50 miles and a week later...
A year afloat: to the Caribbean and back
Sam and Alex Fortescue
Thu 3 Mar 2011 23:59
|
17:70N
61:51W
Sad news, dear reader: the parentos have just
climbed into a taxi to head for the airport. The good news is that they left
with fresh mango to tuck into before boarding the plane. Together
we covered about 50 miles, much in open Atlantic seas and winds
well over 20 knots, covering what is repeatedly described as the most
treacherous ground in the East Caribbean (without mishap, I hasten to
add). Summer Song is now lying at her anchor
beside the main road south in the dusty capital, St John's, and we hear every
truck that passes with a friendly toot of its horn. In a surprising oversight,
there is not a single disembarkation point anywhere along the quay, obliging
dinghy passengers to scramble over rocks or clamber up a four foot wharf to gain
the shore.
We had an extraordinary run down from North Sound
this morning. We'd been battered by strong winds and lashing rain during the
night, but as day dawned the wind dropped away and the rain subsided to a gentle
drizzle. Summer Song bobbed along in the gloom at a couple of knots before we
rounded the corner and the wind died away completely. The Gaffer decided to
withdraw below to issue navigational advice, and put the kettle on, while the
rest of us dripped on deck. It brightened up into a cracking afternoon, though,
and we hired a taxi to take us on a reconnoitring mission to nearby Jolly
Harbour. The driver was a friendly cove, who took the Gaffer for a guided
driving tour of the exclusive housing development attached to the marina, taking
in the million-dollar villas with their own docks. We then retired to the
coincidentally named 'Starfish Coffee Shop', where we procured fancy caffeine,
including another coincidentally-named 'frappucino'.
St John's was a queer contrast to the isolated
island anchorage of the night before. In the lee of Great Bird Island, we were
surrounded by reef teeming with many-coloured fish and ripe for snorkelling. The
Gaffer ventured ashore in the dinghy, and we explored the cliffs which are home
to red-billed tropic birds. These birds were the first sign of Caribbean life we
saw during our Atlantic crossing, with roving individuals soaring nearly 1000
miles from land.
The Gaffer had been all lined up for a swim, before
the weather closed in and he ended up settling for an equally damp fresh water
shower. Mamma did a fair amount of snorkelling and we saw rays, parrotfish,
angelfish, wrasse, jacks, grouper, dolphins. She also holds the Summer Song
mongoose-spotting record, at one, although not on the same
occasion.
Very tame bananaquit in Nelson's
Dockyard
 Maltese Falcon: a snip at $130m
 Relaxing on the beach at Green Island after a
sploshy sail up from English Harbour
  On the Atlantic side of Green Island
 Just before an awesome Italian lunch at Harmony
Hall
 Post-luncheon...
 Fizzing along at seven knots
 Preparing a cracking lunch of yam and dasheen - a
brace of little-combined starchy vegetables
 More beach weather on Great Bird
Island
   Good lord, what the devil's that?
 A red-billed tropicbird
 End of a cracking day
 |