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Jeremy's cousin Katie and husband Phil
joined us on our visits to Anguilla, St Barts, Saba, Statia,
Montserrat and Anguilla |
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St. Barts main port is Gustavia. It's
part of the French Antilles, so the food is good! The snorkelling is
excellent too, with some of the best in the Caribbean right outside
the port. |
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This lovely J class yacht (Endeavour I
think) was in Gustavia when we arrived. I managed to run over their
anchor chain in the dinghy (misjudged how tight it was) and they left soon
after - not driven out by us I hope! |
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We went on a lovely hike in Saba round
the volcano. The Sabans have laid excellent trails, and there are
lots of plants and flowers see as well as great views. |
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Montserrat, one of the least visited
islands in the Caribbean (and one of the few remaining British
colonies), is high and mountainous. |
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Montserrat came to fame when the volcano
erupted in 1990. Even today the most fertile two thirds of the
island are cut off. Many of the inhabitants left the island or were re-housed in the North. |
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Plymouth, the island's capital, was
devastated by the mud and rock slide which poured down the
mountainside. |
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It remains a desolate place today, with
a surreal landscape of deserted houses, barren mud flats, dead trees
and a smell of sulphur still in the air from the lowering volcano. |
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This lovely Dutch training ship came in
to Montserrat just as we were leaving and kindly posed in front of a
rainbow. We had a hard ride over to Antigua though, with 40+ knots
of wind on the nose. |
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While with Katie
and Phil the generator broke down for the second time in a month, so
we could not make fresh water and were on short rations. It's an
endless job looking after a cruising boat - though as the first mate
points out she has plenty of maintenance jobs too. |
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Once in Antigua we
said a fond goodbye to Katie and Phil, then visited the North of the
island while waiting for parts for the generator. The North is less
visited and has lovely islets and beaches with great snorkelling.
Here you can see huge Agave plants, about 12 feet tall, leaping up
through the undergrowth. |
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After Antigua we had to get back down to
Grenada to haul the boat out and make a visit back home. We stopped
briefly at several islands on the way - as here at Admiralty Bay in
Bequia where the colourful local boats are hauled out each evening. |
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Getting a 25' wide boat into a 23' wide
space is not easy, but Leonie managed it with aplomb. Luckily we had
fellow cruisers standing by to fend us off the nasty concrete dock.
Then it was slings under the boat and the travelhoist whisked us out
of the water.. |
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....carried us to our parking bay.... |
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...and deposited us safely on the
ground. All this can be done by just a couple of guys in twenty
minutes. After a hot day packing up the boat we then spent the night
in local studio apartment before flying back home for the first time
in 15 months. |
