We weren't supposed to be here. We passed by Antigua a little over a month ago in our rush to meet up with family in St. Maarten. We came to terms with the disappointment that we'd miss this great sounding island country and given our desire to be farther north and east by this time of year we figured we wouldn't make it back for the regatta either. But that's cruising plans for you and here we are. Nearly on the spur of the moment we decided to reverse course and zip back to Antigua for a few days to take in the festivities and keep up with many of our family kid boat friends. And what a great choice it was. Despite the fact that it took us 4 days to get here when it should take less than one (it should take about 20 hours). But that's food for a different post.
The eye candy here has been amazing with a surprise (to us) visit from the famous Maltese Falcon (aka the Death Start according to the kids). Yesterday they got a guided tour of the cruising tall ship the Picton Castle. Our friend Charlie from Kamaloha was crew on one of the Rebecca's (the smaller one) and they came in 3rd in their division. There has been a disturbance developing north of us for the past week so it's been playing havoc with the wind so there was lots for the racers to complain about :)
Now it looks like the thing to do is to sail around the corner to Nonsuch Bay and relax in the quiet picturesque waters before everyone scatters in their various directions. And we need to decide which way to go. Do we stick to our plans to visit the Bahamas and put the boat up on the hard in the US or do we sail back south, visit with friends more, say hi to our friends in St. Vincent and up the boat in Grenada. Both are very attractive. And the hurricane season is starting to warm up. It looks like it's going to be a busy one too. Hmmm. Choices.
Glad to hear you're keeping in touch with your sailing friends -- makes coming into port more comforting when you already know people there.
ReplyDeleteNorth?? or South?? I guess both have their pros and cons . . . a lot depends on where you want to end up. And who knows, the weather might just make up your minds for you!