Last Monday night we sailed 120 miles into a 15-20 knot wind and arrived at Antigua around lunchtime the following day. With a bit of luck this should be our last windward trip to the east for the moment. From now on we will mostly do day hops traveling south down the island chain to Trinidad.
Some of the OCC gang and views inside Nelson's Dockyard
NO MORE FOOD - PLEASE
So far in Antigua we have spent most of our time anchored in Falmouth Harbour or English Harbour in very calm conditions. We have been in company of a dozen OCC (Ocean Cruising Club) members and have enjoyed a very social time. We went out for dinner four consecutive nights, firstly to "Hot Hot Hot" an outdoor restaurant by the waterside in English Harbour and twice to Trapas which is indoor and very popular. In other words you have to shout to be heard. In between these nights eight of us had a progressive dinner on the boats. On each occasion the food was lovely and we had a great time but by the end of it my poor stomach was begging for mercy and a small plain meal.
NO MORE EXERCISE - PLEASE
To offset the eating Andrew and I went exploring each day. We went to Nelson's Dockyard in English Harbour which was established in the mid 1700 and is still a working dockyard today. We went for a two hour hike along the cliff face overlooking both Falmouth and English Harbour which gave us a terrific aerial view of the bays. English Harbour is a natural hurricane hole and its dockyard was used extensively in the late 1700 during the Napoleonic Wars for ship repairs and provisioning.
Entrance to English Harbour and on the right track this time.
Our climb up to Shirley's Heights and views from the top
A couple of days later after we had recovered from our first hike and eaten a few more dinners we decided on a steep climb for an hour to Shirley Heights Military Compound (150m above sea level) see photo. We made it but not without a few stops along the way. Our reward was a spectacular view and a clear conscience.
BACK TO SAILING
Yesterday we sailed downwind along the south coast and we are now anchored in Five Islands Bay on the western and leeward side of Antigua. It is not only peaceful here but we have a good WiFi connection from the nearby resort. We even managed a few Skype calls which were a real treat.
SO WHAT'S NEXT
We will stay around Antigua for a few weeks. There is much to see here and we have only just scratched the surface.
Love Candy xx
At 7:13 PM11/02/2014 (utc) our position was 17°55.52'N 062°52.16'W
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