We were up early and set sail from Deshaies in Guadeloupe enjoying a fast passage to Falmouth Harbour in Antigua where we picked up a mooring buoy.

After checking-in Nick and Amanda took a taxi to St John’s, the Capital and main port to meet some old friends, Geoff and Jen, who happened to be there on a Caribbean cruise. Their trip has them at a different island every day for seven days with trips ashore, fine dining and entertainment in the evenings and overnight passages to the next destination. Their ship looked small compared to the behemoth next to it which must have been 10 stories high and looked the size of Canary Wharf tower lying on its side.

A local bus ride back across the island to Falmouth was a relaxed trip compared to other islands- no music but news (mostly sport) playing on the radio and a mature driver who was not in any particular hurry. We met up with Louise and John and had dinner at a local restaurant which was very quiet but with good home cooked food, rather like being on the veranda of a private house. 

Thursday 20th Feb

The next morning we went ashore and walked up to Shirley‘s Heights, a hill above English Harbour with fantastic views. Much of the walk was up a boulder-strewn path which was challenging without being daunting, and we passed through ancient graveyards deep in the middle of the woods on the way. Coming down we went via Clarence House, the old commissioner’s residence which has been beautifully restored but was, unfortunately, closed.

Carrying on down we reached Nelson’s Dock Yard, a UNESCO world Heritage site which, unsurprisingly, has a very English look & feel to it and is a fascinating place to visit. It would make (and may well have been) a great film set.  The Harbour is home to many super-yachts including some stunningly beautiful classics.

English Harbour 

Friday 21st February

Next stop Jolly Harbour on the north-west side of Antigua where we anchored in the large shallow bay.

We tendered into town for some lunch and provisions before returning to Ernestina for a swim or paddle-board to a salt lagoon adjacent to the anchorage. The visibility in the water was poor so no snorkelling.

Louise made a delicious curry for dinner including some excellent naan bread.

Saturday 22nd February

After refuelling we sailed and motored to the tiny “Great Bird Island” amongst the reefs on the north of Antigua and anchored there. We went ashore by paddleboard or tender to the north beach which was beautiful and almost deserted.

Sunday 23rd February

After a quiet night at anchor we went back on to Great Bird Island, this time to the south beach which was completely deserted, and had a great morning swimming, snorkelling, paddle-boarding and exploring on foot.  Amongst the wildlife we spotted were several turtles, some rays, frigate and red-billed tropic birds, numerous lizards and the very rare Antiguan racer snake.

Around lunchtime a motorboat arrived blaring music (not particularly good tunes!); a polite request to turn the volume down was met with an equally polite “Sorry, can’t

help you there, we have come here to party!”

We decided to call it today and headed back to Ernestina and returned to Jolly Harbour for the night.

Monday 24th February

Nick went ashore to check out at 8 am (based on information on the Internet) but it turned out that the Port Officer who is required as part of the checkout process  was not due in until 9 o’clock. The officer arrived about 9:15 and after spending some time on the phone finally got round to stamping the necessary forms which had to go to Customs, then Immigration and back again to Customs to complete the checkout process! It seems to be different on every island.

St Kitts

We motored to Basse-Terre on Saint Kitts, tied up on the fuel dock for the night after some confusion over our berth reservation, checked in – again a lengthy process – and then said goodbye to Louise and John who were staying on Saint Kitts for a couple of days.

Tuesday 25th Feb

A stroll around the back streets of Bass Terre was interesting and then a mile or so out of town to the fish market. There we met lots of locals who who had come to stock up on their freezers. It was a bit of a feeding frenzy with the whole catch being sold in pretty short order. We were lucky to be there when we were and bag a lovely snapper for dinner!

Back to the boat where we checked out and went to White House Bay. Nick snorkelled a wreck but Amanda fond it a bit spooky so stayed in the tender. 

After a quiet night at anchor we sailed up to our next stop, St Eustatius. 

Here is a link to some more pictures. If you see a comment icon with a “1” and click on it you should see a caption or comment.