Antigua- Falmouth Harbor

From Guadeloupe, we headed north to Antigua. So nice to be sailing off the wind. I didn't make a log entry, and it was almost a month ago. Frankly, it must have been a good sail, because I don't remember it. We anchored in Falmouth Harbor, under the shadow of HUGE and EXPENSIVE MEGAYACHTS, both sail and power. A 200 ft modern green schooner was actually loading a two man submarine into its hold! (We later saw her and her professional crew of 20 take her out for a sail- IMPRESSIVE.)

Despite the megayachts, Falmouth and Antigua are nice. Everyone of Music's crew commented at one point or another how they "liked Antigua". When questioned why, comments like "comfortable" and "safe" were common. I believe it has a lot to do with the language. This is the first port we've been in for 3 months where English is the primary language and we can even understand the islanders' patois. I really enjoyed the walk over to English Harbor to clear in. I was able to tour Nelson's Dockyard, and put a clearer picture in my mind of the setting of the Hornblower and Patrick O'Brian novels I love.

We found "Overbudget" in harbor, and had sundowners with Ginny and JW to catch up on happenings since St Martin. "Spirited Lady" with Suzie and Jeff, in Antigua for the Classic Yacht Regatta in April, joined us and made new friends.

The next morning Ginny and Cary went for a run in town, while adults scoped out a breakfast spot. Once the girls joined us, we walked back to Nelson's Dockyard, and enjoyed breakfast looking out over the very small English Harbor. Food was good, but SLOW.

The next day, we tried to dive Sunken Rock east of English Harbor. There is no buoy, so the dive shop told us to anchor our dinghy. We got a ways out of the harbor, but decided to turn back. Even if we could have made it with the waves, it wasn't going to be a comfortable dive experience. We snorkeled the reef at the entrance to Falmouth Harbor instead, and found a nest of large lobsters. Not knowing the local regs, we left them where they were. Too bad. We later learned we could take 2 per diver. After perusing the dive options in Antigua, we decided that there was probably only one dive site we could go to without a guide, so off we went headed to Deep Bay at the northwest corner of the island.