Errol Flynn marina, Port Antonio, Jamaica

18:10.51N 76:27.12W The journey started brightly
enough, rapid passage across/with the gulf stream in the first 24 hours, plenty
of nausea (save Jas who has a cast iron stomach for the sea) and a little worse
but once we were in the Old Bahama channel the wind deserted us and on with the
engine. All well at first but a gradual loss of maximum revs due to ‘dirt
in the fuel line’. We had no CW Moss to do the oily stuff so Tom
changed filters (with advice from afar) and progress was resumed. Fishing
was spectacularly successful with David landing two Mahi mahi 15lb and 30lb.
The fuel situation continued to deteriorate and the weather picked up from the
East. We made the easternmost point of the Bahamas, Great Inagua. By
then with an adverse current, winds building to 20 to 25 knots on the nose,
with more to come, we sought shelter – Haiti?, Cuba?, Jamaica?. The
latter turned out to have a welcoming port, Port Antonio, with a modern marina,
Errol Flynn (it has one long pontoon appropriately enough). We made the
turn and ran downwind arriving in 48 hours, the last 15 or so with bare poles
and winds gusting at 45knots across the deck. Into the harbour at first
light on Sunday 9th December, the channel lights were as predicted
on the chart. The windstorm turned out to have a name TS Olga. Sadly
Jas, David and James had run out of time so flew back to the UK from Jamaica.
Phil Oliver of Antilles Yachts in the BVI arranged for two
crew, his son Justin and an old sea-dog Harry, to help me over the last leg to
Tortola. We were confined to the marina for a week owing to continuing
heavy weather and this should have allowed for new fuel filters etc but Jamaica
has almost no spares available. We rinsed out the existing filter sets
with petrol and set off on Sunday 16th. The trip was
uneventful save for a severely underperforming engine, engines being so helpful
up current and up wind. Later we threw in some transmission problems and finally
arrived in Nanny Cay with 8 hours to spare for my flight home, it was 23rd
December, right down to the wire for Xmas! |