{"id":9258,"date":"2018-11-17T07:28:17","date_gmt":"2018-11-17T12:28:17","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=9258"},"modified":"2018-11-17T07:28:17","modified_gmt":"2018-11-17T12:28:17","slug":"dawg-days-antigua-style","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=9258","title":{"rendered":"Dawg Days, Antigua style"},"content":{"rendered":"

Well, it\u2019s finally happening, after a long run south, with a stop in Bermuda for many, the Fall Salty Dawg Rally participants are beginning to arrive here in Antigua.<\/p>\n

That’s a good thing as am here with lots of parties planned and I just hate putting on parties when nobody shows up.\u00a0 When I arrived on Tuesday, there was, in fact, nobody here from the rally which was a bit of a bummer.<\/p>\n

I should note that I came to Antigua the easy way, by plane, flying in for a week to enjoy all the festivities with fellow Dawgs.\u00a0 \u00a0As they say, \u201cnothing goes to weather like a Boeing 737\u201d.\u00a0 Sadly, I\u2019ll have to leave before some even arrive as there are a number of Antigua bound boats still up in Bermuda, waiting for a window to head out.\u00a0 It’s been challenging weather, that’s for sure.<\/p>\n

The weather here has been unusual here as well with more rain than normal.\u00a0 As a result, Antigua is remarkably green.\u00a0 This island is normally fairly dry this time of year, but now it has a beautiful tropical look I\u2019d usually associate with the lush islands further south.<\/p>\n

I am staying at the Admiral’s Inn and it’s a lovely spot with beautiful grounds, authentic, although updated, from Lord Nelson’s time on the island.\u00a0 \u00a0This is the view from the end of the hall.\u00a0 What a spot.\u00a0\"\"The gardens are really amazing.\u00a0 \"\"And you can’t beat this as a spot to have morning coffee.\u00a0 That’s my friend Craig, in the blue shirt reading a good book.\u00a0 He arrived yesterday to join in the festivities.\u00a0 And, there are plenty planned.\u00a0\"\"In my second year as Port Captain for Antigua, I continue to be struck by how generous everyone here has been in helping set up a really wonderful series of arrival events.\u00a0 Forget the notion of an \u201carrival dinner\u201d, here in Antigua think \u201carrival week\u201d.\u00a0 Of course, we will still have our official \u201csafe arrival dinner\u201d at the end of the week at Boom, overlooking Nelson\u2019s Dockyard<\/a> but we will also have plenty of other events that will keep our early arrivals busy and make the Dawgs feel at home in Antigua.\u00a0 \u00a0Click here to see the full list of activities<\/a>.<\/p>\n

As I write this, on Saturday morning, perhaps 15 boats have have arrived but more will be coming into port over the next few days.\u00a0 \u00a0Many will tie up in historic Nelson\u2019s Dockyard<\/a>, the only operating Georgian Dockyard in the world.\u00a0 And, to make things even better, they can enjoy this fabulous harbor for about the same cost as they\u2019d have to pay for a mooring in some US harbors.<\/p>\n

Our events began two days ago and the first of the many planned events was a special evening at the Rhythm of Blue Gallery<\/a> in English Harbor.\u00a0 Owner Nancy supplied the Dawgs and many local friends with free rum drinks, wonderful passed appetizers, sushi actually, and she even hired a terrific reggae band that really kept things hopping.\"\"Nancy was joined by her mother, Ann, at the event.\u00a0 \u00a0Her parents were early in coming to the island to set up a fledgling charter business, I believe.\u00a0 \u00a0The two were great hosts for the event. \"\"A few boats arrived that day so we had some Dawgs in attendance.\u00a0 My friends Bill and Maureen, on the left, had come up from their summer “home” in Trinidad, aboard their Kalunamoo.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"Later in the evening we were invited to a special talk, complete with free wine and cheese, at the Antigua Yacht Club<\/a> by Andrew Dove from North sails who spoke about his 40 years as a sailmaker.<\/p>\n

Last evening we were treated to a wonderful event at Copper and Lumber, in the dockyard by one of my favorite groups, The Royal Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda.\u00a0 I\u00a0 won’t repeat what I have written about this group except to say that they meet every day to toast the Queen.\u00a0 I am not sure of the exact count but I believe that we had more than two dozen Dawgs with us.\u00a0 It was a beautiful, historic setting.\u00a0\u00a0\"\"If some how, you missed what I have written in the past about the Tot Club, click here<\/a> for a post from last season. It’s a great group.<\/p>\n

During \u201carrival week\u201d we will welcome more and more of our members to Antigua for a great line-up of events, most at little or no cost to the Dawgs.\u00a0 And to cap things off we will have our arrival dinner here at the Admiral\u2019s Inn<\/a>, perhaps the most scenic spot in Antigua.\u00a0\u00a0 Last year, this event was really well attended and I am hopeful that most will be on-island with us this year as well.<\/p>\n

It\u2019s been very rewarding to me, as I worked with many here on the island to set up this year\u2019s arrival events, to see how enthusiastic everyone is about the rally coming to their island.\u00a0 In particular, the Antigua Yacht Club, local businesses and government officials have made it very clear that having us visit is very important to them.\u00a0 Given their enthusiasm, I am confident that next year\u2019s events will be even better.\u00a0 \u00a0Charles, \u201cMax\u201d Fernandez<\/a>, the Minister of Tourism, will be with us again, for the second year, which is more evidence that Antigua really appreciates our making their island a destination for the rally.<\/p>\n

If you didn\u2019t get to Antigua in time for our event week, be sure to put Antigua on your itinerary for later in the season and for next year\u2019s Salty Dawg Fall Rally to the Caribbean, or should I say the \u201cSalty Dawg rally to Antigua\u201d.\u00a0 \u00a0I personally guarantee that you will be glad you did.<\/p>\n

If Antigua is still on your travel plans before the end of December, make a point of being in Nelson\u2019s Dockyard so you can ring in the new year.\u00a0 There is nothing quite like fireworks over the fort guarding the harbor.\u00a0\u00a0 Brenda and I did this, along with other Dawgs last year and it was fabulous.\"\"I expect to have a full list of 2019 arrival activities posted on our site this coming January.\u00a0 If you missed this year\u2019s arrival events, you\u2019d be well advised to put Antigua on your schedule for next Fall\u2019s rally.\u00a0 I know I will.<\/p>\n

Now you see why it’s so easy to say, and that’s not Fake News, that we are deep into the Dawg Days of Antigua.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Well, it\u2019s finally happening, after a long run south, with a stop in Bermuda for many, the Fall Salty Dawg Rally participants are beginning to arrive here in Antigua. That’s a good thing as am here with lots of parties planned and I just hate putting on parties when nobody shows up.\u00a0 When I arrived […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-9258","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9258","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=9258"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9258\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":9270,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/9258\/revisions\/9270"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=9258"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=9258"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=9258"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}