How do you leave Antigua?
Oriole
Sat 14 Feb 2009 15:46
Falmouth Harbour, Antigua 17:00.94N
61:46.39W.
As soon as we make plans to leave Antigua, where we
checked in five weeks ago, something gets in the way. During that time we
have had two weeks of excellent sailing on the north and west coasts, but it is
about time we left. Our latest plan was to spend a bit of time in
Martinique and Guadeloupe but the strikes there have rather put a dampener on
that. The shops there are mostly shut, the ATMs won't give you any money
and there is considerable unrest and although there has not yet been any
rioting, it sounds as though it is not far away. Added to that there
is possibly a racist element tied to this as around 1% of the population
who are old white families own more than 50% of the farmland and also a
significant proportion of the supermarkets and other large businesses. The
strike issue seems to be all about the high cost of living.
Maybe the pent up emotion if the
French islands will cause Mt. Pelé
As soon as we formulate another plan someone else
arrives who we have not seen for a while so here we still are. Andrew
returns from his charter on Monday so we are certainly waiting to see him and
two other yachts are expected in the next few days. Watch this space
because unless we move soon we will run out of time and have to renew our entry
with Immigration and the anchor is growing roots. However that is not
diffucult as our new Rocna anchor which replaced our aging and rusting CQR digs
a hole for itself within seconds of touching the bottom and so far has resisted
all attempts to dislodge it unless of course we haul it up. Last time it
came up with a JCB bucket load of the bottom into which it had buried iteself -
another yachting success for the Kiwis. We were discussing this
on the long range radio net this morning and people were popping up everywhere
singing the praises of this new kid on the block. However complacency
with anchors is very dangerous!
The Rocna in resting mode on the stemhead which required minor modification to
accomodate it.
When we manage to get an underwater picture of it in action we will not be able
to resist posting it.
Most people will know that John thinks that
watching cricket is akin to watching paint dry, but the Test Match in Antigua
due to start yesterday did not even manage to put a coat of paint on to watch.
There is considerable embarassment here that the beautiful new stadium built by
the Chinese (that well known cricket loving nation) for the World Cup, is
proving a bit of a white elephant and the outfield was deemed dangerous for the
bowlers at the last moment. It has now been rescheduled to start on Sunday at
the much loved Antigua Recreation Ground.