The Height of Fun 

Shirley Heights is a popular tourist destination because of the phenomenal view it affords of English Harbour (foreground below) and Falmouth Harbour, in the distance, where we are anchored.  The lookout is a restored military and gun battery which has a high point of about 490 feet.  It is named after Sir Thomas Shirley, Governor of the Leeward Islands who strengthened Antigua's defences in 1781.  




Every Sunday there is a party at Shirley Heights with a BBQ and steel drum band, followed by a reggae band.  The last time we were here was about 15 years ago, but always worth a second visit.

The people here are very friendly and welcoming, and Roger as usual was making friends with the locals.



And of course the steel drum band was excellent.



We had a wonderful time in Falmouth Harbour, but it was time to move on to check out the other anchorages that Antigua has to offer.  After a lovely night at anchor enjoying the scenery of the super yachts, we headed out the next day. 



We sailed windward to a little bay behind Green Island.  It is an interesting place to anchor because it affords an open view of the ocean, but is well protected by reefs.  There was also a reef right behind us so we went for a snorkel on our dinghy and saw a wide array of fish, as well as a lobster who was well positioned under a rock with a sea urchin as his buddy.  I guess that helps him to defend himself from would be lobster hunters.  😉

We stayed a couple of nights on the hook at Green Island and then headed northward to Jolly Harbour as this is a common customs check in/out and it has a well stocked grocery story for provisioning called Epicurean.  By backtracking a bit, we were able to experience our first downwind sail.  When we first left, we had 20 knot of winds so we departed with jib only.  However, the wind fell to about 15 and Roger was quick to raise the main, with 1 reef in.  At one point we were cracking along at 10.9 knots!  Even Pirate was enjoying the more subdued downwind sail.





Within 3 hours, we had arrived at Jolly Harbour, and took a dock for a couple of nights.  This gave us the luxury of AC (we don't have a generator so we don't have air conditioning unless attached to shore power) and a fabulous on-land shower, followed by a delicious Italian dinner at Basilico, as a special treat. 



The license plates in Antigua say "Land of Sea and Sun", however, one constant presence has been rainbows, so I think I would call it "Land of Sea, Sun and Rainbows". 


Tomorrow we are off to Guadeloupe.  We have a short weather window before a larger system moves in, so we will be staying there at least a week.  Ever since St Martin, we have been assured of one thing and that is lots of wind!

And if you would like to track us real time, you can find our location on vesselfinder.com. Enter in the name, Adventure I, or our MMSI # which is 316053728.  








Comments

  1. Richard PhelpsJanuary 21, 2024 at 7:50 AM

    That's a great update, as always, Tama. Thank you. I'm not sure why but the tracking app via "Terrestrial AIS" is 2 days behind your last or current location. They show you underway on the southern side of Antigua. But I'm sure they'll catch up to you soon.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. AnonymousFebruary 8, 2024 at 9:52 AM

      It's hard to keep up with Tama and Roger!

      Delete
  2. AnonymousJanuary 21, 2024 at 7:58 AM

    Beautiful views!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Image
Adventure is Southbound! It's a 90 mile trip over open ocean from the British Virgin Islands to our next stop, Sint Maarten.  In fair weather, this trip should take about 12 hours and is often done overnight so that when you arrive you can check in to customs and immigration the next day.  Typically the wind is in your face for the entire journey and there are many horror stories of sailors pounding into big winds and huge waves for 15 to 20 hours or more. This often happens in December due to what is known in the Caribbean as the "Christmas Winds". Our original plan was to stay in BVI until after New Years, as our friends Dave and Lorrie would be there on a charter boat starting New Year's Eve.  We had purchased everything to make a big spaghetti dinner for the whole crew.  However, some will say that the most dangerous thing on a sailboat is a schedule.  We ended up having a perfect weather window with low wave heights, a full moon and light winds in what should hav
Read more
Image
Getting The Boat Ready   Our boat is a 2016, Jeanneau 479 that came off charter from Sunsail in BVI in 2020.  We put the down payment on the boat in March, pending a list of over 80 items being completed by Sunsail before the purchase would be finalized. Trying to get a boat ready that is over a thousand miles away is a logistical nightmare, but Roger was up to the challenge. Roger arrived a week ago in Tortola with 170 lbs of luggage - hardly any clothes - mostly just equipment for the boat!   Unfortunately, there was still a ton of work left to be done on the boat.  With Roger's encouragement, there were soon 6-8 guys working on it for 11 hours a day until it was completed.  The improvements included new sails, new canvas, new plastic windows in the dodger, all new side windows in the cabin top, all hatches painted and de-crazed (sanded and polished), brand new anchor chain and rode, all new instruments, brand new cushions in the main salon, new leather on the chart and vanity ta
Read more
Image
Our Adventure Over the next few months, Roger and I will be sailing the Caribbean on our new Jeanneau 479, called Adventure I.  We will be starting in the British Virgin Islands, stopping in St. Maarten, St. Barths, Antigua, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St Vincent and the Grenadines, and finally in Grenada where the boat will remain on the hard over the summer.    This blog will help to keep everyone updated on our adventures!  Pirate of course is going to be joining us, and thus the name of the blog:  Pirate in the Caribbean!  Hope you enjoy hearing about our travels!
Read more