Friday, April 17th, 2009
We had to move the ship closer to shore this morning so after breakfast it was hands to the windlass!
Once we were anchored again I went ashore on the first skiff and spent the day wandering around
Falmouth and Nelson’s Dockyard at English bay.
Today was the start of the Antigua Classic yacht Regatta and there are an amazing number of beautiful
classic yachts here. I have never seen so many schooners and ketches in one place before. There is even
one massive three masted staysail schooner from France that is almost as long as the Picton Castle! There
are also some very pretty smaller boats mostly ketches and cutters. The glare from the varnish was almost
blinding in the bright Sun :-)
Needless to say the place is swarming with people from all over the world. Most of whom are either very
“well heeled” or the paid crew for said well heeled people. Several of our crew managed to get on as
volunteer crew on several boats. There are a nice clutch of wooden sloops built on Carriacou some gaff
rigged as well as bermudian sloop rigged. They are noticeable mostly because they are painted using
ordinary paint. No fiberglass, varnish or brass anywhere. Doesn’t seem to hinder their sailing at all.
English Harbour and Nelson’s Dockyard (which is now an Antiguan National Park) was once the
equivalent of Halifax for the Royal Navy. The dockyard has been restored fairly well and has a lot of
plaques and information boards even though the buildings are now hotels, bars and concessions so you get
a good idea of how the place worked when Nelson was in charge (hence the name).
Tomorrow our watch is on and then we get the next two days off.
Thanks for reading.
KJ
Here are some photos from my trip ashore in Antigua.
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