Hosting, Hospitality and Hotel Andromeda

andromeda of plymouth
Susan and Andrew Wilson
Fri 5 Apr 2013 18:55

The two weeks leading up to the arrival of our visitors went very quickly.  We stayed at anchor in Falmouth Harbour and got on with a few jobs including tidying up and emptying some lockers for our visitor’s  use.  Of course this meant that all the others are absolutely jammed packed and it’s a sure bet that we will need to go into at least half a dozen of them. 

 

We headed round to Jolly Harbour so we could wash down the decks etc and finish our marathon cleaning exercise. Fortunately we also met up with Judy and Fred on Wings and so had a couple of evenings off whilst we hosted each other for very pleasant dinners.  We rewarded all our cleaning efforts with a trip into the capital of Antigua, St. Johns, getting there and back on local buses. There were only two big behemoths in the harbour this time so it wasn’t too busy and we had a relaxing wander round, Susan even managed to find two more orange hats to add to her collection.

 

Our Ocean Cruising Club flag is doing sterling service this year and whilst in Jolly Harbour we were visited by folk off four OCC boats, Sea Hawk, Quiver, Brisa and Shian. One is up for sale, one is going to be transported by ship to the UK and two are staying in the Caribbean.

 

March12th we hired a car and made our way to the airport to pick up Andy and Lesley. We were glad that we had left in plenty of time because we only just got ourselves a settled with a cold drink when their flight landed half an hour early and so with much excitement we went to meet them.

 

Having visitors reopens your eyes to your surroundings as there are many questions they ask about where you are and what is happening and it makes everything all exciting again and so the drive back to the marina proved. Once back on Andromeda and with all the bags on board we took a stroll down to Jolly Beach for a lovely swim in the stunning turquoise sea, enjoying the bright afternoon sun before heading back and getting ready for a super meal at the Crows Nest.  The following day we left our visitors to recover from the trip down and have a wander around. We took the opportunity to visit the big Epicurean supermarket, very modern with a good selection of foods but we especially enjoyed not having to haul our provisions so far.....sometimes you do miss a car.

 

The next day with pork pies and bacon on hand we did a tour of the island and drove on almost all of the roads of Antigua.  There are reputedly 365 beaches on Antigua and we visited a fewo f them, our favourites being the less crowded ones.  We were also on a mission to find a new coffee pot to replace the cafetiere that we had bought in the Lake District especially for our visitors. It didn’t last very long at all and developed a leak and then a hole in the bottom of the glass on its third use. Fortunately we managed to source a replacement at a local store (guess who had checked it out the day before- thanks to the car hire)  and now there is often the smell of freshly made coffee wafting through the air, smells nice but we are not tempted to drink it. Andy and Lesley did however introduce us to the game Perudo which involves everyone starting with 5 dice to throw (keeping them hidden from the other players) and trying to guess how many of a number there is collectively. Fast furious and fun.

 

Lunchtime saw us on the lovely Pigeon beach in Falmouth Harbour where we had a great meal before another refreshing dip in the sea, heading back to Jolly Harbour along to the lovely scenic route of Fig Tree Drive (turn sharp left at the Pink Church), well before the no-seeums came out to bite us.

 

Friday morning we left our berth, fuelled up, then made our way through the reefs and out of the bay and just a few hours later were once again anchored in Falmouth Harbour. Judy and Fred from Wings called us up on the radio and we arranged to meet them for a drink at the Antigua Yacht Club that evening. The ambience and view from the veranda in the bar in the cool evening breeze was delightful before the short stroll round to English Harbour for the Friday Fish Night at the Copper and Lumber.  Seated by the waterside with spectacular views of the visiting super yachts (motor and sail) we introduced Andy and Lesley to the local cuisine including the delicious and very reasonably priced Conch Water – a very tasty soup.

 

The next day Lesley and Andy had made arrangements to meet up with their daughter, son-in-law and grandchildren who had just arrived for a week’s holiday in a local resort and whilst they were away we took the opportunity to get everything ready for the trip down to the Saints, very relieved that the problem we thought we had with the water system had not come to anything.

 

Our visitors had a great time with their family at a very exclusive resort a couple of bays down from Falmouth where they made sandcastles, swam, sailed and ate and duly returned to the dock to be picked up tired and happy.

 

Sunday was very relaxed as we whiled away the time before our evening departure. One bit of excitement was the arrival of Quicksilver and Just Imagine (two boats from Trinni) who anchored behind us, we will be meeting up with them again later on during race week, but it was lovely to see them and have a brief chat before we pulled up our anchor and set off for our overnight trip.

 

Once out of the bay we quickly set the sails and turned off the engine, bliss..........and had a lovely sail down to Guadeloupe with Lesley and Andy both having a stint on the wheel and getting used to Andromeda’s motion, very different to their 32ft Westerly – Kodiak. Once in lee of Guadeloupe however the wind dropped and on went the iron sail for several hours. The next morning with the sun rising Andrew and Susan were on watch keeping a good eye out for pots having nicely timed our arrival off the south west coast of Guadeloupe which is where we caught a pot last year. Susan got a refreshing(and surprisingly warm) shower  from the spray whilst sitting at the bow as we headed into the steep seas and stiff breezes (on the nose as usual) and was really pleased that she managed to spot the black pot marker in the dark sea in time for us to avoid it.  Andy and Lesley emerged above decks as we approached Ile de Cabrit(goat island) and headed into the mooring field off Terre D’en Haut and at the first attempt we tied ourselves to buoy no 38.

 

Tying up to a buoy you trust is great, none of the anxiety of waiting to see if your anchor has set and you can get on with all the little jobs that have to get done at the end of a sail (putting the sails to bed, getting the dinghy ready, etc) and make everything comfortable on board with the hatches and wind scoops deployed before heading off to clear into the island.

