We took our dingy back into the Jolly Harbour Marina and piled into the car for the drive south to English Harbour.  We wanted to walk on the Middle Ground trail before the sun set.  This trail lies above Pigeon Beach to the north and English Harbour to the south.  The views are fantastically beautiful.  We were surprised that there were not more boats anchored in the two Harbours, as we had heard that the New Year’s Eve bash at Nelson’s Dockyard was “the place to be.”  We chose not to move the boat there so that we didn’t have to get into the mayhem that often comes with drinking and crowds.  We saw a group of goats way up on top of the trail, munching their dinner away.  There were several young goats there, which are always adorable to see. 

On the way down from the walk, we decided to exit via Pigeon Beach, which is located at the entrance to Falmouth Harbour.  A destination wedding was taking place there next to beach-goers laying in the sand.  We then walked along a road that took us into the center of Falmouth Harbour and searched for food.  We didn’t want a large meal since we had a big lunch.  Unfortunately the pizza place was closed.  We ended up walking to Nelson’s Dockyard and were very confused.  It was after 6p and the dockyard was fairly empty of people.  We were able to walk around and show Kirsten this impressive site.  It is a UNESCO world heritage site that has been restored.  Typically there are shops and vendors at the entrance.  That wasn’t the case this evening.  Colored lights were strung along the trails, making the whole area sparkle magically.  Many boats lined the dockyard waiting for the festivities to begin.

After walking around, we were hungry.  The restaurants in the dockyard were serving fancy gala meals and we definitely were not dressed for that.  So, we left the dockyard and found a small, Italian Street food restaurant along the road.  We had what was similar to a calzone and ate on bar stools while watching people walk past.  It hit the spot.  It was still only about 7p so we decided to walk back to Falmouth to play some pool.  After three games of pool, we started heading back to the dockyard and saw our friends in the bar next to where we were.  We joined them for a drink. 

Next, we all walked to the dockyard.  The music and the drinking started by this point.  We were dancing in the grass, which was a lot of fun.  Celebrating with our new friends was such fun.  It took us a long time to leave the parking lot after midnight.  Steve was wide awake and drove us home safely.  Getting in and out of the dingy was a challenge, as it usually is for me.  And our dingy ride back to the boat was difficult because we couldn’t see very well.  We had remembered to turn on the mast light as well as two lights in the forward cabins but we couldn’t see where the boats were in the water.  Luckily we knew that there weren’t many obstacles between the Harbour entrance and our boat.  The water was very calm at 3am with low winds blowing.  It was actually a pleasant dingy ride back under the half moon and twinkling stars.

It was New Year’s Eve day – Kirsten’s last day in Antigua.  Kirsten and I were able to visit the small, pop-up market that was set up in the entrance way to the Jolly Harbour Marina.  We bought some pastries, Mango juice, and water for our trip.  Kirsten also purchased a blue-painted wooden, ocean-scene plaque made of sea glass, sand and shells.  It was really cute and she will put it up in her room as a reminder of Antigua. 

While Kirsten and I were shopping at the market, Steve rented a car.  We drove to Devil’s Bridge, which is a beautiful outcropping of rugged rocks that is pounded by surf.  When we arrived, there were only a couple of other people there.  So, we had plenty of time to walk around and take in the natural beauty of the area.  This is the second time that Steve and I had visited.  Seeing it this time made more sense to us since the bridge is close to Nonesuch Bay.  We had anchored in Nonesuch Bay last year so we were able to easily get our bearings. 

Our next stop was at the Epicurian, the largest supermarket that we have seen in the Caribbean.  We were able to get a few supplies that we needed.

It was mid-morning and so we decided to head to Fort James off of the end of St. John’s Bay.  There are some cannons laying in the fort, amongst tall grasses, aimed out over the Harbour.  The Royal insignia of the British Crown was particularly easy to see on these cannons.  It appeared that they had a party at the entrance to the fort, as workers were cleaning up and picking up beer bottles everywhere.  This area is a park and had beautiful, feathery trees weeping over places to park.  The shade was welcomed, as it kept us cool. 

Every time Kirsten visits, she wants to eat lobster at a beach bar.  This beach happened to have a nice, beach-bar type of restaurant overlooking the water.  And, they served grilled lobster.  So, we got a table and had a relaxing lunch.  Steve and I ordered burgers and Kirsten was able to enjoy her lobster. 

Next we headed back to our boat to unpack the groceries and jump in the water before heading down to Falmouth to celebrate New Year’s Eve.  We only had about an hour to relax, but it was enough to get organized and cooled off.

