We left Nevis and headed to Montserrat where we planned on staying overnight and then heading south to Guadeloupe/Les Saints. It was a long, hard slog and yes, the wind was on the nose, up to 30 knots, so it was a hard, 10 hour motorsail that yours truly didn't enjoy. I spent half the time lying on my bunk fighting off seasickness (I.WILL.NOT.SUCCUMB). Got to Montserrat literally minutes before it got dark, and spent a comfortable night there.
(This is Montserrat - see all the sulphur clouds? We could smell it as we sailed past).
The following morning set off at 7 am, and a couple of hours later we got an email from Paul saying there's no fuel (or diesel) in Guadeloupe. Then our autopilot stopped working and that's our most crucial piece of equpiment - can't sail without it - so we turned around and headed back to Montserrat. Just as well because later on we found out that Guadeloupe has strikes, unrest, cars being set on fire, shots fired (yeah yeah, I know, just a regular Saturday night for most of you), but no place for us to go as we REALLY needed to get diesel. Anyway, instead of going back to Montserrat (no services, limited supplies and stores), we headed off to Antigua instead. Thank goodness we did - what a fabulous place! Full of stores and supplies and services, we can now get internet on the boat through hothothotspot and boy, is that luxury.
FALMOUTH HARBOURWe arrived here 5.30 Friday night after another 10 hour slog with the wind on the nose, Phillip using the wind vane to steer the boat, and we anchored in Falmouth Harbour. What a lovely quiet anchorage - full of mega yachts and 200 feet sailboats - just amazing - everyone arriving for Antigua Sailing Week (end April/beg May). Checked in Saturday morning and P worked on the boat - managed to fix the autopilot AND the watermaker (no easy feat I can tell u), we dropped the sails off for repair and just were thrilled to be in such a lovely spot. Met some great people already who have given us the lay of the land, went to St. Johns today to look at one of the markets (pretty poor really, two fruit/veggie stands open and the produce not much to write home about - I think the Saturday market is the one to go to, apparently that's just excellent), then went off to Woods Mall to the Epicurean supermarket (ABSOLUTELY MARVELOUS!) - managed to find some Lyall's golden syrup so we can finally make flapjacks. Been into English Harbour - also lovely and quaint, did a tour of Nelson's Dockyard, and are just chilling for the next few days. Our itinerary may change now - so watch this space (as I'm sure you all are, eagerly anticipating our next step).
Cheers from lovely Antigua.
