The sail or motor as it was, was a bit of a slog as we experienced the dirty fuel issue once again and it rained pretty solidly from the moment we rounded the bottom of Nevis. What we weren’t aware of until we reached Antigua was that this crossing has a bit of a reputation for squalls and rain, along with the rather impressive and frightening water spouts.
As the rain came down the wind dropped but we saw three water spouts off our starboard side no more than 1NM away. It was quite spectacular but we didn’t want them to get any closer. As we approached Jolly Harbour the rain abated but to say we were a bit damp is a massive understatement as our wet weather gear no longer held any waterproof qualities at all and we could ring out every item of clothing.
We anchored in Jolly Harbour’s outer bay and as it was now late in the day and customs would be closed, we decided to wait until the next morning to drop the dinghy and head into shore to do the necessary check in. That evening we enjoyed the now dry sunset and hung out all our wet gear in the cockpit to try and dry everything as best we could.
The next morning the sun was shining once more and we headed into the customs dock to check in, the process was a bit long winded, not aided by the fact that their computer systems were down so even though we’d filled in everything online we had to redo paper copies. There was quite a queue of boats checking in and out of the country but it moved steadily through each of the 4 offices and by the time we’d finished we were ready for a coffee and some breakfast.
Taking the dinghy further into the harbour we found the dinghy dock near Petals Bistro, docking for a few hours we had breakfast and then found our way to the supermarket to purchase a few items to get us through the few days of boat jobs, before we planned to head round the island to Falmouth Harbour in the south.
Ross jumped into the sea later that day to check out the hull and see how much weed and growth we had accumulated and was surprised by the amount of fluff and tiny shrimp which covered Blue Mist’s bum. With a little wipe or scrap this seems to come off pretty easily so it would take too much effort to clean. The water was clear with conch and starfish mixed into the grass and sandy sea floor, we were treated to a friendly welcome by a graceful eagle ray, who seemed unperturbed by our presence above him as he glided right under us hunting for food.
The next day with a drop in the usual easterly wind and before some northern swell would make the anchorage uncomfortable we lifted anchor and motored the short distance around the south western end of the island, between the reef and landmass to Falmouth harbour. Home of the Antigua Yacht Club and a short 5 min was (we’d soon learn) to English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard, where we ended up spending a lot of our time in Antigua.
It was a chilled out motor, only getting lumpy as we exited the reef line for the few miles to Falmouth Harbour, easy to spot on this occasion as a Cruise Ship had sat itself in the middle of the entrance so we had to skirt around it, the channel markers and reef line pretty closely.
Looking for a place to anchor we found a spot just off the main channel in about 6m of water, unsure of the composition of the seabed, we backed down to ensure we’d stuck and made a plan to get the dive gear out soon to check it as visibility wasn’t clear. We weren’t expecting a change in the trade winds direction for a while so felt confident that the anchor had set.
Over the next few days we explored the immediate area, finding the various dinghy docks, the supermarket and chandlery. We set off to explore Nelson’s Dockyard for the day, only to find it was only a 5 minute walk from Falmouth Harbour, cost us $15 per person to get in and we’d been round it all pretty much in an hour. I appreciate that we’re spoiled being from Gosport for Naval History, but whilst beautiful and with some interesting exhibits, the main part now appears to be Food and Beverage outlets, tat shops for the cruise ship guests, some offices and the base for Sunsail, so a bit of a disappointment really.
Heading back to the boat, we bumped into our neighbours, who Ross had spotted in the anchorage, as their yacht Weymouth Warrior was flying the white ensign pennant of the Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda as well as the pennant for the Portland Sailing Club. Ross has been reading about the Tot club for a while as he’d been told about it by a previous cruiser friend and would love to be a member once he’d learned all about it.
The club isn’t something you can request to join, you must be invited by a current member and pass the entry requirements, which include attending and drinking 7 rum tots in 10 days and passing a naval history exam, verbal, based on the life and achievements of Admiral Nelson, befitting as the club is based in Nelson’s Dockyard. During our stay Ross was lucky enough to receive such an invite and after following the steps and taking the test, with Mike the club founder as his examiner, is now a proud member of the Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda and you’ll see the white ensign flying from Blue Mists spreaders.
Over the next few months, we spent our time getting to know as many of the club members as we could, they are a wonderful group who not only get together everything day for the tot and socialise, but also participate in community activities, like clearing the various hikes and trails around the dockyard and surrounding historical areas ensuring they remain accessible and clean for all visitors. Many of our adventures on island were with and because of the club's generous and welcoming nature and we can’t thank them enough for making our time on island so special.
With club members from Weymouth Warrior and Jubilation, we hired a car for a few days to explore the island. We had a few errands to run, a new battery to pick up for Jubilation and both of our friends also wanted to check out the boat yards at Jolly Harbour and North Sound as they were still deciding on where to haul out for the hurricane season. Once the jobs were completed we took the time to explore as much of the island as possible.
We walked, well Mark did, across the natural archway at the Devil’s Bridge National Park. Swam to check out the coral, pretty decimated by the swell and previous storms. Checked out view points and areas of natural beauty all across the island. Passed the national stadium with a beautiful new road and statue of Sir Viv Richards, a national hero. Cricket was always a popular and fun topic with bus and taxi drivers. It was a very fun few days.
