The morning hours were filled with consumption of coffee and seeing if I could find a free internet connection, then at 10:00 I put the outboard on the dinghy and went ashore in order to clear in at English Harbour’s customs & immigration offices. While there was only one boat ahead of me in line, the whole process took interminably long as two of the officers that I needed to have do my paperwork were evidently on the phone with their significant others and were in no hurry to end their conversations or even to pause them. But, it is their country and their rules so I just counted from 1 to 852,542 slowly to pass the time… just kidding, it wasn’t quite that bad.
I stocked up on some local Wadadli beer and returned to Zanshin and set off for Green Island. I should have checked the weather, since the seas were way up and the wind wasn’t coming from an optimal direction but once I’d departed the anchorage I’d made up my mind and wasn’t going to let those seas washing over my decks and dousing everything with salt spray deter me. As I set sail outside of Falmouth Harbour I saw numerous big sails out at sea and realized that the 2017 Antigua Classic Yacht Regatta was going on and that I’d sail close the turn point and would most likely tack out to sea amidst some of the stragglers. The big ships, Cairos and Kronos, were already long gone but some of the elegant racers were still close enough to catch on camera.
The beat up the coastline too very long – even though my hull speed was 7 knots my effective speed towards distant Green Island was only about 3 knots. I made it there in the mid afternoon and was pleasantly surprised to see that nobody was anchored in the small protected cove so I motored there and anchored in deep sand with just 3 feet of water under my keel – despite the calm conditions in the anchorage I put out 4:1 scope and the only thing that can happen now is to get back-winded; in which case I’ll be up on the beach.
I swam around for a while, then got my exercise on the paddleboard and returned to the boat to thaw out and marinate one of the steaks from the freezer. I made a peppercorn sauce with onions and spices to accompany the steak and potatoes and dinner was perfect.
