The barbados event.

I was going to speak about the Barbados "Beach Culture World Tour" event last Friday but didn't get a chance to with the crazy story of the rescue. Anyway today I will finish the story off.
First I just gotta reprint an email we had from some very happy guests. We get these sort of emails all the time, but this one is especially nice I think. From California this morning:

Hi Nell -



It's my first day back here at work in Los Angeles, but all I can think about is eating barbequed chicken and pasta salad on Green Island. The Extreme Tour was an experience of a life time, and I just wanted to write to you to say thanks.



The Extreme boat was gorgeous, and it was thrilling to cut through the waves at such intense velocity. JD was our captain, and he was amazingly deft at handling the boat through coral reefs and against strong Atlantic currents. He made it look effortless to navigate, which is surely the mark of a skilled sailor. And between the crew of Ty and Junior, well, we felt completely safe, entertained, educated, and well-attended to throughout the entire trip.



Of course, snorkeling with Stingrays was sensational. They're so cute that I kept smiling whenever I saw one swim underneath me, which resulted in water getting into my snorkel mouthpiece constantly. (My fault entirely - you shouldn't smile while snorkeling, but I just could not help myself.)



Best of all, my husband had the best birthday ever in Antigua. He can't stop talking about his Extreme Circumnav tour. He sounds like he's 9 years old, and not 49, when he tells people about his great boat trip. He had a ball.



The bad news now is that we're back to work for a while, but the good news is that we get to go back to Antigua within the year. Sandals gave us a complimentary 4-night stay to come back, since the room we originally booked with them was still being constructed. We could not be more thrilled to return to your beautiful island. When we do, we're definitely taking the Eco tour.



Nell, thanks for all of your help in setting up this trip. Know that you provided to us - two city-weary, traffic-battered, urban dwellers - the trip of a lifetime. We really needed that, and you guys truly delivered beyond all of our expectations.



With much gratitude,



Jenny La Raia

Los Angeles, CA

OK back to the Barbados story. I know some people just love stories so here goes. If you go back a few days on the blog you can read about the first Beach Culture Event organized by Brian Talma seen here on the left.

Our little Antiguan team arrived at Silver Rock on Barbados' South shore after sailing 285 miles across the archipelago. When we arrived there wasn't much wind unfortunately and the windsurfing and kitesurfing wasn't being featured. This event is about all aspects of beach culture with a main focus being on the surfing sports: wave surfing, windsurfing and kitesurfing. There also were other competitions in a wide array of beach culture activities. Anyway, there were some waves rolling in and when we arrived a hard core surfing competition was going down. At first it was the junior girls and let me tell you that they would have put many adults to shame. Slashing off the lips and cool style showed that surfing in Barbados isn't just a male sport. We saw boys and girls of all ages surf and then the adults. In between "heats" of surfing where expert cementation was going on they had a conch blowing competition. In the Caribbean many people on the beach use Queen Conch shells as horns and let me tell you that they are loud as hell. Anyway, during the beach culture even there was a competition with contestants from around the world taking part. The poor fellas from Hungary didn’t do enough training because of the lack of good shells back home and as a result failed to make it into the finals. Trinidad's conch blower had been partying too much the night before and somehow didn't have the stamina that the Guiana and Barbados contestants seemed to possess. Unfortunately the fantastic melodical blowing prowess of the Guiana conch blowing sensation couldn't sway the crowd away from the extremely talented local favorite.

"Full Moon" as he is known on the beach in Barbados blew his conch like a demon possessed and the crowd went bananas (or should I say conch mad). Since this section of the Barbados Beach Culture World Tour was being judged by the beach crowd..the world conch blowing title went to Full Moon from Barbados who is now ranked #1 in the world.
When I was a kid, Pappy, from Pappy's watersports was the best conch blower in the world as far as I was concerned, but he'd have a hard time blowing with these young new stars.
That afternoon we chilled back on the catamaran and in the end went out to the famous St. Laurence Gap for some of the Bajan nightlife. In the morning we went back to the beach where the wind had picked up and the action was in full swing. Some of the best "freestyle" windsurfers in the world are from Bonaire and 25 people from there came down to take part in the event. Tonky and Tati Franz who have been winning freestyle (trick) events immediately stunned the crowd with massive aerial tricks. There were guys from Venezuela, the usa, europe, dominican republic, barbados and other countries taking part in a huge expression session of windsurfing freestyle. Some of the complex maneuvers were hard for even me to understand. These guys were amazing and the large beach crowd was eating it up.

After the windsurfing it was time for some kitesurfing action, and our only competitor in the Beach Culture even was full time kitesurfing pro, Andre Phillip. In fact, he was the only full time pro there and the competition was a little skewed in his favor. Anyway, not to just steal the show Dre decided to do a session comprised of the most difficult aerial tricks in his repertoire. To the untrained eye (which much of the crowd consisted of) his aerial display was in the same league as the rest of the competitors and only the hard core kitesurfers there knew how difficult his moves actually were. If was a good expression session with some of the guys showing some great and huge jumps. The windsurfers actually got more of the strong winds and as it died down the kiters slowly came back to the shore.
In between events there was beach cricket with some famous international cricketers taking part. Both the kids and adults seemed to enjoy the cricket as much as the other events and it was pure energetic action throughout.
All in all the first event in the "Beach Culture World Tour" was a massive success and I am sure that we will be back there with a bigger team next year. Most of the international competitors there have competed in extremely serious events all over the world which at the top level are rarely about fun. They are sometimes soo serious that having fun is impossible. Brian Talma, the Beach Culture even organizer, has been to many of the serious events and wanted to make this event something different. Its all about fun and action as he keeps on saying. It's not all about who won or which rule book was being used....it’s about coming together to take part in what makes the beach more of a life and not just a place.

Stay tuned for a story about the trip back to Antigua. That was pure adventure.
Pics include conch blowing finals, dre kitesurfing, the beach, team antigua, and a pic of brian, Full Moon and Andre.

no big deal? ya right!!

After, explaining what happened yesterday to the coast guard and the news people, we didn't imagine the story could possibly change so dramatically. Our island is a funny one...I guess most small towns are like this too. The first thing that started happening was that people began to call me and my friends asking if it was true that one of my boats had sunk. Somehow this juicy rumor was spreading quickly around the rock, which is one of the reasons I wrote about it on the blog. If people want to find out the real story all they have to do is speak to the crew. Francis is on 268 764 2681. Tony is 268 726 7692 or even easier come to the blog.
Someone called me to inform me that adult who was actually trying to help the kids and ended up nearly drowning, called in to the local radio station to say that the incident wasn't any big deal and nobody was in any grave danger. He admitted that he did get some help from Tony and Francis, but that it was never a matter of life and death. I was on my way to meet the crew when I heard this and was eager to get the full detailed report from the boys. It was even more dramatic than I thought. I won't go on and on about it but will add a few points that I didn't mention yesterday. First, is that while taking one of the kids off the bottom, Tony was also grabbed by another kid who started pulling him under. Tony managed to grab one of the fender's lines that he had thrown in and was able to save the two kids and himself by kicking to the shore. Tony said that by the time he got to the shore and put the drowning girl on her side, he was totally exhausted. He said he nearly passed out himself. Another thing he said was that when the girl who was laying motionless down below made it to the surface, her eyes were rolling back into her head. While he pulled her unconscious body to the shore she kept vomiting. On the shore she brought up more and more before starting to come to. The teachers behind him tried to position her on her back but because of Tony's recent training he insisted that she stay on her side to bring up all the water. He said "I wanted to do everything Jonathan's way". That is Jonathan from ABSAR who had just given him the first aid training. Tony, Louis, Francis and the guests all agreed that no matter what three of the kids would have perished and possibly the others as well including the adult who was being dragged under before the fenders were thrown to him.
Anyway, this same man who was possibly saved by the fender that Tony threw in, was in fact the person organizing the trip. Like I said his account of what happened is dramatically different and minimizes the efforts of Tony and Francis. He made several calls to the radio station, wrote an article in the paper and was even a guest on the radio today. Nell and I spoke with some of the guests from the tour yesterday and we all still agree that Tony and Francis are heroes and those kids and all the adults involved are super lucky. It’s a terrible thing that happened and the organizer and the teachers who were there including the ministry of education (who knew about it) all need to rethink this entire episode very carefully.
The organizer is a guy called Eugene Humphreys and his heart is in the right place. His passion is similar to mine which is showing people the beautiful places that Antigua has to offer. Specifically he wants to show the residents of Antigua how beautiful the off shore islands are since they are all threatened by development. The threat of development is something that you hear each time you do our tours as well. I think that he has done a great service to the people of Antigua and I am pledging money towards the purchase of a small boat for him. That being said I am disappointed that he felt the need to publicly diminish the heroic efforts of Francis and Tony. I guess I can see his point of view or see at least his motivation to do some quick damage control. Anyway, I hope this doesn't put a stop to his efforts which by the way seem to be totally philanthropic. People need to see these off shore islands and understand why we need to keep them from becoming a huge development. Anyway, like many of the radio station callers were saying......all is well that ends well. Thank God nobody was badly hurt. We all need to learn from this episode and move forward wiser and more prepared. Here is a pic of the windward side of the narrows. You can see the incredibly important flats and red mangrove plants. The pic was taken from a boat sitting in the channel on the other side of the flats which are only about 5 inches deep on average. As the flats end the water quickly drops off to about 12 feet in the middle.

