 |
| Great Bird Island. Antigua is in the background. |
Leaving Dickerson Bay, we sailed eastward along the north
coast, tacking back and forth between the coast and the outlying reefs. Off the northeast corner of Antigua is Great
Bird Island, where we anchored and stayed for a week. Great Bird, our favorite stop on the trip, is a small,
uninhabited, windswept island. Only one
other sailboat visited Great Bird during our week there, and it only stayed one
afternoon. Great Bird had two beautiful
beaches, and a steep hill, which we climbed.
The view was spectacular – Tropic Moon peacefully floating off the
point. The waters were a myriad of
blues, greens and browns clearly showing the locations of the underwater reefs,
with the mainland of Antigua making a dramatic backdrop. At the top of the hill we found a large hole
that went right down through the island with the Atlantic surging in
below. It looked like a useful spot for
human sacrifice, a favorite pastime of the Carib Indians, who originally
inhabited the islands. Lizards scurried
through the colorful wildflowers, and all around us were a profusion of
succulent plants, reminding me of the jade plants I used to grow back
home.
 |
| Succulents |
We found good swimming and snorkeling around Great
Bird. Ed did some diving for conch
shells - empty ones - as he wanted to make himself a conch horn. He found two shells, and sawed off the small
ends to make the horns. His efforts were moderately successful; neither seemed
loud enough to carry very far. One of
the shells had an inhabitant that became our first pet of the trip. It was a small scallop that Ed installed in
a pickle jar filled with seawater, and complete with sand and a couple small
shells from my collection. I christened
him Scully the Scallop. He seemed to be
surviving quite well, until we inadvertently got some soap in his seawater. He wasn't looking his usual pulsating self,
and was on the bottom of the jar, instead of clinging to the side. Ed put Scully in a large bucket of seawater
and put it up in the bow. When we
sailed back to English Harbor, the jib sheet caught the bucket and knocked it
over. We found a very fried scallop
lying on deck when we reached the harbor.
 |
| Great Bird Island |
It's unusual to find good anchorages on the eastern side of
an island because of the exposure to the Atlantic, and the prevailing easterly winds. Antigua is an exception because of the extensive reefs along the
north and east coasts, which offer protection from the ocean once you’re safely
tucked behind them. Antigua's east
coast gives the sailor plenty of practice at eyeball navigation. It forces you to be good at it, because you
seldom get a second chance if you put your boat up on a reef. According to our cruising book: "The only problem with Bird Island is
that having found your way in, it's a bit tricky getting your vessel
out." The directions, which took
us through the reefs with no problems, read as follows:
From the western end of Great Bird, the yacht should
pick her way across the shallows heading for the SE end of Long Island. The channel will soon be seen stretching
away to the NE with Little Bird to port and North and South Whelk to
starboard. Two right angle turns, one
to port and the other to starboard, follow in quick succession. The yacht will soon be feeling the effects
of the open sea and should be driven ahead with conviction into clear water. The chart is none too accurate here, and
it's definitely up to the watery old eyeballs to keep you in deep water.
We decided to take a break in our island cruise, and sail
directly back to English Harbor. The
practical world was intruding - the garbage bags were piling up, and we were
out of fresh provisions. We spent two
days in English Harbor, and took the cross-island bus into St. John to do our
shopping. The amount of money we saved
just on our fresh vegetables was more than enough to cover bus fare for the two
of us.
 |
| That's Tropic Moon at anchor |
We had a week left on our month-long cruising permit, and
one more place we wanted to visit. We sailed back around to the east coast
to Green Island, which is located in Nonsuch Bay. Here again we were in the protection of reefs off the Antiguan
coast. We anchored all alone in a small
bay on the lee side of Green Island. I
had anticipated another peaceful week, but these illusions were soon shattered;
several charter boats came in, as well as a whole contingent of French
sailboats that seemed to be traveling en masse.
One afternoon we rowed in to Green Island, and walked along
the windward beach. Mounds of
sun-bleached coral gave the shore the appearance of an ominous graveyard of
skeletal bones. My beach-combing efforts
were more successful than usual, and I found a few intricate pieces of white
coral that would make pretty pendants.
Our cruising permit expired on February 21st, and
we sailed back to English Harbor that day to begin preparations for our passage
south to the French island of Guadeloupe.
No comments:
Post a Comment