Moorglade's Voyage

Date: 12 May 2011 13:30:29

Title: Back to Antigua and yet more rum

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Our position is 17:00.45N 61:45.84W

Wednesday 11 May 2011

What a good decision it was not to opt for a scooter on Marie Galante! Our French friends took theirs back after an hour and swapped them for a car because it was WET. Yes – so much for the dry season in the Caribbean – it rained again. Fortunately it was intermittent so didn’t spoil the experience of the island too much, but scootering would have been absolutely no fun. Our first stop on our tour was a rum distillery! This one (our third) claimed to be the most eco friendly. I was also hoping it had a working windmill but actually its production methods were very modern and the windmill was strictly for looking at only. There was no guided tour but there were information boards (in French, which was a bit of a handicap) to explain the processes. Their main claim to greenness seemed to be about 2 bubbling lagoons, which were reoxygenating the spent liquor, so it could be used for irrigation (I think). The distillery was also near to a considerable acreage of solar panels but these proved to be part of an energy company trial and not connected to the distillery. We managed to resist buying more rum, instead buying some cane syrup in order to make Ti-punch as good as the ones we’d drunk on the French boat the previous night.

Then it was on to the supposedly working windmill. This turned out to have been the subject of a community project in the mid 1990s and was now very definitely not working. There was no information explaining whether everyone had just lost interest or they’d run out of money (I suspect that both were probably likely to be the case) so we hurried on to seek out the points of interest at the coast. First stop was an attempt to find some caves and a feature called ‘Les Galeries’. We managed to track these down after a scramble along a, sometimes precarious, rocky path., returning along a dry river bed to the road. We felt lucky to track them down as the only sign was the one telling us we had arrived and it was definitely off the beaten track.We never found the turning to the scenic cliffs but we did manage to track down Gueule Grand Goffre where there is a round sinkhole and an arch at the bottom open to the sea. It was fenced off at the top but there was a gap at the end so we went through to get a better view. (I was too short to see down the hole from behind the fence) Unfortunately a bus trip pulled up and disgorged its passengers and the bus driver started shouting at me. He was shouting in French so I pretended not to understand, but I guess he didn’t want his passengers following me, as it was a long way down and after the rain, slippery, so I was compelled to return behind the barrier and not take any artistic, half way down the hillside from interesting angles, photos. It started to rain again so we left and went in search of lunch. Ted refused to take me on a pedalo into the mangroves so we stopped at a beachside restaurant in St Louis, where the birds were clearing up after the finished diners, and had a good, very substantial, local lunch.

After lunch Ted was bored with driving and we had hoped to do some good shopping at an edge of town supermarket recommended in the pilot so we headed back to Grand Bourg, just stopping at the ruins of an old plantation house in beautifully maintained grounds. We located the supermarket but it had undergone some form of trauma since the book was written as it was a big building with practically nothing in it and nowhere near as well stocked as the 8 to huit (actually 8 – 7 with a big break for lunch) near the harbour. To cap it all the heavens opened just as I was about to go back to the car. We were pleased when we got back to the boat and were able to return the car and take the laptop to the cafe for some wifi, only slightly damp.

The next two days it rained (for a change). I took the opportunity to sort out some work related problems and catch up with work generally. It was generally too wet to sit in the cockpit although there was plenty to see as the fishermen and market carried on working, even in the rain and the frigate birds were wheeling over the harbour all the time, sometimes swooping for fish waste thrown by the market men. The wind was unfavourable for any sort of passage North so we agreed to bypass Guadeloupe and go straight to Antigua later in the week. We had two attempts to have an evening meal at a restaurant recommended in the pilot. The first time was Thursday and when we got there the board announced they were open all evenings except Thursday. So we ate on board. Our second attempt was Friday, but their doors remained resolutely shut so we had a chicken and chips takeaway from one of the shacks by the harbour.

Saturday it really rained (it had only been teasing before) It started at 11.30 and continued non stop. We left for the sail to Antigua at 15:00 and it was very, very wet. We had opted for a passage up the East coasts of the islands, in order to maximise the chances of being able to sail free, but the downside was that the first 5 miles were directly into the wind (and rain). The only thing to be said was that at least it wasn’t cold. The rain finally stopped at around 17:00 and we were able to make reasonable progress sailing after changing the jib for the big genoa. We arrived back at English Harbour after a 90Nm passage around 11:00 on Sunday morning, in bright sunshine, and were somewhat surprised to find the anchorage quite crowded. There was no room near the dockyard and Freemans Bay seemed beset by the spaces either being a long way out or too near to other boats, most of which were swinging in different directions and making it even harder. We had a few unsuccessful attempts before giving up and tying up stern to, with the anchor out, alongside the dockyard, with the plank rigged as the route ashore. Before long old friends were stopping by and as that evening’s tot was at someone’s house we spruced ourselves up and were ready for the taxi to take us there at 17:30.

Since then we have been doing boat jobs in anticipation of leaving the boat, working (me) and sheltering from the absolutely torrential rain that fell on Monday. I was washing the mattress covers from the aft cabin and we were able to fill all the buckets we had from the water cascading off the sunshade in about 10 minutes. Reports at that evening’s tot were of houses cut off and flooding throughout the island as it had also rained heavily in the night. The amount of mud on the road bore witness to how it must have been at the peak of the storm. Fortunately Tuesday and today have been dry and hot with very little wind from the South East, so it augurs well for tomorrow, when we head off round the island and up to Barbuda before taking the boat to Crabs Quay for my return and lift out. Tuesday was memorable for my several journeys rowing the dinghy over to Antigua Slipway to use the washing machines. It is true that practice brings improvement (not perfection!) and I did manage to avoid being run over by passing yachts while steering a very erratic course across the channel. It was memorable for Ted as he slipped on the plank (going ashore to attach the hose, not returning from the tot!) but avoided falling into the water by landing across it flat on his back , without any lasting injury– an achievement in itself.

Tonight our farewell tot is on board Nakesa, a Swan 55 being sailed by a couple with their two young children on a 4 year journey.