On Monday, 2/19/24, we woke up early and left as soon as it was light enough to see fish pot markers bobbing in between the swells. The sail to Guadeloupe was quite pleasant and we were able to sail from the harbour amost all the way to Pigeon Island on the leeward side of Guadeloupe.
Steve was at the helm for most of the trip. Half way between Antigua and Guadeloupe, he called me up to the helm. I had been napping and it was taking me a minute to get myself oriented. Along the side of the boat, approximately 6 feet away, there was a long, brown/grey whale sunning itself. Steve had to alter course to avoid hitting it. The whale was looking up at us as if to say, “Hi guys. It is a beautiful day.” It was not bothered by us in the least. Unfortunately I didn’t think quickly enough to grab a camera. It was approximately 15-20 feet long and 4 or 5 feet wide. I think it was a Sperm Whale. This is the first time that we’ve seen a whale up close like that. It was really neat!
We arrived at our anchorage off of Pigeon island around 4:30p and hung up our Q flag. We were going to leave at first light in the morning for Les Saintes, where we would officially check into Guadeloupe.
Every year at this time amazing athletes brave the Atlantic Ocean and row from the Canary Islands to English Harbour, Antigua. Two boats were docked at English Harbour and the rowers must have recently arrived.
We walked over to Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbour, to clear out of Antigua. Our plan was to head to Guadeloupe on Monday. While we both walked over there, Antigua prefers that only the captain clear out. So I walked around the dockyard while Steve completed paperwork with customs.
No vehicles are permitted in the dockyard.Tall Ships used to put their sails in need of repair on top of these pillars, which were part of a building.Wood-carving vendor in his shop at Nelson’s Dockyard
A sailing race is planned for the end of the month and several of the boats had arrived in Falmouth Harbour to practice. It was fun to see them all coming and going in and out of the harbour.
Boats practice racing at the mouth of Falmouth Harbour, Antigua
The water was quite clear in Falmouth Harbour off of Pigeon Beach and we were able to snorkel. We were anchored in about six or seven feet of water, which is very shallow for us, as the bottom of our keel is 5’5”. The bottom was mostly grass with occasional patches of sand. The patches of sand is where we tried to position our anchor so that it would hold well. We ended up anchoring twice because the first time we were too close to other boats. The friends that we had met in Jolly Harbour were anchored two boats away from us. While we didn’t spend much time with them, we did stop to chat on Sunday off of the back of their boat.
The superyacht is winding through the Falmouth Harbour Channel that runs through the anchorage.
Jolly Harbour was a welcome respite from being out at anchor during challenging weather conditions. We were there for five days. I got the salt off of the boat while Steve worked on the engines. While we were there, a couple stopped by. They are from Hopkinton, NH and were very nice. We ended up having drinks with them, and their niece/husband, one night.
On 2/17/24, we left the marina and sailed down to Falmouth Harbour. The water had calmed down a bit and was a little clearer. We anchored off of Pigeon Beach in Falmouth Harbour and had a very enjoyable weekend. On Saturday, the restaurant in front of us had a very good live band playing all afternoon. We were lucky enough to be able to enjoy the music from our boat.
We sailed past Prickly Pear Island off of Antigua’s northern shore.
The sail from North Sound to Jolly Harbour was nice. We skirted the rain showers and kept in the sunshine most of the time. We saw several rainbows in the distance as we sailed which always brings me happiness. As we went past five islands, we only saw a handful of boats inside the bay. I had read online that people were complaining that the water was brown in there. As we rounded the corner, we decided to head to Valley Church bay to quickly anchor and prepare the boat before heading into the marina. On our way we saw a ray jumping out of the water, playing. Upon arrival, we noticed a play area in the water with slides and umbrellas. Most unfortunately, the water was a sandy brown color, not the typical turquoise that Antigua is famed for. There were also very large swells noticeably moving the boat way up out of the water. So, we decided to head right into the marina. Unfortunately they were not ready for us, so we picked up a mooring ball just outside of the marina and waited for a couple of hours. That was fine because it allowed me to finish preparing the ropes and fenders for docking.
