All posts by Diana

Dominica – The Caribbean unfiltered

February 10, 2014TourismDominica, PAYS boat guidesDiana

Since we’ve been in the Caribbean we had set our sites on Dominica as the furthest south we would go. We had heard wonderful things about the island: its beauty, how unspoiled it was, the great boat guides system called PAYS. All true!! We were met a mile out by Titus from Eddison’s Guide Service who was very friendly and helpful. We still had our friend Kacie with us so we wanted to make the most of our time in Dominica so we had Titus set us several tours for us. Just as a side note, if you ever want to seem like a stud then sail into Dominica with two ladies on your boat! Ryan got all kinds of comments on how lucky he was and occasionally on how miserable he must be!!

Views of Portsmouth Dominica:

Kacie and Ryan lounging.

The furthest south Ryana will see…

Blue Bay…great place for dinner!

Another awesome sunset…

The first tour we did was to take a ride up the Indian River which is just there in Portsmouth. We were told that some of the movie Pirates of the Caribbean (2 or 3?) was filmed there and that Titus had met Johnny Depp. It’s a peaceful ride as engines are prohibited and Titus rowed us all the way in. At the end is a bush bar where you can grab a cold one before you head back out the river. They also made us these cute birds out of a leaf to take home as a souvenir too! Very nice ride up the river and a nice introduction to Dominica.

The river…

Our friendly guide, Titus.

Les Saintes – Touristy Guadeloupe

February 6, 2014TourismFort Napoleon, Guadeloupe, Les SaintesDiana

Les Saintes are a group of Guadeloupe islands just south of the mainland. Everyone who we talked to had great things to say about it so we knew we had to stop. It’s a touristy destination with multiple cruise ships and ferries that come from the mainland every day. It is very picturesque with a lovely little town and nice green mountains. What makes it a really cool place is that you can walk everywhere. There are not a lot of cars on the island so it make walking the streets safe and everyone will walk to the beaches or the Fort on top of the hill. There are also a number of nice restaurants in the town and we had a great dinner out.

View of mainland Guadeloupe on our way to the Saintes.

Beach #1 – They warn you not to swim here because the waves and current are too strong but it is pretty!

Views of the harbor and town.

Fort Napoleon. This is a very well preserved fort with a museum inside and we had fun walking around and looking at the views from here!

Beach #2 – This is the beach they send you to for swimming. It’s well protected and we laid out and swam for awhile.

Out and about! We stumbled upon a dance party at 7pm that when we wandered back after dinner was shut down. I guess they party early here. How un-French like!

Deshaies Guadeloupe

February 5, 2014TourismBotanical Garden, Deshaies, Deshaies River, GuadeloupeDiana

After a great time in Antigua and a fun night out with Te Mana we got up bright and early to head to Guadeloupe. It was only a five hour sail and winds were predicted at 15-20 so we were looking forward to a nice sail. Turns out those predictions were wrong (surprise surprise) and we had winds up to 35 but it was still a nice sail over. Ryan did some fishing and caught a barracuda! And he and Stanley caught up on some sleep!

The harbor in Deshaies was nice and we couldn’t believe how clear the water was. We were anchored in 30ft and could clearly see the bottom! Stanley had fun running around barking at the turtles in the water.

Deshaies has a river that runs through town and we had read about a hike you can do up the river so we went to check it out. The river is pretty but it turns out the hike is through the river climbing over slippery moss covered rocks. Not feeling like breaking an ankle that day we turned around after 20 minutes, but we did enjoy the scenery we saw.

While in Deshaies we picked up our friend Kacie! She flew into Guadeloupe late on a Monday night and luckily was able to get a taxi out to the boat. Lucky because Guadeloupe was having an island wide gas shortage and the buses stopped running, there weren’t rental cars to be found and a lot of the taxis weren’t running either. But she made it! The day after she arrived we went to visit the botanical gardens which are up the hill from Deshaies. A nice stroll through the garden was a good way to start off her visit!

Hello Kacie!

The gardens…

The Superyacht Challenge Antigua

January 31, 2014TourismAntigua, Superyacht ChallengeDiana

One of the first things Ryan noticed about Antigua is the number of amazing yachts. So, when we found out there would be a mega yacht race while we were there of course we had to go see. The Superyacht Challenge Antigua is an event with 4 days of racing and lots of partying. And no, we weren’t invited to participate! 😉 On the first day of racing we headed up the hill to get a good view of the starting line. I was somewhat disappointed that they had staggered starts and didn’t all start at the same time but I guess when you are dealing with that expensive of boats you don’t want them jockeying for position and causing damage! That might put a damper on that nights party! It was fun to watch them under sail and a beautiful day to sit looking out at the water.

Here are some pictures of the yachts (and us and Stanley too!).

Zip Zip

January 29, 2014TourismAntigua, Zip liningDiana

We had been disappointed to miss out the zip lining for Russel’s birthday in St Martin because we didn’t bring the right shoes so when the opportunity to go in Antigua came up we jumped on it! They offer zip lining in the rainforest with a ropes challenge course as well. We went at a time when the cruise boats weren’t in so we had 2 guides all to ourselves. It was a blast!

Getting ready to set out on our adventure!

Our guide Sam. Her hair was so big the helmet only went on top!

Romantic moment on the ropes course.

Ryan is totally concentrating!

Our other guide Barry pretending to be spider man.

