So, how are you getting home from the Caribbean, Bob?
On Wednesday I’ll be heading back to Antigua to begin the process of bringing Pandora back to the US. My friend Craig is joining me for the run to the USVIs where we will join up with my friend Alex and the Salty Dawg Homeward Bound Rally back to the US. Alex and Craig will do the run to the US with me.
I’ve already written about all the plans for upgrades to Pandora and at home, so I won’t repeat them except to say that from Antigua we plan a week cruising, stopping in St Barths and St Martin before meeting up with the Salty Dawg Homeward Bound Rally fleet in St John. When I head to the US, around the 10th of May, I plan on heading to Deltaville VA where I am having some work done on Pandora before taking her home to New England in June.
As I look at the current weather forecast I can see why Chris Parker suggests that we wait until mid May at the earliest to head north as the weather north of the Caribbean and Bahamas is positively terrible, a sort of “you can’t get there from here” mix of gales and wind from the north.
This is the weather map last week, for Wednesday April 20th, conditions that are typical for April and early May. It’s not bad down in the Caribbean but any farther north than the DR, and there is no easy way to head north. The best we could do would be to head to perhaps the Abacos, northern Bahamas and then on to the SE US coastline, perhaps Charleston, NC. 
Fast forward a week and it’s still unpleasant with a major low heading east off of the coast. It is this sort of pattern that is the norm until things settle down in the late spring, think late May, early June. Sure, the wind direction NE of the Bahamas isn’t all that strong but it’s right out of the north. Not good at all for heading to the Chesapeake. 
Sure, these two snapshots of the coming weather don’t tell the whole story but it’s clear that it’s way to early to try to “get there from here”.
I mention this as I have been fielding calls recently from folks that have deadlines or other reasons that make them want to leave to head to the US sooner than the rally. Early spring weather, as in nasty, is why we planned the departure for the rally no earlier than May 10th. I think that I convinced most of them to wait a bit.
I have a friend that flew down to Puerto Rico a few weeks ago, in the first half of April, to help bring a boat back to the US. This qualifies as a “You don’t know what you don’t know” sort of move, and it is clear that they left too early. Their trip, made more difficult as the boat is only a 34′ lightly built costal cruiser, took weeks and I believe that they ended up making landfall in the US in Charleston instead of the Chesapeake, their planned destination, as they battled persistently strong northerlies.
Chris Parker did a very interesting webinar recently that characterized the weather that cruisers should expect on a springtime run to New England and the Mid Atlantic. It’s worth looking at.
Chris breaks the run into three distinct legs as you make your run north, regardless of the specific weather that you might encounter on any given run.
The first half is his presentation and the second half, a Q&A session. The fact that questions took up another half hour, after his review, suggests that there is considerable uncertainty in the cruising community about the whole topic. This is a must see for anyone considering such a run.In my discussions with skippers that are planning to make a run either north of south from the Caribbean for the first time, I try to stress that it is critical that they plan in a way that has the best possible opportunity for a fun trip or they may make one run and decide that there will not be a second trip.
I still recall someone we met on our first season heading south to the Bahamas, on the ICW just north of Charleston. His advice to me, after hearing Brenda’s anxiety about the trip, was to caution me that I needed to do what I could to make the run good for her or there would likely not be a second trip, something that he had seen time and time again, over the years.
That was good advice and is a big reason why she flies and meets me in the Caribbean. A decade later I am still grateful for him taking the time to “caution” me about stressing Brenda too much.
It’s hard to say how our trip will turn out but hopefully, my coming home for a few weeks and leaving a bit later than I would have liked, will make for a more pleasant run.
If you are interested in following along check out “where in the world is Pandora” or by clicking on this link.
Better yet, go to Salty Dawg Homeward Bound Rally page to following the entire fleet. The link will be posted soon, or at least by the 10th, when the rally is scheduled to depart, as a button on this page.
Wish me luck.
It was awesome to be aboard such a spectacular yacht for three days of racing. The wind was forecast to be breezy and that’s exactly what we got. 
Each day we had different colored shirts, including those donated by Carib beer. I love that brand and to have a bright yellow shirt and hat to match was great fun. 
What a thrill to be aboard and underway. 
The “crew” from Carib beer.
The crew thought nothing of climbing, no make that scampering, up the mast to untangle whatever. 
