It’s Sunday morning and we are back in Antigua, aboard Pandora, having arrived on Tuesday. Somehow the first few days were incredibly hectic but today seems a bit more relaxed.

Perhaps it’s the view from Pandora’s cockpit? Well, if you disregard the fact that it is quite windy.

This morning Brenda and I headed ashore for coffee at this lovely waterside café. I had learned about this place, tucked into the head of the harbor, from a friend and it was the first time that Brenda visited with me. Very charming.

The last week before departure from our “land home” was hectic in the extreme but now we are back in Antigua. Getting the house winterized and a last minute decision to have a heat pump installed with the hope of weaning us off of oil deliveries was probably a good example of us, no I should say me “biting off more than we could chew”. I am pretty good at that. Brenda just loves the way that I keep us busy in the extreme 🙁

Now all of that is behind me, at least the home things, but I seem to be plenty good at filling my days here as well. Cleaning the slime of 7 weeks off of the bottom of Pandora, and doing a number of small upgrades and fixes. Cruisers say that spending time aboard a small boat is “fixing boats in exotic places.” Yup. Others say that “everything on a boat is broken but you just don’t know it yet”. Seems that way to me.

However, some owners don’t have to worry about all that. Sure, their boats are being fixed in exotic places but not by them. They just write checks. Well, actually their “family office” writes checks. A good example is Jeff Bezos’s boat Koru, on the dock here in the harbor, is surely having stuff fixed. She’s the big black sailing yacht on the left with the three masts. At least for now, she is the largest sailing yacht in the world. I say “for now” as just about every year a new biggest one is launched. What’s the fun of being a babillionair if you don’t have the biggest yacht?

Of course, what is a photo of Jeff’s boat without a photo of Lauren, his girlfriend/fiancée and chopper pilot, decorating the bow. I wonder what the next owner, and I suppose that he will build a bigger one soon, will think about having Lauren leading the way…

And, what is a mega, mega yacht without a support boat that houses all his toys. They left the harbor yesterday, passing by Pandora. Perhaps they are heading to get stuff fixed. Probably but don’t worry, as both of his boats are less than a year old, and surely under warrantee.

And speaking of big boats, it is interesting how the yachting business has changed over the years as it relates to what was considered “mega”. To the right, Sir Richard Dyson’s 1930s yacht Nahlin, considered large at the time at nearly 300′. He had her fully restored from a sunken 1930s wreck for a reported $70M.

While she is about the same length as today’s mega-mega yachts, she’s peanuts in weight and cost when compared to the huge one to the left (below), Black Pearl, that cost nearly 3x as much. While Sir Richard’s yacht Nahlin isn’t available for charter, you can “rent” Black Pearl for $1,230,000 a week, plus expenses. Don’t despair if that sounds like a lot of money, you can always find some friends and split the cost ten ways. For five for couples it would only be a quarter mil for you and that special someone. Feel the itch? check out her specs here.

And if you are thinking “how can the charter cost be that much?” The estimated operating cost for a year for Black Pearl is upwards of $50,000,000 so they’d have to charter her full time for 10 months just to break even on the expenses and that doesn’t take into account the coat of the build. I doubt that they even come close but, “if you have to ask, you can’t afford it.” Of course…

To give you a feel for the differences between these two boats, while they are sort of the same length, Black Pearl is massive at 2,964 gross tons and Nahlin, a puny 1,356 gross tons. Do note that Nahlin is farther away in this photo but she’s much more svelte than Black Pearl in spite of her 300′ length. Of course they are both big compared to Pandora at a micro-puny 14 tons.

One thing that’s worth noting is that in spite of having “more money than God”, sometimes they can’t get a spot at the dock. I was told that all slips in Falmouth and English Harbor, when it comes to mega and mega, mega yachts, have been booked for months. Nahlin moved into a slip a few days ago and Black Pearl still sits out on anchor.

The yachts on the dock are jam packed like so many sardines, no make that whales.

And, in English harbor, which is loaded too, it’s hard to make out where one boat ends and the other begins.

I have written about many of these huge yachts in the past but a good roundup of some is in this recent post if you follow this link.

The upward trend in yacht size is pretty much universal in all size ranges but especially at the top mega-mega end of the spectrum. Even Pandora at 47′ is large compared to the average cruising boat back in the 80s when most were under 40′. Now Pandora is smallish compared to others. However, with the amount it costs to keep a boat in good shape going up every year, I am not sure that I’d want a bigger one. No, I take that back. If I “didn’t have to ask how much” I’d totally have a big one.

