it is still raining at 8 pm and we might have to move on to Antigua with wet clothes tomorrow morning. When we got back to Windbird, I decided to use the rain the wash all of the cockpit cushions. I had hoped the rain would stop so they would be dry when we head on in the morning, but that is not looking promising. Hopefully somewhere between here and Antigua, the rain will stop and we can get dried out.
When we arrive here today the anchorage was fairly empty, but by the end of the day we found ourselves jammed in amongst other boats that came in later in the afternoon. There is a boat from Germany that came in late in the day and anchored right in front of us. Mark and Steve went over to let them know that we would be leaving at 6 am and might need them to move as they are probably right over our anchor. The young people aboard were most amiable and said it would be no problem to move at that early hour in the morning. They are here for the Antigua Race Week at the end of the month and the boat is beautiful. Mark and Steve understood that the boat is Sparkman and Stephens design from the 1930’s. It has been kept in pristine condition-a labor of love. We are looking forward to seeing more of these beauties in Antigua.
by Judy Handley | Apr 5, 2011 | Caribbean - Leewards, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 163, Year 6 Fort Napoleon and Snorkeling
Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Weather: Beautiful; Very Windy, NE 25 (up to 35 knots at sea)
Location: Anse du Pain de Sucre, Terre de Haut, Iles de Saintes, Guadeloupe
Anse du Pain de Sucre is not only a beautiful little anchorage, it affords great protection against strong E-NE winds. And that is what we had today. According to the weather synopsis, the winds were as high as 35 knots. It was a good day to stay in port and explore and that is what we did. Of course, we had to brave the winds and rough seas to take the dinghy into Bourg des Saintes, but it was actually not as bad as it was yesterday afternoon. The guys decided to go in “topless” in order to have dry shirts once we reached town. I donned a poncho and off we went. The road from Bourg des Saintes up the mountain to Fort Napoleon is a switchback affair climbing steeply from sea level. With a little huffing and puffing, we made the mile-long climb to the fort. On the way up the hill we saw a house that looks just like the bow of a boat. It is the home and office of a local physician. Then we looked out into the bay and saw a modern square-rigger coming it. It was a beauty and we had great views as we climbed. Fort Napoleon is not just ruins as many other forts we have visited. This one was built in 1867 and has been perfectly restored. The views from the top of the fort were magnificent and the museum inside the fort was of great interest. There is a really interesting display of the famous battle that took place here between England’s Admiral Rodney and the French Admiral De Grasse in 1782. There are display cases that show the location of the ships (so many of them) at 10 am, 11 am, and 12 noon on the day of the battle. There were also a couple of traditional Santoise fishing boats and the cactus and succulent gardens atop the fort are spectacular. We started our trek back down the mountain as the church tower was ringing to let us know it was noon. Unfortunately the only store in town that sells fishing gear was closed so we were not able to buy new line. We lost about half of ours in Carriacou when we “caught” a catamaran and had to cut our line. Yesterday if our line had been longer, we might not have lost that mahi mahi.
On our way back to Windbird we stopped by Flying Fish to say hello to Carolyn and Jack, the couple from Boothbay we met yesterday. Jack built the 27-foot long boat and it is a beauty. When we got back to Windbird, we had lunch and then spent the afternoon snorkeling along the shore in our little bay. It was not spectacular but it was so relaxing and we are always able to find new and wonderful sea life to examine. Today there were lots of Christmas Tree worms and tube worms that put out something like a feather duster. There were also lots of different kinds of sponges and the variety of fish that we have seen here in the Caribbean.
Tomorrow morning we move on to Deshaies on the northwest coast of Guadeloupe’s Basse Terre. We will spend the night there and on Thursday we will arrive in Antigua. We have to be in Sint Maarten on Sunday to pick up Mark’s sister, Jeanie, so onward we go.
