Farewell Antigua and the start of Tikka’s journey back to the med
Tikka
Sun 6 May 2018 20:53
As we waved goodbye to the Browns we welcomed Graham, the first of our Atlantic crew aboard. The afternoon started off gently with a swim at Boom before dinner onboard and got ready to leave the next morning.
Friday, jobs finished (solar panels installed and working, the disappearing magnets fitted into the davits, water tanks filled, and the hull and decks cleaned), stocked up at the supermarket and headed round to Jolly Harbour where we needed a new boat hook end (old one took a dive into English Harbour but better a boat hook than a crew member) and a dinghy cable from Budget Marine. We anchored in the bay, completed our chores ashore and dinghied round to the back of Jolly Beach for dinner at Castaway bar. Sat in the bar with a beer just in time, as the heavens opened (thankfully we had remembered to close all the hatches this time).
We left the next morning after clearing customs for a rather lumpy sail to Barbuda. Peaceful evening as we were the only boat in the whole of the beautiful 11 mile beach.
The following day was an early start (5.30), ready for the 87 mile trip to St Martin but we were rewarded with some dolphins playing off our bow about an hour into the trip. We arrived in Simpson Bay after almost 12 hours. We anchored overnight before heading into the lagoon on the first bridge opening in the morning. We have a night booked with Island Water World Marina where we will pick up the rest of our crew and stock Tikka with food (and beer) for the journey ahead.