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Yes, we are still in Antigua and will be here for at least another week.  And, that’s because our son Christopher will be arriving here tomorrow.  After months of anticipating the POSSIBILITY that he would be able to take some time off and that he’d be able to visit us in the Caribbean, it’s actually happening.

So, here we are, in our third week in Antigua a country that I actually never imagined visiting until a year or so ago.  Such is life.  I guess you never know until you know.

Yesterday we had a big “first” when we successfully, well mostly successfully, completed a Mediterranean Moor with Pandora.  A Med Moor, as it’s generally known, is not commonly practiced in the U.S., where marinas have individual slips that you tie up in, involves approaching a bulkhead, dropping an anchor about three boat lengths away and then backing down until the stern is a foot of so from the bulkhead.  And here’s where it really gets interesting, this is all done between boats that are also moored in the same way on either side.

Brenda and I had never done this before so we really didn’t know what to expect. My plan was to put the tender, Pandora’s dinghy, off of the bow so when we backed down it would be out of the way and not likely to be sandwiched between us and the two boats that we were going to tie up between.    Normally, when we anchor, Brenda handles the helm and I deal with the anchor but in this case we opted to have her manage the anchor, deploying it as I backed toward the bulkhead.

Our friend Bill, from Kalunamoo, came along to help in case we ran into trouble. Fortunately, there were also a number of hands on the dock to help guide us in. And, to make things even more interesting, we would be backing into the wind.

When everything and everyone seemed to be ready we approached.  Brenda dropped the anchor on my “command” and we began backing toward the bulkhead.   Looking good, well at least until a few moments later when the anchor chain began dropping into the dink, that was now trailing off of the bow, instead of into the water.  Oops.  I had not anticipated that problem and the moment the chain began to get tight, compliments of chain piling up in the dink, I lost control of the boat.  In spite of the thrust from my bow thruster, we were dropping down toward one of the boats , also moored on either side of our intended path.

I increased the reverse power and was able to continue making progress as the chain was pulled out of the dink, really, really slowly.  By this time we were up against another boat but the “hands” were able to fend off, mostly.

One thing lead to another and we were finally able to get close to the bulkhead and were tied up.  No loss of life, or paint.  Success, if not an elegant approach.

Now we know.  Don’t let the dink trail off of the bow.  Problem solved. Well until the next time we have to do a Med Moor, which will be today when we move over to English Harbor and Nelson’s dockyard.   Wish us luck.

Here’s Pandora all snug in her berth.   You can see that pesky anchor line trailing off of the bow to keep her off of the bulkhead. The reason we decided to come into the marina was to have the electrician finish up the SSB installation.  It’s about done with a bit of “mopping up” this morning. It’s hard to believe that a DC-DC converter this big is needed to power the SSB. It’s the size of a shoe box and costs as much as a the designer shoes that would fit in that box.Our neat and tidy Pandora was trashed for the day. And from the “gift that keeps on giving department” the electrician now tells me that the AIS that was damaged in the power surge of the “roasting” SSB can’t be fixed so he has ordered from Europe.  Oh great.   This SSB had better work as it’s costing a bundle to get in place and operational.  “Can you hear me now?”

Anyway, enough of that for now.   How about I get to the title of this post, “The Colors of Antigua”.

