Becoming “locals” during our extended stay in Antigua – December 5 through January 2 (subtitle: Life on a sailboat in the Caribbean isn’t all ocean swims, glorious views, sunshine and cocktails or Don and Carol’s epic adventure!)

Happy New Year. Hard to believe that we have now lived on Che Figata for 16 months and one complete calendar year. 2021 was a wonderful first full year filled with great adventure, interesting people, beautiful scenery, lots of exercise (!!!) and the myriad of joys and frustrations that come with living on a boat full time. We covered a lot of ground — sailing back up to the Northeast and then back down to the Caribbean where we have now nicely settled in to the cruising community on Antigua.

As you know, we were tethered to a marina for quite some time due to our malfunctioning fridge/freezer two drawer unit. When we left off in our last blog entry, the new unit had finally arrived in Miami and we had it sent by air freight down to Antigua. With a little help from our friends at Antigua Rigging, it arrived and clear customs without a hitch. Shortly after its arrival, our friends at Ultra Yacht Refit installed it and — we hesitate to type this without knocking on wood three times (fortunately, there is no shortage of wood on Che Figata) — it appears to be working. We got it installed just in time to leave the marina on December 21 so we could head to the Northwest corner of the island to meet Jill’s dad and step mother in Jolly Harbour. They were flying in to stay with us over the Christmas holiday. More on that visit later. (HINT: the subtitle for this blog entry comes in large part from the, ahem, “adventures” we had during their wonderful visit.)

But before we could leave the marina we continued to explore the Falmouth and English Harbour areas by dinghy and through hikes. There are a couple of great hikes we were able to access right from our marina. The first was a hike up to Fort George. A modest hike (only about 4 miles round trip) with some steep inclines that reward you with a beautiful view of Falmouth Harbour and a little peek at English Harbour in the background. The second was a hike to the beautiful and unspoiled Rendezvous Beach — one of the 365 beaches on Antigua for those of you keeping up. This hike was about 6 miles round trip with all the ups and downs we expect when hiking on this volcanic island. Our feature photo for this blog entry is taken from one of the vistas you reach before you descend to the sandy coast.

As long as we remained tethered to the marina for the better part of December without a working fridge/freezer unit, we continued to sample the local restaurants, becoming “regulars” at a few of our favorites including The Club House, which is the restaurant operated by Antigua Yacht Club where we are now members, as well as Indian Summer, a delightful Indian restaurant on the water with some of the best Indian food we have had anywhere on the planet as well as our favorite “Old Fashion Rum Punch” on the island. Aside from enjoying wonderful meals at both restaurants it is nice to be greeted like old friends every time we show up — which has been frequent.

You might have noticed that we said that Indian Summer has the best Old Fashion Rum Punch on the island. That would imply that we have been sampling them wherever we go. Guilty as charged. We have become obsessed with this local take on rum punch and consider it our duty to see who makes the drink best! It is made with freshly squeezed lime juice, simple syrup, rum, and a dash of bitters, cinnamon and nutmeg and served over lots of ice. Confident that we don’t keep coming back to their restaurant solely for the Old Fashion Rum Punch (they are secure in the knowledge that we are big fans of their food too and said as much), the manager of Indian Summer shared their recipe with us and Jill has been on a mission to perfect it ever since. I’m not sure she will ever declare victory — we are having too much fun “practicing” to get it just right. The Salty Dawg group that we sailed down to Antigua with organized a New Year’s day progressive cocktail party where we went from boat to boat by dinghy to sample everyone’s signature cocktails. Though Jill’s G&Ts are legendary, we had to use Jill’s Old Fashion Rum Punch as ours and it was a big hit!

In between hikes, swimming, and tasting the local fare we have been busy planning a wedding! Our son and his finance are getting married in August and with all the pent up demand from weddings postponed due to COVID, we were under a bit of a crunch to find a good wedding planner, florist and photographer for the event. As we have said before, just because we live on a boat doesn’t mean life doesn’t continue to happen. Fortunately, everyone pitched in — the bride and groom and the bride’s parents — so by just before Christmas we had all the key wedding vendors lined up. We all breathed a big collective sigh of relief!

All of the wedding planning came together just in time. Jill’s father, Don, and step mother, Carol, arrived from Seattle on December 22 to spend Christmas with us. We decided to meet them in Jolly Harbour because it is a bit closer to the airport, has a larger grocery store for provisioning and, importantly, would allow us to stop in several different ports along the island while we made our way back to the Falmouth and English Harbour area where there were many festivities planned for Christmas. We left our med mooring at the Cat Club on December 21 without incident. If you have been reading our blog you know that in a med mooring you “dock” stern in with your anchor out front. There are no finger docks. Instead the boats are all lined up next to each other, separated only by fenders. It is tricky getting situated in a med moor set up with only two people (fortunately, when we med moored we still had our crew member and friend Eric with us) and we were concerned that it would be difficult to get out of the tight quarters. Sometimes it is better to be lucky than good. In that vain, the sailboat next to us left the day before our scheduled departure and no other boat had yet squeezed into that spot. That gave us a wide berth on our port side and definitely helped us get out with relative ease. The fact that the wind had died down helped as well. Still, there were high fives all around when we were safely away from the marina.

