Antigua Jolly Harbour Marina
Petronella
Sun 7 Apr 2013 07:03
We had an easy 15 mile sail along the coast and
arrived off Jolly Harbour at 13.00. The entrance is a dredged channel and
although we should have had plenty of water according to the chart we were aware
that there had been silting and that the depths were reduced. We headed
carefully in and sure enough the water shallowed until we only had a foot
or so under the keel. Luckily it was calm so we very cautiously crept in
and made it into the marina without any problems.
We decided that whilst Petronella was tucked
up in a safe berth it was a good opportunity for us to do a couple of day
trips by ferry to some other islands. So Wednesday morning found us
bound towards Barbuda on a quirky wave piercing ferry that was a sort of waiting
room on floats. It actually went quite well and we had a good 25 mile crossing
albeit with a somewhat jerky motion which did not agree with a number of
the passengers! Barbuda is a flat coral island about 15miles
long bounded by beautiful sandy beaches and coral reefs. It has a population of
about 1500 and is very undeveloped and low key. We had a lovely day being
shown the limestone caves that were inhabited thousands of years ago, the
large Frigate bird colony on the edge of a large lagoon and the village of
Codrington. For lunch we were taken to a deserted beach
where there was a tiny beach bar and our party of six sat in solitary
splendour and were fed grilled lobster and white wine. Wonderful!
Our
floating waiting room!
Barbuda's fabulous beaches and coral
reefs What
a view from your cave!
Wild
cactus found close to the caves
Our guide getting us closer to the
colony!
Frigate Bird colony (white heads are the young)
Our young beach bartender
The next day we visited a very different
island and had a very different experience. Montserrat is a
mountainous, ten mile long, volcanic island 25 miles to the south west of
Antigua and is a British Dependency. It had a population of 12,000 in the
1980's. It has had a very tough time as in 1989 it was hit head on by
Hurricane Hugo with winds of over 150 mph. 90% of the population was
left homeless and £200 million worth damage was done. Just as they were
beginning to recover in 1995 the volcano which had been dormant for many
years suddenly became active. The whole south of the island had to be
evacuated including the capital Plymouth where the majority of the population
was based. Over the next two years the volcano was at times very active and
Plymouth was completely destroyed and buried under ash. It just looks as if an
atom bomb has been dropped on it. Many people left the island to come
to Britain and the population is now down to 5,000 or so. Even now sixteen
years after the major eruptions life is still very difficult and they
constantly live under the threat of another eruption. However most of those
living on the island today are pleased to be there and and the mood is generally
upbeat and very friendly.
What's
left of Plymouth after the
eruption
Wildlife still survives (iguana on centre wall)
We were very fortunate as our tour guide Winston
had been the Deputy Police Commissioner at the time of eruption and for some
years after and he was able to fill us in with much of the background detail.
He is a lovely guy and still optomistic for the future. However
it really bought it home to us when he showed us the area where his house
had been together with some other rental properties he had owned and explained
that they had to just walk away from it all with no compensation. They
couldn't even take their furniture or belongings. The south of the island
is still an exclusion zone with restricted access but he was able to take us to
a ruined hotel which had overlooked Plymouth. We could see how the acid
discharges had eaten away the metalwork and the ash had found it's way
into the building and completely filled the swimming pool.
The
hotel
office
The swimming pool with pool steps filled with ash
We left on a positive note as Winston took us to
Little Bay where they are starting to build a new capital. Pride of place
is a new cultural centre funded by the proceeds of a concert organised by Sir
George Martin who had had a studio on the Island and featured many of the
artists who had recorded there.
Winston & Martin with ash covered
Plymouth
View back towards Little Bay Harbour
As we travelled back on the ferry we realised
that we were very fortunate to have been able to make the trip
and see the deva stating effects of a natural disaster for ourselves. It has
certainly given us plenty to think about as when seen on the TV sat in your
living room at home if doesn't register in the same way.
We have decided that Antigua is as far north
as we will go on this trip as we want to give ourselves time to explore
some new islands on our way back as well as revisiting some of our favourites,
so we will be leaving after the weekend. We have booked a place ashore for Petronella at the Spice Island
Marine boatyard in Grenada for the middle of May and we will leave her
there through the hurricane season which runs through to
December.
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