Antigua

Antigua

In sailing terms Antigua is somewhat of a mecca for Super Yachts, many of which use Falmouth Harbour and English Harbour as a base. 

Super Yacht Skat

Super Yacht Car Park!

Super Yacht Ice

 

Our 94nm overnight sail from Dominica was at times a little frustrating. We started the journey with some favourable winds and reached the south coast of Guadalupe in reasonable time. Then the wind died. Not wanting to switch the engine on, we persisted trimming the sails as the wind (or what little there was) swung from all angles of the compass. Eventually, we had to admit defeat and motorsail for the remainder of the journey. We arrived in Falmouth Harbour at 10am, about an hour after Nautilus who found better wind a little further offshore. There are two entrance channels in the bay, one leading to Falmouth Harbour, and the other to Catamaran Marina. Yachts are able to anchor between the two channels. You have to watch the depth as there are some very shallow patches in areas. We dropped our anchor in about 7 metres, but found the anchor wasn't 'biting' very well due to the mainly coral bottom. Lynne got her snorkel mask on and tried to see if the anchor had set properly. However, she couldn't see the anchor as the visibility was so poor. Ian dived down a few times for us and reported the anchor was merely sitting on the surface. He did point out an area where there was a sandy patch so we upped the anchor and tried again. This time we had better luck and the anchor dug in. We knew the wind was due to get up the following day so this was a relief to both of us.

In Antigua, only the Captain of the boat is allowed to go ashore and check in. All other crew members must remain onboard until the Captain returns. So, Ian and Steve set off together to find the Customs and Immigration offices in English Harbour. This involved a 10 minute walk through Nelson's Dockyard which lies between the two harbours. The process was fairly straight forward, if not a little expensive. As Falmouth Harbour lies in a National Park, there were additional fees to be paid for anchoring there and there was also a daily charge per person for rubbish disposal.


Antigua lies in the Leeward Islands of the Caribbean and is also known as Waladi, or Wadadli by the native population. This is also the name given to the local beer. 

Ice cold Wadadli beer, doesn't last long in the heat!

It is the main island of the country of Antigua and Barbuda and became an independent state within the Commonwealth of Nations in 1981. Antigua means 'ancient' in Spanish after an icon in Seville Cathedral, 'Santa Maria de la Antigua'. The name Waladi comes from the indigenous inhabitants and means 'our own'. The island's circumference is roughly 54 miles and its area 108 square miles. 

English Harbour is famed for its protected shelter during violent storms and is the site of the restored naval station called Nelson's Dockyard, after Captain Horatio Nelson. The Royal Navy began using English Harbour as a safe haven in the 17th century. In 1704, Fort Berkley was built on a spit across the harbour to defend it. Today, English Harbour and neighbouring Falmouth Harbour are internationally famous yachting and sailing destinations.

In the few days we had spare before Lynne's sister Louise, and brother-in-law Tony arrived, we readied the boat for their stay, did some laundry and provisioning and got our fridge looked at. We had noticed on the way up to Antigua that the fridge was not very cold and the ventilator fan under the fridge unit was running almost all the time. We were unsure what the problem was but suspected it might need re-gassing. Part of the coolant plate running around the perimeter of the fridge was frozen and covered in ice, and the rest was not cold at all. We found a business called A Zerodegrees and the service we received was superb. Their engineer came out with a full tool kit, including a gas bottle. He took a good look at the fan and the refrigeration plate and agreed we had a problem. At every stage of his diagnosis, he explained what he was doing and asked lots of questions. After switching off the unit and drying out the fridge and coolant plate, he re-gassed the unit. He checked the temperature of the coolant plate was the same throughout the fridge and said we shouldn't have any further problems. He said not to hesitate to call if, however, we had any worries or queries. We are pleased to report the fridge has worked like a dream ever since...

Clean and re-gassed

 























Over the weekend, we took a walk around Nelson's Dockyard and out to Fort Berkley. 

Wandering around English Harbour

The Pillars English Harbour

We also hiked up and over the hill that separates English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour. The views looking down were quite spectacular.

Looking towards the Fort

More like climbing than hiking!

Looking down to the entrance of English Harbour

Aztec Dream at Anchor

Hummingbird

 

On the Sunday night we walked up to Shirley Heights with Ian and Steph. This is a restored military lookout and gun battery named after Sir Thomas Shirley, Governor of the Leeward Islands, who strengthened Antigua's defences in 1781. Shirley Heights is famous for its Sunday night barbecue and music. Hundreds of people come to enjoy the sunset and simply stunning views over both English and Falmouth Harbours. The Halcyon Steel Band play for an energetic 3 hours. Those guys certainly get a workout whilst playing and they are captivating to watch. Following the steel band there is a Reggae Band who play for the next 3 hours. Most people arrive between 4 and 5pm and party until 10pm. It's a great evening out and well worth the hours hike to get there.

Louise and Tony arrived on Tuesday around 5pm, and after dinner onboard and an early night, were fresh to do a bit of exploring the next day. We took them to see Nelson's Dockyard and the museum there, and we also walked out to Fort Berkley. After lunch ashore they were both beginning to flag a bit due to jet lag, so we headed back to the boat to chill out on deck for the afternoon. 