After leaving the marina we didn’t travel far. We were planning on anchoring for the evening and that is not something you want to do when it’s dark. Ideally, in fact, you anchor when there is bright sun so you can see down in the water and distinguish between the areas of sand, coral, rock and sea grass. Since we left the marina late in the day, and we knew it would take us between 90 minutes and 2 hours to get to Jolly Harbour, we decided to anchor right outside the marina in Falmouth Harbour and set off the next day. We enjoyed a lovely evening our first night on the “hook.” With our new fridge/freezer installed, Jill was able to do some shopping and made a wonderful new NYT recipe: Sweet & Spicy Tofu with Soba Noodles. It reminded us why we enjoy living on our boat. It was quiet, the stars were bright and there was a wonderful cool breeze and gentle rock that kept us comfortable through the night. The magic was back!

We left the next morning to head to Jolly Harbour to greet Don and Carol. We were excited for the visit. Jill played travel agent and put together a wonderful itinerary for their visit starting with dinner at Sheer Rocks and, after 3 nights at various anchorages, ending in Falmouth Harbour where all sorts of celebrations were planned. We thought dinner at Sheer Rocks would be the perfect way to start our adventure together. Sheer Rocks is a beautiful property perched atop a rocky cliff, in the center of Antigua’s gorgeous west coast. It is surrounded by vivid scenery and foliage. The restaurant adheres to sustainable practices, supporting local farmers, fisherman and food artisans to create their Mediterranean inspired menu. What we didn’t plan on was that 3 large planes full of tourists would all land on Antigua within 30 minutes of each other, creating a logjam at customs and immigration and resulting in Don and Carol standing in line for over two hours to clear into the country. By the time they arrived to our meeting spot in Jolly Harbour they were physically exhausted and we had to move our dinner reservations back from 6 PM to 7:30 PM. That meant that it was pitch black by the time we arrived and, alas, our view was out into the vast darkness with some star accents. Still, we could hear the waves and chirping tree frogs and, after one Old Fashion Rum Punch — yep, we had to try them at Sheer Rocks and we declared them among the best — we were all quite relaxed and ready to enjoy a lovely meal. The food did not disappoint and despite the dinner being at the end of a very long day for Don and Carol (which actually started the day before with a red eye flight to Miami), we were all glad we moved back, rather than cancelled, the reservation. We will definitely return to Sheer Rocks during one of our future circumnavigations around Antigua.

Day 2 of the visit was quiet. We had assumed that Don and Carol would be tired from their long travel to Antigua — we just didn’t anticipate how tired they would be given the 2 hours of standing at the airport after their arrival — so we deliberately planned a day where we would anchor in a nearby bay, Deep Bay. It would be a day or reading, swimming and just relaxing, all meals aboard Che Figata. A local travel writer described Deep Bay this way: “Just to the north of Galley Bay Resort, you’ll find one of my favorite beaches on the island and maybe even the entire Caribbean: Deep Bay.  The ruins of Fort Barrington (10 minute walk) keep watch over this incredible, crescent-shaped slice of paradise, just adding to the beauty of its turquoise, flat waters. Swimming here is like splashing in the largest, most pristine, natural pool you’ve ever imagined.  As an added bonus, there’s a hundred-year-old sunken wreck, a barque from Trinidad named the Andes, out in the middle of the bay. It’s an easy swim from shore and accessible to snorkelers. Beaches don’t get better than this.” Deep Bay was as beautiful as described. Unfortunately, what this travel writer failed to report is that the bay is a favorite spot for jet skiers and there were many of them darting in and around the anchored boats and the area of the sunken ship. Frankly, we didn’t dare get out of the boat and into the water. (Later, in recounting this experience to fellow cruisers, they shared that they had a near miss with a jet ski while snorkeling the wreck.). That was okay for our first day because Don and Carol really just wanted to rest but, despite the allure of the sunken ship and the beauty of the bay, we don’t think we will go back to Deep Bay.

