10 April Barbuda

In preparation for yesterdays sail to Barbuda, when we were still anchored at Jolly, I went for a swim and cleaned the waterline. There must have been some nasties in the water because today I woke up with horrible sore, red, gluey conjunctivitis in both eyes. We have a broad range antibiotic which I'll take combined with steroid eye drops hoping we won't have to go back to Antigua to see a doctor.

The meds and resting out of the sun has worked – next day my eyes were clear and no longer sore.

a sight for better eyes

7 April Bobbing around

 After David had fixed our generator we were able to move to the cleaner, less busy waters of Jolly Harbour. There's no hurry to be anywhere at the moment so we've been chilling. I've been out in the kayak exploring and getting some exercise.

David's ordered an Onan water pump and head gasket from Amazon which are going to be valuable spares to have to hand. We'll get these when our friend arrives from the States.

This weekend we have watched the Japanese Grand Prix c/o our French Digicel unlimited data and Nord VPN.

Today, Monday, we hired a car. We have a couple of gas bottles and a couple of Sodastream cartridges to refill and it's possible to do this yourself; drop them off in the morning and collect in the afternoon. Quicker and 60% cheaper than having an agent do it for you. With the flexibility of the car we can also visit the car supply shops which carry a wider selection of diesel engine oils and coolants than a chandlers.

21 March Fixed generator

David has been working very hard and has successfully fixed our generator using the new epoxy steel weld. The portable genny is back in the garage after doing a good job of keeping the batteries charged.

Sourcing a replacement thermostat housing for the Onan generator has been tricky. Of course the part is never going to be in stock in the Caribbean so our task was to find who has stock, who can ship internationally and will take a non US credit card. The last point of using a non US credit card and shipping to a US address is not possible from the original manufacturer, Cummins Onan. If the billing address is not in the US the computer says 'no'. We contacted them to ask for a work around and they still said 'no'.

Why a US address? A good, very generous American friend is returning to his boat in Antigua soon and has said 'yes' to bringing the part for us.

We did find the correct part for our model from a supplier in Sydney, the last one in stock, and they will accept a UK credit card and express ship to the US for a mere $20. Shipping took 4 days! Wow!    

fixed thermostat housing

19 March Joining the crowd

We are back in Falmouth Harbour with a list of need to and want to do's. Budget Marine to buy epoxy steel weld to repair the pin hole in the generator thermostat housing, drop off the dirty laundry and the nice stuff like a haircut for me and dinner and quiz night at the yacht club. Haircut and dinner were good, our quiz performance mid range.

While here we watched the biggest yacht in the world, Koru owned by Jeff Bezos, leave motoring past another billionaires boat, MV Aquila owned by a Walmart heiress.  I thought it was a good photo opportunity.

Koru passing Aquila

13 March It's a boat

We were having a wonderful week in Green island...until the generator spat the dummy, or rather sprung a wee leak in the thermostat housing. It's a boat!

Sitting in the cockpit with the generator on it suddenly stopped. Opening the engine hatch there was hissing and steam. David grabbed his head torch and a spanner and leapt into the engine room and action. At first he couldn't find the issue, but once the generator had cooled he found a pin size hole in the aluminium thermostat casing, the bit that regulates the temperature of the fresh water cooling.

At first David thought it was going to be a major job to remove the casing. It would entail removing the cylinder head, which would then mean replacing the cylinder head gasket which we don't have, but after a bit of head scratching he had his eureka moment. Rather than remove the cylinder head he could remove the gear box end casing which would give access to the fixing bolts on the thermostat casing.

The get-you-home fix was to clean the corroded area and pack with epoxy steel. However, every tube of epoxy or hole filler we had onboard had gone off. The tropical heat and age isn't conducive for longevity. Fortunately we have a back up generator in the garage which would keep the batteries happy until we could get back to Falmouth Budget Marine for new epoxy.

The long term fix is to source, buy and import a new housing.

generator in engine room

11 March Now you see them, now you don't

 A lovely week of relaxation, watching turtles below and ospreys above, trips on the kayak. It could be paradise if not for the almost daily invasion of the tour boats.

