Bees Knees in Antigua!
Well....this is my first Blog!!! Aaaauuuugggghhhh!!!! So...bear with me!
We're in Jolly Harbour, Antigua.
..having arrived from Nevis on Monday, 1/19/2009. We fished enroute....as we always drag a line even though it's been nearly 1 1/2 years and we haven't caught a fish yet...or any bites. But...on this special Monday we had three bites on our line!
The first was a 3' dolphin (mahi mahi for those who are friends of Flipper) that put up a bit of a fight and then the lure broke as we were bringing him up next to the boat!! So....there goes a $5 defective lure stuck in the poor fish's mouth. The next bite was a billfish...that was more than evident as he jumped out of the water and skillfully sliced the line and swam away! The third bite was just near sunset, about 4nm out of Antigua....Jim grabbed the pole as the reel was spinning out quickly!! Then he was working hard, struggling, to try to get control of the line. The pole was pushing into him and he looked like he was going to lose everything!! Then the line shot straight to the bottom....and he struggled even more and the pole was bent and straining! Suddenly it wasn't as hard anymore and he reeled in what was left.....a large wahoo head without a body.....the "Shark" that we never saw must have taken the rest. So....now we've polluted the environment with two lures and killed a poor wahoo that was just going out to dinner. Have to re-think this fishing thing!!
Anyways....we're in Antigua....first time. Kinda had "culture shock" when we went in to the grocery store in Jolly Harbour....and there were automatic doors!!!!! Then we saw the aisle with all the salad dressings and thought we were back at Publix! We also took our laundry in for wash/dry/fold service and suprisingly paid $52 for that!! Have to get the buckets back out until we get a little further downisland!
We did go for a nice walk yesterday, attempting to take a "few" minute walk to the local rum store...but ended up 30 minutes later down by the beach....having taken a right at the road instead of the left.
But....we stopped at "Vermanita's" for lunch and had a spendid time talking with Vermanita while I had a Guinness and Jim had pepper pot (a homemade stew of chicken, and other meat, veges including callaloo with a corn meal dumpling) and a ginger beer! It was delicious, but the best part was the easy conversation with Vermanita. While she talked of her family and life on the island an Antillean crested hummingbird flew around getting his supply from the local flowers surrounding the picnic tables and sat for minutes at a time on a branch of one flowering bush. 
After heartfelt hugs good-bye from Vermanita we continued our walk....in search of rum.
We passed our starting point by Jolly Harbour...and within a few minutes were in the town of Bolans where Bushy met us at the counter/bar/mailroom/car supply store. He poured us a hearty glass of rum to taste....which we did.....and were pleasingly surprised at the smoothness of this homemade concoction called "Best Matured Rum". We bought two bottles after a short conversation with Bushy and continued our walk back to the Harbour.
We've met alot of nice cruisers while in the Leewards....most recently a couple on "Prudence". We initially met them in Oriental, NC, in 2007 when we were heading South from Maine. We met up again in St. Martin walking along a road after we just explored some ruins of LaBelle Creole Hotel. We finally got together the other night on their boat, a 35' Southern Cross (beautiful), and swapped stories and enjoyed "sundowners". I'm sure we'll see them as we head down island.
The wind has been "honking"....which seems to be a word we use to describe anything gusting over 20 while at anchor. Plus there have been a few scattered rain showers. Otherwise pretty nice anchorage with great views of white sandy beaches and Montserrat to the South. Our plan is to explore other anchorages around Antigua....leaving Jolly Harbour tomorrow.
We're in Jolly Harbour, Antigua.
..having arrived from Nevis on Monday, 1/19/2009. We fished enroute....as we always drag a line even though it's been nearly 1 1/2 years and we haven't caught a fish yet...or any bites. But...on this special Monday we had three bites on our line!The first was a 3' dolphin (mahi mahi for those who are friends of Flipper) that put up a bit of a fight and then the lure broke as we were bringing him up next to the boat!! So....there goes a $5 defective lure stuck in the poor fish's mouth. The next bite was a billfish...that was more than evident as he jumped out of the water and skillfully sliced the line and swam away! The third bite was just near sunset, about 4nm out of Antigua....Jim grabbed the pole as the reel was spinning out quickly!! Then he was working hard, struggling, to try to get control of the line. The pole was pushing into him and he looked like he was going to lose everything!! Then the line shot straight to the bottom....and he struggled even more and the pole was bent and straining! Suddenly it wasn't as hard anymore and he reeled in what was left.....a large wahoo head without a body.....the "Shark" that we never saw must have taken the rest. So....now we've polluted the environment with two lures and killed a poor wahoo that was just going out to dinner. Have to re-think this fishing thing!!
Anyways....we're in Antigua....first time. Kinda had "culture shock" when we went in to the grocery store in Jolly Harbour....and there were automatic doors!!!!! Then we saw the aisle with all the salad dressings and thought we were back at Publix! We also took our laundry in for wash/dry/fold service and suprisingly paid $52 for that!! Have to get the buckets back out until we get a little further downisland!
We did go for a nice walk yesterday, attempting to take a "few" minute walk to the local rum store...but ended up 30 minutes later down by the beach....having taken a right at the road instead of the left.
But....we stopped at "Vermanita's" for lunch and had a spendid time talking with Vermanita while I had a Guinness and Jim had pepper pot (a homemade stew of chicken, and other meat, veges including callaloo with a corn meal dumpling) and a ginger beer! It was delicious, but the best part was the easy conversation with Vermanita. While she talked of her family and life on the island an Antillean crested hummingbird flew around getting his supply from the local flowers surrounding the picnic tables and sat for minutes at a time on a branch of one flowering bush. After heartfelt hugs good-bye from Vermanita we continued our walk....in search of rum. We passed our starting point by Jolly Harbour...and within a few minutes were in the town of Bolans where Bushy met us at the counter/bar/mailroom/car supply store. He poured us a hearty glass of rum to taste....which we did.....and were pleasingly surprised at the smoothness of this homemade concoction called "Best Matured Rum". We bought two bottles after a short conversation with Bushy and continued our walk back to the Harbour.
We've met alot of nice cruisers while in the Leewards....most recently a couple on "Prudence". We initially met them in Oriental, NC, in 2007 when we were heading South from Maine. We met up again in St. Martin walking along a road after we just explored some ruins of LaBelle Creole Hotel. We finally got together the other night on their boat, a 35' Southern Cross (beautiful), and swapped stories and enjoyed "sundowners". I'm sure we'll see them as we head down island.
The wind has been "honking"....which seems to be a word we use to describe anything gusting over 20 while at anchor. Plus there have been a few scattered rain showers. Otherwise pretty nice anchorage with great views of white sandy beaches and Montserrat to the South. Our plan is to explore other anchorages around Antigua....leaving Jolly Harbour tomorrow.
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