After leaving Martinique we headed north, bypassing Dominica
to the island of Marie Galante just south east of Guadeloupe. As we sailed into
the bay there were numerous lobster pot buoys and so it was a little bit of an
obstacle course to get into the anchorage, not something you would want to do
in the dark.
The bay itself was lovely with good holding over sand, the
town a short dingy ride away was quaint, very clean with brightly coloured
houses, and there were several restaurants and a small supermarket plus a
Boulangeri.
We stayed here a couple of nights before tackling the
obstacle course again and headed over to Pointe A Pitre on Gaudeloupe. Although
the wind was blowing directly into the bay we were protected from the swell by
the reef at the entrance to the bay. We were surprised at how quiet the bay was
considering it was the main shipping port for the island plus cruise terminal.
Ashore we explored the small town and shopping mall, if you can call it that, most
of the shops had closed down and the new Carefore is yet to be completed, there
is however a small supermarket where you can get limited provisions.
Around the marina there are numerous bars and restaurants,
and although they have “Happy Hour” the drinks are still quite expensive
compared to what we are used to. During the day the area is fairly quiet but at
night people flock here and there is a real buzz about the place. We had a meal
at one of the restaurants in the marina called Red Sails, the food was really
well presented and was delicious and not as expensive as we thought it would
be.
We had intended to stay several days in the bay but having
looked at the weather forecast for the next week strong winds were predicted
accompanied by some big swell, so we made the decision to head north the
following day and start to make our way to Antigua. The following day we made
an early start and set of for Pigion Bay where we planned to stay overnight
before the passage over to Antigua, on route as we sailed around the south west
of the island we saw a Sperm Whale leaping out of the water, Kevin tried to get
a few photos but we were too far away to get any really good shots.
After our overnight stop we had another early start for our
passage to Antigua, at first there was no wind, most unusual, and so we had to motor for the first hour,
however as we approached Deshaies on the north west of Guadeloupe the winds
picked up considerably and so we were able to sail.
After a an eight hour trip we arrived at English harbour
where we had hoped to anchor, unfortunately Freeman bay was full and so we
ventured further in but it is now all moorings and so we decided to head to
Falmouth Harbour instead which was the next bay along, here there was plenty of
room for anchoring even though it was still busy.
We anchored in the west of the bay, and again the holding
was good unfortunately when the swell enters the bay as it can do on occasions
it can get very rolly, it is much better if you can get further into the bay
where you will get more protection.
Falmouth Harbour provides more or less everything you could
want and is a great place to stay, with English harbour just a short walk away
where you can immerse yourself in the history of the place. There were several
big classic yachts there preparing for the Classic yacht race due to commence
the following week.
The whole place is kept immaculately clean, and there is a
really good WiFi hotspot at the little Coffee Shop by the marina and the coffee
and cake are good too, we spent many a morning there and sometimes an evening.
It was whilst we were in Falmouth that we got to meet the
crew of Hemisphere, the biggest catamaran in the world at 145ft, a great group
of people.
After a week in Falmouth harbour we had planned to sail
round to Carlisle Bay, unfortunately with the strong winds the swell was going
straight into the bay so we continued round to Jolly Harbour. Here the
anchorage is shallow with beautiful blue water but it is not that clear
possibly due to the sand being churned up. Again the holding is good and plenty
of space to anchor, or there are moorings further into the bay if preferred,
around the bay there are several houses with their own moorings and we pondered
on this being a possible place to live, but then looked at the prices of the
houses and decided no we couldn’t.
There are several Brits living here and they all seem to
gather for “Happy Hour” around the bar in the marina, there are also several
restaurants, we had a really good meal at Melini’s which overlooks the marina.
Jolly Harbour is also a good place to provision up at the supermarket which
sells the best selection of fresh meat we have come across so far in the
Caribbean, also the fruit and veg is good and lasts longer than other produce
we have bought, the wine is also cheap here and provides a great selection
(very important).
Whilst in Jolly Harbour we took a local bus to St John’s the
capital of the island, what an experience, there is no time table, the bus
leaves once it is full, and then goes like a bat out of hell along the bumpy
and windy roads, everybody on board is happy and smiling and if somebody on the
back seat wants to get off then the people in front have to get up to let them
off.
St John’s is typical of the capital ports we have so far
come across so far, however the people here seemed a lot friendlier. We stopped
off for a drink at the Harbour View café and looked out over the bay and
harbour and decided we would give this place a miss regarding anchoring there.
It was then back to Jolly Harbour on the local bus, great fun.
As our water maker has decided to pack up we filled our
water tanks here before setting of for Dickenson Bay, once again however the
swell was going straight into the bay so we decided to keep going and head into
Nonsuch Bay on the east coast. We took a mooring (which was free) just off
Green island facing out to sea which seemed strange however the reef protects
the bay from any swell. The snorkelling off the reef is also good.
We hadn’t planned to stay as long as we did here but it was
so nice that we stayed a week before heading back to Falmouth Harbour for
Antigua sailing week. It was the first day of racing and as we headed south there
were several yachts racing north on their way around the island and so we had
to gybe a couple of times to keep out of their way.
Surprisingly Falmouth Harbour wasn’t as busy as we thought it would be, we dropped
anchor a little further into the bay than last time and chilled out for the
afternoon, unfortunately during the night we could hear the anchor chain
grinding over rock and so the next morning we moved.
To watch the start of the racing we would climb up to Middle
Ground where we and several others had a good vantage point to see both the big
and the smaller yachts racing. We soon cottoned on that the announcements over
the radio for “Papa Display” meant get
your sails up, and “Papa Down” was get
behind the start line where they jostled to get a good start position without
going over the start line. Once the horn went for the start they all turned on
a port tack and headed off. At times it looked like several boats would collide
with each other or even hit the committee boat, some in fact did.
Sailing week ended on the Friday night with the presentation
of the silver ware, and a video of the weeks racing which was amazing, this was
then followed by a live group and the party commenced.
We plan to spend until the last week of May in Antigua when
we will the start to head south making our way to Grenada for the hurricane
season.
