Here at last!!!

Lowena
Michael & Amanda Dyer
Wed 12 Dec 2007 18:30
We've arrived! After a marathon twenty-five days at sea, with everything from zero to forty knots of wind, we've made it. A couple of nights ago, I thought we (and quite possibly a large proportion of the human population) wouldn't. On watch at 1 am, I suddenly saw a shooting star- except that this one wasn't like the rest- it seemed to be coming straight for us! I actually cried out in alarm, as the brightness and proximity of the thing seemed a genuine extinction prospect. I guess it must have been both exceptionally large, and projected towards the centre of the Earth, as opposed to a tangential approach. Never in my life have I been both afraid and awe-struck to that extent.

Anyway, just as tropical storm Olga makes her presence known in the East Caribbean, we scurry into the relative safety of the leeward side of Antigua. We spotted it as a hazy glow in the early hours, and by 7 am we could see the palm trees scattered across the hillsides. Nevertheless we were being bullied along by 25-30 knots of wind as we made our approach. Never has the prospect of landfall seemed so inviting.

The colour of the water is truly astonishing – a bright blue-green, usually reserved for the colour of isotonic sports drinks and those tubes of flavoured ice I used to buy for 10 pence as a child. Along the approach to Jolly harbour, we were greeted by a frigate bird, its enormous wings looking like the welcoming arms of a long-lost relative, with its crimson red throat worn like a flamboyant scarf around its neck. This is a truly remarkable looking place.

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