The most dangerous thing on your Antigua holiday....

Ever since I can remember, our visitors have been asking questions about dangerous things that you may meet while out on the water. I started competing in regional windsurfing events when I was twelve and that was after years already spent out fishing and messing about on small boats. So many people would worry about sharks and other “nasties” out there in the unknown.

When I started my tour company Adventure Antigua the questions or worries were even more common about “nasties” in the sea. People would ask about sharks and jellyfish, stingrays, moray eels, barracuda, fire coral, urchins, currents, waves, pirates, poisonous plants…and the list keeps going on an on. You name the worry and I have heard of it or been asked about it. The Italian guests that visit Antigua seem to be the biggest worriers with “squalo?” and “medusa?” being words that I learned very quickly through constant repetition. When working in this business you sometimes are challenged to reply to common questions in different ways just to keep it interesting and not annoying. I know that if you had to answer the same squalo question every week in the same way, you would get tired pretty quick. I mean how would you answer the question; “Do you have sharks in Antigua?”

I have at least 10 versions of answers to that one just so the crew doesn’t get annoyed with the same answer each day. One of them may be silly like “there are loads of sharks, but they are all walking around on two legs in St. Johns.” The answer could be more serious like… “Yes, but there has never been a shark attack in Antigua’s recorded history.”
Most of the time if someone is asking about unknown nasties that may attack them and ruin their eco tour or xtreme tour…I tell them that the most dangerous thing that they will encounter today is the sunshine.

It’s not a joke at all and is the core of today’s blog. Each year in the USA over one million people get skin cancer with over eight thousand deaths a year because of the disease. This crazy statistic is something that worrys me more than any thoughts of the other "nasties" that i may encounter while out on the boat. In the USA there are on average 60 shark attacks a year with 4 being fatal. Antigua gets none. In fact most of the Caribbean is shark attack free. With over 8000 dead with skin cancer and 4 from shark attacks you can see what the main “nasty” is.
This past week the USA has finally followed Europe’s lead when it comes to sunscreen regulations. Apparently the actual new classification and labeling of sunscreens which is the same that they have in England and in Europe will not come into effect until 2009. I don’t know why it’s going to take so long to show people that their sunscreen isn’t protecting them against possible skin cancer death, but at least the new labels will come in 2009. Europe and Canada has been using it since 1993. If you live in the USA now I guess you can always just remember a few things spoken about on this blog when buying sunscreen.
For a long time it was mistakenly thought that UVB rays were the harmful rays radiated from our sun which is why the SPF classification came into being. The FDA used the SPF as a measure to show how well you were being protected against these harmful UVB rays which undoubtedly can cause skin cancer. Anyway, long after many studies proved that the other UVA rays are also dangerous and can cause skin cancer the FDA has decided that they should let the general public know. The new classification will have the SPF rating as well as the UVA rating which will be a 5 star rating system like Europe’s system. A great article on it all is: http://www.nytimes.com/2007/08/24/health/24sunscreen.html?ref=health
I think if you really want to be a geek (aka “smart”) you could check the chemicals that are in your sunscreen. In order to block both UVA and UVB sun rays there are certain ingredients that you should look for in your high SPF factor sunscreen keeping in mind that the SPF by itself is just blocking the UVB rays. These UVA blocking chemicals are avobenzone (also called Parsol 1789), titanium dioxide, zinc oxide, or Mexoryl SX (or Tinosorb outside the U.S.).

Now I am no scientist so I don’t know which of these chemicals are better for you than the other, but there are loads of articles on the net that you can research the topic more. I know that many people think that some of these chemicals may do more harm than good. A good start explaining the benefits is found on this link where i took the quote below from: http://www.consumersearch.com/www/family/sunscreen/index.html#intro :
"Dermatologists say that Mexoryl SX is the most effective UVA-blocking ingredient currently available. It has been used in Canada and Europe since 1993, but was just approved by the FDA for use in the U.S. in July 2006. However, sunscreen products containing Mexoryl SX (a trademark of L'Oreal) have been slow to enter the U.S. market. Right now, only a handful of products are available containing Mexoryl in the U.S. LaRoche-Posay Anthelios SX (*est. $30 for 3.4 ounces) is a facial moisturizer that contains Mexoryl SX. More widely available is Lancôme UV Expert 20 (*est. $35 for 3.4 ounces), a face and body lotion with Mexoryl SX. If you want the best possible protection, Lancôme UV Expert 20 an ideal mix of ingredients, but it's very expensive.
Helioplex is another advance in sun protection. Developed by Neutrogena, Helioplex boosts the UVA-blocking power of avobenzone, which otherwise begins to degrade after a couple of hours. (Mexoryl SX doesn't degrade in sunlight -- another reason why reviews say it's such a good ingredient.) There are actually two kinds of UVA rays -- short and long waves. Avobenzone protects against long-wave rays. Several ingredients, including the commonly used oxybenzone, can protect against short-wave UVA rays. Many sunscreens contain oxybenzone, but don't contain anything to protect against long-wave UVA. By including oxybenzone, companies are allowed to say their product protects against UVA, but unless it also contains avobenzone, zinc oxide, titanium dioxide or Mexoryl SX, you are not protected against long-wave UVA rays. That's why skin-care experts say you should look for "broad spectrum" UVA and UVB protection. "

I went and looked at all my sunscreens and was happy to find that they all had chemicals which blocked both types of rays. I have had quite a few skin cancers burnt off and a few cut off all of which I am sure came as a result of burns I got as a kid. Back then the sunscreens were not that strong and none were waterproof which is another thing that I think is essential when you are coming on holiday. This is even more important for kids too since they are always in the water and never reapply on their own.

