Ti-Cata: Heading For Antigua

The weather forecast was for 15 knots of wind and a meter of swell. We sailed in a choppy sea under 20 knots of wind. Tom and Sacha spent quite a long part of the trip inside, listening to music, while we adjusted the sails (the captain isn't the type to let the crew relax). We were hoping to spot the smoke rising from the Montserrat volcano, but we couldn't even make out the outline of the island, just a few miles away. For the first time we had sailed without seeing land within our 360°. As we approached our anchorage at English Harbour in the south of Antigua everyone was on deck. The entrance is beautiful, encircled by coral and dominated by rocky outcrops to the east. We anchored right by the shore at Galleon Beach, close to Nelson's Dockyard. Green lawns, cute stone buildings. Everything is "so British"!   Anchored close to the beach to start with, we were a bit hemmed in by our neighbors so we moved away and put some more distance between us.  All night, Ti-Cata spun around like the hands of an out of control clock. In the morning there was chaos in the anchorage!  The boats had put out their fenders, and some were right up against each other, stern against stern and bow against stern, waltzing gently together. It was time to weigh anchor. Approaching Jolly Harbour, avoiding the banks of coral, the water took on a kind of milky turquoise aspect that we had never encountered. "This is paradise" cried Tom! In Jolly Harbour, each house has its own pontoon and boat. The color of the water just hypnotized us. Later we followed the coast around to the north so we could spend the night in the calm waters of Deep Bay, in the shadow of two brooding shipwrecks. We occupied ourselves by trying to construct a wind turbine and a desalinator. The first worked well, but we didn't get a drop of fresh water from the second one… back to the drawing board on that one! The next day, alone in the world in our remote anchorage off Bird Island, there was a surprise for us: a dive in the middle of a shoal of rays! Just magical!    

Who: Julie, Pierrick, Tom and Sacha

Where: Antigua, West Indies

Boat: Ti-Cata, Athena 38, rented from O Sail Net

Blog: www.laviesalee.blogspot.com