From the sea to the coast
09 January 2018 | Jolly Harbour, Antigua
It's been hard to find time and energy to write this, but I will give it my best shot. A week ago we were sailing along with the idea that we might make Antigua within a week so we emailed the marina in Jolly Harbour to ask about berthing and their advice for a night arrival. They sent back two voluminous emails which used the last of our satphone minutes and didn't completely download. We figured out how to get more minutes but at the same time our satellite router also stopped working. We tried debugging as best we could but to no avail. And that is why we couldn't post until we got some wifi at the marina. The last five days were relatively uneventful. The wind was still with us and there were a few and sometimes many squalls every day and night. We carried on with few changes. Gradually we saw more ship traffic and once called a freighter who altered course to avoid us, but we never saw any sails until we could actually see the island. In the last day we started seeing birds. It rained a lot and we got a little tired of it. Also it became clear that it would definitely be dark when we arrived. But we studied the charts and information we had about Jolly Harbour and it looked like we could get to the edge of the anchorage even in the dark. Jack said he just hoped it wouldn't be raining when we were trying to get anchored. Unfortunately it did start to really pour just as we approached the channel but in spite of our disagreements about what we were looking at we managed to find our way to the edge of the channel and dropped anchor just outside it. After cleaning up on deck we settled in with a glass of wine and some lomo iberico--our first alcohol since before leaving La Gomera. Within 20 minutes we were both sound asleep. It was so quiet, but there was the new sound of water washing up on shore. In the morning sun we could see that we were actually in an ok place. One of the first things we noticed about Antigua is how green it is. One of the next things we noticed is how frequently it rains -- no wonder it's so green. The weather here reminds us of Alabama, really hot and humid. After breakfast we found our mooring lines, put out fenders, raised anchor and slowly motored through the anchorage to the customs dock. We saw a few boats we recognized from the other side. It took some getting used to seeing so many US and Canada ensigns. We're definitely not a novelty any more, except for the antique nature of our vessel. The customs dock was very straightforward, a pontoon that you could come along either side. And it was super long compared to the European short ones we were used to. While Jack checked in with customs, immigration and port authority all of which are conveniently located side by side Debi snoozed in the cockpit and stared at the superyatchs. After radioing the marina we made our way over to it and were met by some very nice marineros (what are they called in English? Europeans translate it as "sailors" but I am sure that is not what they are called here) Anyway William and Hutson were super competent and helped us into the box stall with no mishaps. William said that the rowers from Antigua were "only" 600 miles away. Once we were tied up we got to work establishing some order and changing over from passage making to coastal configuration. We have been going nonstop since then. We can't remember all the things we fixed yesterday but Jack did arrange to get our boat registration renewed and sent to the marina here. Last night we went out to eat and had jerk chicken and west indies curry. Today we spent most of the day fixing the reaching pole, yes again! This time the line that extends it had chafed almost all the way through. There were many snags, but eventually we got it done. Sorry, no pictures yet but will try to get some soon.
