A night at sea provided steady winds and a great sail to arrive bright and early in the morning at Jolly Harbour, Antigua. That is Antigua in the West Indies, not to be confused with Antigua, Guatemala a very landlocked town. After a nap and breakfast we head to the customs office. In addition to figuring out business hours, another conundrum is customs fees. Checking in and checking out within hours of each other the fees we paid and Spirare paid differed from slightly to a lot. I’m not sure I’ll ever understand.
From Jolly Harbour we head north and spend a couple of days at Deep Bay. There is the wreck of the Andes that can be snorkeled , but the visibility was poor and the jelly fish ever present. There was also some snorkeling near the point that was nice enough, the best being the thousands of tiny fish you could swim among as they moved in unison in their shimmery dance. A hike up to Fort Barrington provided a beautiful view of the anchorage and surrounding area.
Planning to cut our stay a little short, feeling anxious to be moving south we head on down to English Harbour, home of Nelson’s Dockyard. Completed in 1745, and providing good hurricane protection, it was Britain’s main naval station in the Lesser Antilles. The main road of town runs from English Harbour to Falmouth Harbour, and is full of restaurants. Once again, don’t go to dinner before 6:30, it’s uncivilized. We’ve almost got it this time.
Our stay here was extended by a few days as a tropical wave in the area deteriorated our weather. Clouds and rain every day. At least the rain doesn’t stay all day, but when it clouds over and the shower starts, closing all the hatches on the boat becomes a sauna. The first day of such showers found me below sweating and finishing the rain tarps that will just cover the two main hatches and allow some air even during a rainstorm. That is unless the 30kt gusts blow the rain in anyway. With the forecast not looking great for the next week and a half, we pick the day that looks like it has the lowest (ish) wind and least chance of squalls to sail the 40 miles to Guadeloupe. Sunday appears as a beautiful morning, with 20kt winds and 5-6ft seas. A great day for a beam reach to Guadeloupe. All went great but about 10 miles from the coast we were enveloped in the outskirts of a squall for about 15 minutes life became exciting. Watching it’s arrival, IB put a second reef in the main, pulled in the jib, donned our lifejackets and were ready when the 30kts gusts blew in soaking us in rain.
We arrived in Deshaies (pronounced Day-ay) wet but happy, and anchored before the next rain cloud settled overhead. Of course it’s a Sunday, most of town is closed and no customs till tomorrow.
