Liming in Antigua
Oriole
Sun 18 Jan 2009 21:38
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Falmouth Harbour, Antigua.17:00.94N
61:46.39W.
Well! we have not moved far in
the last week, well to be precise - not at all. People keep arriving, who
we have not seen for a while, and that means another "get together".
Antigua does seem to be a compulsory
stop for most yachts in the area.
We had supper one evening with two
crews who are nursing their wounds. Stephen Maltby, the Rear Commodore of
the Yealm Yacht Club was dismasted 500 miles east of here in his yacht
Ayesha while crossing from the Canaries. He arrived under jury
rig and is now trying to get a new mast - a very slow business
here.
 Ayesha wanted a new mast for
Christmas. Meanwhile last week a new 82 foot
Swan, which left Finland at the same time as Andrew (Lytle) left there in a new
90 foot Swan, has been aground on one of the reefs here for 24 hours and has
done itself a power of no good but could have been a lot worse. The mate
who was not in any way responsible for this error also comes from Newton
Ferrers! That leaves three other yachts with Newton Ferrers
connections in Antigua and we are praying that these things do not go in threes
or even fours!! There but for the grace of God .............
 Even the professionals can get it
wrong. Onghiara has a mangled rudder,
badly scratched hull and appears to
have problems with her keel.
The docks here are well populated
with the cream of the superyachts, but apart from all the cleaning and polishing
and varnishing there does not seem to be very much activity. The charter
business does seem to be a bit quiet, but the small privately owned yachts are
as active as ever.
 The three masts of Maltese
Falcon 288 feet and Athena 292 feet (foreground left) overshadow
motor yachts Leander 250 feet
and Alfa Nero 265 feet (background
right).
The rest are small beer and we are a
pimple!
We have also been busying
ourselves with the usual list of jobs on the boat which never seems to get
completely demolished - but one of these days.
Meanwhile on Sunday morning Chris is
busy with her sewing machine, I am on the computer and we will be going ashore
soon to get some exercise.
Sadly we seem to have misplaced our
US visas which are virtually essential for our planned visit to the US
Virgin Islands. We have turned Oriole upside down and Robert has also
looked at home. So for this year we have moved on to Plan
B which we will report as it unfolds!
Meanwhile two other yachts we know are arriving from
Guadeloupe.
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