Some unexpected events

We left Nelson’s Dockyard on 11/23 and headed to Deep Bay, on the western side of Antiqua. It was rolling a bit but a picturesque location off of a hotel that had waterside bungalows with their own swim deck. We settled in for an onboard dinner and early to bed since everyone needed some rest from the bouncy ride over. At 02:30, our guest woke us with an urgent need to get to a hospital. Andrew called the Antiguan Coast Guard and within 15-20 minutes, they arrived in stealth mode. We heard the boat approaching but couldn’t see anything until we got a glimpse of the blue camouflage uniforms. They took our friend off the boat to St. John’s hospital, where we would look in on him the next day. However, around 04:30 we heard a knock on the hull and woke to the Coast Guard asking to board our boat. Apparently, it was just paperwork but for some reason it needed to be done in the middle of the night!

Our friend decided to cut his visit short after he broke himself out of the hospital and we moved the boat to Parnham, another location on Antigua’s north end. It was billed as a quiet anchorage but we found it was surrounded by an industrial plant on one side, airport on the other and what sounded like a dog rescue in the middle. No need to go there if you are cruising Antigua.

My favorite anchorage so far was in southern Barbuda at Cocoa Point. We arrived on 11/25 around noon and there was one other boat there. Within an hour, there were 10 other Salty Dawg boats, some from this year’s rally and some from other years, who’s crew swam over to welcome us. I got my GILI stand-up paddle board out to join the floating welcoming committee. One of the boats that arrived that afternoon was Aladdin, from our rally, with our new friends Tom, Sara, Greg & Jody. The next day, Andrew and I went snorkeling off of the most beautiful beach that I’ve ever seen, and later joined the Dawgs playing on the beach. Supposedly, Robert De Niro owns this end of the island and will be developing a high end resort here. The islanders have been resistant but given the destruction from the 2017 hurricane that the island still hasn’t recovered from, it may be the best thing.

Nov. 27th was a difficult day. We moved the boat to the other end of Barbuda in order to visit the main town of Codrington. While underway, we heard about one of the Salty Dawg boats taking on water, but getting patched up by the sailing community that rallied around to help. Later that day, we heard another May Day call on the radio reporting a body in the water. Tragically, an elderly man drowned while snorkeling in fairly rough waters. It put a serious and sad overtone to being in such a beautiful place. Earlier that day, we had connected with George Jeffries, the man to know on the island for frigate bird sanctuary tours and generally getting around. He guided us in through the dangerous reefs to the town dock and then took us on a wonderous tour of the birds. Their bright red throats announce that it is mating season as hundreds, perhaps thousands of birds try to attract the opposite sex. It was an amazing sight for an otherwise somber day.

Thanksgiving Day we got a ride back to the dock in Codrington in order to check out for our sail to St. Barts. We walked around what’s left of the hurricane torn town to find the Customs behind a bar in a run down, overgrown little white house needing paint. The office was a small but nicely air conditioned room with three desks in it and two very nice and helpful customs officers. It was kind of depressing to see the destruction that remains on this beautiful island and the apparent lack of initiative to do much about it. We did enjoy the opportunity to meet some of the people who are making a difference, like Michelle who owns the only restaurant, Tim Buc One, Mathew, who manages the customs office and George, who seems to run the waterfront. That night, we had a wonderful Thanksgiving meal of lobster, squash and good old green bean casserole on board Aladdin and went to bed grateful for new friends and experiences, yet sadden by the events of the last few days.