Life is never dull in our cruising life - usually great fun, sometimes downright irritating and the march of time brings changes which are usually for the worse.

 

One change that has our seal of approval is the arrival of Caroline in Andrew's life.  Having met in Palma in September, he has visited her in Cologne and she is now in Antigua for the second time and they are renting a small cottage on the hill overlooking Famouth Harbour.  They arrived on board for the 10 mile upwind trip in a somewhat lumpy sea to Nonsuch Bay which has always been one of our favourite anchorages.  They stayed on board for the night in beautiful conditions and we thoroughly enjoyed their company for too short a period in their action packed holiday.  We stayed on for a few days peace and have now returned to Falmouth to try to get to the bottom of a technical problem with our satellite communication system which has hitherto worked  faultlessly for 10 years! 

 

  

 

Andrew and Caroline's brief Oriole charter.

 

Sadly the authorities have seen fit to lay upwards of twenty moorings in this unspoilt area of Nonsuch Bay where the barrier reef protects the anchorage from the ocean swell coming straight from Africa.  Our favourite spot was right up under the reef where very few other boats ventured.  Now that it has been strewn with moorings there is less room to anchor and other visiting yachts are encouraged by the presence of the moorings to venture into the shallower waters close to the reef.  The usual excuse for laying moorings in an area where there is plenty of room and good holding for anchoring is to protect the seabed from the environmentally destructive effects of anchors and chains.  The possible results of this policy affects so small an area as to have little or no overall environmental benefit.  The main problem moorings have is the concern about the adequacy of their maintenance.  Several years ago over sixty moorings were laid in the main anchorage in Nevis.  Although the authorities confirm that they are inspected regularly they have deteriorated to a dangerous state and yachts have broken adrift.  One yachtsman reported recently that he discarded five moorings before he found one that look even remotely safe.  Elsewhere in Antiguan waters in a similarly unspoilt favourite anchorage we understand that an EU grant to develop tourism has been used for laying moorings.  Our faceless unaccountable bureaucrats are at it again.  The final insult this week occurred early this morning when the skipper was forced from his bunk by smoke from a bonfire which had been lit on the shore just upwind. Unlike Newton Ferrers you just have to let the locals run their own show, and one can always pull up the anchor and move!

 

                     

 

                              Really packing them in.  The smallest are several million pounds and the biggest? - well think of a number and double it!

                                                                                                                      

 

                                

 

                                                                                                          View from Oriole at night.                           

     

Meanwhile the superyachts have returned en masse to Falmouth Harbour after their Christmas and New Year charters and owners' trips.  If they don't put the HARBOUR FULL sign up soon there will be more problems of the sort that occurred yesterday when a large sailing yacht went aground while attempting to manoeuvre onto the dock.  The combined efforts of the harbour workboat/tug and a fleet of powerful inflatables finally got it off and it limped into its berth.  There are now more superyachts on the marina docks than there are small yachts at anchor in the rest of the harbour.

 

 

John thinks paddle boarding craze is definately a change for the better!

 

Sunday afternoons walk and picnic took us along the cliffs from English Harbour and up the steep ridge to Shirley Heights - not quite a Munroe but we were sure sweating when we reached the top, and were rewarded by a swim on Galleon Beach on our return to sea level

 

 

Quiet picnic spot on Sunday before the climb.