18:20.22N 64:55.43W Homeward Bound!
Lady Corinne
iain and gaynor macalister
Thu 20 May 2010 13:38
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Hi everybody and welcome to what will probably be our last
aquatic blog of this fantastic trip. After the Antigua Classics week we stayed
on and enjoyed the festivities that continued through the Regatta race
week. It was the same theme as the classics with lots of music and drinking but
it didn't have nearly as nice a feel to it and mostly seemed to be big gangs of
testosterone fueled youngsters partying hard after a days racing, altogether
different to the people who were here a couple of weeks before and it made me
realise just how lovely the atmosphere had been during the Classic's and
how lucky we'd been to enjoy the company of such nice people
who had really made the week for us. Gaynor and I took the boat to a
beautiful anchorage just off Pidgeon beach in Falmouth Harbour and relaxed while
we waited for Zara and Simon to arrive on Thursday evening. Third
World were playing at Shirley Heights and we headed up there almost as soon
as they arrived. It's a spectacular vantage point and from very high up it
looks out across both English and Falmouth harbours, truly breathtaking and
a great place to go as soon as you arrive. The performance was great and the
food and drink were only spoiled by the stupid system they have in place for
buying them. At separate kiosks you have to get in a queue, which moves very
slowly, and buy vouchers for the food you want and another for the drinks you
think you are going to consume. The food calculation is fairly easy, four people
= 4 x Jerk chicken, but with the drinks if you are a party of four you have
to best guess how much you're going to spend or if you get it wrong you will
have to queue for more. OK so you have now spent best part of an hour in
two queues and are the proud possessor of a fistful of food and drink
vouchers so you go to another queue and move slowly towards the food to get what
you want. Fancy a drink with your meal? well that's another queue and so it
goes on, and on, and on, but it keeps you relatively slim, and sober. After two
days Liming (local word for chillin') we set off to go to Green Island which is
about nine miles North East of Falmouth. We left a bit late in the day and after
tacking in and out we were unable to make it past Indian Creek where Eric
Clapton's impressive house perches on the edge of the rugged coastline
commanding spectacular views across the ocean. Simon was looking a
little green about the gills and we decided to go into the creek for the
night and discovered that we had the place to ourselves and it was a very
pretty spot. We explored the beaches and took the dingy up into the mangroves as
far as we could go. The following morning we set off again to try and
reach the seemingly elusive Green Island. Again the wind was on the nose and the
swell was knocking the bow back all the time. It was very frustrating, we've
sailed almost 6000 miles to be here and we can't get 9 miles up the coast.
I had been nursing the gearbox as I had started hearing a noise I wasn't
too happy with after classic week but decided that if we were going to make it
we would have to motorsail. After about half an hour I could hear the
complaining noises getting worse and made the decision to return, under
sail, to Falmouth and the Pidgeon beach anchorage. Once there I contacted
Seagull Services and Flemming, the Dutch owner, came out to have a look. After
listening to the screeching for only a moment he confirmed my suspicions and
said the box would need rebuilding with new bearings. At the time the ship
taking LadyC home was arriving in St Thomas in the U.S. virgin islands, over 200
miles away, on the 10th and we had decided that we would have to leave as soon
as Zara and Simon had gone and head straight up there, with or without a working
gearbox. Flemming said it would be impossible to get the parts and effect the
repairs by then so we resigned ourselves that we would be going without having
the repairs done, after all she is a sailing boat. The next day
we hired a bright yellow Wrangler jeep and drove all around the island
visiting lots of beautiful beaches and a lovely drive through the
rainforest on Fig Tree Drive. We stopped close to Green Island and, determined
to get there, we rented a fast rib and driver who took us, at warp speed, over
to the island where he left us snorkeling around the expansive coral
reef for about an hour and a half before coming back to collect us. It
was a Labour Day, bank holiday and we ended up at a huge jump up on
the beach close to Jolly Harbour. It was a great scene with bands and food
and it felt like we were the only non local people there. Thursday, the day of
departure for us and Zara and Simon, arrived all too soon and Gaynor set off to
walk to English Harbour to clear us out through customs and I went to The Mad
Mongoose Bar to check emails. The ship transporting us had been changed and the
replacement vessel wasn't going to arrive until the 20th. I rushed over to
customs and just managed to stop Gaynor in her tracks, then I phoned Seagull and
told him we now had extra time. We took the gearbox out that afternoon and they
carted it off to the workshop. Zara and Simon left at 1800 and we bade
them a very fond farewell softened slightly by the knowledge that, all going
well, we should be seeing them in about three weeks time. Suddenly it was
just the two of us again and as people were now practically tripping over
each other to leave the area the spots we had become accustomed to having to
squeeze into suddenly seemed very empty. I got a VHF call early on Friday
morning and was asked to come to the workshop and "look at this gearbox". I
think I knew he wasn't going to be saying " I can't find anything wrong with it
" and I wasn't totally unprepared when he told me that there was so much damage
to the components that we would be better off buying a new one. Ouch! it's so
painful having to spend money unexpectedly but he reckoned he could get a new
box sent Fed-ex from Fort Lauderdale and have it fitted by Tuesday and he did
just that. Apart from the displeasure of the bill this suited us fine and the
delay to the ship meant we could leave Antigua with a brand new gearbox and have
time to visit Ben and Niki, who we'd met in the Saints. They have a house in St
Kitts which they are in the middle of developing. They work ashore most days and
