Our time in Antigua has been a bit of a blur! Since we arrived, we’ve been getting the boat into cruising mode, working on a few boat projects, spending time with the Salty Dawgs, exploring the island a little, and fitting in some downtime here and there. We spent about 10 days in Nelson’s Dockyard which is always fun, but after a while we were tired of living in the middle of a tourist attraction! We moved round to a mooring in Falmouth Harbour. There we were able to swim off the boat and enjoy better breezes and more privacy. Later we visited Carlisle Bay and Five Islands Harbour before moving into a slip at Jolly Harbour. This is a good spot to leave the boat, and we did a quick trip back to Marblehead to drop off things we don’t need (warm sweaters, sea boots, New England charts) and pick up things we do need (numerous spare parts, repair kits and miscellaneous things we’d forgotten). We are now preparing to check out of Antigua and visit some of the nearby islands.

I hiked up to Shirley Heights with friend Michelle. We got caught in a squall but the view is worth it!

We rented a car and explored the island a little. We loved Half Moon Beach!

There were receptions at A&F Sailmakers and North Sails. Franklin gave a demonstration of how to replace the plastic in your spray dodger – very handy!

We visited Carlisle Bay, with lovely clear water and our first snorkeling of the trip. Then we moved to Five Islands Harbour and anchored behind Maiden Island. The super yacht fleet made an appearance – there were 5 of them there. The one at the back is called Pi, and is 100 meters long!

We had a scary-looking pile of boxes waiting for us at home. Fortunately all of that, plus a bit more, fit into four big bags to go back to Antigua. Even more fortunately, we’ve been able to find places for everything on our boat!