Hiding from the Weather!
February 11, 2009
Jumby Bay, Long Island, Antigua
Well....we're anchored securely, behind another reef and small island, but still the wind is blowing up to 30K, rain squalls coming thru all last night and today. During the day we have it timed, down to less than 0.2 seconds, to jump up when the rain starts to close all the hatches! So....that's how we get most of our exercise when we're confined to Bees Knees during weather like this!! Whoo hoo!
We did end up sailing around the West side of Barbuda and anchored at Low Bay....a beautiful clean white and pink sandy beach.
I've started my shell collection again for my sister-in-law, Karen, and had to use my shirt to carry home all the shells that we found! It was just beautiful. We also splurged and had a great lunch at a little beach bar....lobster, peas and rice, salad, and Beer! The local beer is Wadadli, but they were out....so here's a little pic of Jim drinking the great Caribbean beer, Old Milwaukee!!! 
We motorsailed back after lunch and anchored a little closer to the reefs in Spanish Point, Barbuda...the SE end. Snorkeled and cleaned the bottom of the boat. The reef on the bottom of Bees Knees was more alive than any of the reefs around the anchorage! There were very few fish and only one reef that was really "alive". Kinda sad.
We did meet up with "Audrey Paige"...a couple that we met briefly in Puerto LaCruz, VE...and had cocktails on their boat one evening...sharing stories. We'll see them down the road, I'm sure.
We both left the following day, Monday 2/9/2009, to sail South, back to Antigua. We were again zooming, doing 6-7K, beam reach in about 17-20K winds...with a double-reefed main and a bit of jib out. Just fun! We needed to provision, so we stopped in St. John's, anchored just off the channel at Side Hill Bay. The water was not the blue of Barbuda....but was the green very cloudy flushing of the port water. We watched the boat shows going in and out of the harbor.....big cruise ships!!! We went into town on Tuesday...but there were two huge cruise ships in port at the time.....and it really gets crowded. We were able to find a really nice bookstore, The Map Shop on St. Mary's Street, where we found a couple of books regarding the history of the island and a biography of a local man...."To Shoot Hard Labour". The two women at the checkout counter were really sweet and kind....talking briefly about the history of the island, one woman was 70 years old and native, and how things have changed and life is becoming more dangerous for them and visitors. They advised us to be careful! Really a nice exchange....would have loved to hang and talk with them more!
We then went to the market where they had excellent fresh produce being sold by the locals at little stands set up in an open air building. We bought onions, ginger, plantains, zucchini, cabbage, oranges and a coconut. One woman watched Jim do the picking and states..."he's the chef, huh?" I said "yeah....can you tell?" She just laughed and said that's good!!!
We zoomed all of that back to the boat, by dinghy...only to return back to shore for provisions from the grocery store! And people wonder what we do all day! So...loaded down with "stuff" from the grocery store, I stopped by the duty-free wine store on the way back to the dinghy....and off we went again. We decided to motor out of there....and head to cleaner water! We picked up the anchor and it had plastic hanging off of it.....luckily it wasn't the dead mongoose that floated by earlier!!
We motored into the wind and went around the North side of Antigua to head to where we're anchored now. If the wind at 26K right on the nose and seas and spray flying everywhere wasn't bad enough....there were about 50 little hobie cats, windsurfers, and sunfish sailboats all strewn about the North shore off of a resort.....tipping over, flying right in front of the bow!!! Just crazy!! But what a great way to learn to sail....someone else's gear/boat...and good wind!
We're anchored just off the shore of quite an elite resort....Jumby Bay Resort.....the only boat right now. The winds and seas should start calming tomorrow....but for today, we'll just relax and enjoy the views! At least we have food and wine!!!
Bye for now!
Jumby Bay, Long Island, Antigua
Well....we're anchored securely, behind another reef and small island, but still the wind is blowing up to 30K, rain squalls coming thru all last night and today. During the day we have it timed, down to less than 0.2 seconds, to jump up when the rain starts to close all the hatches! So....that's how we get most of our exercise when we're confined to Bees Knees during weather like this!! Whoo hoo!
We did end up sailing around the West side of Barbuda and anchored at Low Bay....a beautiful clean white and pink sandy beach.
I've started my shell collection again for my sister-in-law, Karen, and had to use my shirt to carry home all the shells that we found! It was just beautiful. We also splurged and had a great lunch at a little beach bar....lobster, peas and rice, salad, and Beer! The local beer is Wadadli, but they were out....so here's a little pic of Jim drinking the great Caribbean beer, Old Milwaukee!!! We motorsailed back after lunch and anchored a little closer to the reefs in Spanish Point, Barbuda...the SE end. Snorkeled and cleaned the bottom of the boat. The reef on the bottom of Bees Knees was more alive than any of the reefs around the anchorage! There were very few fish and only one reef that was really "alive". Kinda sad.
We did meet up with "Audrey Paige"...a couple that we met briefly in Puerto LaCruz, VE...and had cocktails on their boat one evening...sharing stories. We'll see them down the road, I'm sure.
We both left the following day, Monday 2/9/2009, to sail South, back to Antigua. We were again zooming, doing 6-7K, beam reach in about 17-20K winds...with a double-reefed main and a bit of jib out. Just fun! We needed to provision, so we stopped in St. John's, anchored just off the channel at Side Hill Bay. The water was not the blue of Barbuda....but was the green very cloudy flushing of the port water. We watched the boat shows going in and out of the harbor.....big cruise ships!!! We went into town on Tuesday...but there were two huge cruise ships in port at the time.....and it really gets crowded. We were able to find a really nice bookstore, The Map Shop on St. Mary's Street, where we found a couple of books regarding the history of the island and a biography of a local man...."To Shoot Hard Labour". The two women at the checkout counter were really sweet and kind....talking briefly about the history of the island, one woman was 70 years old and native, and how things have changed and life is becoming more dangerous for them and visitors. They advised us to be careful! Really a nice exchange....would have loved to hang and talk with them more!
We then went to the market where they had excellent fresh produce being sold by the locals at little stands set up in an open air building. We bought onions, ginger, plantains, zucchini, cabbage, oranges and a coconut. One woman watched Jim do the picking and states..."he's the chef, huh?" I said "yeah....can you tell?" She just laughed and said that's good!!!
We zoomed all of that back to the boat, by dinghy...only to return back to shore for provisions from the grocery store! And people wonder what we do all day! So...loaded down with "stuff" from the grocery store, I stopped by the duty-free wine store on the way back to the dinghy....and off we went again. We decided to motor out of there....and head to cleaner water! We picked up the anchor and it had plastic hanging off of it.....luckily it wasn't the dead mongoose that floated by earlier!!
We motored into the wind and went around the North side of Antigua to head to where we're anchored now. If the wind at 26K right on the nose and seas and spray flying everywhere wasn't bad enough....there were about 50 little hobie cats, windsurfers, and sunfish sailboats all strewn about the North shore off of a resort.....tipping over, flying right in front of the bow!!! Just crazy!! But what a great way to learn to sail....someone else's gear/boat...and good wind!
We're anchored just off the shore of quite an elite resort....Jumby Bay Resort.....the only boat right now. The winds and seas should start calming tomorrow....but for today, we'll just relax and enjoy the views! At least we have food and wine!!!
Bye for now!
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