spend the nights on their lovely steel ketch "Midnight" anchored in
Whitehouse bay. I think, for the first time this trip
Gaynor and I had nothing much to do for a couple of days and planned to
spend them on the very lovely Pidgeon beach where the boat was anchored,
something that we hadn't really done at all. The days slid past in a blur of
reading, swimming, snorkeling, picnicking and drinking Pina
Coladas from the all too conveniently placed Bumpkins bar at the end of the
long, white sandy beach. Each night we dingied ashore to eat and encountered
less and less people in the bars and restaurants. We left early Wednesday
morning after receiving another email telling us that the ship would now load on
the 17th and as we were the last ones to leave Antigua we turned the lights off
before departing from a place that had been so much fun and really begun to feel
like home. This change in the schedule meant that we would only be able to
spend a short time in St Kitts but as it was on the way we told Ben and Niki we
would be there Wednesday evening. We headed up the East side of Nevis and
entered "The Narrows" which is a smallish shallow channel between Nevis and
St Kitts. We got to this point around 1400 hrs. and as we entered it one
of the many squalls that had followed us up from Antigua arrived giving us
winds of around 25 knots. This wasn't too much of a problem but as you have to
negotiate a path around Booby Rock and Cow's rocks we dropped the main and
put the engine on to motorsail through with a bit of genoa and mizzen. All was
going well when Gaynor said "Watch out ahead, fishing buoys" It was
too late to avoid them and, inevitably the line wrapped around the prop and the
engine stopped. I think my heart did too, for a moment as we were now in a
tricky predicament and although still sailing we weren't going anywhere. I could
hold the course OK but we had to cut ourselves free from the fish or lobster
trap that was holding us and, if possible cut the thick yellow nylon warp
that was now wound tightly around our propeller and shaft. We weighed up
our options and it was agreed that it was probably best for Gaynor to go
over the side, OK I know you're going to think it should have been me
BUT!........ She is a much stronger swimmer than me and if it had gone wrong
stood more chance of reaching the shore (Before the sharks got her!) also if I
had gone over the side she might have had difficulty turning the boat
single handed and getting back to me if I was in trouble. We spent a while
getting ready and rigged a webbing harness, without the lifejacket buoyancy aid,
which Gaynor wore over her shoulders and around her chest. To this we attached a
webbing safety line which was clipped to the buckle at her chest and onto the
jacklines running along the deck. As she was about to go over the side I thought
she looked very vulnerable and tied another strong warp around her middle which
I secured to a strong point in the cockpit. Armed with a sharp knife and
wearing a snorkel she dropped off the side deck and disappeared under the boat.
We were quickly freed and then she set about trying to clear the
prop. Peering over the side I could see her working frantically to free the
tangled mess. I kept the boat pointing up towards Booby rock so we
weren't pushed onto the rocky shore and managed to maintain station whilst
spilling as much wind as I could to try and slow the boat. After what seemed
like an age Gaynors head popped up and she had done it, the prop was free. The
next thing was to get her back on board, she was exhausted and needed a lot of
help, reaching over the side I grabbed her arms and hauled with all my might,
fortunately she got a knee onto the toerail and from there was easily hauled
aboard. Just to record it officially - Gaynor you are an absolute star and I
have a huge amount of admiration for what you did! From there our
passage was easy but I do have to question the sanity of a person who
uses two white polystyrene floats to mark a fishing or lobster pot in a
narrow channel. With a force five and white horses breaking all
around they are virtually invisible. Shortly after that we rounded the
headland and I could see the two white masts of "Midnight" in the far off
anchorage of Whitehouse Bay. We dropped the anchor in 15 foot on a sandy
bottom and were greeted by Ben who was on a neighbours boat. The following
morning we were up and ready at 0730 hrs and Ben and Niki came over to pick us
up, they had offered to take us around the island and we were really looking
forward to it. St Kitts is a beautiful island and we had a great time being
shown around, Ben seemed to know all the interesting places and took us to some
that even Niki hadn't been to. We visited interesting boaty places and also a
Batik factory at Romney Manor where the art was demonstrated to us. It
involves masking out areas using a melted wax before dying the cloth, several
maskings and dyings are done on one piece and the wax is removed by boiling the
cloth. It's an incredibly involved process but the end result can be
spectacular. We visited Kate and Phillip Walwyn, friends of theirs, Kate is an
original artist and her gallery is superb, Phillip. amongst other things builds
beautiful wooden boats in his workshop beside the house. We had
sailed in the classics with a replica of an historic 12 metre gaff rigged
yacht called Kate that we had admired tremendously, it was built by
Phillip, and it was great to be able to see, not only where she took on
form but also to meet the man who built her. We arrived at their house around
midday and before too long we were enjoying Bloody Mary's on their verandah
in what I can only say is probably the most idyllic setting that I have ever
experienced. At the back of the house the view was rainforested
mountains viewed across magnificent tropical gardens and if ever it was possible
to tire of that view you could walk through the house to where another outside
seating area looked over fields of sugar cane and palms to where Statia rises
majestically, in it's perfect volcanic form, from the ocean - beautiful,
breathtaking,spectacular and immense beyond anything you could ever
imagine.. All too soon our day came to an end and we returned to the
boats, we all dined together on "Spangles" a ferro cement boat owned
by an Englishman called Bill who produced an amazing feast of Estofado, rice and
salad, and after a few rums were ferried back to LadyC by Ben and Niki.
