A visit of Antigua's capital was fun, as St-John is a vibrant town, with lots of stores, multicolour caribbean style wooden houses...and plenty of activity related to elections that are upcoming (March 12)... We had a wonderful lunch overlooking one of the town streets and relaxed for a good while on the upstairs terrasse of the Hemngway's Cafe (http://www.antiguanice.com/hemingways/index.html).

After that was done, we tried to get some food shopping done (with confusing directions as to where the place was located!), but managed - eventually. We will have to go back for more since Guadeloupe is crippled be a strike and we have to stock up here. But this will be another story.

Karen & Lindsay, it was sooooo great to have you with us!!!! We miss you already!

As noted earlier, we did the climb to Falmouth Harbour (it was hot!) - and had a swim to cool off.

But in the late afternoon, we all went up again another mountain to go to Shirley Heights: A very steep climb!!!

On Sunday night , all gather at Shirley Heights for steel drum music and island's fare...cruisers and tourists, it is a a big crowd and we did not want to miss the experience - never mind, we had tired legs! And with the vibrant music, we got re-energized and enjoyed the exceptional view of the sea at sunset! The way down, we took the road, pitch dark, and it was a rather long walk back to the beach. But we made it, and can claim to have done a good deal of exercises to keep us fit!!! We certainly earned our other round of rum - did we not, Lindsay???

Next day was the offical begining for the RORC-race of 600 miles with up to 30 contenders.

The course was a complex one, zizaguing between St-Barth, St-Kitts and Nevis, Barbuda, Guadeloupe and back to Antigua....

Le 23 fevrier etait le debut de la course de 600 milles avec 30 participants et quelques classes de voilier...

One monohull sponsored by ICAP "Leopard" was the winner in its class...a very racy sailboat indeed resembling the shape of the animal!

Look at this performance!

There were different classes, with only one trimaran, Region Guadeloupe. It was the great winner, even though it started with 20 minutes delay...but with a speed of 22 knots!

Il n'y avait qu'un seul trimaran, Region Guadeloupe, une formidable machine qui fait 22 noeuds de vitesse!

La journee des randonnees...Hiking day!

First to Fort Berkeley, guarding the entrance of the English Harbour. D'abord au Fort Berkeley, situe a l'entree du English Harbour.

We continue our hike to Pigeon Beach, crossing desertic terrains, climbing rocks and meeting hords of goats...always with wonderful views of the Caribbean Sea, Falmouth Harbour and even the island of Monserrat and its volcanoe (too pale to have it on photo, however).

Puis nous avons continue notre randonnee a travers des paysages desertiques, rencontrant des chevres, escalandant des pointes de rocher mais toujours avec de merveilleux panoramas, de la mer des Caraibes, de Falmouth Harbour et meme de Monserrat...bien que la silhouette de l'ile fut trop pale pour la photographier.

Our friends arrived!!!! Karen and Lindsay!!!

Great to have them on the boat!

Soon after our friends arrived, we began exploring the Nelson Dockyard...beginning with lunch at the Admiral's Inn .., a wonderful setting for a tropical delight. Of course we drank the local brew, Wadadli Beer... and enjoing their company. What more can we wish for!!!???

Nous sommes arrives a Antigua depuis le 16 fevrier et nous mouillons depuis hier ici a English Harbour. Cette photo prise du bateau est celle du Nelson Boat yard ou l'admiral Horatio Nelson passait ses journees a comploter ..contre les pirates, la France et tous les autres (nombreux) ennemis de l'Angleterre de cette epoque. C'est tellement beau ici qu'il doit avoir ete distrait assez souvent! J'aime les falaises avec les differentes sortes de cactus qui s'accrochent aux roches!

The south coast of Antigua is famous for its harbours and their nautical traditions. When we saw "Sea Cloud III" from a distance, it just fitted perfectly our expectations. Passing Falmouth Harbour, we headed for English Harbour. Its entrance is marked by a rock formation called "pillars of Hercules" on one side and Fort Berkeley on the other.

Antigua!

From St-Martin not so far away...except that Antigua lies east and that winds are easterly..you get the picture. We departed with northeasterly winds between 15-20 and were able to sail for a good 10 hours until winds became weaker and more easterly. We motored for 14 hours and arrived in Jolly Harbour in the morning. What a beautiful sight! And very jolly Immigration and Customs officers...

