Arrival of the Rogers.... Our stay in Antigua was made by the arrival of Sian, Matt's sister, and her husband James. We took Disco round to Mamora Bay, which is where they were staying in the St James Club. Shortly after we had arrived, we were chatting in the cockpit, when we spotted somebody waving to us from the dock, it was Sian, who had arrived a few hours early. We raced over in the dinghy to greet her and James, they were very impressed by our tans...
That night we ate in the resort with them and were treated as all inclusive guests which was fab, a man even came round on a golf cart and gave us free beer! The following day we all had a go on the windsurfers, both Sian and I getting stuck in the middle of the bay and Matt whizzing round like he does it ever day. That night the four of us had a Valentines Dinner together at an Italian restuarant Piccolo Mondos, the band was great but we couldn't say the same for the service as it took TWO hours to get our main meal which made it 10.30PM!! We met up at 10.30 the following morning and we all headed out on Disco for a 3mile sail round to English Harbour, Sian unfortunately was a little seasick, which then made us all feel a little ill, but when she told us what she'd managed to eat for breakfast I think it was more that than the boat's motion. Safely back in English Harbour we wondered round the dockyard and then off to Falmouth Harbour to check out the real big boats, we then stopped off for some freshly made ice cream that was yummy. Then back to the disco for a few beers and change of clothes, we ventured to the Wardroom Restaurant in the Dockyard, which was a great meal. On the Saturday we had a break so they could relax on the beach and get some serious sunning going on...
Sunday was by far the best day as we took a taxi over to Harmony Hall, which had been recommended to us, and had a fantastic Sunday lunch of fresh lobster followed by a Brown's Bay Banana, which is basically a banana wrapped in filo pastry deep fried and covered in sugar and served with fresh toffee and ice cream, makes my mouth water just thinking about it. Later that afternoon we headed up to Shirley Heights for a steel band and a regga band, it was brilliant although we were so full from lunch we didn't manage to try the BBQ!!!
After all that excitment we gave them another day off on the Monday and Tuesday we headed over to the capital St Johns, which is basically a shopping heaven for all cruise ships and wasn't really much there to keep us busy. That night was our last night with them so we went back to the Club to say our goodbyes and again were treated to free drinks on behalf of the club. It was sad to say goodbye but it looks like they'll be back next year as they liked it so much...
Amongst all the excitement El Syd and Forward Thinking arrived which was great to catch up on the last two months, so we spent a few hours in the Galley Bar and Dry Dock chatting.
The Heineken was only a week away so we sailed round to Jolly Harbour admiring the colour of the water all the way round it was really special. Jolly Harbour wasn't as nice as we thought it might be so were happy to leave for St Barts at 5am the following morning to cover the 72nmiles. What a trip, as we came out of the Harbour, Montserrat was in full view and with it not being light we could see the magma overflowing out of the top, certainly not everyday you see an active volcano. The weather was perfect although a little too hot as we managed to go a little pink! The most amazing thing happened, while sitting there a whale did a full on jump out of the water, the only part of him I didn't see was his tail, I nearly fell off the side of the boat in the excitement and the splash was huge, unfortunately he was heading for Antigua so we couldn't chase him but it was certainly worth waiting for, after talking to a whale spotting boat in Dominica who was stunned that I hadn't seen one I'd almost given up. Poor Matt had to put up with 'I've seen a whale' for 2 hours!!!
We arrived in St Barts just before sundown and I was stunned when I dropped that anchor that I could see it very clearly through the water. I was even more surprised the following morning that as we took the dinghy into the marina to see two turtles on the surface, popping their heads up to breathe, it was so cool. That afternoon we cleaned the bottom of the boat so she'd be as fast as the rest of them at Heineken...
Revised -- Sunday 10 March 2002
Carry on to StMartin & the Heineken Regatta
Back to Fluffy's Cruising Diary