Deep Bay, Antigua

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Wed 15 Jan 2014 02:25

17:07.5N 61:53.2W

 

 

Mon & Tues – 13th & 14th Jan

 

Hermitage Bay provided us with a superb wifi service and Rob cleared a load of work that had been pending internet access and in the early evening the wind and swell dropped and so we had a very peaceful night on Sunday.

 

Monday morning dawned bright and surprisingly light on wind!  We were joined around lunchtime by Ruffian who had opted to come round and also take full advantage of the strong free wifi signal here.  They had decided that the wind and seas were not yet subdued enough for the sail to Barbuda and so instead of checking out with Customs ready for the sail north, they were going to spend the night here and check out on Tuesday.

 

We were buzzed for 10 very monotonous minutes whilst one of the resort customers purged the need to use a jet ski from his system.  It was sad to watch as he drove slowly and carefully up and down the length of the beach, accelerating briefly part of the way down the straight and then slowing for a sedate turn at each end. It was not only boring for us, but you could tell that very quickly he too had found that this was as dull as hell when you are both frightened of going too fast (or barely faster than slow) and the one and only jet skier there.  Several times he tried to end his session by heading for the beach, only to be enthusiastically waved away and told he should carry on by the slightly masochistic operator!

 

In the late afternoon Sarah went for a short walk over the hill with Ruffian, spotting a blowhole on the short peninsula west of the anchorage on the way and watching Salperton, our favourite mega yacht in the Caribbean have a storming sail into the bay and then anchor.  Sarah then, with her usual athletic ability, failed to get into Thug, Ruffian’s dinghy during quite an exciting launch and got very wet!

 

Sundowners were on Serafina and dinner was on Ruffian.

 

So early on Tuesday morning Iain very helpfully collected our garbage and took it along with Ruffian’s ashore to the big skip they had seen on their walk. He and Fiona then headed off to Jolly Harbour to check out through Customs as they are moving on to St Maarten after we visit Barbuda.  They also visited the grocery store and managed to pick up a couple of things for us from a very depleted Epicurean (what was in previous years a well-stocked quite upmarket supermarket) for us as well doing their own shopping.  Meanwhile Sarah went for a swim ashore to the beach for a spot of gentle beachcombing but by the time she had got back to the boat and rinsed off, she developed an odd allergic reaction where her face started to swell up, feeling numb and slightly faint.  Luckily a swift anti-histamine pill seemed to do the trick – she had felt no sting or bite at the time strangely.

 

We remained in Hermitage bay until lunchtime managing to Skype our son Tom in Australia and then just motored round to Deep Bay where we were meeting up with Ruffian again. We were surprised to find Il Sogno anchored there as well.  We anchored a bit further out into the bay this time as the swell had now gone right down and were able to pick up wifi as a bonus.

 

So off to Barbuda in the morning and do not expect to get any wifi for a few days.