It was wonderful to anchor and swimm in deep blue water instead of the murky Simpson Bay lagoon of St-Martin! We rested and caught up on some sleep as we were to leave the west coast of Antigua next morning.

Waiting for weather in St-Martn. Luckily, we met great people and had a very nice time. Together with Angel and Janet of Tahimi, we celebrated Gerhold's birthday on Amphora and enjoyed Rita's fabulous meal... We spent quite a bit of time with them afterwards. Marleyne and Rita, besides doing watercolours and art, also enjoyed a good hand rolled vanilla cigar...girls just want to have fun! Yes.

Notre sempiternelle attente pour une meteo fut tres agreable a cause des gens tres sympa que nous avons rencontres! Avec Angel and Janet de Tahimi, on a celebre la fete de Gerhold sur Amphora. Rita avait prepare tout un festin. En plus de nous amuser a faire de l'aquarelle, Rita et Marleyne ont decouvert un autre hobby: les cigares!

A visit to Phillipsburg, Netherland side was fun...besides diamonds and watch stores, there were some more authentic gingerbread houses and other interesting structures!

Une visite a Phillipsburg, du cote hollandais de l'ile, s'avera interessante...a part les magasins de diamants et de montres, il y avait des jolies maisons a architecture antillaises...

After a long wak on the beach, we sat under plam trees and ate a delicious bowl of Etna Ice Cream (the local ice cream)...delicious!

Nous avons termine notre visite par une pause sur la plage, sous les palmiers, en degustant la creme glacee locale, Etna (aux pistaches)!

February is Carneval months in many of the catholic islands in the Caribbean...this was a rehearsal for the real thing in the last week of the month! Colourful....now you know what to do with your Christmas decorations: HATS!!!!!!!!!!!! The energy (in watts as well as in movement) coming from the paticipants, as well as their natural beauty, made it a worthwile experience!

Fevrier: mois du carnaval! Nous avons eu la chance d'assister a cette repetition (le vrai defile n'etant que le 22)...Couleurs , musique venant de haut-parleurs de millions de megawatts, l'energie et la beaute des participants en valu la peine!

Dimanche...journee ideale pour faire (enfin) une randonnee entre Marigot et Grand Case pour arriver au village de Colombier...mornes et plantations de cocotiers, vaches ruminant paisiblemen sous un immense manguier...nature paisible si ce n'est des gospels et des voix de preachers qui peuvent etre entendus pres des petites eglises ...

Sunday, we hiked to a pittoresque little village between Marigot and Grand Case: Colombiers! Green and lush, with coconut trees and cattle under a huge mango tree, it was a peaceful scenery...once in a while interrupted by gospels and preacher's talk coming from small churches along the way.

It seems that we have been here for ever but there are always new experiences that thrill us...like watching mega-yachts passing the lift bridge...It's actually a thrill for us with "small" boats...we go to the Sant Maarten Yacht Club for happy hour and wait for the big ones to come through!

Bien que nous soyons depuis plus de 7 jours ici, nous avons encore plein d'activites...a part celle qui consiste a nous regrouper au Yacht Club de Sant Maarten pour regarder les mega-yachts passer avec peine (moins de 1 pied entre le pont et le bateau!) dans le pont levant menant a la lagune.

Still in St-Martin....besides provisionning, we have been visiting with fellow boaters, exchanged ideas about cruising routes and attempted to make good pictures of Marigot...it is actually difficult may be because there are so many cars parked everywhere or because the streets are narrow and do not allow good shots...anyhow, yesterday, we climbed Fort Louis and tried to get a fell for the climate on St-Martin during the late 18 century, when French and English were at wars and disputed every inch of territory available.

We then visited the Art Gallery L'Escale Des Iles on the waterfront of Marigot. There was an excellent phtography exposition on Haiti as well as other very original work of arts on wood and in ceramics. We also took photographs of "gingerbread style houses" common here inth Caribbean.

To end the day, we went to the French supermarket and bought a couple more delcacies such as jams of Bonne Maman, Pates, Gin from Spain, etc...

We will stay here for a little while...it is the best place for provisionning, there are plenty of bars to have happy hours, the atmosphere is relaxed and French...what more does one wants?