You want to find high factor, broad spectrum UVA and UVB sunscreens that say something like “all day waterproof” or even “6 hour waterproof”. This is where I think the USA does a better job that the UK. Most of the UK stuff washes off as soon as you get in the sea and unless you are always putting the stuff back on you will get burnt.

My sunscreen of choice for years has been Bullfrog since I can put it on once in the morning as I am leaving the harbour and that’s it for the day. The stuff stays on after loads of snorkeling too. Epicurean in Jolly Harbour has it for sale.

There are more and more waterproof sunscreens on the market and recently someone left us some Coppertone kids 50 waterproof spray which is so good that I think you only need to apply it once a holiday!! My mom and brother have had more serious skin cancers than I have had and it’s no joke at all. Buy the right stuff and put it on. Even the people with nice dark skin can get skin cancer so be prepared. It’s a lovely place to be and it can be safe with the right preparations. I think that good education about sharks, stingrays and the same sunshine that many ancient civilizations (who are no longer with us) have worshiped is key to a happy trip to Antigua and the Caribbean. I hope you enjoyed the words or at least my photos. c ya!

hot and sunny....whats the weather like where you are?

Busy busy in Antigua. Usually August is a fairly slow month for us in Antigua with nice weather in general in North American and in Europe. This August has been very busy here on the island with many of the hotels being quite full. I know after speaking to my Grandmother who lives in England, that the weather there has been terrible. She said its been the worst summer that she can remember up there which is why so many people have been coming here looking for sun. We took a group of people out on a private birthday charter and so many were moaning about how awful the British weather had been. And apart from a few days in August it has been an incredibly sunny summer here in Antigua and Barbuda with drought on the islands being a big problem until recently. People all over the world are so obsessed with weather and when you have put up with rain, snow, cold and clouds for most of the year I guess you would be kinda worried that your Antigua holiday may not be sunny. I always see people on the internet forums worrying about the possibility of rain and clouds ruining their upcoming Antigua and Barbuda vacation. Way way way too many people look at the animated forecasts which I have spoken so much about on other blogs (here). I often wonder how many people cancel their travel plans because of these misleading low tech forecasts and keep telling people to look at satellite photos in motion to see where the clouds will be coming from. A good link is:
For hurricane info there is http://www.weathercarib.com/ or http://www.stormcarib.com/ for reports, but for general weather a good link is always http://www.windguru.com/int/index.php?sc=52075
I have a web tracker on my Antigua blog and look at it often to see where the hits are coming from, which sites referred the hit to mine, and which key words were used in searches. After Hurricane Dean passed by missing Antigua and Barbuda I had hundreds of hits a day. The busiest day was nearly 700 hits and so many of the hits came from google or other search engine queries. The typical search on google was “Did hurricane Dean damage Antigua” or simply “hurricane Dean Antigua”. There were quite a few specific hotel requests like “jumby bay damage Hurricane Dean”. Anyway, I am so happy that my little blog could show people that we had no hurricane damage other than some beach erosion on the south of Antigua and set them at ease. Funny how things work with these blogs but with the web tracker I can see how Antigua internet searches in times of uncertainty can be of great help.
This week has been a busy one for me with work on the boats and many birthday parties including my own little one last night. I took this photo at the end of a very good friend's 40th on sunday night. That was a lovely one on the beach which as a matter of fact got more sand on it during the storm.

I think this weekend will be a chilled out one with possibly a little fishing and windsurfing. I am thinking of doing several blog reports with photos about learning how to windsurf so that people can almost have a lesson during their lunch brake back in the big city office.

Keep checking for updates and have a good weekend.

Turtles and summer threats

Things are totally back to normal here as if Dean’s threat never existed. Let’s hope that was the last one of the season to be forecast close to us. Even passing 150 miles to our south Dean managed to give us some strong (35 mph) winds and big waves up to 15 feet in unsheltered areas. There was no damage from hurricane Dean here in Antigua apart from beach erosion. This erosion couldn’t come at a worse time though as it is peak turtle nesting season.

Of course the beaches will get back to normal in no time, but many Hawksbill turtle nests have been washed into the sea. At 1 in 10000 eggs reaching maturity this species could do without hurricane season. My sister Francis Fuller just started working with Antigua's Environment Division and called me yesterday telling me about a nest they found partially washed into the sea at Jabberwock Beach. She said it had recently hatched out so the little guys had already got into the sea. Turtles have evolved in ways which help them in so many situations, but for some reason they haven’t figured out that hurricane season isn’t a good time for beach nesting. I dunno there are other factors possibly which make hurricane season good for nesting. After all, this type of beach erosion from storms only happens once in a blue moon. In fact, the seas are way rougher in the winter months than they are on average in the summer. As long as a hurricane doesn’t pass that close the little eggs will be fine while they sit tight in that sandy nest for 60 nights. If the females are the lucky ones of the season they will return to nest on these beaches twenty years later. With all the changes mankind is bringing upon planet earth there is much uncertainty about what they may find when they come back to nest. For now though, the turtles coming in to nest this next week will be fine on many of our 365 beaches.
Last week while doing an Xtreme Circumnav I found a freshly hatched out Leatherback turtle nest on Rendezvous bay.

