After more torrential rain yesterday and this morning, we decided that we were going to leave St John's Harbour regardless of the weather (within reason!) and head for Parham Sound on the NE coast of Antigua. With a northerly swell in full action and 20 knots of wind, this was likely to be a slog of a motor sail. We set off at 10 am in drizzle and, sure enough, found plenty of waves and wind. To add to today's fun, the navigation needed to be spot on as we were making our way through numerous reefs and rocky outcrops requiring 'good light' according to the pilot guide. Well, we certainly did not have good light, but we do have a good GPS, with a secondary one also programmed today with our route in case of failure. This may seem somewhat of an overkill, but when you are sailing in 4 metres of water about 15 metres from coral heads with no sun above, you really need to know where you are fairly precisely! Our depth gauge proved the most useful tool of the day and was essential in working a way through to the anchorage. After a couple of of breathtaking moments with the gauge reading 2.1 metres (our draft is 1.9 metres) near our anchor point, we finally anchored in Parham Harbour .... just as the throttle cable snapped! This is about 2 years to the day when it last snapped in Poole Harbour. Unfortunately, it is now late Saturday, the chandlery is shut until Monday, and will require a half mile dinghy trip to shore, four bus journeys, and a dinghy trip back to the boat to get the spare part. Then it needs fitting which I recall is a real pig of a job. That's Monday's plan sorted then! In the mean time, with very strong winds expected tonight, we have our second anchor ready to hurl over the side in case of a dire anchor-dragging situation. Most unlikely of course! The best thing about our new location is that the sea is flat calm, the view is very pleasant, there are very few other boats here, and it was incredibly peaceful watching the pelicans dive into the sea for their dinner this evening. We are planning on staying in this area for a week now to investigate some of the surrounding islands once I have fixed the throttle cable.