I decided to go for a short walk this morning to take some photos around the marina.  The other day I posted a photo of a remarkable caterpillar that I had spied nearby.  These beautiful yellow flowered bushes are a favorite food for the Pseudosphinx tetrio moth.  When it’s done being a caterpillar, it’s a big moth although I can’t vouch for that from first hand experience. So, as you’d expect, it comes from a very large caterpillar, some 6″-8″ long.  Very colorful.  I generally think that a lowly caterpillar becomes a much more beautiful butterfly.  Not in this case, from my perspective at least, the moth is a step down from it’s predecessor.  I have always loved turtles and a lady in the marina office has a number of young red footed tortoises in a basin with her at work.  She says that she breeds them in captivity and that these are about 8 weeks old.   These babies are small , about 4″ now but can grow to nearly 16″ long when adult.  I do wonder about the “breeding” part as it is reported that over collecting has made this species nearly extinct.  It is wide ranging in northern South America and I guess the islands too. This one didn’t seem to be very upset being held by me for his/her beauty shot. Remarkably, they have red feet.   I am partial to these, palms?  Paradise plants? Whatever they are called.  They look so exotic.
Hibiscus have always been one of my favorite flowers and this one, with it’s delicate fringes, is really stunning.  We generally have at least one variety on our porch for the summer at home. Mahi-Mahi are common in these waters and on restaurant menus.   A charter fishing boat came in mid day yesterday with a large catch.  The biggest one was over 4′ long.  Their colors are brilliant while they are alive but still pretty dramatic when they “aren’t”. There’s a boat in the marina that has had workers swarming all over it for weeks now.  They refinished the dink that’s stored on the bow.  What a stunner, the “mother ship” is too, like a piece of fine furniture, but it’s covered with masking tape and brown paper while it’s paint is touched up so sorry, no picture.   The amount of attention given to the larger boats, all of which have full time crew, is impressive.  Look at this beautiful awning to keep the sun off of all the expensive varnish.  It must take hours to put it up and remove it when they want to go sailing.  This surely suggests that this boat spends a lot of time tied up.

Note the kayak nearby on the dock, complete with it’s own custom cover.  That’s attention to detail.  It just wouldn’t do to have a garishly colored kayak on deck would it?Antiguans, if that’s what they call themselves, love to paint their homes bright colors.   Even the most humble homes are painted in fun colors. A few nights ago Brenda and I had a drink at Pillars, in Nelson’s Dockyard.  It’s a lovely spot with curtains blowing in the breeze, completing the ethereal moment as the sun set behind the hills. Tied up to the dock in front of the restaurant were two ocean rowing boats.   These were participants in an annual race, the Atlantic Challenge, from the Canary Islands off Africa, I think, and 3,000 miles from Antigua where they finish.   Billed as the toughest rowing race in the world, some 30 competitors SLOWLY make their way over a period of months, they left in December and it’s now March, to complete the course.  Win or loose, you win if you can make it all the way, I would think.   Talisker Whiskey is the sponsor and that’s a good thing as the competitors will surely need a stiff drink after completing their journey.

The boats are only about 20′ long and seem impossibly small to cross an ocean.  Tiny though they are, they are plenty high tech, complete with all manner of electronics and solar power.  However, you still have to just row and row and row.   And this one had photos of children plastered all over, probably as a reminder to keep rowing and not let them down. IT TAKES A VERY LONG TIME to row across the Atlantic and there were goose barnacles hanging off of the bow to prove it.  I’ll bet that there are plenty below the waterline too.  I’ll bet that really helps the boat go faster.  Not.So, there you have it, some of the colors of Antigua.  However, the continuing saga of Pandora’s SSB suggests that the “color” that she’s inspiring is more “green” with the hours piling up on this job.

Oh well, as my dad used to say “It’s only money.”  Yes, and the color green.

It’s Sunday morning and we have been here in Antigua for nearly three weeks, with no end in sight.   Our plan, when we arrived here, was to stay for a week and then move south to Guadeloupe and explore some of the other islands near there and then return to Antigua and meet up with our son Christopher for a week.

However, as is so often the case, boat repairs and more recently, weather, has conspired to keep us here.  So here we are so I thought that take a moment and share what a typical day aboard Pandora is like as we sit here.  Did I mention that we have been in Antigua for nearly three weeks?  Thought so.  It’s been a long time but it’s better than Cleveland in March for sure.

In my last life, when I was working,  my day got off to a rousing start really early, usually in the dark, immediately breaking out in a cold sweat, wondering what trauma I’d be dealing with when I got to the office.  That would be quickly followed by a quick cup of coffee before I headed to the office where I would “run” non-stop for something like 12 hours and then return home exhausted, eat dinner, sleep and begin the whole process all over again.  That went on for more than a few years but not nearly as long as it might have so I feel lucky, very lucky.

Our new life?  Well, it’s different.   “Like no kidding Bob”.   There are similarities but it’s a lot LOT less structured, and much SLOWER.   Actually, not much of note really happens before late morning, even though I get up quite early, usually before it’s even light out, a cold sweat isn’t a regular occurrence.   And, the work nightmares, they stopped, mostly, after about 5 years.