After breakfast aboard the boat we headed to Carlisle Bay for day 3 of the Don and Carol visit. Carlisle Bay is a beautiful horseshoe bay with a long white sandy beach located on the south side of Antigua. It is home to the upscale Carlisle Bay Hotel and a short walk from a lovely hill top authentic Greek restaurant, Karnagio, with commanding views. We arrived just in time for lunch so we headed straight to Karnagio where we enjoy a true feast. We don’t think there was a starter course we didn’t try. We definitely created our own Greek “sampler” and though we ordered enough for 10 people we did justice to all the dishes and had very few leftovers to bring back to the boat. After getting back to Che Figata, and allowing our food to digest, we all decided to take a splash in the ocean. Zack got out the noodles and we enjoyed a lazy float in the blue water. The only thing missing was the floating drink holders so we could serve our now signature Old fashion Rum Punch “noodle side.” Fortunately, no one complained.

Given our large lunch we decided to have a light dinner of charcuterie. We found an amazing wine and cheese shop in Falmouth Harbour, Cork & Basket, and, in anticipation of the arrival of our guests, we provisioned with creamy gorgonzola, goat cheese with garlic and herbs, manchego, and a variety of cured meats. Jill prepared a beautiful platter with the cheeses, meats, crackers, hummus and crunchy veggies. An Old Fashion Rum Punch all around helped to wash down the meal. And this is when the first plague descended upon us. Just as dusk began to set in we were swarmed by flying ants. We went from no bugs to literally hundreds of bugs in a matter of seconds, They were all over the food and, apparently, attracted to white, quickly covered all of the white surfaces (and there are many of them) in our cockpit. We abandoned our snack expeditiously and went down below, closing the companionway so that we were tightly sealed inside the cabin of the boat. It truly felt like a scene from a horror movie. For us it was like a reprise of the invasion of the flies (see our blog entry entitled “The leisurely sail back up to New England — Part VII — May 18 through May 22 (Subtitle: The invasion of the flies!)” for context) but at least this time the offending insects stayed mostly outside the cabin. Don and Carol got their first taste of “a day in the life of full time cruisers” and they handled it like champs!

When we got up the next morning the first thing we did was open up the companionway to check out the scene of the crime and that’s when we saw the carnage. Apparently, these flying ants have a very short shelf life because the hundreds of insects that covered our white surfaces were now all over the floor of the cockpit. Nothing like waking up in the morning to vacuum up dead insects! With that task done, we were able to prepare breakfast and enjoy it al fresco. With food in our bellies, beautiful sunshine and a nice breeze, the unpleasantness of the prior evening seemed liked a distant memory. We were eager to start our day and head to the Falmouth and English Harbour area to participate in the Christmas festivities.

Christmas is a big deal on Antigua and, particularly, in English Harbour. Though it was cancelled last year due to COVID, there is a huge Christmas party every year in Nelson’s Dockyard on December 25th — the Nelson’s Dockyard Champagne Christmas Party. Food trucks pull up at the dockyard to sell a variety of good eats and many different bottles of champagne, from inexpensive to “you better be sitting down,” with a portion of the proceeds donated to various local charities. People come from all over the island to participate in the celebration, most dressed in outlandish holiday garb. This major annual tradition was actually named in the New York Times as “one of the 5 best Christmas events in the world.” (According to Jill, if it’s in the NYT it must be true!). We arrived in Falmouth Harbour by about 11 AM and picked up a mooring at the Antigua Yacht Club. Not wanting to miss a moment of the fun, we headed into shore and walked over to Nelson’s dockyard, arriving shortly after Noon. And there was nothing there. No food trucks, no Champagne, no people in funny outfits. (Well, there were a few restaurants opened and some of the patrons did don Santa Hats and reindeer ears.) After really building up this event, Jill was more than mildly embarrassed that there was nothing going on and wondered whether she had misunderstood the nature or location of the event. That was not the case. As we walked around the dockyard, we ran into fellow cruisers that we got acquainted with through the Salty Dawgs and they informed us that the annual Champagne Christmas Party had been cancelled a few days before due to the Omicron variant. If we had stayed in the area we would have been listening to the morning cruisers net and would have known. But we didn’t stay in the area — we had sailed across the island to Jolly Harbor and had slowly made our way back, arriving the day of the supposed event.

Thankfully, the day was not a total bust. Though we didn’t get to enjoy street food and Champagne, we found a nearby restaurant that was grilling a variety of meats from chicken to fish and ribs. Everyone enjoyed their lunch and we didn’t get back to the boat until mid afternoon, just in time to rest up for our dinner at 5 Senses, a lovely French Restaurant (with a slight Mexican influence) right on the water, where we enjoyed another delightful meal. It was a lovely day and we were all looking forward to our second day in the Falmouth/English Harbour. We had another big day planned. We would start with lunch poolside at Boom, a lovely boutique hotel in English Harbour, and then head up to the iconic Shirley Heights with its panoramic views of the area to enjoy the beautiful sunset and stay for dinner eating to the sounds of the best steel drum band on the island!

