English Harbour, Antigua.
Oriole
Sun 15 Dec 2002 17:42
In a brief sober interlude we are taking the opportunity to update the
webdiary! Our arrival at 1600 local time on 12/12 was followed by a swim
and a bottle of champagne and then dinner on Troubadour which is anchored
close to us under Shirley Heights. We have perfected the making but not the
metabolism of rum punch. The last few days of the crossing were
characterised by lighter winds and a procession of squalls night and day.
One of them doubled the wind speed from 15 to 30 knots in about a minute
with torrential rain for ten minutes and then back to 15 knots with a 45
degree wind shift. The unseasonably strong weather further north gave us a
big swell which with our reduced sailplan and ailing backstay produced a
rather slower and rolling gait when the winds dropped below 15 knots. We
did resort to the engine for a few hours to guarantee our arrival in
daylight as a night entry here can be a bit dodgy as the leading lights are
notoriously unreliable! English Harbour with its unique atmosphere is
almost unchanged since John was here 31 years ago, just a few more boats and
people, and the services available to yachts greatly improved. Two of the
local laundry ladies were fighting over which one would do our washing! We
took a taxi to St John's, the capital, yesterday and mingled with the
Christmas shoppers. The atmosphere was electric, with a cacophony of
different noises - Christmas carols Caribbean style, steel drums, Salvation
Army brass band, a singing Father Chistmas selling CDs of his repertoire
all with serious sound amplification. The streets were jammed with shoppers
and traffic and everyone in a very happy, friendly and jovial mood. The old
ladies running the food market stalls were lovely and we found some
wonderful local produce. Avacados the size of a melon, papaya for breakfast
reminding Chris of her childhood, mangos, aubergines, okra, bananas of all
shapes and sizes, limes, lovely fresh green oranges (no orange dye here) and
all at bargain basement prices. Andrew has been honing his CV and is
starting to look for work. We are off to the weekly 'jump up' tonight on
Shirley Heights overlooking the anchorage with barbecue and steel band.
Robert is due to join us later this week, and is expecting 'his' boat to be
in prime condition so we had better get down to it. He will not be amused
if the backstay is not restored to health, but the riggers are coming to
sort us out tomorrow. Meanwhile we will busy ourselves with trying to keep
cool.