On December 30 we sailed south to Jolly Harbour.  We anchored in Valley Church, which has a gorgeous, long beach to look at.  A beautiful, bungalow-type hotel lines the starboard side of shore.  Steve had made reservations at their Sheer Rock restaurant.  To get there, we had to beach the dingy on the shore.  This area was very shallow and grassy.  So, Steve had to lift the motor and pull the dingy towards the shoreline.  Kirsten and I paddled to help.  Once on shore, we climbed the path up to the restaurant.

This gorgeous restaurant is situated on the edge of the rocky bay, overlooking the water.  We got there for sunset.  While the sunset wasn’t great that night, the evening was quite pleasant.  We were seated at a table that was at the edge of the water.  We could look down and see the clear water below us lapping up over the rocks.  The atmosphere and view were breathtaking.  The food was good but the service was extremely slow.  We were getting tired by the end of the meal. 

Returning to the boat via a dingy is always challenging after eating a big meal and returning in the dark.  Because of where we landed the dingy, we all had to wade into the water to launch it.  Then Kirsten and I paddled hard until we got to deep enough water where Steve could put the engine’s motor down.  We forgot a light for the dingy, which usually happens.  However, we were not very far away and were back onboard our boat in no time. 

Kirsten and Steve tried standing up on the foil board while being towed behind the dingy.  After a quick break, they got the wing out and practiced with it.  They did fairly well for just starting out.  For those of us on the boats, they provided fun entertainment to watch. 

We also went snorkeling to our favorite spot just off of Bird Island.  It is fairly rough in this area, as waves and current pushed us around as we snorkeled.  We had to be very careful to not get pushed into the coral.  The fish in this area are larger than anywhere else that we have seen.  We saw schools of Blue Tang as well as Sergent Majors, Groupers, Yellow Goatfish, and others.  In addition, there were beautiful Fans and Elk Horn coral formations.  After snorkeling, we wound our way through the coral in the dingy (easier said than done), and beached our tender on Bird Island’s beach.  The water here is so clear and calm.  The white sand is fine.  Mangrove trees line the shore.  It truly is a slice of paradise.  Steve and Kirsten went walking around Bird Island.  They have made several improvements to the trail as well as added new, mint-green picnic tables along the beach.

This evening we received a nice surprise.  The large boat in the anchorage, the Marie, sent their crew to both of our boats with a bottle of wine to say “Thanks for sharing the anchorage with us.”  It was a very nice gesture for the holiday.  The crew who delivered the bottle said that they were heading down to Falmouth for New Year’s Eve to participate in the re-enactment on their sister ship, the Rebecca.  Apparently the English Harbour management selects a slow boat and puts a French flag on it.  Other older boats fly a British flag and chase the French out of the Harbour.  We told the crew that we were heading down to Falmouth for New Year’s Eve as well.  We would miss the reenactment but would be there in the evening.

After last night, we were even more on guard about the anchor dragging while we slept.  In the middle of the night I heard some banging going on.  This can happen for many reasons.  Sometimes it is the chain pulling.  Other times it is the water hitting the broad side of our hull.  And, sometimes, it is a mooring ball getting pushed into our hull.  Steve got up and determined that our bridle had come off.  The hinge on the clip had broken off.  So, he zip-tied the bridle on and I let the chain out to reset the bridle.  When we pick up our anchor, I will need to cut the zip tie off to get the bridle and chain up.  Luckily, we are headed to the North Sound Marina, where we had our boat stored for the winter.  That is where we are going to meet Kirsten, if she ever arrives.  And, there is a chandlery onsite.  So, hopefully they will have a replacement connector and we can get that fixed today.

Kirsten’s flight out of Seattle was delayed and she missed her connecting flight from New York to Antigua yesterday.  She was rebooked on a flight this morning.  We are waiting to hear if everything goes well.  She has been trying to fly to Antigua since Friday.  Today is Wednesday.  Most of her vacation is already used up travelling and she hasn’t even arrived yet.  It is really too bad. 

As soon as Kirsten arrived, we picked up the anchor and moved to our favorite anchorage in Antigua, right off of Bird Island.  We actually anchored at the far end of Rabbit Island and then determined that the wind was too strong there.  It was a shame because the view from there is gorgeous and we were protected from swells.  However, we decided to anchor off of the center of Rabbit Island to get some protection from the wind.  We were thrilled to see that our new British friends were already anchored there.  (We had told them where to anchor the night before.)  As we were motoring in our dingy to do some snorkeling, they dingied past.  We invited them over for Margaritas around 5p – sundowner time.  