To sail on Columbia in “sporty” conditions is nothing short of spectacular! Blasting along in 25-30kts of wind made for a pretty wet ride. At the end of this short video, watch someone be swept down the deck by a boarding wave. My primary job was to tail the port foremast runner. Split second timing was needed to secure the line during a tack. It took three of us to manage the lines. The next three images compliments of Ed Gifford, a great guy, who was onboard as one of the photographers. 
This is what happens if you get the timing off, heading to the leeward rail too early. When we were preparing to tack, the three of us would get into position just before the tack. The captain would bear off a bit to gain speed and nd blue water piled up over the rail. I was swept off of my feet once before I learned better. Sometimes, it wasn’t possible to stay out of the maelstrom.
One of the other visiting crew was swept down the side of the boat and while he stayed aboard, his pants came down, underwear and all, to his ankles. Good thing that he was able to keep them from being swept over the side. I doubt that he had a spare pair of shorts handy. “Excuse me, do you have a spare pair of drawers? Mine went over the side. I’d really rather you didn’t stare, or laugh, thankyou very much.”
When I saw these waves sweep the decks, I could only imagine what it must have been like to be in the North Atlantic in the winter fishing for cod when boats like Columbia were the norm. These waves were pretty big and it was just a lovely day for sailing. Imagine a storm…
With my birthday coming up soon, Brenda insisted that I get one too. This photo is probably the coolest that I will ever look. As much as I try, I am just not a particularly cool guy. 
It is a really spectacular piece. 
The regatta was put on by the Antigua Yacht Club. They are very supportive of the Salty Dawg Rally and are the center of the sailing community in Antigua.
Of course, where there is Carib beer, there are Carib girls.
And a lot of spectacular yachts including Aquijo. She is huge, at nearly 300′ long and billed as the world’s largest performance sailing yacht. 
Columbia is less than half of her length and is still a really huge yacht herself. Yes, I realize it’s tough to see so here’s a closeup. 
Everything about her is enormous. Note the size of the main boom with a member of the crew walking along the top
And, she is as shiny as she is huge. 
Of course, what would a visit to Antigua be without spending time with our friends at the Antigua and Barbuda Royal Naval Tot Club, and we did just that. Of course, we had some “Tots” on the lawn in Nelson’s Dockyard. 
And even a Tot aboard the lovely 110′ schooner Aschanti IV. 
Members of the Tot Club, including the owner of Ashanti IV, can fly the official burgee of the club, the White Pennant. 
I have been saying for years that Antigua is the best place to begin and end the cruising season and being back here, our last stop before I begin running Pandora north and home. We decided to treat ourselves to a few days on the docks in Nelson’s Dockyard, a wonderful end to a great season of sailing in the Caribbean.
So, here I am, finishing up on what is likely my last post before heading home to the US until I return in a few weeks to begin my run home.
As Pandora cuts through the waves, we scare up a lot of flying fish and the seabirds have learned to fly over the waves just in front of our bow to catch the fish that jump out of the water, as they scurry out of our way. This is a brown booby, an impressive bird that lives just about all of it’s life offshore, only going to land to lay eggs. 
This may be another shot of a booby but I am not sure. I could not find a photo that matched but I think it’s another species. 
We also passed a large school of very enthusiastic dolphins that leapt from the water, but they are notoriously difficult to photograph. Sorry, no images.
And, speaking of schooners. Ashanti, at over 100′ long, is a beauty and I was aboard her as well back in 2018 for a 
It is rare to see so many wonderful boats in one place and the Classics is one that draws them. I walked the docks today for a gander.
The yachts that pack the marina are certainly not all classics and there are quite a few that are so huge that they dwarf even the biggest sailboats. One of the largest is the Mayan Queen at 306′ long. Her “beach club”, as the sunning area on the stern of yachts is referred to, gives a good feel for her scale. Imagine how large the interior space is?
It is fitting that this one is called Alpha Nero, as the is “alpha” in every way and no slouch at 270′. She is reported to belong to a Russian. Not surprisingly, nearly all of the yachts owned by Russians have fled the area as of weeks ago as sanctions have been levied on many of them in reprisal for the invasion of Ukraine. 
An anchor and chain is a huge weight on a boat and one way to address this is to store your yacht’s anchor on a tender. This boat is designed to carry the anchor for a maxi race boat. They deploy the anchor and pass the chain to the “mother ship”. 
And, they won’t have to wait long for the anchor to be delivered with over 1,000 hp. Yup, another Russian owns this boat. The boat that they tender is Scorpios, a 125′ racing yacht, one of the fastest in the world, launched in 2021. Impressive graphics.
