Nevis and St. Eustatius

At 2 AM as we sit anchored before leaving Antigua, I am awakened by a bumping sound on the hull. It sounds like we are hitting a buoy. I get up and look around and we haven’t moved and I see no buoy, but I hear something bumping the hull. As I gaze around under the moon light I hear a whoosh, gulp. What was that? It came again and I saw something quickly break water then disappear. Is someone  snorkeling next to the boat at night? It comes again and I realize it’s a porpoise! He continues to swim around the boat for the next 5 minutes before moving on down the bay. What a glorious sight on a moon lit night!

Flying Gennaker

We were up early, not as early as 6 AM like we wanted, and by 7:30 we were off. We set the main at anchor and motored out of Falmouth Harbor under light winds. It was about 10 kts. out of the ESE, which was almost right behind us. So we motored with Main and jib set with only 5 kts of apparent wind. It’s a 50 mile run so as we cleared the reefs of Antigua at 9 AM we rolled up the jib, lowered the main and set the Gennaker! She looked wonderful, but we only gained about .5 kts as the wind was about 5 kts or less. It was a long sail and we passed by the kingdom of Redonda, it’s part of Antigua but no one lives there, and a succession of people have named themselves kings of the Kingdom of Redonda and once a year the king and his court meet on Redonda for a gala party.  Usually it is a British author.

The Kingdom of Redonda

 Then at 3PM we rounded the south point of Nevis and sailed into the mooring field.  We would have to check in the next day as it was after 1600 when we finally caught a mooring and settled.  Checking in was an experience.  For the first time we had to go to three different buildings to check in; Customs, upstairs over the old ginnery, then to the docks for port authority and then to the police station for immigration. Immigration is upstairs over the police station and I am not sure we would have found it if the immigration officer had not been coming to work.  A repeat to check out!

Nevis from sea

Leslie in the Hot Spring bath 107 degrees

At the ruins of Ft. Charles

Nevis is a great island! You can get there by boat, or it is reached by flying into St. Kitts and taking a ferry over to Nevis.  While we were there two small cruise ships anchored off for the day to enjoy the sights. If you rent a car, and fly into St.Kitts, wait until you get to Nevis to rent as it is much cheaper. Nevis is an old volcano surrounded by shallow plains to beaches. From the sea, sailing in it appears like a Mexican sombrero.  The people are really friendly and helpful and there are a few bars right on the beach. Nevis is famous because Alexander Hamilton was born and raised there and his house is now a museum.

There is also a famous set of hot spring baths that were very therapeutic and well known in the 1800s.  In the late 1700, English Admiral Heratio Nelson married Lady Nisbet from Nevis. We also visited Ft Charles, which is in ruins, and acquainted ourselves with the various beach bars. Double D, the most famous was closed, so we went to Sunshine’s and Lime. At Lime we had the best lobster dinner we have had in ages. Both bars had cheap drinks and good inexpensive food. The beach was also a great beach to run on for exercise.  The Four Seasons Hotel is a huge resort on the beach with a golf course, many pools and tennis courts.  Their beach is buffeted by manmade sea walls set about a 100 ft. from shore.  Lots of large wily spiny lobsters harbored there, we just couldn’t seem to catch them….

Lime Beach Bar

Leslie at Lime

One day while running the beach we met Markus and Annette, who took us on a tour around the island and to breakfast at an old plantation called Golden Rock. What a great place! Water features, patios, gazebos, and fluted column porches!  They were renting next door, the guest house of a Supreme Court Judge of the US, small world. They were interested in buying property, so we brought them aboard Frolic to see what movable property was like.  It gave them food for thought. I snorkeled around the boat and found numerous sand dollars which I gave to Leslie for her to decorate. We hated to leave, but time was passing and we wanted to get to St. Martin to get some work done on the boat.

Goldon Rock Inn

Annette, Marcus, Leslie and Carl
at Goldon Rock

St. Eustatius

We were up early and got going to St. Eustatius. The wind was light so we motored, then motor sailed, then sailed, and back to motor sail. As we approached the island I could not believe the number of tankers anchored off shore. The island is an oil storage area so there were almost a dozen tankers spread about. We took a mooring and were boarded by the Dutch Coast Guard. At first Leslie thought they were US Coast Guard. They were pleasant, but it was an annoyance.

Tankers at St. Eustatius

St. Eustatius harbor frount

 St. Eustatius in the 1700 and 1800s was a hub of commerce in the Caribbean. Founded by the Dutch, it was a tariff free port and they would have 2000 ships a year come to drop off and pickup various goods. It diminished in importance when it was taken over by the British and French whose taxes crippled the trade there. Today it is an ex-Dutch colony, but is a huge oil storage facility. It also has some great eco-hikes and wonderful diving in protected parks. St. Eustatius is notable as it was the first foreign power to recognize the colonial US on Nov. 16, 1776, and it is still a celebrated holiday on the island every year.

beautiful but don't know what it is

Fort

We toured the town and the Fort high on the bluffs, and watched the locals set up for Easter. It looked like everyone set up a tent on the beach and they had food and huge water tanks and of course music. It looked like quite a party and it continued well into the night. The next day was to be a big parade and all day party. However, after a day stay we were off again. This time we were off to St Martin, and finally we hope to get parts to do projects on the boat.

Tents set up on beach for Easter

Pirates in St. Eustatius