In the lap of the’ Virgins’ ….

After cleaning and re-provisioning the boat in St. Martin with ….. you guessed right: good Bordeaux wines, French cheeses and bread and all the other culinary delights available….. we started out with a new crew – Monika, Thomas and Anja, Jutta, Timmo and left over from the last leg, Susanne.

 To ease the crew in we began the next day with a short 8 miles trip across to Anguilla. Compared to mountainous St. Martin it looked a bit like a pancake on the horizon, but in fact it is known for its long white beaches. We anchored in Road Bay and again visited customs and immigration to clear in. The bay had been subjected to a hurricane storm in the late 90’s and the results are still clearly visible.

Then it got a bit more serious and the next leg was a 70 miles overnight sail to the British Virgin Islands. We decided to use Dog Island as a jumping board. 10 miles away from Anguilla directly to north-west we stopped there for the day and what a place ….

After a grounding dinner we headed off just before dusk and for all the new crewmembers it was a first time experience to sail overnight. The watch teams were set up and we set forth to conquer the night. The stars were a bit shy and hard to navigate to, but the helms women were still successful and we arrived safely in Virgin Gorda

After clearing in at Spanish Town we sailed to the Bitter End resort located at top end of the island. The North Sound is a bay surrounded by numerous larger and smaller islets and extensive reefs and is home to a number of exclusive resorts and marinas. It is a paradise for the uninitiated snorkelers to make their first safe Caribbean underwater experiences. We docked at the Bitter End Yacht Club for re-provisioning, shopping, internet and of course ‘Happy Hour/s’ at the Crawl Pub

Then we turned south again along the Sir Francis Drake Channel and the chain of island making up the southern fringe of the channel. First stop were The Bath, a garden of massive granite boulders piled up randomly, surrounded by wonderful snorkeling grounds. On land you can discover the cave walk, which leads you through and under the boulders to Devil’s beach.

The next few days we stopped at all the little isles like Cooper Island, Salt Island and last Norman island. On Salt Island we found 'our' Robinson Crusoe set up: an empty island with some houses belonging to a local family and a deserted beach. We snorkeled to the beach and discovered an abundance of conch shells laying on the sea floor. With the permission of one of the family members, a fisherman who happened to be on the island collecting hermit crabs for bait we dived for enough conch shells to make a meal. We collected some tools from the boat and on the beach proceeded with extracting the meat from the shells, cleaning and tenderizing it coral rocks. Then we turned it into a wonderful meal for the evening - fresher it ain't be possible ..... 

Next on the itinerary was Susanne’s birthday. We celebrated with cake and champagne, followed by a rustic meal on the party schooner called William Thornton, which is permanently anchored [what a great idea !!!] in 'The Bight' on Norman Island. After the meal we had a dance before leaving the party boat, but were invited to listen on during most of the night.

We crossed the Channel to Tortola, the main island of the British Virgins and made a day stop in Smuggler’s Cove to extent our snorkeling experiences. Then we were headed for Cane Garden Bay. Up to now we experienced the Virgin Islands as a sailing paradise, but what we were missing was the true Caribbean spirit and presence of their people.  Cane Garden Bay made up for it. Great beach bars and the Callwood Family rum distillery were proof that the British Virgin Islands were still Caribbean.

Last stop but certainly not least was a little dream atoll called Sandy Spit, located off Jost Van Dyke island. Shall we let the pictures do the talking …..

 

Soper’s Hole was our final destination for this leg – a British Virgin Island special

Going to ‘Leeward’ …..

Although Dominica geographically already belongs to the ‘Leeward’ islands they really start with Guadeloupe and are divided into 3 groups

·      The islands that brush the clouds [Montserrat to Saba]

·      Islands of mountains and mangroves [Guadeloupe, Antigua and Barbuda]

·      Renaissance islands [St Barts, St.Martin and Anguila]

The first two groups run parallel and our itinerary took us along the second group, starting with Guadeloupe. The new crew Cornelia, Ulrike, Raoul, Bettina and Susanne decided to begin their holiday with a land exploration to discover what the Basse Terre [meaning low lands] of Guadeloupe had to offer. Alain, a taxi driver and qualified guide excelled with great knowledge of fauna, flora and culture.

Next morning we had an early 4.30 start. The plan was to thread our way north on the Riviere Salee, a waterway that separates the two wings of the butterfly shaped island of Guadeloupe. The two bridges that connect the two parts of the island are very busy arterial roads and open only once a day at 5.00am. After negotiating the passage we arrived at dawn in the shallow bay of Grand Cul de Sac Marin and stopped for a sunrise breakfast. A curvy channel with buoys marks the way through the shallow water and out through the gap in the reef into the open sea where some keen surfers enjoyed the waves.

We continued our way to Antigua with a good easterly breeze of 15 to 20 knots, coming from the right direction to make a pleasant passage. We arrived late afternoon and our first port of call was well-known English Harbour. It couldn’t have been more British. Falmouth Harbour and adjoining English Harbour sit side by side and their potential of being secure and easily defensible was recognized as early as 1723. By 1745 work begun at the Dockyards which now form part of a national trust area called the Nelson Dockyards.

From there course was set up the east coast of Antigua towards Rickett’s Bay and  Nonsuch Bay. After a lay day catching up with some friends on another catamaran we headed off towards Barbuda, the little inconspicuous sister of Antigua. Barbuda is littered with empty pristine white beaches. The passage was easy with a easterly wind around 10-15 knots. We anchored outside Coco Point Lodge. After a sail along what appeared to be an infinitely long white beach we anchored at Lighthouse Bay resort.

The capitol of Barbuda is called Codrington and has a population with a grand total of 1200, which reflects the islands ambience.

Barbuda houses the world’s largest habitat of frigate birds, some 20.000. We made a excursion with a guide to their breeding grounds in an estuary in the north of the island. This day was closed off with a wonderful lobster meal on the terrace of a family restaurant in the capitol.

Next destination on the itinerary was St. Barts [short for St. Bartholomew]. This passage was virtually wind-less and not so interesting. However, monotony was broken by a 1.4m long and about 20kg heavy Kingfish on the trawling line. He was anesthetized with almost a little of cheap and nasty rum. Almost a size too big for our back-step facilities, but we managed to dissect the beast and it tasted delicious.

We only made a transit stop over in St. Barts for one night and with an improving wind continued to Iles Fourchue on our way to St. Martin. There we experienced the eerie wrack of a 37 ft Privilege catamaran, lying ‘on-the-rocks’. As we visited the boat we found it as if the tribulation had only just left. Provisions and personal items were still lying in the saloon and cockpit and at the same time the hulls were already badly damaged taking water. We anchored in the main bay and climbed to the top of the uninhabited isle.

Final destination was St.Martin or Sint Maarten – an island cordially divided into a French and a Dutch section. The dutch part looks and feels pretty non-descript and has no real identity besides tourism, whether the French part has a distinct flair of France. After a brief overnighter in Grand Case bay in the north we decided to stay with the flair and docked in the Fort St.Louis marina in Marigot [yes, yet another Marigot ….and the capitol of the French part] a lively and colourful port town with marvelous pastry shops and good restaurants - exactly what you would expect. 

To round this up here are some more Caribbean pictures …..