With the billionaire gang growing by leaps and bounds and surely headed for new highs in the US in particular over the next few years, the average size boat is bound to continue going up as there is no shortage of megagazillionairs that want to have the biggest and best.

Oh well, no mega or even micro-mega yacht charters in our future but one thing that I can cling to is that their view isn’t any better than from the cockpit of little old Pandora. Yesterday we spent the day opening and closing hatches as rain showers passed overhead. And each time, leaving behind a beautiful rainbow.

And, for those yachts, err boats, that don’t have a pastry chef on board, there is always Jean Marie, who delivers fresh pastries every morning in his dink for Isabella and Eric of La Brasserie.

Oh yeah, sometimes I do feel like it would be nice to have a bit more luxury aboard Pandora like AC perhaps when we are on the hook, but I have to remind myself that there are some hearty souls that, for reasons that elude me, row the entire way across the Atlantic to arrive here in Antigua.

One of the biggest races every winter is aptly called “The worlds toughest row”, leaving from the Canary Islands all the way to Antigua, a distance of 3,000 miles. The first team arrived here yesterday, after something like a month and a half of rowing offshore.

They were greeted by an enthusiastic crowd in Nelson’s Dockyard.

Later that evening another group of rowers, and I am unclear as to where they were from and which race they were a part of, arrived in Falmouth Harbor. Brenda and I happened to be heading back to Pandora when they approached out of the darkness.

And passed us as they reached the dock where a very enthusiastic crowd greeted them. It was a full boat and it was hard to imagine having enough food and water for such a large crew on a small boat. It reminds me of the Brenton Fisherman’s prayer, “O God, Thy sea is so great and my boat is so small.”

I guess that applies to just about everyone that heads out to sea in a small boat, rowing, plain vanilla, mega or mega-mega yachts, but some boats are a lot bigger than others so I expect that they need a bit less of help from the Almighty. Well, at least until things go all to s**t and stuff breaks.

I’ll be thinking about that when I head east from Bermuda in June, bound for the Azores.

Until then, perhaps I will have a rum punch while enjoying the same view that the big guys have. However, I’ll be making the drink myself as Jeeves is nowhere to be found.

I will just have to adapt…

It’s hard to believe that another year has come and gone and it is now 2025.

In a few days Brenda and I will head back to Antigua and Pandora. Brenda can only stay through the beginning of March but I will be aboard for a few weeks before heading back to Antigua with Pandora and home to CT for a bit.

This year will be particularly complicated due to the fact that I am taking Pandora to the Mediterranean where Pandora will be based for the next few seasons of cruising.

Between now and my departure from St Maarten in mid May for Bermuda and the departure for the run to Horta, I will be back and forth to home. I will admit that all the prep and running around is a bit overwhelming with so many unknowns.

Getting appropriate crew is also an issue as there are so many legs.

In addition to a run to Trinidad and back in March to get a few things tidied up following Pandora’s refit, I will also need crew to run to St Maarten and then on to Bermuda. From there to Horta and a month later, on to either Portugal or Spain to put Pandora up until the following spring when Brenda and I will spen time aboard exploring Spain for a few months.

When we return to Pandora next week it will surely be a big change of climate as the temperatures over the last few weeks have whipsawed from mid 30s into the near single digits. I’d certainly prefer warm…

For New year’s eve we had a small group of friends over for a formal dinner and it was great fun and as I put away many of the holiday ornaments a few days after that I will admit that I was happy that the craziness of the holidays were behind us.

Not a white Christmas but a charming view never the less. Pretty cozy home we have.

Pandora is still sitting happily in Falmouth Harbor Antigua all snug and sound. She has been alone, with regular visits from our “boat sitter” Jean Marie, who has been keeping an eye on her since I left just before Thanksgiving.

Here is a screen shot of AIS, that shows where she is on her mooring in Falmouth Antigua. She isn’t alone in the harbor but it’s not terribly crowded.

But as the year wound down, for those who were in the Caribbean, it was a hopping place.

And, speaking of the holidays and New Year’s Eve in particular, in the Caribbean, all roads lead to St Barths where the “beautiful people” whether they arrive by plane or yacht, hang out for the holidays. And while it is busy all season, the absolute highlight of the season is New Year’s Eve. And for the .001% set, it is the place to be seen.