 

Lesley and Andy now had the fun of beginning to explore the lovely town of the Bourg whilst we saw to the formalities and with that sorted out we all headed back to Andromeda for a bit of a rest after our night sail. 

 

The following day our breakfast treats started with the arrival of our friendly croissant man at about 7.30am delivering our order of croissants, baguettes, pan au chocolate and pan au raisin. After this delightful start to the day our visitors went ashore and hired scooters to explore the island whilst we got on with a few boat chores. We picked them up at the end of the day after making sure they had bought the rotisserie chicken we were having for dinner.......do we know how to live or what?

 

 During our day we were treated to the sight of a pair of dolphins swimming through the mooring field.  These dolphins appear to be very tolerant of people in the water and spent ages in the bay and were joined by a lot of folk trying to swim with them and watch them in the beautifully crystal clear water. Sometimes the dolphins also enjoyed riding the bow waves of arriving yachts seeming to lead them into the anchorage. Their reputation is spreading.

 

 

Wednesday afternoon we took the dinghy over to the Ile de Cabrit and had a very pleasant afternoon swimming and snorkelling.  We were surprised at how many more fish there were under the jetty and on the island’s reef and can only think that since the moorings have been laid that the habitat is recovering well and allowing the sea creatures to survive in greater numbers. After a walk up to Fort Josephine we high- tailed it back to Andromeda before dusk and the bitey things came out to play.

 

The skipper and mate were up just after 6 the following morning and having hauled the dinghy on board waited for our friendly man to deliver the breakfast. We slipped our lines and headed out to Guadeloupe getting a final wave from him as we left, we are good customers after all. We had intended to try the route up through the middle of the Guadeloupe, traversing the river Salle. Fortunately were told that one of the bridges is closed all this season, so at least didn’t end up sitting waiting for something to happen. With this route unavailable we headed to the north of the island and Deshaies without waking our guests who appeared as we approached Basse Terre and just in time to see a huge green turtle swimming across our bow.

 

Arriving in Deshaies in the early afternoon, before the daily rush, we anchored ourselves and settled down to a pleasant evening watching many other boats arrive and the anchorage get filled up.  Unlike our last visit here the wind wasn’t too bad though at one point we found ourselves facing west out of the bay, very unusual – wind from the west and as Susan said to Andrew, it would have been just right to get to Barbados.

 

In the morning we went ashore for breakfast (no croissant man here) then Andy, Lesley and Susan went for a walk up the river, boulder jumping (well a little bit of jumping and a lot of bottom sliding – didn’t want any sprained ankles etc), a fairly strenuous trip up through the rainforest.  We were amazed at how high up we ended as we had no real feeling of climbing but it took us over half an hour to walk back down the hill to the town, where we flopped on the beach to recover. Our skipper joined us for a brief time then it was back to Andromeda for another lovely meal before having an early night.

 

We had another lazy day following our exertions, with so many comings and goings to watch to pass the time.  Then a trip into the dock to enjoy a ‘farewell to Guadeloupe’ drink and get a few bits and pieces before getting back in time for a last swim and then a game of Ocean Trader. This is a family game we have dutifully carried with us from the onset and involves moving your old trading ship around the world, buying and selling your cargos and trying to make a fortune. Hazards include being stuck in the doldrums, being caught in a hurricane or even having an epidemic, of course if you are lucky like Andrew you pick up the ‘there is a world shortage of any cargo you are carrying, get first price for it all at your next port’ – guess who won?

 

It was another early start for the skipper and mate and the engine went on at 5.50am with our anchor being raised at 6am and we were off on the 42 mile or so trip back to Antigua. Once again Lesley and Andy enjoyed staying in their bunks being swayed by the gentle motion of the waves. We had a great trip across, lovely wind, fair seas and we able to shake out all the reefs in the sails making good time and laying a comfortable course for English Harbour.  We even managed to keep ahead of another boat that left Deshaies not long after us (one boat is a cruise, two is a race).

 

English Harbour had a few spaces left and pretty soon we were anchored in the afternoon sunshine. Freeman’s bay in English Harbour is tricky at the best of times, when the wind is blowing boats do tend to anchor fairly close to each other, especially charter boats.  When the wind dies and the current takes over and there are boats with a second anchor out  chaos can ensue and often does as the current swirls the boats around in different directions. This being so the following morning when the wind had died we suddenly found ourselves much too close for comfort to the anchor chain of the boat behind us so  decided to up anchor and moved ourselves round to Falmouth Harbour where we had much more space around us and an even better view.

 

It was now Andy and Lesley’s last full day, with Susan keeping an eye on things they went into the dock with Andrew who had to formally clear us back  into Antigua.  Andy and Lesley spent the day exploring English Harbour and ended up on Pigeon beach again for a lunch and a final swim with Andrew picking them up from the shore in the dinghy. We ended the day at Trappas a local restaurant where we all enjoyed a great meal and all too soon it was back to Andromeda for the last night of games and chats and drinks.

 

Unbelievably all of a sudden our visitor’s holiday was up and it was time to say goodbye after two lovely weeks with them.  We shall miss them aboard Andromeda and hope to catch up with them in the summer and who knows they may join us again next year.  In the meantime it is now time for a bit of rest and relaxation as we try to put everything back in place and get used to being on our again.  Fortunately Fred and Judy are on hand and we have already spent a couple of hours chatting and will be having dinner on Easter Sunday with them.

 

Our next big challenge will be Antigua race week though we have plans to do a little bit of exploring around Antigua in the intervening time.

 

More in due course

 

Susan and Andrew

Andromeda of Plymouth

Antigua

 

 

 

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