We have really been looking forward to January. January was when we planned to get serious about circumnavigating Antigua, enjoying all this little but beautiful volcanic island has to offer including visits to more of those 365 beaches! We did a bit of exploring while Jill’s dad and stepmom where staying with us — visiting Jolly Harbour, Deep Bay and Carlisle Bay — and that only served to wet our appetite further. So with our guests departed and New Year’s festivities behind us we took off for Green Island on January 5. The privately owned Green Island is a little spec of an island located off the southeastern peninsula of Antigua, at the southern entrance to Nonsuch Bay where we intended to anchor. When we say “little spec,” we are not kidding. The island measures about two kilometers (1.23 miles) from west to east. Its width varies by two south-facing peninsulas that range from a few hundred meters to maximum 650 meters (roughly, 0.12 – 0.40 miles), forming several sheltered bays. Altogether, the island has an area of 40 hectares or ~0.154 square miles. The island rises only a few meters above sea level and is composed of tropical brushwood and partly lined by rock, partly by pure white beaches. It is also the home of a small kiteboard school so these colorful kites, gracefully flying around the bay, become part of the backdrop. In short, Green Island delivers oversized unspoiled beauty in a very small package.
Aside from the beauty of the island itself and the surrounding bays, the allure of Green Island is that there is nothing there — no homes, no resorts. It is our kind of place! That said, across Nonsuch Bay on the Antigua “mainland” is a residential resort that just opened a new restaurant called Rokuni. It happens to be owned by the same group that owns Sheer Rocks and Catherine’s, two of our favorite “special occasion” restaurants. So we thought as long as we were in the area for 3 – 4 days, let’s make reservations at Rokuni for one night. We could celebrate the start of our circumnavigation in earnest — not that we really needed an excuse but it always adds fun to our evenings out when we have something to toast. Besides, our new friends, Ruud and Laurie, decided to join us in Nonsuch Bay and we figured it would be a nice way to enjoy an evening together. We agreed that they would anchor near us and we would pick them up in our dinghy on our way into shore.
Our plan was to anchor in Nonsuch Bay close to Green island (vs. mainland Antigua). That created a pretty far dinghy ride to the restaurant (just over a nautical mile) through choppy water (remember we are totally exposed in our dinghy so chop makes for a wet ride) but we are now pros so we figured we wouldn’t let distance and chop deter us from anchoring in the most desirable area. Not a smart move. Aside from the chop, to get to the dinghy dock for the resort where Rokuni is located you have to enter a small bay and go around a little peninsula. Sounds easy, right? Well, not so much. We guess to prevent sea debris (like sargassum) from entering the small bay where guest frolic in the water the resort created two barriers out of rope and floats. One of the float covered ropes extends from the tip of the peninsula out into the entrance of the bay and the other float covered rope is attached to the other side of the bay and extends to the middle of the bay in a fashion that overlaps and runs parallel with the other rope. This, in essence, creates a narrow channel between the two ropes that we were supposed to motor our dinghy through. Great in theory but there were two problems. First, the sun sets early in the Caribbean (around 5:45 PM in the Winter) so though it was not pitch black during our 6 PM dinghy ride it was closer to dark than twilight, making it very hard to see the “channel” which, of course, was unmarked. Second, and we didn’t figure this out until the ride back (when it was pitch black), one of the ropes had come loose and was dangling in the water. This, naturally, cause us to get it caught in our prop on the way into the bay. Fortunately, we knew what was happening the moment it happened so we were able to get the motor into neutral, lift the engine and, eventually, get free. At this point, however, we thought we just missed the channel and did not fully appreciate that there was this hazard we’d have to be mindful of on the way back. We figured we just needed to progress further towards the other side of the bay.
We had a lovely meal at Rokuni and were beginning to think that despite the long and wet dinghy ride and rope encounter, it was worth the trip. The open air restaurant, overlooking Nonsuch Bay, has a really hip modern Asian vibe and the food, though not as good as the meal we had at Sheer Rocks, was definitely very good. So we got back in the dinghy with full bellies and feeling very relaxed and content. That lasted about two minutes until we took off in the dark (important note: we do have lights for the dinghy and always use them) and got the rope caught in our prop again. That is when we realized that one of the ropes was not attached and was free floating in the water. We were again fortunate and discovered the problem early, allowing us to get free though it was definitely a scarier occurrence in the dark. But that turned out to be the least of our worries. Generally the wind and waves calm down at night but, of course, the opposite happened that evening. So we had to dinghy directly into the wind and waves, dodging mooring balls as we got closer to the anchorage and making sure to avoid the very shallow reef (even too shallow for our dinghy) that ran through the middle of Nonsuch Bay and could not be seen at night even with lights. We are glad to report that we made it back in one piece — we didn’t hit anything and no one bounced out of the dinghy — but that ride was not for the faint of heart (or anyone who had any sense about them!) and we were all very, very relieved when we got to our respective boats.
