Final Day
Sadie
Mon 23 Dec 2013 19:28
17:04.400n 61:52.590w
Distance to Antigua 0 miles
Distance Run today 126 miles
Total distance 3258 miles
Sailing update
The
wind died away a little just to make us sweat as the speed dropped off
to 4.5 knots but as the GPS showed 24 miles to go to Jolly Harbour,
Ricky saw the first trace of Antigua in the skyline. It grew rapidly
enough and we were soon running in with the beaches and bays opening up
as we went by.
The
super-yachts in English and Falmouth Harbours were clear to see but
there were also plenty of small boats moving about between anchorages
and for the first time on the trip the AIS was going crazy with the
volume of contacts ( so we turned the alarm off and ignored it ). We
had a close pass from a millionaires plaything called Eileen which was
really impressive as it roared by towards English Harbour,
Our
first encounter with a reef was interesting and we stayed a couple of
hundred metres off, in deep water, as we navigated past and towards the
Channel and finally picked up the buoys into Jolly Harbour.
We
would have liked a band and ceremony as we tied up but what we got was a
couple of chaps on the fuel dock who told us we could moor there but
only after we had been back to customs to check in.
This was done soon enough and there we were, alongside in Antigua !
After
27 days at sea and everything from flat calm to 45 knot gusts we
expected to be unsteady on our feet, but actually had no problems.
Tim
went to sort out the Marina, Jez and Ricky climbed the mast to start
fixing the forestay back in place ( we finished this the following
morning ).
And that was that – Sailing over and 1 day spare to explore Antigua.
Domestic
Preparing
a boat to be left on hard-standing for 4 months takes a bit of effort
but we found time to get a taxi to English Harbour, walk round Nelson’s
Dockyard and have a meal in Falmouth Harbour.
There
we met a man over dinner who maintains the comms and electronics on the
superyacht “Twizzle”. We exchanged stories about the differences
between crossing the Atlantic in a 10m Sadler and 58m superyacht and had
a great time.
Finally,
we took a tour of the millionaires yachts in the harbour (including
Twizzle which is up for sale at £68m ! ) before going back to Sadie for
our first un-interrupted sleep in a month.
Natural History.
Pelicans, turtles, Frigate birds – Lovely place here with wildlife everywhere you look.
Sadie
timwood22 {CHANGE TO AT} aol {DOT} com