Stop the press!!!! Adventure Antigua crew saves lives!

I will get back to the history of sugar and more about our adventure to and from Barbados after today’s news blog about a life even that happened today.

Even before it happened I was thinking about writing about how happy I was with Tony and Francis for their extra efforts last night and today. We had big problems this week again with two things on the eco boat. One was an engine water cooling pipe that burst way back behind the engine. It was impossible to get to without taking the entire engine out. We didn't want to cancel trips so Tony somehow like a great contortionist, managed to squeeze himself in the most terrible position while the engine was still hot in order to stop the water leak. We were there until past 8 pm last night. That was on the left engine. The right engine was fine but had "spun" a prop with all the extra work it was doing. Francis jumped into the nasty Jolly Harbour marina water with tools this morning and managed to change the damaged prop for one that was given to us (free of charge) by the saintly people A1 Marine. He had to hold his breath for ages in the murky water holding heavy tools to get the job done. Neither he nor Tony moaned a bit. They knew these things had to be done in order for the tour to function properly and jumped into action without a question.
That was before the start of the tour today.
At about 11 am today I get a call from Jonathan Cornelius of ABSAR (Antigua and Barbuda Sea and Air Rescue) who is telling me he's just heard my boat calling the coast guard to request medical support. Jonathan said he couldn't hear properly but thought he heard something about "taking on water". Could the unimaginable be happening? How? I immediately got on the phone with Tony who as skipper is required to have his phone on him while at the helm. No reply! I tried three more times before I got through. I asked desperately what the hell was going on.
Tony, almost out of breath, starts telling me that he and Francis had just saved 6 school children and one adult. They just pulled up into the mangrove habitat between Guiana Island and the mainland where there is a small channel that is commonly known as The Narrows. As they arrived, they came upon a chaotic and horrific situation. There were 7 people drowning right in the middle of The Narrows. The water there is between 6 and 12 feet deep and the channel between the island and mainland is about 70 feet wide. Apparently a school group of about 30 kids with between 3-5 adults had been trying to get from the mainland to the island using a kayak. It would appear that not one of the group knew how to swim properly. This fact may be hard for people outside of Antigua to believe, but I assure you that this is the norm here in Antigua. Only a fraction of our population knows how to swim outside of shoulder depth. Sad but true.
Anyway, they speed up to the immediate area, and Tony grabs the boat fenders and jumps off the boat. There is one child almost lifeless on the bottom 8 feet below and two others beneath the surface going down. Three others are flailing on the surface with a helpless adult. All of them appeared to be in the process of drowning. Because Tony had left the fenders on the surface for the people who hadn't yet sunk below, he was able to swim down and clutch onto the almost lifeless girl. As soon as she made the surface she began to vomit water as Tony took her to the mainland. Francis had already left Louis at the helm of the boat and had joined Tony in the water. He also took a child from below the surface. I think Tony made it back for the other and together with Francis managed to help get all seven to the shore. One of the Eco Tour guests actually jumped in to help as well. We had a full boat of guests while all of this was happening. In the bacchanal, Louis had the good thinking to throw an anchor to keep the boat close allowing him to keep the engines out of gear.
Tony tells me that he was totally blown away with the body's ability to hang on to life. He was sure that one of the girls was going to die......but she managed to involuntary throw up all that sea water in order to survive.
After getting back on the boat, Francis called the coast guard to let them know of the situation. One of the adults had a car on the mainland side and assured our crew that they were ok and could go along on their tour. I had called back Jonathan at ABSAR and told him that from the report Tony had given me, I thought an ambulance was a good idea even though everyone seemed to be stable.
There are several crazy things to add to this story which just make you wonder.
The first thing to consider is that I hired Jonathan from ABSAR to do a proper marine first aid course for my crew all day this last Saturday and all day on Monday. Some of the crew had done it before and some were new to first aid and sea rescue. One of the things he told them during the two days of instruction was that if they ever had to jump in the water to save someone in trouble, they should not go empty handed. "Take something that floats...like a fender or life ring or jackets". Louis tells me that if Tony hadn't taken the fenders when he first hit the water then there is no way that all of them would have been saved.
The second thing that is strange is that if Tony and Francis hadn't gotten the boat working properly by putting in the extra effort then we wouldn’t have come all the way that far into The Narrows. We hadn't been there this week at all until today!
One last thing that is strange is that the disaster just happened to be unfolding at the exact moment that my boat turned the corner into The Narrows.
I think this episode needs to spur some kind of positive action in several different areas. First I think the guys need some kind of hero award. I will speak to the Prime Minister's Office about that. Another thing that I would like to put some energy into is some sort of Swimming Trust Fund. The kids of this country should be able to swim. This is crazy. I think if the kids did swim the island would be a better place. Anyway, this is something for me and others to think about. In the meantime this is just a bit of news that involves some of my great crew.

antigua to barbados - 285 nautical miles to go

As I said in the last blog a week ago, I was going on a sailing adventure to Barbados with Xabier Ross of Wadadli Cats. He invited Francis who works with me as well as the kitesurfing Star and our friend, Andre Phillip. The purpose of the trip was just pure adventure. We had all been invited to attend the first ever "Beach Culture World Tour" event in Barbados organized by their famous windsurfer and ambassador, Brian Talma . He invited old and new professional watersports people from around the world to come down to Barbados and take part in his unique event. I originally met Brian in Korea where we competed against each other during the 1988 Olympics. Since then we have stayed in touch and met each other at other windsurfing locations around the world. Andre had actually worked for him in Barbados teaching windsurfing just before he took up kitesurfing back in Antigua.
Anyway, Xabier had recently gotten his new 48 foot Gunboat which he had been dreaming about for years and wanted to do some Caribbean cruising. This was a perfect opportunity for him to test it out in a more relaxing environment. The boat is lovely and made from state of the art space age materials specifically for speed, safety and comfort. We set sail after lunch on Thursday with plans to sail through the night upwind of the islands of Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, and St. Vincent.

Unfortunately the winds were a little South for us and we couldn't reach down as fast as we wanted to. We ended up having to put in a tack to make it around the windward side of Guadeloupe after sunset.

The skies that night were amazing. In fact, during our entire trip, the skies were bright and filled with millions of stars. Its so nice being away from artificial lights at night and when we were 1/2 way between Antigua and Barbados the sky was pure heaven;)
We sailed through the night and most of the next day unable to get the speeds we had hoped for if we had better wind direction. Another thing you see when you are at sea at night is phosphorescence which is a plankton generated light source luminating the sea as you cut through it. The bright green sparkles are soo interesting and refreshing to look at in the dark night.
Speaking of dark night, it is always exceedingly dangerous to be at sea during the night and we all kept ourselves inside the yacht until the morning. IT is generally accepted that if you fall over at night you will not be found.

We finally arrived in Barbados at about 7 pm on the Friday just in time for the big weekly party at the famous Harbour Lights. After some interesting customs and immigrations procedures we made it to the party action. After being on a boat for several hours you tend to sway when you get ashore and I am convinced that all the swaying we were doing that night had nothing to do with the cheap bajan rum. haha
Anyway, I will post more about our trip tomorrow.