by Judy Handley | Apr 5, 2011 | Caribbean - Leewards, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 163, Year 6 Fort Napoleon and Snorkeling
Date: Tuesday, April 5, 2011
Weather: Beautiful; Very Windy, NE 25 (up to 35 knots at sea)
Location: Anse du Pain de Sucre, Terre de Haut, Iles de Saintes, Guadeloupe
Anse du Pain de Sucre is not only a beautiful little anchorage, it affords great protection against strong E-NE winds. And that is what we had today. According to the weather synopsis, the winds were as high as 35 knots. It was a good day to stay in port and explore and that is what we did. Of course, we had to brave the winds and rough seas to take the dinghy into Bourg des Saintes, but it was actually not as bad as it was yesterday afternoon. The guys decided to go in “topless” in order to have dry shirts once we reached town. I donned a poncho and off we went. The road from Bourg des Saintes up the mountain to Fort Napoleon is a switchback affair climbing steeply from sea level. With a little huffing and puffing, we made the mile-long climb to the fort. On the way up the hill we saw a house that looks just like the bow of a boat. It is the home and office of a local physician. Then we looked out into the bay and saw a modern square-rigger coming it. It was a beauty and we had great views as we climbed. Fort Napoleon is not just ruins as many other forts we have visited. This one was built in 1867 and has been perfectly restored. The views from the top of the fort were magnificent and the museum inside the fort was of great interest. There is a really interesting display of the famous battle that took place here between England’s Admiral Rodney and the French Admiral De Grasse in 1782. There are display cases that show the location of the ships (so many of them) at 10 am, 11 am, and 12 noon on the day of the battle. There were also a couple of traditional Santoise fishing boats and the cactus and succulent gardens atop the fort are spectacular. We started our trek back down the mountain as the church tower was ringing to let us know it was noon. Unfortunately the only store in town that sells fishing gear was closed so we were not able to buy new line. We lost about half of ours in Carriacou when we “caught” a catamaran and had to cut our line. Yesterday if our line had been longer, we might not have lost that mahi mahi.
On our way back to Windbird we stopped by Flying Fish to say hello to Carolyn and Jack, the couple from Boothbay we met yesterday. Jack built the 27-foot long boat and it is a beauty. When we got back to Windbird, we had lunch and then spent the afternoon snorkeling along the shore in our little bay. It was not spectacular but it was so relaxing and we are always able to find new and wonderful sea life to examine. Today there were lots of Christmas Tree worms and tube worms that put out something like a feather duster. There were also lots of different kinds of sponges and the variety of fish that we have seen here in the Caribbean.
Tomorrow morning we move on to Deshaies on the northwest coast of Guadeloupe’s Basse Terre. We will spend the night there and on Thursday we will arrive in Antigua. We have to be in Sint Maarten on Sunday to pick up Mark’s sister, Jeanie, so onward we go.
by Judy Handley | Apr 5, 2011 | Caribbean - Leewards, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 162, Year 6 Happy Anniversary to Justin and Jo
Date: Monday, April 4, 2011
Weather: Beautiful; Wind 2-29 Knots from the N, E, S, & W
Latitude: 15 51.729 N
Longitude: 061 36.077 W
Location: Anse du Pain de Sucre, Terre de Haut, Iles de Saintes, Guadeloupe
It is the fourth day of April, the fourth month of 2011, and our son Justin and his wife Jo are celebrating their fourth anniversary. Happy Anniversary!!! We are so looking forward to reuniting with them in only three weeks from now in Vieques in Puerto Rico. Can’t wait to see you.
After the fourth anniversary, the second headline for today is, “What a fight, man against fish.” Just before we reached Iles de Saintes, the fishing reel started whirring. Steve was out there trying to reel in the catch. This went on for five minutes, ten minutes, fifteen minutes . . . and the mahi mahi fought on. They are such beautiful fish with their brilliant iridescent blue-green and gold colors shining as they jump out of the water trying to escape capture. Mahi mahi is the Hawaiian name for this fish and it means “strong, strong.” The one we hooked today was at least four feet long and it was certainly strong. In the end, the fish won. After twenty minutes, she jumped high and turned hard to the left and broke the line. It was the second lure fish we lost today but we didn’t see the first one. The line whirred and almost immediately the line broke. So we had chicken tonight instead of sushi. Sad for us, happy for the fish.
We dropped the mooring line at 6 am and headed north from Roseau, Dominica to Iles de Saintes, commonly called The Saintes. There are two main islands, Terre de Basse and Terre de Haut. We are anchored off Terre de Haut near the only town in The Saints, Bourg des Saintes. But instead of anchoring off the town, we anchored about a mile away in the what is known as the “nicest” anchorage in The Saintes. We are anchored off a conical-shaped promontory with basalt pillars called Anse du Pain De Sucre. The discussion after anchoring in mid-afternoon was whether to jump in the water and snorkel or to go to Bourg des Saintes to see the town and check-in. The latter won but this meant that we had to get in the dinghy and motor into the wind and seas for more than a mile. We knew this was going to be a wet ride, so we all put on ponchos. But even with the protection, we all still got pretty soaked before reaching the dinghy dock in Bourg des Saintes. The town is small and very quaint and very French. Slavery was never brought to this island, so there is very little African influence here. We stopped in the Tourism Office to find out how to get to the right location for clearance and when we got there we met another couple waiting to check-in. They were from the US and when we delved further, we found out they are from Boothbay, Maine. As the conversation went on, we discovered that the woman, Carolyn Shubert, knows our son-in-law’s mother, Marti Goldstone. This reminded us of checking out in Bequia where the man behind Mark in line was from Australia but lived in Falmouth, Massachusetts at one point and knows Sylvia, the manger of West Marine there. What a small world.
