Antigua!

http://www.caribbeanislands.us/antigua.htm

After some adventuring in Montserrat and spending a few days in another rolly anchorage we were excited for the comforts and the rondevous of family that awaited us in Antigua.  As well as sailing week, the biggest Regatta in the Caribbean!  When planning our route down the chain the Montserrat to Antigua leg was something we weren't looking forward to.  Looking at passage weather.com rolling around in the Little Bay anchorage looking at the forcast 15 knot NE winds which were expected to strengthen over the next few days, it was decided we better get a good night sleep.  We would have to bite the bullet and slog over to Antigua before Neptune got any angrier. 

Well....  The passage was not at all as expected.  We had full sail out and were doing 2.5 knots.  You could have driven an RC boat to Antigua.  After some motor sailing we took the sails down, got the Yanmar purring along at 2100rpm, set up the auto pilot to point the bow at the sea bouy in Jolly Harbor, made some cold cocktails, and enjoyed the afternoon with some good laughs.  Customs was a bit more sporty then usual.

We also had a trip highlight and a new wildlife species to add to the list on this leg.  DOLPHINS!!!  Its always so fun to see a big pod of dolphins on a calm sea and, like what often happens, a few came over to play in Areyto's bow wake!  AWESOME!!!

Check out the Video!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E5tEgdQwlmU

We arrived in Antigua a few days before my family was expected and plopped down in the beautiful Jolly Harbor anchorage for a few days of catching up on the blog and doing alot of relaxing before everyone arrived.  My parents had rented a great two bedroom condo that had a dock for Areyto. 

So, Mom, Dad, my sister, brother-in-law, and my adorable 5 month old niece were all coming down so we could spend Easter together!  My parents stayed a few days longer than my sister's family so we didn't tour around much while they were there.  Grandma stayed home and watched the baby while the rest of us did a nice little day sail to snorkle a wreck.  Unfortunatly the visibility was poor, but it was a nice sail, and a relaxing lunch aboard Areyto.  We also had lots of wonderful beach time, family time, and a bit of automotive excitement!!  It was amazing to see how much my niece had developed and it was great to hear about whats going on with my sister and brother-in-law as they move onto the next part of their lifes.  Time well spent!  Thanks for making time and coming down Brennans!

After they left, my parents, Andrew, and I set off on a few days of island touring in the rental car. 

Antigua is home to some of the best natural harbors in the eastern Caribbean.  The British reconized this early on in the days of colonial development and Antigua was a main center for the British.  One of the most notable characters from that time was Lord Nelson.  There are many great tales about Nelson and his career with the British navy.  Simply stated, mainly what he did while in the Caribbean and Antigua was enforcement of the "Navigation Acts".  These acts basically restricted English and foreign ships in a way to benefit England.  This was in the days of piracy and when enforcing these acts led to some interesting battles on the seas between the English against the French and Dutch.  Nelson was unpopular with many groups in the Caribbean because of his role with the Navigation Acts.  There is much to his story if you care to research further.  He was shot and died in battle.  He requested the men carrying him below after he was shot to stop next to the helmsman.  Nelson felt the need to discuss some of the handlings of the tiller with him before he was carred below to die.  He was quite a guy.

Thus, one of our first stops was Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbor.  My father has had an interest in Nelson for a long while and had always wanted to visit here.  His side of our family is mainly English and so there is a particular curiosity regarding the English role in the development of the Caribbean.  All of the old colonial buildings have been restored and it is still a very functioning modern day port, complete with sail loft, mechanics, carpenters, etc.  Some very famous wooden yachts have been built or restored in Antigua.  It was a great time to be there as well because many of the race week boats were coming in for the day.  Lots of neat boats and people!

We also visited the famous "Devils Bridge".  Which, the road leading to it, if you didn't know, is clearly marked with a sign that reads "Loading Dock  ---->" with some hotel's name on it.  You go down this dirt road and pass the loading dock and the employee parking lot for the hotel to Devil's Bridge.  There were more then a few "K-turns" performed on the drive there.

Another notable spot was one of the old sugar plantations.

One of the yacht races finished right off of Jolly Harbor.  It was a little sporty out that day.  It was fun to watch the boats sail in!

We spent alot of time in Antigua with my family and I'm very greatful that they took their time to come down and visit.  Thank you.  :-)

But all things must come to an end.  And a long, wet, sporty sail to Guadoloupe awaited!

