Back on the water.....

I have been remiss at publishing the blog but we have been busy and internet connections run on Caribbean speeds!

After a 2 ½ week trip home for Christmas where we loved seeing family and friends, we were less than thrilled with the arctic weather – I guess when you book a winter vacation home, you have to expect that Montreal will roll out the red carpet and give you EVERYTHING that it can for your visit!!! We certainly got our moneys worth!

Santa made a showing as ALWAYS! 

Great Grandma GiGi and Clara!

Eliane and Kat ....

Cedrick and Stephen

We arrived back in Antigua just in time for New Years celebrations in English Harbour … as it turned out the highlight of the evening wasn’t the fireworks and singing at midnight or the decorated yachts which were great but the taxi ride from Jolly Harbour to English Harbour. The cab driver was quite proud to announce that he had been smokin’ weed since he was a teen and he was now almost seventy and still going strong! Well that ride was a ride of a lifetime for the crew of Cassiopee, Hope and Ambition. Not once but numerous times our lives flashed before us …. Marie-Josee asked for the front seat … at one point we overhear her ask if there are airbags in the van …. Uhhhhh nope! WOW that was incredible …. Incredible that we lived through the 45 minutes of the devil driver!  Rum did eventually calm the rattling knees mind you!

Well boat projects are never far away and after settling back in to the boat, we moved from Jolly to Falmouth to have the genoa furler put back together. Thanks Belinda from Shelburne Shipyard for getting all the parts and pieces together for us and the folks at Antigua Rigging for making the install straightforward. Pulled the headstay off the boat, took the sta-lock fitting apart – torches, BIG wrenches and brute strength and experience was what it took! All back together in less than a few hours and running well. This project corrected a problem that would have allowed the furling foil to become separated from the furling drum – not  a good thing!

Of special note, for the furler repair we were tied right next to a mtor yacht called Limitless. The yacht is owned by the gentleman who built a little company called Victoria Secret. He purchased Limitless for US$100 million …. I wonder how many thongs and bras that represents! Anyway … I checked regularly while we were there and not a model was to be seen ….

Front third of Limitless...

and the middle piece!

Model walkway perhaps....

Heard that this was a Google sailing yacht

Of course there were, as always some other beautiful yachts as Antigua Yacht Club.

 

Trendy indeed

A Sunroof motor cat.... boxy???? 

We went back to Jolly to reprovision the boat with groceries, rum wine and beer and while there Cassiopee suggested that the three Hylas crews get together for a cooking lesson and dinner at Nicole’s Table. Now this was an experience! So the plan is we show up at Nicoles home before lunch, atop a hill overlooking St. Johns Harbour – spectacular home and view. Nicole will show us how to prepare our full 4 course dinner. Everyone gets an apron and an opportunity to participate.

·      coconut crisps

·      plantain chips deep fried with zesty sour cream dip

·      jerk chicken in marinade

·      pineapple salsa

·      red beans and rice

·      coconut custard tart

There is only one rule around the kitchen at Nicole’s – all the cutting and chopping gets done and the knives put away BEFORE the rum punch is served! Good rule!

Well lots of peppers, spices, limes and herbs make the kitchen smell delicious. When all was finally put out to eat I can say that Nicole did an amazing job at keeping all of us on track and focused – the entire meal was outstanding. We sat on the balcony with a beautiful view and enjoyed the meal that we helped prepare.  Nicole’s family joined us to eat, and the stories and laughs around the table were delightful. The rum punch was excellent and we even learned how to make that – considering we blew through the two batches she prepared in advance! Well Done Nicole! 

chefs Coleen, JF and MM

Nicole in blue...

What a team! 

rub the chicken! 

Do I look like my little brother or what!!!  frightening ... sorry Mark

making of the tarts!

Red Beans and rice with coconut milk

Dinner time .... YESSSS

And the view

more view

and still more!!!

Back in Antigua

Our sail from Guadeloupe to Antigua was to say the least – uneventful. For the first 2 1/2 hours the wind struggled to stay above 10 knots and with all sails up we maintained a reasonable 5 to 6 knot speed.  Unfortunately it did not stay – the wind dropped to 5 knots and coupled with a full 4 to 5 foot ocean swell, we rolled too much to keep the sails full. Furled the genoa and the staysail and left the main up to soften some of the rolling – fired up the engine and motor sailed the rest of the way to Falmouth Harbour, Antigua.

Made the hike to English Harbour to clear in through Customs and Immigration. Interesting that it costs 4 Euros to clear into the French Islands and here in Antigua it is US$85! Still a small price to pay for everything the island has to offer. 

Antigua is really a yachting island and we were about to get a taste of what that would look like for December! As we sat at anchor in the bay, motor yachts and sailing yachts of all sizes and styles arrived and tied up to the docks at Falmouth Yacht Club and Antigua Yacht Club. It turns out that from December 4^th to 8^th it is Antigua Charter Yacht Show. An industry event for the brokers who recommend and sell charter vacations on these yachts. WOW is an understatement. A few pictures are really the only way to get an impression of what the event looks like.

 

This one is for Marc T

For Seb and Pascale...

A BEAUTIFUL J Class yacht

I even tried to get a picture of what it looks like at night with all the lights on but a boat at anchor makes a poor platform for a tripod night shot ….

If you can’t be pretty ….. you better be useful! No so sure about that!

Not the Belle of the Ball

Well just when we thought the all the big yachts had arrived …… when we awoke this morning someone had shown up in the night and dropped anchor just outside Falmouth Harbour – Just to show that she was still the most impressive of the group in town! Queen Mary 2.

Queen Mary 2