A window in the weather enabled the Mollymawks to pop across to La Gomera for Christmas, and here we met up with some other seafarers – or would-be seafarers – with a rather unusual vessel. The frail old man sitting on the quayside in La Gomera does not look like an adventurer. As we approach he waves a crutch in greeting, and I think to myself, “He looks just like any other aged old grand-pa. He might be on day…
With additional text, in italics, by Jill Once again we are in Las Palmas de Gran Canaria for November. This is the island’s busiest month. WOMAD, a free four-day world-music festival, starts on November the 11th and people from all over the Canary Islands get on the ferries and come to see it. The anchorage fills up with almost 60 boats, instead the usual two or three. But most of the yachtsmen have not actually come to listen to the…
Last week’s article saw your intrepid travellers obstructed by obdurate officialdom. Would we ever be able to step ashore again onto the pristine sandy islets which fringe the north coast, or would the Cuban government’s paranoia keep us at bay?
Cuba was great. After just one day of partying with the people we were Cuba-philes. Castro was a wonderful guy. “Well, he must be, to supply all that cut-price beer and rum to the people!” Then we set off to cruise the north coast of the country – and that was where things started to go wrong.
Having given Puerto de Vita and its environs a fairly bad press I am now going to tip the scales the other way, because when we think back to our fortnight in Cuba it is this particular place that we remember with the most affection. Puerto Vita is a bit of a non event – unless you happen to be there in time for the country’s biggest party. And when would that be? Would it be the day that Castro…
When we first arrived in the Caribbean and planned our itinerary amongst the islands Cuba was envisaged as the highlight of the whistle-stop tour; thus we had allowed ourselves four weeks in its waters. But by the time we left Luperon it was the 25th of April and only two weeks remained before the date when we must flee away from this region. “Two weeks…” moaned Your Correspondent. “It’s not enough.” “Well, it’s all we’ve got,” said the skipper firmly.…
The northern winter was trickling past like sand through an hour glass. Already we were eating into the second week of April. “June soon” says the weather rhyme; “July nigh”. But the fact of the matter is that by June the Caribbean hurricane season has often already begun. It is true that the “biggies” don’t tend to hit the place until August or September, but for a yacht at sea even a little, gale force Tropical Depression is a major…
Having planned to spend only three days in Nevis, we eventually tore ourselves away after a week. Our next stop was Saba, which is only a day-sail away, beyond St Kitts and just beyond Sint Eustatius. When the seeing is good, as astronomers would say, ‘Statia and Saba are both visible from the anchorage off Pinney’s Beach.
Nevis lies so close to Antigua that the one is clearly visible from the other. Despite this, our passage from Jolly Harbour to Charlestown took more than 24 hours. Perhaps that’s what comes of setting forth on April the 1st. The first 15 hours of our journey were spent drifting sideways, just a stone’s throw from the anchorage, watching turtles swim past under the boat. The night which followed was spent limping along into a light westerly – a westerly,…
From Dominica we limped northwards, borne by the flimsiest of breezes. The Saintes and Marie Galante drifted slowly into view and then began to sidle past. The breeze eventually picked up to about force 2, but the southern shores of Guadaloupe were still a few miles distant when our progress was suddenly arrested altogether. “Something round the rudder,” I shouted. From the aft cabin, where I happened at that moment to be working, the sound of graunching was unmistakable. By…