Tomorrow we will go back to Bourg des Saintes to walk up the mountain to Fort Napoleon. We will then return to Windbird and snorkel. Can’t wait to see what the underwater world looks like here.
by Judy Handley | Apr 3, 2011 | Caribbean - Leewards, Sailing Logs Year 6 |
Day 161, Year 6 A Little Play, A Little Work
Date: Sunday, April 3, 2011
Weather: Sunny and Beautiful
Location: Roseau, Dominica (one mile south)
I just asked Steve what I should say about today and he started by reminding me that we deviated from our normal granola breakfast and had French toast and bacon. I had forgotten that detail of today. After a nice relaxed breakfast, we then went to Sea World to meet Pancho and our guide for today, Indiana Jones-at least that is what Pancho calls him. Actually our guide introduced himself as Mr. Jones and off we went. He took us to the waterfront in downtown Roseau to check-in, but no one was there as the officials were aboard a cruise ship that came in last night. We knew the cruise ship meant that our walk to the Trafalgar Waterfalls was going to be a crowded affair, but we decided to go on and return to check-in after the tour.
Dominica rises straight up from the sea and Mark was immediately glad that he wasn’t driving. You just go up and up and up and the narrow road has deep culverts on the sides. If you misjudged and went into the culvert, your car would be done for. As we drove higher and higher into the rainforest, the liquid sunshine started coming down. Jones explained that it rains high in the mountains much of the time. We entered the western edge of Morne Troise Pitons National Park and then walked up to the Trafalgar Falls with lots of cruise ship tourists. The good thing was that all of the cruise ship tourists were going only as far as the viewing platform. Steve, Mark, and I trekked on toward the base of the falls. There are actually two falls, one high and one much lower and broader. We came to the hot Sulphur springs area. The rocks are yellowed from the Sulphur and the water is really very warm, but we wanted to go on to swim or sit in the pools of water at the base of the broader fall. We climbed among rocks as slippery as glass, but we were very careful and made it to an area where we could sit in the pools of water. Making it to the base of the falls looked impossible, so we gave up that idea. It was raining intermittently so getting photos without getting the camera wet was a bit of a trick. We hiked back to the parking area to meet Jones and then we headed on to Wotten Waven Sulphur Springs. Jones hooked us up with a young boy that walked with us to the springs. Our young guide was a nine-year old named Kessler (we think) and he was absolutely delightful. He pointed out some of the local plants and had all of the vocabulary of adult guides, reminding us to take our time and watch our step. He was just too cute. He made sure we understood everything about the hot sulphur gases belching from the earth and he even reminded Jones to make sure to stop at the bridge on the way out so we could see the heat rising from caves above the river tumbling down the mountain from Trafalgar Falls. On the way up to the falls and all the way back down to Roseau, Jones pointed out all of the trees and plants along the way. Soon we were back in Roseau and driving through the Botanical Gardens. There is an African Baobab there where half of the tree fell on top of an empty school bus during Hurricane David in 1979. The bus is squashed and rusting, but it is a good reminder of the damage that hurricanes bring to this part of the world.
Once back in Roseau, we stopped at the harbor to officially check-in and then went back to Sea World to our dinghy and back to Windbird for lunch. We all took a shower and then I did a laundry before we returned to town. Steve had hoped to buy some of the local rum, but the only alcohol for sale on a Sunday was in the duty-free shops opened for the cruise ships. We had not brought our boat papers, so buying duty-free rum was not a possibility today. Bummer. We made our way back to Windbird and while I finished the laundry, Mark and Steve cleaned the stainless on the bow pulpit and all the stanchions along the outside back to the gates. This was the “work: part of the day. Mark and I were so glad to get this stainless work done as it means we can now start putting on the safety net in preparation of grandchildren who will arrive in Puerto Rico in less than three weeks. Mark’s sister Mary Ellen called our cell phone today to tell us that she and Lee have definitely decided not to come to St. Martin to cruise with us for a week. They are returning to northern Florida to their daughter Michelle’s to be there when Michelle meets with a new team of doctors this week who are giving her hope that she might not have to go through radiation treatment for her cancer. We will miss Mary Ellen and Lee but we know that at this time they need to be there for Michelle. We haven’t heard from sister Jeanie, but we are assuming she will be arriving in St. Martin next Saturday. So on we go tomorrow to Les Saintes in Guadeloupe.