We have visit the island a number of times and have always been struck by how crowded it was, most any time. And, to make matters worse, it has always been rolly in the harbor, as the waves curl in around the point, making everywhere subject to a nasty surge.

The harbor, Gustavia, is very scenic and even when it’s not busy, it’s busy.

The inner harbor can’t really get any busier than the photo above shows and the only way to visit after the harbor is full is to anchor out. And, unlike just about any other place in the Caribbean, you can not book a slip and have to just show up if you want to get on the dock.

I understand that if you want a spot on the dock in the harbor for Christmas and especially New Year’s Eve, you have to show up before Thanksgiving and plan on staying for weeks. Can you say “saved seat?” And, most areas of the docks do not even have a place to plug in so their generators are running full tilt the entire time. I wonder if they need fuel if they have to go away? “Saved seat!” Probably not, so be sure to fill up before you arrive.

At most any point during the season it’s very busy and on New Year’s Eve, downright crazy. This AIS shot on the big night. Hard to imagine that many boats crammed into such a small space.

And ten days later, busy but not nearly so packed.

To look at all the boats anchored off of a very small island on that special day it’s hard to imagine how they can accommodate everyone. With so many of the yachts being “mega” doubt that there are many problems at the dinghy dock. “James, please drop me and Buffy at the quay and head back to the yaaht. I’ll ring when we are done dining. Oh yeah, don’t forget to take Fifi to go pee pee.”

With a need to show up weeks in advance for a spot, many owners fly in to join their boat. So, how to get there?

One way to arrive is to fly into the tiny local airport, one of the trickiest anywhere. A very popular pastime on St Barths with the “mere mortals” is to stand at the top of the hill at the top of the runway and watch the planes come in overhead and quickly drop down to the runway. To be aboard one of those little planes must be terrifying.

Of course, only the “little people” fly commercial and anyone who’s anyone has their own plane. However, who would land in such a dicey place if you have a chopper that can take you to your boat?

And that’s just what they do.

A notable example of “doing what I want, when I want” is the giant yacht Kaos, pronounced, perhaps fittingly “Chaos”. She is huge at over 361′, fresh from a year long refit under her new owner Nancy Walton, daughter of the late Walmart co-founder Bud Walton. Ms Walton paid over $300,000,000 and then commissioned a year long refit. And that was a major upgrade for a yacht that was only launched in 2017.

Unlike most very large yachts, this yacht is classified as a ship which allows here to have more guests, in this case 31 in 16 cabins served by a crew compliment of 45. Those classified as a mere “yacht” can only house about a dozen guests beyond crew, who usually outnumber the guests. This distinction is significant as with a “ship” designation comes a lot more specific requirements and expenses.

This video was produced when the yacht was for sale and gives a remarkable tour of her, information not often unavailable for many private yachts, err ships.

Check out this link to see the specs for Kaos.

Ok, now we know how to get aboard your yacht if the local airport is a bit too scary for you and your guests.

And speaking of megagigantic yachts, how about Koru, Amazon founder Jeff Bezos’s new boat that reportedly set him back a cool half billion? It is technically the largest “true” sailing yacht in the world.

But wait, still don’t want to land in St Barths and you can’t land a chopper on a sailboat. Too much stuff in the way.

What’s a mega billionaire to do?

No problem, just get a “shadow yacht” and this is Jeff’s Abeona, all 245′ of her. She is all you need to store all of your “toys” and your girlfriend’s chopper. Just fly into St Barths, land on your support boat and take the launch over to your “actual yacht”.

So, a bit of information about Abeona. She’s a huge yacht in her own right and cost a reported $75,000,000.

And, setting aside the combined purchase cost of $575,000,000 purchase price for a “brace” of yachts, they cost approximately $50,000,000 a year to operate. And that doesn’t take into account the cost of land homes, choppers and private jets.

When you just consider crew, 36 on Koru and 45 on Abeona, including medical crew, that’s a lot of mouths to feed.

Perhaps the most expensive guest to take care of might be his girlfriend Lauren Sanchez, who is also the or at least one of the helicopter pilots.

This is an interesting brief history of the use of figureheads, culminating with Lauren herself.

So, if you want to celebrate New Year’s Eve properly, take your yacht to St Barths and arrive in style on your own private chopper. How much will it set you back? Don’t ask…

As the great financier J.P. Morgan once quipped, “if you have to aske how much it costs, you can’t afford it”.

In spite of it all, we had a great time over the holidays, St Barths deprived, though we may be.

