Antigua - the island of the super yachts!

After a very last minute hesitation between Falmouth harbour and English harbour, we chose the most beautiful one of the two (in our opinion😌). It wasn’t easy to find a space in this bay but once settled we were very pleased with the surroundings 😳
First task (while checking to see if we don’t block the channel and if the anchor holds correctly): a swim. More importantly the girls need to get rid of their energy ! We’re just at the entry of the bay so the water is quite clean enough …

It’s amazing how many super yachts there are in this one place. As Geoffrey says : that must be some enormous wharf, building these customised boats rolling of a conveyor belt.

Above: a little hint to two of our friends 😎

The town is part of a national park and very well preserved.

We were just in time to see an American finish the Atlantic rowing challenge.

That was a nice surprise as we saw the preparations months ago in the Canary Islands. Great atmosphere in the harbour with all these mega yachts pushing their horn covering real loudly the music (by Queen of course 😌)! 

We feel soooooooo tiny around here (can you find LouiseAnna?)!

It’s very English, but we had a delicious meal in-between the picturesque ruins of the town.

We went for a walk around the town towards Falmouth harbour and found it to be very smelly and chaotic. We don’t get why you would pay extra to be in a bay that dirty... After filling up with diesel (a lot cheaper here) and buying some necessities at the ship chandler, we went off to explore the island.

5th February 2019. Next stop: Carlisle Bay.
Very calm, pretty and quite ok to snorkel. It’s just us and two modest yachts…

6th February 2019.
We wanted to anchor off Crab Hill and in Ffryes bay, which are supposed to be dreamy beaches, however while sailing along the coast, it just didn’t tempt us. The hurricanes killed all the palm trees, hotels are build everywhere, … But we can imagine that if you come by plane and stay in those beautiful hotels, the view must be magnificent. We decide to move on and spend more days in places that really attract us. We do briefly stop on the reef southwest of the island, to see the horror the hurricanes provoked under water. Everything is destroyed. Some coral plants are trying to grow back but only attract a few tiny fish… It’s so sad!

We anchor at Jolly Harbour instead and meet our Australian friends again we saw in Morocco 😎 The world is indeed a tiny place.

While taking Bob to do some shopping, Jolly harbour made us think of the Netherlands. A bay full of villa’s with their pontoons right in front of them. The type of boats are a “little bit” bigger than in the Netherlands and the pontoons a “little bit” more extravagant 😲

The supermarket is very very expensive, as is the “Budget” Marine, where you are supposed to get tax free goods, however we didn’t notice the prices are advertised already tax free, aaaaargh!
In return, we had a wonderful lunch with great free WIFI, so I was able to get another blog online 🙌 8th February 2019. We’re in need of a swim and go off to see a South African couple in Deep Bay.

They had seen us in Jolly Harbour and as mums have radars for children in need of children, we tried to organise a “play date”. It’s a nice bay. However, the water is so murky that I couldn’t even see the dolphin passing 2 meters in front of me. As Louise, Anna and Geoffrey already had there wonderful dolphin encounter, they left mum alone to swim behind this single dolphin checking out the bay… I swam quickly from the left to the right, trying to follow this elegant animal, but apart from a fin above the water, it was impossible to see. A bit disappointed but I hope to get another chance 😊 After a wonderful afternoon on the beach with 4 kids trying to communicate through the help of mum and dad, we checked out the wreck that’s submerged at the entrance of the bay. 

I found it very scary to stick my head in the water and see a boat at the bottom of the ocean… Lots of things go through my mind… so the three girls tried to imagine that, when the boat sunk, everybody was able to swim ashore and that there were no casualties … After 5 minutes we were over it and it’s just amazing to see how well these wrecks provide a safe “harbour” for corals and fish. Great experience! 

9th February 2019.
We want to clear out at St. John’s and check out the capital city of Antigua.

We were warned by cruisers' comments that it’s very dirty and extremely smelly, however we try to avoid following these comments blindly as everybody has a different tolerance and interest. This time that was a BIG mistake. OMG !!! This is the most smelly place we’ve ever been to. The clearance guy took the afternoon off, so unless we wanted a tourist stamp, we were supposed to go back to English or Jolly harbour. After these two disappointments, we went to check out the city to be disappointed again. There were only shops, goldsmiths and we were overwhelmed by dirt on the streets and the smell of the bay… 

 
As we wanted to really get the most out of it, we did find a restaurant that served a nice meal in a very nice little district. We met a French couple with two girls the same age and arranged another “play date” later that night on the beach of Jolly Harbour, I think its Galley Bay.

You see, you can get very nice surprises even when you least expect it 😌 The sail back to Jolly Harbour was wonderful with yachts of all types racing in between these small island rocks. A bit like the H-cups in Nieuwpoort, Belgium 😎 

Very nice dinner on the beach, great company and 4 happy girls. A superb way to forget the horror earlier that day!  

10th February 2019. 

Early checkout and hop to Saint-Barths.