Indeed as George Jeffrey said, there were campers gathering on the beach. Jack and James towed Lulu and Amalie to shore on the paddle board Big Bully had left to us in an Easter treasure hunt a whole year before. They walked Fin while the girls stayed a little distance away in the water. Quest’s beach crew were soon surrounded by a group of boys. ‘Can you give us a lift to those girls?’ the boys asked. Can you imagine? The two Quest daddies, being asked if their baby girls could be entertained by a group of boys? Tough call that was. As they were refusing, I was discovering a bottlenose dolphin at the back of Quest. Right by the swim ladder. It looked at me calmly. ‘Dolphin!’ I called to the rest of Quest and went below to get my camera, tripping loudly on the stairs. It was swimming away when we came back up, slowly moving through the lagoon. When the rest of Quest came back we watched the sunset burn a hole in the sky. In the distance campfires began to blaze on the beach. Barbudans were celebrating Easter. 

On Easter Sunday it was time to sail back to Antigua. It was a perfect blast of a sail with very little swell. Three amazing tuna catches later, we pulled up in Deep Bay, just North of Jolly Harbour. The normally quiet beach was bustling. A line of tents in the corner explained the busy situation. People were camping here like Barbuda. This time it was more Antiguan-style. Two huge jet-skis were roaring around the bay. Music with a distinct Bhangra beat was wafting from the beach. We stayed the night and moved on; our destination Falmouth Harbour. Antigua’s Classics Week was due to begin. This is a yearly aggregation of some of the most beautiful, classically-built yachts in the world. We were keen to show them to our guests. We pulled up in Falmouth just as the forecasted wind was beginning to blow and anchored in one of the last spaces at Pigeon Beach. On Easter Monday, Pigeon Beach heaved with happy campers while a sound system packed its punch across the anchorage. 

James, Sarah and Amalie were due to fly home on Thursday, giving us a few days to see this historic quarter of Antigua. By Tuesday morning, the campers had gone and the swell outside Falmouth was working its way into our anchorage. We felt the rollercoaster ride on our stern and moved, taking the last remaining mooring buoy by Falmouth Bay’s slipway. We were told we were allowed to stay for one night. ‘I’ve got a boat reserving it for the morning,’ the harbourmaster said. Everyone was here to see the beautiful classic yachts. We agreed and hoped that by Wednesday, Pigeon Beach’s swell would have died down again. All the while, the eponymous J-class yachts were rolling in beside us, so sleek and streamlined they were almost military in their looks. Each J-Class yacht; worth a gazillion quid, has its own historical relevance and restoration story worthy of a Homeric epic. Later on, we walked around Nelson’s Quay. Everywhere people were busy preparing for Classics. On the dock were groups of handsome and highly-skilled looking people, enough to give us that old nervous feeling we were surrounded by the sporty kids at high school. The yachts behind them gleamed like enormous, proud prizes. 

Wednesday morning; fortune shone on us too.. the swell had died down enough for us to return to Pigeon Beach. We re-anchored and spent the last part of our friends’ holiday on the beach and in the water.. simple, Caribbean style. We spotted the resident eagle ray in the sea grass, caught grainy glimpses of departing turtles, had an amazing dinner at the Dutch restaurant, Cloggy’s above Falmouth’s marina office and Thursday lunchtime it was back to Nelson’s Quay where we checked out through customs and visited the bakery. Before we could blink, it was time for James and Sarah and Amalie to go. We were sad to say good-bye to our friends. We’d had the best ten days with them. In the whirl of time that April has become, we couldn’t sit around either.. on Friday, which happened to be a Quest crew's 10th birthday (happy birthday, Delphine!), we were off to meet Josette and Gareth continuing their own Caribbean adventure.. in Guadeloupe. Breathe and travel, Quest.. French Antilles here we come!

Love from Quest and her crew xx