Wednesday 23 May: No crazy early wake up alarm today, so it was nice to have a lie in for a change. After breakfast, a bit of admin on the computer, a call to Pantaenius, activate sim for IridiumGo, check weather… everything that we might not be able to do in the next 2-3 days if communication in Barbuda has not resumed yet, since the hurricane.
As we were almost done, we hear a “hello” call from outside and we thought it might be somebody from the neighboring boats. But to our surprise, a young lady introduces herself, she is Derek’s daughter and family, the previous owner of Cloudy Bay. What a surprise! She is vacationing for a week in Antigua and when Derek read on our blog that we arrived in Jolly Harbour, he encouraged his daughter to come look for us. We invite them onboard and we have a very nice chat for a while, till their young boy is eager to resume their fishing trip. What a small world!
By mid-day we are ready to set off. We sail passed lots of pretty bays, with green mellow hills, white sand beaches and turquoise water. Some of them completely deserted, some with developments either residential or resorts. Most of which we had been unable to see during our road trip. And the light today is beautiful to admire this scenery from offshore.
As we transit north up the west side of Antigua, the wind is very gusty. We have to constantly trim the sails, eventually opting to reef both main and genoa to be more comfortable. Once we clear the protection of the reefs north of Antigua we are again open to the Atlantic and Cloudy Bay starts her usual dance with the swell, choosing to go through the waves rather than over them. It’s a thrilling ride on a shy starboard reach in 13-18 kts of wind.
But Oana is finding it a little uncomfortable. She is on a new batch of cinnarizine pills and either they are not agreeing with her or the motion is somehow different. Either way, she is not her usual self. Meanwhile, Glen entertains himself by putting the GoPro on the boat hook and taking clips from the bow at various angles. When he returns to the cockpit he looks like he has been for a swim! Such was the spray up there.
By 4pm we are 7nm away from Barbuda, and we still can’t see it; it is a very flat island. We slow down a bit as we are pointing more into the wind and we navigate through the shallow waters. No boats in sight, but we do see the AIS of a boat anchored on the SE tip under Spanish Point. It’s too late in the day for us to navigate across Gravenor Bay, we can only do that safely when the sun is up and we can see the reefs.
So we aim to anchor next to Coco Point Lodge. As we approach we see another small yacht anchored there too. We anchor close to the shore in 5m of turquoise water. There is a beautiful long white beach in front of us where only very few palms are left standing, and the Coco Lodge resort is completely destroyed. A very sad sight, and we feel a bit of pain as we try to imagine the losses suffered for the very few inhabitants of this magnificent island.
After an overdue lunch we have half an hour till sunset so we rush ashore to have a look while there is still some light. No time to waste lowering the outboard onto the dinghy, so Glen rows us ashore, to Oana’s amusement…not, as she gets lots of splashes from the oars.
The beach is very steep and takes a bit of effort to bring the dinghy safely up in the sand. Glad now that we don’t have the outboard on! The sand it’s so soft and very fine, feels like flour. Looks like flour! Magical to walk though it and be the only people on this very long strip of pristine beach that stretches as far as the eye can see.
Walking close to Coco Lodge, we clearly see the details of the devastation, every building is destroyed beyond repair. No sign of any effort to start cleaning up the debris. It feels like we arrived here 1 week after the hurricane. We wonder what the plans are for this place, whether it was insured or if the developer is even contemplating rebuilding. For certain they would have to start again from scratch.
After a dramatic sunset we row back to Cloudy Bay. Yes, we, as Oana gives it a try too, with not much success. And as we sip our very late tea, we discuss the agenda for the evening. There is zero phone signal so we have to choose between editing movies and editing movies. Guess which option we chose!
But next to the chart table there is again that weird acid smell which we noticed this morning. So we start investigating where does it come from. The 24V emergency battery? No. Under the seat? No. Behind? No. Electrical cupboard? No. Engine room? No. What could it be? And then Glen identifies it as the smell of the acid we used last week to clean rust marks under the generator. After rinsing it all off, some traces of the liquid have remained in drains above the bilge. So out come the brush, a spare batten and cleaning mission begins. Surely enough, we can’t have a single day passed without a bit of cleaning or maintenance. With Glen on board, most likely not!
Once we are clean too, we settle watching today’s video clips then start in earnest to edit the Dominica video. Oh, we are so behind on our editing!
Outside the evening is very peaceful. We can only see one light down the shore. Other than that the half moon is lighting up the white beach to a gentle cooling wind. Tonight we will surely sleep well.