Farewell Antigua

Yacht Racing in Antigua

The last couple of days in Antigua ended with an anchorage in Falmouth Harbour, next to our friends on Equinox. It feels great to come across friends in different part of the Caribbean. We originally met Ron and Karyn in Turks and Caicos. Then, after six months we saw them in St. Croix, and now our paths have crossed again in Falmouth Harbour, Antigua. It’s also so exciting to hear friends calling you on the radio out of the blue. Our last night in Antigua, we heard Unicorn calling us, whom we met in Conception Island in the Bahamas almost a year ago. Håkan and Anna Karin, aboard Unicorn, sailed in from Dominica, going north-bound and we are going south-bound to Guadeloupe. We were going to be in the same place for less than 12 hours, so we had to get together. There was a full house aboard Earthling the last night in Antigua.

Full House Aboard Earthling

Our overall experience in Antigua was great except for one occurrence! A negative experience that is worth sharing with other cruisers who might visit Antigua. Our port of entry in Antigua was Jolly Harbour and the custom officers were very helpful and nice, which I wrote about in “Welcoming Antigua”. It cost $30EC ($11US) to check in and according to the official at Jolly Harbour, there would not be any other fees to checkout! Since we had to sail south to Guadeloupe, it was most convenient to check out from English Harbour by Nelson’s Dock. Our friends on Zero to Cruising told us that they had to pay $70EC ($26US) to checkout, which sounded like a lot. I remember reading and hearing horror stories about the immigration at English Harbour. But we didn’t have a choice and I was hoping for the best. At the counter in front of the Port Authority, I asked the lady who was checking us out, if there was going to be any charge to check out, she replied: “yes, but a very minimum charge, so I can get paid at the end of the week, you will be surprised”. Indeed, I was surprised when I had to pay a total of $117EC($43US) to check out! I know that it would not cost that much at Jolly Harbour. At English and Falmouth, they charge boaters for anchoring, garbage and some other fees even if you come here to just check in or out. I would not do any immigration process at English Harbour next time I visit Antigua!

Antigua is the center for many yacht races and sailing mega yachts in the Caribbean. You see many beautiful, sleek, and fast racing yachts here. There are races taking place here quite often. Right before we left, there was a race that went from Antigua, around Guadeloupe, to and around Saba back to Antigua, a total of 600 miles. The Antigua race week is at the end of April and sail boats come from all over the world during that time. We could crew on a friend’s race boat if we chose to come back to Antigua during that time.

View from Shirley Heights

One of the highlights in Falmouth and English Harbour is to go up to Shirley Heights. You get one of the best views over the harbours at sunset. On Sundays, there is a steel drum band playing, there are food stands and hundreds of yachters and tourists  watching the sunset. We enjoyed this with our friends on Equinox and Zero to Cruising. 
Right now we are anchored in Anse Deshaies (pronounced Day-ay), Guadeloupe. Once again back to good wine, baguettes, and cheese, we are in France!!                   

Love from Deshaies

Back In The Saddle

Earthling is launched and it feels great. The bottom is clean with a new layer of paint, the top part of the hull is waxed, the zincs on the prop are changed and all the through hulls are inspected. We have lots of mosquito bites on our legs and arms, since Earthling was stored by a swamp! But when she was launched and as soon as we left the marina and got to our anchorage, it was all worth it. There is a lot of work involved to keep a vessel maintained, especially when you have very limited access to resources. When this is the case, you have to do it yourself.  And if you are not handy or rich then forget about it!

Our first overnight anchorage by Norman Island, BVI was quiet, beautiful, calm, and excellent weather. It was a little taste of this adventure before we had to get to work on the boat again.
The first passage from Norman Island to St. Croix involved some 8-10 ft waves and wind gusts up to 27 knots, a few wash-overs and we are salted again.  Now we are in our Caribbean home, St. Croix. We call it this mostly because our friends Tony and  Ellen live here and St. Croix is also part of the US.  As we are pulling into the anchorage area in St. Croix, I'm taking down the main sail and Kelly is behind helm, and next to us is Ron & Karyn on Equinox... these are friends we met 8 months ago in Turks and Caicos. What a small world! Tomorrow we are invited for dinner aboard Equinox.

We will be staying here in St. Croix for the next few weeks to work on Earthling, which involves installing new equipment and repairing. The biggest project is sealing the toe rails and stanchions. This project is estimated to take 7-10 days.

Aboard we have had visitors since we got here. The 2 visitors have been keeping us entertained and they made us throw some of our food away. They must have helped themselves to the boat during the last 4 months. These mice were on the boat before we got back and they thought we were visitors! I like pets but so sorry, not mice. A couple nights in a row we couldn't really sleep peacefully because as soon as we went to sleep these guys would come out and play around in the galley and jump around up and down the stairs. Finally,  we had to get a mousetrap and capture these creatures and feed them to the fish.

The last few days it has been windy. They call them the "Christmas Winds", which is good for us because the wind generator is keeping the batteries charged. No need for fossil fuels to generate energy!

Love from St. Croix