We've spent the last few days Travelling and Touring, Exploring and Adventurin' with Izzy R,



sometimes she's following us, or sometimes we're following her,



or sometimes we're side by side,



resulting in some great photo-ops



of our GunkHoling Adventures.

Exploring like this, kind of off the beaten path, reminds me of GunkHoling. Following definition, we truly ARE cruising (tucked in behind the long reef paralleling the North-Western Antiguan coast), we ARE kind of in shallow and shoally waters, and we ARE meandering from place to place... However, the Gunk in GunkHoling typically refers to the Gunk of the muddy sea bottoms found in creeks, coves, marshes etc... However, we're lucky to be adventurin' in beautifully clear Aquamarine waters with rippled White Sand Ocean bottoms, nice !!

So, when we left Deep Bay the other morning, we nosed our way into the long channel entrance that is St John's (the capital of Antigua),



where there were not one, not two, but three (with room for more!!) cruise ships in town.



Always huge and impressive, especially when you see them up close and personal,



and I suppose even their hulls need rinsing from all that Salt Water as this worker was doing.



We were anxious to see this place as we have some friends soon arriving on a cruise ship, and we hope to be waiting to greet them as they disembark for their day in Antigua. Although Active Captain and the Chart Books indicate there is room to anchor in the bay by the cruise ships, in gunky mud, we weren't quite feeling that option and opted to rent some time in the Jolly Harbour marina instead.

Back out and up the coast where we sailed past Prickly Pear Island. Narrowest beach we've seen in a while, well protected by the outer reefs.



No shipwrecks and no forts here folks, this is all Beach-Bar and colourful umbrellas.



Wish sometimes that someone would opt to put some mooring balls around for day use, so that cruiser-boats like us could easily pop in for a visit, and lunch, and then leave. But then it would all be so very different wouldn't it?

We kept on sailing and heard a decidedly marked increase in overhead Air Traffic, and sure enough, we noticed the distinctive signs of the Antiguan Airport nearby.



Just across the way was Long Island and the plan was to anchor in Jumby Bay, just off the Very Exclusive and Quite Private Resort there, the shoreline dotted with Villas, Beach Homes and honestly, what looked like Estates. The water was quite clear, perfect for an afternoon swim, after lunch of course.

Afternoon GunkHoling had us heading out towards the nearby bays that looked like they were home to a marina and some industrial type of buildings. We were thinking of heading into Parham, which used to be quite a bustling port (and capital) of Antigua, but is now a "sleepy little town". A tour-about proved the area to be rather shallow (for us), the waters agitated, murky and not all that inviting. We circled about but didn't venture too far in, and eventually headed back to Jumby Bay with its Wi-Fi and swimmable waters and there we spent a lovely evening just watching the sun set, right over, believe it or not, the Airport.



The next morning had us visiting Great Bird Island not even 3 nm away. A tiny island, it's home to lots of wildlife, and believe it or not, no rats as visitors are greatly discouraged from leaving behind any food that might attract them.

Reports of mooring balls here were accurate and we snagged one of the two that had a lead line. This whole area is home to interestingly shaped rocks (Hell's Gate), with lots of inlets and places to snorkel. We landed on the beach but hadn't brought our shoes, so couldn't venture too far inland to explore the island by foot (next time, right?).

So we spent our time snorkelling, but it really wasn't all that spectacular, although I did miss out on seeing an octopus. It was a reminder though, when we got back to our boat, to charge the battery for the camera that we use for underwater shots so that we're ready next time !!



We motor-sailed back down the coast, stopping for the night in Dickinson Bay, with its Sandals Resort type of clientele,



which meant lots of speedy type of jet-skiers doing Curly-Q's around our boat, oh, Just for Fun.

Dave had some fun stories to tell of this place, of when he was here on a boys-booze-cruise, some 20 odd years ago. The evening activities included dinner in Coconut Grove where we were quite the entertainment for the already there dinner crowd, as we tried to gracefully arrive for our evening reservations, via incoming surf, in a dinghy, without getting wet, as we tried to get ashore. The waitress did a double take when she saw Dave though, saying, "Oh my, you look familiar, have you been here before?"

The next morning we sailed past the entrance to St John's (only one cruise ship in town this morning), a beautiful home (including infinity pool) on the Cliffside,



and this oil-pumping platform in the channel entranceway.



Lunch would have been a stop in the Five Islands Bay but the weather piped up, the place was rolly so we ventured deep(er) into the Bay for an explore and found Antigua's Garbage Dump,



and would you believe,



more fort type of buildings hidden amongst the trees.

An approaching squall



had us give this place a skip and so we continued on down the coast until we came to anchor in Crab Hill Bay where Izzy R joined us and the first order of business was noodling at the beach, followed by some Wadadli Gold Beer and Crab Cakes, at Turner's Beach Bar.



A great couple of Gunk(sand)holing type of days spent exploring, some serious sunsets along the way, and the last one even ended with a Green Flash.