I was doing a walk on the beach checking for fresh nests as we are part of the Antigua Turtle Study run by the EAG and Mykl Clovis, when I came across the nest. The usual tell tale signs of the recent hatch were on the surface. Little white folded over egg shells were scattered around a small indentation in the sand. We were running a bit late, but I quickly started digging up the old nest to check for stragglers. It was slow as the sand on Rendezvous is so fine and it kept falling back into my excavation. I found many successfully opened shells and two or three that seemed to have been unfertilized. I found one that contained what felt like a turtle that didn’t make it. Leatherback turtles are the largest of all turtles and incredibly endangered. Of course there are some beaches on the planet where they come up to nest in large numbers, but in general their numbers are dangerously low. Anyway, the egg was half way between a golf and tennis ball in size and was fairly soft. I opened it worried about the possible smell. To my surprise the dead baby leatherback inside was very fresh and had no smell at all. The nest must have just hatched the night before and the poor little fella looked as if it were just sleeping. It was curled up as if still inside the eggs protection. I guess that’s the turtle fetal position, but it was holding the egg yoke which never got a chance to be its final sustenance before it began its journey into the Atlantic.

I know the odds are such that it’s very common to find little unfortunates like this but it still was sad to see it like that. Time was running out for our time at Rendezvous and I had to get back to drive the boat back along the remainder of the tour. The rum punch stop, our last stop was at an end. I took the turtle to show the guests and Mykl as well. The photo shows the poor thing in my hand. I guess the good news is that although I didn’t dig up the entire nest, it seemed as though most of the eggs had successfully hatched out. The next day I had a private charter which went to Rendezvous on its first stop. I decided to go and finish digging up the nest with Tony. Some of the guests came along with me and within minutes we pulled out a hatchling. To my surprise is moved, but I could tell immediately that it wasn’t in good shape at all. Its soft shell looked a little out of shape and the movements were so slow that I was sure it was about to die and even said so. The two guests said that we should put it in the water and it did seem to get a little more active once in the sea where it belonged. IT wasn’t strong enough to swim though and I wasn’t sure about its chances. The guests kept it trying to see if it would get stronger and while Tony and I finished digging up the nest and another one near it the little straggler appeared to waken up a bit more. We took it back to the boat putting it into a dark bucket with a little water so that it would be wet but relaxed in the darkness. I got on the phone with Mykl and then Sarah at the Jumby Bay turtle project. They agreed that we should keep it for Jebson a turtle volunteer who has had quite a bit of luck rehabilitating turtles that didn’t make it out of their nests. By the time the sun set, the turtle was looking much better and although I still wasn’t convinced the weak creature would pull through I was beginning to think that against all the odds, it just may be ok. Later we delivered it to Jebson who said that he thought it looked pretty good and thought that he could release it in a few days. He had some special food that he would give it the next day. Unfortunately as if destined to become part of the statistics, the baby leatherback took its last breath that night. Sitting alone in that nest out of the protection of its egg for days was just too much for Rene as we ended up calling her. Her brothers and sisters are now out in the Atlantic trying to be the lucky few that make it back to Rendezvous bay in the distant future. The study that I spoke about which is taking place here in Antigua is finding out so many things about Antigua’s nesting turtle population and the threats that it faces on a daily basis. There is plenty more to find out and although there is currently only funding for this summers study, I hope that it may continue next year. Turtles around the world need all the help they can get. Maybe I will try to set up some sort of donation thing on this blog so that the EAG’s study may continue. The one over at Jumby Bay has been going on for over 20 years and is now one of the world’s leading studies.

weather back to normal in Antigua today (SATURDAY aug 18th)

Blog sponsored by www.jhrcaribbean.com

a lovely sunny day with about 18 knot of winds blowing at the moment. There still seems to be some wave action on the west and south coast, but nothing that big. Boats are out running around in Jolly Beach and with no damage reported from the outer rim of Hurricane Dean i think we were very lucky. My bad knee isn't even hurting that much after an awesome windsurfing session yesterday. This pic was taken this morning when i got up. We were lucky in Antigua but it sounds like many other islands to our south were not. Jamaica and other areas better be prepared for Dean which has grown and strengthened.

interesting site showing how little we actually get hit by storms: http://www.hurricanecity.com/city/antigua.htm

Never knew about those people killed in 1960!

Hurricane Dean misses Antigua.....

Well hurricane winds missed antigua and although i thought we wouldn't get much of anything, we ended up getting some very large swell on the East and South coasts with winds generally out of the east between 25 and 35 mph all day. Several people recorded higher gusts but in general it never was consistantly more than 35 mph. We had several heavy showers until about 4:30 when the rains seemed to kick into overdrive. It is raining cats and dogs outside at the moment but as you can see from the image below, the main core of the storm has passed. Hurricane Dean missed Antigua but over 150 miles to our south St. Lucia seemed to have gotten hit pretty hard. MArtinique and Dominica seemed to get quite a bit of Dean's wrath too. You can read reports on http://www.stormcarib.com/ and i am sure there will be updates from the isalnds hardest hit and still in Dean's path over the next few days. The forecast shows a track towards the Dominican Republic's south coast, Haiti and directly for Jamaica. I hope it weakens but at the moment its been undergoing rapid growth and strengthening. I don't think Antigua had any damage from Dean at all except possibly some beach erosion. I drove around this morning and took a few photos. This one was Curtain Bluf's outer reef above Cades.

