Monkeying Around - Jumby Bay, Long Island, Antigua
Harmonie
Don and Anne Myers
Sat 18 May 2013 12:35
| 17:09.349N 61:45.824W April 12, 2013 - April 22, 2013 Just when we were feeling jaded and bored with the whole Caribbean experience after fighting for anchor space in Martinique, smiling and waving at other boaters who reciprocated with blank stares almost everywhere we went, and bumping our way to windward up the archipelago; our friends Sue (aka Monkey) and Rick arrived to remind us what a charmed life we lead. They had never visited us aboard Harmonie before, so we were a little concerned that the floating life would not agree with them. Wrong. After seven days anchored in two bays along Antigua's north coast (three of those days spent marooned aboard, with no trips ashore), Monkey and Rick stepped off Harmonie's stern onto the dock at Jolly Harbor Marina smiling and unscathed. Well, unscathed if you don't count the heat emanating from their unnaturally glowing skin, or the giant bruise slowly changing color on Rick's inner arm (caused by a particularly arduous sack-of-potato dinghy entry after snorkeling in Jumby Bay). During those seven days of what for us was pure vacation mode (as opposed to boater mode, which includes less glamourous tasks like boat maintenance, cleaning, laundry and shopping - all of which require an inordinate amount of time compared to the same tasks done while land living), we visited two lovely bays on Antigua's north coast, Deep Bay and Jumby Bay on Long Island. We had visited Deep Bay back in 2008 on our way south, but Jumby Bay was new to us. We shared Jumby Bay with the $1,500/night Jumby Bay Resort, hundreds of fat, bright orange starfish, and no other boats. The blue of the bay changed with the rising and setting sun, rivaling that of French Polynesia's Society Island lagoons, and providing nearly enough entertainment for us to be content simply watching the intensity of the blue change over time. Nice. Deep Bay, on the other hand, was not the same intense blue, the grandly named Royal Antiguan Resort was anything but grand, and we had to share the bay with a few other boats. However, the place did have its own charms. Not the least of which were uncanny acoustics that allowed us to play Janis Joplin at top volume well after boater's midnight (9 pm) without disturbing anyone. Deep Bay is also the setting for Fort Barrington, built in the mid-1600's to protect Antigua's capital city, St. John's, from the French. The remains of Fort Barrington sit atop what was called Goat Hill, but has since been renamed Meltdown Mountain in Monkey's honor. This occurred after she, I and Rick scrambled up the rocky path to Fort Barrington, and a typical Caribbean squall blew through, forcing us to seek shelter in a semi-cave, and causing Monkey to meltdown into mild panic. "I can't do it! The rocks are too slippery! Once we get up we won't be able to get down!", and so forth. After the squall passed through, we waited for Monkey's personal squall to subside before proceeding up the path (and back down) with no trouble. That afternoon, we decided to rechristen Fort Barrington's Goat Hill as Meltdown Mountain. Plans are currently in the works to inform Lonely Planet of the change. Potato-head and tomato-head sharing South African bubbly on day two in Deep Bay. Guess who is the shade-dwelling boater and who is the sun worshipping guest? Monkey and Rick on the way up Goat Hill, before the squall, meltdown, and subsequent renaming. The remains of Fort Barrington are above. Deep Bay as seen from Fort Barrington. Harmonie is the boat anchored furthest to the right. The lovely Jumby Bay Resort overlooking the very blue bay. Jumby Bay was so calm and shallow, Don decided it was a good place to scrape off the garden growing on Harmonie's bottom. He does this using snorkel and fins, free diving as necessary to reach all of Harmonie's bottom parts. I usually keep an occasional eye on Don's progress from deck when he cleans the hull, just to be sure he hasn't become shark bait, been eaten by a giant squid or had some other marine disaster visited upon him. However, with Monkey and Rick aboard, I had the luxury of dumping off my Don watching duties on Rick while Monkey and I went kayaking. Who knew that Rick, in his unflagging diligence, would set such an impossibly high standard for all future hull-cleaning-Don-watching duty? Mostly unscathed Rick and Monkey, and fully-relaxed-in-vacation-mode Anne and Don all decked out for dinner out in Jolly Harbor Marina. Monkey's calling card left ready and waiting to take over at the helm upon Monkey and Rick's departure from Harmonie. Next up: There and Back Again - Prickly Bay, Grenada Anne |