160 CRUISING IN TO THE NEW YEAR скачать в хорошем качестве

160 CRUISING IN TO THE NEW YEAR

No 160 - Cruising in to the New Year With still plenty of jobs to do on ‘Twenty Twenty’ and the imminent arrival of Christmas not to mention James and Alexa, we got stuck in to the most important jobs. We also needed to provision for over Christmas and the New Year, stocking up on all the good things which meant we would need to head around the coast of Antigua and up to Jolly Harbour. Amazingly we found out later that the large supermarket in Jolly Harbour actually opened on Christmas Day! Whilst ticking off the jobs anchored off Jolly Beach we had to rearrange our schedule to help out Russ and Utè on ‘Tairua’, their fuel injector pump had decided to leak and with no hope of getting this repaired locally we got stuck-in and removed the pump. As always on a boat the pump was in the most inaccessible space requiring hours of boat yoga just to undo the bolts but I’m pleased to say it was all completed in plenty of time to get ready and welcome James and Alexa to Antigua. We treated ourselves to a night in the marina so that we could get the new crew settled onboard and as a special treat we went to our favourite restaurant in Jolly Harbour and enjoyed a wonderful meal. Bright and early the next morning we slipped our berth but not before completing one last job, a quick trip to the top of the mast to reinstall the wind vane. We had removed this at the end of last season to perform some vital maintenance on this piece of equipment that has sat on top of the mast in all weather conditions for 42 years. I must pay tribute to this British company “Stowe” in acknowledgment of the quality of their instruments compared to modern equipment of which you are lucky if it lasts 5 years. In true boat job list tradition I also did a thorough rig check on my way down to the deck. Don’t we always say “one job always turns out to be two jobs”. Today’s destination Carlisle Bay, Antigua has so many beautiful anchorages to visit but we had planned to see as mush as we could during the time they were here. We spent a few hours swimming and snorkelling in the bay as we planned our activities for the following day. Our plan was to continue along the coast to the historic English Harbour with all its history as well as the beautiful Galleon Beach. To be honest we weren’t absolutely sure we would get into the harbour with New Year approaching as this is always one of the “in” places but to our surprise the exact spot we had vacated 14 days previously was vacant and waiting for us to drop anchor. This particular spot is perfectly placed to snorkel on both the inner and outer reef. This gave me the opportunity to go snorkelling with James in a more challenging environment. James is massively in to his free diving, which has to be a throwback from when he used to try to hold his breath underwater longer than me from about the age of three! We dinghied around the harbour checking out all the Super Yachts then headed back to Galleon Beach as one or two of our party were craving cocktails. What better way to get the New Years Eve celebrations underway. We had checked with the waitress to see where the fireworks would be let off and decided we would spend the evening aboard ‘Twenty Twenty’ which would give us the perfect view of the firework display. After our meal we settled down with champagne on ice and waited for the midnight hour and as the first rocket exploded marking the beginning of 2026 we realised that we had been given duff information and ‘Twenty Twenty’ was not in prime position as virtually all of the fireworks were obscured by Middle Ground mountain. Slightly disappointed we popped the cork with hugs and cheers all around when suddenly from the ancient battery above The Columns of Herculean we were suddenly being bombarded with booms and crackling colourful explosions literally above our bow, it truly was amazing and although a little unnerving with the cascade of sparks, ‘Twenty Twenty’ did literally have the front row seat. New Year’s Day is always a good day for a hike, so we headed off over to Falmouth where we were rather disappointed to see the Super Yacht dock was completely empty. Apparently they had all gone over to St Barth’s for the New Year’s Eve celebrations. Undeterred we continued on to Pigeon Beach and then began our hike over the mountain trail known as Middle Ground. Visiting all the military installations on the way, it was easy to imagine how it would have been in 1800’s as you looked out from the amazing vantage points. As we descended to Fort Berkeley where it still has some of its original canons, history does really come to life. The next day we headed to another of our favourite anchorages in Deep Bay. Here we could snorkel on the wreak of the steamship Andes and amongst the amazing sea life including lobsters and hike up to Fort Barrington, another of the British forts on Antigua. We certainly packed lots in but all too soon it was time to say “farewell“ to James and Alexa. Until next time.