This link shows a sequence at Half moon bay. http://www.flickr.com/photos/antiguan/1150715774/ Next to that photo there are others from my drive. All good action and there seemed to be many people driving around looking for angry weather.

This afternoon i windsurfed with Ty who works with on our boats from time to time and with Xabier the owner of Wadadli Cats. The winds were pretty strong but it was loads of fun and we got some pretty cool jumps. My knee was very quickly protesting, but this kind of action only comes once in a blue moon and i had to get out there. Speaking about how seldom

we get crazy windsurfing conditions.....i always find it strange when people say that they thought we get this kinda stuff every year. Antigua has been directly hit by hurricanes 6 times since 1954 i think, and rarely gets these sort of conditions when they pass close by (150 miles). I dont think there was any damage and i know for a fact many people enjoyed the action here however strange that may be. We were lucky not to get hit, but the strong gusty winds made excellent windsurfing and some cool surfing for stevie and the gang. It should be warm and sunny by the end of the weekend. Speak later.

50 miles back to Antigua from North Beach

This blog sponsored by www.jhrcaribbean.com On our last morning in Barbuda was started properly with French toast and bacon on “Blue Rapid” with my dad and Sarah and their crew Kenny Kentish. After b’fast we got Xtreme ready for the trip back to Antigua. My uncle Jim and his crew who had been staying in the North Beach apartments with the mosquitoes and sand flies were getting packed up to leave as well. Altogether on the beach is was he and Alan Hart and his two kids as well as Steve Mearns. My good buddy, Roddy from Acquafilms.com, was staying on the beach as well with Stevie and my cousin Annabel who were in tents.
At first I was asked if I could take Steve Mearns back as he wasn’t feeling too well. This translated into “he didn’t feel like getting pounded for miles and miles in uncle Jim’s smaller boat”. That was fine though as it was just Mykl and I on Xtreme. Then Dad decided that he was staying another night for sure and asked if I could take Kenny. Again no problem at all as long as he didn’t mind getting a good wetting. These hot shot lawyers are not used to being as wet as us sea dogs, but I am sure the after a weekend camping in Barbuda Kenny was up for anything. Steve Mendes then decided to stay another night with his wife Robin and asked if I could take his other crew, Stevie, Bell and Roddy. Like I said, Xtreme could handle it no prob so I went around collecting everyone and all their camping stuff and by 11 am we were all ready to go….all seven of us. My plan was to hug the shore all the way towards Palmetto Point where the Beach House resort is and then head straight across, but the winds were way up there and I wasn’t sure if it was a good idea. Let’s get there first I told myself. On the way to Palmetto, we counted 54 fresh turtle nests on the 14 miles of beach we just covered which was very cool indeed. We are in the peak of nesting season for the Hawksbill turtles. The waves looked awful out past palmetto and I made the decision to go up the coast a bit towards the Coco Point Lodge as this would give us a better angle in the sea back to Antigua’s Diamond Channel.

Also, most of my newly acquired passengers would much prefer a little more adventure before the crappy trip back home.
Coco Point hotel in Barbuda is closed during the summer months and we were able to sneak right up to their most beautiful point and relax for a bit while having some lunch.

Uncle Jim came up shortly afterwards and so did the other two boats that were staying the extra night at Spanish point further up the coast.

The waters were just too beautiful to leave like that so Roddy, Mykl, Stevie and Bell went for a quick snorkel just before we set off.

I took photos and within 30 minutes we were going out the reef into the Atlantic Channel. It was extremely rough but the better angle allowed us to maintain 25 knots the whole way home. Stevie sat up front by himself where is was a bit more bumpy and ended up falling asleep. Every other person on the boat was soaked with all the spray the high winds were jacking up. We were home in no time. As I pulled up to the dock in Jolly Harbour the GPS said we had done 118 miles that weekend and they were all worth the effort and drama. As usual it was a good carnival camping session but now it was time to get back to work.

close call with Xtreme while camping in barbuda

This blog is sponsored by www.jhrcaribbean.com From the last proper blog i wrote: "We decided to start walking back to the boat after seeing how massive this squall appeared to be. We were going to be in for a strong one and as the winds started to howl I began to worry about my camera….and more importantly the boat 90 minutes away."

