CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored in Mosquito Cove, just outside Jolly Harbour in Antigua
17 04.579' N, 061 53.613' W

Today the morning "What should we do today?" discussion resulted in a decision to go see English Harbour, home of the Historic Nelson's Dockyard. As we have said, we like our current anchorage and the past week has allowed us to develop a fair level of confidence in the set of our anchor. Therefore, this excursion would be made by bus.

At the bus stop, we learned that we would have to go to St. Johns to change busses then go on to English Harbour. St. Johns is the island's cruise ship port. Since we were there, we ventured into a few shops among the throng of sunburned tourists. Nothing much, though, on our needs list would be met here. We needed the nautical shops of English Harbour.

A long bus ride, with many stops for locals to disembark, across the center of the island found us in English Harbour. We did get a glimpse of Nelson's Dockyard ...



..., but had other matters on our mind. We have been in search of a chart for Bermuda. It was not to be found in either marine store in St. Martin, and since Antigua is a common launching point for that offshore destination, we made finding that chart our priority.

"Why Bermuda?" you may ask. Well, our latest thoughts for the future are to continue on to visit Guadeloupe and Dominica, then turn the boat around towards the north. An offshore run to make a brief stop at Bermuda would be followed by a turn west toward the United States. Destination: the Chesapeake Bay. Hopefully, this will be a quiet place to spend the next hurricane season. Of course, like all of our plans, these are written in sand and easily subject to change. Just like our initial plans were to visit Saba, Statia, and St. Kitts & Nevis. Instead, here we are in Antigua.

Lord Jim's Locker had what we needed in the way of Bermuda charts, and we checked out a few other services in the English Harbour/Falmouth Harbour areas. It was time for lunch, and we stopped at a few places to check them out. This one was too expensive. That one was out of the vegetarian roti listed on their menu. We eventually hopped back on the bus and made our way back to St. Johns.

We could have gone searching for a restaurant in St. Johns, but the crowds were just a bit too much for us. After a quick stop at the vegetable market ...



... we boarded our final bus for the day and were soon back home in Jolly Harbour. We had a quickly prepared late lunch/early dinner aboard Prudence. It had been a good day of travels, as the local bus system here in Antigua is pretty nice. Each bus or minivan is labeled with numbers, so you know exactly what route they are servicing. The vehicles are clean and in working order. And, most importantly, they fill them until the seats are full, but no more. Unlike our bus ride a few years ago in St. Vincent, where they packed us in until we were sitting on each other's laps. Today, four bus rides for two people costs us about $12 USD.

After dinner, we were invited aboard s/v Bees Knees where Jim & Anne reciprocated the role as gracious hosts for sundowners. We were also joined by Dennis & Allayne, another American couple sailing on s/v Audrey Paige.



At the stroke of darkness, we were back aboard our own boat, ready for a little downloaded TV watching and a good night's sleep.