Northern Treasure - Barbuda

The day after saying goodbye to Anne and Tim we, along with Memory, sailed 30 miles north to the remote island of Barbuda, averaging 6 knots, never needing to adjust the sails. According to the cruising guide, Barbuda is "heaven on earth" and we believe it. Approaching this low lying island one can see a blue-green color on the underside of the clouds long before seeing the land. It is the reflection of the crystal, clear turquoise water and white sand bottom. We anchored off Coco Point at the southeast side of the island, one of five boats. The log for this sail reads: "03/13/08 Jolly Harbor, Antigua to Coco Point, Barbuda 6 knots average, 30 miles, 5 hours. The BEST sail!!!!!" We didn't move the boat for four days. Miles of the most perfect beach one can imagine (one unbroken for 11 miles), the clearest turquoise, see-to-the-bottom-in-40-feet water, sunny blue skies that stretch forever, and night heavens filled with reach-out-and-touch twinkling stars. We didn't need to move. We swam, sunned, walked the beach, read, and marveled at how blessed we are to being doing what we do. Our friend, Kelly, was intrigued with this place long before we thought about coming here. How right she was.

Barbuda is home to 1600 people who live in Codrington. From the beaches it is a taxi ride or long walk, not reachable by boat. There are only two, exclusive resorts on the island. Coco Point Lodge, nearest our anchorage, is an all-inclusive place, which includes a private plane ride from the international airport in Antigua, only operational from November to May. (Check out their web page.) It is the people of Barbuda who have managed to keep their island pristine and undeveloped. Only Barbudans may own land and they resist any attempts at developing it or changing their lifestyle. They are descendents of former slaves who worked the island as a farm and for hunting for a plantation family from Antigua. Left alone they maintained an semi-independence not known in other Caribbean islands. They are a welcoming, gracious people who seemed anxious to share their island with us. We will explore the island more on our next visit later this year. Bad weather was coming and Memory was hauling out for the season on the 20th so we lifted anchor and returned to Jolly Harbor all nicely tanned and relaxed. Unbelievably, the log for the return trip reads: "03/16/08 Coco Point to Jolly Harbor, 6.3 knots average, 30 miles, 4.75 hours. WOW!! Another great sail – two in a row." We decided we deserved it after that trip from St. Kitts.

We spent two days at anchor awaiting the bad weather. Chris, our weather guy, told of a "significant swell event" moving in, with prediction of heights of 17 feet in our area. To a landlubber that means 34 feet of water from trough to crest. Yikes!! It came down with a vengeance from the Canadian Maritime where there were hurricane force winds. Locals had not seen anything like this in 30 to 40 years. Beaches closed with warnings to stay away. Boats deserted the anchorages for slips in the marina. Charter boats returned after an hour not to venture out again. I write this at a calm, restful slip in Jolly Harbor Marina. Told Denny yesterday that I am staying through Tuesday, so we will spend my birthday and Easter attached to the dock expecting the weather to improve sometime next week.

The Good, Bad and Downright Ugly

We spent another week in St. Martin anchoring on the French side of this two country island, French on the north and Dutch on the south, we love it here. (GOOD) In the 90s when we were chartering we had discovered the local dockside, open air restaurant, "Talk of the Town," where we had lobster and "sides" (salad, mac & cheese, potato salad, etc.). We were thrilled to see the "ladies" still serving so of course had to partake – not lobster this time but the mahi and ribs were delicious, too. We love the anchorage at Grande Case but in a windy, north swell it can be a bit rolly. We also discovered after a time that we needed new batteries and a regulator for our wind generator, so moved to another nearby anchorage - the lagoon, that separates the French and Dutch sides of the island. St. Marteen (Dutch side) is the place to repair, replace or purchase boat stuff as there are no import taxes to inflate the costs - best to take care of that here. Kyeta now has four new batteries and a regulator and Denny is happy. We also checked out new sails (ours are the 1991 original sails) as we had gotten quotes in various places along the way. Steve from Quantum Sails measured and we committed to a new main and jib to be picked up in November 2008. Denny is soooooo excited. He figures he'll win the races for sure. (Race - any two boats sailing in the same direction.)

The weather settled a bit and we needed to return to Antigua as we had more friends arriving in early March. Rather than a direct, 100 mile return trip one can head south to Statia, St. Kitts and Nevis, more miles but shorter hops between and more palatable. We also wanted to spend more time in St. Kitts. We spent one very rolly night (BAD) at anchor in Statia never getting off the boat and left at daybreak the next morning for St. Kitts. Arriving at a surging, rolling anchorage we actually took a slip at the marina where we had spent a few nights on our way south in 06. St. Kitts is one of those islands that "brush the clouds" with its central mountain range rising 3,750 feet into the rain forest. The lower, south side of the island is flat with mangroves, salt ponds, livestock (cows, goats, monkeys) and quiet anchorages. We wanted to explore the island and it is an easy day trip by rental car around the island so Carey and Rick on "Memory" join us and we take in many of the island highlights: Brimstone Hill Fortress, a wonderfully restored British fort with spectacular views of neighboring islands; Rawlins Plantation, a former sugarcane plantation/manor turned restaurant/hotel (buffet lunch was delicious); Kate Design Gallery, original local theme paintings by Kate Spencer; and the Romney Manor, home to Caribelle Batik.

We enjoyed another couple days in St. Kitts, watched the weather religiously and decided to make a run for Antigua when the winds SUPPOSEDLY backed to northeast and the seas diminished to 5 feet. Anchoring in Cockleshell Bay on the south side of the island, gave us a head start on the 45 miles sail that should have taken about 9 hours. Our friends on Memory were with us – it's always comforting to have others nearby. The log entry for this trip states: "3/3/08, St. Kitts – 6:30 AM Jolly Harbor, Antigua – 8:15 PM. 62 miles, 4.7 knot average supposedly a 45 mile trip! godawful!" (DOWNRIGHT UGLY) This would have been a perfect time for mutiny but Kyeta is a good, seaworthy boat and we made it.

We enjoyed a week with our friends, Anne and Tim from TC. We had a few good sails back and forth between Jolly and Falmouth, took in some of the tourist sights and snorkeled at one of the nearby reefs. Tim ran every day, Denny fished. Ann/e read, sunned, talked and enjoyed. We were happy to introduce some of our cruising friends to them, sharing meals and happy hours. Anne announced on one evening after visiting with one of our cruising buddies "OK, we like each other..." It was a wonderful week, only marred by their having to return to TC. We tried to convince them to extend their visit but only received a promise of returning next year. We miss them.

On to points north...