We have been in Antigua for almost a month. The time has gone by fast. There were many events associated with Antigua Classic Race Week that kept us busy for the past two weeks. There are "red hat" parties where you need to drink enough Mount Gay Rum to earn a coveted Red Hat. We went to a few and Gary drank his way to collect two red hats. The catch is that we have to wait until April 25 to collect the hats. So our journey to Barbuda has been delayed for about a week.

There is a hike up the hill here in Fallmouth that has a great view to watch the races. I did that while Gary went out in the dingy to take pictures up close. It was too rough for me out there. There are a lot of new pictures in the Antigua & (under that) Antigua Racing Gallery folders.

Every night during the race week there were parties giving out free drinks including champagne which is my favorite drink. Gary was able to get free rum and free beer. They also had snacks to eat. Several nights we did not have dinner because of the snacks. One night was Dark and Stormy night. The drink is rum and ginger beer (non-alcoholic). I had just the ginger beer. There are many cruisers here that we have met in the other islands. We have enjoyed the happy hours with all the people we already know and many new friends we have made.

One of the events was called a cream tea. It was in the afternoon. The ladies in the Antigua Yacht Club dressed up with flowers in their hats and served sandwiches and wonderful desserts and of course tea. Very tasty. During the cream tea there were gig races. Gigs are small row boats. It was fun to watch. Some of the people went in circles.
Another event was the parade of classics. One afternoon after the races the boats came into English Harbour and we got a closer look at all the wonderful boats. We climbed to Fort Berkley Point to see all the boats.

The race committee boat was the Flying Buzzard. It is 105 foot iron steam tug built in 1951 in England by Ferguson Brothers. After the race was over, there was an open house to see the boat. They also have a boat dog living aboard name Rusty.
There was a cold going around and Gary caught it. He has been taking it easy for the last couple of days.

The picture is of the Flying Buzzard