One question we get a lot from “land based” folks is what we do all day and “don’t you get bored” on the boat.  Well, I suppose that we do get bored, sometimes, but more often than not, living aboard has a nice rhythm to it and there is always something that needs attention on the boat like today when the little Honda generator was acting up while we were trying to do laundry.  Dosn’t that sound fulfilling?  A awkwardly running generator?  Yes, Pandora has a washer/dryer but we have to run the Honda in order to do laundry.  Well, the generator kept dying but after I changed the spark plug, checked the spark arrestor and changed the oil (it really needed it, oops) it seems to be running better.  I think that there is a problem with the fuel filter but that doesn’t seem to be serviceable unless I take it to a dealer.   And, while we are doing laundry, we also have to run the watermaker full blast to make up for the water that we use doing a load of wash.    A load uses 8 gallons for a load according to the manual.

Anyway, the day begins when I wake up.  No alarm except when I have to get up to listen to Chris Parker’s weather briefing and am afraid that I will oversleep.  However, more often than not, I am awake anyway.   Not to be indelicate, but my bladder works very well as an alarm and other guys of a “certain age”, and you know who you are, will understand.

When I get up it’s generally still dark and the first thing I do is put on the coffee.  Sound familiar?   And just so you don’t think that we live a fully deprived life, we have capuccino most mornings thanks to the miracle of a stove-top espresso maker, a low tech and wonderful device.  We also have a milk frother that runs on 110v and is powered by the inverter.  In goes the milk, push the button and, voila, in a few moments, perfect warm foamed milk.  We use “box milk”, the sort that can sit unrefrigerated on a shelf for months, when we are aboard. The brand sold in the U.S. Parmalat, tastes odd to us so we were very pleased to find a number of brands here in the islands, from France mostly, that actually  taste like real milk.  Fresh refrigerated milk is also available here but it is terribly expensive.  Think $10 a half gallon.   Anyway, the boxed, stabilized, keeps for a year unopened on the shelf.  It isn’t cheap but it’s actually less than in the U.S. and a lot better tasting.

So, back to the beginning of my day.  I generally wake up while it’s pretty dark, more like twilight (Is that what not-quite-light in the morning is called?)  and turn on the coffee, which I put on the stove the night before so all I have to do it turn on the gas and go.   It’s also a good idea for me to be quiet because if I wake Brenda up that early, well, it would be a CLM,  a Career Limiting Move.   Better to be quiet.

While waiting for coffee I turn on the “hotspot” on our phone, which lets us get e-mail and the NY Times on our iPad so I can hear yet again, now crazy things are in Washington.  And, to make it even more fun, I get my news through the NY Times, a bastion of balanced if completely and unapologetically liberal thinking.

Getting the news and our e-mail on board consistently is a treat and something that we haven’t enjoyed until this year, well not reliably anyway.  When we were in Cuba, well forget Internet except in Government hotels and during our years in the Bahamas, it was very tough to find wifi on shore, was always terribly slow and usually only available for a fee.  We had a phone hotspot while we were in the Bahamas but it never worked very well.  So, this year with connectivity much easier, it is a nice change of pace.

Anyway, I get up pretty early in spite of the fact that there isn’t anything at all that’s pressing.  I guess that old habits die hard or perhaps it’s simply the bladder thing, probably the bladder.

Tonight there is a full moon.  At least I think it’s tonight and the view of the moon for the last few nights has been positively amazing.  This is what the moon setting over the mountains behind Pandora looked like this morning.   I woke up just in time to catch it dropping behind the hills.  What a view. Perhaps even more remarkable is that my camera, with image stabilization, could actually take that photo.  Not perfectly crisp but a nice shot.

And, to continue on that vein, how about last evening’s sunset.  You know how I like sunsets. Ok, while I am at it, I’ll toss in today’s sunrise.  Yes, I know, it looks a LOT like one I put up a few days ago.    But it’s nice. Ok, one more thing.  How about a double rainbow?   While every day is a sunny day, it often rains several times for a few minutes.  The sun goes away as a dark cloud passes overhead , we run to close all the deck hatches, it rains, it stops raining, a spectacular rainbow appears, we say “Oooo…Ahh..” and we open up the hatches again until the next shower.