OK so finally I get back to the story. OMG last week got a little crazy towards the end as this one is looking like it may too. Anyway, back to the story:
We walked back in the crazy winds and rain that just wouldn’t let up. Luckily for us the wind direction changed to come more out of the North, so we had winds pushing against our backs making the walk faster and quicker towards the boat which we could see getting tossed around like a green salad. The anchor lines were taught and were under great strain as the boat bounced up and down just a few meters from the beach. If one pulled then I was sure the other would too and in seconds the boat would be on the beach. Actually now that the wind direction had changed the boat was pointing towards the rocks along the shore. Mykl went first so that I could hold the camera bag above the choppy waves and pass it to her. I was so worried about the boat that I left my shirt, hat and sun glasses on the beach with our beachcombing prizes. As soon as I was on the boat I fired up the engines and moved closer to the anchors. Mykl took in the slack anchor lines and when we were next to the anchors I ran up to pull them into the boat. In a flash the strong winds pushed us dangerously close to the beach before I got back to the controls. Anyway, I slowly powered out to the lee of the barrier reef and re-set the anchors there. There was no way I could navigate back around to Spanish Point in these conditions as the narrow channel was closing out with huge waves and another rain squall was just about to hit too. I knew we were safe behind the reef and far enough from the shore, so we just decided to wait it out in the cabin with my trusty portable DVD player. What else could we do?
As the terrible movie (License to Wed) finished the winds seemed to ease as well. Upwind it looked like there could be more on the way as it all looked very dark. My mom confirmed that the satellite imagery for the islands on the internet looked like there was a chance we would get more, so after calling her we opted to make a move through the channel in the barrier reef. The seas were big and we narrowly made it past the breakers into deeper water before we turned back to the safety of our camping spot from the night before. We got back, set anchors, and put the kettle on to boil. All would be good once we had our starbucks mugs full of nice hot tea. The sunset was wonderful with all the crazy cloud that seemed to be dissipating.

That night we had no more trouble with rain and were able to have some lovely T-Bone steaks on the back of the boat. IT was the end of out meat and we would have catch fish of some sort the next day.
We were up early the next morning and in no time were ready to make a move back to the beach where Xtreme nearly came to rest to collect my sunglasses and the rest of our stuff. What a different place it looked like now!

Anyway, we didn’t stay long and once out the channel again we turned north towards a special fishing spot I knew about five miles away. We put the three rods out to “soak” and nothing happened for some time. Just when we were about to give up we had a double hookup. Mykl fought her fish on the back seat and I fought mine from the port side. Hers came up first and after I put my rod in the holder I tried to get the fish off the hook. The electric blues from the Little Tunnie were dazzling and as we marveled at its beauty the fish managed to free itself and shot off into the dark blue depths. Mine was still on and I didn’t make the mistake of being seduced by its colours this time. In fact the poor fish didn’t have a chance once I had it within grabbing range. We didn’t have to worry about eating canned tuna……we had the real stuff in the boat now. While all this action was taking place we didn’t notice the squall that had quickly crept up upon us. We were not in a good place at all as we were outside some of the most treacherous reef in the entire Caribbean which has been claiming boats for hundreds of years. Nobody ever gets through this section of reef unless they have good light and that was going to disappear pretty quickly if we didn’t act fast. I knew of a tiny channel at a place called Hog Hole and after speaking on the VHF radio to my Dad and Steve Mendes who were just pulling up there on the inside of the reef, I gunned the engines towards the channel. I slowed down once we got into the channel and immediately saw a pod of spotted dolphins. They had been surfing the waves in the channel and I would have loved to stay and watch them but it was way too dangerous with the squall only minutes away. With reef and breaking waves on either side of the boat we crept in carefully making it behind the last bit of reef right as the winds started to pick up. We rushed over to the other boat and dropped the anchor in the sand behind the reef as the rain started to fall. I was in the water with my snorkeling gear before I could get wet from the rains. If you are ever snorkeling when it rains be sure to swim down a bit and look back up at the surface. I took a pic while it was happening but even this doesn’t do it justice.

Stevie’s boat had been full of campers who were all now in the water snorkeling. I guess the winds and waves had gotten up in the squall making the waters close to the barrier reef very cloudy with tiny bubbles. We did manage to see three stingrays and two spotted eagle rays as well as quite a few small fish.

IT was nice and colourful once the sun covered us again.

Roddy and Stevie caught a few snappers for their lunch and they all left Mykl and I there. We would meet up with them later in the afternoon at their camping spot.

Once we had finished snorkeling and finished lunch while at anchor as seen above, we slowly cruised down the coast inside the barrier reef fishing and spotting rays and turtles. It was a lovely cruise.

Up ahead we could see the other boat pulling two of their divers who were looking for conch. I had seen some nice ones when were in the water earlier and had thought about keeping one for an appetizer. These guys were taking some for their dinner. Steve Mendes makes lovely meals with conch and later we couldn’t possible turn down the dinner invitation with that in mind. Before sunset, we all rafted up together with Steve’s “Megalops” on the left side, Dad’s “Blue Rapid”, in the middle and Xtreme on the right. We were in a good anchorage outside the entrance to Barbuda’s wonderful lagoon, and after most of the guys went off fishing, Mykl and I decided to go on a kayaking mission into the “creek mouth” as it is known. The mangrove habitat there is like none other in the Eastern Caribbean and it was lovely paddling through this wondrous habitat. If you have ever been on our eco tour then you will know what this area looks like. The mangrove narrows at Guiana Island look very similar. I took this photo in the "creek mouth" on another camping trip i did with my uncle Nick and Dr Charles.