The spray hose was an important item to be in control of during the passage from Monterrat.  Here it is secured on "my side".  Andrew would wield it later to my dismay.

Happy Easter!  The whole family in Antigua!  Yay!!  (Photo credit, Andrew)

The sail loft at Nelson Dockyard.  I'm sure not the first sail loft my parents have been to together by a long shot.

The boys watching some of the yacht racing.  I'm pretty sure we were all thinking the same thing.  "That guy could use a little more halyard tension...."  err... "I wish I was out there"  (photo credit: Barbara Henry)

The old capstans used to careen the English ships.  Better have that bottom clean to catch those smugglers!  Racing yachts along the harbor wall in the background.  (photo credit:  Barbara Henry)

Later I spoke to a local who explained to me that "Loading Dock" is actually slang Antiguan for "Devil's Bridge".  That would have been helpful to know earlier in the day...  suck teeth.  (photo cedit:  Barbara Henry)

We wanted to climb up this.  But there were bees.  no thanks.  (photo credit:  Barbara Henry)

Beautifully restored windmill.  (Photo credit:  Barbara Henry)

Areyto takes a week long nap before she takes some blows on the way to Guadaloupe.  (photo credit:  Barbara Henry)

The wind and the rain awaits!  See you in Guadaloupe!

The Volcano and the Ciguatera Capitol of the Caribbean!

http://www.caribbeanislands.us/montserrat.htm

Waking up the day after the mountain bike adventure proved much eaiser then we had anticipated.  We had had a few victory cocktails that evening and between those and 20 odd miles of biking I was expecting a much angrier beginning to our sail over to Montserrat.  Woke up feeling great!  We did leave Nevis with a small disapointment, however.  We were unsuccessful in aquiring a little helper monkey.  I thought for sure that I'd never wash another dish, or coil another line after Nevis....  I guess you can't have everything. 

The sail from Nevis to Montserrat was about 24nm and passed Rodonda Rock.  At one point there was quite a large mining operation going on there, as well as a few other good stories.  There also seems to be some music asscociated with the island:

Redonda information:
http://anbanet.com/redonda.html
Redonda Rock n Roll!:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9or-BP0xMP4


One of the most notable and historic stories linked to the island...  Rich and Andrew caught there first fish while sailing passed here!!!!  A little tuna that we marinanted in Italian dressing and had for dinner and breakfast!  Delicous!  Interesting to note, one of our guidebooks list Redonda Rock as the Ciguatera capitol of the Caribbean....  We didn't even see one house on it.  There is no way it could be the capitol of anything.  We assumed the information was a typo in the guide book and fed our bellies with that yummy tuna!  Chomp!

Arriving in Montserrat was less then exciting.  As you would imagine a giant smoking volcanic island blasting its way out of the sea...  there are no good anchorages.  Just one little bayopen to the northly swell.  Luckly the swell laid down overnight while we were there.

A few notes on Montserrat. 

In 1995 the Soufriere Hills Vocano erupted covering two thirds of the island with volcanic ash.  Now I know that might just seem like an interesting factoid about some far away island in the Caribbean, however visiting made the impact that little eruption had on the people of that island very real.  The 2/3s of the island the ash covered was the important 2/3s.  In addition, 1995 wasn't all that long ago and we met many people who were living there well before the eruption.

To put it in some perspective.  What were you doing in 1995?  Imagine the small or medium sized town you were living in (if you live in a big city, skip down and just look at the pictures).  Imagine if suddenly the whole town, minus a few outer neighborhoods were covered in 10 - 15 feet of volcanic ash.  No police station, no post office, no grocery store, no airport, no sea port, no house, no neighbors house, all of it buried!  Its not like you could just drive an extra hour to the next Home Depot down the road to start to rebuild!  It was a weird place.

We rented a car and set out to see the volcano!

Little Bay Anchorage, Montserrat

No one was in the office immigration.  We were told by the custom officals to come back in the afternoon.  Maybe someone would be there then.

Little bay anchorage from the beach.  Nevis in the background.  Redonda Rock in the forground.

View from the "observation deck".  It looks hot up there!  Soufriere Hills Volcano smoking!

Our VEV (Volcano Exploration Vehicle).  Andrew is making sure its up to the task.

Here they are uh...  umm....  the next picture is musch more interesting!

Who thinks our VEV couldn't penatrate this sign?

Lots of ash!  Thats the second floor.  The volcano continues to smoke and spew ash from time to time.  The ash washes down the hills.

