17:03.96N 61:53.01W

Tuesday 8^th, Wednesday 9^th & Thursday 10^th March

After breakfast we prepared Serafina for sailing and launched the dinghy in preparation for the arrival of Chris and Frances. They appeared on the beach bang on time and having picked them up we headed out to sea for a sail.

We were lucky at first and blessed with a fair 12 knots breeze which allowed us to set the full cutter rig and whilst Mick helmed we headed off from Antigua roughly on a north westerly heading. After about half an hour we were joined by a mother and baby dolphin and then a third one added to the fun as they swam under and across our bows for a short while. We then tacked and headed for Boon Channel on the northern coast of Antigua. Chris enjoyed a bit of good sailing until gradually the wind eased and backed leaving us headed and running out of time. We ended up motor sailing as far as Prickly Pear Island where we dropped anchor and had a late lunch and a few beers as well as a swim.

Time slipped away and rather too soon we had to head off and return Chris and Frances to civilisation which we did by sailing into the little bay where their hotel was and again running them ashore in the dinghy.

We were  now running out of light and made our way fairly quickly to Long Island and across the shallows to Jumby Bay which had been recommended to us as an idyllic anchorage, but having dropped and set the anchor it was clear that this was not going to be the smoothest of nights! There were a couple of other yachts there as well as a big gin palace called ‘One More Toy’ and so we had the place pretty much to ourselves. Sadly as the night drew on the wind rose and fell a few times and the swell became very uncomfortable and we all had a fairly restless night.

In the morning we did not wait long before we set sail for Five Islands Harbour, but as is the way with things, the nice fresh breeze had dropped away to virtually nothing and after sailing the first few miles at barely 3 knots we finally had to give in and motor the rest of the way, past St John’s and into the big turquoise blue haven that is known as Five Islands Harbour, but is in fact just a big bay (1 mile across and 2 miles deep) with several lovely looking sandy beaches as well as mangroves and a small island in the middle. The entire bay is very shallow and remarkably empty. When we drooped the hook, we were only the fourth boat there and by nightfall that number had only risen to six. Like most of the bays though, the wonderful blue water is not at all clear as it is thick with sand and coral sediment, but still very refreshing to swim in and stunning to look at.

This was Mick and Dione’s last night out here and we enjoyed a peaceful night with only a slight swell and woke to another brilliantly clear blue sky. We stayed in Five Islands Harbour until midday before setting off on the short return trip to Jolly Harbour and the end of Mick and Dione’s stay with us.

We motored round in a very light wind and a blisteringly hot sun and were ushered into virtually the same berth as we had before, by William. We all went for a great lunch at Peter’s which does an excellent BBQ and then M & D finished their packing and around 1700 hrs climbed reluctantly into a taxi heading for the airport. We gather that there is a tale to be told about their trip in the taxi, but that will have to wait until they get back to the UK.

Having waved goodbye, we set off down to the beach to join Chris and Steve from Scott-Free who are still here and Mike and Anne from Nimue (pronounced Nimway) for a few drinks as the sun set dramatically over the deep blue and turquoise sea.