Anchor is growing roots!
Oriole
Sun 20 Jan 2008 22:04
Falmouth Harbour Antigua 17:01.00N
61:46.40W
During the last week we have moved
our anchorage within Falmouth Harbour a few times but not by more than a few
yards mainly to optimise our wifi internet connection!! Andrew and
Drumbeat re-appeared on Sunday afternoon and as we happened to
have walked to the top of the highest hill in the area we had a birds
eye view. Most of the crew have been off on leave this week so he has been
quite busy but we have managed to get together. The wind has returned
and last night was pretty wild with squalls and today we are expecting squalls
with wind in excess of 30 knots so we hope that will not interrupt our Sunday
luncheon date.
Falmouth
Superyacht Docks in a fairly quiet
phase.
In the summer all the yachts leave.
As we have reported before we are continually
fascinated with the superyacht scene here. Within a stones-throw there are
over thirty private yachts in excess of 100 feet and some of them well in excess
of 200 feet and they gleam from end to end under the constant care of their
crews (15 or more in some cases).
A corner of the Superyacht
Dock. and another
corner of the Superyacht Dock.
The locals get lots of work too and
Andrew has at least two and often more day workers cleaning and polishing
and varnishing while they are on the dock between charters. (You
might ask what the crew do!) The season here is short and sharp and after
Antigua Race Week in April all the yachts disappear in a flash and the
place is empty until the end of November. The shops and restaurants close and we
guess the place looks a bit sad. However Antiguan varnishers are world renowned
and many of the varnishing teams go to the Mediterranean or the US during the
summer to ply their trade. From 0800 till 1800 the VHF radio buzzes with
the superyacht 'traffic' with requests for services from the marinas,
engineers, sailmakers, provisioning contractors, liquer stores, divers,
taxis, car hire, restaurants, not to mention the crews fixing up their dates for
the evenings. The occasional modest yachtie gets a look-in
occasionally!
The skipper just beat Andrew in the birthday dinghy
racing - sensible of the
boy!.
- and a section of the band.
However the place has a wonderful laid back
informal atmosphere which we love and draws us back time and again to enjoy the
buzz. We were invited to Andrew's skippers 50th birthday bbq on the beach
this week also laid back with a
buzz.