So, not a lot happens in the morning worth noting but we somehow manage to keep busy, at least sort of, until around noon when we gain enough momentum to head ashore.   This generally includes a quest for faster wifi as what we have on the boat isn’t fast enough to pull up websites or anything faster than email.

I bring my camera with me everywhere, always on the lookout for something to write about.  How about a donkey? And a very calm one that seems to be saying to say “Don’t worry, be happy.  I’m on island time Mon”.  You are probably wondering “Bob, now can you possibly know what he’s thinking?  Actually, he’s probably just waiting until you step behind him so he can give you a swift kick.”.   I don’t know how I know but I just do.  He’s a very calm donkey.  I am completely confident on that point.  The last time I put up an equine shot was in ST Martin and that was a horse walking past a bakery.  No doubt, I had a mouth full of baguette at the time.   Oh, how I do miss the food of the French islands.  Antigua food?  Ok, at best compared with the French islands.

One thing that occupies my time endlessly, is to watch the comings and goings of massive mega-yachts.  One appeared on the horizon today.  Nice view all around and you can see it in the distance.  Big boat.As she came into the harbor she just dwarfed the boats owned by “mere mortals” like us.   I do wonder what these guys do to make enough money to own and operate one of these giants.  Given the secrecy surrounding who owns what, I expect that they would rather we not know. Really, really big. He probably burned more fuel just entering the harbor than I burn in a whole year of cruising.   Watching one of these behemoths approach a dock is like watching ballet. they make it look easy but I’ll bet that it isn’t.  This one came in around 07:00 and had to leave and head back out as the marina they were approaching wasn’t open until 08:00.  I guess that even those guys have to wait sometimes.   Not often, but sometimes.

And, of course, part of each day is devoted to making sure that, Louis, Pandora’s mascot, enjoys his time aboard.  Louis joined us in St Martin.
His long range plan is to sail with us for several years, see the world and then go to live with our granddaughter Tori when she is old enough so that she won’t just pull his ears, arms and tail clean off.  He’s very concerned about that but we have assured him that we will make it clear to Tori when he goes to live with her, that pulling his arms, ears and tail off isn’t  what nice girls do to mice, especially such a well traveled and refined French mouse as Louis.

And Tori is already thinking about what sort of image that might appeal to Louis, such a cultured and oh-so-French  mouse.   She knows that high fashion is very French. In spite of my best efforts, I am not confident that I have done a very good job of describing what a day aboard is really like.  I should add that I spend a lot of time writing too.  There is always some sort of deadline coming up for an article that is due as I write for a number of newsletters and magazines and don’t forget these scintillating blog posts that just come pouring out of my tangled head, like this one.

And while I’d like to avoid thinking about it, there’s always those pesky whack-a-mole issues to keep up with although things don’t seem to break quite as much when we are just sitting at anchor.   I probably shouldn’t say anything as I might jinx it.  Besides, the SSB still isn’t fully operational as it’s just been too windy to get to a dock so the electronics guy can easily work on the final touches that need to be done.  Happily, the wind seems to be settling down so perhaps tomorrow we can get into the marina and he can finally finish up the job.   I’d like that as it will good to know that all is settled for me to get my daily weather briefing form Chris Parker when I head home in May.

And, speaking of heading home,  it’s been challenging  to find decent flights that will get Brenda to CT in April from Antigua but I think we have finally settled on a plan.  She will fly to JFK in NY, as that’s a non-stop flight, and then she will rent a car for the two hour drive home.  It’s complicated and will be a very long day but at least it’s only one long day.  The alternative from the “you can’t get theah from heah” Antigua to Hartford, in less than 30 hours, quandary had to be NYC and a car rental.  That’s actually pretty good since it avoids a hotel room for her along the way.

There is a gap of several weeks from when Brenda leaves, my friend Craig comes to Antigua to help me run Pandora to the BVI and my crew arrives for the return trip in mid-May so I plan to head home as well for about two weeks to help Brenda get the house and gardens ready for summer.  After that, I’ll head back to the BVI to meet up with crew and bring Pandora to CT.

