Wendell and Shelly Meise – March 6th-15th

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Tuesday we sailed past English harbor to  Falmouth Harbor and tied up at Falmouth Harbor Marina.  We were dirty, sweating and rushing to get the boat somewhat decent when Shelly and Wendell appeared dockside.  Of course, they did not care how the boat looked, and gave us time to get the front berth ready for them.  I took a shower on the boat after we hooked up to shore power to heat the water.   Nothing like a hot shower!

We had laundry done there, had a good hike along the road to the Antigua Slipway where we had lunch at Catherine’s Café, a lovely French styled dockside restaurant.  To make our walk shorter, we paid 5 Euro’s for a water taxi to take us across to Nelsons Dockyard near the Customs offices.   This shortened our walk  back to the  boat by a good Mile as the crow flies.

We were told this Yacht behind us was again some Royality….no sighting!

A bit of “out-on-the-town” for us before we set sail

Poor Wendell, the minute he is on the boat, Ken has him figuring out Deckman!  I hear the learning curve is huge!

View of our anchorage in Dickenson Bay

On Thursday, at 11AM, we untied and headed north to St. Johns Bay.  St. Johns Bay turned out to be a very unpleasant spot, filled with cruise ships, shallow spots and wind.   Not finding a suitable anchorage, we decided to continue further North to Dickenson Bay.  This proved to be a great decision.  Dickenson Bay was almost tropical and we found a quiet spot to anchor against a rocky cliff.   We were close enough to shore that we actually picked up the Wi-Fi of the shores one restaurant.   We dinghy’d to shore and had a great few hours of walking the beach and dinner on the Wharf restaurant.   Great first sailing night for Shelly and Wendell.

Halcyon Cove Restaurant where we had dinner (note the dinghy in the forefront)

 

 

March 4-5, Nonsuch Bay, Antigua

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The Ferry, ready to depart

Sunday, 9AM, we pulled anchor after the ferry did it’s bay turnaround and left.   Next stop, heading north (a 7 hours sail with reefed main in 20-25kt winds)  to Antigua to pick up Wendell and Shelly.  Having two days to wait for Wendell and Shelly’s  arrival we headed to Nonsuch Bay on the East Side of Antigua  island and once in (was like a big lake behind reefs), we found Ayers Creek with no boats in it.  Claimed it as ours and set our anchor.   The Creek was wide and short,  and only had 2 small areas deep enough to anchor.  I think we were in 7 feet at the deepest.   I spent the next day fishing the creek with the dinghy as Ken caught up on work uninterrupted.  It was just wonderful.  I didn’t catch any fish, but still made Salmon cakes for dinner.

Ayers Creek, Nonsuch Bay, Antigua

 

Ken still getting some phone reception, but no WiFi.  Real wilderness for us!

 

Guadeloupe and it’s Island Desirade, March 1st-4th

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Thursday, March 1st, cleaned up and pulled our lines off the mooring to head to Guadeloupe.   Overcast skies and several dark clouds over coast of Guadeloupe.  About 2 hours from St. Francois, we realized we were going to run out of fuel (still have our 2.5 liter spare), so we put up the main to add to our front sail power.  Close hauled and now tacking way out of the way to find wind, we finally
decided to put the last 2.5 liters in and motor in.  It was close to dark and we knew the anchorage had some dicey spots and not recommended to attempt in the dark.  (Our luck, it started to rain as we came into the narrow entrance to get inside of the reef where the anchorage was).   We dropped the main before the entrance, put the motor on and watched the sea’s push us in the narrow channel to the anchorages.   We tried two attempts to set the anchor and could not get a good hold.  At one point we hooked another boats  anchor chain behind us and we me at the helm, Ken had to get in the water to dislodge it.  Not fun as dark approached, in the wind and rain and tight anchorage.   We finally took hold and into the night carefully watched our anchor alarm.  Seemed finally to be set as it did not move a bit.   Spent 2 days there in a lovely marina area much like St. Tropez.  Full of tourists, and boats that did not move (that is why there was no room in the marina, only on anchor for the cruiser).

Quiet after the storm!

Saturday, we motored to Desirade (Island East of Guadeloupe and part of Guadeloupe) and went to their single fishing village/marina/ferry dock/anchorage!  There was no dock, only for the ferry and small fishing boats, there were only permanent moorings (3 in total) and maybe room for 2 boats to anchor (us being one).   While we were there, we were the only cruiser boat to come in.

We enjoyed a nice walk and discovered a ATM, small grocery store where we purchase 2 beers to drink on our walk and then found a beach front restaurant (the only one open) and made arrangements for dinner later that night.   Because we made our dinner arrangements early in the day, we were given the choice of lobster or something else.  (Guess we forgot what the something else was  after we heard lobster).   We were the only diners later that night and had a delightful, tasty dinner with great service.

Ken’s boat office – note the printer and scanner!

Cute little harbor, big enough for one sailboat!

Sunday, 9AM, we pulled anchor after the ferry did it’s bay turnaround and left.   Next stop, heading north to Antigua to pick up Wendell and Shelly.