March 26th - April 30th
We arrived in Antigua and Jolly Harbor after a nice sailing from Guadeloupe.
Even though we anchored outside the harbor, it was a bit nice to be near a marina again 😉.
After a couple of days exploring the local area and getting some clothes washed (handing it in and picking it up the next day, finished washing, drying and folding 😊), we rented a car to see a little more.
First stop St. John’s, the capital, and so further on north. There are a lot of dilapidated houses and many who have moved out 😕 - it must certainly have been very nice here earlier (60-70s).
We drove to Devil's Bridge, a bridge that is naturally excavated by crashing waves - we crossed without getting wet 😊.
The next day we went for a walk up to Signal Hill in the Wallings Nature Reserve before driving to English Harbor and Nelson's Dockyard, an 18th century English naval base.
Interesting and so beautiful buildings👍
Before leaving English Harbor we drove up to Shirley Heights, a fort / officer residence built by the English in 1788-1793 and manned until 1854. Today it is a restaurant and bar, a "must do" with a bbq every Sunday and with a fantastic view 😍.
The hike went to Mount Obama, locally called Boggy Peak, with Carlton (from Mystique) and Karen.
A nice, but a bit strenuous hike in the rainforest up to the top where we got a great view towards Jolly Harbor where the boat is at anchor, I think we could see it 😃, then the hike went down again on trails that were not as well marked everywhere - good with downloaded "Offline" map.
Unfortunately there was a lot of litter along the trail 😡, so we found a big garbage bag and picked up what we could carry 😏.
The next day we took a taxi to Shirley Heights where the "recommended, must do" BBQ was held. It was fun 😃, - great food, music, lots of people and a fantastic sunset overlooking English Harbor.
We also rented bikes and cycled to some of the nice beaches nearby, there is plenty to choose from as there are 365 of them on the island 😊.
We were a few days extra, when we were invited to Karen's 50th birthday and a small celebration aboard the "Mystique".
Ulli and Andreas from "Dulcinea" also came to Jolly Harbor. So we had dinner with them on night also.
James, Caron and Martin's son, came from England, and he brought with him long-awaited parts for watermaker and VHF 👍😃.
The filter "housing" of the watermaker was fitted and "Yes" it fit and we can make water again 😃.
We sailed with "Escapade" to Deep Bay where we dived on a wreck "The Andes", a wooden boat that sank in 1905. Unfortunately it was poor visibility in the water, but fun anyway..
The next day we sailed to Barbuda (together with Escapade) and on the the way Kai got a fish, a yellowtail snapper.😃.
We anchored in Cocoa Point Bay, but just when the anchor was dropped and attached, the engine stopped 😮 - what happened?
A long rope of 30 meters +, probably from a fishing cage or similar, twisted twice around the keel, around the propeller and around the rudder 😡
After many dives under the boat with only a mask, Kai managed to cut it loose. It is now on land - no one else should experience the same with that rope.
Barduda is really beautiful, almost no people and long white beaches 😍.
The approximately 1600 people who live here can have 3 properties each (allocated free of charge when they turn 18) one for business, one for cultivation and one to live on. The authorities do not own land, all barbudian "own" all land controlled by a council mainly elected by the residents, but properties can be leased out.
During hurricane "Irma" in 2017, the barbudians were evacuated and a law was "introduced" that gave some, i.a. Robert De Niro and a wealthy Australian, access to buy land.
At Cocoa Point, luxury hotels and properties are now being built, and it is called "The billionaire's playground". There is a sign with private property "no trespassing", but the beach is free to use. It doesn't sit quite right by everything that is going on and supposedly a mega area will be rented out for more than 100 years for about NOK 600,000 per year.
In one area, 700 units are being built - everything has been sold - prices from NOK 30 million to 115 million. Nice rental price for the property then. 😏
A local told us about 6 helicopters that arrived - all Mexicans - a minister and 5 very rich people - wonder what the 5 "work" with? Maybe it's a laundry they are building …….
We moved a couple of times (along with Escapade), first to Spanish Point to snorkel a bit. Here the water was crystal clear, it looked like the boats were floating 😊, then on to Low Bay, outside Codrington, the island's only town.
Here we anchored outside "The Lighthouse Hotel". The hotel was completely destroyed by the hurricane in 2017 and the sea is now hitting the foundation and walls.