She belongs to Limitless, which is what your bank account would need to look like if you owned a yacht like this. She is 315′ long, again, huge. Her owner is Leslie Wexner, the founder of The Limited. He acquired a number of other iconic brands including Abercrombie and Fitch and Victoria’s Secret. Note the open area on the starboard quarter. That is the “garage” for the tender pictured above. 
A huge amount of work goes into keeping a yacht in, well, “yachting trim”. These guys were washing the side of a huge sailing yacht today. This tender carries it’s own water supply, kept full from the dock by a large hose. I guess that by carrying their own water they can have an adequate supply even if the pressure from shore isn’t enough to spray high on the hull. Why didn’t I think of that?
And, with a large yacht, you need large fenders, and lots of them. Notice the ones laying sideways on the dock. A rigger is working on one of their forestays and roller furler that is really, really long. 
Most of the yachts here have been built fairly recently but not this beauty, Talitha, 271′ long, built in 1930 for the founder of Packard Cars. She is currently owned Mark Getty, the son of JP Getty. Interestingly, Mark Getty founded Getty Images, a clearinghouse for professional photographs used worldwide. It is clear that Mark has fabulous taste. Boy, would I love to get aboard her for a tour. 
Ok, one more photo of a sailing yacht that is a big contrast to all the ladies that are in town for the Classic Yacht Regatta. She is the maxi racer named “Controlling The Animal, L4”, a mouthful of a name, launched in 2021. She is one of the fastest racing yachts in the world and she really looks the part. 
It’s great to be back in Antigua again, where I made landfall back in November. There is no shortage of magnificent yachts to look at, that’s for sure.
Tonight Brenda and I will be attending a meeting of the Tot Club and it will be fun to reconnect with friends. Perhaps I can get a replacement membership card to put in my new wallet, when I finally get it. Remember that lost wallet, the one I lost when I was in Martinique? So far, nobody has tried to use any of the credit cards that I lost. Fingers crossed that they won’t…
It was wonderful to watch the fiery sunsets every evening. 
And see the colors change with the minutes. It’s amazing how quickly it gets dark every night. 
Yesterday, Brenda and I sailed less than ten miles north from Marigot to Rodney Bay where we went into yet another marina to spend two days with our friends Bill and Maureen of Kalunamoo, marking the beginning of our run north and the beginning of the end of our season in the Caribbean. The marina staff was nice enough to put us next to each other on the dock. 
You may recall that Bill and Maureen were our mentors back in 2012 when we made our first trip down the ICW on our way to the Bahamas. They proceeded us in the Caribbean by a few years, but ultimately we followed them again, so here we are.
As the wind is nearly always from the east, we have spent the entire season as we have headed south on a port tack and now that we are turning to the north, we will be on a starboard tack. This will also be the case for the 200 mile from Antigua to the USVI where I will join the Homeward Bound Rally in May.
If you prefer a small plunge pool with a water feature, this is for you.
They also have a steam room so you can get all hot and then jump into the nearby pool. And, all of this is available to folks on the docks and moorings. Such a deal.
I understand that the venting steam is a near permanent fixture of the area. 
The island has been volcanically active for millions of years. In past millenniums, violently so as evidenced by the pitons, the cones of long extinct volcanos. These formations are all that is left after the softer outer parts of the structure weathered away and left the hard igneous rock. This view from an overlook along the winding, switchback road. 
Of course, what’s an overlook without a couples photo?
We visited a chocolate factory and store. What a variety, including chocolate infused gin. And Brenda, being a gin girl, had to get a bottle. 
The product displays were in very cleverly modified steel shipping containers. Below, in their restaurant, we had coffee and a snack. 
Later, we had lunch at 
The view of the few yachts on moorings, in more than 100′ of water, far below. 
Zoom in on the one big yacht and you can see that it is Excellence, owned by an American, Herb Chambers. He owns a slew of automobile dealerships in the North East, US. 
She is a spectacular yacht, one of two that he owns. This one was built in Germany a few years ago. 
Brenda and Stephanie enjoy each other’s company. 
Just down stream from the falls are a series of mineral bath pools. We all donned bathing suits and enjoyed time soaking. It was nice to be there alone as the crowds in past visits were pretty large. Interestingly, the water in the pool was clear during this visit and last time, a coco brown. 
So ends the southbound journey of Pandora for this season. Even though we are thousands of miles from home, it still feels like the end.
So much for that, it’s starboard tack from now on. Well, mostly…