From Dominica to Antigua for the Christmas season.

PHOTO LINK—->>Dominica, the Saintes and Antigua

Dominica

We stayed just a few days in Dominica. It was as charming as ever. We had a few walkabouts, met a few folks, shared sundowners aboard Erica and had a “sketch” made for us by Hamilton an island character. He approached us as we were walking along the beach road and with the skill of a well-practiced hustler chatted us up, while walking, sketching and charming us. Of course we felt obliged to buy the sketch.

Isles des Saintes

We had a quick morning sail to the Saintes and picked up a buoy for the night. Went ashore, walked to one of the lovely beaches on the north coast, bought a baguette and a tasty chicken and left the next morning. We sailed to Deshaies in northern Guadeloupe.

 

In Guadeloupe we spent the night and left early the next morning for Antigua. I was determined not to be stuck in Guadeloupe for another Christmas.

Antigua

The sail to Antigua was again, fast and uneventful.

Jolly Harbour

was our port of entry. We took full advantage of the excellent grocery store, got our propane refilled and went into the market in St John. The market is an excellent fruit and veg market and we were able to restock with wonderful fresh produce. The weather was unseasonably calm and a large rolling swell encouraged us to move around to Falmouth Harbour.

Falmouth Harbour

Is a large nearly enclosed anchorage containing various marinas. It just happened that the Antigua Charter Yacht show was taking place.

Well, the mega yachts and ships were just astounding. It is always hard for me to comprehend such opulence and excess. Of course it just draws you in to ogle at the astounding yachts lining the docks with their
crews furiously cleaning the already gleaming sides, varnishing the already immaculate woodwork, fixing the unseen defects, with water slides off their sides and other toys aboard, just incredible.

 

English Harbour

Is next to Falmouth Harbour and it too is an enclosed anchorage. It contains Nelsons Dockyard, which is very similar to Bermuda’s Dockyard. Historically the area was of great importance to the British fleet in the days gone by. We had visited it before and upon visiting it again found it too full of amazing floating crafts with their toys.

Rendezvous Bay

As it was such marvelously calm weather we took advantage, and took the dingy along the shoreline to beautiful Rendezvous Bay. There we walked the beach and explored the shoreline. Poor John had hurt his foot when he slipped on the deck and caught his toes on the stanchion. He was finding painful to walk so we had a lovely swim.

 

Our 1st hike was: Pigeon Beach to Fort Berkeley via Fort Cutler, Middle Ground and on gun battery trail.

From Pigeon Beach we climbed uphill along a rocky trail to the remains of Fort Cutler, then along the rugged ridge line called Middle Ground, to the gun battery and then down the steep rocky hillside to Fort Berkeley on the very tip of Englishman’s Harbour.

It was a bright sunny day and this made the views stunning. We were able to see all of the entire bays, harbours and anchorages for miles around. It was of course hot but the sea breeze made it pleasant. I can’t imagine how the troops of days gone by did the walk in all their uniforms. They must have just felt like dying from the heat.

 

Hike #2 was quite long. We left Falmouth and walked along the lanes and roadways towards Galion Bay, which is on the far side of Englishman’s. There we picked up Desmond’s Trail or Lookout Trail via Freeman’s Bay to the Look Out on Shirlely Heights.
This led us uphill through the trees and shrubs towards

Shirley Heights. Again, it was hot, steep and rocky, but the views and breeze made it easier. The views were again just excellent. We could see right across all the Harbours. What was quite amazing was that some of the masts for the mega yachts were at the same

height as we were for a good bit of the climb. The trail followed a ridge and when we emerged we were at the back of

Shirley Heights.

We were lucky as when we first arrived there were no other tourists so we enjoyed the views in peaceful quiet. Very soon the area began to fill with the bus loads of cruise ship passengers, so off we went to find the

Carpenter Rock Trail.

We passed the old hospital ruins, turned right, passed the old graveyard and at the top of the cliffs, by an empty bathtub/animal trough was the trail. The cliffs are between 500 and 600 feet, the pathway winds down the cliff side. It is not for the faint of heart, but it is spectacular trail.

The narrow, rocky downhill path leads to fantastically green, grassy slopes that are filled with flowers and butterflies of all colours and types. Once we reach the lower cliffs there were cactus and succulents galore creating a beautiful natural garden. It was one of our favorite walks. As there had been a few showers and the skies had not been blue we decided to do the Carpenter trail again.