When we got back to Che Figata our adrenaline was still pumping so it took us a little while to calm down and feel tired. We eventually felt tired enough to go to bed and were looking forward to a great night’s sleep. It started out well — though it rained off and on (resulting in the ritualistic opening and closing of the hatches), there was a nice cool breeze and a soothing gentle rock that made our bed feel particularly pleasant as we drifted in and out of sleep throughout the night. That changed at about 4:45 AM when we both awoke to the sound of our shower drain pump running followed by a loud pop akin to a small explosion. Since it sounded like it came from our head Jill went in there to investigate and she found smoke rising up from the shower drain that quickly filled the shower cavity. All sorts of thoughts ran through our minds but the most persistent was that there was an electrical fire someplace on the boat so we ran around the boat opening up all the bilges to examine every possible crevice for signs of smoke or fire. After about 15 minutes we concluded, very thankfully, that there was no fire aboard and what had happened is that the sensor in our shower drain area that activates the automatic drain pump upon the presence of water somehow shorted. We have no idea what would have caused that to unit to basically explode but we were grateful that it didn’t start a fire or explode due to a fire elsewhere. Needless to say, after waking up to the sound of an electrical pop our adrenaline went back into overdrive and we were wide awake. We went back to bed but neither of us fell back to sleep and we eventually got up around 6:30 AM to start the day.
Though we would have preferred to have been awoken slowly by the rising sun, we were glad to start the day. As we peered out from below deck we could see that it was a magnificent day. Blue, blue skies without a cloud. We wasted no time getting on our snorkeling gear to explore the reef. While it was great to be back in the water with our gear on the snorkeling, it self, was very disappointing. The water was a bit murky — almost like there had been a lot of churn — and the reef was really not much more that rocks and sea grass. Not a whole lot of sea life. Apparently, there are better spots around the island for snorkeling but, for reasons we will get to in a moment, we didn’t get to them this trip.
Despite the less than stellar snorkel adventure, we were having a great day. As we said, the weather was glorious. So, after our snorkel we decided to take a dinghy ride to the beach on Green island to do some on land exploring. As we were riding over Jill kept commenting what a great picture the island would make and, once we were on the island we had great views of our beloved Che Figata which we thought would also make some great pics. Jill suggested that we come back the next day with our phones to snap a few shots but Zack said there is no time like the present — it was a beautiful day, the sun was at the perfect angle — lets go back to the boat, grab one of our phones and get those pictures that day. Since we had nothing else on our busy social calendar (well, other than cocktails at 5 PM with our friends), we decided to go back and grab a phone. When we arrive back at Che Figata Jill looped our painter around one of the hand holds and gave it to Zack to hang on while she grabbed her phone and placed it in a dry bag. She came back quickly and, as Zack always does, he offered her a hand to get into the dinghy. As Jill always does — at least as she has done for the last 14 years — she declined Zack’s chivalrous offer telling Zack that it is easier to do it herself. And then she fell. She is not entirely sure what happened but she somehow lost her balance and fell from the back steps of our boat into the water banging her legs on the swim ladder (which was still down from our snorkel adventure) and creating a very nasty and long gash along the shin of her left leg. Though her leg hurt, she came up laughing hysterically at the irony of what just happened. She was also very proud that she did not lose her sunglasses which were on her face when she took that unexpected plunge. Of course, Jill has her priorities so she insisted that we complete our photography mission and, only after we got the shots she wanted, did we come back to the boat so Zack could clean and bandage her wound. Zack played doctor, applying antibiotic ointment and a large gauze pad to completely cover her injury. And that, our friends, was the end of our snorkeling for that trip. When Zack cleaned up the cut we realized in was not just superficial and it was best not to go back into the ocean until it has scabbed over. Jill will most likely have a scar on that leg as a souvenir of our first trip to Green Island!
The next few days were uneventful and absolutely wonderful. Though we did not swim, we enjoyed the tranquility of our surroundings, reading and taking some dinghy rides to explore. It was with great regret that we had to pull up anchor on January 9. After 4 marvelous days — crazy dinghy rides, electrical pops in the night and falls notwithstanding — it was time to head back Falmouth Harbour to do laundry, provision and meet several vendors for some scheduled repair work. (We still have a few items on our punch list.). We take turns when bringing up the anchor — one of us is at the helm and one of us is managing the anchor — it’s a flip of the coin thing really so on that particular day, for no particular reason, Jill was bringing up the anchor and Zack was at the helm. As often happens, just as we were bringing up the anchor we noticed that a squall was approaching so naturally we were trying to get the anchor up as quickly as possible which means that is precisely when our windlass — the mechanical system that pulls up our anchor electronically — failed. Jill got the anchor almost to the top but it wouldn’t go up any further. We assumed that we had tripped a breaker but, after going below deck to check, we learned that was not the case. The only choice was to pull the anchor the rest of the way manually and, despite all of Jill’s planks and pushups, that was not something she could handle. It was a job for Zack so we traded places and Zack proceeded to pull the 110 pound anchor by hand up and over the bow roller.
