Quick Update 30 Dec 11

Tashi Delek
Mike & Carol Kefford
Fri 30 Dec 2011 21:00

17:09.034N 061:45.385W

 

Davis Bay, Long Island, North East Antigua

 

We had a great few days at anchor in Falmouth.  We all enjoyed sleeping through the night without getting up for a watch and set about the rum punches with our renewed vigour.  Mike did a lot of extra sleeping. 

 

Kit and Moyra treated us to dinner at the Catamaran Yacht Club on Mikes birthday which was superb.  Fish soup, lobster and asparagus ravioli, home made pasta, slow roasted pork.  Delicious.

 

We went into one of the Marina’s for a couple of hours to wash Tashi Delek in fresh water and re-fuel.  We were by far the smallest yacht in there.  The next smallest was three times our size!  This really is superyacht central here.  Interestingly the Falmouth/English Harbour areas are low key and very Caribbean with no sign of a large hotel or resort.  Most restaurants and businesses are in brightly coloured wooden huts, there are big holes in the road and a slightly scruffy feel to things.  Everyone is very friendly, terribly helpful and fun.  We think it is charming.

 

We took a taxi to the local supermarket which is in a shed that is slightly larger than the shed housing the other shop, ie not large at all.  Crammed full of all sorts and surprisingly easy to find everything we wanted including fabulous fresh herbs.  The veggies seem mostly to be locally grown and are very good indeed.  Meat, fish and shellfish is all frozen but perfectly good and we buy sugar, flour and grains in polythene bags.

 

We are now exploring some of the Island before returning to English Harbour to meet Sara, our niece for her first sailing adventure.  The water really is that turquoise and the island really is that green.  Glorious.  Because of the reefs the water stays flatter in strong winds than it ever did in the Med so the sailing so far has been very comfortable indeed.  That delight is countered by the new challenges of making our way through the reefs and we are having to navigate considerably more actively than we needed to going line-of-sight between Greek islands for example.  If we tried that here we would impale Tashi Delek on the coral in no time at all.