Thursday 27 December: Leaving Jolly Harbour, great sailing to Montserrat and anchor in Little Bay.
Early rise, to the sound of rain. We have a long day ahead!
Aiming for the fuel dock just as they open at 8am seemed to be the action plan for several other boats, as they all queue up. So we join the line. We last fueled up in Norfolk VA, and now we needed to top up 70 gallons. Not bad considering the distance and time.
By 9am we leave Jolly Harbour and very soon sails are out. 11-16 kts of wind, gusting 19. It’s a calm sailing in flat water while we are in the lee of the island. Wind is on our beam, which makes for a fast sail.
Once out of Antigua’s shelter, we start feeling the swell. And we change course by 20 degrees to starboard, which brings the wind to our stern quarter. It is rolly, but not too bad.
Our destination is Montserrat, 30nm away if we go in a straight line to the north of the island. But our plan is to circumnavigate the island to the south, so that we can see the still active volcano. There is a 2nm exclusion zone, but even from that distance we should still be able to see it well enough.
Last eruption was in 1997. Before that the island population was 12.000, and now only 4.000 people live on the island. The main town of Plymouth was devastated by a lava flow.
Batteries were at 45% this morning so we run the generator to recharge them. We also start the watermaker, as we have an empty tank to fill. It feels good to see water tank gauge moving as it gradually fills up with beautiful pure water.
Same as all inter-island sailing, it’s very exciting. The swell is 3-4 meters and wind 16-20 knots and almost full sunshine bar the odd cloud. With full sails up we are going well at 8-9 knots creating healthy bow and stern waves and spray across the deck. I have my first sunbathing of the season on the aft deck with occasional yelps as a shower of spray gets me! Likewise Glen is on the bow getting some video and gets soaked in the process.
We could see Montserrat from Antigua, but as we approach the island we see just how uninhabited seems to be. On the east side it’s all wild, except from a very small village at the north-east. The green hillside is cut in places by the new flows of lava, sloping into the sea. It’s quite a sight, along with the usual clouds sitting on top of the volcano peaks.
As we pass due south of the island we gybe and run with just the mainsail for a while. Then as we start westwards we put the genoa back out, but not all the way out. We also reef the main to cope with the impending gusts off the land. And sure enough they come strong and hard as the wind funnels between the mountain peaks.
On the south shore we can see a clear lava river, with lots of huge boulders sitting on top of it. Some are several times the size of a house. Just imagine the moment those come thundering down the lace slope! Frightening.
When we pass directly downwind of the huge new crater, we think there is a rain shower approaching. But it’s not, it’s actually a cloud of volcanic gasses stinking of bad-eggs (H2S). This volcano is clearly still active!
As we round the south-west corner, we see what used to be Plymouth, the main town, now frozen in time. Houses and buildings are scattered around, some of them with roofs missing, some with huge boulders next to them, and lamp posts leaning to the side. A very sad, yet intriguing sight. It has all been abandoned after the last eruption and the remaining population moved to the north of the island.
Soon we can see a second lava flow the other side of Plymouth. Looks like the town was hit by a double whammy. This is the second island where we have seen volcanic devastation – St. Pierre on Martinique being the other. Ooph, volcanos and hurricanes ! Their presence and dangers balance the otherwise wonderful environment of the lesser Antilles.
The wind continues to severely gust and the water depth is all of the sudden 26m, so we need to pay attention to that too. Apparently depth levels have changed quite dramatically after the eruption and haven’t been properly surveyed since.
Same as with many island, the wind on the leeward side curves around both sides and meets in the middle at the back of the island. One minute we are reaching with the wind, and the next it’s hard on our bow. So 4 miles from Little Bay, our destination and only Harbour on the island, we put the sails away and switch on the engine.
We pass The Old Road Bay which used to be the best anchorage, but it is now prohibited as it is situated right next to the exclusion zone.
