 |
| Our circumnavigation started at English Harbor, on the southern coast. |
After returning to Antigua from the States, our plan was to
explore the island’s sixty miles of coastline.
According to our cruising guide, the coast abounded in good anchorages
that were well worth visiting. We left
English Harbor on January 24th for our circumnavigation around Antigua. We had the wind at our backs as we sailed
along the southern coast of Antigua, and then worked our way up about half of
the western coast. It was a nice, peaceful sail in calm waters, on the lee side
of the island, leaving the person not at the wheel free to wander about the boat,
or sit up in the bow. The calm waters
meant very little spray. Both camera
and binoculars were on deck for studying and capturing the interesting features
of the coast.
 |
| Coastal shot |
Our first destination was Five Islands Harbor. It was an easy harbor to find, as there are
five little islands situated just outside the entrance of the bay. Five Islands Harbor is a large bay with
several inlets. As we entered under
sail, we bypassed the first inlet. A
large "pirate ship" filled with tourists from St. John’s, Antigua's
capital, was motoring out of the harbor.
Some people lifted cameras to get a shot of Tropic Moon as we sailed
past. I got a kick out of occasionally
finding ourselves a part of the local color.
We sailed into the second inlet.
After taking down the jib, we worked our way forward with just the
mainsail. When Ed was ready to drop the
anchor, I lowered the mainsail.
We could see the masts of a boat in the first inlet. We saw it sail out shortly after or arrival,
leaving us with the whole place to ourselves.
After the constraints of living in the densely populated parking lot of
English Harbor, my first thought was that I could go skinny-dipping, and I
promptly went over the side. As you may
recall, Tropic Moon didn’t have a shower.
We took our baths in the water, and it was a lot easier to do when I
didn’t have to work within the confines of a bikini.
 |
| Banana Boats, St. John's Harbor |
During the four days we were at Five Islands, just one other
boat came in, and anchored near us, but only stayed one night. One day we rowed to one of the beaches to
climb the cliff of volcanic rock that separated the two inlets. We had wanted a closer look at a waterspout
on the far side. There was a narrow
cleft in the rock. When the waves
surged in, they would be funneled up the cleft into a geyser about thirty feet
high. It was really pretty to watch the
surge, enjoy the light spray, and listen to the whooshing of the water.
We sailed from Five Islands one afternoon to continue up the
coast to St. John’s, the only city on Antigua. Our chart was rather vague about where we might anchor, showing
shallow areas near the town. Our
cruising book (and bible) insinuated that yachts didn't anchor in St. John’s
because it's a commercial port. As we
worked our way into the mouth of the deep-set harbor, we could see a cruise
ship, and some anchored freighters.
Since it was getting late in the day, we decided not to tackle it, and
sailed back around a point to Deep Bay.
Again we sailed in without starting the engine. (We were getting really good at entering a
harbor under sail!) It took a few
tacks, as there was a submerged, 3-masted sailing ship sunk in the middle of
the entrance to the bay. There were
also a few anchored sailboats to avoid.
 |
| Tug Boat Annie |
As we were approaching Deep Bay, Tug Boat Annie, a local
excursion boat, was making her way out.
Our sails were up on our starboard side. Annie was heading for that side when she decided to pass us to
port. That was the proper choice, so we
could fall off to starboard if we needed to, but the decision was made a little
late, and she crossed right in front of our bow. I was ready to make an obscene gesture in Annie's direction, but
all the tourists were waving. I lost my
nerve and just waved back. We were
recorded on a movie camera that time.
 |
| Street Market, St. John's |
We took Tropic Moon around into St. John the following
morning, carefully measuring the depth of the water as we approached the
town. I drove the boat, while Ed stood
in the bow, tossing the lead line. We
were still a long ways from the dock when we anchored. The water had shallowed to seven feet, and
as we drew six feet, it was as far in as we dared go.
 |
| Street scene in St. John's |
We spent the day sightseeing in St. John. It was a good-sized town, with fairly modern
buildings, and a variety of stores. It
was sufficiently well developed that the sheep wandering through the streets
looked somewhat out of place! We saw a
sign for a marine chart agent. We
wandered through a garden, and up some stone steps, to walk into a room where a
man was typing. I thought we'd somehow
missed the store, but we were in the right place, and spent some time visiting
there. The owner was a retired
Commander from the British Navy. His
wife, whom we also met, was Antiguan.
Their business was only two weeks old, and we were the first potential
customers to wander up as a result of their new sign, which had been completed
just the day before. We asked what
other services they were providing, besides selling charts. We were told he did marine surveys, while
his wife provided secretarial services - as well as offering piano lessons.
 |
| St. John's Cathedral |
A popular tourist sight in St. John is the cathedral located
on a hill over-looking the town and harbor.
We walked through the cemetery reading the ancient stones, and entered
the cathedral to hear the organist and some choir members at practice. The church, which is Anglican, is very large
with three altars and beautiful woodwork. There was an old carpenter at work
who looked as if he wanted to speak to us, so we stopped to admire his
handiwork. He told us how the church
had been damaged in an earthquake, as well as suffering progressive damage from
termites over the years. He had started
doing carpentry work in the church eight years before, and was alone because one
carpenter was all the church could afford.
His efforts were impressive - he had replaced sections of many of the
pews, including the curving carved end pieces, all of which were done by hand. He turned out to not only be the church's
carpenter, but also the major fundraiser, and sold us a book on the history of
the cathedral.
 |
| I combined two slides (in Photoshop) to get this panorama of the shore in St. John's Harbor. |
Not comfortable spending the night anchored in St. John’s
commercial harbor, we headed north a short way to Dickerson Bay. It was the location of several major resort
hotels. After spending three nights in
Dickerson Bay, we were ready to continue our clockwise circumnavigation of
Antigua.
No comments:
Post a Comment