After a few days sorting some minor snags I made the passage from Guadeloupe to Antigua. The first stage involved negotiating the river Salee which splits the island into two halves. At the southern end the bridge opens at 5am so I moved up to the area and anchored for the night. The drawback to this was I was first under the bridge and had to lead 5 others through to the northern bridge about 5 miles up river. Although well buoyed, it was easy to stray out of the channel on the long bends. I had read in the guide that the area is full of ferocious mosquitoes so I was pleased I had remembered even at 5 am to pile on repellent.
After the northern bridge there was a 6 mile passage through coral strewn waters before reaching the open sea. I dawdled to let others show the way and was pleased I did as a French yacht charged off and got himself into serious difficulties. A German yacht then took charge and we all exited safely the very difficult to follow channel. The passage north to Antigua was mostly motor sailing in light winds but during the later stages I was able to sail. I elected to anchor in Falmouth bay since it was the end of the Antigua Classic Week and English Harbour would be very busy. It's only a short walk from Falmouth to the customs office in English Harbour located in the restored 18th century naval port facilities. Just as I was attending to sail covers Valsheda [J class yacht]departed looking absolutely fantastic and I failed to get a picture. There were many other lesser classics about.
Here are a few examples.
Mary had posted a small package of parts for the outboard to an agent. I discovered that this might well take upwards of 6 weeks to be cleared at cost of around $80 a little over twice it's value. We should value our own Post Office more!
I moved round to Jolly Harbour which had the best supermarket for provisioning and is also a shorter distance from the airport and thus more convenient for Eva to join ship.
After a settling in period for her to familiarise herself with the boat and surroundings, we set off for Bermuda on 30 April with a good beam wind. The first 24 hour run was the best I have managed with Plane Song covering 163 nm and this was followed on the second day with a run of 153 miles and all on the course for Bermuda. Gradually the wind shifted and reduced in strength and we were pushed west of the course. With the wind down to 8-10 kts we changed to the big 135% genoa which helped to keep us moving. Two days out from Bermuda we ran into a fairly vigorous low and found ourselves making rapid progress with a F7 behind us gusting to gale force but at least we were able to make the course. The low included the biggest electrical storm I have experienced. As we arrived off the island in the dark I elected to wait until daylight before entering the harbour at St Georges. We had sailed 1010 nm in 8 and half days.
For some exercise we walked up a steep hill to a fort overlooking the anchorage. This formidable structure was built in the 1890s and houses a fine museum. One exhibit had model ships displaying the dispositions of the English fleet under Admiral Rodney and the French fleet which was roundly defeated. It must have been quite a set too.
