Workout walk on Virgin Gorda

On Sunday we set off for an afternoon walk to explore the island. Our dinghy is leaking and glueing it back together has to wait for the current high winds to die down and rain to go away, so we swam to the beach. After a quick rinse-off from a bottle of fresh water and a change into t-shirts and shorts, we headed up to the road behind the beach here. It was a long, hot, uphill walk but provided wonderful views across the island. We reached the entrance for the Virgin Gorda National Park and a track took us up to the peak at 1,370 feet and a lookout platform with spectacular views marred only by the rain clouds drifting past our heads. It was a lovely trail fringed by huge rocks enveloped in tropical vines and we saw brightly coloured hermit crabs (why so high up?), pretty stripy butterflies and at least 5 snakes slithering away. As we left the park, we continued on the road looking over North Sound and spotted some good anchorages to go to next. We passed some stunning houses with fabulously landscaped gardens - flowers seem to be in abundance everwhere. We finally arrived back in Pond Bay as the sun was setting, reflecting bright orange and gold in the wet sand, and swam back to Irony. 24 hours later we knew by our aching muscles that we had covered half of the island!

Up to the BVIs

Two weeks seemed to evaporate in St Martin and a lot of our dollars! It is such a good place to pick up spares etc and we also got a very good deal in Philipsburg on a new mini laptop and new phone. As a jumping off spot for boats heading either north or south for hurricane season, it was very busy socially. It was lovely to catch up with old friends. We even made it to the cinema (for the first time in well over a year) to see Avatar in 3D which was fantastic.

After a slow and rolly downwind overnight passage we are now in the British Virgin Islands. We had a painless check in at Spanish Town on Virgin Gorda and are now anchored in Pond Bay. Surprisingly there is only one other boat here and the beach is deserted – not at all what we expected from the BVIs.

Landmark Birthday

The 1^st May ushered in Nic’s 50^th Birthday! To ease the trauma of embarking on another decade, I booked us into the Hotel Marquis in Anse Marcel. It was a real luxury to have unlimited water for 24 hours. Nic was also spoiled with 2 hour-long massages. Now we are trying to take advantage of the big chandleries and services here in St Martin before we explore the British Virgin Islands.

10 fun-filled days with Andrea

Andrea arrived on Monday afternoon sadly missing the last of the racing in the morning. On Sunday we watched the gig races and enjoyed a cream tea on the lawns of Admiral’s Inn in English Harbour. The next day we rented a car and toured the island ending up at Shirley Heights for its spectacular sunset view across both English and Falmouth harbours.

Our next stop was Deep Bay where we snorkelled on the wreck seeing lots of angelfish, a turtle, barracuda and a ray. We were plagued by mosquitoes at sunset and dawn so were relieved to sail up to Barbuda and anchor on the stunning Cocoa Beach. We then moved around to Low Bay and had a great beach BBQ with another boat, Belle.

After a long walk along the 11 mile beach we hired Clifford to take us by boat across the huge lagoon to do our check out. This involves 3 stops, the one for customs is actually in someone’s house! Clifford is definitely the man to use for this if you are planning to visit Barbuda – 25 EC for 3 of return and he helpfully escorts you around all the offices. He also does visits to the frigate bird sanctuary.

Our sail the next day to St Barts was a slow one. We arrived after dark and anchored in Baie Colombier to avoid the swell running in Gustavia. Under the full moon we could clearly see the bottom as we dropped the hook in 7 metres of water. The next day we snorkelled with the many turtles and had a lovely walk to Baie Flamands before motoring around to Gustavia for drinks and dinner. It was then up to St Martin in readiness for Andrea’s flight out on 30^th April - another passage with no wind necessitating employing the iron sails. We went through the the 17:30 opening of French bridge into the lagoon.

North again

On leaving St Lucia we managed to sail up the coast of Martinique before we lost the wind. We had to press on because we needed to be in Antigua to meet our guest arriving on 19^th April. After a night of motoring we dropped anchor in the Saintes, islands just south of Guadaloupe. We only had a short time in Terre d’En Haut but loved it. The water was fantastically clear in our anchorage at Pain de Sucre and we had a hot but interesting walk into Bourg des Saintes, the pretty “town”. We left wanting to return and spend some more time exploring these islands.

Since the winds were still either non-existent or against us, we decided to head up to Pointe A Pitre in Guadaloupe and traverse the island via the Riviere Salee, a saltwater mangrove channel through the centre of the island. We had to anchor near the first bridge ready for its only daily opening at 5am. The dark and early start was not improved by heavy rain showers which severely limited our visibility and made the short transit somewhat unpleasant. Dawn broke as we left the last bridge and made our way towards the north of Guadaloupe where it was impossible to eyeball navigate through the reefs to our chosen anchorage at Ilet a Fajou. We had instead to rely on our chart software, never a comfortable feeling but as we monitored it for accuracy through the buoyed channel we decided it was worth the risk.

The anchorage was stunning despite the grey skies and continuing rain. We stayed overnight waiting for some more favourable winds and were ready to sail up to Antigua the next morning. It was a fast passage and we arrived in time to anchor and head in to the Yacht Club party for Classic Week. It was a night to catch up with many friends all there to participate or watch the racing.

In-between St Lucia and Martinique

With some commitments in St Lucia we have been sailing in-between there and Martinique. We had a great time (and a lot of rum punch) at the Friday night "Jump Up" in Gros Islet with friends from a couple of other boats. We also went Sunday night jazz at Jambe de Bois on Pigeon Island which is always worth a visit.

Back in Martinique we did part of the Trace des Caps walk along the southern coast which was spectacular - varied scenery, stunning beaches and no development.

We head up to Antigua today to catch the end of Classic Week.

More of Martinique

Rather than the expected white van, we happily ended up with a car although the passenger window didn't work. We drove out of Fort de France up into the Pitons du Carbet on the Route de La Trace (opened by the Jesuits in the early 1700s) and stopped at the Ancienne Station Thermale d'Absalon, where we enjoyed a wonderful 2 hour circular walk in the rainforest. Steep paths laced with tree roots took us through luscious tropical greenery and exotic flowers populated by brightly coloured hummingbirds. At the end we climbed down into the gorge and had a refreshing swim under a waterfall.

On day 2 we visited Habitation Clement near Francois, a rum distillery with a beautifully restored Creole plantation house. Taking the coastal road up the Atlantic side of the island we investigated the Caravelle Nature Reserve and then had a spectacular drive up to Grand-Riviere on the very north of the island. Along the way we managed to collect a bucket full of fallen mangos which we are now gorging ourselves on.

On a more commercial note we also took some time to visit the myriad of massive shops and malls in Le Lamentin - there was no sense of being in the Caribbean, it was like being back in Europe, everything is available!