While this is happening Jill is trying to navigate in a somewhat narrow bay with shallow, rocky areas close to shore while also avoiding the reef. It took her full concentration. Zack was facing forward so all she could see was his back. And then it happened. Jill heard what sounded like the anchor slipping and a loud scream coming from Zack. (The scream was accompanied by some expletives but we will allow you to use you imagination). But remember Zack was facing away from Jill and his body blocked her view so Jill had no idea what happened. She assumed the worst — that the anchor had dropped and somehow his arm or fingers had gotten caught between the chain and the bow of the boat. In an instant — though it seemed like many minutes — she was thinking though how to call mayday, navigate the boat to a safe spot and get bandages (and a tourniquet) for Zack’s injury. Before she could put any of that in motion, in response to Jill yelling “what happened,” Zack yelled back that he has pulled a muscle in his leg. (It turned about to be torn hamstring — ouch!!! — more on that later). At that point Zack secured a line to the anchor which he then secured to a winch to help get the anchor up and over the bow roller. Following that we were on our way!
We returned to Falmouth Harbour — our home away from home — that afternoon (January 9). Given our anchor situation we didn’t dare drop it so, instead, we picked up one of the moorings managed by the Antigua Yacht Club. As we mentioned, we had vendors lined up to do some of the outstanding repairs on our punch this. This included fixing a loose trash door, a faulty alternator and some “dings” in our woodwork. We also had a list of DIY repairs because, among other things, we noticed our sink drain pump was not working and the float switch needed to be replaced. The vendor who came out to help with the alternator, Marionics, was able to trouble shoot the anchor and informed us that we had a failed solenoid on the up switch. We needed to order a replacement part which, of course, we did right away. Though the new solenoid was not going to arrive in Antigua before our next planned departure from Falmouth, Marionics was able to help us with a workaround that would allow us to get the anchor down through a free fall while we used the good solenoid for the down switch to hoist the anchor back up. Not ideal but better than being tethered to Falmouth for another week. So with repairs made, parts ordered, a telehealth visit under our belt for Zack’s leg and laundry and provisioning complete we left Falmouth Harbor for Barbuda on January 13.
But, before we get into the sail to Barbuda, a bit about Zack’s leg. As you can imagine, it continued to bother him and a few days after we got back he asked Jill to take a look at it. There was a rather large bruise on the back of his left thigh, just above the knee. That’s when it occurred to us that we should probably have his leg checked out. Fortunately, during our time in Connecticut, we made physician friends, one of whom, Steve Schutzer, MD, is an orthopedic surgeon. Jill sent him the picture of Zack’s leg and described what happened. We were really just looking for Steve to help us arrange a paid telehealth visit with someone in his practice but, within a few hours, we received a FT call from Steve (while we were provisioning) so Zack had an impromptu orthopedic consult. The verdict: a torn hamstring. While Zack’s leg hurts (a lot) the good news is that it will repair on its own in 6 – 8 weeks — no surgical intervention required. In the meantime, the bruising on his leg continues to expand and darken, making him look quite rugged! We are so grateful for Steve and his willingness to fit Zack in during one of his 16 hour work days. As Jill’s grandmother would have said, he is a true mensch!
Safe with the knowledge that Zack’s leg would not atrophy and fall off, it was off to Barbuda. You can see, however, where we get our subtitle for this blog entry from. Green Island is as close to paradise as it gets but while enjoying that little slice of heaven we also experienced a rather sporty dinghy ride (of course, that was a self-imposed misadventure), two injuries, an exploding automatic drain pump switch filling our head with smoke and a malfunctioning windlass preventing us from raising our anchor at the worst of all possible times. We wouldn’t trade our current lifestyle for anything but, as we said before, it requires a healthy dose of resilience.
But back to Barbuda . . . . Just under 100 square miles in size, Barbuda is located approximately 35 nautical miles due north from the northern tip of Antigua. We had a glorious sail from Antigua to Barbuda. The trade winds did not fail us. That easterly wind put us on a nice beam reach and we sailed somewhere between 7 – 8 knots almost the entire way to Barbuda. Barbuda is largely unspoiled. Unlike Antigua, it is very, very flat. So much so that you don’t see it as you are approaching until you are practically on top of the island. Though it was always prized for its lack of development, Hurricane Irma destroyed 95% of the structures on this small island in September of 2017 when the eye of the storm passed right over it. While most of the residents of Barbuda (~1,600) have returned to this little gem, the resorts have not. In the main settlement of Codringron you can find a small grocery and a few streetside cafes, but there are no resorts or fine dining restaurants on the island. Of course, ever industrious, some of the locals make a living by selling lobsters and fish to the cruisers that anchor off the island (in Cocoa Bay, there’s a local who will prepare a lobster dinner on the beach for you) and also giving tours to some of the key attractions including the Frigatebird Sanctuary.
