We
sailed back to Jolly Harbor, Antigua on Wednesday in order to check
out at customs and immigration and to troubleshoot our windlass which
we were still having problems with even after the fix. When we
arrived at Jolly Harbor, we attempted to anchor just outside of the
harbor, but the windlass wouldn't work to drop the anchor down. We
entered the harbor to try to pick up a mooring ball, but all the
moorings were taken, so our only other option was to dock. The
customs office has a dock, so we tied up, and got into the office to
check out just before they closed. They agreed to let us stay on
their dock that night/early morning while we tried to get the
windlass working. We woke up early the next morning to work on it in
the daylight, and realized that we just had a loose connection. By
the time we got it working, it was pretty late into the morning, so
we decided to get a slip at the marina for the night and head to
Guadeloupe the next morning. After the huge seas we faced sailing to
and from Barbuda, the boat really could use a wash down, and we
needed to get laundry done anyways, so the marina worked out really
well. We met a cute French family who were staying in the slip next
to us for the evening. They were very nice and invited us over to
their boat for appetizers that night. The communication barrier made
it pretty interesting since neither Gene nor I speak French, and the
husband and his wife speak a little English, but their three children
didn't speak any English. Their English/French dictionary was really
useful! They gave us some recommendations on where to go in
Guadeloupe since they had just sailed from there, and we gave them
some recommendations for St. Martin. They had sailed over from
France and are sailing for about 10 months, with plans to stop in
Florida to see Disney World, Cape Canaveral space center, and to fly
to New York City. We turned on our underwater lights behind the boat
to show their kids the big tarpon swimming around the docks. The
kids were really amazed with Gene pointing behind the boat yelling
“poisson” - at least we could communicate a little bit with them.
The follow pictures are of Jolly Harbor and Jolly Beach from the top of Reeds Point where some beautiful plots of land are for sale. I stumbled upon the property during my run on Thursday around the harbor area. Really spectacular views!
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