Hermitage Bay, Antigua

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Mon 13 Jan 2014 17:55

17:05.18N 61:53.64W

 

 

Sat, Sun – 11th & 12th Jan

 

Deep Bay has just about everything you need, except a half decent wifi signal.  The best reception afloat was whilst we were anchored further out in the bay on the first two days, but the surge and roll is more pronounced there. Close to the beach there is virtually no wifi or rolling.  But Iain is nothing if not resourceful and he guessed that if that was the case, then there might well be a good signal at the top of the hill beyond us –Fort Barrington. It is a derelict site, but directly across the bay from there and over some hills is a resort… so he borrowed our roving aerial and made his way to the top of the hill and once he had jammed the aerial into a broken pole sticking up, he was away and had a great signal although in the bright sunshine was limited in his ability to read anything there!  Photos at http://www.rhbell.com  

 

So anyway on the Saturday morning Sarah and I swapped roles on board and it was all very enlightening and actually very useful for us both.  Sarah got the anchor up and I winched out the main sail and we had a cracking sail to Carlyle Bay although the final few miles were a very exciting set of short tacks up a narrow and very shallow channel between completely submerged reefs. The wind had started off at 25 knots and did not ease much at all and so Carlyle Bay was pretty rolly, so we abandoned the plan to stay there and headed back a few miles to Crab Hill Bay which had looked very inviting on the way past.

 

We anchored without mishap which meant that the whole job swap exercise had worked without a crisis or marital…  Ruffian came along and anchored nearby and then to our complete surprise and delight, Il Sogno joined us. They were sailing past heading to Jolly Harbour when they had recognised Serafina close to the beach.

 

Nice spot, sadly spoilt by jet skis for hire, so the water that had been crystal clear when we arrived soon turned cloudy and even the snorkelling off the nearby reef was rendered pretty pointless.  But we had a nice time and Iain, Fiona, Craig and Karene all came for supper and drinks on board Serafina.  Goodness knows where Sarah keeps producing these meals from.  But we need to have some time away from other boats to allow our tummies a rest!

 

It was a bit rolly during the night and so we had no difficulty in deciding to move on in the morning. We needed a decent wifi signal as both Sarah and I had important stuff to do online and so we sailed back up to Hermitage Bay where a resort is beaming out an incredibly powerful free wifi signal.  Happy days.  Ruffian opted to go back to Deep Bay and so we had a quiet night alone for a brief change. 

 

Emails received then told us that several other boats and their crews who we know well are also now in Antigua and so once we have sailed up to Barbuda on Tuesday, we are probably set for yet more reunions. This could be a long fun winter.

 

Location, travel log and photos at www.rhbell.com