Cruising the Caribbean

For the past two seasons Ian and Andrea Treleaven have been cruising the Caribbean. In this article they give us the Australian perspective on the islands of the Caribbean.  

If you are looking for great sailing, beautiful clear blue waters, predictable weather and protected anchorages, cruising the Caribbean, in particular the Windward and Leeward Islands, is for you. As a whole these islands are known as the Lesser Antilles.  The larger islands to the north west of Puerto Rico: Hispaniola (Dominican Republic and Haiti), Cuba and Jamaica, are known as the Greater Antilles.

During the season, from December through to May, the trade winds blow constantly from the Eastern quadrant. They vary from just north of east to south of east, with average wind speeds between 15 to 25 knots. The sea temperature is always around a pleasant 24 degrees Celsius. The Windward and Leeward Islands basically lie north to south from Anguilla to Grenada in a gentle arc for a distance of 425 nautical miles. With the wind blowing from the east, your passage between islands is nearly always a reach with hardly any bashing to windward.

The distance between each island is generally only 25 to 30 nautical miles though novices should note that it’s open water with fresher winds and the waves rolling in from the Atlantic. As soon as you are in the lee of the islands, the seas flatten out and the winds moderate. Your crossing between islands is easier if you time the tides and currents correctly so they don’t make the seas stand up.

Your cruise through these islands can either be made north to south or vice versa.  We elected this season to sail north from Grenada and once reaching Anguilla, we sailed the 75 nautical miles west to the British Virgin Islands. The British Virgin Islands is one of our favourite destinations, but having made this detour we’re pretty much committed to continuing in a westerly direction.

Steeped in history

There is a lot of history and culture throughout the islands. It was home to the gentle peace loving Arawak Indians from the Americas until the Carib Indians, a warlike tribe from South America, invaded the islands in the 12th century and ate the Arawaks.   

The arrival of Christopher Columbus in 1492 saw the colonisation by the Spanish and other European nations, who tried to convert the warring Caribs to Christianity. Unfortunately most of the Indians were either killed by the diseases the Europeans brought with them, or slaughtered if they didn’t conform. During his four voyages to the West Indies, Columbus named most of the islands after religious symbols or events, i.e. Antigua, from the church of Santa Maria la Antigua in Seville, Spain.

The real pirates of the Caribbean

Privateers (legal pirates) arrived with letters of marquee from England and France, authorising them to plunder bullion from the Spanish galleons as they headed through the islands on their way back to and from Spain.  Into this heady mix, real pirates (such as Drake and Blackbeard) with no allegiance, plundered any shipping they came across, making sailing in this region a fairly hazardous proposition.  

With the introduction of tobacco and sugar to all the islands, slaves were introduced from Africa as labourers and the rum triangle trade began. In the triangle trade slaves were shipped from Africa to the Caribbean to harvest sugar, sugar was sent to Europe to be made into rum, some of which was traded back to Africa in exchange for more slaves.  Not our finest moment as a civilisation, you’d have to say.

The wars between England and France resulted in the constant exchanging of islands as battles were won and lost. After they tired of their war games, the various countries settled down to run their possessions and stabilize production.

Slowly over the last 60 years the English Islands have become independent, the Dutch are about to be, but the French are still running theirs from France. The islands now are mainly African with a splash of English, French, Spanish and Dutch influences. It has all been blended wonderfully together with their individual cultures, food and music, with the local Creole language linking the islands together.

Take your own or charter one there?

There are two ways to sail the Caribbean Islands; sail in your own yacht or charter one. We sailed all the islands in our own Beneteau Oceanis 50. Owning requires capital cost and on going running costs, while chartering has no obligations. It is a great way to test to see if you like the life style and at the moment there are some great buys in the Caribbean. We liked most of the islands but for the purposes of this article we’ve grouped the ones we really loved into manageable charter based trips. There are numerous charter companies operating in each of the regions and we recommend you shop around. Sunsail and Moorings charter yachts offer the newest yachts, hardly ever over 3 years old, but if you’re willing to accept older yachts there are plenty of other operators

Caribbean cruising guides and charts

There are three very good cruising guides available to assist with your planning.

- Grenada to the Virgin Islands by Jacques Patuelli and published by Imray
- The 2007-2008 Cruising Guide to the Windward Islands by Chris Doyle
- The 2007-2008 Cruising Guide to the Leeward Islands by Chris Doyle
- The 2007-2008 Cruising Guide to the Virgin Islands (which is geared more to chartering).

For weather information, we use two websites.

- www.windguru.com; this is a free service which displays an overview of wind strength & direction, precipitation, cloud cover as well as wave direction & height.