On Thursday we set off at about 10am, along with Nautilus, to sail to Jolly Harbour. The passage was 15nm. We had a downwind sail in a fairly light breeze. Unfortunately, there was still a bit of left over seas from the strong winds we had the week before and it was a bit roly. Neither Louise nor Tony have had much sailing experience, so both had taken their seasick tablets. Louise felt fine during the journey but Tony didn't feel so great, and was glad when we reached the relative calm of the anchorage. He told us that he was sadly not enjoying life onboard. As well as the seasickness, he couldn't sleep at night as it was so hot. As much as it pained them to do so, they reluctantly decided to leave the boat and spend the rest of their holiday in the Jolly Beach Resort Hotel. They had agreed with one another before they left the UK that if one of them couldn't cope on the boat, they would both find a hotel. So, for the remainder of their holiday we stayed put in Jolly Harbour and met up with them ashore. We couldn't blame them. Living on a yacht isn't for everyone and if you get seasick it isn't pleasant. Lynne has been known to suffer from the 'Mal de Mer' on occasions so she could sympathise. As it turns out, the anchorage in Jolly Harbour was fairly roly, not great for non sailors.

The anchorage at Jolly Harbour was very pictuesque and the colour of the water was incredible.

At anchor in Jolly Harbour

Waiting for the 'Green Flash'

Along with Lou and Tony we took a bus trip to St Johns, the capital of the Island. This is where all the cruise liners come in. The town was full of cruise passengers. It was market day and very busy. The town was dirty and not much to write home about. We paid a visit to the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda which was quite interesting, and had some lunch before returning to Jolly Beach.

Sisters

On the Sunday night we returned to Shirley Heights with Lou & Tony, and they enjoyed it just as much as we did. 

Halcyon Steel Band

View from Shirley Heights

Looking towards English Harbour

 

The following day the girls had a day catching up by themselves, with lunch ashore and chilling out around the pool of the hotel complex. 

Meanwhile, Steve was trying to work out what to do with our oven. On return from our night out at Shirley Heights, we discovered that the oven had come off its gimble and was lying at a 45 degree angle! The oven is attached on either side by rods that fit into brackets which allow the cooker to 'swing' backwards and forwards. This is useful as when the boat leans over at an angle, the cooker swings to that angle too, meaning that the top of the cooker is always level, making it easier to cook. The rod on the right hand side of the oven had sheared off, causing the oven to fall on one side. There was no way we could set out to sea again without this being fixed. 

Fixing the cooker

Over lunch the next day with Lou, Tony, Bernd, Birgit, Ian, Steph and Steph's sister Rose Anne; Steve mentioned our little problem. Ian and Bernd arranged to come over the following morning to assist in removing the oven and fixing the issue. They both arrived with various tools, and before long the oven was removed and placed on the saloon table for better access. The rod that had sheared off needed to be removed and a new, more robust bolt put in its place. They decided to replace the rods on both sides as there was obviously a weakness there. In the meantime, Lynne was able to clean all around where the cooker had been, and parts of the cooker that had not been cleaned since it was fitted. It was a very dirty job but satisfying to see the end result. After a bit of modification to the brackets to fit the slightly chunkier bolts, Ian and Steve refitted the oven and it is once again swinging perfectly on its gimble. Many thanks go out to both Bernd and Ian for their help. Sailing in company with good friends means there is always someone to bounce ideas off and to help in a crisis.

On her last full day in Antigua, Lou was going to come over to the yacht to do some snorkelling and assist in giving the hull a bit of scrape to get rid of the ever-present barnacles and growth. However, the wind got up and the current was too strong to make this viable, so Lynne once again went over to the hotel and the girls swam in the sea there.

All too soon it was time for Lou & Tony to return home. We went ashore with Ian and Steph to say our goodbyes, and Ian and Steve found the games room in the hotel and proceeded to have a few games of table tennis. They had last played at the hotel in St Lucia where Lynne's parents were staying and it was time for a rematch!

A few days later, we returned to Falmouth Harbour as we had a rigging check booked with Antigua Rigging. We hadn't experienced any problems, but as we had sailed over 3,000 nautical miles since the last check in Almerimar, we thought it would be wise to get it checked. When the riggers came they took lots of photos. Sadly, the check flagged up several issues. The long and short of it is we have decided to have the full rig replaced. We will do a separate blog entry on this in the coming weeks. It meant we would now be spending another 2-3 weeks in Antigua whilst the work is carried out.

Broken strands

Ian & Steph and Bernd & Birgit decided to head over to Guadeloupe. Ian and Steph would be heading back to Antigua towards the end of April for the Antigua Race Week. They were going to race with Sandy on Cricket again. They decided to check out Guadeloupe in the meantime. Bernd & Birgit were making their way south to Grenada. We said our goodbyes and promised to meet up again in Grenada.

Going ashore one morning we heard a 'hissing' sound coming from the rib and one of the tubes started to deflate. We discovered a small rip in the hypalon material. No problem thought Steve, we have a repair kit onboard. However, on opening the tube of special hypalon glue, he discovered it had 'gone off'. We tried a couple of chandlery shops but neither stocked it due to its short shelf life. This meant having to send the rib to a repair shop. This resulted in spending more than £100 for a repair we could have done ourselves, had we had some glue. Oh well, it needed to be done. Our stay in the Caribbean has so far cost us rather a lot of money in repairs. On the bright side, at least things were going wrong in a place where we had access to parts and services, rather than in the Pacific where these would be harder to come by.

Whilst walking around both Falmouth and English Harbours, we had on occasion seen a donkey tied to a tree. One day we saw the owner who told us the Donkey's name was Selassi and he was roughly 4 years old. As you may know, Steve loves donkeys and so he made a point of stopping to stroke him whenever we saw him. He even fed him a couple of carrots we were carrying around just in case we saw him. 

 
















Last job before the rigging was to get the under side of the hull cleaned. Lynne had already done a good job of the waterline, but she had noticed that the propeller was completely covered in weed and marine growth. Not something easy to tackle with just a snorkel.

Instead we engaged local divers to do the job and give the underside a thorough clean at the same time. It must have been pretty bad, as it took three of them just over an hour.

Preparing to clean the hull

 




We also went to a local donkey sanctuary

Bottle feeding

Too cute

Room on the boat Steve?