March began with saying our good-byes to our friend
Don and welcoming our next guests, our friends Janet
and Mike. Janet and Mike joined us in Antigua. From
Antigua we immediately headed out and sailed north
300 miles to Barbuda. Barbuda is a flat dry island
with miles and miles of deserted pink sand beaches.
The sand was the most wonderful sand any of us had
ever experienced. It was like walking on powdered
sugar! We took a wonderful tour to a Frigate bird
nesting sanctuary. It was exciting to see hundreds of
Frigate chicks in their nest with the parents soaring
gracefully overhead. Our tour guide did a great job
in educating us on the birds. He was also a lobster
fisherman so we bought four nice lobsters for dinner.
They were not near as cheap as we had gotten in the
San Blas islands of Panama but they were just as good
tasting! We enjoyed an elegant lobster dinner on
Reality as we watching the sun set brilliantly in the
sea.
We stayed two nights in Barbuda then sailed back to Antigua spending the night in Deep Bay. Deep Bay was reported to have some excellent snorkeling. We must have hit it on a bad day because the water visibility was terrible. We did enjoy a walk to the top of the hill to see the ruins of an old fort. The fort was small but the views were beautiful. Mike and Vaughn enjoyed talking to the local Rastaman on the beach.
The next day we continued south to Guadeloupe anchoring in the town of Deshaise. From Deshaise we rented a car and spent several days exploring the island. Sharon and Janet celebrated their "40 something" birthdays on Guadeloupe. On Sharon's birthday we all hiked for hours in the dense rainforest to an outstanding set of waterfalls called Chutes de Moreau. There were two waterfalls on the trail, both beautiful. One waterfall dropped more than 300 feet and the other was at least 200 feet. Pretty impressive stuff! The pool at the base of the falls was so inviting we all went in for a swim. The water falling 300 feet was so defused and misty we were able to swim right through the fall. It was great! We enjoyed a nice French bottle of wine (Guadeloupe is a French island) with lunch then headed back out. The vegetation in the rainforest was amazing. It's very large and very green! We all agreed it was quite different than the backpacking we do together at home every summer in the Sierra Nevada Mountains.
On Janet's birthday we hiked up to the top of volcano Soufriere. It was the highest spot in all of Guadeloupe. We were up in the clouds most of the walk. It was completely different than the rainforest. The vegetation was all low and scrubby. There was this beautiful thick moss draped over everything. The color of the moss ranged from green to white to a rosy pink. The colors must have had something to do with how much sulfur was in the area. At least that was our guess because the smell of sulfur almost knocked you over in a couple places. When we got to the top of the volcano the wind was blowing so hard you felt like you were going to be blown right off the top of the volcano. It was lots of fun!
From Guadeloupe we continued sailing south to Le Saintes, more French islands. Le Saintes is a cute little island with a quaint tourist town that reminded us of Capitola, CA. We enjoyed wondering around town. We found a great Ice Cream Parlor. It's been a long time we have had really great ice cream and this place had it! We took a morning walk up to a huge neat old Fort. We sailed south to Dominica that afternoon.
Our friend Janet really wanted to see Dominica during their vacation. She had heard that it was a beautiful island. We were all glad we had decided to sail that way. Dominica was indeed great! We anchored in Portsmouth and before we even got the anchorage set we were greeted by several "BoatBoys". "BoatBoys" are local guys trying to make a living providing personalized service to visiting yachts. They provide services ranging from boat waxing and bottom cleaning to delivering fresh produce and bread. It's the Caribbean version of "Webvan". You just wave them over, place an order and they deliver it right to your boat. We selected James and Albert to work with. They were great guys. We spent the first few days right in the Portsmouth Bay enjoying the beach and sight seeing. We hiked up to a meticulously restored huge English Fort. The Fort is called Shirley Fort and it's in the Cabrits National Park. The Fort dated back to the early 17th century. The Fort was practically it's own little city with workshops, gunpowder vaults, barracks, officers quarters, the works. The following day we went on a tour up the Indian River with Albert. The river is marsh wetland that snakes through several miles of old growth huge mangrove and tropical hardwoods. Albert did a good job in pointing out all the different kinds of trees and birds.
The next day we took a tour of Dominica. We went on a hike to a gorgeous waterfall called Sari Sari. The falls were 125 feet tall which was not quite as tall as the falls on Guadeloupe but much larger and much more powerful. We had hired a local guy as a guide on this hike because the trails to the falls were not marked. You needed local knowledge to find them and know which of the trail heads to take. Our guides' name was "Cobra" and he was a great guy, lots of fun. The hike to the fall was down a canyon through thick rainforest. The falls were booming and magnificent. We went for a swim in the pool at the bottom of the falls. You could hardly swim against the force of the falls. Cobra kept telling us to breathe in "the power of the water". He showed us how to work up against the current and then swim around behind the falls. It was quite an experience and you could definitely feel and breathe the power of the water. We had a great day! I guess Cobra took a liking to us because he ended up inviting us up to his place for dinner. So the next night we partied with him and about 20 of his friends. They cooked up some excellent KingFish. Then we danced the night away to Reggie music. You should see the Dominicans dance; they can move their hips and butts in a most sexy style. We always thought the favorite West Indies phrase refer to the weather...maybe it's the dancing! "Hot, Hot, Hot!"
We were having so much fun in Dominica that Janet and Mike decided instead of sailing two days to get back to Antigua they would spend the time playing on Dominica and catch a puddle jumper flight to get home. This worked out great for us. After we said all our good-byes and reminisced about all the fun we had together we spent the next week in Dominica doing absolutely nothing!
Rested and recharged we sailed back north. We first sailed to Le Saintes planning to stop just long enough to get some of that great ice cream. Just as we were nearing the island we found another reason to HATE FishTraps. We saw a whale and at first we were very excited. It is the first time in a long time we have seen a whale. The whale seemed to be putting on a show for us. He was slapping his fins, slapping his tail and jumping out of the water. He kept jumping and slapping for 10 minutes. Great show! But as we got closer and closer I could see that everywhere he went a FishTrap float was following him. It became clear that all the jumping wasn't for fun or to give us a great show. He was trying to free himself from the lines of a FishTrap. We couldn't get close enough (didn't want to) to see how the line was wrapped around him but it was clear he didn't like it one bit! We watched until he got so far away that we couldn't see him. We never saw him get rid of the FishTrap float. We can only hope that he is a big enough animal that he could break the line or untangle himself somehow. We HATE FishTraps!!!
Next we sailed back to Guadeloupe to the Pigeon Island anchorage. Pigeon Island is the Jacques Cousteau National Marine Park. Went spent 3 days snorkeling and scuba diving the Cousteau Park. It was fabulous! We rented a car one day explored the Grand Terre side of the island. We drove by some beautiful beaches. We stopped and checked out the local arts and crafts in St. Anne. Then we spent the afternoon hiking up the Chutes de Carbet trail. The trail climbed steeply up the mountain via steps, tree roots and slippery mud. It was a real stairmaster type workout. The waterfalls were definitely worth the workout! The first fall dropped a stunning 370 feet. The second fall almost as spectacular dropping 360 feet. Awesome! Guadeloupe sure is a beautiful island!
On the last day of March we sailed from Guadeloupe back St. Kitts. It was an exhilarating fast 85-mile sail. We were able to sail right by Monserrat. It was amazing to see the active volcano billowing ash and smoke. Most of the island is covered in ash. The cities are buried up to the rooftops in ash. It is amazing to see the complete devastation created by the volcano! A sure reminder not to mess with Mother Nature!