April 2
Arrived in Antigua yesterday at Jolly Harbor Marina. In a flash we’ve gone from being the smallest boat in the marina to the biggest. Our friend Bob is here for the week with his brother and nephew working on his house so it will be a fun week catching up and meeting locals. Next week we’ll anchor out and get some diving in.
It’s a beautiful island and one we’ve visited before. Jolly Harbor Marina is a good place to stay as evidenced by the large cruiser population that stays for months at a time. Good restaurants, a pharmacy, grocery and other nice shops all at the end of the dock. What’s not to love?
After a week of socializing and having fun we moved the boat to Five Islands Bay for a couple days and chilled before a quick stop back at Jolly Harbor to clear customs & immigration then on to a final night at Manora Bay.
For two weeks now we’ve been looking at Guadeloupe. You can easily see it from St Kitts and Antigua as it’s a large island with tall peaks on the west side. It’s always fun to actually be able to see where you’re going when you leave in the morning. So of course Mother Nature had a laugh on us as we woke up, pulled up anchor and headed out the harbor only to be met with clouds and mist. Where is Guadeloupe? In the mist somewhere. Onward into the unknown. Again. Couldn’t see the island until we got within about 20 miles of it.
Somewhere along the last few islands we managed to pick up an algae growth at the waterline of the boat. Nothing serious but seriously ugly. Back at Five Islands Bay I decided to jump in the water and see how bad it was. Armed with a plastic scraper and soft pad I sat on a float and scrubbed away. It came off easily so after doing the stern I moved around to the port side only to be pushed right back behind the boat. Seems the wind stirred up the water just enough that the water wouldn’t allow me to stay in one place long enough to scrape anything. Bottom line is the stern looks great but the sides will have to wait for a still anchorage.