Back to Antigua and yet more rum

Our
position is 17:00.45N 61:45.84W Wednesday 11 May 2011
What a
good decision it was not to opt for a scooter on Marie Galante! Our French
friends took theirs back after an hour and swapped them for a car because it was
WET. Yes – so much for the dry season in the Then
it was on to the supposedly working windmill. This turned out to have been the
subject of a community project in the mid 1990s and was now very definitely not
working. There was no information explaining whether everyone had just lost
interest or they’d run out of money (I suspect that both were probably likely to
be the case) so we hurried on to seek out the points of interest at the coast.
First stop was an attempt to find some caves and a feature called ‘Les
Galeries’. We managed to track these down after a scramble along a, sometimes
precarious, rocky path., returning along a dry river bed to the road. We felt
lucky to track them down as the only sign was the one telling us we had arrived
and it was definitely off the beaten track.We never found the turning to the
scenic cliffs but we did manage to track down Gueule Grand Goffre where there is
a round sinkhole and an arch at the bottom open to the sea. It was fenced off at
the top but there was a gap at the end so we went through to get a better view.
(I was too short to see down the hole from behind the fence) Unfortunately a bus
trip pulled up and disgorged its passengers and the bus driver started shouting
at me. He was shouting in French so I pretended not to understand, but I guess
he didn’t want his passengers following me, as it was a long way down and after
the rain, slippery, so I was compelled to return behind the barrier and not take
any artistic, half way down the hillside
from interesting angles, photos. It started to rain again so we left and
went in search of lunch. Ted refused to take me on a pedalo into the mangroves
so we stopped at a beachside restaurant in St Louis, where the birds were
clearing up after the finished diners, and had a good, very substantial, local
lunch. After
lunch Ted was bored with driving and we had hoped to do some good shopping at an
edge of town supermarket recommended in the pilot so we headed back to Grand
Bourg, just stopping at the ruins of an old plantation house in beautifully
maintained grounds. We located the supermarket but it had undergone some form of
trauma since the book was written as it was a big building with practically
nothing in it and nowhere near as well stocked as the 8 to huit (actually 8 – 7
with a big break for lunch) near the harbour. To cap it all the heavens opened
just as I was about to go back to the car. We were pleased when we got back to
the boat and were able to return the car and take the laptop to the cafe for
some wifi, only slightly damp. The
next two days it rained (for a change). I took the opportunity to sort out some
work related problems and catch up with work generally. It was generally too wet
to sit in the cockpit although there was plenty to see as the fishermen and
market carried on working, even in the rain and the frigate birds were wheeling
over the harbour all the time, sometimes swooping for fish waste thrown by the
market men. The wind was unfavourable for any sort of passage North so we agreed
to bypass Guadeloupe and go straight to Saturday it really rained (it had only been teasing before) It
started at 11.30 and continued non stop. We left for the sail to Since
then we have been doing boat jobs in anticipation of leaving the boat, working
(me) and sheltering from the absolutely torrential rain that fell on Monday. I
was washing the mattress covers from the aft cabin and we were able to fill all
the buckets we had from the water cascading off the sunshade in about 10
minutes. Reports at that evening’s tot were of houses cut off and flooding
throughout the island as it had also rained heavily in the night. The amount of
mud on the road bore witness to how it must have been at the peak of the storm.
Fortunately Tuesday and today have been dry and hot with very little wind from
the South East, so it augurs well for tomorrow, when we head off round the
island and up to Tonight our farewell tot is on board Nakesa, a Swan 55 being sailed
by a couple with their two young children on a 4 year
journey.
Bellevue Distillery
French explanation of distilling process Freshly harvested load of cane on the weighbridge
Bubbling lagoon at Bellevue distillery Moulin de Bezard - abandoned community project
On the rocky path to Les Galeries Les Galeries
On the road back to the car from Les Galeries Gueule Grand Gouffre
Unfortunately we can't remeber the name of this harbour Pedalos waiting to be taken into the mangroves
Bird making the most of other people's leftovers
All the books talk about cane being transported by ox cart but we only saw them like this and cane being transported by large tractor!
Plantation building ruins at Habitation Murat
Restoration underway at the plantation house Garden of medicinal plants - a project at the old Murat plantation from 1978
Activity at Grand Bourg harbour
Frigate bird over the boat
Rowing the laundry to Antigua Slipway in English Harbour |