Welcome to Portsmouth, Dominica

At midnight we heard a loud crash on the top deck. It was windy and rainy and very dark out from the lack of stars and moon. We turned on the lights and looked out the back windows. Everything looked fine. The kayaks, dinghy and dock boxes were all secure. Eric went outside briefly and glanced at the top deck. All looked fine. We couldn’t figure out for the life of us what caused the crashing sound.

About the same time as the crash, the wind calmed down some and the seas started to improve a little. By 0100, we were in the lee of Guadalupe and the ride became smooth and nice. The wind was blocked by the big mountains on Basse Terre, so it died down to 3 5 knots. There are definitely a lot more lights at night on Guadeloupe than on Antigua, but it is no surprise since Guadeloupe has 450,000 people and Antigua only has 72,000.

We left the shelter of Guadalupe at about 0400 and it was instantly back to not being a fun ride. At sunrise, Dominica was visible, but the big mountains were mostly enshrouded in clouds. As morning progressed Continue reading

Start of the Passage from English Harbor to Portsmith, Dominica

Yesterday was chore day. Eric changed the forward racor fuel filter, changed the generator racor fuel filter, changed the main on engine fuel filter, changed the generator on engine fuel filter, changed the transmission oil and filter, ran the wing engine, and replaced the sea strainer for the diaphragm bilge pump. Eric also put the storm plates back on the salon (living room) windows, which we had taken down for the boat waxing. He also put Lanicote corrosion protector on the screws for the storm plates.

Christi did laundry, cleaned, and did the never ending and thankless job of reorganizing storage spaces.

This morning we walked over to Falmouth Harbor to go Continue reading

SCUBA diving around English Harbor

Today we went diving. We booked with the dive company located in Nelson’s Dockyard. The cost was $89 USD per person since we had our own gear, and without gear it is $110. He swore to us that he is the cheapest dive company on the entire island.

There were four people total, the two of us, a French Canadian, and the dive master. We did our own gear on shore, then all loaded into an 18 foot, open fiberglass boat with an outboard motor. It is the kind of boat locals use for fishing, and hadn’t been customized for diving. There were no tank holders or anything like that; you just kind of threw all your gear in a pile on the floor. This is the first time ever we have been on a dive boat where there weren’t two dive operators, one to stay with the boat and one to go under.

The first dive spot was Continue reading

Snorkeling and a Concert in English Harbor

Christi started the morning by scrubbing the waterline. The starboard side had little growth, but the port side had a lot of growth. The growth was fairly thin at the bow and got progressively thicker the farther back on the boat. The port aft quarter of the waterline looks like a carpet. And it didn’t want to come off. She got all the growth off the starboard side and the front half of the port side and had tackled most of the aft half before she decided to take a break. She was tired and the current was picking up. She planned to finish the water line and tackle the metal at 1600, during slack tide.

After Christi had rested for an hour, we decided to go snorkeling. There are some rocks in the southeast corner of the harbor that are supposedly a good snorkeling spot. And since we are anchored so close, it is a short swim from Kosmos.

The ground underneath the anchorage area is mostly that Posidonia grass intermixed in with another thinner, greener type of grass. Near the rocks, the grass vanishes. The rocks have no substantial growth, just small patches of coral and sponges all around. It almost looks like a vibrant reef was completely washed away in a storm and is trying to grow back, except that there is no telltale dead coral around to support our theory. What is interesting is that while the growth patches are tiny, there are lots of different kinds of species. The first photo is of yellow tube sponge. In Deshaies, they were 4 feet tall and came in both yellow and purple. The second photo is also of sponges. We are not sure what this kind is called, nor whether the two different colors are different species.

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In addition to those, we also saw Continue reading

Passage to English Harbor, Antigua

This morning Eric was up early. The waves had picked up considerably during the night, and our once fairly flat anchorage was now rocky as all get out. Eric was having a hard time sleeping with all the motion. We got ready quickly and pulled up anchor at 0745.

A little bit southwest of the sand bar is a long, thin strip of especially shallow water. While the water in the rest of the bay is about 15 feet deep, this strip is only 9 feet deep. We were stunned as we watched enormous waves breaking on the 9 foot strip. We mean enormous. Oddly, the Continue reading