And no, I can’t afford it…

Back in November, a friend of mine, Patrick O’Brien, visited Antigua to spend a week getting a feel for the place and to do some painting.

I had met him about a year ago shortly after he became the president of the American Society of Marine Artists, a group of about 400 artists that are particularly drawn to the sea.

Of this group there is a small subset that are recognized as among the best in the world of Marine art. Patrick is one of about 40 that are so recognized as “fellows” and his work certainly stands out among the group.

Brenda and I visited his studio recently and learned that he has also been active over the years in other areas beyond marine, including children’s book illustration and, of all things, dinosaur art.

The minute that Brenda saw the books, she whipped out her phone and ordered a few titles for our grandson Rhett.

Patrick has also taught locally at the collage level for many years and while his career has had a number of twists and turns, he’s been focused on Marine art for many years now.

When we were in Antigua, we headed out three days, twice in the morning and once near sunset, for Patrick to paint.

I have written some about those outings in recent posts and enjoyed watching the process of him choosing a spot, setting up his easel and finally, blocking out the image on the canvas. This link covers, along with other topics, our first outing for him to paint.

I have hung around artists for years but had never really sat with someone while they painted and the experience was great fun.

This piece, the third of three that he did, was painted high up on a neighboring hill, Shirley Heights, perhaps the best place to view the sunset in all of Antigua. In the background is Falmouth Harbor and foreground, English Harbor. When Patrick painted this piece, Pandora was on the dock, the left point of land in English Harbor.

Patrick wasn’t able to finish the piece before it got dark as the light falls very fast in the islands. He finished up the piece in his studio.

When I called Patrick last week to tell him that Brenda and I were going to be visiting our son Rob and his family, only about 45 minutes from his studio, he invited us to join him.

He told me that he wanted to give me one of the pieces that he had worked on while in Antigua when we visited. As you can imagine, I was thrilled.

I assumed that he had one particularly in mind and was stumped when he said “choose one”. Oh boy as they were all so wonderful.

So, here is the finished piece we chose, painted by Patrick, high atop Shirley Heights. And we were there…

Brenda and I are thrilled to have the piece, a real O’Brien displayed in our living room, well lit by the special gallery lighting that we installed a number of years ago to display our growing art collection.

What a wonderful piece. Thankyou Patrick.

One of my favorite parts of cruising is to watch the sun set and enjoy the waning light. What better way to commemorate my favorite part of the day than this piece? Well, that and a rum punch, while sitting on the bow of Pandora.

Brenda and I have accumulated a fair amount of art over the years, a lot of it marine related so the addition of one of Patrick’s pieces is a wonderful milestone for us.

After a week with him in Antigua and, now, a visit to his studio, I have gained a better appreciation of his work and what it takes to create a work.

We all think of painting as, well, painting. But a lot more goes into the process for someone like Patrick who is very focused on accuracy, both on the vessels in the piece as well as the setting as it looked during the period that he is focused on capturing.

Imagine the level of detail needed to recreate an image of “old New York” as in this piece.

In spite of the “antiquity” of his subjects, he is quite adept with technology and has many videos on YouTube. This short video is one of many on his YouTube channel and goes into some of the steps that go into the creation of one of his pieces, much of which happens long before he puts a brush to canvas.

I

Based on his visit to Antigua Patrick has decided to do a major piece that will depict English Harbor during the time that Lord Nelson was stationed there. Many of the buildings, while authentic and beautifully restored, were not there, or looked very different, than they do now.

While Patrick was in Antigua we met with retired island archeologist Reg Murphy, PhD, who has shared a treasure trove of information about the Dockyard. It was fitting that Patrick should meet Reg as he was the architect for the UNESCO designation of Nelson’s Dockyard as a world heritage site.

Careening ships was an important part of the Dockyard, a process enabling the cleaning of the bottom of a ship. Along with cleaning, copper sheeting was applied or repaired to keep the bottom clean and free of invasive toredo worms that, like termites on land, eat wood, especially in the tropics.

These plans are of the structure used to careen ships in English Harbor when the harbor was the headquarters of the Royal Navy.

One of the things that Patrick often does as he is preparing to do a complex painting is to recreate the scene digitally so he can assemble the buildings and “fly” through them to find the best perspective. This rendering is of the capstan house, which does not exist any more as part of his preparation for the piece.

