After a fabulous Christmas and New Year with friends in Bonaire, we turned our attentions to our northward journey. Our likely destination was the Dominican Republic, we couldn’t land in Puerto Rico as we didn’t have the visas and it was looking unlikely that we would get a weather window to make the Easting for the BVIs. The Christmas winds and storms across America were driving more and more north into the wind, it wasn’t going to be a pleasant journey no matter what and of the many of our friends who had left in November and December, only a few had had a pleasant’ish trip. Several friends had reported being seasick for most of the journey and one of our friends had to be towed in by the coastguard after a search and rescue operations as they had been way overdue. So the prospect wasn’t ideal.
Choosing the best weather we could see in the coming weeks, as the northern storms were pretty consistent across the US, driving weather in the Caribbean Sea, we checked out and set off on Sunday 8th January. Motor sailing until we rounded the northern end of Bonaire we set our sails and started our journey. After a fast and lumpy 24hours, Blue Mist did a record 179NM in that first day, it became clear our destination wasn’t going to be viable, the wind, current and swell all fighting against us making any north or northeastern headway impossibly and unsafe. Haiti is not an option at all, so if we couldn’t make the easting to the DR our landfall would be Jamaica.
Decision made we changed our plan , let friends and family know and made the course correction, using Navionics information we made the choice of Port Antonio on the north eastern corner. The rest of the sail was lumpy but as we were no longer fighting to get north east the slam of the upwind had at least stopped. We’d already had to change the extraction fan on the engine as we tried to utilise some additional power to hold a course upwind, so whilst this change would impact alot of our plans it was the safest choice for crew and boat.
We arrived at the corner of the island before dawn on the 12th January, slowly making our way around the north eastern shore in the darkness trying to figure out if the lights were on land or at sea. As first light came we let out the fishing lines, hoping for a catch as we crossed the banks and reefs. There was quite a lot of sargassum weed in the water so as I repeatedly pulled the lines in and out to clear the hook, I caught the exact moment the Wahoo took the line. It was very strong and I couldn’t pull the line in, swapping with Ross we soon had this beautiful fish just of the back of the boat and getting some alcohol ready and knife to quickly kill, Ross hauled it up on deck. It was as long as our cockpit table at least, I then spent an hour cleaning and filleting the fish, already excited about our evening meal.
At 9.30 am that morning we secured our lines in the Errol Flynn Marina and having hoisted out Q flag, we were given a set of about 10 forms to fill in (much data was to be repeated) and waited patiently for our first check in officers to arrive. First to arrive was quarantine, not only asking about our health but also what meat, fruits and veggies we had onboard. They didn’t confiscate anything but we very clear that nothing fresh we had brought with us (even waste) was to leave the boat and we must ditch it at sea when we left. We hadn’t got a lot of stuff, a few potatoes, onions and apples and frozen meat so this wasn’t a hardship. Once cleared, they asked us to drop the Q flag which was an indication to customs and immigration that they could come to the yacht. Customs was next, the two gentlemen went through the forms, took copies ( we didn’t have enough but they were very relaxed and just did photocopy or took photos on there phones), they did a check downstairs - Ross joking with them about what they wanted to find as he was directing the tour at their request.
Then immigration, again two lovely gentlemen who went through the formalities and shared tips on the best places for jerk chicken, the market etc. Finally, we could go into the marina office and finish our check in to the island. The lady in the office showed us round the facilities and we both looked forward to hot showers after we’d de-rigged the boat from her passage set up.
After a rest, a lovely hot shower and some food as we were both hungry having not had anything yet that day, we decided to walk into the town to stretch our legs and get off the boat for a bit, and hopefully find a beer. By the time we got back to the boat we were both a little overwhelmed. The town was so busy, cars, people, what felt like hundreds of school children, the noise and bustle was crazy, especially after so much quiet st sea. We hadn’t got far before we’d been approached by a local about tours and hot sauce and wanting to show us round - all for a price obviously. We politely took his what’s app details and carried on our wander. The smell of street vendors jerk chicken was so amazing but this time we headed back to the boat to have a cold beer from our stores and cook the wahoo we’d caught that morning.
Over the next week we explored Port Antonio, checking out the various restaurants that had been recommended and perusing the supermarkets and butchers looking for the best deals to provision the boat.
In the marina we met several other cruisers waiting for various weather windows to head east and south, we seemed to be the only yacht heading west. Chatting with the family boat, a 37ft catamaran, they’d been in the marina for a lot longer than planned having departed once to go east through the windward passage past Cuba and Haiti to the Bahamas, but having to turn back as the seas and weather made any progress impossible and uncomfortable. They’d had a pretty horrible passage north from Panama to Jamaica, having to slam upwind in some big waves and wind that understandably they weren’t keen on repeating a similar journey again. Looking and waiting for a light wind few days or to ride the back of a north westerly if the seas weren’t to big, they planned stop of a few weeks had turned into nearly 8 weeks.
They were very friendly and gave us lots of tips and advice about where was good to eat on the roadside stalls, the good supermarkets and butchers. The prices of various items in the markets so ideally we would not get overcharged with the usual tourist premium too much. This helped on our first trip to the market but we still ended up buying what appeared to be the most expensive mango and avocado we’ve even known!!
We returned to the market several times during our stay, picking up fresh produce and trying to negotiate our way past two of the locals, who’d approached us on our very first day, who seemed adamant that we buy from them. Mark was friendly enough pointing out where things where etc and keen to provided us with private tours and show us around, all for a fee obviously. We declined it on several occasions but weren’t adverse to doing some sightseeing so suggested maybe later in the week we’d chat.
The other gentleman was again friendly, in his sixties wearing massive designer sunglasses and always smoking. His patter was about selling us the best jerk seasoning and sauces or Jamaican coffee, the best in the world. He’d shout out ‘morning Captain’ to Ross every time we saw him, actually Ross got called that quite a few time from locals saying hello. We did buy some hot sauce from him just before we left, but haven’t tried it yet… I’ll let you know what $15 (US) hot sauce taste like when we do.
We’d made a few provisioning runs to the supermarket keen to stock up on basics ahead of the months we’d be spending in Cuba and the Bahamas where food is either scare or expensive. So the bilges we’re full of rices and pasta, tins of tomatoes and vegetables all so we could all meals hopefully to go with any fish we could catch or barter with the local fisherman.
Mid way through our stay, another OCC yacht arrived, SV Rascal was home to a single hander who’d crossed over from Mexico on the back a low pressure system driving some north westerly winds, aiding his voyage east on route to the Dominican Republic. We enjoyed a few evenings together, discussing the places we’d been, diving (he was a cave diver - crazy!!) and future plans.
As the time passed a light wind weather system appeared to be the answer to everyone ongoing travel plans. Those heading east through the windward passage getting the calmer seas to sail or motor sail through to the Bahamas, those heading south for a window towards Colombia where again the sea state being driving by the Christmas winds would be calmer and we had the prospect of a nice downwind sail to Grand Cayman.
Originally we’d planned to cruise along the Jamaican coastline, but they have recently put in a new cruising permit fee and much of the advice we had from those who’d already been along the coast was that we wouldn’t be missing much and safety was a concern in some areas. We never felt unsafe in Port Antonio, but on the occasional we shared with locals about places to visit etc, they themselves were keen to discourage any travel to a lot of places especially Kingstown, the capital which they said was unsafe and dangerous. It’s a shame we didn’t get to see some more of the island, but on this occasion we made the decision to check out of the journey at Port Antonio and said direct to our next destination. Grand Cayman is a tiny dot of an island about 300NM east, an island full of diving sites and cruise ships.
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