St Barts and Antigua

Very large sailing yacht in St Barts



Antigua - English Harbour in the foreground, Falmouth Harbour in the background. If you look really closely, you can spot our Grand Banks 49 anchored in the back of English Harbour.




Arguably one of the most unusual mega yachts in the world anchored in St Barts outer harbor. Construction price was reportedly in excess of $300M USD.

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We last left you in St Martins, home of great scenery, good French cooking, and literally thousands of cruising yachts from all over the world. We next took a short leg south to the island of St Barts, a logical stepping stone on the way to Antigua. St Barts has a well deserved reputation as a playground for the rich and famous. The primary harbor of Gustavia was totally filled with mega yachts in the 120 to 150 foot range, and with boats on permanent moorings. Everyone else anchors in the outer harbor which is quite exposed to northerly swells, but with a great view of the really large boats which can't fit in the inner harbor. See the attached pictures for a look at what really large, really means in St Barts.

We were happy to leave the next morning for Antigua which is also home to a number mega yachts, but Antigua has large well protected harbors with room for everyone. After finding a good place to anchor we went ashore in the dinghy to complete the usual bureaucratic rigamarole of clearing in with the Port Authority, Customs, and Immigration, each a separate department with its own set of forms to be filled out, signed and stamped.

Antigua is a great cruising port with good access to supplies of all types. I stocked up on spare parts and bought some small tools which had escaped our pre-departure check lists. Next day we took a hike up the side of a nearby hill called Shirley Heights, about 500 feet above sea level. The objective was to get a good look, and some pictures, of the start of a sailboat race known as the RORC Caribbean 600. We akso got quite a bit of much needed exercise. Time passes quickly in a good port and we have now been here a few days longer than intended but in return we'll also get better weather tomorrow for our next leg south to Guadaloupe.