We got back just before it got dark and just in time for a massive and deliciously tasty conch pasta. It was our last night in Barbuda and the calm gentle conditions that had been forecast never materialized. It looked like it would be a rough ride back home the next day. Will talk about that tomorrow. As a side note…..if you are here on island or coming here this week keep checking http://www.weathercarib.com/ for info on the approaching tropical weather.

important weather info

Hi there! I am sorry for not blogging over the last few days. I have been working on Xtreme and getting completely wasted tired. Tonight i will write more about my barbuda trip and post tomorrow morning for sure. In the meantime have a look at something i just posted on an antiguan message board:

This little post is meant as a little bit of proactive info so that people dont freak out when someone irresponsible on CNN or something starts ranting about aproaching weather. A few days ago before there was even a dot on the satellites, www.windguru.com started forecasting a big storm coming our way on Friday a week later. Most people thought it was a computer glitch as windguru uses many sophisticated computer models to generate its forecasts. Anyway, since then a tropical wave has developed "nicely" into a impressive low and it looks as though it may get to the next level (tropical depression) within a day or so. Most computer models suggest that it may develop stronger into a named storm after that. They also suggest that it will be steered towards the central caribbean. There are two extremely important things that we need to keep in mind. First, is that these computer models change every six hours after taking into account millions of variables which could all end up changing the forecast dramatically this far away. This means that Friday is a long way away and many things can change. We may not even get a shower. The second thing to remember is when preparing for tropical weather season we need to understand that a worst case outcome is possible and that we should take precautions and moniter the weather sites for good info. I will make sure that i keep you up to date on what is going on if you don't want to do it yourself. I am sure that many people will be speaking about weather over the next few months which is pretty normal. An excellent weather site showing whats going on from many different angles is www.weathercarib.com We have been hit by 6 hurricanes since 1954 so the odds are against a direct hit, but keep an eye on the site above just in case. www.antiguaisland.blogspot.com

Antigua to Barbuda

This blog is sponsored by Caribbean Real Estate JHR Caribbean.
Our Barbuda camping trip started a little later than first planned and we were the last boat to leave Antigua on Saturday afternoon. My dad and his crew as well as his neighbor, Steve Mendes and his crew both left after lunch, but we didn’t set off out of Jolly Harbour until after 4 pm. On this trip I wanted to do a bit of a tour of Barbuda instead of camping all in one area as we have been doing for the past few years. My uncle Nick (Dr. Fuller) had arrived in Barbuda a few days earlier on his boat “Nicole” with Captain Derek Biel from the fishing boat “Obsession” as his crew. They were anchored up at the beautiful Spanish Point doing some fishing. Before we arrived Richard King and his wife anchored up there as well on “Kingdom”. We thought that Spanish Point would be a good starting place for our camping session so upon leaving Jolly Harbour I set the GPS chart plotter’s course for that point. As soon as we came around the point into Five Islands Harbour, I saw a huge cloud up in the North-East which wasn’t the best thing to see when you are making a crossing that late in the day. Anyway, we were going to make a go of it. I cruised up a little higher along the coast to try and get a good angle towards Spanish Point and we ended up cutting through the Boons barrier reef offshore Blue Waters Hotel. We were going meet head on with the squall in no time and the winds were already licking up the sea throwing angry spray at us as if meant to cause discomfort. Although the sea was getting very choppy, the winds hadn’t been around long enough to make it really rough. I knew with winds this strong it was sure to get rough pretty quickly so I pushed on as quickly as I could doing speeds around 25 knots on average. The rains stung when they arrived but Mykl and I already had our wind breakers on so it wasn’t as bad as I have felt many times on this trip years ago. For the entire trip across we were engulfed in squally conditions and eager to get into the peaceful protection of Spanish Point. It didn’t take that long and pretty soon we were coming down along the breakers into the channel and then behind the barrier reef which protects what the Barbudans call White Bay. As soon as we were anchored up I was ready for getting wet the proper way. I launched one of the Kayaks we had taken with us, and paddled out to the barrier reef with my mask and snorkel. IT was sunset and the fish were exceptionally excited which is usually the case during “the magic hour”. Being out there on the reef that late with all the action happening is as exciting as it is spooky. When I got back to the boat it was time for a shower and some tea. The sky had cleared up and the stars were starting to burst out into view like they can only do in the wilderness. People who don’t get far away from artificial lights never see the sky as the rest of us do on occasions like this. I always am quite awe struck to see this many stars, and find it quite relaxing which is the intended affect one looks for when out camping i guess. Dinner made on the grill seems to always taste so good, and that night it was marinated fresh chicken breast with grilled sweet peppers of various colours. We had snacked a bit too much before dinner and all we could handle was the peppers and chicken. Sleep came fast and intense that night, and I almost didn’t have time to enjoy the gentle sound of water lapping at the boat’s hull.
The next morning I was woken by the Devil!
“Devil”, pronounced “DebbeLL” is a close family friend and lifelong fisherman in Barbuda. His real name is Vernon Joseph and some other time I will have to write about this amazing man. He was taking my uncle and Derek out diving which is what he has been doing since they invented tanks. He scuba dives for fish, conch and lobster commercially by himself outside the barrier reefs in the Atlantic. Every PADI type rule is broken by him every day but there is probably not a better diver anywhere in these islands. He also is one of the fittest sixty something year olds that you will find. After saying “good morning” he and his new crew were off into and out of the channel towards the Atlantic bound for one of his secret dive spots. We had some b’fast and decided to make a move around the east coast towards a cut in the barrier that I know about.

All forecasts described nice calm weather which would mean a nice anchorage inside the reef on the windward side.

