At some point during our stay on Antigua, I got an email from a guy we had met in the BVIs, saying that there was a big swell coming to Antigua and to take it seriously. So we scheduled to stay at the protected Jolly Harbor Marina during the swell. The night before we went in, we stayed out in the outer part of Jolly Harbor at anchor. It was swelling a little where we were, but I had plenty of chain out on our anchor, so I felt pretty comfortable (even though I couldn’t see the anchor in 10 feet of water because it was so churned up, which bothered me a little bit). Another cat pulled in and anchored next to us before the sun went down. The next morning we went into the marina and the harbor-master put us at the end of the “T” dock. After we had docked, another cat came in on the other half of the “T”. Turned out they were the cat next to us at anchor the night before. They were apologizing to us saying that they had made a bunch of noise at 3AM in the morning because there anchor had dragged and they had to get up and reset it in the dark. We hadn’t heard a thing. Turned out the be the nicest couple from Canada. We spent several days in the marina and got to know them pretty well. They had actually decided to cut their sailing season short because Canada airlines had decided to no longer fly to the Caribbean due to COVID and they were afraid they wouldn’t be able to get back home. Very long story, but we got to know them pretty well and even sailed to the NE of Antigua with them where they hauled their boat.

This shot is from the outer harbor of Jolly Harbor, Antigua. Jolly Harbor is about half-way up the west coast of Antigua. The entire harbor is fairly shallow, with a dredged channel in the middle and all the way into the marina.

The outer harbor can get rolly in big swells, and it was shallow – about 6 feet when our draft is about 5 feet – which made me very nervous. And, the water wasn’t clear enough that I could see the shape of the bottom, so I really didn’t like staying here. I believe we moved shortly after this pic was taken to a location further in the harbor because I was nervous about the bottom and we were told the swells were going to get real bad.

I don’t remember where this shot was taken. It must have been the west coast of Antigua, but I don’t recognize the location.

Falmouth Harbor is a major harbor in the south of Antigua. Right around the corner and within easy walking distance of English Harbor, Falmouth is much more populated and popular (English Harbor is very narrow and doesn’t have much room to anchor. This was very useful back when England was trying to keep their boats safe, but not so much now.).

This is the hub for superyachts in Antigua with a large dock and many boats docked (probably 2 or 3 dozen superyachts). It is also shallow enough that you can anchor almost anywhere. In addition, it doesn’t get swelly very much, so is fairly comfortable.

A lot of restaurants, trinket shops, and some limited supplies. Interestingly, no real good grocery store. I guess they want you to eat out.

A shot from our anchorage in Falmouth Harbor. Falmouth Harbor is right around the corner from English Harbor, within easy walking distance. It is pretty crowded as far as anchorages go and we were anchored fairly close to the opening of the harbor so weren’t as protected from the swells as many further in. It is also fairly shallow where we anchored, about 7 feet deep, where our keels go down to about 5 feet, so after moving around and tides, not much room to spare under the keel. Very clear water, lots of turtles, some rays, and starfish right off the boat. Could easily see the bottom.

English Harbor is one of the major points of entry for yachts in Antigua.  This year is was one of only two and the other one – St. Johns – is the major commercial port.

The rules were that you were supposed to call on VHF radio the Antigua Port Authority 6 hours before showing up, and the rules were very adamant that you not show up unannounced.  Now, we spent the night before at Barbuda, which is about 6 hours away, so I started calling right away.  I can’t remember if we ever contacted the Antigua Port Authority.  We tried every 30 minutes or so for 6 hours, but I don’t think we ever got through.  That’s typical of the Caribbean.

You were also supposed to have a valid PCR test before showing up.  Our result still hadn’t been emailed to us (come to find out it finally arrived 6 months later – yes, that is not a typo).  Oh, and even with a negative PCR test, the rules said you had to quarantine on your boat for 14 days.  We had specifically stocked the boat with food for 14 days and projects that would keep us busy.

