Quiet Night
After a very long night of uninterrupted sleep, I’m refreshed and ready for my first day in Antigua. After a couple of conference calls, I now need to go ashore and visit Customs & Immigration in English Harbour to complete my entrance formalities. Once that’s done, I’ll return and do some more home-office work and then prepare the forward guest cabin and head for my guest, David, who’ll be arriving on Friday.
Customs & Immigration
I was a bit worried about my clearance paperwork from France. This was my first use of the online PDF form (which I had printed out at the National Sailing Academy), and nobody could tell me in advance whether or not the officials would accept it. It turns out that they do.
I was in and out of the C&I office in 10 minutes, a large part of that was waiting for the printer to warm up and print out the 5 copies of paperwork for me to sign and them to stamp. So far, my first day in Antigua is going very well.
Back aboard
I stopped to get some lunch at Roti Sue’s. She was busy with a large order, so I opted to return another time. I’ll repeat that visit later on in the week with Alec and Myron, who miss the roti lunches. It is wind-still today and not as hot belowdecks as it could be, due to some high cloud cover. Nonetheless, I’ve got the fan working here at my workplace. I’m debating making another coffee, but it is already afternoon, and I’ve already had my daily caffeine fix.
I’d stopped off at the chandlery to get my AIS Antenna replacement and gotten some Heineken beer at Dockside Liquors to replenish my empty fridge. I also purchased a bag of local coffee; I’ll get a large bag directly at the roastery later this week.
Afternoon
I’ve gotten the two big solar panels out from their storage in the forepeak and have mounted them. Due to the overcast, they are only producing 100W of their maximum 350W. I’ve got 4 smaller panels left to put on deck; they’ll also contribute to the photovoltaic power production system. The first day in Antigua is going well, and I’m almost afraid that something is going to pop up and put a jinx on it.
Evening
I went ashore, freshly showered and attired, and walked around the Falmouth and English harbour roads to check out the early nightlife. It was very quiet, and I ended up with a snack sandwich for dinner and a few drinks with conversation before retiring to the boat. This made a quiet ending for my first day in Antigua.