LIVING THAT DREAM!

We arrived back in Antigua in fine form, having had a very successful trip home. We accomplished lots and, as well as family, we also saw some friends this time around.  Not to mention a glorious weekend with the lovely George in Leeds.

The boat looked fabulous when we saw her with her shiny topsides and newly painted bottom. They did a fabulous job at the Cat Club and we were thrilled. A quick provision, which included a tin of ant spray to attack the new and very unwelcome inhabitants of the boat, and we slipped our berth, keen to be out in the bay.

All Clean & Shiny

We spent our first night onboard in Falmouth Harbour and I duly set about trying to kill ants. The sight of this mad woman with a black & white spotted shirt tied around her very red and perspiring head with venom in her eyes should really have been enough to frighten them to death! The boat smelt like an Indian corner shop from the East End of London and I was hopeful that the job was done… It is not and the battle continues, they don’t seem to like being at sea and disappear until we anchor and the boat is still, perhaps they get seasick!

The next day we went around to Nonsuch Bay, which is truly special. We picked up a mooring off Green Island and snorkeled around the reef, to be honest the water was very murky and there wasn’t a lot to see but it was good exercise and we need to get more of that when onboard or we will end up looking like the Telly tubbies, or a least I will if I don’t already! I have noticed that several bottles of wine seem to have attached themselves around my middle and do not seem to want to be put in the recycling bin…

We left the next morning for Barbuda via the Spithead Channel, which was our first experience of a Pass through a reef. I stood on the bow giving Andrew directions with my heart in my mouth; it is not something you would want to do with any sea running or in the dark. We had a cracking sail across to Barbuda really happy to be out at sea again, the flying fish with whom I had got rather fed up with on our Atlantic crossing seemed like old friends. We put out the rod and Florence the Dorado was kind enough to hop onboard, even if she was half an hour late for lunch. I was quite proud of my gaffing this time the fish looked quite calm – definitely time for me to land the next one. Florence being a little too large for two ended up in the freezer, which is a whole new achievement freezing fish that you have caught.

We had to pick our way through the Coral heads to get to the Anchorage, a beautiful long sandy beach and not a lot else. We set about our new regime of swimming madly around the boat and were quite exhausted with our efforts. Fish supper and an early night. Probably done Barbuda but I am very happy to have seen it.

Barts Cup

The next morning we set sail for St. Barts, keen to see the Super Yachts who were there for the Barts Bucket. A very rolly night outside the Harbour in the Red light district was worth it for the spectacular sight the next morning of these enormous boats racing each other, a downwind start so lots of kites. As they all have such huge masts they have a red anchor light at night to warn any planes that might be coming in to land, unlike the rest of us with our plain white ones, hence my new nick name for the more affluent areas of the Caribbean.

Having found a French supermarket in Gustavia, amid all the Prada, and properly stocked up we spent the next night in a lovely bay south of the island before setting sail the next day for St. Martin. Our objective was to buy a paddleboard in this duty free island, all part of our keep fit plan. Another uncomfortable night and of we set firmly determined to purchase said item, we are now the proud owners of a blow up kayak…. Her name is yet to be decided by my mother who names all our vessels. Hullabaloo was her idea all those years ago, it means chaos and confusion, she thought it was fitting for our exploits around the cans and she was right!

That evening we decided to try out our new purchase, proudly we set of and happily acknowledged all the people smiling at us from their boats thinking how marvelous we must look. Eventually some kind sole pointed out to us that the boat was a little flat and we were sagging in the middle, happily we made it back before we got too wet!

Elvis 's Bar

Then onto Anguilla, somewhere we had never been before and which is definitely worth a visit. After the mountains of St. Martin it is very flat, Google tells me that is because St. Martin evolved from volcanic eruptions and Anguilla from reefs. The locals are very friendly, we had a fabulous meal in Barrel Stay   and Elvis’s bar is not to be missed!

Sadly we have had our first accident, a mooring buoy we were attached to broke lose in the night, we were woken by the sound of our boat crashing into rock, which was very scary and got us both out of bed very quickly! We were unbelievably lucky in that we have only damaged the gel coat on the port side in four relatively small places and we didn’t hit a reef, which could have totaled our baby. It is very sad after all the work we had done on her, she is now rather like the phantom of the Opera but at least it is only cosmetic. We were both very shaken and definitely stirred!

So now we are sitting in the British Virgin Islands awaiting the arrival of Michael, Catherine, Tom & Polly, happy to be at the end of our own ground tackle and looking forward to having them all onboard!