Visit with Loved Ones

Well, it is Thursday afternoon and Holly and Joe will be getting on the plane to go back to ice and snow about now. We took them in to the marina here at Jolly Harbour earlier today to catch a taxi to the airport so now is the time to reflect on and share the visit.


We had originally intended to join them on the 2nd or 3rd of January at the villa they had rented for when they arrived on January 1. Because of our Christmas committments and the fact the weather didn't cooperate in Curacao we were late getting away and of course as you might have read in our previous blogs, the weather continued to be uncooperative so that we didn't get up here until January 6. They had already checked with the landlady to see if the villa occupancy could be extended so when we arrived, we discussed it and decided we would stay in the Villa until January 9th, which we did. I must say at this point that part of that decision, as far as Cheryl and I were concerned, was based on the great difficulty we had in getting our land legs back. For any of you who have experienced it, you may have some idea what we are talking about but for those of you unfamiliar with the phenomenon, I will try to describe it.

After you have been on a rolling environment for a period of time, when you leave it, the body tends to still feel as if you are there. Of course this messes up the mind because you are on solid ground. Cheryl and I had felt this on previous occasions such as when we were first learning to sail, when we did our first overnight from Virgin Gorda to St Maarten and a bit more so when we sailed for 3 days from Grenada to Curacao, but let me tell you we had never experienced anything like what we felt after our trip from Curacao to Antigua. The fact that the ship was rolling so constantly and to such an extent as well as for that length of time really threw us for a loop. When we first went into Customs, our first time on land, we actually had to sit down or we would have staggered all over the place and we both actually felt quite nauseous. Compare it to swinging round and round and round in a circle for 10 minutes and multiply that by 10.


Anyway, when we hooked up with Holly and Joe (H&J from now on) we were still very much feeling those effects so we thought it best to get our land legs back before going sailing again. The nice thing about it was that the villa had a dock and after the landlady very kindly had cleats put on the deck we were able to bring Mystic Journey right to our back door, so to speak.


First night at the villa we took it pretty easy. Cheryl and I were pretty tired so we were in bed pretty early but when a new day dawned, we were ready to share time, albeit still reeling somewhat when we walked.


H&J had done some sightseeing on their own before we got there so we were able to pick and choose somewhat as far as agenda was concerned. They had previously gone into St Johns, the capital of Antigua, but Holly wanted to go back with us so we took the bus on Wednesday and away we went. St Johns is similar to some of the other capitals of islands of the same size we have visited -narrow streets, lots of noise, and lots of small stores that seem somewhat overcrowded compared to what Canadians are used to. There were 2 cruise ships in that day so there were lots of "pinkies" around the dock area. Cruiser people tend to stay in the more touristy places so we didn't spend too much time there. One unfortunate event during this time - H&J had tried to get some American money at the two Canadian-based banks, RBC and Nova Scotia, but they would only give it on credit cards and they wanted to use an ATM card. A teller in the Nova Scotia told Holly about an ATM down by the docks that gave out US $'s so we went down there. I went in first and got some US money to give to Joe as our share of the villa. Then Holly went in and although the machine whirred and clicked, it didn't dispense any money and there was no receipt issued. Joe then went in and used his card and he was also successful. Holly thought she had better check to make sure no money had left her account so we went to an internet cafe and she checked. Sure enough, the money had come out. They went right to the Nova Scotia bank only to find it closed at 2 PM so that night was spent making some frantic calls to try to straighten the mess out. Long story short - at this point they have been assured that once they get back, they will have the money returned to their account.


Thursday the 8th we decided to take a walk to a beach that the next door neighbour said could be reached by going down a country road and following a path. Well, he didn't mention how far it was or how hot and dusty but when we arrived we found we were on a beach at Five Islands Bay and it was well worth the walk. We were able to swim, walk, collect shells and just relax and enjoy. The walk there and back plus all the fresh air and swimming ensured we all slept well that night.