For sure, the time I am away from Pandora will be a lot more action packed than our typical days aboard Pandora.  However, I am looking forward to being back in CT as the summer will soon be here and it will be lovely.  And, we can go for a ride in our little red car.
Oh yea, as an added bonus, I will even be home for Mother’s day for the first time in several years.  Brenda and my mom will like that.

Mom, are you listening?  I know you are as Karla tells me that she’s reading my posts to you.  Thanks Karla.

Well, there you have it.   A blow by blow description of what happens aboard Pandora while we are in port.  Not much but it’s not boring.  Well, at least not to us.

I had better break off now as there’s got to be something that I have to attend to. Hope so because I  don’t want to get bored.

I’m not bored, really.   It’s a beautiful day.  Is that a rain cloud coming over the mountain?  Quick close the hatches.

See? Plenty to do.

It’s Thursday morning and we have been in Antigua for… Actually, I don’t want to think about how long we have been here as there are so many other islands to visit and we don’t have a lot of time left before I have to head back to the BVIs. However, it’s been really windy so we can’t leave.  And that’s that, for now, I guess.

Our son Christopher arrives here in less than a week and after that, on April 10th, Brenda flies home to attend a conference.  We are finding that booking a flight from Antigua to Hartford CT is tougher than we had thought.  When I did some preliminary checking on flights several  months ago before committing to have her leave from here, I looked at schedules and saw that an early morning flight from here would arrive in Hartford late in the evening.  That sounded pretty good to us.

What I didn’t realize is that a flight that left first thing in the morning arrived in Hartford late in the evening, the NEXT DAY.  These flights were not in the range of 13 hours that I thought, but more like 26 hours.  Oops.  Minor detail.  Brenda’s thrilled.  Not.

Anyway, I haven’t booked anything quite yet but it’s looking like she’s going to have to fly to Miami,  Dominica or pehaps Puerto Rico and then stay in a hotel there for a night and then fly out the next day.  There are some flights that can get here there the same day but they are in the $1,000 range, one way.   Not really practical.

It would be easy if she could fly into Newark or perhaps one of the NY airports. Hartford?  It seems that nobody wants to go to Hartford from Antigua.  Makes sense, actually.   Better than Cleveland I’d expect.

I have also been trying to come to grips with my own trip home.  The problem is that after Brenda leaves and I spend a week with my friend Craig who’s coming here to Antigua.  After he leaves I will still have about a month until my return crew arrives to bring Pandora back to CT.  I really don’t want to be on my own without Brenda for that long as nice as it is in the BVIs.

So, the plan, I think, is for me to fly home for a few weeks and the return to the BVIs to prepare to bring Pandora north.   Besides, I can fly into Baltimore and see Tori, our grandaughter.  Remember?  The cutest granddaughter EVER!

She’s excited to see her grampy.  Oh yeah, I’ll see her parents too.

That’s all fine but the logistics of our collective travel plans is a bit overwhelming.  I guess that shouldn’t be a surprise after several decades of moving boats around.  Such is the life of land and sea.   I have to remind me that this is a lot more appealing than having the boat on the hard in New England for the winter.

Repeat after me, it’s hard but the tropics are better.  It’s hard but the tropics are better.  It’s hard but…

So, her we are in Antigua STILL.  The good news is that there are plenty of other cruisers that are stuck here with us because of the continuing strong winds.

And, with the classic yacht regatta, and the place being a very popular place to base sailing charter yachts, so there is plenty to look at and admire.

