This season's last passage
Our position is 17:07.70N 61:45.43W Friday 20 May We have now arrived at Crabbs Quay in time for Kay to catch her flight back to England this evening and for Moorglade to be lifted out for the summer. On Wednesday morning we left Deep Bay heading for Jumby Bay, via St Johns, to do some shopping for food to take us to the end of our stay on Antigua. It is not very far in total but interesting navigation into the capital city, and then, on leaving St Johns, past the oil terminal and down the Boon Channel into Parham Sound. Plenty of reefs and shallows to avoid. We tied up at Redcliffe Quay, near the deserted cruise ship dock, in St Johns at about 11:30. Kay went shopping while I looked after the boat. It is not a great place to leave a yacht unattended. It did not prove to be a great area for food shopping either, but after a while Kay had our provisions sorted. We motored out of St Johns Harbour heading north into a strong breeze. Our track took us inside The Sisters, across Dickenson Bay, inside Prickly Pear Island, and to the south of Yam Piece Shoals. The skipper was under strict instructions from the navigator not to deviate to Starboard onto the shoals in Loblolly bay. We anchored in shallow water with a hard sandy bottom just off the exclusive, $1000 a, Rosewood resort. We had no plans to go ashore for our evening meal. Not long after getting settled the wind came up to 30knts, the sky blackened and the rain fell in torrents. Sitting in the cockpit sheltered by the spray hood and sunshade we were entertained first by the appearance of the Wadadli cat, bringing bedraggled guests back to the resort, and then by a local yacht making its way back up the sound, seriously over canvassed with main flogging. They got the sails down and were motoring hard toward the resort, but well off track in the driving rain. We waited for the inevitable spectacular grounding. The bow dipped down to the water and the stern lifted high as the keel hit the reef off Maiden Island, the one Kay had been so insistent I watched out for. The yacht seemed to be ok and came up to the anchorage with care. Here they discharged their paying guests into a waiting dory which ferried them close by us back to the resort. The bedraggled pair looked very unhappy, she seemed to be shaking with fear but he did manage a wave and a brave smile. We ate our evening meal below decks. Thursday was an easy going day on the boat, sorting out the stuff to come home, and Kay doing her packing. We did consider moving up the sound, perhaps to Great Bird Island, but the storms returned after lunch, so we stayed where we were. Today the weather is much better and after breakfast we pulled up the anchor, negotiated the shoals and the dredged channel up to Crabbs Quay. This area is an odd mix of beautiful islands with posh resorts to seaward, but on shore the landscape looks industrial with the islands water desalination plant, the Wadadli brewery, (it is the only place in the world to brew beer from desalinated sea water, a cement works, the airport and a US satellite tracking station. We were tied up to the dock at the boatyard by 10:45, Kay's taxi is booked for 6:15pm. Her Caribbean adventure is over until next December. I will spend next week cleaning and packing up Moorglade and seeing her safely in the shed, before flying home next Friday. No doubt we will be analysing the stats in more detail but a glace at the log indicates Moorglade has covered nearly 7000Nm since leaving Dartmouth last July.
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‘Statue’ of the Antiguan president in St Johns 
Moorglade alongside Redcliffe Quay – a big step up with warps! 
Jumby Bay anchorage (with $1000/night rooms ashore)
Wadadli cat arriving in the rain – trippers still partying
View of shed at Crabbs quay from Jumby Bay
Crabbs quay shed - Moorglade’s home for the summer 
US satellite tracking station
Moorglade alongside at Crabbs Quay (enjoying some sunshine on Kay’s last day)