17:04.5N 61:53.6W

 

Hello! When you last heard from us we were in Guadeloupe. Since then we have sailed up into the most famous English speaking island in the Caribbean: Antigua.

 

However, our first stop proved that it was also the island of super yachts. English Harbour, our first port of call, is home to Nelson’s Dockyard, a historical port used by Nelson himself when he visited Antigua. The marina is now filled with lots of massive sailing boats and motor yachts that make Silhouette look like a bath toy! So we didn’t accidently get squished by super yachts entering a berth, we anchored in the bay. Unfortunately, lots of other boats had this idea as well so the anchorage was very crowded and several boats bumped into each other. Luckily, we survived the anchorage without any battle scars.  I really enjoyed our time in English Harbour because we met some friends there from the boats Sudoeste and Moxie. We went with Sudoeste up to a restaurant at the famous Shirley Heights that was could only be reached by a long, steep walk. It was a bit of a climb for someone who doesn’t do any strenuous PE often but it was worth getting up to the top because the restaurant had a great view and a live steel pan band. Our other excursions included going to Antigua’s capital, St John’s, to get fruit and veg at the market.

  Synchronised jumping (Emily from Sudoeste, Kerry, Robyn)

 

 

After staying in Antigua for five days or so, we sailed for Barbuda. Barbuda isn’t very well known, but if you think of a classic desert island you are thinking of Barbuda (minus the palm trees). This makes it rather easy to describe because all it is is a long stretch of beach with the sea on one side and a lagoon on the other. We went to the beach every day, built sand villages and even had a proper beach bbq! But by second day it had started to get windy and since there was no high land to shelter us, it got a bit uncomfortable. We weren’t really ready to move on, so... back to Antigua!

Barbuda beach

 

We anchored in a Deep Bay, a small anchorage in the west part of Antigua. It was really pretty, with a beach and a wreck of a large sailing boat, but what could you find on land? Absolutely zippo. Zilch, save a large resort with no guests, with staff just milling around with naught to do. We were planning to go diving on the wreck, but the water had very bad viz (that’s scuba diver speak for visibility) so we never went.

 

Our final stop in Antigua was Jolly Harbour, where we had to check out (you have to do this with every Caribbean island and since there are a lot it gets a bit tedious) and do some other odd jobs. We made friends with lots of other boats there and met some old friends. Robyn, the girls from Moxie and I all went absolutely crazy over a black toy poodle called Gemma who lives on one of the boats. With all of the boats we’d met in the bay we went to a fish and chips restaurant in... a red London double decker bus! Everything about it was really British! Well, except from its Caribbean location and the Austrian owner/waiter.

 

Our next port of call was St Barthelemy or St Barts as the yachties call it. It was a very long sail there; it took ten hours and we had to start at 6 in the morning. I know lots of you out there get up at 6 am to go to work or school, but living on the boat has made me a late riser so this was tough stuff for me!

 

If any people who have been to the Caribbean are reading this, they will know that St Barts is a holiday destination for the rich and famous. We soon discovered this when we made port in Gustavia, St Barts’ main city. The moment we stepped on land we felt like humble peasants. The sea front was filled with super yachts galore and every shop sold designer brands, Gucci and Jimmy Choo, to name a few. It you want an example of the merchandise sold there, a leather and wood hammock hanging in a shop window cost €27,000 (£22,425). Probably not something I can put on my birthday list.

 

On the first of February we left St Barts’ capital for the quiet bay of Anse de Colombier. We only stayed there for one day because we checked both in and out in Gustavia. As nice as all the designer shops and super yachts were, we decided we didn’t want to go back. There wasn’t much in the bay, but two super yachts, a beach and a very nice (steep) walk where we met a poisonous caterpillar, a tiny also-poisonous-looking spider and a friendly tortoise.

     

Scenes from our walk at Anse de Colombier

 

 

We are currently in Simpson Bay Lagoon in the Dutch part of Sint Maarten (and even more super yachts...) and along the way we managed to acquire a tiny crab who sits on our stern. We have decided to keep him as a mascot since he eats the seaweed there and have named him Freddie. I just hope he can hang on when we sail for the BVIs (British Virgin Islands) in a few days.

 

Bye for now!

Kerry