Sailing Yacht - Why Not.

Had a lovely Valentine’s Evening at Pillars English Harbour with friends Kim and Sarah and Adrian. Sally you were missed x

Chilling in Nelson’s Dockyard, waiting for our next guests Kim & Sarah. We know the next two weeks are going to be a little hectic, with way too much sun, sea & alcohol, so making the best of some down time. :)

We find it hard to believe that we have been here a month already. The first 2 weeks was completely taken over with maintenance on the boat. Cleaning, putting the sail up, laundry, deck cleaning the list goes on. We were put back in the water which seemed to be the start of our problems. The slipyard had put us between 2 other yachts and packed us in a little too tight. So what normally is a long 2 hours wait to get back in water we had a 6 hour wait while the other boats were manoeuvred to get us out. We finally got back in the water to discover generator was not working and the engine was not putting any power into the batteries. We were feeling the pressure as we had friends arriving at the end of that week. Fortunately they had a few days in Admirals Inn to chill out while Richard got Ian (our handy electrical man in Antigua) to sort the problem.

With guests onboard we had a small weather window to get over to St Maarten, which turned out to be rather hard going. Though Richard and Andy seemed to handle and enjoy the 100 miles night sail rolling in the deep while Caroline and I took cover down below.

St Maarten is looking very sad, the hurricane has really given them a hammering, with boats, yachts, huge motor launches all being battered regardless of size. Many of the buildings have also being wiped out. We spent 4 days in St Maarten in Simpson Bay waiting for the weather to abate to return to Antigua after Richard had done all his retail therapy in the Budget Marine and Island Water-world. With new batteries, alternator and the rest of his shopping list we headed back to Antigua. On the way back we stopped to have dinner in a bay in St Barts and then had another night sail back to Jolly Harbour, Antigua. Our sail back was a lot kinder and with a beautiful full moon.

Since being back in Antigua the weather has been beautiful and we have had a fantastic few days working our way up to Nelson’s Dock Yard, stopping at Jacqui O’s and OJ’s for lunch and a swim. We are back now in Nelson’s Dock Yard anchored In a bay catching up with friends off Ecover of Skagen, who have arrived while we were in St Maarten.

Our friends Caroline and Andy leave tomorrow and we think they have had a good holiday, Andy revelling in the sailing and Caroline enjoying the sunshine and the hammock.

Dropped the anchor just off Jacqui “O’s” Love beach. Enjoying cocktails. Why Not anchored in the background with Montserrat, the island in the distance.

Ben? Il est où Bob?

When Antigua comes out to play. Happy people. :)

It has been an emotional 24 hours with the Atlantic Rowers starting to arrive. Last night the Brits (4 Rowers) arrived smashing the world record and then this morning the Antigen Rowers came in second. Everyone has made an effort to come out and welcome them in. We have just watched the first solo rower arrive, an amazing achievement getting in so early. People are saying he must have rowed a 20 hour day to keep up with the 4 Rowers. Richard and I went out in the dinghy to meet them and got some great photos. :)

Sundowners at Cloggy’s Falmouth Harbour, Antigua

Richard, I think it’s time for an upgrade! This beauty arrived this morning in the marina and totally dwarfed everyone and if you have a power launch like this you need more than a dinghy. The 3rd photo is of their tender!