Hike #3 was the Jones Valley trail, via Freeman’s Bay to officer’s quarters, Shirley Heights. This trail wound it way through the trees and along a dry riverbed, passed the remains of the Jones valley dam, uphill through the trees to an old graveyard and the officer’s quarters cistern. It was quite hot in the trees without the sea breeze and of course there wasn’t any viewpoints. However the trail came out at Shirley Heights and we were able to climb down the spectacular Carpenter rock trail again. This time the skies were clear blue with just a few white clouds. The view was awesome!  

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We enjoyed several evenings with friends Richard and Lavinia from Partners and Gail and Eric off Vikings Dream. One evening was at a local pub having dinner and drinks while listening to Gavin, another yachtie playing his sax. Then we had drinks aboard Aeeshah, aboard Partners and dinner aboard Vikings Dream. Very enjoyable times together and Christmas isn’t even here yet. We all plan to have dinner at Life on the Corner with our group numbering 13 at last count.

However as we had a week to fill we decided to head to

Nonsuch Bay and Green Island

for a few days of R&R before the Seasonal celebrations started. Nonsuch Bay is a 2&1/2 square mile bay at the northeast of Antigua. It is completely protected by the few islands and the reefs that surround it. Green Island is one of the islands there.

We were very impressed when we arrived, as the area is wide open to the sea and yet sheltered. We found there were free moorings and wifi, which made it an excellent destination.

We explored the whole sound by dinghy, finding sheltered mangrove bays, lovely beaches and rugged shoreline.

Green Island itself is used as a base for the kite surfers and as a destination for the mega yacht charterers. The crews rake the beaches, set up the gear, coolers of drinks, shade covers, they transport the guests and then at the end of the evening they clean up after them. There were a number of these fantastic charter yachts at anchor in Nonsuch.

We found at the end of the Nonsuch bay there was a small bay where we could leave the dingy. From there we walked over to the peninsular where

 

                       

 

 

 

 

 

   

 

                                       

 Devil’s Bridge

is located. We had previously visited on New Year’s Day, but it was well worth revisiting. It is spectacular with the sea crashing and pounding on the rock and the incredible bridge that has formed.

 

 

 

 

Back in Falmouth Harbour we found the celebrations in full swing. We had missed the 2^nd gathering aboard Partners and found it was

 

 

 

                   

 Sunday Night at Shirley Heights.

We all arrived in time for the spectacular sunset over Montserrat in the distance while having our sundowners. There was a steel band playing, which we enjoyed while chatting and catching up with many other yachties/cruisers that we knew who were there. Actually it is a very popular place to be. There must have been several hundred people, 2 bars serving drinks and a long list of food available. We were just sat inside to get a food order together when the band started to play. They were quite incredibly good, starting off with the lead guitar playing a track from Pink Floyd. So out we all went to spend the next hour listening to the music. We ended up having a late meal at the Mad Mongoose.

It was then our turn again to host the evening aboard Aeeshah. There were: Lavinia & Richard from Partners, Jackie & Ron from Desperado, Les off Go Lightly, Eric & Gail off Viking’s Dream and us – 9 total. It was a great evening; I haven’t laughed so much in a long time.

The following night we were a group of 13 aboard DesParado, Jackie and Ron’s boat. Again a brilliant evening with many laughs.

Christmas Eve evening was spent aboard Viking’s Dream. We had drinks and nibbles followed by Eric playing the guitar and Gavin playing the clarinet. Everyone joined in the singing of many different traditional and not so traditional Christmas carols. Gail had made sweet treats. It really was a special evening and set the tone for the Christmas morn.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas Day dawned, John and I exchanged stockings filled with fun. We had a wonderful breakfast and then at noon walked to Nelson’s Dockyard with our group of friends.

 

 

 

 

At Nelson’s Dockyard there was a Christmas party. We enjoyed several hours watching the sites and shared some champane with Ron, Jackie and Les.

 

 

 

 

 

Christmas night we all -18 gathered at Life on the
Corner for our Christmas dinner. It was a fantastic 3 course dinner. An excellent evening was shared by all.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Boxing Day Partner had left at predawn for the US Virgins, and the rest of us gathered for a walk to Shirley Heights via Desmond’s trail and then back via the Carpenter trail. The weather was brilliant with lovely blue skies and a good breeze blowing. The hike was brilliant. The Carpenter trail is 1st class. That evening a number of us went to Nelson’s for the Friday fish fry. Again the food was excellent, the company fun and we all had a great time.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

The Christmas season is nearly over. The New Year hovers ahead. John and I wish for all our family and friends around the world health, happiness and peace in the coming year.