Sugar Part 2

One thing i didn't mention was a massive change in Europe called "The Industrial Revolution" which helped sugar to be produced quickly in a more effective process. Coupled with greater mechanism was the additional help of slavery. Of course the sugar industry would never have been what it was without African slaves, and for that matter entire countries wouldn't have been as wealthy as they are today. The first slaves in the Caribbean were native Arawak and Carib Indians. In an astonishing move, the Pope gave Christopher Columbus permission to enslave these "savages" as long as they would be taught about Christianity. Many resisted in the terrible conditions and in within 75 years all Arawak Indians were killed off. Imagine that!!! The total and complete genocide of millions of native Amerindians was complete by 1575. The Carib people were traditionally stronger and more aggressive and it is alleged that these people were even cannibals which is where the word Caribbean came from. (IT took me a while to find proof of this but here it is http://www.edu-cyberpg.com/culdesac/USVI/usvi.html)
These Caribs resisted being enslaved so hard that in the end the few that were left were left alone on some of the islands to the south. To this day there are still indigenous Carib people living in Dominica. Indigenous is a word that is used often in Antigua these days with a different meaning, but i won't get into that here.
The first Africans arriving in the Caribbean were imported like cargo in horrible conditions by the Portuguese some time around the start of the 17th century. The first British ships bringing African slaves to the "New World" left Africa in 1662 with the first British slave captain John Hawkins, but the first African slaves arriving on British ships arrived in Barbados in 1700. The British slave trade with most of the ships being based in Liverpool went on until it was banned in 1808. It wasn't until 1827 that Britain banned all foreign slave trading with its colonies, and even declared it piracy punishable by death. Within 6 years the Emancipation act was passed banning all slavery in the British Empire within 5 years. It actually was stopped a year later in 1834. There were many reasons leading to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire including the efforts of many activists with the most famous being William Wilberforce. Coupled with the passionate fighting of these abolitionists was the fact that sugar was now being produced competitively outside of the Caribbean using the sugar beet.
Anyway, the sugar industry didn't die when slavery was abolished as had been proposed by the anti-abolitionists. In fact sugar did hold these islands together for another 130 years. It was only stopped last year in St. Kitts which was one of the first two British sugar islands.
These sped up history of sugar is so abbreviated that i hope people will understand that i am not trying to smooth it over. There is a wealth of info on the net and in our schools here about it. This is just a blog and i am only just scraping the surface. In my next blog entry which i hope to write tomorrow, i will speak about why these islands recently and finally moved away from sugar cane. It’s all interesting to me and i hope you will be encouraged to read more about it online. IF you feel that you would like to add more or comment, then please do so. This is worth discussion.
I am off to Barbados on a Gunboat with Xabier, the owner of Wadadli Cats, Francis and Andre who i blogged about earlier. See ya later.

Sugar Part 1

A bit of history for you today..........

Antigua, named and claimed by the Spanish, was actually inhabited periodically by amerindian people from about 2000 BC up until shortly before the Spanish arrived. Although the Spanish claimed ownership of the island, they never made any settlement whatsoever and it wasn't until nearly 150 years later that the British finally settled here. One of the things that steered the European people away from settling here was the fact that we had no streams, rivers or springs, and for a colony to prosper, a healthy supply of water was needed.
The islands nearby didn't have that problem and between 1500 and 1650 many of them became colonized by French, Dutch and even the British for various agricultural and mineral uses. Without the trade Caribbean in sugar, cotton and tobacco many wealthy countries today would not be considered "first world". Of course with the immense wealth that was being generated here from the Caribbean, there were disputes over various settlements, islands and trading routes as well and they all had to be protected. Port Royal in Jamaica, which was the main British Naval base, was too far from these Eastern Caribbean islands and their trading routes back in the mid 17th century, and the British needed somewhere closer in order to base their fleet. Antigua and its famous protected "hurricane holes" on the south of Antigua became very attractive to the Brits and the Nelson's Dockyard as it is known today replaced Port Royal as the main British naval base for the eastern side of British West Inides.
With a strong naval base, colonists felt secure enough to try agriculture, and with the introduction of African slaves to the area round about the same time the colony quickly grew to catch up St. Kitts and Barbados. Sugar was at the time becoming a drug like addiction in all of Europe and Britain was no different. Antigua's semi-dry climate seemed to work well for sugar cane, and large areas of land were cleared for plantations. Each plantation would have one or more wind mills. We'll speak more about sugar tomorrow.

Say hi to Junior

Junior has been working with us since just before Christmas and has proven to be a great guy on the boat. Junior's real name is way to long to repeat or even write down, so i wll just say that you should ask him to tell you what it is if you see him on one of the tours. He works on either boat depending on the day and seems to manage both very well. His roots are in antigua, but he's been living abroad since he was a little kid. Fist he lived in the USA and then he moved to the UK where he's been until recently. I didn't know him before but have known his brother "Blackie" for years and years from Dickenson Bay and The Beach. Blackie approached us to see if we needed any more crew around about the time that we were saying goodbye to Adam and Leslie, so it worked out well. Junior is a mild mannered young man who's passion seems to be reading, modeling, singing and school. He has two degrees too!

Anyway, he's working with us for the near future saving money to put towards fixing up a property he inherited in St. Johns. He's focussed and friendly and i think he will do well in life.

My other crew tease him a bit (as is the norm with our guys after work) about his posh accent which is a bit funny to hear coming from an Antiguan. Anyway, this is a pic taken by Lizzie who was on the boar for a 65th birthday party charter for her friend Anne Philpott with Louis, JD and Junior. I will speak about Louis soon in another blog entry, but say hi to Junior if you are on a tour with him. Ask him about his singing too. lol he he he

Saw my first whales for the season.

Yes, i saw whales yesterday for the first time this season on the way back up from St. Martin. I had been asked to fly down to St. Martin to collect a small boat for one of my Mechanics. Marine Power Services has done many favors for me over the past few years and collecting a boat for them wasn't a problem for me. According to Windguru the winds were forecast to be light and therefore the seas would be calm too. I was up for a little adventure anyway and the trip sounded like a some fun. I have sailed and powered from there to Antigua many times and the 100 miles can be pretty tough in bad weather, so i wanted to make sure that we had calm seas.
I called Liat "the caribbean airline" to check on flights and they had space on their 4:30 flight on Saturday. By chance on Saturday morning i spoke with the owner of Caribbean Real Estate who told me that he was on his way to St. Martin at mid day and had space for me if i wanted. Cool....a free flight in a nice place. Tomas Miller who is the son of the MPS owners came along with me and we ended up leaving Antigua at about one pm on the Caribbean Real Estate plane bound for St. Martin. The weather was amazing and as we took off from Antigua we could see Barbuda off to the North, Guadeloupe way in the South, Montserrat in the South West, St. Kitts and Nevis to the West. Antigua and its waters looked so beautiful in this perfect clear weather and the 45 minute flight down to St. Martin was lovely. We went straight to the massive marina where the boat was being kept. It was actually a tender (dinghy) for a huge yacht called Midlandia and was a little old looking for them. At about 20 feet long with no shade the trip back to Antigua wasn't going to be totally easy but as long as we had good weather it was doable. We asked on of Midlandia's crew what range the tender had and astonishingly they didn't know. These tenders are just topped up every day and they don't care about how much fuel they burn. This wasn't good because we needed to be sure that we had enough fuel. We spoke to the first mate who said that he thought we would need about 80 gallons of fuel which i thought was considerably more than enough. Off we went to buy supplies which included life jackets, a flare, 6 five gallon fuel cans and other bits and pieces. I also had brought along my EPIRB which my brother and i used on our Xtreme trip from Miami to Antigua.
We decided to leave the next morning (Sunday), and to go have a nice dinner and enjoy the famous St. Martin nightlife first. Anyway, Sunday morning came and we painfully got ready to take off on our 100 mile trip into the sea back to Antigua. As we collected the boat we realized that we had made a miscalculation on our fuel. All the fuel estimation had been done in liters and we should have purchased another two 5 gallon cans to make the total fuel on board 80 gallons. All the stores were not shut and we couldn't get more fuel. I made a few calls to Antigua before we set off and planned to stop in at Gustavia, St. Barts which was 14 miles up from where we started at Simpson Bay, St. Martin. We could then use the fuel cans to refuel the main tanks which would give us and exact fuel flow consumption rate. We did this and calculated as i had expected that we would have enough to do about 130 miles....enough fuel.
The trip was fairly easy with a few bumps here and there which made us limit our speed to between 15 and 20 knots. On the way we stopped several times to top up the main tanks just to make sure that our consumption was steady and accurate. About 60 miles up we ran into a massive school of frenzied feeding tuna. We could see a tennis court patch the water turn white with frantic splashing and tunas jumping through tiny bait fish. A few miles after that i saw some humpback whales spouting as exhaled on the surface. It was the first time i had seen them for the year and i have been anticipating seeing them. Always a nice feeling to see them back here. Almost all the way up we had countless numbers of flying fish leaping out of the dark blue water and gliding away from us. As the sun set the silver, dark green and blue colours on these amazing fish lit up as they glided off to our sides.

About 30 miles off Antigua, the island came into view and another ten miles later as i was looking back at Nevis in the setting sun, i saw a whale breach. I told Tom too keep and eye out and immediately we saw the baby try to breach too. The mom jumped several more times in the distance as we zoomed past. We didn't have time to stop as i knew we would be getting in just as it got dark. Antigua's coastline was so beautiful at sunset and even though we had been on land at lunchtime it was nice to get into port safe and sound. If you are coming to Antigua before May, then you will have to keep an eye out for the humpbacks which will be in these waters until then. These three photos were all taken in 2006 but will give you an idea of what i am speaking about. Enjoy!

amazing weather!!!!

