Day Eleven

This was a long day so we got an early start with David and Jimi up by about 6am. It was a easy sail up the lee side of Guadeloupe and then a rough but fast sail from Guadeloupe to Antigua. We were about 70 degrees off the wind and it was blowing 18-22 knots. At one point our speed peaked at 9 knots. We saw more random stuff in the water but managed not to catch any in the propellers.

Antigua was very polished compared to the other islands. A woman in uniform came up to our boat and asked what are plans were. She was very helpful, as was everyone else. Immigrations, customs, and the port authority were all next to each other. We tied up to a well restored dock at Nelson's Dock yard in the English Harbor. The harbor was Nelson's headquarters during basically the golden age of British sea power. It had nice showers for everyone. We even managed to do laundry before we left. All of this came at a price though – between immigration fees, port fees, dock fees, exit fees, and so on we were charged almost $200.

Most shops were closed because of a local holiday and because it was the low season. It was nice to have the place to ourselves but it was tricky to find an open place for dinner. We talked to various people and found that the best place still open was a restaurant called Trappas on the road into town. Following their directions Paula drove the dinghy way down the harbor to an older dinghy dock. Then we climbed through a hole in the fence and crossed the road to get to Trappas. Then we had to undo it all to get back to our boat before dark.