View from atop a hill over looking the ruined town of Plymouth

Ruined and abandoned town of Plymouth.  In 1994 it was beautiful Caribbean town.  Late 1995 it looked like this.  Proof that smoking is bad.  This is what one smoking volcano did to a town.  Legislation is in place to get the volcano on the nicotine patch.  Everyone really wants it to stop smoking.

Only the most sophisticated and high quality equipment is used to monitor the volcano.

And that is how an island is built.  Eastern side of the volcano.

Much of this land wasn't here in pre 1995.  I have some old charts that simply don't show it... obviously.

We are currently in Antigua awaiting the arrival of my family.  Can't wait!  There is talk of Andrew making a guest editorial piece here on the blogg.  Next blogg will be all about Antigua!

Nevis!

http://www.caribbeanislands.us/st-kitts.htm

Nevis and St. Kitts are one Country.  You can check into either and freely sail between them.  I'd like to say that we choose to skip St. Kitts since we understood that it was more touristy then Nevis.  As a general rule we try to avoid any island with a cruise ship dock.  However, truth be told, we had great wind and we eager to move on down the island chain and capture a helper monkey for the boat.  This was a wonderful sail of about 30 nm which we made in one big tack.  The three most important reasons to visit Nevis:

(1) Alexander Hamilton was born here.

(2) They have wild monkeys!!

(3) They have wild monkeys!!!!!!

Nevis was a turning point for many reasons.  First, it was during our sail here that we began our Jimmy Buffett affliction.  Its really disguising how much of him we have listened to since Nevis. 

Also, from here was the first time we sighted Antigua.  Antigua meant two main things to us.  We would see my family for the Easter Holiday and it was basically the last island that lay to windward!

Nevis was also the first time we took a day to relish in our current lifestyle and lay on a beautiful caribbean beach all afternoon.  Truth be told we had been keeping a pretty busy pace of sailing, touring, diving, hiking, and sleeping in rolly anchorages.  Ahh!!! It was nice to sit for a bit. 

Our adventure here consisted of renting mountain bikes for the day.  The road that circumnavigates Nevis is about 20miles.  We biked that road, as well as several other trails, and side trips.  I'd say pretty confidantly we did 25miles but wouldn't be surprised if it was 30.  The up hill sections were no fun but the down hill ones... whoo doggie!!!  We had two really epic down hill jaunts.  The first one on some trails coming down from up on the mountain at the beginning of the ride, and the second speeding down the main road into Charlestown after lunch.

Pictures:



We had been unsuccessful up to this point at catching any fish.  Here Andrew wonders why?



West coast of St. Kitts

Rainbow around the sun

Coming into Charlestown, Nevis.  There are literally hundrreds of mooring to choose from!

Downtown Charlestown.  The kid who backed out of buying my car before I left STT was named Charles Pemberton.

Birthplace of Alexander Hamilton.  We were too cheap to pay the $13 EC (about $5 US) to go inside.  Plus we were hungry and heard it was boring in there anyway...  It looked real nice from the outside.

Haunch and spew!  Here we are right before we attacked Nevis on these shread machines.  It was a hard ride but such a fun experiance!

Thats right.

Wind farm in Nevis.  2.2 Mega watts of power (theoretically).  None of them were spinning when we rode by.

Where did they mount the toilet paper holder?

Vrooom!!  I wish I coulda bought a t-shirt here!  Drag strip in Nevis!

Monkey!!  We had a few sightings but they move pretty fast and don't let you get too close!

Almost our little helper monkey.

Lunch at the Golden Rock Inn

There is alot of farming that goes on in Nevis.  The countryside is dotted with beautiful farms and crops.

Next Off to the Volcano of Montserrat!

Statia

http://www.caribbeanislands.us/st-eustatius.htm

The sail from Saba to Statia was very nice.  Statia is ESE of Saba so we had to do a bit of tacking and since our batteries were down we motorsailed much of it.  Statia is an interesting island, both present and past.  Currently, there isn't much there except a huge oil distribution facility.  Its an oil hub for the Caribbean and historically it was a free port in which many export papers were "cooked".  i.e.  countries that technically couldn't trade with each other would bring there goods to Statia.  The goods would then become "exports of Statia" and the goods could reach markets they otherwise couldn't.  For example, in 1770 Statia produced about 600,000 pounds of sugar, but exported 20 million pounds.  Most of the 8000 Statians (of mixed Dutch, English, and Jewish decent) got very rich during this time.

