The Saintes to Antigua
Tamarisk
Tue 21 Mar 2006 01:42
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We are are tied up in Nelson's Dockyard in English
Harbour, Antigua. It was Britain's main naval station in the
Caribbean in the 18th Century and restored fifty years ago. We are moored
stern to just under the old Officers' Quarters. The children are enjoying
having the run of their own museum.
We arrived two days ago after a forty mile
sail from Guadeloupe with Keoma and Blase. We saw a whale, we think it was
a hump back, but it was a distance from us. First we saw the spouts and
the splashes as it played in the water then it's huge tail lifted right
out a couple of times. The weather has been getting
better but it was still a bit gusty, we were hit by quite a nasty squall, 9
to 34 knots in less 30 seconds. We still had full sail up so it was a bit
exciting for a few minutes as we wrestled to pull a bit in, it's the first
time we've put the gib in the water !
Yesterday was Alice on Keoma's birthday, so there
was a big effort for lots of people to get here. Koshlong and Regina
arrived in the afternoon, and Coconut and Wild Alliance are anchored round
the corner in Falmouth Bay. Aromatic, a boat with three
girls on board we met in Grenada, were already here. So 17 children
had a wonderful time chasing round the dockyard on a treasure
hunt organised by Juliet on Keoma, followed by "stuck in the
mud", cake and dinghy wars. We all slept well.
We spent most of last week in Guadeloupe, anchored
in Deshaies in the north of the islands. It's a charming
little town with all the luxuries of the French islands, boulangerie,
restaurants and half an hour from the Carrefour supermarket for wine and
cheese. The bay was full of turtles feeding on the weedy
bottom. The water was noticeably colder, we're hoping that's
just because the weather's not been as hot as we're used to rather than
evidence that we're moving north (we have just crossed into 17
degrees).
We left Dominica on the 10th March for the
Saintes. These are a small group of islands south of Guadeloupe and very
much a French holiday spot. The day trippers arrive every morning on the
big catamarans and run the gauntlet of traders on the dock, by evening the
streets are quiet.
 Tamarisk and Blase outside the very French town
hall.
We walked up to an old fort on one of the hills
overlooking a couple of bays, there was a musty collection of
maritime artefacts and lots of huge iguanas.
  We didn't want to get too close !!
 When we weren't watching out for iguanas...the
views were fantastic..
  We did have our worst weather here every so often,
it tipped down with monsoon like rain again and again for three or four
days. It reminided us of how important the hot and dry
weather is to keeping sane onboard. We and the boat started to smell
a bit like a damp dog, but at least we got our fresh water
showers.
 Oli and Eddie taking full advantage of a
downpour. Anna still prefers to take her daily dip in the
sea...
 Fuel and water had been on a bit of ration since we
left Martinique as we found no supplies of either. We spent a couple
of hours hiking over a headland to find petrol one afternoon when we realised we
had a mile or so to go and there was a high chance it was closed we turned back
empty handed. I will remember this when people ask us what we do all
day.
Our plan now is to stay in Antigua for at least a
week, we'll probably move round to Falmouth Harbour soon. After Antigua
it'll be St Kitts and Nevis, Tim is foolishly keen on the annual swim between
the islands which happens in 10 days or so.
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