Dominica, Guadeloupe, Antigua.

27th-31st December 2012

From Martinique we sailed to the lush Island of Dominica.This was just an overnight stop for us in the bay of Portsmouth and next morning we continued north to the Islands of Isle de Saints on the south side of Guadeloupe.

Isle Des Saintes

We have stopped at The Saints  group on previous occasions and really like them. Liam and I went to a very funky café for lunch while my sister and niece had a walk around town and checked out the shops.

 

As with all the French Islands, and the same in France, many business close between 2 & 4 pm for their siesta. Not a bad tradition if you ask me. Nothing like having an afternoon snooze to revitalize the system. The bay had changed slightly since our last visit and there seemed to be more mooring balls installed. Rather than anchoring we picked up a ball, something we rarely do. The cost was only 12 euros for the night, not bad really given the water was 62ft deep.The town is very pretty with brightly coloured houses and interesting wall murals.

                   

 

Even the local cemetery was brightened up with plastic flowers and colourful conch shells adorning some of the graves .By nine the following morning, after a quick run to the patisserie for baguettes and other French delicacies, we were on the road again.

Deshaies

This time we had a run of 22miles with 15 knots out of the ENE and a small chop on the waves. Once we got behind the Island of Guadeloupe just to the north, it was flat water and fast sailing to the town of Deshaies at the northern end of the island. Once the anchor was down and set the girls were in the dinghy and ready to explore this two street town, which didn’t take long.

There are a few restaurants, a patisserie and a couple of supermarkets and a gift shop and that’s about it. Although we never seem to arrive in the anchorage at the right time of day, apparently an enterprising guy trudels around the anchorage in his dinghy about 4pm taking orders for baguettes and croissants, which he delivers fresh and hot to your transom at 7 am the following morning.What a great service!

Antigua

Antigua was our next objective and we were staying there three nights, one of which would see the new year in. English Harbour was the place to be and we found a snug spot up in the front row in a depth of 11ft. Being Sunday afternoon the big attraction is the Shirley Heights bbq and Steel Pan Band experience.

This was a must see for our visitors. So along with the crew of Sundancer 2 we piled into a taxi and headed up the hill to enjoy the music, bbq and watch the sun set over English harbour and  the distant island of Montserrat. Perfect.

            

We saw the New year in on the lawns of Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbour along with the Sundancer 2  and had a great night.  A DJ belted out tunes through loud speakers, rum was the drink of choice, party animals danced the night away and fireworks lit the skies. For good or for bad 2013 had arrived. 

          

                 

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THE 500 MILE DASH: St Martin to Grenada in 8 days
6th – 14th April 2012

The idea of sailing from St Martin to Trinidad in one big hit was never going to get up, well not with this brown duck. We can sail hard all day long from from dawn to dusk, but if there’s a decent anchorage within cooee at the end of the day then it has our name on it. So we earmarked the next 8 anchorages and off we went.
After an easy 66 mile sail from St Martin we pulled into White House Bay at the bottom of the island of St Kitts. Five other catamarans were also anchored in the bay but we never saw a human on board any of them. It had been a pleasant day’s sailing passing the playground of the rich and famous, St Barts, the soaring volcanic peaks on the diving mecca of Saba and the lush rolling green hills of northern St Kitts. Arriving just as the sun threatened to kiss the horizon we were glad to stop for the night.

Day two and we were up with the sparrows at 5am and on our way to Dominica, 120 miles to the south east. Taking the passage between St Kitts and it’s neighboring island Nevis seemed the sensible thing to do as we wanted to take advantage of the early morning breeze on the island’s windward side. A clear but chilly morning had greeted us and heading east the rising sun reflected on the water ahead. Watching the local fisherman pull in their traps had us on the lookout for any stray floats in our path. And then it happened. A strange clunk under the hull, the rev of the engine and sure enough we were hitched. Liam pulled the throttles back to neutral and the telltale float reared its’ ugly head from under our port transom. No amount of persuasion with the boathook could dislodge the offending rope, so an early morning dip for the skipper was no longer an option. The current was running at a fair clip and he had a hard time hanging on to the hull to cut the rope free, but after a couple of attempts was back on board with his trophy. Warming up with a hot shower and a steaming cuppa he soon felt brand new and we were on our way once again.
By 2pm the light breeze started to die. The island of Dominica, our planned overnight stop, was still 7 hours away so on went the motors. A couple of miles further ahead lay the the island of Montserrat. Devastated by volcanic eruptions in the mid 90’s which obliterated the hills, towns, homes and 8000 inhabitants of the island’s south west, the ash covered landscape was an eerie reminder of the forces of mother nature.