IT would be a perfect for beachcombing, fishing, snorkeling and exploring, and all looked like things would be perfect that morning. Once we arrived at the best spot for anchoring just off the beach I decided to set two anchors instead of just one.

After all, we planned on going for a long walk along the deserted beach and wanted to leave the boat safe by itself. Walks on these windward facing deserted beaches are always very enjoyable to me for a number of reasons. Obviously having a beach to oneself is great wherever you are, but the interesting things you see make for a great long walk.

In one of my blogs I wrote about all the flotsam and jetsam that we find here and although we saw loads of other stuff we didn’t manage to find any messages this time.

Garbage on the beach can be very interesting if you know or try to know how it got there.

After a good 90 minutes or so we decided to stop for some lunch which we had packed.

We sat on a huge log that had recently drifted up and it was then that we noticed a massive squall quickly approaching. Summer squalls are frequent in August and usually don’t last long. They approach quickly raising the winds up above 25 knots usually. Once the incredibly heavy rains have chased everyone off the beach the squall passes on leaving lovely sunshine and calm winds in its wake.

We decided to start walking back to the boat after seeing how massive this squall appeared to be. We were going to be in for a strong one and as the winds started to howl I began to worry about my camera….and more importantly the boat 90 minutes away.

Antigua Carnival weekend coming up

Blog sponsored by the good people at: Once again its Carnival here in Antigua and the island is buzzing with activity. IT is actually the 50th year of Carnival in Antigua and instead of being a week long activity…it seems to be going on for 2 weeks this year. Unlike my good friend who run’s http://www.saucytrini.blogspot.com/, I am not Carnival crazy. I did go to quite a few when I was a teen and several when I was in my 20s but I don’t think I ever was in love with carnival in Antigua. Crowds are just not for me usually, and I think that it the main problem. Anyway, I am obviously in the minority with that feeling as can be seen in town at the moment. So far many of the shows have already taken place and there is a new but not young calypso king (who was a tour operator in between his many calypso crowns: Short Shirt) as well as many other winners. We have had a massive influx of Antiguans returning home from their residences abroad and it all looks and sounds like Carnival is being a massive success. Carnival isn’t just about talent shows, concerts, steel bands, parades and parties, it is also a time for many people to take holidays from the island. We get several public holidays and it’s usually a very long weekend off work which my family has used for many years to go camping. Carnival weekend camping trips are a major tradition in my family and we usually pack up the fishing and camping gear into the boats and make the ride across to Barbuda. There we find a secluded spot to set up as base camp. Finding a secluded beach isn’t too hard even these days with more boats on the water than ever. The fishing isn’t usually as good as it is during the long Easter camping weekend, but the water is warmer and clearer so we spend more time snorkeling than fishing. There are many wrecks and interesting things to see in the waters there and generally the weekend is filled with adventure. Adventure Antigua has tours most of this week, but Friday seems to be free on Xtreme. If I can get permission from Nell, my sister, I am going to take Xtreme to Barbuda for the weekend. I did a little practice camping session this past Sunday and have to tell you that it was lovely. I purchased a new little marine camping stove and got a chance to properly test it out in Five Islands harbour during the full moon. We had spent the afternoon counting turtle nests and excavating a recently hatched nest up at Rendezvous bay and cruised down at sunset/moonrise towards Five Islands. On the way we passed Ffreys Bay where there was having a massive concert for Carnival, but that didn't take us away from the sunset.

Apart from the lights at Hermitage Hotel, we were alone in Five Islands Harbour and the moonlight was dazzling. In fact it was so bright that we could see the many Moon Jellyfish in the waters below. Depending on the currents and bays, moon jellyfish congregate in large numbers at this time of year and we had found one of those spots. A bit of midnight skinny dipping would have been a big mistake and a real pain in the ass.

Anyway, the grilled red and yellow peppers with baked potatoes went down beautifully with some medium rare rib eye steaks. Sitting up on the bow with our meal and the moonlight it was hard to imagine a better place to be in the world. The faint booming from the St. Johns sound systems didn’t persuade me that I was missing out. The early morning tea before the eco boat passed us on its way to Hermitage bay was awesome too. The thing works!

Let’s hope that the weather in the Atlantic behaves itself for both carnival revelers and campers alike though. http://www.weathercarib.com/ is keeping an eye on a strong tropical wave to the east of the islands.
I will just leave you with a nice email we received yesterday. We get many lovely emails form many lovely people, but I felt the joy in this one.


From: r1minnie@xxxxxx.com [mailto:r1minnie@xxxxx.com] Sent: Monday, July 30, 2007 2:13 PMTo: info@antiguaadventures.comSubject: Thank You Eli Eco Tour!

Hi,I am finally back home in NY after a long week of vacationing. I wanted to take the time to personally thank the entire staff for taking care of me and my other half during our time in Antigua. I didn't think I could climb Bird Island or Hells Gate Island but I can safely say we both made it and back. The guys on the boat were terrific and helped me especially Tony with the snorkeling. Being the first timers of snorkeling, he gave us practice lessons and even helped us out once we were in deep water. The lunch and drinks were delicious. If I decide to do another cruise and Antigua is on that itinerary, I will definitely make it a point to look you up and take another tour, the extreme tour with you. I was a little hesitant on private tours, but I have to say the Eco Tour was the highlight of our trip. I felt like I got my money's worth and more taking your tour.Thanks again for everything and look forward to seeing you again on another trip to Antigua.Take CareInes & Damian

Friends nearly lost at Sea

This blog is sponsored by Caribbean Real Estate Run by Derek seen here in the company plane which is part of the story below.

