Changing Crew
Stream
Darrell Jackson and Sarah Barnes
Sun 23 Mar 2014 02:03
Monday 17th March 2014.
After a weekend in Jolly Harbour cleaning and preparing the boat for our guests it was a relief to have a day off the boat. Jolly Harbour is a marina in Antigua, which has rather a lot of mosquitoes that seem to like eating Sarah so she comes up in huge lumps, while Darrell, who although bitten, is hardly affected. The marina is built on reclaimed swamp land at the north end of the island and has been developed to included a range of waterfront homes with their own moorings and hotels. But it is not one of our favourite places.
We decided that we would spend some time in St Johns, the capital of Antigua, on our way to the airport to meet our friends. We timed it perfectly to pick up one of the local buses and were soon in town. The town is laid out in grid formation so it is easy to find your way around. It is a mixture of architectural styles and once away from the cruise liner dock you do get a feel of the real Antigua. As we were sitting in the bus terminal waiting for the airport bus we saw the BA flight coming in to land on time, despite being delayed at Gatwick for forty minutes. The bus that we were assured would be "in soon" arrived about an hour after we arrived and all the people in the terminal got up to get on it. Although it was bigger than the normal minibuses, it had extra pull-down seats in the aisles and there was still not enough seating, so the driver asked the standing passengers to crouch down so they could not be seen while they left the terminal. So off we went. Every time someone needed to get off, the whole bus had to get up and move forward to open up the aisle to allow them off, which was quite a palaver but made for an interesting journey. As we neared the airport, the shout came for the driver to stop and all bar four of us got off the bus and walked off in the same direction, amongst much amusement. The driver kindly dropped us off as close to the airport as possible, where we found our friends waiting for us. We decided a taxi back would be easier if not so entertaining.
After a quick change and freshen up, we headed off to the beach and then to a bar for St Patricks night celebrations and a meal. It's strange seeing Caribbean bar staff wearing green wigs and leprechaun hats!
Tuesday 18th March 2014
To break Jenni and John in gently to life on Stream, we motor sailed around to Five Island Harbour and anchored in Heritage Bay for lunch. This was a very short and pleasant sail for the first day of their holiday. After lunch, we continued a few miles around to Deep Bay and anchored. We all enjoyed a swimming around the boat, even Jenni who found using fins wonderful, which was good as the water was too cloudy to see anything.
We rounded off the day with drinks in the cockpit and barbecued steak.
Wednesday 19th March 2014
We dinghied ashore in Deep Bay to the Royal Antiguan Hotel grounds, which was like a ghost town and seemed to have absolutely no guests. We were met by an employee who did not want us to use the bins in front of the pool for our bag of rubbish, but directed us around the back. The British High Commission were booked in for a cocktail party according to the board and we were hoping for invitations, although it may have been left over from a past engagement, we couldn't be sure. Faded grandeur was the essence of the place. The girl on reception was persuaded by Darrell to book us a taxi and after a twenty minute wait outside "Prince Charles" arrived. He was cheerful and a mine of information on the island it's history and politics. He kept us entertained as he took us into St Johns.
We spent an hour at Heritage Quay, which is designed for the cruise ships passengers and could be in any Caribbean town. We were plagued by the taxi drivers wanting us to take a tour. There was an unscheduled ship in due to a broken shaft and they were trying to make the most of the opportunity. Just a street away from Heritage Quay are some nice shops in beautiful traditional skirt and blouse buildings, although some were in need of TLC. We went to explore the markets; meat, fish and vegetables, with little or no produce. A craft market that didn't open until after 12pm and had a flood anyway. We then walked up to the Cathedral but it was closed for renovations. Jenni decided to test out Darrell's paramedic skills by falling over, luckily he still remembers some basic first aid. We spent a pleasant hour in the museum learning about Antigua's history and the slave trade. We then had lunch at Alligators before getting Prince Charles to return us to Deep Bay, which coincided with him picking up one of his twin daughters from school.
Before we went back to the boat, we scrambled up the hill to the north of the bay to the remains of the 18th Century Fort and super views of St Johns and the Antiguan coast. We then went back to the boat and, as the water was clearer, went snorkelling. Although it was still cloudy we did manage to see several varieties of fish and sea urchins. Jenni is getting into this swimming lark, but we were a bit worried about her when she took a wrong turn and started heading towards Monserrat on the way back to Stream.
Darrell then decided to put us to work. One of the reefing lines had become chafed at the gooseneck during the Atlantic crossing and Darrell wanted to replace it. He had sewn the new line to the old one as it had to pass inside the length of the boom and he needed a line to guide its passage through. Darrell was by the the mast pulling the line from the sail through an eye on the boom and down to a block on the deck. John was feeding the re through the boom. Sarah and Jenni were hauling the line in the cockpit. All was going well until Darrell needed more purchase to get the join of the two ropes through an eye so he decided that he needed his full weight to pull down on the rope and so moved a foot to get a better balance and promptly fell through an open hatch in the deck. Darrell's explanation was that he deliberately dropped down through the hatch to give more momentum to the pull, although this was not how the rest of the crew saw the incident. Luckily he had hold of the line as it prevented him totally disappearing through the hatch. This worked well though, and although Darrell was sprawled on the deck with a grazed shin and bruised arm, the team had managed to replace the line successfully.
As the invitation to the cocktail party never arrived we had Gin and Tonics in the cockpit and another barbecue highlighted by the sighting of the Green Flash, but no cheers round the bay tonight. Strangely, from the cockpit, there did not seem much happening in the hotel!