With Trilogy safely docked, our thoughts and actions turned to the task of preparing Trilogy to be hauled out of the water. The guys had already been preparing lists of things to ask the agent and it had been arranged that the agent, George, would meet with them at 09:00 Friday. We began some preliminary cleaning tasks in the afternoon and then went for a lovely dinner at a recommended restaurant called Cloggy's at the Falmouth Yacht Club. The meal was delicious and the setting just beautiful, looking across the Harbour.
At 09:00 George arrived and the boys spent a couple of hours discussing the services and repairs Trilogy required and the sequence of events, in the lead up to the haul out very early Tuesday morning, before the wind strength gets too high. George called a number of his service providers and before the day was out, several had paid Trilogy a visit. One was an electrician called King, and he turned up later with a CD of a recording of his band, himself being the lead singer. After a bit of chat, he asked us if we would like to go with him and his wife to Friday Night Seafood, which is a regular event in Nelson Dockyard. We enjoyed being part of this local event, with lots of families and friends sitting around tables enjoying themselves in the balmy breezes. There was rather loud music being played by a DJ but otherwise it was a quite affair, the seafood being the main feature.
Next day there was more work done on Trilogy for a few hours and then we hired a car from King ( yes, fingers in many pies!) and took a trip to the north east coast to check out the beaches. Google Maps had us going over some very rough roads in places, but eventually we arrived at Halfmoon Bay, which was reasonably protected from the strong easterly. Again we were told it was No 3 in the top 10 of beaches in the world......there seems to be an awful lot of No1s and No3s.....no one seems to be claiming No2! Anyway the beach was simply beautiful, with a lovely sweeping arc shape capped by rocky headlands. We snorkelled the rather dead coral and walked to the point where waves were crashing in. We were also told it is usually a lot rougher in the bay and surf is often present. An effervescent stall holder, Charmaine, filled us in with lots of local insights and we later bought a few pieces of her handmade craft items.
Next stop was Stringray City, which we had heard offered boat rides out to a colony of stingrays, which whom you can swim and feed. We were not able to do this as it was too late in the day, but we were advised that the stingrays still have their stings! Our third stop was at Long Beach, which was a beautiful white sandy stretch of beach, with two low key resorts at one end. It was late afternoon on Saturday and the local families were out in force, relaxing and enjoying the very calm and refreshing water. We simply relaxed and absorbed the delightful scene. As the families packed up to leave, we observed the ubiquitous ute being loaded up with children in the back tray, some standing, some sitting on the sides and some actually seated inside, with no safety restraints in sight....took us back to the sixties in Australia. As ripe mangos are dripping from the trees all over the island, each of the kids was tucking into an unpeeled mango with the greatest of ease. No cutting off the mango cheeks to feed this lot!
Sunday was the scheduled cleaning day and clean we did. Both below and above decks looked pristine by the end of the day. The air conditioning was working overtime to keep below decks cool enough and thankfully the high humidity was kept at bay. All the stainless steel was polished as we had learnt that the rust we had been observing in several areas on the decks was evidence of electrolysis occurring in the rigging, probably emanating from the Windless electric motor for the anchor. This has lead to a decision to take the mast down while Trilogy is out of the water, a job that is recommended about every 5 years, in order to check the mast and all the rigging.
Monday was a very busy day for the guys as all the servicemen turned up to do the requested work. There were as many as 12 servicemen on board at the one time, all with their different areas of expertise. By the end of the day, all services had been completed...now that's a record! The washed linen, towels and pillows had been stowed, ready for the next season. The girls got themselves out of the way all day by going to English Harbour for a 'girls day'. The highlight of the day was tracking down the sculptures by Tom Elicker, the artist we had met on St Croix at the Gunpowder Art Gallery. It was a superb exhibition of artwork by Dina Brozzi Goodenough, an Italian born and classically trained artist, who has lived in Antigua for many years. Tom's fine bronz sculptures perfectly complemented Dina's portraits in oil and ink. After a light lunch down by the water we found time for a bit of body pampering before catching the local bus back to Catamaran Bay. The men were naturally tired and hungry after their long hard day and we decided to take a taxi to Nelson's Dockyard to dine at the Admiral's Inn, a building dating back 300 years, from the days when Horatio Nelson had served at the establishment. It was early to bed because Trilogy needed us at 07:00.