Jolly Harbour
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Mon 5 May 2014 18:23
17:04.24N 61:53.16W
Distance Run 10 nm
Friday 2 to Monday 5 May 2014
We left Falmouth Harbour this morning to go around to Jolly Harbour Marina
on the west coast of Antigua. Things were a little busy as a lot of yachts
were also passing through the narrowish entrance to the racing start out in the
bay.
Pigeon Beach near the entrance to Falmouth Harbour:-
We kept our eyes peeled to avoid the boats reaching up and down near the
start line. It was like sailing on the Solent again but with sun.
A view back to the start line we just crossed:-
We took a course along the south coast in a channel between a 2 mile long
reef and ‘mainland’ Antigua. The sea was much more peaceful inside there
and we were able to get a close view of some of the bays to check out the
anchorages for the future. The channel is about half a mile wide and a
careful lookout is necessary because some of the reef is underwater and not
easily visible.
Looking out to sea, you might be able to make out some waves breaking on
the outer part of the reef. The inner part is this side of the light blue
water. More difficult to see is the island in the distance (on the
horizon, centre to left) which is Montserrat:-
Most of the islands in the Caribbean are volcanic with the main exceptions
being Barbados and Antigua which are coral. The volcanic islands have
steep sided shorelines whereas the waters off Antigua are relatively shallow for
some distance offshore. The shallower water is a much lighter colour,
turquoise in places.
Passing Morris Bay:-
We dropped sails and motored up the dredged channel into Jolly Harbour
Marina which is built inside a lagoon and picked up a mooring buoy (no anchoring
allowed in the lagoon).
This is the view back out to sea as we entered the lagoon. The
foreground is sandy water being swept out of Jolly Harbour:-
Jolly Harbour Marina in the distance. The large building was a casino
but has been empty for years:-
Jolly Harbour is a waterside development which has never really taken
off. Much of the lagoon is bordered by 2 bedroom villas which were
reasonably priced when new but many were unsold for years. There was a
large refurbishment programme a few years ago but this didn’t seem to entail
much more than fresh paint. Large parts have not been built on at all and the
original houses now look tired and dated.
This photograph makes them look much better than in the flesh. Many
are empty:-
There are one or two more recently built houses which stand out but these
are so few that they don’t seem enough to overcome the air of abandonment about
the place:-
It’s a shame because it seems to us to be a winning formula but it just
hasn’t been popular. There must have been an underlying reason (it doesn’t
help that the water in the lagoon is not good for swimming) but it is probably
too late now as I imagine the cost of renewal or rebuilding is probably
prohibitive.
We bumped into Chris and Penny Manley from the boat ‘Karma Daze’ who had
arranged a Cruising Association get together in Grenada last May. We met
again in the evening for sundowners at the ‘Castaways Bar’ on a nearby
beach. This rolled into a meal and the food was OK but when the karaoke
started things deteriorated. It seems that some people don’t have friends
close enough to tell them they REALLY cannot sing. Usually karaoke is just
for ‘a laugh’ but these people were taking themselves very seriously.
Encouraged by applauding friends one man assaulted our ears on at least 4
occasions but seemed oblivious to the fact that people were walking out.
We did the same as soon as we had eaten.
Saturday and Sunday were spent getting our hair done, doing laundry and
shopping.
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