ANTIGUA

Approaching Antigua

Once British colony Antigua is now an independent nation. It has more bays and beaches then any other Caribbean island.
Our first stop after an overnight sail from St.Bartholomy was Port of Entry Jolly Harbour. We anchored in a shallow turquoise water at the entrance of the large lagoon.

 

 

Laundry day on the boat

  Marina is safely tucked in the lagoon, well protected from high seas

 

As always we went on the shore to stretch our legs and we found the marina grounds very beautiful

 

Lagoon front is lined with private vacation villas, most of them having a dock into the lagoon

Here we found a tree we haven't seen before


Kigali tree

Kigali tree fruit
Locals call it wild squash. It is not edible. They let the heavy
 fruit dry, then paint Caribbean scenery on it
  

Besides the marina, Jolly Harbour has a few restaurants, souvenir and sports shops, and an art galley.Across from the Casino is a large grocery store. Stop there first!


 

Jolly Harbour Casino

Hotel 'Castle'

 

We took a bus to Antigua's Capitol, St.John. You get off the bus in the middle of the large market, fruits and vegetables, fish and meat are sold in three separate buildings. The rest of the town is as most in the Caribbean, colorful, untidy, and yes, trashy. But people were very friendly.
The area where cruise ships dock, is upscale, of course.

 

 

Cruise ship area



After staying four days in Jolly Harbour, we sailed a short distance to Deep Bay. It is beautiful.

In the afternoon stillness the surf was gently brushing onto the beach, shaded by palm trees. The beach was deserted but by the local young couple, getting to know each other in the shallow water.

 

Fort Barrington is on the north side above the beach and condominiums on the south side overlooking the bay.

Grand Royal Antiguan Beach Resort is almost hidden in tall trees

Hotel, lagoon and Deep Bay beach
 

May is here and the tourists season is over. The hotel grounds are still manicured, but the dining room with the elegantly set tables is empty. The office manager let us play tennis on the hotel's court, the only out of eleven that was maintained. The poor economy is effecting Caribbean resorts on all the islands.

Walking the resort grounds, we found another tree, new to us, tamarind. Local lady Andrea called it tamberine. She told us, how it is being prepared: shelled when not yet ripen is used for salsa. When honey-brown inside, it is used for jams. Stew or tamberine juice has a lot of vitamin C and locals use it to cure colds.

Tamarind tree



Tamarind fruit

We sailed back to Jolly Harbour to sign out of Antigua. We are coming back next sailing season.

 

 

 

 



 

ST.MARTIN

We left Saba on the clear Saturday early morning on the 13th of April. We sailed close to the wind and made it in one tack to Marigot Bay on the French side of St.Martin. We needed to stay there for some small repairs on the boat and St.Martin is one of the best islands to do that.

Marigot Bay

Being on the French territory, we indulged ourselves with baguettes, pastry and wine.
For those of us with a sweet tooth, no place can compare to La Serafine

 

Walking Marigot streets

Palm tree in bloom

An afternoon rest

Retired sailboats

At a hairdresser

Times before we enjoyed other St.Martin bays, this year we sailed by them to the east side to Tintamare. The island is a short distance from St.Martin and during the day many boats bring tourists to enjoy the white beach, but before the sundown, one only hears the sounds of the birds and the waves. Weekends the island is a retreat for St.Martin locals.

We stayed the night, safely on the Marine Park mooring and on the 25th sailed to Colombier on the north side of St.Barth.

Anse de Colombier

 

Moonrise in Anse de Colombier

After a short rest we were off to an overnight sail to Jolly Harbour on the west side of Antigua