Guadeloupe and Antigua - Sailing race and breakdowns

Guadeloupe – The Saints

Les Saintes is a small group of islands just south of the main island of Guadeloupe. It has a beautiful harbour surrounded by a quaint French village where all the rooftops are painted red. It’s a very popular tourist destination, especially when Europeans visit the island.

We only had a day here, but we managed to fit in a few snorkel stops and enjoyed a nice dinner out before departing the next day.

Guadeloupe – Pigeon Cove & Deshaies

We had planned to rent a car to explore the island, but unfortunately all the cars were already rented. Instead, we arranged a ride up to the zoo, which was amazing.

The Zoo de Guadeloupe au Parc des Mamelles is set in the rainforest on the side of a mountain and features an incredible assortment of animals. One of the highlights was the lemur enclosure, where you actually enter their space and they climb and swing all around you. The zoo also has 14 elevated suspension bridges, giving you spectacular views of the forest canopy and the animals below.

We spent the afternoon relaxing on the beach before enjoying what was probably the best burger of the trip at a beachside restaurant.

The next day we headed to Deshaies, which is known for it’s botanical gardens. We took a cab up the mountain and explored the beautiful Jardin Botanique de Deshaies. Guadeloupe is a volcanic island with significant rainfall, creating ideal conditions for tropical plants. The incredible variety and beauty of the gardens made it a truly memorable stop – plus it had flamingos.

We were on a tight schedule, as we needed to get to Antigua and Barbuda to pick up our next set of guests, so we departed early the following morning.

Antigua – Falmouth Harbour & Caribbean 600 Race

We arrived in Falmouth Harbour with a day to prepare before our final guests arrived. Friday was spent getting the boat ready. After a crossing, everything is covered in salt, so it requires a complete top-to-bottom washdown. We made a trip to the well-stocked grocery store, and soon we were ready for Ric and Laurie’s arrival.

Antigua has by far the most superyachts we have ever seen. I would estimate there were 15–20 yachts in the harbour, with at least 10 of them over 350 feet long. Walking down the dock was impressive enough, but one major highlight was seeing Leviathan, a brand-new $400 million yacht owned by Gabe Newell, co-founder of Valve Corporation (creator of Steam). The yacht features a submarine bay, 15 gaming stations, two racing simulators, a basketball court, and much more.

An added bonus during our stay was that the annual RORC Caribbean 600 was taking place. This premier Caribbean sailing event circles multiple islands over 2–3 days. There were 57 boats competing, including several 100-foot Maxi yachts and three massive, high-tech trimarans.

We went out on Rumaway and were able to watch the start of the race. The first boat to finish was Argo, a trimaran that completed the course in just 1.5 days with an average speed of 30 knots. For perspective, I’m thrilled if we’re doing 8 knots on Rumaway! Argo had recently completed a record Atlantic crossing in just 5.5 days. Watching the race was one of the highlights of the trip for me.

We picked up Ric and Laurie and enjoyed a great dinner out that evening. The next day we explored Nelson's Dockyard, a British naval dockyard established in the 1700s to support the Caribbean fleet. It was restored in the 1960s and remains in use today.

The following morning, after watching more race activity, we set sail for Green Island..

Antigua – Green Island breakdown & return to Faimouth Harbour

Green Island is a beautiful, remote anchorage off the coast of Antigua. It was once known for its incredible snorkeling, but a recent hurricane sadly destroyed much of the coral. Even so, we still enjoyed getting in the water and seeing plenty of fish and other sea life. We stopped for drinks at a small island bar before heading back to the boat for dinner on board.

The next morning, when we tried to leave, we discovered our anchor windlass had failed again. This is the system that raises the anchor. It had broken earlier in St Lucia and I had managed to replace the motor — but now the gearbox had failed as well.

The real challenge? Our anchor was fully deployed — a 75-lb anchor attached to 100 feet of heavy chain.

Two fellow cruisers came over to help, and Ric, along with our helpers, managed to haul most of it up by hand. I was eventually able to rig another winch to finish the job so we could get underway.

At that point we had two major problems:

1. We could no longer anchor, meaning we had to find moorings everywhere we went.

2. I needed to find a replacement gearbox — quickly.

We ended up returning to Falmouth Harbour to pick up a mooring ball, but it meant we were effectively stuck there until the repair was complete. Finding the part was another challenge. There were none available on the island. After a lot of searching, I finally located one in Saint Martin and arranged to have it air-shipped to Antigua — an expensive and slow process. The part finally arrived late Friday afternoon, just before our planned departure to Saint Kitts and Nevis.

Fortunately, we were in a great location and made the best of it with our guests. We spent the next day relaxing on the beach alongside a billionaire sailboat owner, followed by dinner out and live local music that evening.

The following day, we took a taxi tour around the island and saw many of Antigua’s local sights. ‘The Maestro’ was our best taxi tour guide yet as he had snacks and rum punches available throughout the tour. We saw Devil’s Bridge which is a natural, limestone bridge created by erosion. We watched three people cross the bridge which is incredibly dangerous given the waves crashing. Our tour guide was in shock. That evening we went to Shirley Heights, a lookout high above the sea that hosts a famous party every Thursday and Sunday. We enjoyed a BBQ dinner, drinks, and a steel drum band while watching a spectacular sunset and making new friends.

Unfortunately, it was soon time for Ric and Laurie to head home. We had an amazing time with them and truly appreciated their flexibility given the mechanical setbacks.

We were underway Saturday at 7:00 a.m., facing a five-hour passage in very windy, choppy conditions on our way to St. Kitts