When we sat overlooking Nelson’s Dock Yard at lunch the other day, the view included some magnificant yachts, each swarming with workers painting and varnishing. There’s two huge schooners from the UK that are right next to each other, a sort of “his and hers” deal.  Workers with brushes all over each of them getting them ready for the upcoming classic yacht races. Some of the yachts are hard to actually see as they are covered with so much canvas to protect the decks and all that paint and varnish from the tropical sun. I think I used a shot of this beauty in a previous post.  However, as the “belle of the harbor” I just have to show her again.  I wonder how many crew it takes to keep her looking like this?Not all of the yachts are not classics but many are.   This one, complete with a serious looking flat black hull sported it’s own chopper. I thought that this was an interesting boat.  The companionway is unique.  I expect that the dodger wasn’t part of the original design.   And, not even a tiny bit of varnish to look after. No varnish on this racer either.   I’ll bet she screams on a reach and is really noisy with a tooth jarring ride. This yacht looks like it can go just about anywhere with it’s wave piercing bow.Nice dink.  No getting wet when crossing a choppy harbor in that. Not your usual bow profile.  Surely she can go into most anything without slowing down. And, speaking of bows.   Many of the classics sport enormous overhangs. Especially the classic America’s Cup Js from the 30s.  This is Ranbow.  She’s actually not original but was launched just a few years ago from the original plans.  And, she, like all the Js sailing today, sports carbon spars.  Beautiful. Not a lot of cabin varnish to keep up on a 90′ yacht.   It’s perfect though. There’s something like less than a dozen of these classic J yachts in the world today.  However, there are more now than in the 30s, when they raced for The Cup.  Several have been recently constructed to original plans drawn and never built.  Of course, they raced during the Great Depression.  It’s interesting that several more were also built during the recent Great Recession.   Says something about the rich getting richer.

Not certain which one this is.  I think Lionheart.  It’s just so hard to keep them straight.   So many Js to choose from and most of them are here in Antigua right now.   Imagine the spinnaker that uses that pole?Amazing overhangs. Not all of the big sailing yachts are Js but they all sport those lovely lines. Nice butt too.Interesting bimini.  Perhaps not all weather but hey, the owner isn’t going to be slogging to weather in a gale.  That’s the job of the crew.
This beauty spends her summers in Vinyard Haven.  I’ve seen here there.  She was built by Gannon and Benjamin a few years ago, right in that harbor.  She’s also down for the regatta.
Another nice if more modest classic.   I’ll bet her decks don’t leak a drop. Well, I guess that’s enough “eye candy” for now.  It’s time to make the coffee.  After looking at all of these magnificant yachts, perhaps I’ll have a cappuccino.  I do so wish that I had a steward to fetch it for me.   James, James!  Is that you?  “No, you idiot, it’s the wind.  Make your own d%$# coffee.”

Oh well.  No steward.  However, I will have the electonics guy on board today or soon to finish up on the SSB install.  Let’s hope that it works as my trip north is coming up fast and for the moment, it’s the ONLY thing that’s not working properly.  However, I don’t want to jinx it…

Heck, it’s only money and pennies, no make that fractions of pennies on the dollar compared to the rest of the yachts in the neighborhood.

Yes, Antigua.   Beautiful sailing yachts and plenty of them.   Bring your check book.

 

It’s been a few days since my last post but I have been busy doing, well cruiser stuff.  No, I have not been doing boat repairs as I am still waiting for the power supply for my SSB radio which should be on-island today and hopefully in place by tomorrow.  At that point I’ll know if it’s going to solve my communication problem or if there is something more fundamentally wrong with the installation. I hope it works as I really have to have it working for my run north in May.

The forecast calls for strong winds over the next few days which is also why we are still here in Antigua instead of a bit further south in Guadaloupe, an island that we had really hoped we’d be visiting on this trip.   Perhaps after our son Christopher visits next week.

Alas, being stuck in Antigua isn’t all that bad as there is plenty to see and there are lots of other cruisers who are stuck here too.  Being the social animal that I am we get together for cocktails and evening domino games some nights.  However, because of the strong winds that’s keeping everyone from moving on to other islands, there is a growing number of “landlocked cruisers” looking for socialization as well.  That’s good.    We met at a local bar the other night.   Is it still windy?  Let’s have another rum punch. I mention this because cruisers, bound together, or pinned down, as it were, by common experiences are very supportive of one another.   In our case, Nick and Lori-Anne on Wreckless Faith, gave us two tickets to a Cricket match that we went to on Sunday.    So, we went.   How’s that for a segue?