- www.buoyweather.com; for $US 35 a year you can set up your own favourite areas and get very accurate information for long passages.

Internet access is nearly always available from the yacht. The new wireless internet antennas or aerials can give up to 3 nautical miles range

Areas to Charter

For chartering a yacht our choices would be the following groups:-

•    The Grenadines
•    Guadeloupe, Les Saints and Dominica.
•    Antigua and Barbuda
•    St Martin, St Barts and Anguilla.
•    British Virgin Islands

These areas will be covered as individual islands as we sail north.

THE ISLANDS

Grenada is the most southern of the islands and being on the latitude 12 degrees north makes it an ideal place to leave your yacht for the hurricane season (June through December). The majority of insurance companies will provide cover for this position. We hauled our yacht out at Spice Island Marine, Prickly Bay, where she sat safe in a wide one piece cradle. The yacht is separately strapped to the ground in sunken concrete. Luckily for us all the hurricanes last season came through well north of here.

Grenada is English and is known as the Spice Island. On the southern and eastern shores there are some superb anchorages with a lush green backdrop.

Carriacou & Petite Martinique are to the north and part of Grenada.  On route from there you are warned not to sail over the active underwater volcano which they expect to blow at anytime. Carriacou is famous for their traditional yachts of the same name. They are still built on the beach and have their own division in Antigua Classic Race Week.

On into St Vincent & the Grenadines; one of our favourite groups of islands covering 45 nautical miles that makes for very easy sailing. Each island is special in their own way; from over the top up market Mustique (holiday place of the rich and famous) to Tobago Cays with no inhabitants and everything in between.

From south it includes the islands of:

•    Petite St Vincent is very small and has a well protected anchorage. Nearby is the small atoll of Morpion; a small mound of sand surrounded by a reef with just one thatched umbrella in the middle.
•    Palm Island is home to an exclusive resort and it has a magic beach if the weather is settled.
•    Union Island is the port of entry. With a very sheltered anchorage, it is a good place to buy local produce, but don’t stay long; move on to Tobago Cays quickly.
•    Tobago Cays consists of four small islands and is surrounded by a reef and once inside it is idyllic. From swimming with turtles, beautiful beaches to boat boys selling lobster, bread and shirts – there is no reason to leave.
•    Mayreau with Salt Whistle Bay is magic. A very small island with just a few inhabitants, it only got electricity 5 years ago! We could have spent days at anchor there.
•    Canouan right in the middle has a base for Moorings and a small airport. The charter fleets in the Caribbean are increasingly made up of multi-hulls due to the ideal conditions for catamarans.
•    Mustique is the place to go if you want glamour. Basil’s Bar is a must. You might even run into Mick Jagger.
•    Bequia has great shelter in Elizabeth Harbour amongst the ginger bread houses.  

St Vincent is the largest island of the group and has a Sunsail base but we gave the island a miss as a few yachts have been boarded and robbed at night whilst at anchor. With a major airport it is a convenient place to pick up a charter yacht.

St Lucia is also a large island and it has two ‘must visit’ anchorages: The Pitons are two massive conical shape mountains rising straight out of the water. Moorings are available and the snorkelling is fun against the sheer drop to deep water. The other is Marigot Bay with a very narrow entrance into probably the best hurricane hole around. You can pick up a mooring or anchor out. The Moorings have a charter base here. There’s also a great restaurant, Rainforest Hideaway, tucked in amongst the mangroves serving gourmet food.

Martinique is the first of the French Islands and like all of them it is still a department of France. Most products are imported from France; luckily this includes well priced wine, rum and cheeses.  Hubert of Corail Caribes has a fleet of new Lagoon Catamarans for charter and Sunsail also operate here. If you had 3 weeks to charter this would be a great place from which to visit the Grenadines.

Dominica is as unspoilt an island as you’re likely to come across.  It’s said that if Christopher Columbus were to return, this is the only island he would recognise. Time has left it behind, which is what makes this mountainous island with the large number of rivers and waterfalls so special. The boat boys adopt you and for a small fee they can assist you with most things. The fresh local produce is fabulous, which may account for this island having the highest percentage of centagenarians (people 100 years or older) per capita anywhere in the world.

The straits between Dominica and French Guadeloupe and her islands of Marie- Galante & Les Saintes saw many great naval battles between the English and France at the time of Napoleon.  The only battle we fought sailing the strait was the 30 kilo sailfish we snagged on the lure we were trolling. After a long fight we landed it and had fish to eat for nearly a month.

Les Saintes consists of four small islands, and the village of Bourg des Saintes on Terre-de Haut is very quaint with good bars and restaurants. The anchorages are excellent and you could easily spend a week in the numerous bays.