Having been on the island for almost a month, we needed to make the journey back to Jolly Harbour to extend our cruising permit as for some reason we’d only been given 30 days initially, unlike our immigration visa which was for 90 days. The buses in the Caribbean as a whole have always been a source of fun for us, the smaller vans are usually cramped spaces full of local chatter and loud music, but this one in particular also appeared to feel the need to try and achieve warp speed. It was a slightly terrifying 30 minutes from Falmouth Harbour to the capital St Johns where we changed buses to a much more sedate 20 minute journey to Jolly Harbour. It was a relatively speedy process at the Harbour Office to get an updated cruising permit, and after a stop at the larger supermarket we decided against the two bus journey home and got a cab back. This took us the scenic route back to Falmouth Harbour, along the coast road for the most part, the land journey version of the track we’d made in Blue Mist, we got back to the dinghy dock where our shopping was still chilled but we were $50 dollar the poorer.
During our time in Antigua, we would be on Island for two of the most popular Regattas in the Caribbean racing calendar, Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta and Antigua Sailing Week. The two event leaders for the Classic Yacht Regatta were part of the tot club and we found out that many members of the club volunteered for the event, so we put our hands up and joined in. This also prompted Ross to contact Antigua Sailing Week and see if they wanted volunteers as well.
These two events would run back to back and we ended up doing almost three solid weeks as volunteers, very tiring but so much fun. For Classics, Ross spent his time with the Dinghy Wranglers, helping the boats without engines on and off the dock every day and out the harbour to the race area. Also assisting those that needed it with steerage in the limited space of the Quayside. I spent the week helping in the Race Office chasing down crew lists and ensuring information was communicated back and forth between the race boat and race committee, even helping the live Regatta Parade commentators identify the boats with all their flags flying.
I did the same for Antigua Sailing Week, this time I also supported the check in of all the Race boats on registration day, providing support to the Events Team daily and even found myself on stage managing the trophies for the final evenings prizegiving. Ross got to put his previous experience to use supporting the racing for the Wing Foil Championships over the first few days and then like me, helping the Event Team ensure all the day and evening events ran smoothly. On the final trophy event Ross had fun, wrestling in some cases, the permanent trophies back off the winners so they could go back to the Museum for the following year.
Shattered after the event, our thoughts and activities turn towards our final month in Antigua and our final month in the Caribbean. Both Ross and I had already begun job hunting and setting wheels in motion for new challenges and opportunities once back in the UK, but we also wanted to enjoy our final time with friends and fellow cruisers.
We split our time between job hunting, enjoying drinks, dinner, hiking, swimming and fun with our friends and as Blue Mist would be shipped back to the UK, waiting for the shipping dates. It was during these final weeks that Ross was lucky enough to interview for and secure a new role meaning all of a sudden our return to the UK had a deadline. This was amazing news, but did pose a bit of a problem as our shipping agents had delayed Blue Mist’s return date and now we needed to be in the UK well before Blue Mist would be lifted onto the big ship for her return journey.
One of the amazing things about all the new friends we made at the Tot Club was they were an absolute font of knowledge when it came to our dilemma and the need for a Skipper to look after Blue Mist and take her to the vessel once we had the dates. Luckily one of the Tot club members was a Skipper, we hadn’t met him, but everyone we spoke to gave us his details and reccomendation. We arranged for him to come meet us once we’d moved the boat to Jolly Harbour Marina, as this is where we’d be leaving her when we flew home and enjoyed our final week in Falmouth Harbour.
We had pretty good weather for our journey back to Jolly Harbour, we dropped anchor further into the bay this time and as luck would have it, right behind a friends boat called Wild Bird, who were also preparing to return to the UK, but they would be doing it themselves and sailing back via the Azores and Ireland. Not two minutes after the anchor was down the heavens opened, it was a complete white out; we couldn't see more than 20m around us but at least it had washed the salt water off from our journey.
Later that evening, when the sun had returned, we jumped in the dinghy heading into town and to get a drink and some groceries, passing by Wild Bird we stopped to say hi and caught up on their plans. They’d been watching a weather system waiting for a good window to set off for the Azores, but it looked like they’d be delayed a little longer.
We’d originally planned a few days in the anchorage before heading into the Marina, but with the weather being unpredictable we decided to head in straight away as it would be beneficial to get started on the strip down of the boat. Over the next week we met with our skipper who was lovely and happy to help, and then spent our days clearing out Blue Mist of everything she would no longer need or could not make the journey back to the UK. Sails came off, all the canvas came down, the wind generator was disabled and we stowed all our gear as if we were about to be sailing in heavy weather. Switching off the fridge and clearing all food that was either already out of date or wouldn’t survive the 6-7 weeks before Blue Mist would be back in the UK.
It was very weird leaving Blue Mist, Hurricane Season would be starting before she would be on her way home and it wasn’t beyond the realms of possibility that we’d be having early storms this seasons with the crossover of La Nina and El Nino, and the very warm waters which have become the norm all across the Caribbean which would feed any weather system.
Locking her up, handing the keys over to the Marina for safe keeping and getting a taxi was a strange experience, as it was with both sadness as we’d would miss this nomadic life and excitement, as we’d not seen family and friends from the UK for three years that we headed to the airport and an overnight flight back to London.
Fair winds to all our cruisers friends and thank you to you the reader for joining us on our adventure.
Keep following Blue Mist on Instagram as we will be documenting her return to the UK and the various boat jobs and upgrades we’ll be making to Blue Mist. Plus our sailing in and around the Solent.
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