Taking a hike in Codrington we went to The Art Cafe, owned and operated by an English lady who has lived here for 30 years. She runs the island's website and she also told us a bit about the island's history, among other things also about how properties are distributed and «owned».
We ended the day with BBQ on the beach, a completely deserted beach and with a wonderful sunset (a bit surreal)
Back on "Princess Diana Beach" in Cocoa Bay, lobster was ordered for 12 people at Shack-A-Kai bar and restaurant and with so many friends from various ARC boats, it was a nice evening 😍.
Together with Ulli and Andres (Dulcinea) and Traci and Andrew (Walkabout_gonesailing) we went on a trip on the island. First to the Frigatebird sanctuary, a 17 km long boat trip in the mangrove forest, where the birds have their nesting place. They only lay one egg per year and they can grow up to 40 years old. The birds have a wingspan of up to 2.3 m, and have the largest ratio between wing area and body weight of all birds.
George, our guide, also showed us where a 40 foot container landed after being lifted up and moved by Hurricane Irma (2017). It was moved from The Lighthouse hotel and into the mangrove forest, more than 3 km away. Absolutely impossible to understand how much power there is in a hurricane.
(Ps On Dominica, whole hillsides had their leaves torn from the trees by Hurricane Maria the same year - try to tear off a large and fresh leaf from a tree and think that the wind, which does not hold on to the leaf, tears off everyone ……)
Back in Codrington we drove on to the ruins of the Codrington house. The Codrington family rented the whole island from England at the beginning of 1685 - to have a farmland for their properties on Antigua 😕. And of course, they imported a lot of deer to the island to have a hunting area in the Caribbean.
There are still 100s of deer to this day, but now there are Barbudians hunting.
Next we went to Darby Cave Sink Hole, a round cave, about 90 m in diameter and 26 m deep. We climbed down and came down in almost a small rainforest.
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A great together with «Dulcinea» and «Walkabout» 😍
After a wonderful week on Barbuda, the most beautiful island we have seen, we turned south again towards Antigua.
Sailing towards Antigua, it was out again with the fishingline. It did not take long before it caught, quite a large fish, but after a lot of searching in the "fish book" and also Google search, we found out that it had to be a "King Mackarel / King Fish". It is one of the fish species that can be infected with the Cigutera bacterium, and we do not want that, so we threw it out again.
The line went out again - yes! 😃, snatch again. Now we caught a nice tuna - this one we kept and we had sashimi for dinner that day + dinner 2 more days.
The sound we, Kai, have heard from the steering has become clearer and must be checked. So after a few days at anchor and a few emails to Lewmar and the dealer in Falmouth Harbor, we sailed to Falmouth and anchored up in anticipation of what and when we could get service done.
We also handed in the sprayhood for changing of the windows and re-sewing all seams, since the seams had started to disintegrate - the sun "eats" up the seams 😏🤷♀️.
In Falmouth we had a very nice lunch with Jørgen and Kine from «Chione», from a Norwegian boat we have come in contact with.
Pending feedback on the steering and possible parts, we decided to spend Sunday going to the "Pillars of Hercules", a warm and long walk, but a wonderful sight when we got there.
The return hike we shortened by snorkeling from Freeman Bay to Nelson's Dockyard. A nice swim, but we were approched by guards when we arrived - not allowed to swim in the marina, which is actually completely understandable 😏.
We eventually managed to get an agreement with Lewmar's serviceman in the marina, so 117 days after the last visit to the harbor, we were again moored to a pier 😉.
It turned out that the noises were not a "big" problem, so we were "cleared" for further sailing - Yesss !!! Or??? 😃🤔
While we waited for the sprayhood, we took the bus to St. John's. We did some shopping and were at Hemingway’s Café, and were “tourists” for a day 😉. a big contrasts between local streets and shopping area for cruise ship tourists.
The sprayhood was quickly finished, re-sewn all seams and some new windows.
Friday morning we took the bus to Jolly Harbor to check out (for departure) - it saved money as it was more expensive in Falmouth Harbor since it belongs to the national park.
On Saturday 30 April we left Antigua (in rain and with headwind) 😉 and motor sailed south towards Dominica with a stop overnight at anchor, on Guadeloupe.
Now Dominica is waiting - an island with beautiful nature and many hiking opportunities 👍😃
Kai Robert & Monica
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