As Antigua fades into the sea behind us, so British and
so proper, we must tell you of the St. James Club, one
of the most exclusive resorts in the Caribbean
according to the cruise guide. So exclusive, you
cannot even step ashore without paying $80.00 for 1/2
day. We had to visit such an exclusive place and see
for ourselves. We found out later that some had paid
$1000.00 a night to stay here.
This was a challenge we just could not let go
unchallenged.
Upon arriving, we noticed that there were no yachts
anchored. Donning our snorkle gear, the former editor
of this newsletter( what's his name) and I swam to
their pier, deposited our snorkle gear behind a box,
and walked into the restaurant(which was empty by the
way). An English chap named Phil was there and we
walked up, introduced ourselves and what we were
doing, and wanted to know if it was possible to buy a
beer without paying the $80.00. He told us that the
resort was all inclusive and that all we had to do was
walk up to the cart on the beach and just ask and we
got get it for free. And that they give guests a
little stick with a red flag to wave when they wanted
another drink.
So, we walked down the beach, asked for two rum
punches(might as well go for all the marbles). Then we
walked down the beach, found a couple of beach chairs
in the shade to sit in, found two sticks with red
flags, and just enjoyed the beach for a couple of
hours. After another free drink, we went to the
swimming pool, a 5 tier cascading pool, and went
swimming for a bit. Then back to a bar at poolside for
another drink.
The bartender asked for our room number, the ex-editor
said 50, and we were caught. While images of being
thrown back in the sea went through my head, the
bartended said we'd have to pay so we paid for these
drinks(so much for exclusivity).
Then thinking we'd better get back to the boat, we'd
found that St. James Club also grilled sandwiches for
guests on the beach. And those would be very nice for
our dinner that evening. So we went to the tent, asked
for 3 sandwiches.....and fries....and asked them to
put them in extra wrapping for us. They had to grill
the sandwiches while we were there and so they gave us
some beer to drink while we waited. They were sorry
they had no sandwiches ready. We told them that was ok
but next time please have them ready.
Wrapped and ready to go, the ex- editor swam back to
the boat(about 300 yds....or 276 meters for you
English chaps) on his back, holding the sandwiches in
the air. I swam behind guiding him. And so we ended
up with free dinner from St. James also.
I would think the swim would be rather difficult for
the ex-editor from Britain whose name I can't
remember, but I understand that he's very good at
doing things on his back. It seems he's had a lot of
practice I guess.
Our new crew member(Barry) has joined us now. He's
also British but doesn't play hearts. He's been a
friend of the captain for over 60 years. He arrived
just as we left Antigua and has good sailing
experience, but I don't think he's going to join us in
the all over tan competition.
Leaving Antigua for Nevis, we had a down wind run for
30 miles. We tried a wing and wing but the wind was
too variable. And it rained much of the way. We
finally decide to motor after 20 miles..... what a
lousy sail that was.
Nevis is fairly undeveloped. Getting in late Saturday
and we anchored on Pinney Beach(a lovely beach with
huge palm trees). Sunday afternoon, there was a beach
bar(Sunny's) that served bar-be-cue also. This bar has
been attended by some celebrities whose pictures grace
the wall including Sarah Jessica Parker, and Michael
Douglas and his wife(what's her name).
The also serve a house drink called a Killer Bee which
seems to consist of rum, punch, rum, orange juice,
rum, nutmeg, rum, bitters, and rum. After a walk on
the beach, we ate lunch there with beer and split a
Killer Bee. After two more Killer Bee's, I noticed
that the skipper and Barry had returned to the boat.
So I spent the remainder of the afternoon discussing
racism in the Caribbean with Juliet(the bartender's
girlfriend) who was from Surinam in South America,
lived in Antigua now, visited her boyfriend in Nevis on
her way to St. Martin to buy reeds for the handicraft
she sells. We actually found a cure for racism. Now if
we can only get the world to listen....lol
The rest of the day was spent recovering from the
Killer Bee's and drooling over the picture of
Katherine Zeta-Jones with her husband(what's his
name).
Monday, we travel to Satia. A sail of 30 miles on a
starboard broad reach with the winds at 15 knots.
Excellent sailing. But we hit a "hole" in the weather
where the wind just suddenly died for 20 minutes. Then
it started coming back but from the other side. So we
tacked the sails and went on a close port reach(It
moved to the other side of the boat for all you
non-nauticals). After 20 minutes of good sailing, it
died again. Then suddenly reappeared from the original
direction but at 25 knots, causing much chaos on board
as we reefed in the main and re-furled the jib to get
control of the boat. That was my first experience with
anything like that.
Satia is described as an idyllic little island which
is Dutch owned with only 2000 inhabitants in the
cruise books. It was supposed to have more restaurants
per person than any other Caribbean island and also
had ruins of the old slave trade there. We were
expecting a nice little undeveloped island.
Instead, when we anchored, there were two large
tugboats(which ran all night), 5 or 6 offshore fuel
barges, a large tanker assistance vessel, two large
supertankers either unloading or loading oil, 2 more
super tankers anchored a mile off shore waiting in
line, and a United States Coast Guard vessel on
patrol. And on land, a huge farm of those million
gallon tanks which could not be seen entirely from the
sea. Hurriedly finding the cruise guide, we found no
mention of this. I wonder why.
It seems that Shell Oil Company has an oil depot on
the island which is quite active and quite well
guarded by the US. It is also quite obvious that none
of the money going through this little island is
getting to the local people. After two hours on
land(time to check in and out of customs) we left the
next morning for St. Barts.
Dave
