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