We arrived in Antigua on the 10^th December and after three weeks at sea we could have almost bought a ‘condo’ on the waterline, hooked our boat to the jetty and lived happily ever after in Jolly Harbour!  It took us a week to get acclimatised and sorted out by which time most of the Rally boats had moved around to Nelson’s Dockyard in readiness for Christmas. 

Our idea was to cruise for a week prior to berthing for Christmas with the others - but it has been very windy and bashing up the coast to find a somewhat lonely anchorage (where Eric Clapton has his house) didn’t quite do it for us – so we turned right around and came back to English Harbour where we anchored for three days in the bay.  This had a lot of attractions – firstly it was free - but just as importantly we could all reach the shops, bars and restaurants of English and Nelson’s Harbour by dingy although it was slightly complicated when we all wanted to go in different directions!  There was a great breeze blowing which seemed to negate the mosquitoes and all the Super Yachts were berthed alongside the dockyard which was a fabulous sight, especially at night.  However, on the 20^th December we motored around the headland to take our place ‘alongside’ with the rest of the Rally in Nelson’s Dockyard as we had pre booked our berth.

Nelson’s Dockyard with yachts at anchor.

We were not sure of our berth until the moment we arrived as Joseph the Harbour Master decides on the spur of the moment depending on your length, breadth and draft – it is an exact science as the harbour has all sorts of ancient debris including massive lengths of chain used to scupper the French boats if they ventured in! !  It was as tricky berthing alongside as we had been advised – Joseph yells ‘drop the anchor now’ when you seem to be way off ‘the target’ and then you try and reverse in slowly enough not to collide but quickly enough to combat the wind which is pushing you completely off course.  Coupled with Joseph’s orders over the VHF you are also aware of other yachties yelling advise and even abuse if they think you have dropped our anchor over theirs!!  Our experience after a perfect reversal was that our 60 meter of anchor chain ran out 15 feet before we reached the dockside!!  It took three more rather stressy attempts to accomplish what looks like a very simple task to the uninitiated!  BUT once in you cant wait to watch the others’ usually failed approaches!!!  The advantage of the random system of berthing here is that all the small boats are not necessarily put together – you are just as likely be nestled in beside a yacht measuring 100 foot or more.   We, the English, floated fake palm trees across the harbour entrance in Nelson’s day to avoid being seen. The architecture of the old buildings is fascinating and it is an amazing experience to be here for Christmas.

BWR – Peter and Christine - organised a great get together on the beach – we all brought our own barbeques, picnics and drinks in dinghy’s and spent an idle day together which made a change.  See more www.bluewaterrallies.com We are finding it hard to relax though – there is always so much more to get done…….. but what an amazing way of life cruising is – some of the yachts in the bay have been anchored up for months – it beats council tax!!

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What’s for lunch today?

Yachts ‘Imagine’, ‘Pank’, ‘Out on the Blue’ and ‘Louena’ have either said their goodbyes or will depart after Christmas as they were only here for Rally Antigua –  (i.e. Gibraltar to Antigua) some other yachts have already sailed off to meet friends and family on other islands – Bly have decided the whole experience is too quick for them so they are opting out of the Rally - lots of change which is understandable and to be expected. Zippy do da and Hakuna Matata  have had their anti fouling done and have now joined us – Tapestry needed some engine repairs so were delayed at Jolly Harbour for a while – Big Blue are still at sea on their way here - Michael and Jacqui are here in Nelson’s Dockyard and have settled into their new life aboard Bacchus - Keith’s leg is on the mend and he hopes to be able to sail to Panama on his boat rather than fly. Oscar has had a hair cut and looks completely different –  Paul and I have lost so much weight he is wearing my jean shorts and Bennett has gone down two or three sizes too!

For our part we are carrying on with our repairs, cleaning the boat inside and out, polishing all the oxidised rust from the stainless steel guard rails etc, scraping off the ‘goose barnacles’ (long wiggley sea creatures which sucker on only to the back of the boat, for some reason near the rudder, and are a devil to remove).  We are hoping to get our repaired sails returned soon but the ‘Sail Maker’s Locker’ is working through the night to get through an extraordinary workload at this time of year…..  Our gas bottles have a Spanish valve clip on system unknown here in Antigua  so we have to remove and change the valve and buy a new regulator before we can fill up again.  Fuel is very reasonable here – we have filled our tanks for around 60p  a litre and our food bill came to around 500 pounds to stock up for the next month ahead.

I think we are planning to leave soon for Guadaloup, Dominica and possibly Mustique for New Year ………… we have had a great couple of days visiting my 88 year old uncle Michael on board the Hebredian Spirit anchored coincidentally off Barbuda where we were treated like royalty and finding the largest colony of nesting and mating Friggate birds in the world – I will try and do a David Attenborough impersonation in my next blog!

            HAPPY CHRISTMAS 2007 TO EVERYONE READING THIS XXXXX