A Tale of Two Chemists: A Reconnaissance Mission

A Reconnaissance Mission

Monday 11th - Tuesday 12th Dec 2023

When we visited Antigua in 2018 we never explored the northern section of the coast. Chris Doyle’s guidebook suggests that this area has some of the best anchorages on the island. When our family and friends visit we’d like to show them all our favorite spots, but recognize that time will be short and we almost certainly can’t do everything. So we decided we would take some time this week to travel up to the north east coast and check it out. Parham Sound is partially protected by a series of reefs and small rocky islands and is approached by sailing eastwards along the Boon channel, which is also fringed by reefs to the north. We approached this journey with some trepidation because there are many coral heads that require good visibility and precise navigation to avoid. The conditions weren’t ideal with moderately strong north easterly trades, but we figured we could talk ourselves out of ever leaving Jolly Harbor, and so off we set!

It took us over three hours of hard motoring to cover 14 miles up the west coast and along the Boon Channel. We had pre-loaded waypoints to guide us through the shallow, tricky sections of the main approach, and had highlighted three potential anchorages. It was a very bumpy ride. It’s not often that we get full salt spray in our faces whilst standing in the cockpit. We followed the recommended route and once we arrived in Parham Sound, chose the best protected of the three anchorages, just off Long Island. We were very keen to go to the uninhabited Great Bird Island, which is supposed to be beautiful, but the anchorage is not that well protected from strong north easterly winds and swells, and it was blowing 20-25 knots. More seriously, the last couple of miles of the route to that anchorage are the most challenging in terms of obstacle to navigation, and with so much wind we felt there was too little room for error.

We had a lovely, peaceful night off Long Island. There is no going ashore as it’s all privately owned. In the morning, after a leisurely start involving banana pancakes, we checked the weather again, to find that conditions would only become worse over the next few days. We were happy to have established a track to Parham Sound, but realized we were not going to be able to check out Great Bird Island on this trip. We debated sitting tight for two days, but in the end decided we would sail back to Jolly Harbor, where we could at least go to shore whilst the strong trade winds persisted.

And what a sail we had! The winds were sustained 25+ knots from the north east, and we also got hit by a couple of squalls. The highest gust we saw was 35 knots. After motoring the first two miles through a couple of narrow sections, we sailed the remaining twelve miles with just a partially furled Genoa on a broad reach / down wind. It was a wild ride! At one point we were surfing at 9.8 knots down the waves. We don’t do a lot of robust downwind sailing and this was cool!

Back at Jolly Harbor, a little over two hours later, we anchored almost exactly in the spot we had left. Unfortunately, a couple from the catamaran behind us came over in their dinghy to tell us they were dragging and their anchor was under our boat. They were right … and wrong … they were dragging but their anchor was no longer under our boat. Anyway after much faffing around (they pulled up, re-anchored, weren’t happy …) we offered to pull up and move elsewhere. It took us a couple of attempts to get settled into a good spot. It’s tough to line up on a precise dropping point when it’s blowing 25 knots. I think it’s unlikely we will go to shore today, but we feel pretty secure with 100 feet of chain out in 12 feet of water and an anchor alarm set.

Mike

Dramatic skies as a squall passes by in the Boon Channel. Gloria thought I was insane trying to take photos at this point, and it was hard to shoot one handed as I held on with the other (my camera is heavy!) but it was worth it ... I love this shot!