Who knows what goes on with the oil trade today?

Two interesting pieces of American history involve Statia. 

First is that a lot of the weapons and ammunition supplied to the American soldiers were purchased from the dutch and passed through Statia. 

The first time a US Navy ship was reconized and saluted by another country occured in Statia.  As a side note it is becoming very evident how important these islands were as Europeans colinized the Caribbean and North America.  A sailing ship coming from Europe naturally ends up in the Eastern Caribbean as it follows the trade winds and currents.  It seems that during the American revolution the US was looked at without much more (if not less) importance than some of the Caribbean islands.  Little did the Brits know that the sugar trade would dry up and they would all be lusting after Harley Davidson motorcycles many years later.

Probably the nicest and one of the only hotels on the islands "The old gin house"

Fort in the main town of Statia, Oranjestad.  It was from this fort in 1776 that the Andrew Doria, an American vessel, came into harbor and gave a salute.  The governor (de Graff) didn't know what to do so he fired a return salute, abit two guns less.  He didn't realize that although the Andrew Doria was a merchant ship, she was under command of an American rebel navy captain.  This event coupled with many other things, mainly the fact that Statia was selling lots of weapons to the American rebels, lead to war between England and Holland.

It felt like we were anchored off the docks in Newark.  Those are your BIG boy oil tankers.

Thanks for the help Holland!!!!

Next stop...  Nevis...  Hopefully we'll be able to capture a little helper monkey there!

Saba!!

http://www.caribbeanislands.us/saba.htm

We left St. Barts right after getting fuel at the 0730 fuel dock opening.  The sail to saba was fast and fun!  full main and we poled out the 110% jib surfing down waves the whole way!!  Areyto required atention at the helm the whole time.  Antention Andrew gave her for nearly the entire 28 nm passage!  Capt Rico only assisted for part of the time.  The rest of the time I napped and took pictures!  Saba is awesome!  I've started to include the links above so that I can avoid having to provide alot of the basic information about each island.  Also, there are good links should anyone have the interest and time to further research any island of interest.  Having said that, Saba is not a place to go if the weather is bad.  It is literally one giant rock with really no harbor.  The weather was nice while we were there but the anchorage is still open to the full ocean swell.  So... It was very rolly at night and we needed to self medicate with a healthy ration of Cruzan in the evenings so we would fall asleep.  We landed the dingy at the base of the "ladder" in ladder bay.  This is where the original Sabaians had to off load any cargo coming into the island.  Interesting and historic.  We proceeded to hike all the way up to the top of Saba (~2800') and back down.  It was quite a bit of hiking and walking although also a really great way to see the island!  We did two dives.  One about 80' around a pinacle called diamond rock and another about 40' - 60' onto a reef filled with more life than I've ever seen diving before!  Groupers, rays, turtles, snapper, angle fish, barracuda, crazy sponges, coral, and reef organisms!!  It was like being in a National Geographic documentary!  Sorry, no underwater pictures.  :-(

Action shot tiding up the boat leaving St. Barts!

Coming into Saba HOT!!!

Its a big mountain!!  Lets walk up it!

The stairs (ladder) at ladder bay.  The little house is the old customs house an is about 1/3 the way up the ladder.  We were petty over any stairs for a while after visiting Saba.



Yellow and blue is in this spring.  Sabians are hip to it.




View of ladder bay from the old custom house.  Thats Areyto all the way to the left.



Sabaian house

Pool and little cottage at the eco lodge.  We had a delicous lunch here of seared tuna.  yum!



Sauna at the eco lodge




The fat bunny that eats all the crops in the eco lodges garden.  It was FAT!



A little trail near the eco lodge

A slide at the eco lodge.  The Sabians used to use it to decend the 2000 feet down from the town to the sea.  It was put out of comission shortly after being built due to an epidemic of "rug burn" on the island.

This house was along one of the trails we hiked.  Not particularly close to any roads...  :-)

Andrew, you don't think that leaf is a little over kill for the job its doing?

On the trail to the top of Saba.  Maybe 2/3 to 3/4 of the way up.  Lots of steps!

Looking down into ladder bay from the top of Saba (Mt. Scenery).  Areyto is the little boat in the middle of the two others.

Next Stop....  The oil hub of the Caribbean and some American history in Statia!!!  See you there!