Our week began with the wet stuff. ‘Open the hatches, no close the hatches! Ok, it’s stopped raining, oh there is goes again.’ Throughout the window opening/closing dance was Lulu’s last week at InterHigh before the Easter break. She did a stellar job of trying to keep her eyes open while actually asleep. Definitely ready for her break.. This week Delphine too has been working hard. The book, Ingo gave her a some writing impetus, like a brief and very hot fire. She is so close to reading confidently. I think that in years to come when asked how our trip was, I’ll say, ‘Well, it was nice. Delphine learned to read.’ Nervous laugh. Crossing fingers and toes...

Back to Jolly for now. The sun began to shine again mid-week. We’ve noticed Antigua is drier than when we were here last year. Brown grass. No bugs. Until Wednesday that is, when we felt the rain's tropical after-effects. Mosquitos. Sudden swarming of strange, clingy moths. Poopy smell in the marina. We hightailed it to St John's for one more splurge; including some more books from the lovely ladies and their ultra-competitive sale at Best of Books and an early birthday present for Delphine. The present started last year in Grenada. During one quiet, boiling hot afternoon in St. George’s anchorage mid-August, a lilo floated past. We looked at each other. Splash. Retrieve. Tie to Quest and enjoy for the rest of the afternoon. Turns out, no one enjoyed it more than Delphine. It was perfect. A cup holder, Comfortable seat. A hole at the feet to jump in the water. It got to sunset. Well, if no one comes, we thought.. Two minutes later. ’That’s ours, I think.’ He was in his dinghy. Slightly embarrassed smile. ‘Here you go.’ Except for Delphine. She glared openly. Gave him the stink eye. Sulked for days. Ah, no problem, we suddenly thought! Our friends, Yvonne and Steve are coming to Grenada. I ordered one from the A word. My mum even hand-delivered it to them. It turned out to be the wrong one! No cup holder, no hole at the end. Oh well. We made do until it broke in January. Sooo.. just imagine someone’s delight when she spotted the Grenada lilo all wrapped up in a box in AquaSports?!  

With no further ado, we lifted anchor from murky Jolly Harbour waters and moved to Deep Bay. On Friday, Jack and Lu zoomed around the mostly empty anchorage on and off all day. Wake boarding, resting, wake boarding, resting. Some one else reclined.. it felt like a comment on their personalities! 

Friday night was Quest's movie night. Finally, The Deep with Nick Nolte and Jacqueline Bisset. The wreck of the Rhone brought by iTunes with yes, truly impressive 1970s t-shirt dive attire.. We were joined by our friends Bob and Elaine from Pipistrelle. We met Bob last year in Grenada Marine. He lifted Pipistrelle at the same time we lifted Quest. Having some modicum of approaching-hurricane-season sanity, he left Grenada Marine and went home. Three guesses for what we did. Now, I don’t think Bob would mind if we said he’s a character. Cruising life is full of them. You have the runners-away, the retired-but-steely, nutty-families-who-can-clear-an anchorage-in-no-time (hi guys), truck-drivers-made-good (mostly Americans), naked-Europeans-who-still-want-to-be-your-friends, boats-skirting-on-the-edge-of-legality (these tend to slip in and out of anchorages). And then there’s Bob. We think he’s in a class of his own. Small talk is so last century. He reminds us of our Grandpa xx.

Saturday morning and back to Jolly. Our gennie hasn’t been starting so well recently, a kind of tapping instead of straight-away starting. Time to change fuel filter, the Cap decided. Plus the rain brought some impetigo to the recliner kid. Along with recliner, just like Grenada again... So back to Jolly for fuel filter and antibiotics. This time, while both kids reclined, a quick fuel filter change turned into, yes this is getting predictable, six hours with Cap's head under floorboards. Six hours of discovering that the gennie’s hose clamps had all come loose from her vibration. Six hours of tightening, changing, spraying, finding tools, misplacing tools, finding tools again. Last night we collapsed with relief. Done and dusted.. cross more fingers.. And now friends are coming. Our friends are coming!!!

Love from Quest and her crew xx