16 April 2009    17:00.17N          61:45.44W

We were anchored in the wrong place, with mosquitoes, and loud music at night. We moved up to a position near the entrance to the harbour, and ended up next to Loon, a Hylas 47  owned by Ian and Tracy Snell who knew David & Nicky Bomby, friends at Kingswear in Devon.

The centreboard wouldn’t lower, and I definitely wanted to check it as it had not been removed for at least 13 years. Unfortunately the slipway at English Harbour couldn’t allow the centreboard to be lowered, and Ian suggested we haul out at Jolly Harbour, on the other side of the island. Robbie was also desperate to play golf, so we got the bus over via St Johns and checked things out. The buses are small, cheap, and often very entertaining. One local Rasta climbed on and immediately addressed the girl beside him: “My name M&M, you want some?” A lady started preaching fire & brimstone, and then calmed down & started chatting with the other passengers.

There was no problem with tee off times, the golf club was suffering from the crunch along with everyone else. The hairdresser at Jolly Harbour said business was 70% down on the year before. There was no problem with hauling out either, and there seemed to be all the necessary marine trades to get things sorted out before sailing back to the UK.

However, English Harbour was lovely, and Jolly had good boat facilities, but was devoid of any character. So we decided to stay where we were for the time being, particularly as Antigua Classic week was due to start, with everything happening between Falmouth and English Harbours.