Archiv

CW02 2002

06.01.2002 - 13.01.2002

Today is Sunday, January 6, and we have to wake up early. Petra and Martin need to be ready by 8.30 am, because that's when the taxi that's going to take them to the airport will arrive. And we'll have to say good-bye.
We'll also say that to Jolly Harbour soon, after all, one doesn't want to stay here any longer that absolutely necessary. So we fill up a few litres of water and actually have to pay the full price for mooring. Therefore the lines are unfastened at 10 am and we leave this seemingly devastated place.
We're not going far, only 13 nm to Falmouth Harbour.
Event though the trip to there isn't long, it's quite exciting, since Antigua is kind of surrounded by reefs, as it is here. Thomas is steering us through the Goat Head Channel and I'm constantly supplying him with our position and the course he should take.
Now that thick clouds are moving in front of the sun that's very important, since the reefs are hard to see.
The clouds bring heavy rain and 30 knots of wind with them. Wind would be nice, but please, not from the front. And the waves are also coming from the front. That makes the trip short, but hard!
But we do get to see something special; we see quite a big stingray jump entirely out of the water. And right in the entrance to Falmouth Harbour there's a turtle swimming slowly past us before diving down. Nice!
We find a good place to anchor and stay here for now. Unfortunately there's one rain shower after the other in the afternoon, so there's not much we can do.
So we make ourselves comfortable, kook something nice and give the day a relaxed ending.

On Monday we make a not-so-nice discovery: the generator isn't working properly any more, loosing salt water. Now what could that be? A job for Thomas!
It's a small part whose existence wasn't even known since it worked nicely all the time. Well, it's ok, if that thing stops working after 6 years, but the problem is to get a spare part. So we set out to find a spare for this small yet so important part. Talking about spares: our fax machine!
Domingo, our sail-maker in Las Palmas, sent us the part via DHL and we could have received that spare in Jolly Harbour, if the company to whom it was sent hadn't closed down a week ago. We have to phone DHL a few times before we can agree on a time and place for delivering the parcel on Tuesday. Now that's quite something.
We're really lucky as far as the spare for the generator goes - we find an original spare at Seagull Service. So we can go straight back aboard and put the generator together again. The generator is humming again and having worked as hard as we have, being as hungry as we are, we take the dinghy to the harbour for a dinner.

Tuesday morning is washing day. Washing isn't the problem, but drying is since it's raining all the time. A lot of, and also quite big ships are anchoring in Falmouth Harbour. Their crews have quite different problems when it rains - because then everybody has to come and polish and dry the ships. I don't envy them.
We still have our appointment with the DHL-man today. We wait for him for 1 ½ hours, then he arrives, hands us a piece of paper and let's us know that we have to collect the part from the airport. Great!
Now we have to organize a rented car for tomorrow since doing that by taxi is out of the question.

So first thing on Wednesday is picking up the rented car and making our way to St. John, to the airport. From there they send us to another place where we can take care of all the customs formalities. Finally at the right place this drama goes into its second round: to collect something from customs you need an agent - and they are already standing around waiting. We have to pay 30$EC for him to fill out a form, and then there are still the "usual" customs charges. Great! And all that for a spare part for a machine that still has guarantee on it. And since HP actually didn't manage to send us this part on time in December, the shipment from Las Palmas also cost us a few Euros.
Well, and since we had to get a rented car because of that, we might as well take a look at the island. When we picked up the car we both wondered, why they first showed us where the spare tire was. Now, that we see the roads here, we know why. We zigzag around potholes, then there's a cricket match taking place in the middle of the road, and there are goats and sheep running across the street. Everything is still rather natural here and the people have (or just take their) time.
We're going to the east coast of the island, to Devils Bridge. Here the tides have carved the cliffs in, or rather undermined them, making a kind of bridge.

From here one has a magnificent view across Nonsuch Bay over to Green Island, an island that is supposed to have the most beautiful beaches of the island. Harmony Hall comes next. Before you see this place you wonder, why it's called Harmony Hall. As soon as you arrive there, you know the answer: a place full of peace, harmony, stile and charm. A very tastefully furnished restaurant with a large terrace and a beautifully landscaped garden. In this garden you can find secluded corners where one can stay amongst oneself, like the small wedding party today. Sitting here in this garden, gazing across Nonsuch Bay, letting your eyes wonder afar, that really gives you peace.

But it's already late in the afternoon and we still want to enjoy the view from Shirley Heights. Shirley Heights kind of lies above English Harbour is the southernmost point of the island and offers THE view. It's named after a general. In the 18th century the troops of the good admiral Horatio Nelson were stationed here. So there are still old canons standing around and the powder magazine is still in pretty good condition. On the way there you see lots of remainders of old officers quarters as well as an obelisk that was erected in honour of the officers.
Arriving at the top dusk has already begun and there's no one around any more.