Being on this French Island was wonderful..it felt like being on the Cote d'Azur...just one disagreement, however: Marigot's Port Authorities have been enforcing a 20Euros fees just for mooring in the bay...the Dutch side of the island had been doing that for a while so the French must have found the idea quite enticing...Local newspaper have been writing on how this mooring tax is perceived by the marine industry (negatively, as you can imagine) and there will be more meetings about it...my readings of excerpts: this tax will stay...

This tax is not beeing applied if the boat is in the lagoon so guess what...La Buena Vida passed the Sandy Grounds bridge first thing in the morning to find a spot beneath the Witch tits...(or Mont Fortune, in French...sounds more distinguished!).

Quel plaisir de se retrouver dans le cadre idyllique de cette France tropicale...jusqu’a ce que le douanier m’apprenne qu’il y a maintenant une taxe si on mouille dans la baie de Marigot..ouille, 20 Euros c’est presque $40.00 canadien juste pour mouiller la...cette taxe est récente et a déjà crée beaucoup de remous dans la communauté avec l’industrie maritime très mécontente! Vu le ton adopte par les autorités je crois que cette taxe va rester...mais bon, puisqu’elle s’applique seulement au mouillage dans la baie de Marigot, on a déménagé au lagon! En passant par un petit pont levant qui évoque un peu les ponts de Van Gogh...

The trip from Virgin Gorda to St-Martin (80 miles) is known as a rock and roll passage due to confused seas (Anegada Passage) and easterly winds on the nose (as can be seen on the picture, we cover our vents with plastic bags...we have a friend who was really surprised to see a waterfall pouring into those vents after he forgot to take the necessary prrecautions!!!).

We hoped that t would not be a "Hard Rock " passage...and expected to have to motorsail all the way to our destination. And it was exactly as we anticipated...The wind was East-Southeast, from 12 to 23 knots (in squalls), seas were confused and choppy (4 to 6 feet on an Easterly swell) but hey! it was a short passage! Only 24 hours...compared with our ocean passages of 7-8 days, it was a "walk in the park" as Lindsay would say... After being greeted with winds of 20 knots and rain showers at our arrival in St-Martin, we sailed into Marigot Bay!

Nope, no departure for St-Martin today...tomorrow! We enjoyed another pancake breakfast with maracuya (passion fruit) jam!

Le depart vers St-Martin est remis a demain....on a encore du se regaler de crepes aux fruits de la passion...en attendant les excellentes confitures Bonne Maman de France...

We will spend another day in the Leverick Bay paradise and enjoy the high winds, here, sipping rum rather than boucing around...for your enjoyment, here is a picture of a rather large sailboat (200+ feet) that tried to compete with us sailing up the North Sound...

Nous passerons une autre journee ds ce petit paradis de Leverick Bay...que pensez-vous de ce grand grand voilier (200 pieds+) qui a essaye de nous depasser hier??????

Hello Friends,

we are in Virgin Gorda Sound ... with an WiFi connection. Hence, just a short update (if possible). We are planing to leave for St. Martin tomorrow (Tuesday). Everything is ready to go, only the weather forecasters disagree on the weather and the condition in the Anegada Passage. We will see tomorrow morning if it is a go - or not.

If we make it, we will try to post a Blog update from St. Martin, but we will certainly update our Position Report when we can along the way.

Voila la fin de notre sejour dans les Iles Vierges...demain, nous essayerons de partir vers St-Martin. Un voyage assez court comparativement a ceux du mois de novembre - mais avec le vent dans le nez et des meteorologues qui sont en desaccord par rapport a sa force. Rien de nouveau!

Nous passons donc notre derniere soiree dans le North Sound de Virgin Gorda - un vrai paradis. il y a meme un flamand rose esseule qui peche sur le rivage!

Nous ferons un rappel de position en mer ou a St_Martin...

And what now????????? Heiner is planning the rest of the trip...we have to wait for a weather window in order to get to the next island St_Martin! We can't wait to reach a French island and wine, cheese and cafes! It is not far, only 75 miles, but we need a norteast wind, not too strong...we will take the coming "waiting" days to work on the boat, do varnishing, rust work, etc...Enjoy the winter, you all!