As we motored past the exclusion zone, acrid smoke from the still belching volcano filled the air. Not only was the smell of sulphur in the air but the waters surrounding the island were affected as well. Earlier, as we neared the area we had turned off our watermaker but all too late to save our precious filters.They instantly turned black and were bin bound shortly there after.
       
   Theses pictures show the massive area covered with ash & lava.The city of Plymouth gone forever.
       
       


Flexible: the capability to adapt to new, different or changing requirements. This little word is one of the most important in a cruiser’s vocabulary. Timing and weather play a major role in our day to day decisions and seeing an approaching line of squalls to the south of us we abruptly scratched Dominica, still 70 miles away, from our anchoring list for the night. The town of Deshaies on Guadeloupe was a mere 30 miles so plan B was put into action and we made a bee line to our revised destination. It was a good decision.
The next few days all rolled into one with us usually covering anywhere between 40 to 70 miles each day. Easter Sunday had crept up on us this year and we celebrated with a lobster dinner while tied to a mooring ball at the south end of Dominica and sadly, the Easter Bunny didn’t find us. Usually we’re not ones for picking up balls but by the time we arrived it was getting late, a bit of a reoccurring pattern there, and checking our depth sounder the sea floor just disappeared into the abyss. From a narrow band of 20 feet deep at the waters edge the bottom fell away to well over 100 feet within a boat length of the shore. After a few circuits of the bay we gave up on the idea of anchoring. Sometimes you just have to bight the bullet and part with a few dollars in the interest of a good night’s sleep.
As we hadn’t checked in to anywhere since leaving St Thomas in the US Virgin Islands 2 weeks ago, we figured that it might be a good idea to put some sort of paper trail in place. Once we got to Martinique, we paid a visit to the Douane (customs) office, filled out the computerised form, printed it off, showed it to the nice officer behind the desk and voila, another speed record was set, in and out in less than ten minutes! You can always trust the French not to beat around the bush.They really do have a great system for their check-ins.


Over the next couple of days we had some fabulous sailing conditions  and with speeds averaging 10kts the old girl really kicked up her skirt. Overnight stops included St Lucia, Bequia and we had considered stopping in Tyrell bay on Canouan  but we found the holding to be very poor so we pushed on to the  the north coast of Grenada.


Mother nature had put on a couple of wonderful displays in the sky during the second half of our trip and the halo around the sun, something you don’t see everyday, had even been reported in the local Trinidad papers we later found out.
  
Arriving into Prickly bay on Granada's’ southern coast as planned on the eight day we treated ourselves to a night out at our favourite Chinese restaurant, and then collapsed into bed ready to have a well earned day off tomorrow. Trinidad was now just a hop skip and a jump away at last!  

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Northbound from Trinidad.

Grenada,Guadeloupe,& Antigua

26th March -1st April 2011

Sporting nice clean hulls and a new bottom paint job after our recent haul out we were all set to head out again. It would be more like a sprint than our usual slower pace as we wanted to get up north quick

new paint job and ready to go

.Our overnight sail from Trinidad to Grenada was ‘ a piece of cake ‘ compared with the reverse route  6 weeks earlier. Again, there were a few rain squalls, the odd trawler to dodge and a little motor sailing due to lack of wind, but the big plus had to be the lack of large swells that had knocked us around during our passage down. Arriving into Prickly Bay Grenada around 10am, we actually felt quite fresh and got on with tidying up the boat as well as ourselves. As we had planned on staying just one night here, the obvious choice for dinner was to visit our favorite Chinese restaurant, the Choo Light. Once again Mrs Choo and her husband did not disappoint our taste buds and we were well topped up on our favorite foods by the time we left. Luckily it was a good 15 min walk back to our dinghy, just enough time to let our dinner settle before climbing into bed that night.
Making a concentrated effort to get as many miles under our keels in a short space of time we opted for another overnight sail. When you are on a roll you might as well keep going so when 0800 came around  the next morning  and we hot-footed it out of bed and pointed GWTW  towards Deshai on the island of Guadeloupe, some 250 miles north. The first 24 hrs saw us sailing fast in flat seas as we  passed the islands of St Vincent, St Lucia and Martinique.