For our visit to Barbuda we decided to anchor in Low Bay. Though there was a resort here at one point, pre-Irma, it is currently undeveloped. There is nothing in Low Bay other than 11 miles of a beautiful beach that surrounds a lagoon. We did very little in Low Bay other than take in the beauty. We took dinghy rides, walked along the beach (contributing to some beach art that others had started by adorning it with shells we hung from a vine), took several swims and just relaxed. We also watched one of the most magnificent sunsets we had seen in a while. (We chose one of the pictures we took of this magical sunset as our feature photo for this blog entry.) After our adrenaline producing stay off Green Island, Low Bay was just what we needed — the perfect antidote. We were particularly pleased with the lack of neighbors. During our stay there were only between 4 – 8 other boats anchored in the area, all a good distance from one another. We loved the privacy and quiet. And, as beautiful as it was during the day, we probably most enjoyed the nights. With zero light pollution, once the moon set in the evening the stars were incredibly bright. We enjoyed laying in our bed, looking out at the sky from our hatch, listening to the sounds of the surf and falling asleep to the gentle rocking of the waves. (In full disclosure, “gentle” rocking is a bit of an understatement for the wave action we experienced our first night but it wasn’t awful — from our passages, we know what awful is — and we will take that anytime over a crowded but protected bay.)
After 3 wonderful days it was time to head back to Antigua. We had more boat work scheduled the upcoming week in Falmouth Harbour (including the installation of our new solenoid to fix our windlass) and also had to prepare for our daughter’s visit at the end of the week. That meant doing laundry, provisioning, cleaning, etc., etc. We also wanted to make a stop in Jolly Harbor because there is a large Budget Marine there and we needed some spare parts and other boat “stuff” we couldn’t get at the smaller Budget Marine in Falmouth Harbour. So we headed to Jolly Harbour on June 16 with the plan to hit the Budget Marine the next morning and get back to Falmouth Harbor the afternoon of January 17. BTW, “Budget” Marine is a total misnomer. “Break Budget” Marine would be more appropriate — everything is at least twice as expensive there as other marine stores (which themselves are over priced) back in the States. But Budget Marine is the only gig in town so if we need something that is where we shop.
The sail back to Antigua was every bit as wonderful as the sail up to Barbuda. We took the fact that the windlass workaround was successful — we were able to hoist our anchor electronically without a hitch — as a good omen and it was! We again caught the trade winds and sailed on an incredible beam reach — flying at 7 to 9 knots — almost the entire way to Jolly Harbour. It was one of those sails where you just want to keep going. But we needed to stop so we anchored in the outer harbor of Jolly Harbour seeing many of our friends from the Salty Dawgs. They were staged in Jolly Harbour to check out of Antigua and sail down to Guadalupe where they plan to stay for about a month. We hope to meet up with the gang there when we leave for Guadalupe at the end of January.
We enjoyed a lovely evening in Jolly Harbour, venturing into town to try a local restaurant, The Miracles of the Caribbean. This was not your typical, on the water, touristy restaurant. It is owned by locals who pride themselves on serving authentic Caribbean cuisine. We were clearly the only non-locals in the establishment though our server very graciously told us that since we had been on Antigua for almost 3 month now we were honorary locals. Zack ordered the coconut prawns as an appetizer and curried goat for his main course and Jill had made to order pumpkin soup — a local favorite — as an appetizer (the chef kindly substituted soy milk for cream in the recipe) and curried vegetables for her main course. We both declared the dinner one of the best we have had on the island and intend to return when we head back to Jolly Harbour to meet our daughter.
As we type this entry we are now safely moored back in Falmouth Harbour. As we mentioned, we will stay here a few days to get some boat work done, do laundry and get ready for our daughter’s visit. As long as we are here, we will squeeze in a visit to our favorite Indian restaurant, Indian Summer. We will also be hosting the manager of Indian Summer on our boat for cocktails. He’s heard so much about Che Figata during our many visits to his restaurant that he wants to meet her and Jill is anxious to have him try her Old Fashion Rum Punch since the one he serves is the gold standard. (Plus Jill is using his coveted recipe!) We will let you know if Jill gets a thumbs up on her version when we write our next entry. Most likely, we will publish our next entry in 2 – 3 weeks following our daughter’s visit and after our final departure from Antigua as we head South!