The next day we loaded up Mystic Journey and left the villa. The first thing we did was stop at the fuel dock to fill up on liquids. Of course since we had visitors on board (and because of the wind blowing us off the docks and the fact we had to come in from a very cramped space to bring our starboard side to the dock - honest, it wasn't my driving) it took two tries to get into the fuel dock slip and when we got there, we discovered they had closed for lunch so we got to wait for over an hour. We then went out into Jolly Harbour Bay and put our anchor down. Once that was done,we relaxed, enjoyed the rest of the day aboard the boat watching the pelicans and the setting sun.

I must explain at this time that our intended agenda for when H&J were here was to make sure we sailed to Barbuda. This is an island that is actually under the governance of Antigua but is about 25 miles north. It has beautiful beaches and not many boats and there are some neat things to see up there. Unfortunately, beginning about Thursday, the winds began to increase until they were blowing at 20-30 knots regularly and the seas increased to between 8 and 12 feet. We wanted H&J to enjoy their sailing experience so made the decision that we would not subject them to the rougher sailing that the conditions were providing. We talked about what to do and decided that if things didn't improve, we would take the easier road and sail up to Deep Bay, a protected anchorage about an hour up the coast, which is what we eventuallly did. More on that later.

The next day was a day of rest and relaxation. The wind was too high to do much so we sat around and talked and read. We eventually went into the marina to get access to the grocery store where we stocked up the larder. The wind was producing wind chop even in the protected harbour so it was a wet trip both in and out. Of course I, as the boat steerer and thus at the back of the dinghy, stayed fairly dry. Not planned that way but nice for me!!

That evening, while watching the sun go down, we told H&J about the green flash which can sometimes be seen just as the sun finally dips below the horizon. We had never seen it up to this point and so were somewhat skeptical ourselves. Sure enough, thouogh, as we watched the sun dipped below the horizon there it was - a brilliant green flash. From the other boats around us came the cry "Look the green flash" so it was not a figment of our imagination. Sorry no picture.

We had decided to go up the coast to Deep Bay, as I said, so early the next morning we prepared for the trip. We have been having problems with our wind indicator showing wrong wind speed and direction so before we left I went up the mast to see if I could lubricate the moving parts and make it better. After I came down we set off for our new anchorage. The wind was still blowing 20-25 kts so we put one reef in the mainsail when we raised it. Reefing the main means you control how much sail actually goes up. We have mentioned this in another blog but it is done when the wind might be a problem and in this case we raised the sail so it was one reef from full sail. We also raised the foresail but since we lost our staysail coming from Curacao, we didn't use that. Actually we would not have used it in any case as it is best utilized when the wind is much less and we need more sail area.

With the sail we had up we were able to get to about 8.5 kts without leaning Mystic Journey over too far and scaring the bejeesus out of Holly and Joe. It was actually a great sail, with lots of sun and sparkling waves and it ended too soon.

Deep Bay is just south of the capital, St Johns, and does not seem to get much boat traffic. The Royal Antiguan Resort is there but it is set back well off the beach, which incidentally is very nice, so the anchorage was much more "tropical islandy" than the Jolly Harbour anchorage. Joe and Holly, being avid fisherpeople, had quickly gotten out the rod and reel that Randy Ward had so kindly gifted to us when he and Aleitha were visiting and they soon had a line out. I had not been very successful up to this point - the only thing I had caught was the line on the dinghy or some part of the boat. Imagine our "happy happy joy joy" when Joe hooked the first fish caught from Mystic Journey. It was a Horse-eyed Jack and was big enough to allow us all to have a fish filet for supper. Randy - I found out it was not our fault the reel kept throwing off line - Joe told me there was way too much line on the reel so he took some off and it works fine now.

I think that I am going to close this blog for now. I have 4 more days of visit to talk about but I don't want to put you to sleep with too much blogging so will resume later.