There was one other gorgeous boat in our anchorage called the Maria.  It was a refurbished wooden boat from the 1930s that looked like it was once on a river.  They kept to themselves, as most people on the larger boats do.  We waved to them and their crew a couple of times, however. 

It felt so good to snorkel.  We saw a few fish and different coral formations.  However, we didn’t see any lobsters off of Lobster Island.

Today was a slower day for us.  The weather pattern in Antigua has been such that there are high winds and short rain squalls in the morning.  Then, by the afternoon, it typically clears up and is absolutely gorgeous.  The sky is usually a beautiful, deep blue and as it shines on the water, it makes it shimmer.  There have been some big northerly swells in the area lately.  While we don’t really see the swells themselves, they tend to make the water less clear.  This is what has happened in our anchorage off of Maiden Island.  When we first got here, the water was so cloudy that we couldn’t see the fish when snorkeling.  Now, we are able to see them if they are within five feet of us. 

Yesterday I was cooling off in the water behind our boat.  There were three yellowish-colored starfish beneath our boat, each between six to twelve inches wide.  I love seeing these and they always make me smile.

Yesterday we were also lucky enough to meet new friends from England.  They anchored their boat beside us and we started chatting.  They invited us over for “sundowners.”  We love getting to talk to others and hear their stories.  This was a family whose two grown daughters were onboard, along with their young son.  It is always fun to learn about the differences in the cultures.  While we were there, their anchor began to drag and we almost hit the boat behind them.  As soon as we saw what was happening, everyone sprung into action.  Steve went to the back of the boat to manage our dingy to be sure that it wasn’t run over and that the line doesn’t get wrapped behind the propeller.  The daughter and her significant other grabbed the paddleboard that was floating behind the boat and brought it onboard.  The tube that was floating behind the boat was tied pretty tightly to the back of the boat, but I watched to ensure that it didn’t go underneath the boat as the captain was backing it up.  Liz, the mom, ran to the front of the boat to reset the anchor chain and the captain was at the helm station using the engine to keep the boat off of the one behind and to move up on the anchor so that it could be pulled up and reset.  The crisis was averted and we went back to drinking our Rum Punches.  Apparently their anchor dragged again last night and at 10:30p or so they had to reset it again.  We’ve had strong gusts of wind blowing and the holding is a combination of grasses, crushed conch shells, and whole conch shells.  So, it isn’t the best holding.  We even put out more scope (anchor chain) one night to be sure that our anchor wouldn’t drag.

On Christmas morning, the people in the boat behind us in the bay of Maiden Island dingied past and asked if we would like to join them for drinks later in the day.  That was perfect.  So, around 5p we dingied over to their boat, Prax, and climbed aboard.  They had invited the other three boats in the bay to join as well, two of which did so.  August and Oi, from Prax, were traveling with their dog, Gigi, who was adorable.  This was their first year sailing, as August just retired as a professor at Yale.  The other two attendees were single-handed sailors – Martin from the Netherlands and Mike, from the USA.  We had “sundowners” with everyone for Christmas Eve and talked about sailing adventures.  August and Oi were such gracious hosts.  They invited us to stay for Thai curry dinner and they also had a fruit cake for dessert.  It was so nice and a terrific end to Christmas day.

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.

Last year we met a nice couple from Canada and became friends with them. It just so happened that they were hauling their boat out the day after us at the same marina. This picture shows the boats parked on the hard while we prepared them. We also met a new Canadian couple who had their boat, afloat, parked in front of our friends’ boat. This picture shows how closely the boats are lined up. (Our boat is closest to the building.) It was so nice having friends in the boatyard to chat with as we cleaned and prepared the boat.

In this boatyard they store dinghies in one of the buildings. So, we loaded our dinghy up for storage. I’ll clean it when we return.

Well, the end of our sailing season has arrived. We hauled our boat out of the water at North Sound Marina on Antigua. There was approximately a 30-knot cross-wind at the slip so hauling out was a challenge. We made it and the boat is now on the hard.

We spend the last four days preparing the boat to be on land for seven months. This means working on the engines, water pipes, water tanks/maker, and the bottom of the boat. Once we arrived, we had the yard power wash the bottom of the boat. Unfortunately that didn’t remove the barnacles that had attached and removing them was a manual process that took approximately eight hours. By the end of the four days, everything inside of the boat was bagged and the ceilings/walls were cleaned and wiped down with vinegar. We did this last year and were lucky to return to a boat free of mildew. We hope that we have the same luck this season. And, we washed the outside of the entire boat. It is unbelievable the amount of cleaning and preparation that goes into leaving the boat on the hard. Even with the advanced work that we did the week prior, we spent10-hours every day at the marina before returning to the nearby Air B & B that we rented.