Well, this is probably going to be the shortest post I have written. It feels like it – as I don’t have much to say – but other than looking through all that have gone before, I can’t be certain. If you have nothing to do for a day or two – or probably even longer – then you could check out my hypothesis!
We left Dominica at 06.45 on the 13th February and had a really good sail up to “Malendure” ….
…. which is just north of halfway up the west Guadeloupe coast. We didn’t check in as, firstly, there is no-where there to check in – and the check in computer at the marina to the south was not operating – and, secondly, we were leaving anyway the following morning for Antigua.
Another early start [06.20] and another very good sail saw us arriving in “Lignumvitae Bay”, Antigua at 16.05 …..
……. which meant that, having done all the usual stuff after setting the anchor, we were just too late to be able to drop the dinghy and go up the channel to clear in at Jolly Harbour. We therefore made Ceviche followed by Steak, Chips and Salad, for a lovely Valentine’s Day meal.
Having completed check in the following morning which, in Antigua, takes quite a long time as they are meticulous with the paperwork and, seemingly – at least so far here in the Caribbean – are still taking Covid seriously with only Mike allowed to speak to each of the officials one at a time with everyone wearing masks. Despite the fact that we had filled in the “eSEAclear” form [Antigua’s online system] all the information we had given there had to be reproduced in paper form with the officials!! Crazy.
We then went into the marina for a look around.
It’s a bit of a strange place with not much happening – but there is a supermarket which goes by the name of “Epicurean Fine Foods” which is affiliated with “Waitrose”. The food items weren’t cheap but we could get bottles of Waitrose wine for less than they cost in the UK – in fact cheaper than wine from any supermarket in the UK.
From Jolly Harbour it is easy to catch a bus to St John’s – Antigua’s small capital. Despite there being about 4 cruise ships visiting we found both a Roti Shop [lunch] and a take away Pattie shop [evening snack meal] which charged “local” prices rather than inflated “cruise ship passenger” prices.
There isn’t much to see there – especially as the Cathedral ….
….. was closed [renovations?]
However we had a wander through the streets…..
……past the monument to the country…
….and another to “Sir Vere Cornwall Bird” – the “Father of the Nation”.
As neither displayed the flag very well I put it at the top of this post so you can see what it should have looked like on the monuments.
Looking back, it seems that we spent most of our time in Antigua trying to sort out a problem with our bank. Because we often use “Wise” to make internet payments in various currencies and also use a Caxton card for withdrawals from ATM’s/making card payments in restaurants/shops rather than our Barclays cards the “fraud squad” apparently got twitchy. Whilst we don’t mind them wanting to check out that all was OK and it was us making payments and not being fraudulent whilst about it, it took about three weeks before the matter was sorted. Since most of the people you get to speak to work to a script and have never heard of Wise or Caxton [even though they “work” in the financial sector] it is almost impossible to get them to understand people like us who, by lifestyle choice, need to be able to have several currencies available at any time and not be charged over the odds for the privilege. Eventually – at the second, or third attempt – a video call was held where Mike had to face the screen whilst holding up his passport and answer a few questions which weren’t even as “personal” as the usual “Mothers maiden name” etc. Bizarre – but at least it was sorted – for now!
The whole experience led to a number of, at times amusing and, at times, scary “Sundowner” conversations with Steve and Gill about AI. If we can’t get a human [albeit one who earns peanuts] to understand what we do now, Artificial Intelligence is going to be a real problem.
Whilst that was a frustration, even more frustrating was the fact that we did not manage to get to Barbuda – Antigua’s sister island – which we loved when we visited in 2012. The weather hadn’t been great for planning the passage but a window opened on 21st. Unfortunately, we had arranged to pick up our refilled propane bottles that morning but had been promised they would be there by 08.00. That was, of course, 0800 “island time” so we were at least two hours later than hoped when we set off for the trip north. We managed about 1.5 hours but the conditions were, by then, awful – we were battling into strong headwinds and getting drenched by squalls so, reluctantly, we turned back. Having left 3+ hours before us, “Coriander” missed the worst of the weather – at least until they were within spitting distance of Barbuda – and therefore made it.
Whilst they were enjoying the long sandy, isolated beaches of Barbuda, we took “Owl and Pussycat” round to Antigua’s southern anchorage – Falmouth harbour.
We got there the day after the finish of the “RORC Caribbean 600” race – which took 3.5 days – and “Ville de Nice”, who were anchored next to us…….
…. came 19th overall out of 46 starters [43 finishers]. They did, however, come first in their class – that of “two handed crew”.
We went ashore hoping to be able to walk to English Harbour – what we remembered as a lovely small harbour in which is situated Nelson’s Dockyard and museum. Now, the whole harbour – rather than just the museum – is a tourist attraction which you have to pay to enter so as we had seen it before and didn’t think that it having become a tourist playground would have improved it, we left.
Instead, we walked a little inland to the Craft Brewery……
…. and enjoyed a couple of pints….
…. in the sunshine.
We had intended to clear out from Falmouth but, whilst there, we got talking to another couple who told us that because it is in the nature reserve there is a, not insubstantial, added cost. It’s a bit strange because seemingly we were able to go from Jolly Harbour to Falmouth Harbour without charge but, had we cleared in or out of the latter rather than the former, would have been charged extra. Maybe we just got away with something we shouldn’t have – but no one came to ask us, so we just went with the flow and on 24th February returned to Jolly Harbour to clear out ready to sail early the following morning.
So, smallest post or not, it is all I have to report on our short [11 day] stay in Antigua.
