April 1995 - Nevis to Antigua - Page 3

21 April 1995 English Harbour
School work in the morning. I picked up the outboard - $80 US for labour. He put the old impellor back in and shimmed up a metal sleeve in the pump body. I’ll have to buy spares just in case! Filled 4 tanks. I seemed to spend all day running about or cleaning up the boat.

“Dabulamanzi” arrived back today, but I could only wave to Glenys as she sailed past. They are staying in Falmouth tonight, but the guests leave tomorrow so I guess they’ll come back to English Harbour. The boys had another fun packed afternoon with their friends. We had chicken curry with pineapple for dinner – I overcooked the chicken and it went to mush, but the boys loved it! A boat called “Hulie” has dragged a bit (with no-one on board), so I had to get up a few times during the night to check on them.

22 April 1995 English Harbour
School work in the morning. We walked around to Falmouth to meet Glenys and Gareth. We had a few beers at G & T’s and went to “Dabulamanzi” for lunch. Glenys came back to “Glencora” and we had a quiet evening.

23 April 1995 English Harbour
Brett and Craig went up to the Interpretation Centre with “Coquette”. Glenys and I went out to do a dive with Darah and Brian from “Blue Monsoon”. Unfortunately, Glenys’ pressure gauge started to leak so she had to abort her dive. I carried on with Darah and Brian and then went and did another dive with Glenys with a different regulator. I filled 3 tanks. We just mooched about in the afternoon and then Gareth came for dinner.

24 April 1995 English Harbour
I’m paranoid that someone will nick “my” mooring if we move, so we dropped the mooring at quarter past seven, filled up with water, and we were back on the mooring at quarter past eight - before most of our neighbours had woken up!

We went over to “Hulie” to talk to Keith and Tina to tell them that they dragged a couple of days ago. School work in the morning – Glenys went over to “Dabulamanzi” to start preparing for tomorrow’s charter. We went to “Blue Monsoon” for a beer, stayed until ten o’clock at night and ended up having beans on toast for dinner!

25 April 1995 English Harbour
Glenys was up and rushing about at seven o’clock in the morning. The boys stayed in bed until half past eight, so we had a late start to their school work. I had to have a break at about half past ten so that I could go over to immigration to check our papers. We originally said that we would be here until 1st May, so that’s when our visas expire. I told them that we would probably be here until the 10th May and they said no problem.

Glenys came over with some vegetables and asked me to make the vinegar mixture for ceviche fish because it would make “Dabulamanzi” smell – bloody cheek!

I finally finished school work at two o’clock. The boys went to the beach while I ran about doing errands and tidying up. We went to see Richard and Sue to have chilli and watch a couple of Race Week videos. I filled 2 tanks.

26 April 1995 English Harbour
The boys went off at half past nine with “Coquette” to a beach by Falmouth Harbour to watch a classic yacht race. I was a lazy sod and sat in the cockpit and read a book. In the afternoon I tidied up and made dinner.

I had a beer and a glass of Chardonnay - I ended up polishing off a whole bottle... I’m getting worried about the amount of alcohol that Glenys and I drink. We always have the equivalent of a beer and half a bottle of wine each. Some nights we have more. I wake up every morning feeling dull or with a hangover – it’s ridiculous but very hard to stop. The first beer in the evening is divine and starts the slow slide into alcoholic oblivion. One of the main problems is that I can’t find a non-alcoholic drink that I like – coke is too sickly and water is boring. I don’t seem capable of restraint after I’ve had a beer – so I’ll just have to use all my willpower and give up completely.

27 April 1995 English Harbour
What a terrible night. A 50ft French boat hit us twice during the night. He didn’t do any damage apart from a few scratches, but it ruined my night’s sleep! Every slight noise or gust of wind would wake me up and I just had to look out of the windows. It’s a pretty anchorage, but hell on my karma! The French boat went at eight o’clock this morning, but left a nice tempting gap for another charter boat to fill.

We did school work in the morning and then I ran a few errands. By the time I’d tidied up it was four o’clock, so I sat down and had my piano practice – I’ve bitten my bottom lip and can’t play the clarinet. I managed to get hold of five Mountgay Hat tickets for the party tomorrow night – they won’t give the hats out to children, so I’m going to have difficulty getting them all. I just HAD to have a couple of beers in the evening with my bangers and mash.

28 April 1995 English Harbour
I was dragged out of bed at half past eight in the morning by Richard Matthews (MD of Oyster Yachts.) He knocked on the hull and I appeared in my underpants. He invited me to the Oyster Owners Party on Wednesday evening. I looked confused about who he was, so he took a second look at “Glencora” and said “This is an Oyster isn’t it?” - obviously used to Oyster owners doting on him. I thanked him and accepted the tickets - anything for a free beer! I’m sure that we are the scruffiest Oyster that he’s seen for a while – we’re in full anchorage mode with lumps of wood, windsurfers, towels, etc scattered everywhere and food stains down the side of the hull!

We did school work which took until one o’clock. In the afternoon, I went to the shops, played the clarinet and then went to the Mountgay Party. About 5 minutes after the official start of the party, there were about 200 people queuing for the famous Mountgay hats! The lady handing out the hats was very nice and gave one to Brett and Craig. After making two more trips around the queue, I had 5 hats so I can give one to Gareth. The party was good fun with free rum drinks until half past six. After that drinks were $5 for a beer, etc. The boys and I retired at half past seven, leaving the rest to party into the small hours.

29 April 1995 English Harbour
School work in the morning. It took us until two o’clock to finish Brett off. I’m afraid that I lost my temper and shouted at him. I try very hard to ask him nicely to do things but after 3 or 4 attempts I suddenly go ballistic. I’ve shouted at him quite a few times over the last 2 weeks and it always comes as a bit of a shock to him. He doesn’t realise that each time I ask him I get a bit madder. Perhaps I should start to show my annoyance earlier and give him a lead up to the detonation!

By the time I’d got to the shops and tidied up it was four o’clock – nearly time for a beer! We had pizza for dinner.

30 April 1995 English Harbour
Today was the first race of Antigua Week, so we went for a walk with “Namaste” to the top of a hill to get a good view of the start line. We had a fantastic spot about 800 metres upwind of the start line. Most of the yachts started on starboard tack which took them towards the rocks directly below us, so we had a great view of tacking battles. It was a long way there and back but well worth the walk. The boys had fun collecting berries from the Turk’s Head cactus which are a bit tart, but OK to eat.

After lunch a guy I’d never met, Keith of “Tsimbe” brought us a nice small 3lb tuna which he had “spare”. It was very nice of him and so it’s spaghetti with tuna sauce tonight! The boys went out to the beach and I lounged about with a book. I don’t seem to be able to motivate myself to do any jobs other than the domestic chores – it’s hard being a father and a housewife! We managed 18 lessons in April – we’re now only 12 behind target.