They had offered to show us the rest of the island if we stayed another day but
Gaynor and I were keen to get under way as "time was fleeting". We thanked
them for a truly wonderful day and promised that we would make up our minds by
the morning. The weather the next morning still looked unsettled but an
improvement on the previous day, the GPS which had struggled to find satellites
when we left Antigua seemed to be working fine and we felt that we should leave.
Ben and Niki came over for coffee and we reluctantly told them that we were
heading off, It was quite stirring upping the anchor for probably the last
time and waving goodbye to friends that we really wanted to spend more time
with. We headed out under the wind shadow of the island and felt that. in spite
of the weather, we would enjoy a good sail up to the Virgin Islands. How wrong
can you be? once we were clear of the lee of the island it became very
uncomfortable. It felt as though we were in a tropical wave with strong squalls
coming upon us from behind all day accompanied by very heavy rain. The
seastate was very rough and the boat was rolling constantly from side to side. I
had been looking forward to sailing at night again as we hadn't done it for a
while but it was very unpleasant, A grey daybreak found us, very
tired and still about 50 miles away from our destination. Finally we came
through between Norman and Peter islands into the quieter waters within, the sun
came out and we sailed through the flat waters to Soper's Hole in the British
Virgin Islands where we picked up a free mooring buoy.
LadyC is being shipped from St Thomas which is in the USA Virgin
Islands but we are not allowed to arrive there in a private yacht. We
had to go first to the BVI (British Virgin Islands) clear in through customs and
immigration, which involved parting with money, then we had to get a commercial
ferry to St Johns which is the nearest USA island, clear in through customs
using the visa waivers we had secured online and once we had done that get
back on the ferry and go back to the BVI - confused? so am I but now that
we have been given an entry into the USA we can now take our boat
there tomorrow . Tortolla in the BVI is absolutely full of
Americans and after the peace and tranquillity of the last six months I
found the bar full of them very noisy indeed, they are soooo loud!
Sunday dawned bright and clear, Gaynor and I went ashore for a very
sophisticated (American) breakfast and went to the supermarket to get some
provisions. This is consumerism gone mad, all the stuff you might have
missed over the last six months is here and it is a little bit disturbing. We
grabbed what we needed and headed back to the boat where we dropped
the mooring and sailed out of Soper's Hole and headed through the mass of
small islands towards our final destination. Lady Corinne must have
sensed that this was her last chance to enjoy tradewind sailing and she
certainly made the most of it. We had a wonderful sail on a beam reach
through the most spectacular scenery of the islands passing deserted
anchorages and coral shoals under a clear blue, blue sky at speeds up to seven
knots. All too soon we arrived at St Thomas and made our way, reluctantly
towards Crown Bay Marina. Unfortunately they were full and we had to head
through a narrow passage to another marina. As we cleared the narrow gap a
seaplane came over our heads and landed right in front of us. I had seen their
runway marked on the chart but I didn't expect to see one it was a real treat,
I'm told that we have right of way but I wouldn't like to find out.
Now it really was time to put the toys back in the box and
we spent one night and the following day in the Yacht Haven Grande where we
washed all the sails off and dried them. Then we took them all off and folded
them on the pontoon, removed the bowsprit, Bumpkin, Mizzen Boom and just about
everything else that could be taken off. There was lots to do and once finished
we moved a short distance to drop the anchor and avoid the extortionate Marina
charges. LadyC is being loaded onto the MV Slotengracht at 14.30 tomorrow
(Thursday 20th May) and will be going it alone all the way back to Southampton
at speeds in excess of 15 knots and that is just crazy, we will miss her company
more than I can say, We wish her well on her solo passage and look forward to
being re-united with her in Southampton.
"So what did you think of the last six months Gaynor and what are we going to do now that we don't have LadyC
anymore?"
"Well I suppose we could always charter a boat and
........................................................................"
LadyC and her Caribbean crew hope you've enjoyed our small
adventure and who knows, there may be more!
Hasta Blighty
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