Island Time
Five islands, infinite fun. Here are some highlights from each.
Les Saintes and Deshaies, Guadeloupe
Met up with friends old and new and immediately went hiking to a beautiful beach with a group of sailing families. The boys loved roaming the hills and the freedom of the 'wilderness.
Enjoyed good cafes, restaurants and shopping - Guadeloupe is a French island, after all!
The first night, someone untied our dinghy from the dock and didn’t re-tie it. Luckily we had a stern anchor out and were able to get a ride to where it was floating…then a massive storm rolled in and we barely made it back to the boat, where it felt as though we were at sea, the wind and waves were so strong. Our anchor held, others were not so lucky and a boat washed up onshore in another cove.
In Deshaies (de-hay) we rented a car and explored Guadeloupe. It’s a fairly typical Caribbean island, a little sunburnt, a mix of languages, colonial buildings. The kids and Russ enjoyed a small aquarium and we did the grocery thing at Carrefour. These are the months of Carnivale, so we learned the hard way that most things will be closed for festivities.
It was Superbowl weekend, so we put up the screen and did all the American things (wings, nachos, brownies…). We invited our French/Australian friends from SV Deo Juvante and Rosie was a cheerleader.
English Harbour and Green Island, Antigua
Greeted by our friends on SV Curious (met in Greece, last seen in Gibraltar) and the kids had a blast together.
A group of sailing families went to the donkey sanctuary, where puppies were the highlight.
The “World’s Longest Row” has been taking place since early in the year. We watched the oldest man to row alone across the Atlantic come ashore after his feat. He is 73 years old and it took him a bit over 67 days. Amazing!
Enjoyed being able to walk every day and see goats and old forts. Jordan was my reluctant walking buddy.
Sunset at Shirley Heights brings out all the tourists and sailors with a live band and amazing views.
Jordan dropped a fishing line in the water and brought up two snappers in a row! In order to test for ciguatera, a chronic virus caused by a toxin found in reef fish, Gus and Kirke put a bit of the raw fish flesh in their lower lip. The urban legend says that if you feel tingling then you shouldn’t eat the fish. After 10 minutes they weren’t tingling, so I put the whole fish in a salt crust and baked it. Definitely one of our best ever!
We moved around to Green Island during one of Antigua’s famous regattas - incredible to be among such fast boats.
Green Island is blue water and white sand. We enjoyed fancy drinks at a tiny restaurant on shore, more time with two boat families, including dancing, games, finding conch.
We attempted to leave Green Island for Barbuda when the clew broke, which is a small piece of steel that holds up many tons of sail, lines, etc. The main was raised and it was the only thing holding up the boom. A squall was coming. We had to lower the main before the squall, which would bring the boom down. This is a lot of sailing terminology that basically means we were stressed out, with no good options and a storm coming, so the boom had a controlled fall onto the flybridge, bending the stainless steel railings and causing other damage. No doubt we had the best possible outcome due to Gus’ and Russ’ quick thinking and longtime sailing expertise. We returned to harbour safely, albeit discouraged.
Barbuda
A tiny spit of sandy land that still hasn’t recovered from a hurricane several years ago. Our first foray into shallow water. (We thought it was shallow until we got to the Bahamas).
It’s a quiet island where animals roam freely and the customs guy may or may not be in, even if you scheduled with him in advance.
What’s the hurry? It’s island time.
