Sunrise
Sailing to Antigua from Deshaies on Guadeloupe. It’s a simple straight line with wind from the beam and is always a fast run. But it is still good to get going early.
The winds had shifted several times overnight, so my sleep was constantly interrupted as waves slapped and the anchor chain crunched. I got going before 07:00 with coffee in hand and no wind to be felt.
I could see, far in the distance, the line where the wind and waves started. But at 3knots I knew it would take a long time to reach. I threaded my way through the fish-trap obstacle course without mishap. Once in the clear air the sailing was good. I trimmed my sails, set the autopilot for distant Antigua, then laid back to read my book and to nap. Hours of sailing at 7-9 knots brought me to within sight of Antigua.
Noon
I sailed almost to the entrance of Falmouth Harbour and the dropped sails and motored in (slowly, of course) to the anchorage. I’ve never seen so many huge yachts at the 2 marinas and will take some pictures over the next days. I anchored at 13:30 and got out my Starlink so that I could get on the internet and use the eSeaClear arrival system prior to going ashore and clearing in at customs & immigration.
After entering my information I got a reference number and proceeded to go ashore and walk to English Harbour. I knew they were going to close early this Sunday, but I was in time and there was nobody ahead of me in line. Despite this, it still took 20 minutes to clear in and pay my US$80 entry fee.
Afternoon
I returned to Zanshin and re-anchored, as I’d been took close for my neighbor, a big Oyster yacht. I was not that close, by French standards I was not even in the same time-zone. But in the interests of a happy anchorage, I shifted location by 100 feet. I wanted to do that before someone (French) would sneak in and take the slot I’d wanted to use.
Evening
I was tired from the passage, so I went ashore early for dinner and was very surprised to find both dinghy docks filled to capacity. One idiot had chained their dinghy fore- and aft sideways to the dock, taking up slots for 4-6 dinghies! I’m sure I wasn’t the only person entertaining visions of sabotage on that dinghy.
It turns out that is was live Jazz and steak special night at Club Sushi, plus the other restaurants were also filled to capacity. I had a tasty meal at Club Sushi and managed to stay awake upon my return. At least long enough to shower and then fall asleep in bed.