Over the past two months we had to cancel two Xtreme tours and one Eco because of bad weather. January and Feb can have some very difficult weather with typically strong winds. It’s been a little less windy than normal so far and the past few days have actually been totally perfect for boating. I did the Xtreme tour yesterday almost without any pain to my bad knee so you know it was calm! We saw two dolphins in the morning on our way to St. Johns but still haven't seen any whales.

The humpbacks are here passing through with their calves and we should see them any minute. Caribbean Helicopters saw some a few weeks ago. Anyway, today is even calmer and sunnier than yesterday and it doesn't feel like Feb at all. The kitesurfers who are on the island are not happy since the winds are soo light but the fishermen are all delighted. My dad is off today to go and catch mahi mahi as soo many seem to be around at the moment. My skipper JD is also going out on his little boat to go catch some and i am gonna call him in a few hours to order some for dinner:)
I have been asked to go and collect a boat for Marine Power Services from St. Martin and will probably fly down at 4:30 today. The weather is perfect for that and the 100 mile run into the waves shouldn't be too bad. The boat is fairly small at just over 20 feet long, but it’s a pretty big boat for its size with inboard engines and jet propulsion. I took my EPIRB out of Xtreme just in case we have any problems. It is a single engine boat. Anyway, i know that many of you reading this post are sitting inside wishing that you could even think about being in the sunshine as you walked outside, and i hope i am not making you feel miserable. Winter will be over before you know it. I just was on MSN with my sister, Fran, who is in "uni" in the UK, and she said the weather was something called "shite"......I guess that's not good! Here are a few pics from yesterday’s tour and one of me taking my dogs for a walk (jump) on Thursday........Expect an account of our trip to collect this boat coming soon. Have a good weekend.

a little help goes a long way.

Everyone knows that we have been through a difficult time recently with problems on the boats and soo many people have offered help and words of encouragement. I expressed on this blog how desperately hard Tony had worked to get us ship shape in time for scheduled tours and he wasn't alone. One of our young new guys who just started working with us is Louis and I will write bit about him here soon. Anyway, he's into his cars and bikes and owns a quad bike which has had extra engine work done to make it faster I guess. Anyway, he helped Tony quite a bit over the past month and deserves a pat on the back too. It’s good to have people who understand how our equipment works.

I already mentioned how much we spend in terms of labor and parts, and obviously the people at the big mechanic shops have been paid well too. However, they have always gone the extra mile with Adventure Antigua. Companies like Antigua Marine Services (tom), Marine Power Services (the millers) out in English Harbour, and A-1 Marine (Carl, Joel, and glen) in Jolly Harbour all have stopped what they were doing to assist us during emergencies. They have each done favors for us too with Carl and glen at A-1 being soooooo generous.....thanks!!!!

What people from the "civilized" world don't realize is that doing business here is even more difficult because of shipping times and shipping mistakes. We always have problems getting parts. Sometimes they send the wrong parts, sometimes they don't send enough parts, sometimes they say "parts are on order". We can't just run down to the nearest store because we don't have them here on this tiny island. I will give you one of a million examples I have on this topic. Tom from AMS ordered a new "steering helm" which is the main mechanics of the steering wheel side of our steering system. He specifically asked in his email for a 90 degree helm and of course after paying for FEDEX to send it to us.....we get a 45 degree steering helm!!!! Now we need this thing badly so like in all "third world" countries where we cant just change the wrong part.....we modified and fabricated it. These islands and other under-developed countries have some of the best machine shops on the planet. I am sure you must have heard about Cuba’s 1950s cars right? When things break here we try to fix them before we just run out and buy new..as this usually isn't an option. Anyway, when we got this 45 degree helm station I knew we had no choice but to take it to the guys in jolly harbour. We needed to modify one part and completely make another. Woodwork and welding were going to be needed, and Jolly Harbour has the best of both. The photos today are of George from Jolly Harbour woodworks and Glen of A-1 Marine. Glen is actually welding a water tank for another boat just after he cut and welded the steering bracket to the proper size and angle that I needed, and George is making from scratch a new steering base. Both of these modifications ended up being stronger and better than if I had gotten them new even if they did take more time and effort. Both of these guys, by the way, were working on other jobs before they picked up my emergency project.

Anyway, that was Saturday and all went well the past few days on the boat until this morning when I was in jolly harbour about to set off Francis, Tony and Louis on the eco boat. They had a full boat of guests to go and collect and when Tony turned over the port engine we knew we had a problem. The starting motor was stuck!!!! Well we had to laugh because this just takes the cake......new engines shouldn’t have these problems!!!! Anyway, I was on the phone to Nell in seconds while Tony quickly, like a formula 1 mechanic...took off the starter. Nell was already picking up the spare starter from Tom and was on her way into St. Johns to meet the boat by the time the boat left jolly harbour. Tony and crew were quickly on their way into town on one engine to meet her and the main core of our guests....They ended up being twenty minutes late to pick up the guests with the spare starter. Within 5 minutes they were back up and running properly on the two engines going a little faster than normal to make up the time. pfffhheeww!

I guess its all about teamwork here with our associates, our family and crew and we all have one goal at the end of the day which is to make sure your day in Antigua is the best it possibly can be. We want you happy no matter what it takes.

kitesurfing

well if i am to be true to this part of my blog's description: "This is a blog set up by Eli Fuller (me) to help the company keep up with the times and to promote our little country to prospective guests.", then i must write about things that have nothing to do with Adventure Antigua as well.
Kitesurfing or kiteboarding is an interesting "extreme" sport that kinda is a fusion between traction-kite flying, windsurfing, surfing, skateboarding, snowboarding, wakeboarding and any other sport that you ride a board. It really is kinda unique though, and has been getting quite popular over the past 10 years or so.
Steve Gray, who worked at Caribbean Helicopters as a pilot was the first person kitesurfing here using one of the early designs. It was pretty difficult to use but he managed to make it look cool. I was coming to the end of my professional windsurfing career and after my last big race, actually traded three of my sails for 2 big kites and a board. I kinda taught myself and in no time, i was teaching others this cool new sport. A few years later i taught Andre Phillip, who was one of the younger pro windsurfers from Antigua. He had been doing windsurfing competitions in the Caribbean and i knew he would pick up kitesurfing very quickly. Anyway, sure enough within two years he was ranked in the top 5 on the Professional Kitesurfing World Tour doing well in competitions all over the world. Andre, has been featured in dozens and dozens of magazines, internet articles and even sport TV shows. He is still one of the main figureheads in the sport of kitesurfing. Most Antiguans don't know about his fame out of Antigua, but he has given Antigua incredible recognition in areas where it would have been missed before. He spends about 1/3 of the year here in Antigua and the rest of the time traveling all over the world's best destinations for kitesurfing. What a lucky guy huh? Anyway, these photos i took on Saturday and today at Jabbawock which is on Antigua's North shore just below the islands of the North Sound which is where we do the Eco Tour. I hope you enjoy the pics, and pass by if you have a car for the day. there is usually good kitesurfing action at that beach. The first shot above is of Stevie, who also grew up with us windsurfing and fishing and now kitesurfing. He's a chef. The ones below are of Andre a.k.a. DRE. and the very last is of an old fart called Eli way back in the old days
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Francis is back

Francis Gobinet grew up fishing, snorkeling, boating and windsurfing in the North Sound just like i did. I first saw him jumping out of his dad's little boat on the beach where i live about 15 years ago. He was about 9 then i think. Anyway, from day one he has been full of action and personality. I took him to a windsurfing competition in the British Virgin Islands way back when he was 12 years old, and he did very well. We actually sailed down from Antigua on a yacht and as he was at home on the boat as he is today. Some of us just like being at sea more than on land. Anyway, years later after i had started my company, Adventure Antigua, he worked with me on my Scarab doing the "north sound eco-historical tour". He stayed with me long enough to gain enough experience to set off onto the big yachts which base themselves here each winter. Off he went to Europe working as crew on million dollar yachts and gaining not only experience but also "yacht master" certificates as well. On paper, he is now the most qualified member of Adventure Antigua and will be working with Tony on the Eco Tour for the season. When the big yachts leave Antigua at the end of the season in April, Francis will leave us to do more sailing with the big boys. By then, i hope, Tony will have enough coaching and experience to become a full time skipper on the Eco boat. Wish them both luck if you see them. The top photo is of Francis posing during a photo shoot recently. FUNNY! I am not sure who took the pic. The other photo is of the kind of yachts Francis works on in the summer.

blogging aint easy.....