Have you ever been to a Cricket match?  Not me…

So, what’s Cricket anyway?  I had not idea and thought that it was something related to a bug, like this one that I spied on a flower yesterday.     A beautiful “bug” but alas, not Cricket.We arrived at the stadium with absolutely no idea what to expect.   The place was huge and jammed with enthusiastic “cricketeers” rooting for their teams.  The “home team” West Indies and the other England.  As Antigua was once a colony of England, I was wondering if it was a “grudge match” but while there were plenty of fans from both island nations, it was a friendly crowd.  And, there were lots of them. We had great seats right behind “home wicket”, if that’s what you’d call where we were.  Across the circular field, and it was a big one, another set of stands.The tickets said that the gate opened at 07:30 but we didn’t arrive until mid morning.  The game was in full swing with lots of action on the field.  The score board said…Actually, I had absolutely no idea what it said.  What in the world is a P’ship? Or an Overs Rem?…   As luck would have it, there were two very British looking gents sitting right in front of us and when prompted, happily agreed to help us better understand what was going on.   However, I still have no idea what a P’ship is and based on their answers to my questions, it takes years to really understand the game.  Forgive me, but that just sounds so British to make up a game that is impossibly complicated.

However there was a nice breeze and we were happily sitting in the shade on a beautiful Sunday afternoon and even if I didn’t understand much about the action in the field, there was plenty to watch in the stands.

Pop quiz… which team do you think this guy was rooting for?    When I see a “fan” like him the first question that comes to my mind is what is it like when he goes on a job interview.    “So Mr. Woodhouse, tell me a little about yourself.  What sorts of hobbies do you have”? Brenda and I were entranced by this beautiful girl with her painted face.  A little different view to be sure.  GO WEST INDIES!I’ll show you a few photos of the action, and there was plenty.   This is what a “pitch” looks like.  Very fast with the ball going toward the batter at close to 100mph.   The guy in blue is the pitcher, and he puts everthing he has into thew windup for the pitch if that’s not completely clear. And, not 50′ away is the batter on the receiving end of all that power.  He has to be very, very fast with his reflexes with the ball screaming toward him.The white “frame” behind the batter is actually called a “wicket” but that’s about all I know.  And one of the many, many objects of the game and the game lasts something like 8 hours if you can believe it, is for the pitcher to hit the wicket with the ball while the batter tries to hit the ball beyond the “rope” that is laid on the ground in a huge circle around the field.   Got it?  Good.

Half time was fun to watch as there were literally dozens of young cricket players out on the field chasing balls around.   They even had “Chirpy”, their own mascot. Trying to come up with something witty to say about Chirpy but just can’t.  It’s just a grown man dressed up as a giant green bug suit.

We had a great time and enjoyed the game, what little of it we even remotely understood.  Complicated or not, the game is a very big deal in Antigua.

I guess we only scratched the surface.  Remember that you have to watch the game for a lifetime and only then can you really understand the subtle nuances of the game.

Isn’t that just so British?  Don’t forget that their neighbors in Scotland invented Golf, another diabolically complicated game that takes hours and hours to play and a lifetime to master.

So, another reason to visit Antigua and now I know that shouting about Cricket doesn’t always lead to a frantic call to an exterminator.

Who knew?

Well, now I do too.

 

Well, it’s been 10 days since we arrived in Antigua and we HAVE NO IDEA when we will be able to leave.  Don’t get me wrong, it’s a beautiful place as witnessed by the view from our cockpit a few moments ago.    It’s been a dramatic morning with squalls coming through the harbor several times an hour bringing gusty winds and rain, only to be followed by brilliant sunshine moments later.  Pretty dramatic.  Not a bad spot to be and hey, the decks are salt free. While Antigua is a neat island, the Caribbean is a big place and we really don’t want to be in one place for too long as there is just so much we want to see.   The first problem is that the SSB still isn’t installed, although it might be finished by early next week.  Second, the winds continue to be very strong and while going to Guadalupe is a reach both ways, the waves are really big, at about 10′ and the north swell is also up, which would make for a really bumpy run.

This means that it would likely be a CLM (Career Limiting Move) with Brenda if we were to head out into that.  Unfortunately, Chris Parker, the weather router we use, says that lighter winds, than the 20-25kts that are currently blowing, won’t arrive for the “foreseeable future”.     We are hopeful that sometime next week there will be somewhat less wind so we can make the run to Guadaloupe.

In particular, our interest in visiting that island is because it would be the first on our trip with a tropical rainforest.  The other islands we have visited are much more arid.  Guadeloupe is quite mountainous, nearly a mile high and as the trade winds from the east pass over the island the air rushes up the mountain, cooling, and driving the moisture out of the clouds as rain.  From our many years of growing orchids and having a greenhouse, we are anxious to see tropical plants in-situ, as it were.

