On Feb 25th we sailed from Green Island to Falmouth Harbour. Here we helped Rum Runner get their dinghy from their boat after they returned from brief trip back home to the US. That evening we got together for some Farkel with Judie and Phil and their good friend Annabelle from New Zealand (currently travelling as crew on Cracker Jack).
While in Falmouth, we walked over to English Harbour to extend our cruising permit (only valid for 30 days). We then followed Rum Runner around to Carlisle Bay. Here there is a nice beach with a very chic resort (imagine a menu where salad costs $38 US as the least expensive item on their menu). Needless to say we didn’t spend any time on shore except to walk the dog.
From there we headed back to Jolly Harbour and then on to Deep Bay. Each night we hung out with Rum Runner and their guests, and were eventually joined by Kalunamoo and Destiny to our near nightly games of Farkel. Paul, Bill (Kalunamoo) and Phil (Rum Runner) also had a jam session on Blue Sky one afternoon in Deep Bay. I can’t believe I didn’t snap a few pics. All in all it was a busy time. By the 2nd of March we all went our separate ways.
We originally had a third guest planning to visit us in early March, but a business trip to Paris cut into those plans. As a fashion designer, when Paris calls, you go. We hope you get to rebook that ticket soon CH.
The only picture I took during all the fun was of Jolly Harbour in the rain. Rain in Jolly Harbour
While waiting for our guests to arrive, we were joined at Green Island by Alberio (Steve & Lynne) and Rum Runner (Phil & Judie). Of course with friends around we spent many evenings aboard Blue Sky playing a favorite dice game among cruisers called Farkel. Lots of fun and laughter.
Before Rum Runner arrived to Green Island Judie messaged me on Facebook and asked if I needed anything from the grocery store. She kindly brought me a few items of fresh produce which allowed us to stay at Green Island until our guests arrived.
February 4th, all of us took our dinghies up to Harmony Hall to meet Maureen and George, neighbors of ours from White Rock. They were pleasantly surprised to see not only us to greet them, but a whole group of us to greet them.
Salty Dawgs
Harmony Hall
Sugar Mill
View from the Sugar Mill
Sugar Mill at Harmony Hall
We knew Maureen and George would be exhausted from travel so didn’t plan too much for the night of their arrival and stayed put for their first full day on the water so they could get their sea legs established. Here we also had everyone over to Blue Sky for a cruisers happy hour which includes appetizers of all sorts that everyone brings followed by introducing our guests to the game of Farkel.
We left Green Island on the 6th of Feb and began our tour of Antigua and Barbuda with Maureen and George (read to the end of the post for Maureen’s accounts of the week). The highlight of the week had to be the Frigate Bird tour. These birds are so plentiful in the lagoon on Barbuda. They have a huge rookery. The tour boat picked us up at the pier near the house/restaurant on the west side of the island. He took us right up to within feet of these birds. Mating season lasts until late March so we were there in the middle of it. Lucky for us, we saw birds in all stages of mating from the males puffing out their red gular pouches, to birds sitting on their eggs, to birds feeding their young, some young ones with only stubs for wings at this stage.
Hungry Baby
We were worried about taking Charlie along, but these birds were so calm that he didn’t seem bothered by them at all. It was fascinating.
The end of the tour took us to Coderington just in time for school to get out. With Charlie being a rather special dog around the islands, he was immediately surrounded by children of all sizes wanting to give him a pet. He is such a good sport with children. We eventually broke away and finished our brief walking tour of the town.
Children interested in Charlie
That evening a northern swell came in. There was no way to go ashore again to stroll the beach for shells which I normally like to do.
We made our way back to Deep Bay in the hope of snorkeling the wreck, but the swell caused the sand to be stirred up so much that Maureen said she couldn’t even see her hand in front of her face.
The following is an email received from Maureen for the blog that sums up the entire visit nicely.
Once in awhile, if a person is lucky, a golden opportunity presents itself to do something that he or she never ever thinks might happen. Well, that kind of opportunity happened this February to George and me.