Up until my last blog entry, I was managing to quite regularly write a few lines about my company and life in Antigua, but then as you can see I stopped.
I find that when trying to do anything "creative", I must be relaxed and in a positive mood, and over the past few weeks I haven’t been there. As you would have seen if you had been keeping up with the blog, boat troubles were taking their toll on the company, the crew and on me. After the 15th the problems didn't stop. Although we didn't have to cancel any tours, we did have to use the Xtreme boat a few times to do Eco tours. We also spent long hours after work on several days getting the eco boat ready for the next morning. We left there after midnight one day, and that was after doing a tour that day as well. Tony worked far too many hours over the past month, and I am grateful for the dedication and calmness which he showed when dealing with all the problems. Several eco-tours came back on one engine, and the crew that we have did a great job of making sure everyone was back on time. Actually I think many of the guests didn't even know that we were running on one engine. Our philosophy is "the show must go on" and more important than anything else is the dedication to making sure that our guests have a great time. I think from the reviews I have seen on the various forums that we accomplished this even in these difficult times.
Altogether I have probably had to fork out about US $18,000 in parts and labor and I still have more work to be done. For both boats we keep spare engines, and I have 2 extra ones for Xtreme and one for Arawak Odyssey (the eco boat). All three have been used and abused to get the boats up and running at 100%, so now they have to be fixed back up in order to be on standby for the next round of problems. And that is the thing that anyone in this business has to be prepared for and to accept. Problems on boats are as sure a thing as getting wet when you go snorkeling. Not everyone likes getting wet but you have to accept it and are prepared to deal with it. If you keep on swimming you won't feel the cold brought on by the wetness. "Keep on swimming" wasn’t that from "Finding Nemo"....I love that movie. It’s a prerequisite for my tours you know.
Anyways.......we are in the keep on swimming mode here at Adventure Antigua and there are some exciting new changes that I will mention in the coming days. I am going to have fun with this blog again and hopefully you can too. Since I haven't been posing lately...here are a few pics for ya.
(The first one at the top is of some friends on the front of the eco boat who came with us to give the engines a proper test when we had finally finished all our work last Saturday)
(The one below is of us running the boat hard to make sure she was 100%, and the last one I took while doing the Eco tour on the Xtreme boat. It was the first time I had done the eco tour in ages, and I enjoyed it.)

Eco Tour on for tomorrow.....

Well after working about 40 hours over the past three days, Tony just called me to say that the Arawak Odyssey is up and running again. On saturday we took managed to change the bad engine with our spare, but we had troubles Sunday afternoon last nite getting it running well. We left last nite at about 8 pm with plans to get at it early today. It hadn't been started in quite a while and the "injectors" on several of the cylinders were malfuctioning. Anyway, all day tony and a young mechanic called Joel worked in order to change injectors and then to change the power steering pump which had also failed while sitting for a year. Anyway, she seems to be running well at the moment and tomorrow the repairs of the engine we pulled out begin.....
They say boats are "holes in the ocean you throw money into" and i think they are totally correct with that one. Anyway, this has been a very costly few weeks with three mechanical failures, and i hope its over for the moment.
None of my equipment is old which is the crazy thing......people keep saying "i can't believe you have had these problems".....I guess i just havent been lucky with my engines. Oh well.....its over now!!!!!! All smooth sailing (powering) from now on. This photo is of Tony, the hero this weekend, doing what he loves best. In fact, its what we both love.....being on the water at sunset fishing for dinner.

trouble better only come in threes!

Well as i have already blogged, i had one of Xtreme's engines fail, and one of the Eco's propulsion system fail.....we got those problems fixed in a day each and were "back on the road again". A friend told me after the last problem that bad things come in threes. Jeez did she have to say that?!!!?? They call that "goat mouthing" here. Anyway, sure enough problem #3 came running along at 20+ MPH on Friday afternoon. JD, Junior, and Trevor were doing the Eco Tour and Tony, Francis and I were fixing our Pillars of Hercules mooring.

Tony had been doing some maintenance on Xtreme during the morning and in the afternoon we went off in Xtreme to fix the Pillars mooring which was getting a bit worn. We finished doing that quickly and decided to do a bit of exploring. I will save that for another blog tomorrow or something. Anyway, i get "the phone call" from JD just before sunset. When something is wrong JD has a pretty unique tone and i knew immediately that it wasn't good. He said he had just finished the tour and was coming into Jolly Harbour when he noticed some white smoke coming out of the exhaust. This has happened before and is never a good sign!!!

The last time it was a crack in the "exhaust manifold" which caused coolant to seep into and run through the exhaust system.

Tony went down early on Saturday morning and noticed that the oil dipstick had water beads on it! Great....even worse!

Essentially there was only one option in order to get up and running for the next trip which is scheduled for Monday: get the spare engine set up and replace the leaking one with it. Its easer and faster this way....kinda like what we did recently with the Xtreme's yamaha engine. All day yesterday, Tony spent his time disconnecting the bad engine which is a tough job, and in the afternoon we positioned the boat on the sea wall in the marina in order to have it pulled out. Tom from AMS sent one of his guys with a crane and in the rain, we pulled the bad one out....and put the rebuilt spare engine in. That took about 3 hours and was pretty nasty....we have done this quite a few times now but this was particularly difficult for some reason this time. Anyway, Tony has been down there at the boat all morning hooking this spare up and i am gonna go down to see if we can get it started now. It has about 8K worth of new parts and a new paint job so it looks great, but it hasn't been started in about 8 months so we are a bit nervous. We had maintained it well during the period so fingers crossed!!!!!

This is a pic i took when we were coming back from fixing the mooring. In my opinion its moments like this that make all these problems disappear. Know what i am sayin?

The other article this month....

Was on the Xtreme Circumnav again today in lovely calm weather for a change, but we did manage to get some rain before lunch which "wasn't in the brochure". Anyway, after lunch the weather was perfect and Rendezvous was more stunning than usual. One lady said it was the most beautiful beach she had ever seen. I feel the same way most days too.

Its kinda late and we have another early one tomorrow so i am just going to show the article from the Travel Guardian. I guess i should mention that in the winter Xtreme leaves an hour earlier that the Eco most days in order to get to the Stingray city park in between cruise ship arrivals. They have exclusive contracts with the cruise ships to do tours for them at 9 am, 11 am, 1 pm, and 3 pm. We have to get there at 10 am in order to make the tour work and this means super early starts for the boys (and me) on Xtreme. It is nice knowing that we miss groups of 150+ who arrive at 11 am though especially when its just us in the park at 10. Here is the very English and very nice Guardian article (http://travel.guardian.co.uk/article/2006/dec/05/cricketworldcup.caribbean#more-article) :

Cricket widows (and widowers) should be sighing with relief.
In March 2007 the game that has separated countless couples for days at a time is coming to the Caribbean in the form of the Cricket World Cup. For six weeks, a tropical smorgasbord of nine countries will be offering bountiful attractions to appeal to both parties.
On November 1, Antigua and Barbuda celebrated 25 years of independence from Britain, the former colonial master of the twin-island nation. The islands have produced some of the finest test match cricketers in the history of the game: from Sir Viv Richards, whose 20-year-old record, for the fastest test match century ever, still holds, to Richie Richardson and Curtly Ambrose.
International sporting success, fused with a lovely coastline and the gently undulating landscape of the interior, has propelled the islands into the Caribbean tourist super league.
Without a single private beach on the islands and a population of under 70,000, you can always find a secluded, palm-fringed stretch of powdery sand, lapped by cobalt-blue waters, on which to unwind with a local Wadadli beer. Windward, Galleon and Half-moon beaches are among the best.
Antigua is also blessed with some of the finest coral reefs in the Caribbean. Eli Fuller’s Eco-Tour runs a seven-hour trip around the craggy north-eastern coast, with the accent on the zoology, ecology and history of the reefs and mangrove stands.
The boat passes Georgio Armani’s palatial summer home before mooring off Great Bird Island and disembarking passengers to look at pelicans, ospreys, tropic birds, laughing gulls and herons. You will also see one of the world’s leading ornithological research stations and breeding grounds for endangered hawksbill turtles, at Jumby Bay.
But the highlight is snorkelling over a coral reef just off Hell’s Gate, a small, eroded, limestone island. Hardy souls can swim out to it and then climb through caves to a whirlpool and across a natural bridge to gaze down on blue parrot fish and rays.
Read the full article……
Donning flippers, face mask and snorkel and plunging into the insanely clear turquoise water transports you to a sub-aqueous wonderland. Coral clusters the size of a small village rise on either side of you. Schools of fish coded in hallucinogenic colours pass nonchalantly by while jelly fish pulse in rhythm to the current.
Back on land, you can jump aboard a jeep for a tour of the island and rain forest. Specially converted open top Land Rovers take you to inaccessible spots that a hire car could not cope with. Ask for the driver called “Kill Bill”. He is an entertaining and informed guide who will stop to pick indigenous fruits and point out everything from the cacti Rastafarians use to keep their dreadlocks natty to banks of wild, roadside lemon grass.
No Sunday in Antigua is complete without a barbecue “jump-up” party at Shirley Heights in the south. These take place in the crumbling ruins of Fort Shirley, a former 18th century garrison for British troops at nearby English Harbour. As the evening extends into night, live steel bands give way to reggae, dancing and concerted drinking.
Don’t be part of the foolish majority who fail to make time for Barbuda, the nation’s second, and much smaller, inhabited island 48km to the north. A day trip is easy – the island is just 90 minutes away by ferry from Heritage Quay, in St John’s, or 15 minutes by plane.
Once on Barbuda, walk some of the 13-miles of pink-tinted coral sand making up Palm Beach. Having worked up a hunger, you might stop off at the horizontally laidback Martello Beach Bar for grilled lobster, fresh from the adjacent Codrington Lagoon.
Next, perhaps hire a boat and a guide and head for Man of War Island, the mangrove-rich home of the Caribbean’s largest breeding ground of frigate birds. Watch amorous males, with their eight-foot wingspans, inflate their great, bright red neck pouches as they cruise nonchalantly on thermals attempting to attract a hen. The Barbuda Warbler is also to be found here - its only habitat on earth.
Back in Antigua, art lovers can head to Woods Gallery (001 462 2332) - an artist-run co-op on the island with keen prices. It has bi-monthly exhibitions and openings where you can mingle over wine with local artists and collectors.
If you want professional pampering, the island has limited spa options: try Carlisle Bay and Antigua Yacht Club Marina Resort.