Lunch at Boom went as planned (though they didn’t allow us to swim in the infinity pool after lunch which is usually part of the lunch gig due to the hotel’s full occupancy level) and we enjoyed a delicious and very leisurely two hour lunch. Shirley heights, on the other hand, well, not so much. The weather on Antigua is pretty much the same all Winter: highs in the low to mid 80s, lows in the mid 70s with some scattered clouds and an occasional sprinkle. Rarely does it rain hard and, when it does, it is generally short lived. Of course the day of our planned to visit Shirley Heights to watch the sunset and listen to live music the skies opened up and didn’t shut down. The moisture in the air created a fairly thick fog that largely blocked what is generally an incredible view from Shirley Heights. But worse yet, it just kept raining and, instead of waning, it got harder and harder until we had to abandon our plans and head to the safely of a covered restaurant in town. Being regulars at Indian Summer we reached out to the manager there and they gladly fit us in. It was another wonderful meal even if we were soaked to the bone. Nothing makes our heart sing more than dining in wet clothes, followed by a dinghy ride (still in wet clothes) to the boat. Don and Carol had now experienced the second and third plagues of their trip — sudden changes in plans and dining while wet — and had seen first-hand the need for resiliency when you live on a boat.

That evening, after going to bed, they got to experience the fourth plague of their trip — boat repairs in exotic places. When we are at anchor we sleep with the hatches open at night. We rarely run the AC because that would require us to have the generator running and it is simply much more pleasant to sleep to the sound of the waves rather than the sounds of the generator. Besides, the generator runs on fuel which we treat like a precious resource and the cool breeze generally keeps us comfortable enough to get a good rest. As we mentioned earlier though, most days there are rain showers, albeit generally short lived, on the island. The showers seem to occur more frequently at night. That means that, at some point during the night, we (or any guests aboard) will invariably be woken up by a rain shower that is more that a mere sprinkle and will necessitate closing the hatch. After some instruction, Don and Carol had been opening and shutting the hatch in their cabin like pros even though it is not intuitive. So when it started to rain hard at around 5:30 AM we closed our hatch and assumed they would do the same as they had done before. This time though, we hear our names called from the guest cabin. They can’t shut the hatch. Jill quickly got out of bed but by the time she got to their cabin the bed was pretty wet and when she reached up to close the hatch she saw the problem — one of the knobs was missing. Without the knob there was no way to close the hatch. Jill then did what she usually does when something is broken: she yelled for Zack. Zack somehow managed to get the hatch closed but, by this time, it was 6 AM and the bed was even more wet.

At this point we all decided it was time to get up for the day and what better way to start the day than to do a load of laundry. The sheets needed to be washed and dried after the rain shower. Easy peasy to do a small load in our Splendide combined washer/dryer unit and we were excited to show it off and demonstrate how we could do everything on our boat that we would do in our land based home (when we had one). Ha! Of course, when we went to load the unit we found the latch to the washer/dryer door broken and, with the latch broken, it wouldn’t start. We had been storing extra laundry detergent in the machine (on a boat you use every possible space for storage) and, apparently, the detergent container was too close to the door and created stress on the latch that, eventually, caused it to fail. (The post script to this story is that Zack was able to superglue the broken parts back together so we now have a washer/dryer that works and he also fixed the broken latch on the hatch in the guest cabin by replacing it with the latch on the hatch in our port cabin that we never open. Jill continues to be grateful that Zack’s father put him to work building things when he growing up so he’s a pretty good handyman — an essential skill for life on a boat. Thanks Roger!)

The rest of Don and Carol’s visit went smoothly and on their final day they enjoyed a healthy dose of sunshine punctuated by lunch on the beach at Catherine’s and dinner in the trees with a view at the Club House Restaurant. In the end, though the visit didn’t exactly go as planned, they did get treated to the full cruiser’s experience: wonderful days of warm sun, good food by the water, and the relaxing sounds and motions of the sea combined with sleep interrupted by a downpour, things that break, insect invasions and sudden changes in plans. We give them an A+ for resilience and we haven’t even written about the dinghy rides we subjected them to at least twice a day. Let’s just say we hope we can get in and out of a rocking dinghy, often without anything to grab onto, as well as them when we are in our 80s and 90s!

With our company gone and our essential repairs made, we plan to take off shortly to explore other bays around Antigua. Our first stop will be Green Island. Between the exploring we did while Jill’s dad and step mom were here and what we will do over the next few weeks we will be ready to put together a great itinerary for our daughter and her girlfriend when they visit at the end of the month. Our next blog entry will be after their visit, probably sometime in early February when we are ready to head South to explore the Windward Islands! Stay tuned!