30 January 2003
With a whole week to prepare ourselves, we were in tip-top condition for the arrival of Scotty & his girlfriend, Fay. No sooner than they were on the boat we were off the dock, motoring out of Jolly Harbour. We anchored just round the corner in Five Island Harbour off of Stony Horn. They managed to have their first dip before dusk and Scotty gave the dinghy a thrashing! We ate in the cockpit under the stars, which certainly helped them relax and get into the Caribbean swing.
In the morning they were off to the beach for the early morning swim and made it back just in time for breakfast. We were heading round to English Harbour as that was were we had arranged to meet Kevin & Charlie, Scotty's friends. As the sails went up, the fishing line went over. We were discussing our rather poor success rate when suddenly there was movement, and the shock cord went out. Oh my goodness, I nearly wet myself. We were all charging round. I started to bring him in. Scotty was down on the swim platform with a bucket and gaff while Matt brought the line round the back of the boat. So in he came, I went and grabbed the Bombay Sapphire and poured it into his gills. One dead fish, now we had to the book out to see what he was. Most definitely a tuna! We hadn't even passed Jolly Harbour, the whole trip round was very exciting as it meant I could finally get out my sushi kit!!!
We anchored off of Galleon Beach and went into the Dockyard in search of Charlie & Kevin. They weren't difficult to find as they are both over 6 foot tall! Matt taxied them to the boat with bags, while the rest of us headed to The Galley Bar, and waited for the others to return. A few beers later Matt and I headed back to prepare a few snacks & sushi. The nori rolls turned out very well and the sashimi looked just as good, unfortunately Charlie is pregnant so didn't get to sample but the rest of us thought it was scrumptious, especially with the sides of crinkle cut chips & nachos. Unfortunately some of us had missed lunch, two had also not managed to hold down their breakfast on the trip round and were starved!
Dinner was up at HQ's, a very pleasant setting and view, Kevin knocked his bone over the side of the balcony, which is still a bit of a mystery now seeing as I was on the edge!! Mark & Charlie came up to join us for a drink, they are very happy on Miss Molly.
Friday morning after tidying up from breakfast we wandered over to Falmouth Harbour to check out the super yachts and stock up for the barbie. We left English Harbour and went left, upwind to Green Island. It was bumpy ride round and unfortunately Charlie was the first to give in to sickness followed by Kevin. Luckily both felt much better when we arrived and managed to go in for swim. I got busy in the kitchen preparing the feast that was our dinner. I can't even list everything we had as there was such a monstrous amount and of course we ate it all!!! Oh, other than the cheese!!
Saturday we pumped up the canoe and off went Scotty and Kevin unfortunately they seemed to take on quite a lot of water after a while Matt and I went and buzzed them in the dinghy and swapped over. Matt and I paddled out and round Little Bird Island, we're definitely improving! Then it was time to up the anchor and move into Non-Such Bay as for lunch it was back to Harmony Hall for another fight with a lobster. We started at the top of the sugar mill to check out the view and enjoy a pina, then down to the table. As usual the food was of the finest quality and we all stuffed ourselves stupid, although I tried not to and went for the small plate of lobster pasta! Then it was back to the boat where we had a few nudie swimmers and we saw the full moon rise over the horizon, now that was something special. Then more food just to fill in the gap of having no dinner. I was first to bed!
What else but Sunday night at Shirley Heights. We had a much calmer ride back to English Harbour, even though Kevin was on the helm! Fishing line was out again and we were all just chilling when bang went the shock cord, this guy was a big one! Oh my goodness it was Barry the Barracuda. We got him a board and we slayed him as the Disco does best. We were having the can we eat him or can we not conversation and it was swinging both ways but the subject of ciguatera kept arising so we decided that it was best ditched. So for lunch we went to the Inn Beach Bar, which to our delight has a new chef and a far cheaper menu, after lunch our four guests snoozed on the beach, while Matt and I finally took the foot trail up to Shirley's. The first part was really steep but it became easier. We spotted a Hermit crab who fell down the slope he was walking as he hid inside his shell from us, then there was a mongoose and of course we saw the goats. The sleepy heads arrived a good hour later! We partied the evening away and eventually took a taxi back down the hill.
When the alarm sounded Monday morning it was far too early. Kevin & Charlie were off in a taxi at 8am so we all appeared to say farewell. Kevin was off back to Atlanta while Charlie was staying another day as her parents were in St John for the day on the cruise they were doing. Scotty, Matt and I went off to the sail makers while Fay had her massage, then Scotty left us there to have his. We then brought the guys back to the boat, I think Tony just wanted to have a peak at his competition as we'll be in his class at Heineken& Sailing Week! Dinner onboard in the evening and surprise surprise another early night as we'd all got up so early!
Tuesday morning was spent around the Dockyard and we left for Jolly around lunchtime. As we came up the final piece of coast, we got a bite, I started to pull him in but he escaped, we were all so disappointed that we stayed out and did a few circles to see if we could tempt another!! We anchored outside the channel in the beautiful turquoise waters. We dinghied in to Castaways on the beach and enjoyed a fine dinner there.
Wednesday we motored up to Deep Bay, it was a bit of a showery day with Fay, Scotty & I being caught in 2 showers while in the dinghy and got a complete soaking. In the evening we risked a BBQ and even managed to eat outside although things on the table were minimum to ensure that we could get it downstairs fast enough! The rain held off until we were all packed away and ready for bed!
We'd been looking forward to Thursday as we were sailing up to Great Bird Island, the northerly swell held off for us and we had a beautiful sail up inside of the reef, past Dickenson Bay and up to Long Island. We dropped our sails by Long Island as we knew this was where it was going to get tricky. We hoisted Scotty up the mast to the second set of spreaders and he was going to navigate us round the coral heads, it was very exciting and VERY beautiful. On arrival after laying the anchor as I turned around there was a huge and I mean HUGE stingray right there, he made a quick escape while I was getting the others to come see. We ate the remainder of last night BBQ for lunch and then we all went off snorkeling, it was fantastic. I'd forgotten how great it could be, it definitely compared to the caves in the BVIs. There were plenty of fish, which luckily didn't chase me! Fay saw an eel who didn't want to have his picture taken, so she didn't hang around too long but managed to get a quick snap. Our final BBQ that night was great, as usual we had too much but at least we weren't feeling like we had to eat it all!! We took our mobile into our cabin as we were expecting a call regarding a new edition to the family. At 4am the phone started ringing, it was a bit of a shock as I can't think of any baby that is born on its due date, but clearly Isabel Grace was desperate to meet the world.
Strangely enough we were a little tired when we got up but we had to get moving fast to get ourselves out from the coral before the sun came overhead and made the whole navigation process quite impossible. This time we sent both Fay & Scotty up the mast, time for some peace!! We escaped before the sun had risen too far and on our way out, Scotty and Fay found the buoy we were looking for to guide us in the day before. It was under the water and about 2 meters away from the hull exactly where our chart plotter had placed it, we must go back and find it again and place a fender on it for others who are also trying to find it.
Our final evening, we planned to eat at Zee-bar, in Jolly Harbour, we sat down at the table and noticed different things and suddenly we realised it was no longer Zee-bar but Mellini's Mellini's, it had changed hands during the week. The food was fantastic and reasonable, I think we've just found ourselves another favourite restaurant! We said our goodbyes, for now, as Scotty is back for Heineken at the beginning of March and Fay is back for Sailing Week. Time is flying as we're having so much fun. I'm sure we'll be in StMartin preparing for Heineken before we know it. But for now we'll be in Antigua waiting for our next charter.
Carry On to Living in Antigua
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