American Tourists in the wild

January 27, 2014TourismAntigua, Tropical AdventuresDiana

On Antigua we decided to take an island tour to a feel for the island. On other islands we had rented a car and driven around but Ryan told me he was on strike from driving anymore so we signed up for a tour! We used Tropical Adventures and really enjoyed it. I decided I was going to be that person who took pictures of everything (and I mean everything!) along the way. The full day tour had many parts; the first was a rough ride in a 4×4 jeep around some of the villages on the island. Then we went up on a hillside overlooking Falmouth and English Harbors. It was a lumpy, bumpy ride but our guide was a nice gentleman named Kendrick who assured us not to worry, he was a professional driver! 🙂

Our guide Kendrick as we set off on our adventure!

Ryan’s glorious locks flowing in the breeze.

Old and new…

Above Falmouth Harbor.

Can you spot Ryana?

Ryan and the view. Not sure which is better looking! 😉

After driving through the villages and bouncing our way up the hills we stopped at a donkey sanctuary. Here you can look at and pet the donkeys but not ride them! Ryan thought they all looked sad like Eeyore but he made a few friends!

“There is only one rain cloud in the sky…and it’s raining on me.” ~Eeyore

One of the donkeys are curious about Ryan!

Ryan’s made a friend.

I think this one sort of likes me!

After all that excitement at the donkey sanctuary we had lunch at Betty’s Hope which is an old sugar plantation. Most of it burned down at one point but the sugar mill is still standing. We looked around here for a while and then had lunch delivered by some local ladies who had cooked it up themselves. Yum!

Ryan and the windmill.

Our trusty jeep.

Continuing our action packed day our next stop was kayaking. We kayaked through the mangroves on the east side of the island and found some interesting sea life! Our guide pulled sea cucumbers and jelly fish from the water as well as pointing out many different crabs wandering around. He also showed us a small island in the mangroves where they grow weed. Nice…

View from the kayak.

Ryan found a conch!

And we’re still going!! Next stop was some snorkeling off the boat.

Our final stop of the day was Bird Island where we enjoyed some rum punch and a small hike up to the top to see the view. It was such a great day and we enjoyed been shown around the beautiful island of Antigua!

Shirley Heights

January 24, 2014TourismAntigua, English Harbor, Falmouth Harbor, Shirley HeightsDiana

We had heard from every single person that we talked about Antigua with that we should go to the Sunday night BBQ at Shirley Heights. Apparently it is an Antiguan institution! Shirley Heights itself is an old Fort on top of the hill with beautiful panoramic views of English and Falmouth Harbors. It is a prime place to watch the sunset while the steel drum band sets the mood with some great music. How do they get so many different sounds out of those drums?!?! We got up there just before sunset to enjoy the views and after the sunset we tried the bbq which was pretty awesome. We sat down at one of many picnic benches and enjoyed the warm night, the food and the music (along with a ton of other people!). 🙂

The British Empire

January 21, 2014TourismAntigua, English Harbor, Nelson's DockyardDiana

Where we are staying in Falmouth Harbor Antigua is right next to English Harbor which houses the oldest dockyard continually in operation: Nelson’s Dockyard. It was built by the British as a place to keep their ships in order to protect their interests in the Caribbean. Also, it is a great protected harbor that will keep ships safe in a hurricane. Construction of the Dockyard began in the 1740s and today it is in use as a marina with a museum, lots of shops and restaurants. It was fun to explore the history and see all the restored buildings.

Another interesting thing is that here at the Dockyard they have several small boats that have been used to row across the Atlantic. They are very small, completely exposed and have just a small water tight compartment to sleep. They are not even allowed to have a sun shade up because that could be considered a sail! As we’ve been here there have been more rowing boats arriving in the harbor after 45+ days at sea in the Atlantic. Crazy! It’s fun though to hear the honks and horns of boats cheering their arrival. Our friends from Te Mana saw one arrive and said the folks couldn’t even stand up when they got off the boat! Ryan’s question…. Why would anyone do this? Don’t they know how to sail? LOL!

Let there be calm

January 20, 2014TourismAntigua, Falmouth, Mad MongooseDiana

We have finally found a calm anchorage well protected from the wind and swells in Falmouth, Antigua. After our first night here Ryan said he woke up and thought we were in a house it was so calm! The green hills all around the anchorage are really pretty and the sunsets here have been spectacular.

Here are some photos of the anchorage.

Ryana at anchor:

The amazing sunsets:

Our new favorite hangout:

Champagne wishes and caviar dreams – St Barths

January 14, 2014TourismGustavia, Shell Beach, St BarthsDiana

I guess I’m dating myself with that reference but St Barths feels like a peek into the lifestyles of the rich and famous! We arrived on a bustling Saturday night after a boisterous sail over from St Martin with our new buddy Jeff. There were about 20 mega yachts lined up at the dock and more in the harbor when we got here. It must have been the tail end of the New Years celebrations because by now most of them have left! Our first impressions were that it was so nice and clean and we had great fun people watching. We went out to a wonderful dinner with Jeff which ended with the waiter leaving a complimentary bottle of vanilla rum on the table. Awesome! 🙂

Ryan and Jeff on the sail over.

First night out.

The port of Gustavia, where we anchored, is the main town on St Barths. The streets are lined with fancy shopping and restaurants all centered around the harbor. It’s very pretty with the mainly red roofed buildings and the decorous people. 🙂 All the shops close down from 12-3 so that everyone can properly enjoy their lunch hour!

Mega yachts lined up.

Port Gustavia

More views of the port

A lone yacht after they all cleared out.

The streets quiet at lunch hour(s).

The large anchor and historic church right in town.

The view from our boat were pretty nice too.

Right near town, in walking distance, there is a small beach called Shell Beach. It’s named for all the shells and coral that have washed up on the shore. It’s pretty and convenient so we spent a few days hanging out there.

All the pretty shells.

Ryan at the lookout point above Shell Beach.

We also spent one day exploring the island via car. We went to several beaches and to the other “big” town on the island. All the beaches are beautiful and everywhere we went was so picturesque.