This rendering is one of many that Patrick will prepare and assemble into a lifelike view of what the Dockyard might have looked like when Lord Nelson was stationed there.

Today all that remains of this structure are reproductions of the capstans themselves, one example of how different the place looks two hundred years after Nelson was there.

In spite of all the time Patrick spends reconstructing ships and the sea on canvas, he has spent little time on the ocean. I am working to change that and have invited him to join me and my friend George for a run from Antigua to Trinidad in March. It will be interesting to see if that experience changes how he views the ocean and recreates it in his work.

Patrick and I first spoke of a possible visit to Antigua about a year ago and I am thrilled that, based on his visit, he is now planning to create a major piece focused on English Harbor, a place that has become very important to me.

I can’t wait to see what he comes up with.

Paint away Patrick!!!

Well, here I am in my office at home, having returned from Antigua about a week ago and it’s cold.

It is sunny but has been totally shocking to go from a little too hot in Antigua to a lot too cold within only a few days.

We celebrated Thanksgiving with our son Christopher at his apartment when we arrived back in the US in Manhattan and took a train back to CT where we are now.

Yes, it’s cold and all I can do is to turn up the heat, trading mid 80s for the high 20s. Not my first choice.

The good news is that the yard is in good shape as I did a lot of cleaning up before departing for Trinidad over a month ago and hired a lawn service to do a “final” cleanup. One less thing to do in the yard. That’s a good thing as everything is frozen solid given unusually cold weather for this early in the season.

And, speaking of final cleanup, I was on such a deadline to bring Pandora north to Antigua from Trinidad to meet the arrival of the Salty Dawg fleet, that I did not have an opportunity to get a number of little details settled on Pandora.

I had some paint shipped to Trinidad to address a few scratches that ended up being delayed by a hurricane and the usual bureaucratic issues of getting things into Trinidad and I had to leave before it was at the boatyard.

After taking a careful look at the boat over the last few weeks I have decided to take her back to Trinidad to have some final details finished, probably in March. Don’t get me wrong, Pandora looks great, like new, but with such a big job, it is inevitable that there would be a few small issues that were overlooked and need a bit more attention such as a fine paint overspray on the solar panels, that needs to be removed.

Amos, who managed the job, has been very understanding and happy to address these issues upon my return. I have been quite pleased with his work and have recommended a number of people to go to him for jobs, both big and small.

I don’t know exactly when we will be back to Antigua following the holidays but I am hoping that we might return a bit in advance of the 15th, Brenda’s birthday. As she has been away for so many of her birthdays over the years, it is reasonable that she’d want to be home this year. One can only hope…

Now that the arrival events for the rally are completed and we are back home, I am turning my attention to the schedule for the winter and all the issues associated with my planned run in the spring to the Azores.

I am particularly focused on crew for the run to Horta from Bermuda but will also be looking for crew to make the run to Bermuda from St Martin in mid May and from the Azores to Portugal in mid July following a month aboard with Brenda exploring the Azores islands.

Under the category of “random serendipity” Brenda and I ran into a lovely couple at the yacht club the other evening and as luck would have it, they had just returned from a week long captained charter in the Azores and we had a wonderful time comparing notes.

The “yacht” was a bit smaller than Pandora and they had settled on that particular boat based on a short 5 minute YouTube video that they had seen. Just for fun, as it does give a pretty good feel for the area, here it is. This is the video that inspired them to book the charter.

I’ll admit that any Enya soundtrack always chokes me up as my late Father loved her work. Admittedly, he did love what Brenda would with a wrinkled nose, call “elevator music” but then, so do it.

After spending a month in the Azores with Brenda, I will run Pandora toward the Med, where she will be hauled until the following spring. I have not been able to confirm where I will stop but was thinking about Lagos, in Southern Portugal.

Check out this short video and you can see why Lagos is so popular with cruisers and tourists alike.

However, a lot of this depends on the relative threat of being attacked by a killer whale, or Orca. There have been many reports of a pod attacking boats and chewing off the lower part of their rudder. There are a number of sites that track orcas and their boat attacks and it seems that the best defense is to just avoid being in the same waters as orcas.

As they migrate to follow their food, primarily tuna, they are in more southern waters near Logos and Gibraltar in the spring and move north as the season progresses. This suggests that I as I will be heading east from the Azores in late July, that it might make sense for me to go directly to Gibraltar and not farther west along the southern Portugal coast, my original plan.