Anyway, that’s our plan but “whack-a-mole” issues and weather “issues” are winning out for now.

Our son Christopher will be flying in from San Francisco on the 15th so that means we have to be back here to greet him, limiting our travel window too.  We are very excited about his visit as we don’t see him very often.   We have reserved a slip in English Harbor at Nelson’s Dockyard, a very scenic spot.  It will be interesting to tie up there as we will be Med-moored.   This means we will drop our anchor as we approach the tie-up bulkhead and then back up against the bulkhead, using our anchor to hold off.  From our stern we will tie up lines to shore and tighten up everything to keep Pandora straight and off of the bulkhead.    Good thing we have a bow thruster as there is no way we could pull this off without a way to control the bow as we back down on the anchor.

What will make it even more fun will be that we will be doing all of this maneuvering as we thread ourselves between two other boats, all the while praying that we won’t lose control and bump into them.  Meanwhile, folks on shore, who are blissfully not at risk from us, will stand by ready to take photos, of what they hope will be our inevitable crash, fully prepared to exclaim wth great glee, “Look at that, they have absolutely NO IDEA what they are doing”.   I guess you’ll have to stay tuned to hear how all THAT goes.

And speaking of broken stuff, I decided that I should post some photos of the “mortally wounded” SSB.  The inside of the unit looks impossibly complex.   At first glance, not so bad.  I see a lot of OK pieces, right?However, upon closer inspection, the extent of the damage becomes obvious. And that’s not all…  Oh, so that’s why “can you hear me now?” didn’t get me anywhere. The moral of this story is clearly that salt and electronics don’t mix.  Frankly, given the harsh environment that this equipment functions in, or not function as it were, it’s amazing that more stuff doesn’t die a nasty death.   So, as soon as our new SSB winds it’s way through the import agent, who BTW gets 4% for his efforts, I am hopeful that this will all get sorted out.

In the meantime, Brenda and I are working hard to keep busy and not focus too much on what all of this costs.    Enough of that…

So, the other day we took a bus from the nearby marina into St John for the day.  When I say “bus” I mean a sort of panel van and not a particularly big one at that. As we made our way to St John, the bus stopped often for passengers to get on and off, many laden with bags of groceries.  Counting the three up in the front, including the driver, the bus had a capacity of 15 when  the jump seats were folded down into the aisle.  It was really, really tight and quite an experience.

St. John is where the cruise ships dock and was very crowded.  Outside of the immediate dock area it’s much different without all of the T shirt shops. However, once closer, it’s a much more manicured. The ships, and there were three or four of them, loomed over the downtown area.  And, of course, plenty of stalls catering to the “I need a souvenir from Antigua, cruise ship crowd”.   Not hard to choose, or not, as just about every booth had exactly the same stuff. Not a lot of creativity.  Perhaps they know their customers and when 10,000 new ones show up each day, know what sells.
Much of the downtown area, less the cruise ships, reminded us of some of the places in Cuba we visited last winter except this, a Burger King.  A bit depressing but hey, everybody loves a taste of home I guess.  And no, we didn’t eat lunch there. Anyway, it was an interesting day but alas, we came away empty handed.  No tchotchkes that called out to us.  Oh well.

So, pinned down, what next?  What’s a cruiser to do…

Here’s an idea.  Let’s go to a cricket match!   It seems that the West Indies team is playing the UK team and cruiser friends of ours offered us tickets to join them on Sunday.  We have never been to a cricket match so it should be an interesting day.  Stay tuned for scintillating commentary soon.

Well, I guess that’s about all I have to report for now.  Perhaps I’ll close with a shot of all the “big girls” in the super yacht marina nearby.  Lots of brightly lit masts.  Note the red lights at the top of the masts.  That means that they are over 100′ tall and need a light to warn off low flying aircraft.  And, I will tell you that many of those masts are 200′ tall including the masts on Marie, the 180′ yacht Brenda and I sailed on in Newport two years ago.  She came in yesterday.  Perhaps I’ll stop by to see if I can borrow a cup of Chivas.  So, for now, just pinned down in paradise.  It could be worse, it could be snowing.