21 February 2012 Davis Bay to Dickenson Bay, Antigua
We decided to go to Dickenson Bay, so that Andy, Jake and Tyler can pay to do a scuba dive tomorrow. On the way, we poked our noses into Jumby Bay which is the main beach for the massive resort on Long Island. It’s a nice looking beach, but the bay is very shallow and we’d have to anchor a long way from the shore – we turned around and left.
The wind was light and behind us, so we had a very nice gentle sail to Dickenson Bay. We anchored at the northern end of the beach in three metres depth. The beach is lovely, but has two massive hotel resorts, so it’s packed with tourists and large numbers of locals touting jet skis, pedallos, tshirts, hobie cats, etc. It’s chaos on the water as well, with people zooming by on hobie cats and jet skis. We were an obvious turning point for the jet skis, which we had to endure all afternoon. Andy tried to book a two tank dive, but the instructor said that the diving that they do is beginner stuff and that Andy and Jake would be bored. He said they would be better off with a dive centre in Jolly Harbour.
As the sun went down, the tourists disappeared inside their holiday complexes. So we went ashore and strolled along the now empty beach to a small bar run by some locals where we had a few beers before going to a small restaurant specialising in Mexican food – very good and very filling.
22 February 2012 Dickenson Bay to Jolly Harbour, Antigua
We escaped just before the jet skis started to whizz by and sailed downwind to Deep Bay. Unfortunately, all of the tourist catamarans from the big hotels seemed to have picked today to visit Deep Bay, so it was chaotic with boats coming past booming out reggae music, with rum-punch sodden people dancing on deck. We tried to keep out of the way.
Andy and I went snorkelling on the wreck which was a little clearer today. I spotted a couple more lionfish and we spent a happy ten minutes photographing them. My technique is improving - I’m still getting some backscatter from the strobe light, but that’s to be expected in these murky waters.
Later in the afternoon, we sailed down to Jolly Harbour and anchored outside the lagoon. Andy rang the dive centre and they said that they had no advanced dives planned, so Andy has given up on the diving which is a shame. We ate on board and had a heavy session - polishing off at least four litres of red wine.
23 February 2012 Jolly Harbour, Antigua
Everyone was a little dull this morning, so we had a late start. We went inside the marina harbour, picked up a mooring and then caught a bus into St John’s. We split up and spent a couple of hours walking around town.
I tried to find the Fisheries Agency to report the sightings of the Lionfish on Cades Reef and in Deep Bay. The tourist information people were hopeless and didn’t know where the Fisheries office would be. They had no idea what I was talking about. In most of the other islands there are notices with a picture of a Lionfish, telling you how to report a sighting, but this doesn’t seem to have been implemented here in Antigua. I wandered down to the customs office and they seemed a bit more switched on and rang the Fisheries Agency for me. The guy I spoke to didn’t seem too interested, but at least I’ve now got an email address to send details of the sightings.
We met up for lunch at a local restaurant, away from the cruise ship area and had a pleasant lunch before wandering slowly back to the bus station. Back at Jolly Harbour, I dropped Andy and family off at the beach, while Glenys went to the supermarket. Glenys and I then spent a couple of hours chilling out on the boat and running the water maker.
Just as we were getting ready to meet Andy at the beach bar, I started to walk down the steps into the saloon, when the opening window on our windshield suddenly shattered with a loud bang, spraying small pieces of toughened glass everywhere. There was glass on the front deck, glass in the cockpit, glass in the galley and glass all over the carpet in the saloon – nightmare. I took the remains of the window out and laid it on the front deck, while Glenys started the laborious process of sweeping up the broken glass. I have no idea why the window suddenly shattered, it must have been getting stressed with heat of the sun and perhaps a small flaw started a crack.
I left Glenys cleaning up the mess while I went to pick Andy and family up from the beach. Glenys gave me instructions to stay away for an hour, so by the time we got back, she’d vacuumed the carpet and we had a semblance of order restored. No doubt we’ll be picking bits of glass up for months. I fixed a bin liner over the window opening with duct tape as a temporary measure until I can sort it all out tomorrow.
24 February 2012 Jolly Harbour, Antigua
I made a paper template of the shape of the broken window and set out with Andy to try to find a replacement. I decided that it will be better to make the window from UV resistant Perspex rather than toughened glass - it will probably become crazed over time, but will not shatter. It would have been a total disaster if the window had burst while we were at sea.
We tried to get some ¼” Perspex at a local sign maker, but they didn’t have anything suitable, so I was forced to buy a 2 foot by 4 foot sheet from Budget Marine which cost £150. It’s so frustrating to pay so much for something that would cost a quarter of the price in the UK. I had a woodworking shop cut the sheet to the correct size and shape for me.
After lunch, we dropped Andy and family off at the beach while I started the repair of the window by sticking the Perspex onto the hinge with 5200 marine adhesive.
Our guests go home tomorrow, so we went to a beach restaurant, where we consumed copious amounts of beer and 31 rum punches between us. It was a karaoke night, so there was lots of dodgy singing and rum-induced dancing on the bar. Somehow we managed to survive the trip home in the dinghy.
25 February 2012 Jolly Harbour, Antigua
We had a very subdued start to the morning, with everyone nursing hangovers. Andy and Gill packed their bags while Glenys and I sat with a book in the cockpit trying to keep out of the way.
