In the winter months many yachts head down to the Caribbean for the season. Most of our time was spent around the Leeward Islands, especially St Maarten and St Barths. Below are some photos from the places we visited.

Bahamas – Winter 2003/4

In the Bahamas we tied up at the Atlantis Marina on the Island of New Providence. Atlantis is a huge custom built resort with casinos, restaurants, beaches and a huge aquarium. The glass sculptures like the one below are in the main casino.

After Atlantis we headed off to Grand Bahama and the Bradfords Bahama shipyard to get pulled out of the water.

Whilst out of the water we had one of the props replaced and did a few bits and pieces that can only be done on 'the hard'. 

Things like repaint the markings on the anchor chains and clean the intakes for the main engines, generators and the air conditioning systems.

Whilst in the Grand Bahama Vix and I managed to go diving and see a bit of the island.

Antigua Charter show 2003

At the beginning of December we attended the Antigua Charter Show, where brokers and industry people came to look at the boat. It was a great chance to catch up with some friends and make a few new ones.

Antigua is a great place with some wonderful sheltered bays and a lot of history. Click here to see some more information from the official Antigua / Barbuda website.

As usual one of the best parties was at Shirley Heights on the Sunday of the show.

Christmas – 2003

After Antigua we moved back to St Maarten where we spent Christmas and prepared the boat for the season. St Maarten is an island that is split in two. One half is French and the other Dutch.

It was nice to have Christmas without guests on board. Normally Christmas is one of the busiest charter periods, but this year we were picking up the charter guests on Boxing Day.

        

St Barths – New Years 2004

New Years was spent in St Barthelemy anchored off with guests on board. St Barths is a beautiful if expensive island in the French West Indies.

We did manage to fit a few nights out into our busy schedule, though the prices are pretty steep.

St Maarten – Winter 2003/4

We were based out of St Maarten for most of the winter season. There have been three large marinas built in St Maarten over the last few years and many large yachts base themselves there for the winter. Because of this there are always lots of yacht crew around and it is a great place to catch up with old friends.