Two Jolly Harbour yard workers met us and guided us to our spot. We are on the T-head, across from the fuel docking station. It is also the charter dock. So far we have enjoyed quiet waters. However, it makes us nervous having boats maneuver to get gas in an area that is so close to our boat. Also, charter boats typically have inexperienced captains at the helm. We placed fenders on both sides of our boat to try to protect it from bumps.
The wind waves at Rabbit Island became uncomfortable so we decided to head to Maiden Island, which is usually protected. After anchoring and sitting for an hour or two, we decided to move back to our original anchorage, just north of the boatyard in North Sound. We pulled up close to the mangroves and received some protection from the waves and wind. We ended up staying there for two nights before heading to Jolly Harbour on 2/12/24.
After checking into Antigua’s customs office, we decided to head to the Bird Island area.
This is one of our favorite places to anchor on Antigua. The challenge this time is that the wind is coming from the south and we needed to find a place to anchor that would protect us from the wind and the waves. I sat in a princess seat in the front of the boat looking for coral heads while Steve drove the boat. We have been to this anchorage several times before and we knew that we had to spot coral while going to a different location in the bay. We successfully navigated the area and found a calm place to drop our anchor. Last night, 2/6/24, the anchorage was calm.
Today, 2/7/24, we discussed the weather. The wind is going to shift in several different directions before settling in 48 hours. We decided that we would stay where we are and move within the bay as we need to. We are not quite ready to head into the Jolly Harbour marina, which will be our next stop. Unfortunately, the water is very cloudy and we haven’t gone swimming. It is too bad, as the water is usually clear in this area and the snorkeling is typically very good.
Well, our night on 2/7/24 was a little challenging. The sky started flickering around 2:30a. My first thought was that the northern lights were showing themselves and then I realized how far south we were. It was lightening and it was heading in our direction. We quickly put all of our electronics inside of the oven and the microwave. The theory is that the metal around the electronics will act as a bird cage and protect them. Hopefully we won’t ever have to find out if this works or not. As the lightening approached, Steve turned the motors on in case we needed them in the storm. The sky was dark and we couldn’t see what was coming our way. I pulled out the life jackets and harnesses. Even though we were within swimming distance of the mangroves, we wanted to be sure to have easy access to these life-saving items. We sat upstairs and reviewed where the four fire extinguishers were located on the boat. Then, we waited for the storm to pass. There was one flash of lightening and clap of thunder that was fairly close to us. Otherwise, the storm passed us. However, the rain continued all throughout the day on 2/8/24.
As I woke up and saw that it was raining, I did what anyone good boat owner does when it rains. I put my bathing suit on and washed the boat. With all of the rain, I didn’t have to rinse the boat at all and today, 2/9/24, it looks clean and white. We are planning to go into the marina next week and I was hoping to boat wash before going in there so that I could work on spots and the stainless while having access to the hose.
We were up early and released Spring Tradition from its mooring ball by 6:30a. We had to wait until the sun was up so that we could see while we were leaving. When we are close to any island, we are on fish-pot alert. This means that we are scanning in front of the boat to avoid little floating buoys in the water. We don’t want the nets/lines to get wrapped around our propellers. We were about an hour off of the coast of Nevis when we suddenly encountered a fish pot field. We were only sailing in 50 feet of water in this area and a fishing boat had put out many fish pots. We were trying to navigate through the field with both of us on high alert trying to spot the buoys. There were a couple of times where Steve had to put the motors in neutral so that the propellers wouldn’t move. Somehow we made it through and back into deep water. This was probably the most challenging fishing area that we have ever gone through.
The sail was much more pleasant that we expected. The wind was coming from the south, which is not typical. That meant that we were able to put our sails up and turn the motors off for much of the crossing. It was a really good sail.
