The Birthday is over, and I find myself grateful in many ways. It was a really nice day, starting with the champagne breakfast, lovely omelette, backgammon, etc. I got lots of emails and calls, and felt feted. Excellent service all day from the Capt. The only complete washout was the trip to the beach in the afternoon to play washers. There's no tide to speak of, and there's no wide strip of hard sand, so when you pitch your washers into the coffee can (approximating the logistics of the Real Game Played in Port Maitland), they bloody disappear in the soft sand, and you have to get a metal detector to score your round. So no go for washers in Antigua, at least not at Pigeon Beach.
My dad called from Port Maitland in the morning and played happy birthday on the piano, and when I told him we were going to play washers on the beach in the afternoon, he said "That's a terrible thing to say to a man who's up to his knees in snow."
Followed up the minor beach disappointment with a swim, then back to the boat to ablute and dress up for dinner at Trappas. Just as the wine bottle was arriving at the table, the neighbourhood was plunged into darkness. I fished our MEC all-round dinghy flashlight out of my bag so the waitress could uncork the wine. At a table nearby, a family with three very young kids was dealing with "waaaaa" at the sudden darkness. The chef went out back and started the generator, and the lights came on to cheers, and we all enjoyed our first courses to the sound of the roar of the generator. Half-hour later, someone hollered, "lights are back" and the chef went out and turned off the generator. First his wife went over to the table with the little people, with a flashlight, and said, "It's going to be dark again for a minute!" They were charmed by her prescience, and there were no wails when the lights went out again briefly when they switched from the generator to "real" power.
Lovely meal. I had cajun mahi-mahi. Sure sign that the mantle of maturity has landed if Sue's having fish.
We're getting ready to leave Antigua. We've spent so much time in Falmouth Harbour over the last year, and it's always nice to arrive, and good to get moving again and leave. There's liveaboard family on a pretty boat, and we can hear their two little boys chattering in the early mornings. One morning they were calling to the dolpins (porpoises) swimming by, and another morning we heard one of them calling to his mother "He got pee on the deck!!"
One of our fondest hopes before we left was to find a reasonable second-hand inflatible to replace Old Soggy, and we decided to get a 9.5 hardbottomed AB that had seen better days, but maybe would keep us dryer. It had been slightly refurbished, but after two days, we took it back. It held air, but wouldn't keep the water out. In fact, it was storing quite a bit of sea water in the hard bottom. So our old Achilles is back dangling from the starboard rail. Sigh. Maybe we'll find something in Martinique. First, a visit to Guadeloupe - we've never stopped in Pointe a Pitre, so we'll go there - and back to the Saintes for a revisit, then on to Dominica.
My dad called from Port Maitland in the morning and played happy birthday on the piano, and when I told him we were going to play washers on the beach in the afternoon, he said "That's a terrible thing to say to a man who's up to his knees in snow."
Followed up the minor beach disappointment with a swim, then back to the boat to ablute and dress up for dinner at Trappas. Just as the wine bottle was arriving at the table, the neighbourhood was plunged into darkness. I fished our MEC all-round dinghy flashlight out of my bag so the waitress could uncork the wine. At a table nearby, a family with three very young kids was dealing with "waaaaa" at the sudden darkness. The chef went out back and started the generator, and the lights came on to cheers, and we all enjoyed our first courses to the sound of the roar of the generator. Half-hour later, someone hollered, "lights are back" and the chef went out and turned off the generator. First his wife went over to the table with the little people, with a flashlight, and said, "It's going to be dark again for a minute!" They were charmed by her prescience, and there were no wails when the lights went out again briefly when they switched from the generator to "real" power.
Lovely meal. I had cajun mahi-mahi. Sure sign that the mantle of maturity has landed if Sue's having fish.
We're getting ready to leave Antigua. We've spent so much time in Falmouth Harbour over the last year, and it's always nice to arrive, and good to get moving again and leave. There's liveaboard family on a pretty boat, and we can hear their two little boys chattering in the early mornings. One morning they were calling to the dolpins (porpoises) swimming by, and another morning we heard one of them calling to his mother "He got pee on the deck!!"
One of our fondest hopes before we left was to find a reasonable second-hand inflatible to replace Old Soggy, and we decided to get a 9.5 hardbottomed AB that had seen better days, but maybe would keep us dryer. It had been slightly refurbished, but after two days, we took it back. It held air, but wouldn't keep the water out. In fact, it was storing quite a bit of sea water in the hard bottom. So our old Achilles is back dangling from the starboard rail. Sigh. Maybe we'll find something in Martinique. First, a visit to Guadeloupe - we've never stopped in Pointe a Pitre, so we'll go there - and back to the Saintes for a revisit, then on to Dominica.
posted by Susan at 3:04 PM
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