Passage to Antigua – 19^th to 20^th December 2023

We enjoyed Martinique (isn’t it one of the most gorgeous sounding names) but it was time to move on. Our friends David, Trudie and Steve were up in Antigua and egging us on to get up there for Christmas; we also knew Sue and Greg (who we’d met in Port Louis) were up there too.

After a period of what they call Christmas Winds, which are basically strong NE trades, we picked our day which was to be the 18^th December. What happens when you are in a harbour is that sun awnings go up, the dinghy gets inflated and all manner of things are around on deck – what I’m trying to say, is that you look at the boat and realise that it’s going to take hours to get ready to leave. Plus, of course, you have to check out; this is easy in Martinique but they often make a right meal of it in other islands. In fact in Martinique you can check out remotely on the fuel pontoon – compare and contrast to having to visit three, sometimes four, different offices and officials which can take … a loooooong time…

The afternoon of the 18^th thwarted our attempts to ready for departure though as the heavens opened and everything was soaking wet. We decided the only sensible course of action was to leave the following morning – which we did.

It was a little blustery as left Le Marin and as it was dead downwind we left under genoa only. Rounding the corner towards Fort de France, we hoisted the main and were sailing along nicely until the wind funnelled hard out of the Fort de France bay. After that we headed up the coast of Martinique where, nearing Mount Pele I could see disturbed water. Sure enough, the wind barrelling down from Mount Pele hit the water ‘at speed’ and gave us a very quick ride to the northern tip of the island. The water between Martinique and Dominica is called the Martinique Passage and whilst it isn’t as ferocious as the St Vincent channel can be it can have its moments. Off we went, with the intent on arriving in the lee of Dominica before dark.

The mate was not at all happy about the Martinique Passage, I won’t go into detail but here’s a summary as to why:

Wind forecast: 8 to 12 knots; Actual: 27knots

Swell forecast 5 to 7 feet; Actual: 12 feet

Swell period forecast 8 to 12 seconds; Actual 6 to 8 seconds.

I think you get the idea…

Arriving at the southern end of Dominica we started our watch systems, this time, the mate going first. I’d been monitoring a white light on ‘something’ floating around near the offshore fish farm and it seemed stationary out there, naturally I assumed it was something to do with the fish farm and as it was time for a watch change, I went to get the mate and settled down into my bunk. As soon as the mate went on deck, she exclaimed – what on earth do I do here!! Startled I lept on deck, to find that the white light had morphed into a TUI cruise liner and was about 300m off our port side..! That situation dealt with I went back to bed, leaving the mate to it.

In the morning, we found we’d made such good progress that we were nearing a place called Ferry, near the top of Dominica. Our original plan was to arrive there midday to early afternoon and anchor for the night before the crossing to Antigua. However, arriving there around 1000 we decided to press on for Antigua direct, hoping to arrive in Falmouth Harbour before dark. The crossing from Dominica to Antigua is an easier passage as it has Les Saintes and other islands breaking up the seas. That said, we’d had a period of strong NE winds (Christmas Winds) and the swell was around four metres in places, the period was a long enough one though and Stargazer enjoyed her ride all the way across to Antigua.

After a long passage (30 hours or so for some 180 miles) we were pleased to drop the hook in around 5 metres next to our friends David and Trudie on Persephone, and enjoy a successful anchoring beer :)

The mate says: where it this Caribbean sailing that you see in all the guidebooks??! Flat, turquoise seas and people in bikinis relaxing – we haven’t found it yet! I keep telling myself not to believe the forecasts… I definitely won’t now. Living at a 35° angle gets a little tiresome (my poker face isn’t very good so Skip was well aware of this) as even the most simple things like going to the loo take soooo much energy.

I also won’t believe Skip at watch changes when he says there isn’t anything around to bother us – I was still waking up when I arrived on deck to see a huge array of lights bearing down on us. At first I thought it was an oil rig that we were a bit close to (I was a bit tired) and then saw on the plotter that there was a large ship flashing red which means the closest point of approach is close – eek. The TUI cruise ship was thankfully more on it and took a large arc around the stern of us to deliver its passengers to Guadeloupe in time for breakfast.

I was pleased to see Antigua as we got to the top of the swell (it disappeared a little as we were in the troughs) and also very pleased to have a dolphin escort for part of the Guadeloupe Channel. From the top of the swell you could see about 20 of them rushing in to bowride – a very quick way to lift the spirits and forget about the previous 25 hours :)