16.18.50N  61.48.30W

26^th January 2023

Antigua to Guadeloupe

5179 miles since leaving Sandwich.

I am still over a week behind on my blogging and will try to do a bit of a catch up today. After the crossing it was so nice to tie up to a pontoon, walk ashore, have a beer, and then relax for a few days. Shaun moved ashore more or less as soon as we arrived as Helen met him at the customs dock and whisked him away to an air-conditioned hotel room the lucky blighter. Shaun has been a brilliant crew on the crossing, always entertaining and a font of interesting topics of conversation that kept out minds active as we plodded along. That left just Norma, myself, Jan, and Hannah aboard and we soon had the majority of the small jobs completed and were free to enjoy the island. One issue that quickly became apparent was that Antigua is definitely an island by every definition of the word. There are no ferries to other islands apart from Barbuda and the island-hopping flights are very expensive. In fact, everything on Antigua is very expensive and in some cases eye wateringly so. The second problem for our resident hippie population was that Antigua does not seem to cater for backpackers and they could not find a hostel.

After a few days we decided to help out and told them that we would be sailing to Guadeloupe in a few days and would take them there. This was met with much excitement and furious planning started about what they would do when they got there. Meanwhile life settled into an easy pace. We got up, did a few jobs on Spectra, and then went out to either explore or just beach it for the hot part of the day. Soon Spectra’s starboard rubbing strake was revarnished, and the port holes had all been tarted up after the ravages of the Atlantic crossing, I really was running out of jobs to do.

Sunset on the way to the jump up at Shirly heights

Sunday night came around and we all headed over to Shirley heights above English harbour for the big jump up that is held there every week. As is the norm our taxi driver, Bradley, was the friendliest man on earth, and explained the passing scenery, the history of the towns we passed through and the meaning of all of the different honks that he made on his horn. These ranged from, hi to a casual acquaintance, thank you, watch out, hello to a lifelong buddy, and of course, hi girls you is looking mighty fine. The jump up was absolutely packed, and I mean like sardines. In fact, my first thought was, get me out of here. But I persevered and after several Rum punches I was well and truly in the mood for some classic open air Dad dancing. In true Caribbean style it started early and finished early, as we weaved, and I mean weaved, our way out of the old fort Bradley was waiting to whisk us back to the boat. Monday of course was a down day, I must have eaten a bad passion fruit as I had no energy and simply laid around all day feeling sorry for myself. 

Perfectly sober and enjoying the ambience and history of Shirly heights.

On Tuesday we booked out of Antigua. Our month of cruising permit time remaining that we had paid on entry was cancelled even though we said we were coming back in a few days and all of our passports were stamped, oh and of course we were then charged another 20 XCD for the privilege. All of this was done with bad grace and a terribly bureaucratic attitude from the customs, immigration, and port control, all of whom you have to visit one after the other. This officious attitude was pleasantly absent from every other interaction that we had on the island and oh so unnecessary. No boat check, no personal check, so no deterrent to smugglers, just a bureaucratic waste of time and an excuse to squeeze a few dollars out of the visitors. Not a good way to increase tourism people. Tourism is obviously down since covid etc and this is not the way forward. Anyway, moan over, everyone else that we met were very nice, laid back, and friendly, especially the marina staff in Jolly harbour who couldn’t do enough to help us.

We had a pleasant sail south along the island and dropped anchor in Carlisle Bay after an epic 11 mile journey. The reason for us bending the rules slightly and staying in Antiguan waters another night, even though we didn’t go ashore, was that customs clearance had taken so long that the 42 miles to Guadeloupe would have resulted in a night entry to a crowded anchorage which is best avoided if possible.

All of the ingredients that make an anchorage special.

I am glad that we did anchor overnight as it proved to be a lovely experience. Jan and Hannah went snorkelling while Norma and myself relaxed watching the Frigate birds soar, the Pelicans dive and a lazy turtle slowly working the bay. Jan found an intact sea urchin (can’t spell an-en-o-me) which he gave to Norma on his return. We put some led lights in it and it now graces our stern table and looks very nice indeed.

An an-en-o-me with a whole load of LED’s shoved up its bottom.

The next morning, Wednesday the 25^th, we were up at 6 and underway by 7 for the crossing to Guadeloupe which was hidden some 40 odd miles to the south. The wind soon picked up to a steady 15 to 20 knots and stayed on our side for the whole trip. With a single reef in the mainsail and alternately either pulling in or letting out chunks of foresail when the wind strength changed, we averaged over 7 knots for the whole journey.  In fact, it was a rompingly good sail, and we arrived in under 7 hours even allowing for two squalls that hit us as we crossed over.

Deshaies town is famous as the setting for the TV series Death in Paradise, although I note that in the series everyone speaks English and that is certainly not the case in this very French Island. It is a beautiful spot and was made even more picturesque by having the square-rigged cruise ship Star flyer at anchor in the bay when we approached. The Star Flyer up anchored and sailed away a couple of hours after our arrival making a spectacular sight as its sails dropped into the wind.  I think it was my newly varnished rails that sent them packing, they obviously just couldn’t compete. That left us to put the boat to bed and ferry our gallant crew ashore for the next leg of their adventure, whatever that may be. Customs clearance was 10 minutes on a computer in the local gift shop and a single admin fee of €5. Antigua take note, the girl behind the counter even smiled which didn’t cause the island to be instantly overrun by ne’er-do-wells.

That’s it really, we said our goodbyes to Hannah and Jan yesterday evening at a little bar on the beach with Spectra in the distant background. They had pre-booked into a local hostel and were keen to spend time with non geriatrics I suspect. Although it is nice to have our little home to ourselves again they have been great company and a joy to share part of our dream with.

Good luck and fair winds to them both wherever they go next.