We went for lunch in the marina and then saw them into a taxi bound for the airport and home. Glenys and I went back to the boat, motored out to the anchorage and collapsed. It’s been great to have them here, but even though they’re our close family, it’s very tiring looking after four guests confined on a small 42 foot boat. I could never be a charter skipper – I can’t imagine anything worse than doing this with compete strangers and then having the next guests arrive the next day.
Unfortunately, it was very windy in the afternoon and the only place that we could anchor is ¼ mile from the shore in 3 metres depth, so it was a little wild and exposed. To make matters worse, we had a bit of difficulty getting the anchor to hold in the gusty winds, so I was unable to relax for a couple of hours until the wind calmed down in the evening.
We had left-over chilli and rice for dinner and went to bed early.
26 February 2012 Jolly Harbour to Deep Bay, Antigua
We didn’t manage to drag ourselves out of bed until nine o’clock. The weather forecast for the next three or four days is for big swell and 25 to 30 knot winds, so we’re going to hang around Antigua for a few more days before going off to Nevis.
This isn’t a pleasant anchorage in strong winds, so we decided to go around to Deep Bay, which is more sheltered. Glenys zipped into the marina to drop off our laundry and buy some food while I finished off the window.
I spent ages trying to work out where to drill the three holes for the window supports and locking catches. I drilled the holes and then, when I fitted the whole thing together, discovered that the holes were in the wrong place – the locking catches only just lock in place. I’ll have to now make three aluminium plates to make it work better – bummer…
We sailed around to Deep Bay. Unfortunately, we left just as a squall approached. I thought that it would pass us by, but it didn't... Just as we were approaching a reef outside Five Island Bay, we were hit by over 30 knots of wind. The autopilot couldn't cope with the weather helm and we rounded up, heading directly for the reef, so I had to stand in the lashing rain and steer us through the squall – nice.
It was a relief to arrive in Deep Bay, which is my favourite anchorage in Antigua - the holding is good, the bay is protected and it’s very pretty.
27 February 2012 Deep Bay, Antigua
It was very blustery last night, but we both slept like logs. The wind picked up in the morning and we had some nasty squalls coming through – one gave us 38 knots of wind. I’m glad that it’s a good anchorage.
I did some administration in the morning, revising my "To Do List" and created a preventative maintenance list of jobs that should be done regularly. Unfortunately, this increased the number of jobs on my current list. Glenys pottered around all day, cleaning up now that Andy and family have gone.
I did a few small jobs in the afternoon and we had another early night.
28 February 2012 Deep Bay to Jolly Harbour, Antigua
It was another blustery night with very strong winds in the morning.
Glenys received a text message from her brother, Gareth, saying that her Mum, Ceris, has had a stroke and has been rushed into hospital. We had a traumatic half an hour trying to get in touch with Gareth. He rang us on Glenys’s mobile which has a UK SIM card and it gobbled up all of her £8 pay-as-you-go credit in two minutes because we’re roaming in Antigua. We then couldn’t get in touch again because we couldn’t top up Glenys’s phone because we didn’t have an Internet connection. Catch 22…
We sailed back to Jolly Harbour where we would be able to get an internet connection and be able to communicate again. It was a bouncy ride for an hour in the 30 knot gusts, but we picked up a mooring in the harbour before lunch. We had a few texts from Gareth saying that Ceris is stable, which allowed us to relax a bit.
I couldn’t concentrate on any jobs, so I spent the rest of the afternoon reading and updating our website.
29 February 2012 Jolly Harbour, Antigua
When we got up this morning, there was an email from Gareth saying that Ceris has been moved into the local Lymington hospital and is stable. She was completely paralysed yesterday, but is now getting back the use of her right side; she’s still on a drip but seems to be getting a bit better. Glenys is so relieved.
We spent most of the day getting ready to sail to Nevis tomorrow. Our first mission was to get fuel. Back in the UK, I used to hate going to a garage because it would add five or ten minutes onto my car journey, but getting fuel for a yacht is much, much worse than that. We put the fenders and mooring ropes in position, started the engine and then I noticed a catamaran drop another mooring close to us. They had all their fenders in place, so I shouted over to them and they confirmed that they were going to get fuel. Bummer! There's only space for one boat on the fuel dock so we waited.
Forty frustrating minutes later, they came back past us and shouted that the dock was clear. We dropped our mooring and hurried towards the fuel dock, but then saw another yacht shoot out of the marina and start their approach to the fuel dock. Double bummer!! They must have been watching and waiting. We had to spend fifteen minutes hovering around the fuel dock waiting for a space. It then took a further twenty minutes to moor, fill, pay and get back to the mooring. Goodbye to a couple of hours of my life – thank goodness that we only have to do this every two months.
I went to clear out of Antigua, which was relatively quick – go to the Port Authority and fill in a form; Go to Customs and fill in a form; Go to Immigration, wait ten minutes for someone else to be cleared in and then wait another ten minutes while they have an old fridge removed and a new fridge put in position, then fill in a form, lots of rubber stamping; Go to Customs with both forms, lots of rubber stamping; Take a copy of a form back to Immigration, receive clearance document – breathe a sigh of relief.
After lunch, we went to the supermarket and bought enough food to last a week. Then we took the outboard off the dinghy, pulled the dinghy up on the davits, prepared the fishing lures, tidied up the boat, ensured that nothing is going to crash around, checked the engine and collapsed with a cold beer.
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