Water water everywhere, nor any drop to drink!
Oriole
Sun 10 Apr 2016 17:00
Falmouth Harbour, Antigua.
Sunday 10th April
2016
17:01.05N 61:46.34W
On Tuesday 29th March we finally raised our anchor
from its well bedded resting place on the bottom of Prince Ruperts Bay. It
was early morning and we thought we might have to wake the crew of the boat who
had anchored close in front of us which was in danger of being over our anchor.
Sadly we were able to raise it without John having to express his ire
at their unnecessary and unseamanlike proximity! If we had
moaned, we would have no doubt been given a characteristic Gallic
Shrug!!
We had another great sail with plenty of wind in
company with Moonsong. Chris had just gone below for something to drink
when a large whale surfaced and dived close alongside. It was one of the
closest encounters we have had. With the classic tail in the air
flick it disappeared back into the deep and Chris sadly missed the
performance. We have had the same experience just to the north but noweher
near as close. Having taken a shortcut, we arrived in Les Isles
de Saintes just before Moonsong. Here moorings are now
obligatory if you want to be in any shelter. By 1200 the moorings are
usually all taken, and there are lots of them, but we had managed to get some
old friends to bag one for us. Fourteen years after John left the
Plymouth Anaesthetics Department these two former colleagues are
following our example of quitting the NHS and having recently arrived in the
Caribbean are enjoying the cruising life. It was great to see them
and share some meals ashore where there is a great choice of good French
restaurants.
They eventually left to go south and on Sunday
morning we departed northwards reluctantly relinquishing the availability of
warm bagettes, cheap wine, excellent local fish pate and smoked fish.
We were underway by 0800 on Monday for the final
leg to Antigua, and having chosen our wind strength and angle carefully
from preusal of the weather forecasts, we had another fast smooth easy passage
to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua.
So what can go wrong now? John had noticed
that the water we make with our watermaker was tasting slightly salty
inspite of the integral electronic testing which should reject salty
water. The membranes were new a year ago and only the third set in twenty
years. Fortunately we could not be in a better place as we are anchored a
mere biscuits toss from the best watermaker engineer in the
Caribbean. John took the membranes ashore which were tested before
you could say "Salt" and two of the three are stuffed - (technical
term). New ones are on their way from the US but they will make a
substantial dent in the housekeeping account. We are by no means certain
why they have failed, but we are continuing to investigate
possibilities.
The harbour was pretty empty when we arrived, but
with the Antigua Classics Regatta starting on Thursday the place is
beginning to get crowded. This is a new experience for us as we are
normally well south of here by April.