Thanks Paul and Gwyn and Charlie, for a week of your incredible hospitality and most capable sailing on sv Blue Sky around the island of Antigua and to Barbuda. We began at Harmony Hall, drinks in hand, meeting some of your Salty Dawg friends in a warm, tropical garden atmosphere. (This, after an overnight airport sleep and flights from cold, rainy Vancouver.)
Needlenose
Stingray
Queen Angelfish
Spotted Eagle Ray
We then spent a delightful day and two nights at Green Island, swimming with the giant turtles and colourful fish, exploring the island, and celebrating the good life with more friends. What was the name of that crazy dice game again? Sailed on to Falmouth Harbour to explore beautifully restored Nelson’s Dockyard with Captain Charlie leading the way.
Waiting at Nelson’s Dockyard
English Harbour
Antigan’s dressed in their finest
Jolly Harbour and Deep Bay were next, each adding some insight into Antiguan life before setting off for the most magnificent sail to Barbuda.
Hiking at Deep Bay
Serenity
Ruins at Deep Bay
Maureen & George at Deep Bay
To heck with windburn and hot sun, standing on the deck watching the scene unfold before us, I had the incredible luck to see a manta ray breach ahead of us. It looked like it was trying to fly, its magnificent fins flapping down a runway of whitecaps and waves. Easy Downwind Sailing
Barbuda, with its up close and personal small boat tour of a frigate bird colony consisting of thousands of birds in all life’s stages and a walkabout in the small village of Codrington were absolute highlights. So were the size of the waves crashing on the beach that night and being woken by the bang of the waves breaking on Blue Sky’s hull. Timing was everything getting on and off the beach in the zodiac but we were a team!
Sand – Barbuda
Waiting for the tour guide – Barbuda
Tour Boat
Frigate Bird Rookery
Rookery
Frigate Bird with puffed out Red Gular Pouch
Cyclist in Codrington
Archaelogy in Barbuda
Northern swell- Barbuda
Deserted beaches, fine, soft sand and sunny days. This was the stuff of one’s imagination. The last night was spent in Jolly Harbour before saying our goodbyes.
Thanks again to our great hosts for making a dream come true. The 360 degree view and the comfort of Blue Sky added to it all. May you have many happy and safe seasons of sailing in your paradise.
We arrived in Antigua at 0700 on January 30th after an easy close reaching night sail. Having been here before we were much more relaxed arriving at Jolly Harbor and clearing in. Dr Edwards remembered Charlie and was happy to welcome him back to the island. We spent only one night at Jolly Harbor before heading over to Pigeon Beach at Falmouth Harbour for a few days.
Anchored next to us at Pigeon Beach were fellow Salty Dawgs from last year, ‘Want To’(Peggy, John). We had them over to Blue Sky to watch the sunset one evening and heard all about their sailing back up island from Grenada where they left their boat during the last hurricane season. Nice couple who shared some travel information collected while in Guadaloupe after we mentioned this was our next stop.
Beautiful ships outside Falmouth
Falmouth is a place where all the mega Sailing Yachts gather for various regattas including the Caribbean 600. We enjoy Pigeon Beach, but it can be crowded on weekends (P – and a bit rolly, especially for monohulls) and we tired of the noise quickly so we stayed only 2 nights and headed around Antigua to the east to Nonsuch Bay. There are free mooring balls at Nonsuch and lucky for us we got the one nearest the beach of Green Island. Charlie loves that beach and it made it easy to SUP or kayak him ashore a few times each day.
Beautiful yacht among a flotilla of wet bottom sailors at Falmouth, Antigua
And a few more:
Beautiful classic lines
A more modern “classic”. The height of the mast is scary.
