Jolly Harbour - Antigua

Thursday 9th February

After a few days anchored in Falmouth Harbour we moved around to the southern coast of Antigua to Jolly Harbour. Due to the high salt content in the water (we think) the bay is always this really beautiful turquoise colour making it such an inviting place to go for a swim and hang out on the boat. The other really inviting part of Jolly is the well stocked supermarket, full of a lot of great English and American products that we haven't seen anywhere else in a long time. The Caribbean islands can be touch and go with provisioning, the French islands tend to offer the best supermarkets with the widest selection of goodies, where as the independent islands usually have a limited supply of the basics. It makes cooking on board quite interesting as we always have to be a little creative with the ingredients available. For now though we're stocked back up and looking forward to hanging out at our next stop on the neighbouring island of Barbuda.

Cruising friends!

We've been lucky enough to hook back up here in the Caribbean with our Cruising friends on board the Catamaran 'S/V Mehari'. A family of eight taking a two year cruise through the Mediterranean and Caribbean - they are such an inspiration as a family who work together as a team and are a joy to be around. The other day we caught a big Mahi Mahi on the way over to Antigua and invited them over to share it with us and had wonderful evening on board Blue Moon. Our paths will separate once we leave Antigua but check out their blog Here to find out more of their great story!

Nelson's Dockyard - Antigua

Monday 6th February 2012

Nelson's Dockyard is situated in English Harbour on the west coast of Antigua and just a five minute walk from where we're anchored in Falmouth Harbour. Built between 1723 and 1745 the dockyard was Britain's main naval Station in the leeward islands. Originally named "His majesty's Antigua Navel Yard" it later became known as Nelson's dockyard when restorations began in 1951, due to the fact that Admiral Horatio Nelson was stationed here in 1784.

The work done to restore the yard has made it into a beautiful, tranquil place to escape into a little bit of English History. With a wonderful museum, bakery, boutique shops and restaurants we found the harbour a great haven to spend a peaceful afternoon away from the boat.

Work to Play!

There's always something that has to be fixed on a boat and this time it's the outboard motor on our dingy. In seven years she's barely had a hiccup so I guess it's her turn for some attention...just have to find the problem first!

Super bowl Sunday

Ting Time!!

Falmouth harbour - Antigua

We're back in Antigua and Falmouth harbour has been just a little of a culture shock to say the least. There must be hundreds of millions of dollars worth of yachts all moored here in one place - and that doesn't even include the neighbouring English harbour which holds even more!

We're anchored behind with the slightly "smaller" yachts, that's the Mirabella V in the foreground with the tallest mast of any sailing vessel in the world.

Fresh Fish!

Hooray!
 Finally caught another nice size Mahi Mahi,  lucky for us it happens to be one of our favourite fish and more importantly - he  really helped to extend our dwindling fresh food stores. This little guy filled four gallon size zip lock bags with fillets, making  it well worth the extra 30 minutes needed to land him while we crossed the Guadeloupe/Antigua passage..