I was trying to come up with an April Fool's story about selling the boat and going skiing, but nobody would believe it for a minute. We reminisced for a bit about the time many years ago that Ian and Tom got up early and attached the end of the toilet paper roll to the bathroom doorknob, and then waited, wildly snickering, for Randy to open the door and the paper to unroll all over the floor. They hadn't noted that the door opened in, and the effect was rather spoiled. There was also a sprinkling of salt in the sugar bowl that had them vibrating with glee as we sipped our coffee. Unfortunately, we didn't notice. Sorry about that lads.
Bit like a rainy weekend at the cottage just now. Lots of squalls coming through, lots of wind, but we're snug in Falmouth Harbour, enjoying the sound of water trickling from our rain catcher into our water tanks.
For the first time last week, we actually ran out of water. The pump just kept pumping and nothing was happening, so we cut short our trip to the north end of Antigua and headed back to Jolly Harbour to fill up. Too many shampoos apparently. Too much dishwashing, more like it.
In an effort to move the boat and see someplace new, we decided that we really did need to explore the northern end of the island for a bit. The sail up the coast was lovely, but as we rounded the corner and headed more easterly, we were, as usual, dead to windward. Randy noted that it would be a sleighride coming back, and that was true. Fast trip back under the jenny with 25 knots of wind.
The anchorage off the Jumby Bay resort (Long Island) was gorgeous, as promised. Turquoise water that reminded us of the banks off the Turks and Caicos. The water wasn't clear, but it glowed. Great swims.
We'd hoped to stop at Maiden Island, which the guidebook said was a shell-collector's dream, but as we made our way into the anchorage, we could see that there was construction going on ashore, and a sign on the beach that said Private Property, No Tresspassing. And I'd been so SET for beach walking... So we continued on to Bird Island and had a great walk through the jungley interior and a stroll across the cliffs at the top, then we bought a beer on the beach from a lady from Seatons. Her husband brings her and her stock of drinks and tshirts over by boat every morning and fetches her back the three miles every night. During the day, there are tour boats full of tourists who come to snorkel and strew the place with garbage, but there's local fellas who come and clean up. She says "it's a great place to work."
We spent a couple of days back in Jolly Harbour out in the outer anchorage and dinghied over to the little beaches and wandered around picking up shells for a few hours. That's got to be one of my all-time favourite pastimes (shopping at Frenchy's is right up there too). See photo of our day's haul. I found a beautiful helmet shell as big as a small fist tossed up at the back of the windward beach near English Harbour. A victim of the big swells we saw a couple of weeks ago.
Looking forward with great excitement to the arrival of guests at the end of the week. Our neighbours and great friends from Halifax, Gail and Charlie and Alice and Michael, are arriving for two weeks. No, they're not staying aboard. But we're cleaning and tidying and stocking up so that they don't go home and tell people that we're deteriorating into grotty tropical flotsam.
See below for recent photos. Janet, fortify yourself before viewing.
Bit like a rainy weekend at the cottage just now. Lots of squalls coming through, lots of wind, but we're snug in Falmouth Harbour, enjoying the sound of water trickling from our rain catcher into our water tanks.
For the first time last week, we actually ran out of water. The pump just kept pumping and nothing was happening, so we cut short our trip to the north end of Antigua and headed back to Jolly Harbour to fill up. Too many shampoos apparently. Too much dishwashing, more like it.
In an effort to move the boat and see someplace new, we decided that we really did need to explore the northern end of the island for a bit. The sail up the coast was lovely, but as we rounded the corner and headed more easterly, we were, as usual, dead to windward. Randy noted that it would be a sleighride coming back, and that was true. Fast trip back under the jenny with 25 knots of wind.
The anchorage off the Jumby Bay resort (Long Island) was gorgeous, as promised. Turquoise water that reminded us of the banks off the Turks and Caicos. The water wasn't clear, but it glowed. Great swims.
We'd hoped to stop at Maiden Island, which the guidebook said was a shell-collector's dream, but as we made our way into the anchorage, we could see that there was construction going on ashore, and a sign on the beach that said Private Property, No Tresspassing. And I'd been so SET for beach walking... So we continued on to Bird Island and had a great walk through the jungley interior and a stroll across the cliffs at the top, then we bought a beer on the beach from a lady from Seatons. Her husband brings her and her stock of drinks and tshirts over by boat every morning and fetches her back the three miles every night. During the day, there are tour boats full of tourists who come to snorkel and strew the place with garbage, but there's local fellas who come and clean up. She says "it's a great place to work."
We spent a couple of days back in Jolly Harbour out in the outer anchorage and dinghied over to the little beaches and wandered around picking up shells for a few hours. That's got to be one of my all-time favourite pastimes (shopping at Frenchy's is right up there too). See photo of our day's haul. I found a beautiful helmet shell as big as a small fist tossed up at the back of the windward beach near English Harbour. A victim of the big swells we saw a couple of weeks ago.
Looking forward with great excitement to the arrival of guests at the end of the week. Our neighbours and great friends from Halifax, Gail and Charlie and Alice and Michael, are arriving for two weeks. No, they're not staying aboard. But we're cleaning and tidying and stocking up so that they don't go home and tell people that we're deteriorating into grotty tropical flotsam.
See below for recent photos. Janet, fortify yourself before viewing.
posted by Susan at 3:42 PM
0 Comments:
Post a Comment
<< Home