Leaving Antigua for Barbuda 17:07.7N 061:45.44W
Seakitten
Sun 15 Apr 2012 13:37
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Last week, Gill and I sailed up to Parham on the
north east of Antigua from Falmouth Harbour in the south so that some minor
repairs could be conducted at the Stanford Marine Facility - an excellent and
large boatyard financed by the now disgraced Mr Stanford, but leaving a
high quality facility. We had a great sail up, having to slow the
boat down to under 10 knots as we powered along in 20-23 knots of wind.
Rossi and Charl arrived safely on Thursday and Friday while the boat was on
the hard and Charl set the pace by immediately catching some pan sized fish off
the dock for supper. We are now fully crewed, although sadly will have to
say goodbye to Gill in Barbuda as she returns to Antigua to fly
home.
Yesterday we spent our last clear day in Antigua on
a taxi tour round some of the island's beautiful beaches.
While we were on the hard for a couple of days, the
minor damage to the transom has been repaired and the tight port side winch put
back into good working order, but it is a relief to be back in the water and
further from the mosquitos.
Last night we downloade the latest Grib files which
made us focus on the calm weather we should expect en route to Bermuda in a few
days time, but we didn't focus on a force 6 trying to drive us off the dock in
the rain overnight.
The bad weather continues this morning and has
delayed our departure. The time has allowed the skipper to get his
computer into a workable (if limited) condition.
Despite the wind and rain, it remains swimming
costume temperature and we are looking forward to spending a full day on Barbuda
tomorrow - or the day after if this weather continues not to cooperate. Cries of
"fair weather sailors" will be cheerily acknowledged - there are enough times
when one faces bad weather without a choice.
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