There are some islands that are worth visiting, and then there are islands that are worth visiting over and over again. On our way south this year, we could not skip Guadeloupe and Dominica. These two gems of nature take our breath away every time we are there. For this blog, I will let the […]
Posts in the Leeward Islands category:
Islands of the Northeast Caribbean Sea
Island on Fire
The juxtaposition of verdant mountains against the remnants of deadly, barren pyroclastic flows is striking when you tour Montserrat by land or see it from the air. As a visitor, it’s impossible to talk about this beautiful island without discussing the devastation and ongoing threat caused by the Soufrière Hills volcano. Montserrat is an active […]
“Snow” in the Caribbean!
We were ready for a bouncy ride. The winds had been howling for days and the seas built up from the east, the direction we were headed. The winds were not letting up anytime soon, so we decided to go. It was only a 20 mile passage from Saba to Sint Eustatius (aka Statia), so […]
It’s All Uphill!
After packing in a bit more fun at carnival and the beach, and saying sad goodbyes to dear friends, we were finally ready to pull ourselves away from St. Martin and be on the move again. Before heading too far south, we explored two nearby islands that we had missed on our previous travels: Saint-Barthélemy […]
Going Dutch (and French)
The unusually smooth sail across the infamous Anegada Passage belied the chaos we encountered upon arriving in Simpson Bay, Sint Maarten. We were tired from a sleepless, all-night sail, and just wanted to drop the anchor and rest, but it was the final regatta day, and hundreds of boats, both competitors and spectators, were crisscrossing […]
The Joy of Rediscovery
Arriving in Îles des Saintes, Guadeloupe, was like a homecoming. We visited here last year and fell in love with the quaint French town of Terre-de-Haut, the outstanding diving and snorkeling, and the panoramic view of small, lush, mountainous islands capped with centuries-old fortresses. This is one of those special places that we can visit […]
Karukera — The Island of Beautiful Waters
The forty-two mile sail from Antigua to Guadeloupe was fast and bouncy. The trade winds were steady from the east, but with fluctuating intensity anywhere from the mid-teens to gusting well over thirty knots. The seas were around eight feet and hitting us just forward of broadside. As usual, ¡Pura Vida! loved the high winds […]
Antigua’s Bottom and The Shirley Heights Death March
We thought we were, pretty much, done with Antigua after exploring the north and west coasts of the island over a three week period. We thought wrong. We knew there was much more to enjoy, both in and out of the water, but our goal was to get to the south coast where we could […]
Revelry and Relaxation in Antigua
Our arrival in Antigua (pronounced “an-TEE-ga” – the u is silent) heralded two major events, our first trip back home since departing the mainland almost two years ago, followed by a visit to ¡Pura Vida! by one of our favorite couples. All the excitement aside, we had to prepare to leave our home unattended at […]
The Islands That Brush The Clouds
The plan went to hell as we violently wobbled with the rhythm of a metronome for an entire night at anchor, and our possessions flew from shelves to join a gyrating melee on our salon floor. Upon departing Saint Martin, we had ten days before our scheduled flight out of Antigua to visit the U.S. […]