Goodbye Jolly Harbour where the water flows freely and the supermarket is well stocked. For those things, if nothing else, I will miss you. We had fun while we there and the visit into St John’s to the fruit market using public transport was probably the highlight. We visited the local museum and watched a march which was headed up by a steel band. It was in support of National Gluacoma Day. Thought about me aunties and Uncle Jack.
We said farewell to Gareth and Catherine on St Patrick’s Day. They left in blistering heat and wondered how on earth they would cope going back to the cold north.
After a big clean up, a laundry done and some more shopping into the hold we left Jolly Marina and headed up to Deep Bay which is only a few miles up the coast. It is a peaceful anchorage once you negotiate the reefs and the wreck that sits in the middle of the entrance channel. On the way up we spotted a turtle which we reckon might have been about 40 years old. The snorkelling in the Bay should have been good given all the reef and wreck. However as with so many we have snorkelled there really wasn’t much to see. There have been quite a lot of jelly fish in the water. At Long Island they were tiny brown ones, which apparently leave you alone. Equally the rays that we spotted there will do the same if you don’t go into their territory. However id Deep Bay the jelly fish were whitey opaque ones. High tailed it out p.d.q I can tell you.
However there was only one other boat in the anchorage so we decided to enjoy the peace and quiet and stayed a couple of nights. Just as well really as the wind the following day was a good 30 knots and would have been right on the nose.
We watched a couple of cruise ships leave St Johns harbour in the twilight and by the time they were out at seas they looked quite magical. Seeing them moving at close quarters brought back the many that we negotiated our way through in and around Madiera and Canaries.
There was a small fort of the point so we struggled ashore and walked the PRIVATE
Beach and scaled the hill to the top. It was called Fort Barrington and was yet another of the outlook points the British used to ward away marauding French or Arawaks.
When you read about the history of these islands , the savagery, slavery and poverty it is a wonder the islanders let us come anywhere near them. All this so Europe could have its sugar cane, rum, cocoa and bananas.
Anyway we are now in Falmouth Bay which is just round the corner from English Harbour. Yet another bastion of the British empire. It’s fun watching the superyachts come and go. There is a fleet of Dragons who have been out either practising or actually racing the last 2 days. Today there were a couple of kids out in Opi’s and a couple of lasers out going round the cans. (Just like a Sunday at Venacher really)
Think John got itchy fingers and would have loved a wee blast in them.
We have met up with Amazing Grace and are enjoying John and Julie’s company. Have also met another couple who did the ARC and are also heading south. We are picking their brains about Trinidad as they used it a lot before they went to the Med. We had fun chatting about sailing in the Ionian and Turkey with them.
Last night we went to do the tourist bit at Shirley Heights. It’s a very formal version of a ‘jump up’. However the rum punch had a punch and we had a good time boogeying to the steel bands.
There is just so much to sail round – this could take forever.
