On the afternoon of December 6th, we finally arrived to English Harbour in Antigua after weathering numerous storms in the channel. In the evening, we took a taxi to the airport and picked up our friends. The morning of the 7th, we cleared customs and left for beautiful Green Island on the northeast tip of Antigua. On the way there, the wind was blowing at around 15 knots from the southeast, so we were forced to do several upwind legs to get there. Andrew felt seasick, took two pills, and fell asleep. He was lucky the trip lasted only 3 hours...

Arriving to Green Island was tricky, as we had to zigzag the sailboat between multiple coral heads and rocky shoals. Once there, we were greeted by a beautiful lagoon, and a small desolate beach from where we began our excursions.


Jérôme and myself pulled the kites out, while Andrew went to the reef to hunt for some fish. Jacques took it easy so he could rest a headache. We were all in paradise! The sun, the breeze, the waves, the crystal blue water, the colourful fish in the reefs; what more can someone ask for? More wind maybe... Well, we got that the following day. The kites were flying high in the morning, with 6 foot jumps right next to the beach. As the day went on, the southeast trade winds were slowly gaining strength.

By the afternoon, the breeze really picked up, and we could hardly hold on to the wings. I took the 6 metre sail out while Drew and Jérôme went to hunt for our dinner. By now, our diet was mainly based on parrot fish, so we could not wait to catch something different...

We left Green Island on December 10th, and headed to Barbuda. The island is only 25 miles from Antigua, but we made it a 35 mile journey because of shifting winds. We arrived to the island from the southeast, and I had to stand on the mast to watch out for the myriads of coral reefs that were looking at us. Slowly we made it into a little cove near Spanish Point, and dropped the anchor. The water was the clearest I have seen so far, and we were deceived that a fishing ban was imposed on all non-Barbudian vessels.

The morning after, we positioned our sailboat a half a mile offshore near a reef and went snorkeling. There in front of us was one of the few still intact coral reefs of the Caribbean. Jérôme and Drew defied the fishing ban and went to look for lobsters while myself and Jacques followed them and watched. Soon, a comittee of five large barracudas with a nasty attitude were there to greet us, one of them close to 2 metres long. I showed them the peace and love sign and slowly swam away. The cudas were however more interested in the shiny knives Drew and Jérôme carrying, so they were forced to hide behind a coral head until the threatening fish swam away. Barracudas with their razor sharp teeth are one of the most aggressive fishes out there so we did not take any chance. Thereafter, Jérôme brought back 2 delicious 3 pound lobsters that we ate for lunch.

The storms were back on the next day, so there was not much to do. The crew went shopping to Codrington, the only village of the island, while I stayed behind on Zipolite. About 1300 people live in Barbuda, and most live off fishing and tourism (there are two exclusive hotels). The only convenience store of the island was about 20 ft across and contained very few items. We later sailed to the west end of the island, close to a lagoon where a colony of frigate birds lived. We anchored Zipolite right off a beautiful beach with pink sand and nobody around us for miles. The water had a very strong turquoise hue, and this made it ideal to shoot some nice photos.

On December 13th, the sun and trade winds showed again, and we got to "flatwater speedsail" in offshore winds right behind a sandbar. Unfortunately snorkeling wasn't as good as expected because of the suspended sediments, and all we saw were a few large sea turtles. We took it easy the whole evening, in order to get ready for tomorrow's 60 mile crossing to St.Barthélémy. We played Hearts, opened a bottle of Martinique Rhum, and had a toast for a successful adventure.

 

December 14th, 2000
We left Barbuda early in the morning enroute to Gustavia, the capital of St.Barths. Zipolite was flying downwind between 7 and 8 knots, and we completed the journey in roughly 10 hours. On the way, we met up with a bank of Bonitos and both hooks caught fish. By now our stats were excellent, and if it were not for the Ciguatera toxin in certain fishes, we could have eaten them all. Soon after, a Spanish Mackrel bit the Rapalla bait, so we took a picture with all three fishes and blood all over the cabin. Spanish Mackrels are often caught by trailing a fishing line behind the boat. Not being good fighters, they end up being pulled on the surface of the water, and become easy targets for other fishes. We twice caught Spanish Mackrels with the tail bitten off, most likely by Barracudas.  

We arrived to Gustavia shortly before sunset. On the morning of the 15th, we went to visit the island. St.Barths is interesting in the fact that it is the only place in the Caribbean that has not seen a history of slavery. For this reason, the population is mainly constituted of Brittons that emigrated from western France in the 1700s. St.Barths is relatively small, yet it is very rich and clean. Regulations ban the construction of large hotels or casinos, so the old architecture remains predominant. Getting to the island by air is a challenge, as the airport is located between two mountain tops, so airplanes litteraly dive towards the runway during their final approach.


To get the best out of the island, we rented a motorcycle and a scooter. We covered the whole island in one day, visiting some beautiful beaches and viewpoints. On the way back to Gustavia, we stopped to take a picture of the harbour filled with Millionnaire's yachts. In the evening, we went to have some drinks at the Select, the oldest bar on the island. The following morning, everyone was tired and stayed aboard the boat, except for myself. I took my windsurfing gear and walked a whole mile to a wavesailing spot next to the airport, as the wind was blowing 20-25 knots. The spot was great, but unfortunately the wind did not last. I ended up getting more excercise out of carrying the 80 pound luggage than from using it on the water...

December 17th, 2000
By now we were ready to move to the island of St.Martin of which we heard so much about! The trip took us a whole day as we headed dead downwind, and we sailed by Juliana Airport where 747s were landing right above our heads. We arrived in the town of Marigot on the French side shortly before dusk and dropped the anchor. St.Martin is split between France (having the northern 2/3rd of the island) and the Netherlands. It is a tax free zone, so it attracts a lot of offshore business, as well as the underground market. It is the pivot point for drugs in the Caribbean, as the merchandise coming from South America is then shipped to the United States, Canada, and Europe. For this reason, St.Martin has also seen a rise in Crime, which is somewhat taking its toll on tourism.

We wanted to rent scooters again to visit the island, but we heard rumors that scooters were often stolen. We then opted for a small car, the Austin Mini Moke, that looks like a Jeep but is half the size of a Beetle. This is the greatest car to visit the island! It's so cheap nobody will bother stealing it, and it has no windows, so if your legs don't fit inside, you can let them dangle on the outside. The only drawback is that it is not very powerful, so on some steep climbs Drew and Jérôme had to jump out and push the car.

We stayed in St.Martin for four days, and took 3 days to visit the island by car. We discovered nice beaches on the northeastern side of the island, in Grand Case, Anse Marcel, and Orient Bay. Orient bay hosts activites such as windsurfing, kitesurfing, paragliding, wakeboarding, and is bordered by a nudist beach on it's eastern tip. We will definitely come back here and check it out in more detail in January!

The second leg of our Adventure was nearing its end and it was time to head back to Antigua. This was going to be a tiring experience, as the winds were blowing head on from the southeast. On the first day, we hardly managed to leave the island of St.Martin (because of partying excessively the night before) and ended up anchoring behind the tiny island of Tintamarre, where the waves were pounding the boat all night. On the morning of the 22nd, the winds were even worse, and by 2PM we were only in St.Barths, where we stopped to buy some food. We left Gustavia and sailed 28 hours straight with strong headwinds and numerous squalls in total darkness. When we arrived to St.Johns, Antigua, everyone was exhausted and full of salt. We concluded the tour by visiting St.Jonhs, and on December 24th, the cab picked Drew and Jacques up to bring them to the airport. Myself and Jérôme then headed south...