Also, under the category of “serendipity” Brenda and I were introduced to a couple, Lynn and Ian, by longtime cruising friends Anne and Dick, who we sailed with in the Bahamas. Ian and Lynn have a vacation home in the Azores and we had a lovely intro to them on the phone the other night.

Their charming stone home in the Azores, perched high on a bluff, a short ferry boat ride from Horta.

Their patio. I’ll bet that the view is to die for.

And their cruising boat that I believe is in the US now, on the hard while they travel around the US visiting Friends.

Amazingly, and very spontaneously, they have invited us when I arrive with Pandora and Brenda flies in to Horta to stay with them and tour the islands together. They are fellow cruisers, spending much of their time aboard their own boat and their willingness to welcome us is typical, and very welcome, among the dedicated cruising set.

In my own shy and retiring way, after comparing notes with them on the phone for nearly an hour, I invited them to do a webinar for Salty Dawg on the subject of “cruising the Azores” and expect to have it in the first half of January.

I am very excited about hearing what they have to share and will be promoting it to the member of Salty Dawg. Stay tuned for details on that discussion as it will be free to all comers.

It is amazing how one thing leads to another and how hanging out with the cruising community has enriched our lives so much over the years.

So, lots to do in preparation for our time in the Med and with new friends in the Azores, all the more to look forward to.

All of this will help me overlook the sub freezing temperatures here in CT.

Aboard Pandora, the only thing cold is the fridge and freezer. And cold beer… Something else to look forward to.

That’s about all for now. Off to MD to see the grand kiddies for a few days.

It’s hard to believe that the rally and nearly all of the arrival events are history now with the last of the boats that were stuck in Bermuda now here in Antigua.

This year, as in so many other rallies, boats were at sea for a very long time. Most of the fleet stopped in Bermuda to wait for a green light regarding a possible late season hurricane, as there was a lot of uncertainty about weather when boats departed. Most of the boats in the fleet were able to leave Bermuda after only a short delay but those who weren’t ready to go, or lost crew, ended up stuck for about two weeks waiting for a weather window. Those boats only arrived in the last few days. From the time that the bulk of the fleet departed from the US, it was more than three weeks until the last of the “stray dawgs” arrived in Antigua.

The events in Antigua began about two weeks ago and went off without a hitch. Two days ago we went to an event hosted by North Sails, Andrew and his wife Simone. It was a great time with wonderful food, an ice-cream truck and live music.

Simone did all the cooking and the spread was quite elegant.

Last evening, we went to what was, for us, one final get-together with the Dawgs at a local Mexican place. And today, Wednesday, a flight back to the US for me, Brenda and Chris.

In past years I have spent quite a bit on mooring rental while I am home and at $30+ a day it really adds up. And, last year I had someone look after Pandora and when I returned and was presented with a bill, I was more than a bit shocked with what he charged me, on an hourly basis, about $100/hr. I protested but he did not budge much.

So, I put the word out as so many other Dawgs need someone to look after their boat and found a very nice young guy, Jean Marie to watch mine and more than a dozen other boats while owners are away.

Jean Marie is around the harbor quite a lot as he delivers baked goods in the anchorage every morning for the local French bakery. He will be boarding Pandora twice a week and keep an eye on her every day. It’s nice when someone local steps up to help and even better when I am able to recommend them and help fellow Dawgs.

I met him thorough La Brassier, a wonderful French restaurant and bakery. The owners, Isabella and Eric turn out some of the best French food we have ever had. Jean Marie tours the harbor every morning with their wares and sells them to cruisers who are just starting their day.

I designed and installed a flag to call attention to the bakery and while it isn’t all that inspired, It should help folks contact and get some of the great pastry.

As Pandora will spend a lot of time this winter alone, I wanted to find a more economical way to store her and a friend was kind enough to arrange to put in a mooring for me. I paid the divers and rigger to set things up but my friend Paul arranged everything.

The mooring is comprised of a large old anchor, a huge metal box and a riser to a buoy. The premise is that the anchor is dug in and the heavy box acts as a kellet. The anchor has 25′ of heavy chain, shackled to the box and then chain going up to a heavy mooring line. the box keeps the pull on the anchor straight along the bottom so that it will hold even with relatively short scope. It took a cast of thousands to set the mooring. Paul to supervise and a number of divers to deliver and set the tackle.

The anchor was quite heavy and had clearly spent years, perhaps decades, under water. I expect that one of the divers stumbled on it while diving in the area. You can see the “box”, to the right. I expect that it was very heavy as well.

