On to Antigua

10 February 2008 | Antigua, West IndiesWhile Berkeley East was being repaired from the damage by a runaway charter boat, we headed off to Charlotte to visit with friends and check on our house. The house was in good shape and it was great to see good friends and neighbors again. As the work concluded we headed back to the British Virgin Islands to continue our travels south.

We set off for Antigua (a 30+ hour sail) immediately after the boat repairs were complete, trying to get ahead of an approaching weather system. The sail started out rough as we navigated around large squalls. The highlight of each squall was the vibrant rainbow after it passed.

The weather continued to deteriorate throughout the afternoon and night, as we bashed our way into 9 – 10 foot seas. The waves were breaking over us and we were very, very wet. Around 9:00 pm we got engaged in the rescue of a 47-foot yacht that had issued a May Day call. While there was little we could do to help in the rough weather, we stood by and relayed information via our radio to the Coast Guard as they orchestrated the rescue of the disabled yacht.

Around 3:00 am the high-water alarm on Berkeley East went off sending a chill up our spines. A quick inspection of the bilge indicated that we had a lot of water, and the pumps where not keeping up. After pulling up all the floor boards and manually turning on the bilge pumps, it was clear that the problem was with the pumps and not a leak. There were a few tense minutes as we got things back under control and determined that both automatic bilge pump switches had failed. Luckily, we have a manual backup.

At sunrise we where near St. Kitts and still had 12+ hours to reach Antigua, so we opted to duck in behind St. Kitts and get some rest. We anchored in White House bay and spent the day and night catching up on our sleep. St. Kitts is a beautiful island and we look forward to returning when we have more time.

At day break we headed through the narrows, a very shallow channel between St. Kitts and Nevis on our passage to Antigua. As we worked our way through the channel we came across a group of large turtles. They swam around the boat watching us as we motored by.

The passage was wet, but uneventful and we arrived in Falmouth Harbor, Antigua just as the sun set. After a few days at anchor we moved over to Nelson’s Dockyard in English Harbor to dry out and clean all the salt off of Berkeley East. English Harbor was the British navel base in the Caribbean during the mid 1700’s and Nelson’s Dockyard is named after Lord Nelson who was stationed here. These historic facilities have been restored and there are a number of large yachts moored here. This was our first time to “med moor” (backing into a concrete/block dock with the anchor). The first time went very well all things considered. We won’t talk about our second time.

We headed off to Shirley Heights for the Sunday night “Jump Up”. From the top of the mountain there are great views over English and Falmouth Harbors. They have an amazing steel band to start things off and then a reggae band takes over to the wee hours of the morning.