The Girls Arrived

Freeman Bay - From the Top of Fort Shirley

Arrived in Great Shape Considering the Red Eye Flight

The Girls have arrived.  We met Pam and Deborah at the Breeze Way dinghy dock at 3 pm after their taxi ride from the airport.  I’m sure boat life will look a little different in the days to come.  Glen has been on his own, without Pam for most of a month overseeing Blue Pearl’s repairs/replacements of her chain plates.  Jinder and I were only here a week but had helped maintain the manliness of the routine.  I’m not sure we are going to get to eat a jar of pickles at each meal in the future.

We Did Enjoy a Side Trip to Devil's Bridge

Our short interlude between Jinder leaving and the girl’s arrival was supposed to be down time and possibly a trip by bus into St. John’s.  It might have happened that way if Glen had not noticed we were seriously low on water.  While I couldn’t hear the cogs turning in his brain, I was sure that he was casting a suspicious eye toward his landlubbers guests, calculating whether they had used too much water on their daily ablutions.  Just before we were both ready to throw the only absent guy under the bus with blame, Glen checked a water pipe connection accessible through the stern cabin and “voila” there it was, a water leak. 

After a few turns of the connection all was good and the lack of water should have been an easy fix except for the fact all the facilities ashore at Falmouth (and English) Harbours were without water due to a government system failure.  A phone call to Jolly Harbour (14 nautical miles north) determined it was an oasis.  We had three hours to get there.  Out came the anchor and away we went.  Averaging 7 naught we arrived at the gas/water station with an hour to spare except that a boat was already at the dock.  We waited with an eye on the clock.  Just as the previous boat prepared to leave a third boat hailed us, claiming our spot saying that they had been waiting for an hour.  Polite Canadians that we are, we pulled away and gave them the prime spot at the dock.  Eventually we got in with only minutes to spare.  It actually turned out to be a good thing as we were able to leave the boat there and take an easy walk to the grocery store to soak up the air conditioning and buy some more pickles.

First Night Cocktails

Glen prepared a superb meal of shrimp and pasta for the girls’ first night.  We were up early at the crack of 10 and Deb, Glen and I were off for the Middle Ground hike.  Pam stayed back to see if she could find the things Glen had mischievously restored in different places.

Morning Coffee Before the Big Hike

Mineral Inspection For Volcanic Rock

English Cannon Leftover

For Those With Bad Eyes It States "1805"

After the sights and hike we stopped for an authentic Antiguan lunch of Roti’s.  Deb and Glen had Conch and I had chicken served by self named Sexy Tasha with a capital T.  We also took a chicken roti to go for Pam.

After afternoon napping we had another fine evening meal.  We finished the evening with a rousing game of “Catch Phrase” where the team of Pam & George were declared victors by Pam and George.  The others were dubious.

Our second day saw the four of us return to the historical Nelson Dockyard for further exploration, picture taking, and lunch overlooking the Marina.

Admiral Deborah Nelson

A Single Row Across the Atlantic - 2005

Daily Routine 

Our afternoon was spent on the Blue Pearl surfing 6 to 8 foot waves with only the Staysail supporting Yan Diesel for a run to Carlisle Bay for more beach, swimming, snorkeling, reading, Internet time.