Antigua to St Kitts and Nevis
Flinns
Terry/ Nicola Flinn
Thu 15 Mar 2007 12:12
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17:17.60N 62:43.39W
After 2 very tranquil days at Nonsuch Bay, we moved
back to a marina in Falmouth harbour. This is a regular haunt of superyachts and
we felt very intimidated to be moored alongside giants like Mirabella V, Maltese
Falcon and the outrageous Le Grand Bleu. This huge motor-yacht sports its own
helicopter, as well as a 46ft motor cruiser, 9 jetskis and, stowed in
one of its holds, a complete 64 ft sailing yacht. After 3 nights at Falmouth, we
continued round the coast to the very picturesque, Deep Bay which Terry last
visited nearly 20 years ago on a flying trip with BA. Our last night in
Antigua was spent in the harbour at St John's, the island's capital; this time
our near neighbours were 5 large cruise liners! This is a really buzzing town,
full of colourful shops and cafes, with loud reggae music competing with the
steel bands. After visiting the cathedral, we restocked, for our next stop was
the almost deserted and remote island of Barbuda. The passage was a
wonderful 5 hour reach and en- route, we landed 3 fish, one of which had
been half eaten by something much bigger !
Barbuda, fringed by coral reefs, is bordered by
miles of deserted beaches,and in Nicky's opinion the sand is the whitest and
softest she has ever seen. It was a bit of a struggle to get to the
capital, Coddrington: first of all we had to make a beach
landing in strong winds and choppy waves, then carry the dinghy across
a sand-spit, before chugging half a mile across the lagoon. This small community
has one supermarket, one bar and a couple of cafes; we found the locals to
be very friendly, laid-back and happy, while the kids were all extremely
polite.
Nevis is about 60 miles or 10 hours from Barbuda
and we enjoyed a comfortable downwind sail to another picturesque island. We
went to the local church service to find that it was Harvest Thanksgiving and
the church was decorated with fruits and vegetables such as sugar cane, bread
fruits, bananas, mangoes etc.
After a short hop, our next stop was Basseterre, St
Kitts, which is hosting some of the preliminary matches in the 2007 Cricket
World Cup. We managed to get tickets for the match between Australia and
Scotland. The stadium is delightful with its wonderful backdrop
of mountains and sea. Although it wasn't much of a contest, with Australia
winning resoundingly, the people-watching was just as much fun as the
cricket. The crowds, especially the Scottish supporters were all good
natured and very humorous.
After St Kitts, we plan to visit the Dutch islands
of Statia and Saba, before continuing onwards to St Barts and St
Martin.
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