When we arrived in Antigua, we said to a 9 year old boat kid that we thought we'd be here for a week. He replied "thats what YOU think. We've been here for two and a half years." And I have to admit, it's quite hard to leave! We enjoyed sailing round to Jolly Harbour, getting more experienced with dropping our anchor, and then coming back to English Harbour. Mark and I are in agreement that we are abit lazy when it comes to sailing. If we are going to sail then we want to GO somewhere - like another country. It's all abit of a faff pulling up the anchor, stowing everything away, just for a couple of hour jaunt around the coast and then spending a couple of hours wondering if our anchor is holding before venturing ashore! The kids' swimming has really improved just with them jumping off the back of the boat. Lochy is in twitching heaven, with all the different species of bird there is to see, both on the coast and in the rainforest. And finally, we have met loads of boat kids, which has been great for the kids and for us - lots of beach excursions, a birthday party and exposure to French.
We said goodbye to Alan who went off on the RORC 600 race with the big boys and then said hello to him again when he came back 4 days later, but he is no longer on our boat and we are back to being just the Jackson Four - we shall miss his moans and groans in the morning "I'm not a morning person" and I shall miss thrashing him at Backgammon!!
We have found our routine with school again after a weeks holiday and the kids have enjoyed going to the Nelson Dockyard museum and learning about how he was shipped home in a barrel of French Brandy!
We are going to be heading down South soon - once our trampoline is back on having been repaired - maybe Guadeloupe, Martinique, St Lucia etc. So if anyone wants to visit, just name their island.....!