We anchor in the required quarantine bay in English Harbor.  As you can see from the tall masts at the marina in English Harbor, we are anchored in the outer harbor.  It was very crowded there with boat pretty close to each other (you can see the other cat right off our stern in the pic).  That always makes me nervous.  (The one good thing about the close boats is that the cat in the shot had a man, woman and child where the woman did a lot of topless sunbathing.  And she was quite attractive, so I guess I could put up with the nervousness.)

Within 24 hours of our arrival, the health inspector shows up at our boat.  Again, we didn’t have a PCR test, were required to quarantine for 14 days, and hadn’t announced our arrival 6 hours in advance as requested. 

After about 15 minutes of talking with the health inspector, he said we were good to go.  I was very confused, so asked if that meant we could free to go ashore and around the island.  He said yes.  I didn’t push it.  So, after all of the rules, we were let go on the island.  Again, as we found out, not unusual for the Caribbean.

On our trip from St. Barths to Antigua, we decided to stop and stay the night in Barbuda just so we could shorten the daily sailing time. 

Barbuda is a flat island, with not a lot of inhabitants, and a lot of nice sand beaches.  We anchored here when we had chartered previously so we knew a little about the island.

We weren’t going ashore, so we didn’t need to check in with immigration.  I had purposely not registered with Barbuda, nor told anyone that we were going to be there.  If we wanted to check in, we would have had to had a PCR test and quarantine for 14 days, because Barbuda is officially part of Antigua, with the same rules.  So we just anchored, had some dinner, and got ready for bed.

About an hour after we anchored, I heard my cell phone ringing.  I looked at the number and recognized the area code as that of Antigua/Barbuda.  I thought this was very weird because, while I had pre-registered to enter Antigua, I hadn’t said anything to Barbuda and didn’t understand who would be calling from Antigua.

When I answered the phone, the voice on the other end identified themselves as being from the Port Authority of Barbuda.  The guy said they saw our boat on AIS (like GPS), found our phone number on the Antigua registration, and wanted to know what our intentions were.  Seemed nice enough, just doing his job, so I said that we were on our way to Antigua and were just spending the night.  He double-checked that we weren’t planning on going ashore – I confirmed that we weren’t – he said to have a good night and hung up.  I just thought this was interesting that we were being watched and they were trying to do the best they could to enforce their COVID rules.

We stood on the dock in Gustavia, St. Barth’s and watched this guy back his super-yacht between two other super-yachts roughly the same size. The deck-hands were all running around with the big black fenders making sure he didn’t run into either of the parked yachts. Very funny. Many deck-hands on walkie-talkies to someone driving. Many starts and stops. We saw the captain of the super-yacht later in the government office where you check-in and he was cracking jokes with the officials. Seemed like a pretty nice guy.

This harbor is on the northwest end of St. Barth’s and is part of the natural marine reserve. The only dwelling is the old abandoned home of David Rockefeller on the peninsula on the south side. If you’re staying in close to the beach, you have to pick up a mooring ball so you don’t disturb the seabed. St. Barth’s is trying to get the sea grass to regrow on the seabed so that turtles will readily make the harbor a stop on their feeding tour. You can anchor out in deeper water if you want or if you are a superyacht.

We stayed here several years ago when we chartered out of St. Martin. This time it was much more crowded with several superyachts and some people staying up until 5 AM playing music loudly from their moored boats. Quite annoying.

Anyway, after those rude people left, it is a nice place. Good snorkeling, daily turtle sightings off the back of the boat, and a nice little hiking trail to the top of the bluff if you’re so inclined.

You can also take the dinghy the mile-plus drive down the coast into Gustavia to check in at immigration, get supplies, and pretend that you’re hanging out with the rich and famous. The dinghy ride down the coast can get pretty rough at times and there is one pass that is quite shallow and wavy, so make sure you hold onto your groceries.

Another shot from the top of the bluff shooting north west.  Our boat is down there somewhere.