Marie Galante doesn’t offer much shelter but in the right conditions it has the best beaches. It is also famous for its rum. French rum is unique in that it is distilled from pure sugar cane and not from the molasses like other island rums.

Guadeloupe is in fact two large islands, one very mountainous and the other, to the east, very flat. You can motor between them through the very narrow Riviere Salee Passage, which saves you many hours sailing around the islands.

Inland the forest and waterfalls are spectacular and along the shores there are great bays including Deshaies and Saint-Francois.  Many charter companies (Sunsail) operate from the capital Pointe a Pitre.

Antigua and Barbuda are very English.  Antigua is the main island.  Barbuda is 24 nautical miles to the north. Antigua has two wonderful sheltered harbours. English Harbour is the home of Nelson’s dockyard which has been restored to its glory, as it was when Lord Nelson served here as a 25 year old ship’s commander.

Barbuda has a very small population and is not often visited by yachts, which makes it a superb destination. It is very tricky to enter through the many reefs but you’re efforts are rewarded with beautiful, pristine beaches and a colony of Frigate Birds.

From Barbuda we sailed west to Nevis and St Kitts. The two islands are separated by a very narrow, rock infested passage. St Kitts is a quaint island which is just starting to be developed and hopefully they’ve learned from the mistakes of some of the other islands. The beach bars here play continuous reggae and listening to reggae Christmas carols was a particular delight.

We sailed on to the up-market French island of St Barts. The main harbour of Gustavia is full of super yachts tied to the wall with a few berths for visiting sailboats sprinkled among them. Everyone else has to anchor out in sometimes rolly conditions.  It’s worth a visit, but it’s not cheap and they even charge you to anchor.

Not far to the north is the island of St Martin & Sint Maarten. The north half is French and the southern half is Dutch, which is unique in the world and it explains the subtle name difference. In the middle of the island is the huge and well protected Simpson Lagoon, which can be entered through draw bridges on both the Dutch and French sides. This is one of those places where people come to anchor for a few days and are still there two years later!

Anguilla is a gem. Beautiful beaches and very peaceful with discreet development; it is still a British Dependent Territory. A lot of cruisers are under the mistaken impression that it’s expensive, but there is no charge to enter or to anchor in Road Bay.

Now for a big 78 nautical mile sail west to the British Virgin Islands (BVI’S). The BVI group of islands is home to the largest fleet of charter yachts in the world and when you visit you will see why. With over sixteen islands to choose from there are numerous well-sheltered anchorages. All the islands are close enough for line of sight navigation, with the exception of Anegada in the north, which is 20 nautical miles away.

Anegada is low lying and has only 200 inhabitants, but great beaches, bars and restaurants. Jimmy Buffet drops in from time to time, just to jam. It is also home to a pink flamingo colony. There is only one anchorage tucked in behind a reef with a tricky entrance so plan your arrival to ensure the sun is overhead so you can see the rocks.

The eastern island of Virgin Gorda has a huge sound in the north with many anchorages, marinas, bars and restaurants. The well-known Bitter End yacht Club is a good place to stop. Little Dix bay on the west is another favourite of ours with pelicans, turtles and rays in shallow water to entertain you, but a tricky entrance.  In the south are the famous Baths; large boulders along the beach as if they were thrown there by giants creating wonderful seclude beaches and pools.

Tortola is the main island and Road Harbour can host up to three cruise ships at a time. The only reason to visit is to collect you charter yacht or restock the larder, but on the western end there are two great bays: Soper’s Hole and Cane Garden Bay, both of which offer excellent shelter.

Jost Van Dyke, the western most island in the BVI’s, is the ‘party island’. Famous for beach bars such as Foxy’s in Great Harbour and the Soggy Dollar Bar in White Bay.

To the south are the Islands of Ginger, Cooper, Salt, Peter and Norman, all with their own charm. Salt has the famous wreck of the Royal Mail Ship ‘Rhone”, which provides wonderful snorkelling.  Peter Island is the small island on which Robert Louis Stevenson’s ‘Treasure Island’ was based and several ‘Pirates of the Caribbean’ movies were filmed there. Norman Island has the famous treasures caves that were used by pirates to hide their spoils. All the islands were at one time or another home to the infamous pirates Francis Drake, Blackbeard and others. Indeed, the main channel is named after Drake.

The Caribbean is a beautiful area to cruise or charter and if you’re in this neck of the woods, sailing here is something not to be missed.

Andrea and Ian Treleaven have published a book on their adventures “Letters from the Med’.  They are currently working on ‘Letters from the Caribbean’ which is due for launch in May 2010.