It begins at 11am with the arrival up to 3 fast speed boats who disgorge 50 or 60 guests to the beach on the left. A quarter of an hour later 1, 2 or 3 motor catamarans arrive with their guests – add another 100 people to the beach on the right. The clients swim, chase, sorry swim with the turtles, sunbathe, eat lunch and drink rum punch. They have a jolly time until the bell is sounded. Then puff! Two o'clock everyone gets back on board and they all leave. Three hours of madness and 21 hours of bliss. It's worth it and if we like the spot we can't have it all to ourselves. That would be rude.

However, tonight we are the only boat in the anchorage. In the Caribbean this is a rare moment. Gazing at the full moon we racked our brains to remember the last time this happened. I think it was in the Caymans in 2020 during lockdown when we were the last yacht to leave. We turned out the lights before setting sail for Florida where there was no lockdown in place.

10 March Green island

For one day, and one day only for the next few days, the wind is NE which means good day to sail south to Green island on the eastern end of Antigua. It's another glorious day to be out on the water; kind winds and flat seas.

The favourite place, based on numbers of boats, to stop is in Nonsuch bay to the north of the island. We happen to prefer the smaller and less frequented bay on the south side.

A gratuitous Polly photo.

9 March Quick stop Barbuda

Princess Diana beach, Barbuda

An easterly breeze today gave us a perfect on the beam sail to Barbuda. We're anchored off Princess Diana beach; 5 miles of perfect sand with turquoise sea on one side and on the other low vegetation and the occasional building. One is a Nobu restaurant where a caviar platter with 1oz of Oscetra ccaviaris U$560 and 4 oz A5 Wagyu steak is U$220 or if that's a bit pricey, one piece of tuna sashimi for U$16. Or you might choose the more relaxed Enoch's beach bar 200m away which has whole lobsters with 2 sides for $60.

On Coco Point ahead of us is a new development called Nobu Beach Inn which is under construction in partnership with Robert de Niro and James Packer. I don't think the target guest will arrive with a back pack on a helicopter. According to Google one bedroom bungalows cost U$2,500 a night, but if you like it a lot you can buy one of the 25 private beach front villas for an eye watering $25m. The new resort is being built to replace the K Club (alleged favourite of Princess Diana) which was flattened in hurricane Irma in 2017.

library image

For yachts there is no charge to anchor and you can walk the whole 5 miles of beach if you stay below the high water mark. Which is more exclusive and private? A resort or Jackster with 360º views and direct access to your own pool?

8 March Bits and pieces

It's been a week of doing bits of chores and pieces of boat maintenance while we wait for fair winds to sail north to Barbuda and then south to Green island. We find it is far kinder wind angles, and not going against the prevailing west setting current, to reach Green Island anchorage on the east corner of Antigua to sail 30nm north to Barbuda and then south to the east side of Antigua.

While we wait for the weather there's been enough to keep us busy like renewing our cruising permit, victualling. Of course there always has to be a niggling problem. It is a boat. This weeks' challenge – watermaker not getting up to pressure. The chief engineer picked up his spanners, disappeared into the engine room and diagnosed the carbon brushes on the motor need to be replaced. Messy and labour intensive David removed the motor, dissembled it to find that the original brushes had been worn away. All he needed to do was make new ones from a selection of spare brushes stored onboard. This sounds simple; the reality was hours of precision work resizing and soldering new tabs on and lots of mess, but he fixed it. The Dessalator motor is back to full health and maintaining pressure but to be ensure future good health we'll order a set of correct brush holders. 

with new carbon brushes

1 March Round the corner

After three and a bit weeks in Falmouth we have moved around the corner to Jolly harbour bay. The hull and chain had a luxurious growth of weed that had to be removed. First, whilst still in Falmouth we, David in the dinghy, me holding the lines fore and aft on dinghy to keep David close to the hull while he used the Scrubbis (funky device that scrubs the hull to keel without needing to get in the dirty water). The Scrubbis doesn't work on the propeller. That had to wait until we reached the cleaner water in Jolly.

the Scrubbis

The anchor chain had deep velvet pile for 8m from the waterline. This is where David's soon to be patented chain cleaning device works. Held on a boat hook and with the chain fed through the middle as you lift and you have an efficient method to remove the 'moss' before it goes into the chain locker and creates a bad smell. The boy's a genius!