The light is just enough to take a few great pictures of English and Falmouth Harbour by night. Pictures like the ones you've seen on postcards. In order to be able to enjoy the view during the day as well, we come back on Thursday morning and the view as seen in daytime fascinates us all over again. Looking down onto English Harbour and Nelson's Dockyard, simply the best! This harbour is a historically important and very interesting place: in the 18th and 19th century the most important naval base on the Antilles, naval dockyard and named after admiral Lord Nelson, today part of a national preserve.

Above all it is one of the most beautiful and secure natural harbours in the entire Caribbean and therefore offers maximum security in case of strong wind or even the threat of a hurricane. Only from up here one understands over what a huge area the British troops were spread and why no ship could land unseen. What's more, the narrow entrance to the harbour can't be seen, coming from sea. At times, during the Napoleonic wars, the entire fleet would lie in the harbour, safe and undetected, while the unsuspecting enemy sailed by.

Someone else, apart from Nelson, also made history here: the Nicholsons. Commander Vernond Nicholson, his wife Emmy and their two sons reached Antigua in 1957. Coming from England and on their way to New Zealand they wanted to stop over here. That "stop over" in English Harbour changed the appearance of the harbour quite a bit since they started to rebuild the officer's quarters, of which only the walls were still standing.
Today that area is also part of the national preserve. Today a museum (the former living quarters of Nelson), the port authority, bakers, sail makers, boutiques, shops and restaurants as well as the Admirals Inn, a hotel furnished in a solid Irish English stile, are located in those historical walls. There's even a building made from bricks that came from England as ships ballast, the Restaurant Copper and Lumber. It's a very tastefully and solidly renovated house, furnished with heavy old leather armchairs, large sofas and a figurehead over the entrance.

Back aboard there's something else to see: THE Endeavour is leaving! Accompanied by another yacht the J-class yacht leaves Falmouth Harbour. A beautiful ship! Unfortunately there's also something less beautiful to be seen. All the big ships lying here do make a very nice motive for pictures, but they also produce a lot of dirt and stink. Their generators run all the time and all the dirt floats on the water and that's why our ships hulls are covered with oil now. Not nice! That gives us something to do in the afternoon, cleaning up.

Friday, we're leaving Falmouth Harbour and want to go to Green Island. As soon as we're out of the bay it immediately starts to pour again, gets stormy and the sky is under clouds. So we decide not to go against the wind or cross, we simply go around the next corner and drop anchor in Freeman Bay, the entrance to English Harbour. Apparently our timing was just right, because after us plenty of other sailing ships come in and the bay is filling up more and more. And once again we get to watch a few anchoring manoeuvres that make you wonder. But there's also something astonishing to be seen: a large island schooner comes into the bay under full sails and wants to anchor here.
Since the weather isn't improving, and sunlight is essential for navigation, we decide to stay here. Tomorrow, at the latest, we would have come back here anyway; after all, we're expecting visitors on Sunday.
The sky during the night is as clear as the sky was cloudy during the day. We can see lights far off. Using the binoculars we find out that it's the volcano island Montserrat. A little swerve to the left offers a gigantic view: the volcano crater glows red hot in the night. The volcanoes last eruption was in 1997, destroying large parts of the island that aren't settled on again up to today.
With this impressive sight the day ends.

Saturday, January 12, and we're going to move a little. We weigh the anchor and drive into Nelsons Dockyard to moor there. Mooring here consists of dropping anchor and fastening the stern lines. Since the anchor ground is rather thin and muddy here it can easily happen that the anchor doesn't hold. What's always nice while anchoring is wind from the side and that's just what we're getting today. But we'll make it.
We already had the gangway out as a series of heavy squalls race through the bay and we realize that our anchor doesn't hold. Now we've got to move quickly. I get off the boat and unfasten the lines and Thomas weighs the anchor. The strong wind makes it impossible for him to back up far enough that I could get back on board. So I'm on land and Thomas on the ship. And to make sure we don't get bored heavy rain starts falling and another ship also wants to moor.
After our second try the anchor holds and everything is ok again.
Some things just take time!
After connecting electricity and water we clean SILVER BLUE and that's it for today.
Before we say good bye for this week, here's our culinary tip directly from our on board kitchen:
Spaghetti Amatricana (serves 4)

500g Spaghetti
2 small cans of peeled tomatoes
200g grated Parmesan
200g slightly smoked bacon
2 garlic cloves

Get the spaghetti going and immediately start with the sauce.
Cut the bacon into small cubes and fry them in a pan, peel the garlic, grate it finely, add it to the bacon for a short while. Add a little olive oil, drain the tomatoes and remove the pips and stalks and mash them with a fork, then add to the rest.
As soon as the spaghetti is ready, add them to the sauce, sprinkle with Parmesan, stir and serve.

The arrival of our latest guests,
.. what the new week had to offer us,
… next week, here.
Same time, same place!
So long

Diana + Thomas

This week, a few words from Johann Wolfgang v. Goethe
It's not enough to know,
One also has to use it;
It's not enough to want,
One also has to do it.