Antigua with Kat's parents
12 February 2010 | Curtain Bluff, Antigua
Kat
I hadn't seen my parents since September when we spent a quick one night back in the UK (for Brad to attend his UK citizenship ceremony), so it was with great excitement we met my parents in Antigua at their beautiful hotel, Curtain Bluff. My Uncle David & Aunty Cindy from Canada have treated my parents to a week here so that we could all relax and catch up. The hotel was a brilliantly-run, luxury all-inclusive hotel that was very understanding about us visiting my parents and we have had a real holiday from a holiday enjoying their delicious food, beautiful beach and swimming-pool sized bath! It was a real treat for us and just so amazing to be able to spend time with David and Cindy and my parents - BIG THANK YOU UNCLE DAVID AND AUNTY CINDY!
During the week they were here we had a hire car and explored pretty much the whole of the island including the capital St John, beautiful Half Moon Bay, a couple of visits to Nelson's Dockyard and sun-downers at Shirley Heights to enjoy the amazing view over English and Falmouth Harbours and watch Monserrat spewing volcanic dust up into the atmostphere. Mum and I also made the most of the hotel's facilities and had fun swimming in the pool, sailing a hobby cat, going snorkelling around the bay and paddling around in a kayak. We all enjoyed the delicious food and cocktails - what a luxury not to have to cook!
Unfortunately all good things must of course come to an end and we said a sad farewell to my parents and Aunt & Uncle yesterday - as a strange sort of farewell the wind changed to a south-westerly which meant GHOST was covered in all the dust from Monserrat! You could write your name in the dust on the deck after just a couple of hours.
In advance of starting the next and final phase of the trip we are hoping to shortly complete various works on GHOST - fixing the whisker pole, the gennaker halyard spectacles, the st'b electric winch, and undertaking warranty work to refix some loose portlights, as well as a host of minor jobs. We are also excited to welcome Chris (from the ARC boat Tucanon) who joins us all the way to Australia with lots of toys including kite-surfing kit and his dive gear so as you can guess we are already pretty full on GHOST and are not sure where Jay will sleep when we pick him up in early March in Cartagena, but it looks like we'll have lots of fun in the Pacific.
Link to photos of Antigua:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/bradmcmaster1/AntiguaWithMyParents#
Link to photos of St Maartan:
http://picasaweb.google.co.uk/bradmcmaster1/StMaartan#