As we motor the last miles the shore line is rugged, with houses scattered on top of the cliffs. We pass first Salem, then Woodlands. And judging by some of the perfectly maintained lawns, this area is very much lived in. On the hillside there is a thick forest (hence the name of the village), which doesn’t seem to have been touched by any natural disasters. All mature trees, with big crowns.
When we approach Little Bay, we see there is a sailing boat anchored there and a small cruise liner. At 2pm, ahead of plan, we arrive into Little Bay, which is indeed a very little bay. And we giggle as we read in the pilot “ashore you find customs, police, bar, restaurant”. We drop the anchor in 6m of crystal clear water on a black sand bottom.
We’ve got fresh water, hot water and diesel. Plenty of everything. We just need lunch, which shall be cooked immediately after we anchor.
Within seconds from dropping the anchor, we are called on VHF by somebody “it’s best if you come ashore now, so that you don’t pay overtime”. It was a very broken English, and I suspect that wasn’t an official who called us.
Anyway, I guess we have to go ashore now, to make sure we clear on time. Lunch can wait! On goes the outboard back on the dinghy, and Glen for a cool off to check the anchor. The water is very clear, we can see all the way to the bottom. The clearest water we have seen since the Bahamas.
While we were preparing to leave, we see a ferry coming towards the bay. And since we are anchored rather close to the ferry dock, it would be wise to wait and see if we clear ok. Good thing we waited, as the wind swung us perpendicular to the dock.
So up comes the anchor and we move 50m further out. That should give the ferry plenty of space.
We tie the dinghy to the side of the dock and walk towards the second building, the Port Authority. From over a fence, somebody shouts over to us “after customs you come to see me”. We thought this first pink building might be the immigration office, where we need to come after customs clearance.
At Port Authority we are handed a form with carbon copy stapled between the pages. We are in the land of manually written forms again. After Antigua where everything is done online beforehand, and in the office they only print and stamp, this carbon copy approach seems so archaic.
Just as we were about to start filling it, a lady comes and mentions “if you check in now, you have to pay overtime fee. We only work half a day today. You can come and check in tomorrow morning, but you can’t come ashore today.” Fine by us, tomorrow it is. 100EC is quite a lot to pay for 20 mins of overtime!
Once out, the same voice from over the fence “come here, I’ll give you a taxi”. Ok, that explains it. The person calling on VHF was actually a taxi driver wanting to sell us some tours.
Back at Cloudy Bay we have lunch, at long last, then settle for a relaxing rest of the afternoon. So we thought. The wind positions us side on to the swell, and we are rocking quite a bit. Not the worst we’ve had (far from the Stonington CT experience), but uncomfortable enough.
So Glen digs out an item which we haven’t used since Mikonos, Greece: the stern anchor. Armed with the anchor, chain and leaded rope he dinghies away to try and pull Cloudy Bay in a better position to the swell. But against this very strong wind, it is an impossible task. Even if he would manage to pull Cloudy, the anchor will not hold anyway.
Defeated, he buries the accessories back in the aft locker. To be dug our only when there’s hardly any wind.
The solution we find in the end is change place again. After the ferry is gone, we revert to the original spot where we dropped the anchor the first time. I know, only few meters, but it makes a world of difference: we roll a lot less here. And that’s how we managed to anchor three times in only a couple of hours.
After sunset the sky turns into an orange glow, very nice. And we feel the temperature dropping, not that we are complaining! The breeze is nice, especially as it funnels through the boat.
For the evening activities, Glen starts working on a strip of teak that will prevent the anchor chain from banging onto the deck. We have been thinking of installing this protection strip ever since we had Cloudy, but never got around to it. Now that we have a nice strip of teak (thank you, Ray), it is about time we actually make it.
In the early evening the rain starts. I was wondering how much it will rain over this high island. Quite a bit by the looks of it, as it is certainly very green. And the rain showers keep on coming, the stronger the gusts the heavier the rain.
There is some nice music coming from ashore, the “bar” mentioned in the pilot book I imagine. And when we look through the monocular, there’s nobody around. So nothing lost by having to remain onboard.
We have booked a rental car for tomorrow morning so we will be tourists again, in a new country!