16.13N 063.08W 2nd June 2011
Mojo 2
Andrew Partington
Thu 2 Jun 2011 12:17
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We are on the move again.
Around 2PM yesterday we cleared customs and
sailed out of Antigua from Jolley Harbour.
Antigua was a wonderful place to stay for a few
days but the heat and our failing livers forced us to move on. The best deal we
found on rum was $4 AU per litre.
Most of our time was spent in English Harbour which
was a naval dockyard and fort for the English Fleet in the 1700's. The
dockside buildings have been restored and now house businesses servicing the
boating industry and tourism. The dockyard at English Harbour allowed
the English to maintain a fleet of ships in the Caribbean to protect their
trading interests in the area.
We met a couple of Aussies, Phil & Maree, [hope
that is the correct spelling guys!!] in Falmouth Harbour at a coffee shop
and they very generously had us over for a meal at their villa. They were
staying close to where the boat was anchored. Phil & Maree were on their way
back to Australia from a reunion in the USA for a cross country team that Maree
ran for when they lived in the US.
Delightful couple. We enjoyed the meal and the
company, and the poetry!!
After leaving Jolley Harbour we stopped for a
swim at a beach nearby and then set our course for Montserrat [Mystique].
Montserrat is only about 20NM from Antigua and still has an active volcano. We
sailed around the western side of the island just outside the safety exclusion
zone for the volcano. Towards dusk we were around the southern side
and had a view of what appeared to be a recent lava flow that headed all
the way up to the massive crater.
After rounding Montserrat we set our next waypoint
for Aruba, which is roughly 500NM from Montserrat. We will be meeting Robert
there because he was unable to arrange his passport in time for Antigua. It
looks as though Lyn will fly back to Australia from there as well.
This morning we are 448NM from Aruba and on a
direct line to our destination. We have 12-13 knots of wind around 20 degrees
off our port stern and are sailing at 5-6 knots. There is no real swell and we
have a fairly comfortable following sea. Hopefully we can cover a good
distance today.
Andrew Partington.
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