The Caribbean sailing season was quickly coming to a close and most of the charter boats had finished plying these warm southern  waters. Pretty much  it was only cruising boats who were still on the move now, and they too would be heading to a safe haven or, like us,  leaving the Caribbean for the approaching  hurricane season starting in June.  This was  plainly evident having seen only one other boat  sailing  between Grenada and Guadeloupe. As the last rays of sunlight faded that evening  we reflected on the days events, two lures lost and not a fish  in sight.. Liam reckons he  spotted the  elusive Green Flash, though that  remains in dispute as there was no photographic evidence of the event. Shortly after nightfall  the seas began to build and  the wind increased. Things looked to be  shaping up for an uncomfortable night’s sail.

Luckily the previous night’s  weather was not as bad as we’d thought it would be and by 9 am the next day things had calmed down again. We only had 50 miles left  to run and by 1600 were snug on the anchor in Deshai. Having  anchored in this bay  on two previous occasions we  had the check-in formalities down pat.

Not quite the customs office we are normally used to! but then it is French

 
 A quick trip into Le Pelican hand over our 3 euro clearance fee and it was all done in a few minutes. Whilst  in the small shop come-customs office, we bumped into another Aussie couple. Ray and Lea.Hearing Aussie accents always makes our ears prick up. They too    were  anchored out in  the bay,and told us that they  had just purchased their Leopard 38 cat “Equinox 2”  a few months earlier and were also heading north.This was their first sail boat and they were eager to have a chat about the cruising  life so we  found a small side walk bar to shoot the breeze, and get to know them. About an hour later as the necessity for sleep began to take over, we headed back to GWTW for an early dinner and  a soft pillow under our heads.

A gusty 15-20 knot easterly wind greeted us the next morning as we rounded the headland and pushed north toward Antigua. Our GPS told us that the 52 mile sail, in rather lively conditions, would take us just on 6hrs. Along the way we caught up with “Equinox 2”  and took a few pictures of her as she romped along in the big swells. They were headed into English Harbour where as  our course would take us along the eastern shore of the island to some quiet bays which would be new territory for us.As we bid them fair winds and safe sailing over the radio we watched them disappear behind us and  it wasn’t long until they were just a speck on the ocean.
A few hours later we arrived at our destination. Negotiating the outer reefs surrounding Nonsuch Bay was fairly straight forward, however the sad sight of  a yacht lying high and dry on the reef was a stark reminder that one can never be too careful when there are reefs around.



After a small dog leg into the bay, the beautiful calm anchorage sprawled ahead of us. Once again  aqua blue water was lapping on our bows.Lovely new and apparently free  mooring balls were dotted around  the bay. The signage on each buoy specified that they were for use by vessels 60ft and under. We presumed that these had been installed by the  Antigua National Park Trust. With only three other boats for company we spent a relaxing night listening to the waves crash on the distant reefs.
 
Before leaving Antigua we made two more stops ,Jumby bay and Bird Island in North Sound. The later having more free mooring balls and some ok snorkeling. From here we had a 30 mile sail north  to  Antigua’s sister island, the reef strewn  Barbuda .


                                             


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SOUTH BOUND IN THE LEEWARD ISLANDS

Guadeloupe : Deshaies,Pigeon Island & Isle de Saintes

29^th January 2011

Anse Deshaies

What a relief it was to be heading south and have the wind with us, such a contrast to our trip up from Barbados. Crossing the strait between Antigua and Guadeloupe was a dream run which saw us sitting on a very comfortable boat speed of 10kts most of the way. The seas were calm and a lovely 15 knot nor’easter was pushing us along. It was a rare trip indeed as we were actually sailing with a full mainsail (no reefs) and our screecher, which is a large reaching sail.

Rounding Pointe du Gros Morne the pretty and well protected anchorage of Anse Deshaies came into view. There were around twenty yachts already anchored in the bay, this being a very popular stopping point when traveling either north or south.

After dropping the hook we headed into the small village to check in with customs and have a look around.   The village was on the small side but quite adequate for a stay of a couple of days. The clearance formalities took about 10 mins max. You’ve got to love the French, no stuffing around,  it’s all done by computer and is a walk in the park so to speak. Apparently the customs officers are only in attendance in Deshaies for one hour per day, so in their wisdom they decided to hand over the reins to the proprietor of a local souvenir boutique named “Le Pelican”.

This gent  who has installed a couple of computers  prints the completed entry form for you, stamps the document, charges 3 euro for his service and then wishes you a pleasant stay in Guadeloupe. This is an inward and outward clearance and negates having to visit the officials again when you leave the main island or the satellite group of Isle de Saints further to the south.

