That 0400 departure from GUADELOUPE through the centre of the 'Butterfly' island and that pitch-black run through the mangrove channels is not to be repeated ......... We actually hit the mangroves sometime about 0520 AM in the dark, tore off some branches, loaded the deck up with leaves and crabs, and finally emerged into shallow water only to watch the yacht ahead of us go straight up on a reef and stay there, high and dry ......... All of this is caused by the fact that two road bridges only open once a day at 5 AM only............. The eventual sail across the 40 mile passage to Antigua was great .......... ANTIGUA is truly a beautiful island and the home of the annual "CLASSIC YACHT REGATTA", where some magnificent wooden yachts come together every year in early April ...... For the Captain, this place will always represent the 'best and the worst of times' .......... A day later, we have found all the mangrove crabs tha came on board the night before ..... Laurie even found one in the galley while making coffee, when the sun came up ......... The entrance to "ENGLISH HARBOUR" is narrow, and on one side is a rock formation in what's known as 'The Pillars of Hercules' and probably made up by the English, to scare off the French .......
One of the dominant yachts that overshadows everything, including the beautiful varnish work being carried out on some of the early arrivals, is this 'state-of-the-art' super yacht called "MALTESE FALCON", here no doubt, to race in the week that follows Classic week ........ You can check out what this yacht is and does, on-line, by doing the 'google' thing, but suffice it to say that the masts all rotate, are unsupported with fixed spars, while doing some incredible speed ......... Standing on the dock and looking up, we could not get the yacht into a single picture ........ We think we'll stick to wooden yachts, instead of giant computer-controlled space-age speed machines .........
I mean wooden yachts where you can see and smell the wood, and marvel at the dying art of traditional craftsmanship ........... Just do a double-click on the photos of this magnificent English-registered, 180ft gaff schooner " ELENA ", below .................
Even the little boatyard in ENGLISH HARBOUR is filled with wooden vessels that have been sailed across the Atlantic Ocean from Europe .........
But it was the protection of the English colonial sugar islands during the 18th century that finally forced the British to select ENGLISH HARBOUR as the permanent base for their West Indies fleet ........... That famous Lord Nelson, established the harbour, wherein his naval ships could be 'careened' by being pulled over on their sides and each half of the bottom cleaned and re-tarred in turn, by taking lines from the top of the masts to these black and white capstans, with the sailors manually winding the ships over until the masts were horizontal ........... Sails were also taken ashore for repair to the sail-loft, of which only these stone columns remain (photos above) .............. The whole area is now a National Park and beautifully preserved and deeply 'anchored' in history .........
Lord Horatio Nelson could hide his entire fleet inside the harbour with the cannons to guard the entrance ........... The powder room (not to be confused with a modern powder room) held three hundred barrels of black gun-powder ....... By being able to careen his ships in the Caribbean, it was no longer necessary for ships to return to England for bottom cleaning and the islands could thus be protected year-round ............
Antigua is now also the resting place for this TRANS-ATLANTIC rowing boat ........ Four different people have rowed it back and forth, the last one taking 115 days to do the job and losing about 33 kg in the process ............ The food taken on board was mostly dehydrated, which is probably why the rower became 'dehydrated' ..... No, just kidding ....... So if you are in need of a little upper-body exercise, feel free to take on a little rowing for about 3000 miles and maybe set a new record ........ The boat is just sitting there ..... Now as for the other yacht "WHITE LIE", well you can imagine the phone call to LONDON .. " Yes Darling, I know I said I would be home by about seven, but you see I bought this yacht ... and ", " Yes ANITGUA, that's right, ANTIGUA in the Caribbean",...... " " No, I flew over here and well, I meant to tell you .........", " Yes Dear, I know", " I know there's nothing left in our checking account ....."
ANTIGUA is notorious for many strange and wonderful things and truly famous for some incredible drinking parties ............. Last night there was one, with about six hundred people on a dock, put on by someone from Exel/Sun MicroSystems, we believe ........ We didn't know about it till it was all over, but our Canadian buddy JOEY (above) from the schooner AMOEBA did ......... Drinking here is almost a national sport along with 'cricket', which is probably why Eric Clapton built his beautiful multi-million dollar recovery Centre here, called 'CROSS ROADS' ....... So I told the "Queen" and Joey to 'drink responsibly' ............ One ass in town is enough ........... Imagine being hung over, and looking out your port-hole and seeing a zebra yacht next to you ........... Scare the 'drink' right out of you, ........... And the kitchen glove people are obviously into making shoes .............. Try walking into the office on Monday morning with a pair of those, and see what happens? .....
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