Our first couple of days in Antigua were spent around Bird Island. This is a collection of islands and islets off the north eastern corner of mainland Antigua. Graham was only able to stay for one more day, so we spent our time foiling and messing about. Kate drove him to the airport, on a long dingy ride, and then there were only three of us left. We cruised up the coast to Green Island, a well known foiling and kiting spot with a well protected anchorage behind an ancient and damaged reef. We enjoyed some more foiling for three days before heading down to English Harbor, where we bought some provisions, checked out of the country, and were hit by a charter boat at anchor.
We had decided to take a quick trip over to Guadeloupe, as I had a new foil board waiting for me there, and Matt wanted to see something different before he went home. We set sail mid morning from English Harbor, and arrived in Les Iles de Petit Terre around 10:30pm. It was not a pleasant sail, as we took an upwind beating the entire way. I think it was too soon after our Atlantic crossing to be at sea for more than a few miles, and we arrived exhausted. Luckily the entrance between the two small islands presented few problems, and we were soon moored to a ball, since no anchoring is allowed in this nature reserve. The islands themselves were interesting, we were not allowed to set foot on the northern one, but took a quick walk around the southern one. A lighthouse remains active, and the island is mainly inhabited by birds and iguanas.
On the third morning we awoke to large waves breaking across the entrance to the mooring field. A small monohull was parked behind us and we watched them leave. After three false starts they committed to heading out to sea, and took a huge wave over the bows. This made us a little nervous, and we decided to leave a bit sooner, so as to have the stressful part over with. It wasn’t as bad as it looked, and we didn’t take any serious waves, but we were glad to be in deep water. We threw out the genoa only, and drifted downwind towards Saint Francois, while squalls blew through on top of us.
Saint Francois is on the south-eastern part of Guadeloupe, and is a small town with an excellent wind sports area right in the anchorage. The anchorage is shallow (almost too shallow) with a reef protecting it from the open ocean. When the wind blows it is filled with foilers, kiters, windsurfers and people sailing Hobies and other small boats. The village is quaint, with plenty of restaurants that are closer to France quality and prices; a nice change after Antigua. We hung out on the boat, I picked up my new foil board, and we foiled. One day we rented a car and struck off to explore the island a bit more. We were able to find a cardboard box for Matt to put his bike in for transport back home. We went to some marine shops, and we met our friends Daniel and Miriam from NAVA for lunch.
Heading back to Antigua we motored up to the eastern point of Guadeloupe, and then raised the gennaker for an easy sail back down to Jolly Harbor, easily making it in daylight, with enough time to check into the country. Matt had one more day before he had to go home, so we went out to Cade’s Reef, a protected spot on the southern side of the island. Although the reef protects the anchorage from swell and waves, the wind has unrestricted access, so we had a nice day of foiling. This was the day where I started hitting all my tacks, and first started riding some small swell outside of the reef. We had a nice relaxing day before heading back to Jolly Harbor where Matt packed up and got ready to go. We had dinner in town, preceded by an unexpected trivia night, and then headed back to the boat. Matt left in the morning, and I dingied him to the customs dock, where he took a taxi to the airport.
Just the two of us again, we headed up to Green Island, where we foiled every day while waiting for Kate’s sister and family to come. We picked them up just before Christmas, and spent a leisurely few days cruising down the north side of the island, before making our way back up and around to Falmouth Harbor, where we stayed for a couple nights, until it was time for them to go home. We stayed in Falmouth until the new year, and we visited with our friends from Prevail as well as Wayfinder. Then we moved up to Green Island again, and down to Bird Island. At Bird Island we decided to use the reef pass directly to the north of the island, which is narrow and shallow. We had very settled weather, and entering this way allowed us access to a cool anchorage close into Bird Island. We stayed two nights here, watching a huge squall with waterspouts pass just to our north. The exit from this anchorage was between a series of barely submerged coral heads, and we eased our way out to anchor in another location, with deeper water and better protection. We spent a day going to town to refuel the dingy and load up on groceries. Early the next morning we raised sail and headed for Barbuda.
