SERENITY NOW

  Left our sweet spot at Jumby Bay on Long Island (just off Antigua) and wove our way out through the reefs to make the crossing North to Barbuda. As we upped anchor, I thought to myself: ‘Today’s going to be one of those days’ - the ones where the wind is just right, the sun shines and you blissfully glide across the water without a care in the world. Well, it was nearly one of those days.... the wind was good, the sun did shine, but sadly it wasn’t quite as blissful as hoped for. Once away from the relative protection of the reefs, the high, side on swell rapidly became uncomfortable. I was OK with it, riding up and down on the deck as we were tossed around bucking bronco style. Chez didn’t fair quite so well.. that’s putting it very mildly. In the four years since we started sailing, this was the worst bout of seasickness she’s ever suffered. She was completely incapacitated, unable to even sit upright. With me acting as her somewhat inept nurse, she lay, life jacket on, wretchedly

  After settling up with the marina and fuelling up we left Jolly Harbour on a breezy sunny day. Good to be on the move again. We headed the short hop clockwise around the island to the mainly uninhabited Hermitage Bay. It ticks the picturesque boxes: lush surrounding hills, almost white long sandy beaches and only a few lunching mega yachts for company. They soon departed leaving just us, an occasional pelican and not much else to enjoy the afternoon. The spot we’ve chosen to anchor is just off the beach of the Hermitage Bay resort, a good looking spot with wooden cabanas in the hills for $1800USD per night. A bonus for us is that they have free wifi and a signal strong enough to reach the boat....ah simple pleasures! Stayed there for a few days relaxing and fishing - only partially successfully. I caught a good eating sized sand diver which I popped in a bucket on the transom while I did the identification. Returned a minute later to an empty bucket - lucky/clever so and so. Also got

  3 Feb 2022 (Antigua 1) Arrived at close to sunset into a packed English harbour with our engine surely running on fumes alone by that stage. Our too close anchoring began a conversation with some Swedish neighbours. This started on the wrong foot, but thankfully developed into a helpful discussion on all our options for fuel, anchoring and checking in. The upshot of that chat was us heading just around the corner to anchor in the bay at Falmouth. Initial impressions - delightful! As we dropped anchor a large turtle joined us, frigate birds circled and swooped. All enjoyed a flat calm proper sleep. The next morning we radioed for a medical check, stood by as instructed, then headed back across to Nelson’s old stomping ground on foot. English harbour has retained a lot of its original Georgian stone buildings around the water. These, interspersed with palm and mango trees gives the whole place a great old world navy feel. Happily, the medical check and immigration were painless - well