So, now I am the proud owner of a mooring at a price that is somewhat less than renting one from the AYC Marina, which is pretty expensive. As I am only here for this season before heading to the Med, I will have to think about what to do with it next. Perhaps I will lend it to a fellow Dawg next season.

And, speaking of Marinas, the manager/owner of Catamaran Marina, here in Falmouth has a large number of Caribbean Tortises in her yard and every year they lay eggs. She collects the hatchlings and distributes them to good homes. I was offered two a few years ago but chickened out due to the fact that they will likely outlive me. However, every year I visit and continue to be smitten with the dozens of baby tortoises that she has in her shop. Each one is about the size of a lemon and are just adorable.

In spite of all the events that we hold every year, I am always on the lookout for more opportunities to share the fun of Antigua with our members. After a number of years trying, I was able to work with a local liquor store, Grand Cru, to host a rum tasting for the Dawgs. We had a great turnout. Lisa, from English Harbor distilleries, lead us on a fascinating journey through their many types of rum.

Lisa told us about the many different rums that they make.

Each rum that they poured was carefully described. We went from white, unaged rum to more exotic and progressively darker rums aged for years in Port, Whisky and other types of spirit barrels.

It was nice to have our son Christopher with us. His time with us has been a working visit, I won’t even call it a “working vacation” and he didn’t really chill except well after the work day was done. We did have some difficulty in finding him good places to work in spite of the National Park Director saying she’d be able to get him an office as it turned out to be only for a very limited time so that was a bust. That caused quite a bit of anxiety until Chris settled into more of a routine and accepted that things might not be quite as smooth as we had hoped. All and all, I think that he was able to get get a reasonable amount of work done. He may disagree but it was nice to spend time with him here.

Our hosts.

After a discussion about the various types of English harbor rums, that lasted nearly 90 minutes, the store offered a small discount for any purchases that evening and I think that nearly everyone lined up to purchase rum. I was glad to see that it worked out for Sarah, the manager of the store.

I had also suggested a raffle and gave everyone a ticket. Brenda was the lucky one although that elicited a bit of a groan from the audience when her ticket was pulled.

I have also been working on a number of projects in anticipation of sailing this season. A few have proved to be very frustrating including some issues with our electronics, wind speed and radar. I believe I know what the problem with the radar is but I am not certain. Fingers crossed that the fix that was suggested will work out.

In anticipation of our run across the Atlantic to Horta in the Azores, I am considering having 4 crew on board which means that I will need to come up with an additional berth so nobody will have to “hot bunk”, something that most do not like. Hot bunking means sleeping in the same bed when someone is up on watch. Not great.

Anyway, a friend suggested that I put in a lee-board in the aft cabin so I had the canvas guy split the front cushion and had Amos, in the yard in Trinidad, make a board 16″ tall that runs the length of the aft berth.
I brought some removable hinges from home and secured the board. It pulls out of the hinges and slips under the mattress.

At the aft end of the berth I installed two brackets that I fabricated from cherry at home to match the interior woodwork. The lee board is slid into the hinges and a pin secures the board against the bulkhead supporting it vertically. It seems pretty sturdy and I expect that it will work on passage. Fingers crossed.

And, under the category of “random acts of kindness”, I made up a flag for a local French Bakery, La Brassier, for my friends Eric and Isabella. They have a young man who roams the harbor in the mornings selling croissants and baguettes. I also lent them my hand held VHF and installed the flag on their dink. This way folks will see them coming and I expect that they will sell more. I think that they should also offer ice and other items but we will see if they want to expand their offerings.

The sign is pretty ham-handed but heck, I got it done, PVC pipe and all.

And from the sublime to the ridiculous, the size of the yachts that have arrived here is stunning. How about this lineup. Small, medium and large. Or, perhaps big, bigger and humungous. The one on the left is called Wheels. It’s owned by the largest car dealer in the US. Yes, you are right, cars and car repairs are really very expensive.

As the sun sets on our time here before the holidays and our departure on Wednesday, perhaps a fitting photo of a sunset, representative of what we see nearly every evening.

That’s it, the party (parties) are over and it’s hard to believe that we will be away until mid January. That’s a long time for Pandora to sit all by herself.

If history is any guide, the holidays will whip by and before you know it…

Editor: Oh yeah, after a year of Russian trolls messing up my site, it’s fixed now and you can sign up to get a message when I post. As they say, “for inquiring minds”.