MEGA YACHTS IN ANTIGUA

While anchored close to the Falmouth Yacht Club we were able to see all the mega yachts coming and going. In fact we were invited to a pontoon party at the 71 meter motor yacht called "Skat" (custom built in Germany) owned by the person who created the 'Microsoft Office' software that we all use. His name is CharlesSimonyi. 

DESHAIES TO THE ISLAND OF ANTIGUA, 18 March

The traverse from north Guadaloupe to Antigua is one of the larger inter island trips. This was 42 nautical miles and the sea state was rather abrupt. When we arrived in the bay of Falmouth next to the very famous English Harbour, we were covered in salt spray. Our cruising friends from America sailed with us and had given us tips on the best anchorages and restaurants.

The first impression we had on arrival in Falmouth harbour was the amazing collection of exotic mega yachts, the lovely sand beach and the azure coloured waters. Almost complied with our impressions of what the Caribbean should look like.

After clearing customs we settled down to enjoying the scenery and going swimming off the back of the boat. We took our life-raft to the local 'Ocean Safety' dealer for it to be recertified, and we visited the interesting historical site of 'Nelson's Dockyard' which was abandoned by the British Navy in late 1800s but had been restored in the 1950s'.

ISLES DES SAINTES TO BAY OF DESHAIES, 17 March

We met another cruising yacht that was travelling in the same direction so we sailed together to Deshaies on the north west tip of the main island of Guadaloupe. The sailing was envigorating and we arrived early enough to go ashore and clear out (customs) of Guadaloupe in preparation for our trip further north.

The bay filled up with other yachts and became very uncomfortable. People insist on anchoring very close and because of the depth they hang on plenty of anchor chain which makes their swinging circle large. It's not uncommon for yachts to clash together because of this and we are always afraid of getting damaged as a consequence. Many of the charter yachts don't care and they are very inexperienced.

We were happy that this was just an overnight stop.

DOMINICA TO THE ISLES DES SAINTS, 11 March

After a few days in Dominica enjoying the relative peace on our hired mooring and with frequent visits to the beachside cafe of Sandy's Bar, we decided it was time to head further North to the French Island of Guadaloupe. The first part of Guadaloupe you arrive at, from the South, is the group of small islands called 'Isles des Saints'.

When we arrived in the islands we found a mooring buoy in the bay of Terre de Haut (the main town). It's quite difficult to get mooring buoys because of the large number of yachts in the area especially the big charter catamarans, so we had timed it right.

The islands were beautiful and the water amazingly clear. The depth of water at the boat was 15 meters and you could see the bottom. The town was interesting with it's traditional brightly painted cottages with verandas and coloured wrought iron roofs ( some had the ancient wood clinker roofs). Being French, and a tour destination for day trippers arriving from the mother island of Guadaloupe, the restaurants were very good. However if you look closely the island suffers from that local Caribbean malaise of trash and untidiness.

THREE DAYS IN PORTSMOUTH, DOMINICA

Many people have said that their stop over in Dominica was their best Caribbean experience. As islands go this one is very wet, fertile and forested. The highlight is a trip up the Indian River.

However we noticed another side of Dominica. It's so disorganized that they don't even have trash collection service. They all burn their trash, including plastics, on street corners and public ground. The people are very nice but poor, except a few who are in the tourism business. This island needs investment in environmental issues. Compared to French islands next door (Martinique and Guadaloupe) Dominica is very far behind.

SAINT PIERRE TO DOMINICA, 7Mar

The weather was calm with low winds as we left St Pierre heading for the North part of the island of Dominica. Destination was the Bay of Prince Rupert, the town was Portsmouth.

The sail between the island of Martinique and Dominica was perfect. Wind on our quarter and getting constant speeds of 8 to 9 knots. In the wind shadow of Dominica we had to motor sail.

On arriving at Portsmouth we were met by a boat from PAYS the association of boat-boys in the area. They rent out mooring buoys and offer tours, and we opted for a mooring buoy..

FORT DE FRANCE TO SAINT PIERRE, 5 Mar

The trip up the coast of Martinique to St Pierre was calm and fairly interesting and we arrived in the amazing bay of St Pierre and anchored south of the main jetty. All the yachts were hugging the shore because of the considerable depth of the water. We were in 15 meters with 45 meters of chain laid out. When I went diving to check that the anchor was bedded in I could hardly see it due to depth a rather murky water. The sea bed here is light silty sand which is not good for holding.

St Pierre has a rather sad history. Back in 1902 there was a massive eruption of the nearby Mount Pelee. Extremely hot gasses (1000 degrees) swamped the town and bay and incinerated everything including all the ships at anchor. When you explore the town you can see relics of this catastrophe and if you like scuba diving the wrecks in the bay are interesting. These are clearly marked and cordoned off with marker buoys.

On one of the evenings we found a local beach bar and met another couple from a Hanse 545 called "QP". They had also just crossed the Atlantic with the Atlantic Odyssey. ( we had done the Islands Odyssey which stopped in Cape Verde).

GRAND ANSE TO FORT DE FRANCE, 4 Mar

Stopping in the big capital of this French territory was one of our "must" items. We wanted to see some old historical buildings and new modern shops.

Needless to say we were disappointed because it turned out to be messy and expensive. The anchorage right off the town under the St Louise fort was okay except for occasional swell from the ferries coming and going to the other side of the bay of Fort de France.

ST ANNE'S TO THE BAY OF GRAND ANSE, 3 Mar

We decided to head North from Martinique with a possible destination of the British Virgin Islands. We had already cruised South into the Grenadines and turned around in Grenada prior to our repair schedule in Martinique, now it was time to explore more in the Leeward islands.

Our first stop was in the beautiful bay of Grand Anse.

Here we picked up a mooring buoy (free) and enjoyed clear water with lots of sponges and small colourful fish. It was tranquil and calm. The nearest boat moored beside us was at least 75 meters away which was good.

LEAVING THE CARENAGE OF LE MARIN ON THE ISLAND OF MARTINIQUE

The two weeks that we were on the Carenage were one of our bigger challenges in "getting things done". We had good experiences and not so good. The very new, clean and friendly Carenantilles was a blessing. The lazy, nasty and impulsively emotional fibreglass repair agency was the challenging side.

The organiser himself was not available and never at the boat and didn't assist in managing the work progress.

Finaly we were relaunched on the 1st March 2016, again with the very experienced and friendly Carenage lift-out team. It was a lovely day and great to motor away from the Carenage with a polished boat, clean propeller, new window and new antifoul.

We anchored off the beach at St Anne's bay. It was less crowded this time and we enjoyed two days of swimming and getting used to living on the boat again. We had been in the studio in Le Marin for two weeks which was very nice, but not as good as being on board.