What a crazy afternoon I had yesterday. The afternoon before, captain Red, who does sailing on private yachts, happened to pass my apartment just as Captain Glen from Creole Cruises pulled up. Glen needed to get one of my phones as he had lost his somehow. I keep a small stock of mobile phones for my crew as they keep destroying them, and Glen came by in need. Anyway we got to talking and Red mentioned that he may about to be hired by Kokomo catamaran to be the skipper of their new boat which had just been launched in St. Vincent. Anyway, he mentioned to Glen and me that apart from the monstrous delays in building the boat there was now a delay in bringing the boat back. He said the boat had been launched on Saturday and was supposed to come straight to Antigua. That was Tuesday evening and there had been no sign of the boat. He also told us that Festus Isaac, the manager of Jolly Harbour Marina, was the one bringing the boat back with a small crew. It’s usually a pretty easy sail usually reaching across below the islands. The longest you would have to be in the open sea is about 50 miles on the last leg from Guadeloupe. Anyway, we finished our beer and said goodnight. Yesterday I had business to do in town and just got back into Jolly Harbour when I got a call from Derek, the owner of Caribbean Real Estate which is the company that sponsored our fishing Team as well as this blog. They own a small plane and employ Bruce who happens to be Festus Isaac’s son. Derek told me that nobody had seen or heard from Festus since he left St. Vincent on Saturday afternoon. Derek who was in Miami heard about this from his pilot Bruce and gave him permission to use the plane to go look for his father. Derek wanted me to go since I knew about boats and the passages. What he didn’t know was that I had been involved with another search for a missing friend who was on the same route many years before. I immediately hoped we would have better results. On our last search we spent two days in a plane scanning the ocean looking for Inigo Ross and his lovely girlfriend. They had left St.Vincent on a hobie cat bound for St Lucia and had equipment failure. The St. Vincent Coast guard dropped the ball and didn’t notify the St. Lucia Coast guard. We only heard about it in Antigua after they had been drifting over night. Even though we had a good idea of where and when they started drifting we never found a thing. Looking at the rough sea below was extremely stressful and depressing. We tried various heights and search patterns and saw some bits and pieces of unrelated flotsam, a few families of dolphins and even schools of flying fish, but in the end we returned home without success. IT was awful and losing Inigo Ross who was the co-founder of Wadadli Cats was a huge blow to me and the island. He was a hero to many.
This time I was very worried once again because we had no idea when they ran into trouble and even worse we had no idea where to start looking. Even the computer searching models that ABSAR had couldn’t really help us. I grabbed Jordan from JHR Caribbean who speaks French in case we needed to speak with any authorities in the French Islands and took off to the airport. Festus’ son Bruce is actually the co-pilot as Martin is the main man behind the helm. I had grabbed a hand held VHF radio from Jolly Harbour Marina. All the employees there were in shock. Everyone loves Festus and we were all very worried. The first people to be concerned about the late arrival were actually Festus’ family. The owner and manager of Kokomo didn’t seem or appear to think that anything was wrong. Bruce was quite frustrated over the phone as you would imagine. I made about 20 phone calls trying to get as much info before we got into the plane. The boat had never had proper sea trials. They didn’t have a life raft. They didn’t have a dinghy. They didn’t have life jackets. They didn’t have an EPIRB which I spoke about on my big crossing blog. They didn’t have a satellite phone. They guys on board didn’t have visas to enter the French islands in between (Martinique and Guadeloupe). They didn’t have roaming on their cellular phones. The picture wasn’t looking pretty at all, but I told Bruce that the last two facts could be very positive reasons why we hadn’t heard from them. If they had run into a little trouble and ducked into one of the islands where they couldn’t use their mobiles and couldn’t clear customs and immigration, then maybe they just couldn’t get in touch. I told him that they were probably just off shore limping back into Antiguan waters as we spoke. I was hoping this would be true. The fuel was finally topped up and we boarded the aircraft. We didn’t get proper clearance so the plan was actually to return to Antigua that night whatever the result. If we had to look more we would leave Antigua early the next morning. While they were doing their last checks and speaking with the tower I sent a text to my crew, family and girlfriend to say that I would be returning later that night. I was waiting for the last of the texts to be delivered when a call from the Manager of Kokomo. As I answered it, Bruce was instructed to tell me to turn off my phone. Interference was coming through on their headphones as they were speaking with the tower. It didn’t matter……..Her words were clear to me: “They have been found!”
I grabbed Bruce as he turned to tell me off and have him the good news. It’s a good thing I had been a little naughty with my phone otherwise we would have been out there searching in the Caribbean Sea until dark seeing nothing but haze and unforgiving waters.

Up until now, I don’t have the story but obviously something went very wrong for them to end up in Saba over four days after they left port. I am so happy that this story had a happy ending. I don’t need to say what lessons should have been learned here as it’s pretty obvious from the facts above. This was a near disaster and I think there needs to be a day when all boats going off-shore are required to carry EPIRBS. I don’t leave home without mine.