After a walk up the main street and checking out a few menus we settled on a small restaurant with a terrace over the sand and had a lovely dinner ashore. Having arrived late in the afternoon (1600) we unfortunately missed the boat boy who takes orders and delivers fresh baguettes and croissants to your boat around 7am the following morning, what a service!



Dinghy tie up  in the fishing harbour











One of the local sailing boats

                                     

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30^th January 2011

 Pigeon Island & Anse a la Barque

 As we had only planned on staying in Deshaies one night (another place that we’ll pick up at a later date), we made a quick dash into the village to the Casino supermarket and then we were off  for a whopping 3 mile  sail south to “Pigeon Island” for a swim and snorkel. This area is a marine park and has only a couple of yellow buoys for yachts, so we anchored inside Pointe Malendure (23ft sand) and took the dinghy back over to the islands. It was nice to get in the water, but the snorkeling was rather disappointing compared to the fish life & coral that we had seen else where in the world including Barbados.

We did hear later from some of the other cruisers that the better snorkeling was on the Pointe Malendure itself, oh well.

Continuing further down the coast we stopped for the night in “Anse a la Barque”, a small bay with a coconut tree lined shore.

We caught up with fellow Aussies Sandra and Peter (Bondi Tram) and had a delightful evening with them before heading back to GWTW for an early night and a peaceful night’s sleep  in the nice calm anchorage.

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31^st January 2011

Isle de Saintes  

As we had about an 18 mile sail ahead of us we left the anchorage mid morning as we wanted to arrive at a reasonable time at our next destination, the small group of islands at the bottom of Guadeloupe known as "Isle de Saints". This group comprises of three islands with Terre de Haut being the larger more popular one. We anchored at the northern end of the main bay in a small cove named Anse a Mire. The shore line here was very picturesque, being lined with colourful houses and a lovely shaded sandy beach.

This area was a lot less crowded with boats and is well away from the small ferry wharf that offloads the day trippers who come across from the mainland of Guadeloupe and the other French island of Martinique to the south.

Our stay in these islands was short, only two nights this time. Ashore the pretty little village was bustling during the daytime but quite the opposite at night. There are a few restaurants and bars but nothing over the top and I guess that just adds to the laid back charm of the place. The main attraction here is the well preserved  19th century "Fort Napoleon" with its naval museum and sun basking Iguanas. 

                      The fort was very well maintained and the views of the bays below were lovely

         

 Unfortunately for us most of the exhibit signage was written in French, but we did manage to get the gist of it. The road up to the Fort is quite steep, they tend to build forts on the highest point of land, so most people rent a scooter, but at 40 euro for the day (the island isn’t that big) we decided the walk would do us good. The views from the top were great. Looking down on the clear waters of the surrounding bays and all the red roofed houses and green hills made us appreciate why people come to this little group of islands. On the way back down the hill we even spotted one of the Iguanas making his way across the road so that made Liam very happy as he is quite partial to reptiles in general.

After our little burst of exercise a swim was in order once we were back on GWTW. Donning the snorkel gear we were quite surprised to find an old tractor engine quite close to our anchor. We had done the usual anchor swim the day before but with the fading light and being at a depth of 50 feet  had not spotted the highly potential  anchor snare.

This was not marked on the chart so we warned any other boats that came near us to find another spot. Luckily when it was time to leave the following morning we had no dramas, but we sure won’t anchor in that part of the bay next time. The small beaches off Ilet Cabrit and Anse a Cointe have been earmarked for a stop next time we are here.

 Some  houses were quaint & then there was the one that looks like a ship, and it has anchor chain! 

These Islands make a lovely laid back stop over and we’d thoroughly recommend them for a few days.

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 CRUISING INFO :   ANSE DESHAIES

                                      Checkin /Out  @ Le Pelican, cost 3 euro.

                                      Hours 0800 – 1800 Mon –Fri,  Sat not sure of hours   

                                      Supermarket - Casino (small) plus a few others.

                                      Eating – Good selection on main street near beach.

                                      Dinghy- Tie up in fishing harbour if space available.

                                      PIGEON ISLAND

                                      Supermarket – A few available in Pigeon village.

                                      Can wheel trolley to dinghy dock near fishing village.

                                      Laundry Facilities available in village.

                                      ISLE DE SAINTES

                                      Anchorage at Anse a Mire :

                                      Tractor  engine located at 15.52.3 N / 061.35.0 W  @ 50 ft depth.

                                      Veg  market at south end of town Mon –Sat 0800 -1200

                                      Bakery near veg market.