Cruise ship with classic lines
Looking out to the point in Falmouth with a typical morning rainbow
We spent a full 10 days in Nonsuch Bay simply enjoying the beauty of the place with its barrier reef (which we snorkeled – beautiful coral). You look east across the reef and realize there is only the Atlantic Ocean between you and Africa (P – Mauritania!), amazing. It’s a kite-surfers paradise as the bay is huge and well protected by the reef, but the wind with nothing to stop it, so it always seems to be perfect conditions for that sport. P – This year we tried a hike on Green Island. Ended up being very prickly and challenging so it was not a long hike.
Tough going hiking Green Island – too many prickly things
It is a bit easier bushwhacking when you are short – if it wasn’t for those darn burrs in the paws
Finally, back at the beach
Happiness is chasing a ball in the ocean after
Friends on Rum Runner, Kalunamoo, and Judith Arlene showed up a few days into our time here. We joined them and went to Harmony Hall and had drinks on a Sunday afternoon, while the duo Steel and Keys played steel drum music. Judy and Phil on Rum Runner had us all over for drinks and a game of Farkel, a dice game that is super simple yet highly competitive. Maureen won, but she was also the score keeper so we teased her that she cheated (she totally didn’t, her skill and experience won out).
The following evening we had a musical Jam session with Rum Runner (Judy, Phil), Kalunamoo (Maureen, Bill), Judith Arlene (Judy, Ed) on board Blue Sky. We managed to have 2 guitars, two harmonicas (P – Phil who did Dylan proud), and a roll up keyboard (P – which Bill made sound better than I’ve ever heard). The girls mainly sang or acted as groupies while the guys created the music. I must thank Judy on Judith Arlene for organizing everyone for such a fun and entertaining evening (P – and spouse Ed for bringing along excellent guitar accompaniment and tabs for some fun music. He has motivated P to get back to playing a bit).
Charlie had his first dog guest on board, Nigel of Judith Arlene braved it and came aboard a few times. Charlie was mostly calm about it and Nigel is so laid back he didn’t seem bothered at all by Charlie’s few snarls. We’re working on him when we can to be around other dogs to not be so afraid of them. He’s such a people dog. We broke them in by taking them ashore in the same dinghy (Nigel’s).
The only thing we hadn’t done was have a game of Mexican Train (dominoes), so we arranged to do so again on Blue Sky since we have the largest table. We had 10 on board that night as we were joined by Folie a Deux (Ann, John). Another fun evening.
We spent a few evenings with Ann and John after the other Dawgs left (P – and enjoyed a snorkel on Bird Island reef with them – good coral, okay fish). This is how 10 days can pass in one place and you feel like you’ve been so busy. I had to get creative with my appetizers as I was running low of fresh produce. It’s standard to take an appetizer and your own drinks along to these events. We really didn’t need dinner most nights with the variety of appetizers that were available each night.
Full moon peeking out of the cloud after sunset at Nonsuch Bay
So we are now in Jolly Harbor again after a lovely sail from Nonsuch Bay on February 14th. When we arrived our aft stanchion broke at the base where the bolt had rusted and snapped. After taking it apart we discovered we need to go to the welding shop to get the old bolt remains removed and a new bolt welded on (thanks to Dr. Carl in Jolly Harbor). Meanwhile, we are busy re-provisioning and planning for our next destination, Guadeloupe (P – not to mention trying to brush up on a little French).
We enjoyed these truffles with friends on Rum Runner one night while in Nonsuch Bay, Antigua. I loved that Judy said, ‘Let’s start with dessert’ and everyone raved at the taste. So easy to make as well.
INGREDIENTS
1 (8 oz) package of pitted dates (approx. 1 ¾ cups)
1 (6 oz) package of pecans, soaked 2-4 hours and drained (approx. 1 ½ cups)
1 TBSP organic cacao powder
1 tsp pure vanilla extract
½ cups dried, shredded coconut (divided)
DIRECTIONS
-Partially chop dates
-Add all ingredients (except ½ the coconut) into a blender or food processor and blend until the mixture forms a ball
-Roll mixture into bite size balls and roll each one in remaining shredded coconut for coating
-Refrigerate until ready to serve
