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Aislig Bheag - St Lucia to Antigua Jan to Feb 15



19th January 2015

For the second time of the journey, we had Aislig Bheag lifted out the water to have some work done on the rudder stock to try to resolve the leak.  The boat yard in Rodney Bay seems quite well run and ‘China Man’, a skilled boat repair worker.  However, I hate boat yards.  So does John.  I think it is partly due to time spent preparing Aslig Bheag for the trip and our experience as mosquito magnets of being eaten alive by them in boat yards.  Despite this we survived three days of living on board in the aforementioned boat yard whist the repair was carried out and John, Eilidh and I worked on hull cleaning and various other maintenance tasks below water line.  We were relieved to have the boat re-launched in late afternoon of the 21st January.  Unfortunately to our immense disappointment the leaking problem, although improved is still not resolved.  It appears that the seal on the rudder stock was not the only problem but the nylon bearing was also leaking between the bearing and the shaft. So to resolve the problem we need to be lifted again and the rudder removed and the bearing removed and re-seated with sikaflex sealant. The question is should we replace the nylon bearing and can we buy one or do we need one manufactured!  One to consider for later.

John and I taxied to the airport on 22nd January to collect John’s daughter Louise and her cousin Helen who were joining us for a 2 week holiday.  We all enjoyed a couple of days sailing south to Marigot bay and swimming and snorkeling off pigeon island whilst we waited for two further guests, Nigel (who sailed with us from Lagos to Madeira) and Katie, his lovely, amusing, entertaining wife.

On 27th January we left St Lucia for the last time.  Eilidh and I in particular felt like we were leaving home again, we had been there for so long over Christmas and again in the past week.  Eilidh in particular due to strong friendships she has forged with fellow sailors, all going their separate ways, I suppose like ships passing in the night!  We sailed for only three hours before arriving at our next port of call in the French island of Martinique.  Our first encounter in the Marina was not a pleasant one with a rude and thoroughly unpleasant fuel man.  Despite that we went on to enjoy the next few days sightseeing and enjoying this remarkable French island.   On 29th we sailed to the North of the island to St Pierre, a town which had once been known as the Paris of the Caribbean but was destroyed with all but one inhabitant in 1902 by a volcano eruption and had since been re-built in a somewhat haphazard and disjointed manner, certainly not restoring it to its former glory!   We had an eventful time trying to leave the following day as our anchor wouldn’t lift.  As we sat mulling over what to do to free it over breakfast we noticed that we had started to drift. Thinking it must have freed itself from the sea bed we again attempted to lift it but still it was stuck fast.  We couldn’t work out what was going on as we continued to drift along the bay towards the end of the bay where the fishermen had their drag nets sited.  It wasn’t long before an irate fisherman came out shouting at us in French.  Neither of us had any idea what the other was saying but after much hand signs and miming Eilidh and Nigel went with the fisherman on his boat to help him lift his net while John and I laboriously lifted our anchor, a meter at a time using a rope attached to the anchor chain and then to the winch on the mast.  We eventually got the anchor up along with a nest of other nets. One was the fisherman’s net which we had lifted on our anchor, the other end he had lifted with our helpers, together with the original offending ‘trap’ in the shape of an old discarded fishing net which had snared our anchor in the first place.  When the fisherman realised what had happened he was quite apologetic and after handing him a beer we made our peace and left. 

The last day of January was the day we sailed north to Dominica.  Arriving at tea time just allowed John to get us cleared in before some of us went ashore to join in the beach barbeque organized by the local boat boys which turned out to be a fun evening with lots of dancing and rum punch.  The following day our guide, Martin took us on the Indian river trip which involved rowing us up a really lovely river inland where the canopy of trees in a real jungle environment felt quite magical.  We were also taken on a short hike on a hill where we could look down over the bay.  We would love to have spent longer on this wild, un-spoilt island as we had heard the waterfalls and mountain springs were fantastic but we didn’t have time on our side so had to push on.

On 2nd February we sailed the 20 miles trip to Isles De Saintes, another French group of islands just south of Guadeloupe with much more of a holiday feel to the town.  It was really picturesque like an artistic picture postcard.  We enjoyed snorkeling off the boat in crystal clear turquoise waters. 

The following day we sailed the short sail north to Guadeloupe where we anchored overnight en route to Antigua, Nelson’s Dock Yard in English harbour.  This was a lovely place for a marina full of history in a well preserved and maintained dock yard setting turned into a tourist attraction with many low key eateries and up market bars and shops. We spent a few days here in this lovely setting and explored Antigua.  Whilst not our favourite island due to, in our view lack of natural beauty in land, it had its own charm and we had never in our lives seen so many astoundingly beautiful classic huge yachts in one place and modern yachts and power cruisers such as we had never seen.  It is hard to even estimate a guess at the cost of these magnificent, luxury vessels.

A birthday in paradise.

On the morning of my birthday, 7th February, Eilidh had organized a horseback ride with a difference.  A taxi picked us up at 08.30 and Eilidh, Katie and I headed off on the 20 minute taxi ride to the stables where we mounted our horses and set off on a two hour ride the highlight being on the beach and in the sea where after taking our saddles of we swam bareback on the horses in the turquoise sea.  It was a wonderful experience never to be forgotten.

When we arrived back at the boat I was then whisked off again this time to a local hotel where they ferried us across to their spa resort complete with four poster double sun loungers, infinity swimming pool and a fabulous restaurant all overlooking the English Harbor.  I really was a birthday in paradise and one I will never forget.  Thanks to all who made it possible!

Antigua was where everyone bar John and I left the boat to head back to the UK.  It was sad for John and I to see both of our daughters departing.  We also had thoroughly enjoyed the company of Nigel and Katie.  Everyone said it had been the holiday of a life time.

John and I spent the next couple of weeks anchored in Portsmouth Harbor, just round from English Harbour, first at the lovely Pigeon Beach (My brother Alan’s favourite spot in the world)! Then closer to the main town where there was less sea swell at anchor.  During this couple of weeks we also motored round to a couple of bays for a change of scene, one being where Eric Clapton has a lovely house overlooking the bay where we anchored.  We didn’t see Eric, but couldn’t resist playing the ‘unplugged album’ whilst sitting on deck eating dinner that evening.  John had been suffering from sciatica so we were glad of a couple of weeks rest before our trip continued.

Alison


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