After a flight delay in Miami, we were on our way to Antigua.  We rented a charming Air B. and B. to stay in while we prepared the boat for going in the water after sitting in the boatyard for eight months.  It met all of our requirements – clean, air conditioning, internet, a washer/dryer, and a kitchen. 

The boat wasn’t in that bad of shape considering that it had been sitting “on the hard” for so long.  My prep work of spraying everything down with vinegar and water worked really well and kept the mildew at bay.  Of course, the birds made a mess as the perched on our lines over these months.  But, rain had washed some of that away. 

We began the task of opening the boat up.  My first priority was to wash the boat.  Once completed, we could then start moving cushions to the outside saloon.  I also worked on cleaning some of the stainless steel that was underneath the boat, as I can’t do that while underway.  Then, I cleaned the bathrooms, unpacked everything that I had bagged up (and kept out of the humid air), and provisioned the boat for sailing 10 days.  Our oldest daughter, Kirsten, is planning to join us for Christmas this year. 

While I worked on preparing for us to live on the boat again, Steve worked on getting things ready for operating the boat.  He put the propellers back on, bought new starter engines and installed them, rotated our anchor chain, installed a new bridle, and in general got everything in working order.  He also got our dingy (tender) back up in its davits.  We did all of this in five days.  Because we were staying at an Air B. and B., we had a rental car and were able to drive around to different stores.  This transportation made it much easier for us to get supplies.

On Tuesday, December 20, we were putting the boat into the water at 1p – Splash Day had arrived.  We got up early and went to the Epicurian in St. Johns which is the largest, best-stocked grocery store on the island.  It really rivals any supermarket found in the States.  While I couldn’t find a couple of things like bananas, a small ham, and Oxiclean, we were able to provision our boat fairly easily. 

The North Sound Marine Boatyard, where our boat was stored, is a little challenging to get in and out of.  The wind can be strong and blow the boats into the downwind side of the cement slip. Luck was with us and the wind was not that strong.  We backed out of the slip without any issues.  We decided to anchor just off of the boatyard so that we could continue to use the facilities.  We still had a lot to do to prepare the boat for sailing.  The wind was still light and there wasn’t much chop.  Steve started preparing to put the sail back up while I continued cleaning the boat. 

The wind picked up the next day so we decided to move to Maiden Island.  We have anchored there before and it is usually very calm water.  The island itself is small and relatively flat so it doesn’t do much for protecting us from the wind.  Anyways, we thought we would give it a try.  Not only are the conditions good for anchoring, but it is also only a dingy ride away from a bar where we plan to pick Kirsten up when she arrives Christmas Eve.  The channel through the area runs behind our anchorage so we get to see infrequent boats going past.  Yesterday, Friday, we saw the Josephina, a beautiful white, 60ish foot sailboat sail past.  They were in the boatyard next to us so we got to meet the crew.  They are headed to Falmouth’s Cat Club to continue to work on their boat.  We may bump into them again down there. 

Yesterday we also decided to take a break.  We took the dingy to the beach in front of us on Maiden Island.  There is a man-made coral reef where fish like to congregate and we had planned to snorkel there.  Unfortunately, the water was a little cloudy when we pulled up on the beach.  But, we decided to land anyways and tie off the dingy.  It was high tide because the water was ebbing and flowing quite high on the beach.