Woods Art Gallery show all this month.

The Woods Art Gallery has an exhibition entitled "Young Artists", and somehow at 34 years old, i was invited to show some of my pics. I had them printed at Island Photo by my good friend Justin Nation, who is probably one of the most talented artists on Antigua. He did a fantastic job of printing them, and the show went very well. There was quite a variety of art on display and if you are going to be in antigua this month you should take a trip down to have a look. I was quite surprised by my photos because they look so different when blown up big and in frames.

I am gonna try to put the ones i used here. These were not the titles i used:

Maltese Falcon in The North sound on Jan 1st.

Portuguese Man of War i saw in Brazil

I put three photos of the frog i saw in Brazil together into one frame, but here is one.

Bahia, Brazil. Bike ride in the rain.

Redonda Boobie and Chick.

jolly harbour at nite

Evo - HDR

They look way better huge and rich. Anyway, you get the idea. Hope you enjoy em and go have a look at the other more professional artwork if you can get the chance. Woods Gallery is next to Carib Photo in the Woods Mall.

famous? who me?

On the Antigua message board i saw someone posted a thread letting me know about a new article they had read on Antigua which had a good plug for my tours. I will try to get a copy of that to put up here, but another one that came out this month was in Englands The Sunday Times Travel magazine. It was written by Nick Redman. This wasn't the final version and he may have edited it a bit. I can't find the final version online and didn't get it emailed to me. The photos are excellent too if you manage to get a copy i am sure you will enjoy. Anyway I hope you enjoy the read:

They"re very friendly, assures Eli, the guide, as we squint down from the floating jetty. "They"re just like the rest of the people on the island." The black shapes flapping in the Caribbean waters below don"t look much like the rest of the people on the island, unless those are rubber one-pieces they"re disguised in. Pretty unlikely, this far from a Berlin fetish bar.

I craved an adventure in coma-inducing paradise and now I"ve got one: half a mile off the coast of Antigua, I'm contemplating a marine eco-enclosure teeming with stingrays, and I have to say they"re rather unusual looking. Doubtless you"ll agree if you"ve ever seen one up close. If you haven"t, simply take a tadpole to your local service station, inflate it to the size of a Spacehopper, release all air, reverse over the result to really mess up the features, and you"ll get the picture.

I may have oversimplified things a little. In fact the stingray plays a crucial role in the waters of the Caribbean, for it is the vacuum cleaner of the deep - hence the spaniel-soft eyes high on top and an utterly unrelated mouth in its pale, soft underbelly. Sure, it looks a sight to anyone other than Picasso in his Cubist phase, but at least that way it can hoover the sea bed without too much fear of concussion.

What is more, stingrays possess unique powers to seduce humans. Our party of nervy Brits and overexcitable Americans discovered as much on Caribbean cruise with a difference: Eli Fuller"s extreme tour of Antigua using a 45 foot powerboat. Leaping from the jetty with snorkels and a splash, we were treated to one of the warmest welcomes in the West Indies as the inhabitants of Ray Park waltzed around us like camp, caped counts at an Austrian ball. A caresss here, a nuzzle there, even a love bite for the ladies - when the gang resurfaced after half an hour with the amorous beasties, one woman realised she"d have a bit of explaining to do to her boyfriend back on dry land.

On dry land, chances are you wouldn"t associate a holiday on Antigua with the call of the wild. This being the Caribbean, there are so many demands on your time - chief among them doing nothing whatsoever. Upon the palmy beaches, along the goat-grazed ways of bougainvillea and canary-yellow timber homes, the island affects indolence so convincingly you guess the authorities must add something to the drinking water.

There was certainly refreshingly little action at my designer-colonial hotel, Carlisle Bay. Unless, that is, you include casually devouring trios of dwarf bananas which arrived mysteriously in your room, artfully placed on oblong plates; or admiring at length the fashionable cream-and-darkwood interiors from the balcony daybed, or toasting sunsets with a(nother) martini. Some folks signed up with Sembi, a gentleman employed by the hotel to take guests power-walking in the village. Personally I found it better to let him do it for me while I exercised my iPod on a sunlounger.

That was two days sorted. But for all the allure of reclinable beach furniture, there comes that Caribbean moment when thoughts turn to What Lies Beyond. I was becalmed in a sea of rum punch when it happened to me. From nowhere a mountainous swell grew, out in the bay, the waters rising uncharacteristically into jellied heights that wobbled momentarily then sank, sending the horizon of moored boats into a clockwork rocking. The land and the sand paled into insignificance by comparison with the high-seas drama developing. It was exhilarating, enticing, like another Antigua beckoning. It was time to push the boat out.

And what a boat it turned out to be. I got the lowdown on Eli"s mean machine the following morning from a sympathetic hotel receptionist who understood my need to experience Antigua beyond bonsai bananas. (She duly plucked a leaflet from a drawer with long maroon talons.) The vessel was bobbing idly at anchor in Jolly Harbour when I first glimpsed it: a glorious 45 foot purpose built powerboat, sleek as a sabre, with the dazzling white looks - and the power - to cut a veritable Miami Vice dash across Antigua"s blue deeps. Eli had bought it mere weeks previously, in Florida, sailing it home in six heady days: down via Nassau, Turks & Caicos and St Martin, en route encountering some infamous Pirates of the Caribbean - Mackenzie Crook and the cast. Together they"d rummed it royally.

"This tour is called Xtreme," Eli announced, as he eased the powerboat out past million-dollar harbour villas painted butterscotch and pink, supported on concrete piles 30 feet deep, like a tropical Venice. The T-shirted human cargo of 15 or so shuffled, seeking to find comfy positions on banquettes, or in obliging partners" arms. "We"re going to be travelling at 40mph so watch out for hats and loose stuff." There were a few involuntary whoops, a few gently greener complexions and one lost hat as the boat rose and belly-slammed in a rollercoaster motion. We were off.

Antiguan born and bred, Eli Fuller has been showing visitors the hidden beauty of his home turf and surf for 20 years or more. The reefs, the mangrove forests and the wildlife. The insane blowholes in the eroded limestone rocks that spew the sea skywards, like whales do. The deserted white-sand beaches and all the other elements you might think incompatible with a major-league package-holiday destination.

Away from the sunlounger, seen from the choppy wilderness of the sea, a wilder world unfurled as we whipped along: looking to shore it was moody and forest-cloaked, huge and forbidding, any hotels too small and insignificant to compete. In places it was humped violently into coral lumps and volcanic peaks - pristine as it must have looked to the seamen who came here for construction timber in the 17th century, when it was one of the most densely wooded islands in the region.

Waves frothed and lunged like rabid dogs at crazily angled strata rising from the neon Caribbean. Pelicans rested in haughty silhouette, motionless on jagged outcrops. And when later we snorkelled 60ft over the sea-bed boulders that had tumbled into the blue from the dramatic rock Pillars of Hercules, it felt like a dream sequence. There were coral fans and darting grunts blue and yellow, trumpet fish down deep. And blue tang, seemingly lit from within. A colonial anchor lay far below, broken and barnacled. Another island altogether.

