Advertisement
Shoreline of Antigua
Another view of the Antigua shoreline from the hiking trail. Flexibility is the name of the game. That word had been drilled into us back in Peace Corps days and it has served us well since then. It came in handy just yesterday too! As mentioned in our last blog entry we planned on leaving this weekend, Sunday, April 13
th. We have provisioned to the hilt (there is not enough room on this boat for even a small can of tuna), re-organized the boat for the crossing and were pretty much ready to go except for those last minute chores such as putting the dinghy up on the deck, putting the wind monitor on the stern, and setting sail. On Friday we had gone to shore for some errands and when we got back to the boat in the afternoon we talked to our weather router, Bob Cook. He e-mailed us the weather details based on us leaving on Sunday AM bright and early. It would be workable and he promised to work with us to make the crossing as comfortable as possible, but in the message he stated the following: “ Synopsis: It is mid-May and just a bit early for quiet transatlantic passages so do expect to see
Anyone know what they are?
Any one know what they are? Each flower is quite small, but they are numerous on each plant. variable weather, the occasional cold front and a succession of moderate strength low pressure systems ….” When we saw this we asked him if it would be better to leave now or wait a few weeks. He said he would definitely work to keep us out of the bad weather, but that there was a better probability of having a “nice” passage sometime in early June but didn’t know if we would want to wait that long. After discussing the options (leave now or leave sometime in early June) we decided to go with plan B and stay in the Caribbean for a few more weeks. We mentioned to Bob C. that we are retired and not on a tight schedule so waiting was fine with us - we will have fun with our extra couple of weeks.
What helped us make the decision was the idea that we it would be a bonus of a few weeks to do some of the things that we wanted to but didn’t have the time to do. We had talked to many friends that had sailed to Barbuda and recommended it highly as a great place to visit for
peace and quiet, great snorkeling and walking the beach. We kept telling ourselves that we didn’t have time for that now but would have it on the list for when we cross back over from Europe in a few years. We also have been reading that it is wise to have a pet passport for Sailor for entry into all EU countries. We had checked into it in the US and everyone had looked at us as if we were from Mars so she doesn’t currently have one, just the shots and microchip. Friends on Unicorn had told us that their kitten, Morris had gotten his pet passport in St Martin so we figure we can now take the time to sail over there and get her paperwork in order as well.
It was definitely an emotional roller coaster for about an hour while we contemplated what we should decide to do, go now or wait till later. Now that we have made the decision to wait we are very happy with the decision.
Now, don’t think this will be all fun and games, we still do have a few things that need to be done – defrost
The Mad Mongoose
The Mad Mongoose in Falmouth Harbour was a great place to meet other cruisers and they had a great happy hour and burger. Unfortunately they closed right after Antigua race week. the freezer, work on the teak and there is always stainless to polish, but now at least we can spread it out over time interspersed with fun!
With our first “extra free day” today we took a bus from Jolly Harbour where we now are back to Falmouth Harbour so we could do some hiking to a couple of the Forts that were located there back in the late 1700’s. We got the hiking boots on, the walking stick out and hit the trails. It was lots of fun as we haven’t been taking the time to do that for quite some time. We will sail tomorrow to Barbuda where there won’t be any wi-fi connections so wanted to get this posted as quickly as possible to let everyone know of the change. All of those that sent us well wishes for our trip – thanks – and we will save them for when we actually depart which should be in early June!
Will keep you posted!! Stay tuned....
Advertisement
Tot: 0.08s; Tpl: 0.014s; cc: 13; qc: 30; dbt: 0.037s; 1; m:domysql w:travelblog (10.17.0.13); sld: 1;
; mem: 1.1mb