March 10th
Antigua Nelsons dockyard
Paul, Maree and I had to go into customs and immigrations to get Paul and Maree off the crew list of Southern Star. I had already typed up and printed an official letter which was required, and it took about 20 minutes and we were done.
We all walked to catch a bus into St Johns. We got an offer from a taxi driver as we walked out of Nelsons Dockyard that we couldn’t refuse. He was 61 years old, with his dreadlocks up in a cap and was absolutely hilarious. He had us in fits of laughter the whole journey. It took about half an hour to get to St Johns.
We have had so much fun with Paul and Maree and there were times we were almost rolling around on the floor with laughter. They are now going onto the USA and hiring a motorhome until the end of the month, to cruise around and enjoy the sights.
March 11th
It was a bit of a slow start to the morning and of course a bit sad also as its Paul and Maree’s last morning. Maree cooked breakfast Avocado, tomato and cheese on toast it was very yum. I will miss her help!
Back to the boat where we decided on an early dinner we cooked Mahi Mahi in Panko breadcrumbs with salad, watched a movie and were in bed by 9pm, we were exhausted.
It was a great view out to sea and was quite calm and peaceful. Back for breakfast and Robbie tried the kippers and they got a thumbs up. Jessie – maybe you won’t have to bring kippers after all!! Everyone who comes to stay gets a request to bring kippers for Robbie. Kristie is the favourite so far because she brought him 19 tins!! No one else except Robbie likes them and you just about need a peg on your nose when he opens the tin!
We had to be out of the marina by 12 so we filled up with water and I did a load of washing and we went and brought 2 days of hothothot data to last us until we can get the roaming expert connected on Monday. We departed right on 12 after paying the $100 US charges for water and electricity for 4 days, which is not what you would call cheap but that’s how it is.
We went out the entrance to empty the black tank and it was very rough and roly, I was pleased to come back in the calm of the anchorage. It is still very tight with quite a few yachts in here. We hadn’t even got the anchor down and I saw a turtle.
Well the Hothothot internet is NOT HOT! It is bad so we decided to go ahead and sign up for the Roaming expert. Robbie dropped me into the marina and I walked over to the yachting agent to collect the sim card. We completed the forms online and it will be hooked up first thing Monday morning. Hopefully this is the answer we have been looking for, for continuous fast internet! (Fingers crossed)
On the way back to the boat we stopped in at the beach bar run by an Australian lady Rachel, who welcomed us to Antigua on our arrival. It was very pleasant sitting on the beachfront and we met a young Australian couple who work for the National Australia Bank in New York.
March 13th Happy birthday to me! I was spoilt by Robbie and he cooked me poached eggs for breakfast. I tried to get on facebook, could see I had over 70 messages but could only download about 4 or 5. So frustrating! Emails came through OK.
We decided to clean the bottom of the boat as it was a calm day and the water was beautiful and clear. First of all Robbie did a snorkel and he came up with 2 mask and snorkel sets and a pair of polarised sunglasses. The previous boat must have left them out and they blew off or something, as they did not look like they had been in the water very long. A good score!
Robbie hooked up his hookah diving system and I just snorkelled and did the water line. It only took us a couple of hours. Southern Star has a lovely clean bottom again. It’s surprising how fast it gets growth on it in the warmer waters. We saw 2 turtles together and also dolphins swimming past. Very nice.
We had lunch on the boat and then we went into English Harbour and met Martin and Bridgit off MV Moonrise, another Nordhavn 47. We took a taxi up to Shirley Heights, where every Sunday they have a live band and there are fantastic views over the harbours. We could clearly see Southern Star and we could see over to Falmouth Harbour, but we could not see Moonrise, she was behind a hill.
It’s great to be able to swap experiences and information with other 47 owners.
We were pretty tired so we farewelled Martin and Bridgit and returned to the boat where after a while I was able to get some more Facebook messages but it was painfully slow.