Peace in Antigua
Oriole
Sun 23 Dec 2007 15:29
Falmouth Harbour, Antigua 17:01.00N
61:46.40W
At 1600 on Sunday afternoon we finally entered
Falmouth Harbour. Although the seas were not as angry as they had been
earlier in the week our passage from Guadaloupe was punctuated by massive cloud
banks bearing down on us with torrential rain and wind in excess of 30 knots,
reducing visability to nigh on zero. So with maternal instincts satisfied
we dropped anchor.
Drumbeat going off for her Christmas
charter
Andrew appeared in his new guise as mate of
Drumbeat (173 foot ketch) on Monday and we were invited to join the crew of ten
for their run ashore dinner. Andrew's previous three skippers are all in
Antigua at the moment and have been very solicitous of the 'old
folk'. He went off on charter yesterday and returns just after Christmas
and seems very pleased with the new job.
Sunset over the entrance to Falmouth
Harbour.
Turning off the wind even down to 20 knots was a
welcome break and now the winds have diminished to almost nothing the peace is
palpable but it won't last. So we can now relax,
get on with a few jobs and enjoy Christmas.
Christmas shopping in St
John's.
Meanwhile we are waiting for a spare part which was
dispatched from Plymouth 10 days ago via DHL's courier service. Tracking
it has been an interesting and frustrating exercise. It spent 4 days sitting at
East Midlands Airport after shuttling between Exeter, East Midlands and
Heathrow, then two days in Brussels and now it has been in Amsterdam for 18
hours. The dispatch office in Plymouth who thought they would save a few
pence by not sending it by Fedex, as instructed, are now referring to DHL as
'don't hurry luv'. The Lord knows if and when we will see it as it has not
yet hit de Caribbean man! Our very best wishes for a HAPPY CHRISTMAS from
the Orioles.
No shortage of fresh local produce in
de market.