I say another island. In fact Antigua is a buried-treasure-map fantasy: so many tiny uninhabited outcrops where you can spring-clean your soul in the breezes along a bleached beach, no trace of man as far as the eye can see. In this respect it"s unique among the big Caribbean destinations, with a score or more barrier islands and reefs scattered off its northern shores.

Here turtles feed on grassy beds, bonefish and young barracuda breed, and stingrays do their housewife routine, cleaning up shells and cockles from the seabed and clucking at their lascivious husbands. Local wildlife is engaged in a constant battle for supremacy with more exotic species: Giorgio Armani, for instance, whose new villa slides by far above us, high on a bleak western headland. It"s a sleek giant composed of two edifices, one black, one grey, in the designer"s signature tones. They work rather well with their earthy surroundings. How very considerate. How very this season.

Eli displayed a healthy tan across his good-looking Caucasian features, heightened by the mystique of a baseball cap pulled low. And he displayed a healthy scorn for local powers that be and their apparent disregard for Antiguan concerns when big bucks are at stake. Swinging the boat in off bumpy waters to pick up more of the party at St John"s harbour, he indicated an innocuous-looking pale-blue storage depot. "Designed and built by the Japanese - it"s Japanese Fisheries," he yelled over the roaring breeze that yanked at the long hair of women holding on for dear life up front. "We vote alongside them when it comes to whaling and in returns Antiguans are conned into letting these things be built. But they"re designed for trawlers, which is not how we fish and so they"re actually useless to us."

On along the western coast the waters calmed to vast sheets of aquamarine and powder-blue, a waft of molasses from a rusty plant, glimpses of decrepit cannons as we bounced past distant St James Fort trailing a wedding train of foam. In the 18th century the British chose Antigua as the nerve centre of their local naval activities - pitted with indents and hidden coves it offered safety from storms and the savagery of pirates. Centuries on, weathered relics in iron and mossy basalt, distract you at every turn. It ain"t half Nelson.

Suddenly the sea was mad again, signalling the treacherous north of the island, boiling itself incessantly into molten troughs and peaks. After the drama of the stingray swim it was a touch too much for some as the PowerCat soared then hull-floppped ear-shatteringly. "We"re off to the chiropractor the minute we get back," one American (hopefully not too litigious) was heard to whimper, clambering in defeat back from the prow. My thoughts were turning for some reason to the Tupperwares of pasta-twist salad I"d seen Eli"s team stash aboard discreetly, back at Jolly Harbour.

I cannot recall a more beautiful picnic anywhere, ever, than that served by Eli on tiny Green Island. Black and red mangroves twisted up from waters now still and dark. Here was an eerie place of silent spreading acacia trees, coconut palms and thrusting finger cacti that emphasised the seductive strangeness. I hid around a tiny headland from the group (now pally and talkative). The trunks I"d packed weren"t fit for mass scrutiny, but more importantly, I wanted to be alone on the demerara sands. Squinting as I lay, wet from a swim, I saw at eye level only strewn coconut husks thrown up by the tide, conch shells pink and erotic, and cloud kingdoms bunched on the horizon. This, I decided, would give any mainland five-star a run for its money.

They"re fragile places, these islands - breeding grounds to osprey, turns, Red Billed Tropic Birds and such endangered species as brown pelicans and the (definitely lesser spotted) West Indian tree duck, but also ripe for development. "I grew up with the luxury of these places," says Eli. "If you"re going to protect tourism, you"ve got to keep them." He talked of Bond-movie-lair style developments in the vicinity, for which "the first thing the developers did was bulldoze all the red mangrove. You"d go to jail for that in Florida.

"A beach without a hotel can be an attraction. But to the powers-that-be, a beach without a hotel is a liability. If you want to lose an election simply don"t encourage construction. Ecologically we"re in the Stone Age." The boat rolled like a whale in the mouthwash swell as we made for port down the eastern side. The sea leapt and sprayed those at the back. Some of them sensibly wore goggles, protected against a Caribbean not about to be tamed. Not yet.

Back on the "road" again.....

Well after two drives to English Harbour, two to St. Johns, and one to Jolly Harbour the Eco Boat, "Arawak Odyssey", is back running with two propulsion systems. I think i must have spent 4 hours on the road today running around which is pretty hard to do in little Antigua, but it was worth it. Tony and Junior (one of the new guys) worked a very long, greasy, hot day in order to get everything taken apart and put back together once i got all the bits. It was dark by the time they finished putting back in the fixed propulsion system, but we are ready to do a private charter with the boat tomorrow. Today we had another private charter on Xtreme which JD said went very well.
The winds have calmed down a bit and the skies tonight are beautifully clear. It looks like it will be a busy weekend for us with some super weather though. Although i am not going to sit back and relax with my orange "crocs" up and think we won't have any more mechanical problems.........I think we are all happy at the moment:)

do boats ever have problems?

OMG!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

They never stop having problems, and this is something I never get use to. It’s the same with all the boats in this business. One of the other boats in this business had worse problems this past week. Anyway, this past Saturday one of my 18 month old Yamaha engines on Xtreme had a major failure. We had a charter on Sunday and managed to do the whole thing with just two of the three engines. She still cruised at 30 mph easily but wouldn't go much faster. It was fine though because it was only a group of 6. I knew that with a full boat we would be challenged to get near 30, and the two remaining engines would be fighting to keep up. Anyway, I had prepared for this situation by buying the blue boat that you may have seen in recent blog entries which carried two of the same engines. On Tuesday, my mechanic, Tom, took off one of the blue boat's engines and swapped it with Xtreme's bad one. New ones are about 17 grand each in the USA!!!
Anyway, we were back in business today with a full boat. While we were out there though, I had a call from Captain JD saying that one of the Eco boat's drives (propulsion systems) had jammed. I had purchased two new ones 11 months ago too!!!!!!!! They are about 5 grand each landed here in Antigua. I have some old ones which may be able to be used to repair the jammed one tomorrow. Anyway, I cancelled tomorrow's eco tour unfortunately, but I am assured by the engineers in English Harbour that they can use the two old drives to fix the jammed one. They also said that they can do it quickly......We will see, and I will let you know tomorrow.
Someone told me that these things come in threes but that hasn't been my experience. I wish it were, but I am on like number 23 not 3!!!!

happy new year!!!!!

Well, i am sure that some of you who check this site from time to time thought that i have given t up, but i had just been taking a short time off. In fact last week was a very difficult week for me. One of my captain's, Adam, had his last day working with us just before Christmas and both boats have been extremely busy since then. We worked every day last week including sat and sunday. By the time i got home each nite i was sooooo tired that writing blogs wasn't possible. Anyway, i will try to be better from now on.

The holidays for me were good and it was nice seeing old friends and family. Work was tough but fun. We had many repeat guests which was nice and for a change we had quite a few private charters. Its been windy and fairly choppy and my old bad knee has been giving me some trouble. This year i hope to do something about it as driving the boat makes it worse immedeately. This shot is of my favorite boat in the world, The Maltese Falcon. I know i have mentioned her many times this past month, but i never get enough of her. Last night she was anchored between my home and Long Island's "Jumby Bay", and as the moon rose overhead, she was all lit up naturally and by her own lights. What a thing to see.......for dreamers like me.
Hope all of your dreams come true or get closer anyway in 2007. More later..............

Merry Christmas Everyone

i hope you have a wonderful day with family and friends wherever you are. It's a sunny and windy day here in Antigua and all my family are coming over to the house in a short while for b'fast and prezzies. So exciting:)

Later a massive party at my dad's house with extended family and friends. Hope your day will filled with joy and happiness. Will do a proper blog entry tomorrow. for now this is just a collection of images i had on my laptop. found a program that compiles them. Enjoy!

christmas cheer

This blog entry is gonna be a short one.......yesterdays got kinda long and last nite just kicked my butt. My mom decided to have a last minute get together, and i decided to invite my crew and some friends. In the end, we probably had about 60-70 people come and go throughout the night, and it was a lovely bit of "Christmas Cheer". We went through a vast amount of alcohol and lovely snacks made by my mom and a friend of mine. Apart from the regular Cavalier Rum i got two bottles of English Harbour Five Year Old rum which vanished very quickly. It is lovely and if you are here on holiday try to find a bottle to take home......yum!
Antiguans love any excuse to have a party and just like many places around the world, this is the time of year for parties.
We started up at around 7:30 and i think Chopper started "kicking" them out at about 12:30 am........
We all had a lovely time and it was lovely to spend an evening with my crew, friends and family. I hope that everyone enjoys the parties and cheer of this holiday time. Sounds corny, but the "Peace on Earth and Good Will to All Men and Women" is what i'd like to leave this blog entry with.

