Letter from the Indies-Barbuda and St Kitts

by Andrea and Ian Treleaven on 6 Dec 2008 Long range cruisers Andrea and Ian Treleaven are this season cruising in the Caribbean in their yacht Cape Finnistere. Here they continue their cruising tales, including a most unexpected clash with the local police.

Our last night in Antigua is spent in Jolly Harbour and we come face to face with the law. After a cocktail onshore and a chat to friends on Skype we take off in our inflatable dinghy and nearly run down another big inflatable coming in the opposite direction.

Evasive action and terse words from me ‘where are your lights?’ turns out to be

the coast guard. Here they are in a black inflatable, six men in black, and no lights in a harbour. They stop us and want to know who we are and blame us for speeding (we had only just left the dock in a 6hp). Laughable. All we wanted to know was what they were doing.

Apparently they cruise the waters in the dark looking for 'suspicious things'. One would think this irresponsible in our opinion but we are just happy to be sent on our way.

From Antigua there are many islands to visit next, Montserrat to the west, the island that erupted only 13 years ago and only half of the island can be visited. To the

North West is St Kitts and Nevis but we decide to go north to Barbuda which is 27nm away.

It's isolated, difficult to navigate, not exactly in line with our idea of perfect cruising, and the reason not many yachts go there. The main attraction for us is a colony of migrating Magnificent Frigatebirds that breed here and our timing is perfect for the mating season. You will see why later in the letter.

Our last windward sail is in depths of only 22 metres all the way, passing reefs but that’s the easy bit. Five miles out and as far as the eye can see its turquoise water, white

beaches for miles and a very low landscape. The pilot book recommends that Cocoa Bay is a good anchorage behind a reef.

On arrival we see no pass through the coral reef but at an angle there is one. It's 'heart in mouth' stuff as Ian navigates into the bay while I am on the bow spotting bommies with hand signals and we zigzag all the way in.

We passed so close to one we could have picked off a sea urchin, scaring the hell out of us. Once inside we didn’t like the idea of only being able to leave when the sun is behind us because this is the only time you can spot the coral heads.

Our new found anchorage is off Cocoa Point Resort and is paradise found. We are the only yacht and with the resort not open, we are the only foot print in the fine white sand beach that’s six miles long.

Soaking up the atmosphere along with an orange sunset, it’s a privilege to be here. Twenty miles north along the coast we pass the pink sand of 11 Mile Beach and anchor where we are picked up by a guide in an open boat, to take us up the mangrove lagoon to the Frigatebird colony.

In the distance we can see the sky is black with circling birds and on arriving I have never seen such a beautiful sight. Nestled on top of the

mangroves, thousands of Frigatebirds, the male’s breast swollen into a red neck sitting on the eggs, baby chicks being fed, fighting over food, squawking and mating noises. We sit quietly and come in close; this is amazing, so natural but wild.

The Frigatebird has a wing span of six feet, the greatest area in proportion to their weight of any bird and cannot enter the sea because they have no natural oil in their feathers. They feed by skimming the surface and harass other birds to give up their food (hence their name Frigatebird or Man of War) and as they drop it, they swoop it up mid air. They look awkward on land, but in the air very graceful as they glide

with their huge wing span in the trade winds.

Regrettably we have to leave this absolutely beautiful peaceful place. I want to stay longer but the call of the wind is ever present and Ian sees a fast run down hill to St Kitts.

There are 60nm to go in 30 knot winds and we are wing and wing with the headsail poled out surfing off waves. Ian always has the pole attached independent to the headsail. So every time a rain squall comes through it is very easy to reef the sail back in with pole still staying in place. As the wind abates it's just a matter of rolling it out.

Getting close to land with a

three metre swell running I am getting nervous. We have to sail through the Narrows, the passage between Nevis and St Kitts which is littered with reefs and gets very shallow, down to eight metres. The yacht draws two metres and my maths tells me it’s going to be touch and go if we dip on a wave at the wrong time. Under half a mile the sea goes from 600 to 8 metres but as it turns out the swell gets less, not more, thank goodness.

St Kitts on arrival at the main port of Basseterre is initially disappointing; don’t believe all you read in an advertisement. The marina is not for yachts as stated , the yachts in the harbour are rolling 20 degrees

and that leaves not a lot of choices for the night. Persistent Ian nags the dock master to leave his home and finally he lets us stay on the wall. Cruise ships arrive every day and their life boats take priority bringing in hundreds of passengers.

They find us another berth (They love their cricket here and especially the Australians, Cricket day means a public holiday).

Tours are for the cruise ships and one way to fix that is to join them. Unique to this island is the sugar cane railway which circumnavigates the island. Built in 1905 it is the only original cane train in the Caribbean, but only for

tourism now as the sugar cane market collapsed with the withdrawal of subsidies by the EU.

The locals are very happy friendly people with not a lot to worry about. Despite the fact that this was the first British Island settled in the Caribbean it does not show any benefits of this. Without tourism it would struggle. It is a pity that they do not utilise this very fertile island more to supply produce to the neighbouring islands.

Our next island is St Barts to the north, the winds still up so we find a bay on the southern end of St Kitts and anchor, we in no hurry. A diver snorkels around our yacht and comes up with 12 huge conch shells. Still not used to the locals collecting and eating them, we watch the meat being removed but we still have no urge to accept his offer to try one; although he does tell us it is even nicer to eat than lobster.

Ashore in Cockelshell Bay is the Reggae Beach Bar and our first Christmas carols to the Reggae beat. No problem passing the time here, the sign says ‘Rush Slowly’ and Ian soon has them all talking about the history of cricket.