Antigua's Seasons

I always find it very funny when people say to me "I just couldn't live in Antigua because you don't have seasons". Although we don't get cold here we do have very specific and noticeable seasons.
Just yesterday, someone was saying that they couldn't wait until spring time when the Marlin come around in large numbers. I guess that's the biggest change you notice here with regard to seasonal changes....the change in species of migratory animals. Winter time sees many animals that are fleeing from the cold weather that is chilling out North America. When I got back from being away from Antigua for a month the first thing I noticed was the number of Osprey and other birds. I have also seen many kingfishers and Red billed Tropic Birds. There are so many species of birds that arrive here or pass through at this time of year. But its not just birds, the Humpback Whales will be here from about the end of January until April which is always something we boaters look foreword to. See these amazing creatures up close is something special indeed. Make sure that if you are here during that time you keep you eyes open because you may see them "breach" or spout out in the Atlantic. We tend to see more dolphins in the winter as well but they are here year round. Another species we get here in large numbers during the winter is the "tourist". Some fly all the way from Europe while others migrate by ships all the way from the US Mainland. Since we want to show them how cool our island is, we tend to get quite busy at this time of year. As the winter gets old and signs of spring show up we see other animals showing up. For me, it’s the time of year to get my fishing tackle set up. Mahi Mahi (the Hawaiian name for Dolphin FISH) school in large numbers here in the Caribbean at that time and apart from being great fish for sport fishermen, they are absolutely delicious. We often go camping in Barbuda for the Easter public holidays and will eat plenty of Mahi Mahi then. Yum I can't wait......then again there are some great things to eat coming up this month too...... Another funny thing that visitors to Antigua comment on is how surprised they are that we have Christmas Trees and eat turkey and ham for Christmas. Why not? I think i'd like to eat ham and turkey more often myself, but for sure at Christmas time. I know it's strange for people who are used to snow and freezing temps during the "holidays", but its still the same deal down here give or take 20 degrees. hehehe
Anyway, back to the seasons before my stomach makes too much noise with all the talk of ham and turkey.......
As spring turns into summer the big game fishing heats up with the massive Blue Marlin congregating off-shore in large numbers. They are very difficult to catch but can be a fisherman's dream "fight". Some of my crew and I am hooked on hooking marlin and you can read about it in the blog entry about Tony.

This is also the time of year when massive flocks of migratory birds show up in the islands to lay eggs and feed their chicks. To assure this all works out there are also even bigger schools of tiny pilchards and other small fish hatching out. These poor creatures almost at the bottom of the food chain are gobbled up by birds, dolphins and other fish. It’s a tough time of the year for them for sure.
For me these days, the summer is my favorite Season with all the cool things that started in spring reaching their full potential. It is also "hurricane season" but mostly the weather is best at that time of year. I just love the clear waters and calm seas of the summer and it is when we have the smallest number of migratory "tourist" species here, and because of the free time we end up playing more. Fishing, diving, camping, traveling to other islands, carnival,.....there is plenty to do with our freed up time in the summer and usually the weather makes it all worthwhile. The chicks are starting to leave their nests and are all getting fishing lessons from their parents. You should see the Laughing Gulls. I swear that they have designated teachers giving flying and fishing lessons. As we pass though Rabbit and Exchange islands in August we will see 20 little grey juvenile laughing gulls sitting in the water around one adult. I am not kidding either……it makes us laugh every year. Another bunch of animals that are nesting in the summer are the endangered Hawksbill Turtles. Do you know that one in 10,000 eggs will eventually become a mature adult. The rest just don’t make it. Anyway, these beautiful majestic reptiles nest between May and November and each female can lay over 400 eggs during that time. You will learn all about them on the Eco Tour.
Of course there is a chance that the weather will do the opposite and a destructive hurricane will cause trouble, but that just adds to the excitement of the summer. Remember that over the past 50 years we have been hit by 6 hurricanes, so the chances are pretty slim even though they are there.
As summer comes to an end, the winds calm down even more and the heat seems to slow you down a bit if you are one of the unlucky ones who has to work on land. For us, it means more swimming and snorkeling. The months of September and October can be very hot and still, and sailing can be tough. Powerboating is perfect then though, and it just happens to be the time of year when the Wahoo fish start showing up in large numbers. Wahoo are a delicious fish shaped very much like a muscle packed torpedo with stripes. They fight extremely hard and Tony, the self proclaimed “Wahoo King” longs for this time of year to catch and eat wahoo on all his days off. IT really is a beautiful thing to be out on the water with friends when the deep blue water is totally glass calm. We have been fishing many times where we caught so many fish that we had to come in early……so much fun and action. …..but there are other times as is the case with fishing when we have been out there all day and ended up with nothing. Those days are still fun because the people I go fishing with just love the sea. Late in the “Fall” the weather changes a bit with the sea chilling a bit down to the very low 80s and the air dropping a bit. American cold fronts can make it all the way down here too making it quite windy and for us…a bit chilly. Visitors laugh at us when we mention that we are getting cold (since for them 83 degrees is a dream come true), but you do feel and see the changes throughout the year. It’s just as interesting as anywhere else that you may call home.
I am sorry, but I know it sounds cheesy saying I love living here. I just can’t help it….......
The photo today is of a humpback whale we saw while doing the eco tour. The guests on board was awestruck....which always makes me happy. I added another of me releasing a blue marlin (most of the marlin caught here are released to figh again another day).

test drivin'

We the weekend went well with Saturday being filled with more Super Yacht excitement, parties, the traditional Half Moon Bay hangout as well as Shirley Heights. Monday it was back to reality though with setting up Eco Tour and trying to do a little work on the new little boat.
Chopper and I had tried to launch the boat to do a test run earlier last week and found both batteries to be flat. I had charged them properly at home and now we had to hook them back up and see if they were working. Getting to them wasn’t easy but putting the heavy marine batteries back in was “cake”. I had picked up Tony after dropping off the food for the Eco Tour, and we quickly managed to drop the batteries into their tight compartments. I wanted to swing the motors over before tailoring the boat all the way to the marina. The port engine turned over immediately, but the starboard one just clicked. We have a special marine battery isolator which showed that both batteries were fine, so it had to be something wrong with the connections or the engine itself. I checked all the engine fuses and tightened up the battery connections. Still no luck. The engines had worked well when I was up in Florida so I was sure that it was just a simple problem.
Finally, I broke down and called mechanic Tom who said that I had to clean the leads and connections to the battery and try it again. Something so simple, and yet that was the answer right there. The engine burst to life as soon as we turned the key.
Rudy, who lives down the beach from my home where we are storing the boat isn’t working at the moment and was helping Tony and me. When we were all set I asked him if he’d like to come and test drive it with us. He enthusiastically said yes. He had been working at The Lord Nelson Beach Hotel for nearly 20 years until it was handed over to new owners last week. I think I will dedicate a blog entry to that story another day.
We towed the boat up to Shell Beach Marina and launching pad and quickly backed her into the water. I wanted to run the engines for a few minutes before letting Tony reverse off the trailer. Another problem we had was that we had no anchor, no lines (ropes) and no fenders. If the engines cut out because of bad fuel that had been stored for months inside the tanks then they would drift up onto the coast or even reef. We ran them for a while, and they purred quietly without a problem at all. When Tony backed off he looked very happy and so was I. As soon as I had parked the truck and trailer, Tony picked me off the dock and we were off. Rudy had never been on such a fast boat and Tony was sure it was faster than Xtreme. He was excited and I could tell that he was convinced that we had to keep this new boat. I agreed too. She was stronger than I though and ran pretty well. It would be a perfect “run about” for us on days off or on holidays, and both Tony and I were sure that we could use her for small private charters. We raced up through the Long and Maiden Island channel passing the huge mega yacht Midlandia with its wealthy guests playing on the jet skies and kitesurfing equipment. We pulled into Bird Island channel a few moments later where JD and Trevor had just returned from a hike. After making sure our VHF radio worked we said goodbye to them and set off for Jolly Harbour where we could buy the things we needed for the boat. It was fairly choppy as we passed Prickly Pear Island and the bumps were exactly what we were looking for. The boat ran well through them and there didn’t seem to be any flexing in the hull.
I saw Rudy studying the coastline intently and I realized that he probably had never been down the coast of Antigua by boat. I asked him and sure enough he had no idea where we were passing. He came here to work from St. Lucia 20 years ago and had not been out boating further than the islands of the North Sound where the Eco Tour takes place. I explained to him all the places we were passing and this little test driving of the new boat became its first tour too
After a few hours and a nice lunch in Jolly Harbour we were off again back up the coast to pull the boat out of the water. I think that after a good cleaning and a small amount of fiberglass work she will be ready for action. I am still waiting on some quotes for these repairs now. The pic above is of the boat sitting next to Harriette’s house down the beach from where I live.