Freemans Bay in the foreground
It had been a wonderful 15 knots on the beam trade wind sail that took us 6 days to cover the 960nm between Bermuda and Antigua. There was a 12 hour lull in breeze where we had to motor but we used that time to run the water maker.
And, unlike our arrival into Bermuda, we made landfall in daylight. Antigua has clear rules published online for arrivals by boat. It's required to have a negative pre-departure PCR test result and to register our details online with eSeaClear.com prior to leaving Bermuda. On arrival all boats have to anchor in Freemans Bay, English Harbour where the staff from Nelson's Dockyard marina bring out health forms to be completed and later the Health Officer. We followed the prescribed steps. The doctor took our temperatures with an at-arms-length 'gun', took copies of our test results and the health declaration forms and confirmed us fit to proceed to Customs and Immigration in Nelson's Dockyard. The trickiest part of checking in was finding a safe spot to anchor between the other boats in Freeman's Bay.
The whole process took about an hour and was straight forward. I was able to pay the fees with my credit card. The fees were charged in USD and were for one week anchoring within the English Harbour and Falmouth Harbour National Park area.
Health inspection $25
eSeaClear processing $15
Cruising permit $16 per month
Daily anchorage fee $0.10 per foot per day
National park entrance fee per person $10
Rubbish collection $0.65 per person per day
Environmental fee $1.65 per person per day
When we leave the National Park we won't be liable for daily anchorage, rubbish collection or environmental fees. Given the uncertainty of the future ability to travel between other Caribbean islands I requested six month visas and received a polite refusal. We were given the standard 90 days and have to go to Customs in St Johns to renew our monthly cruising permit as needed.
Next on our arrival to do list was to pick up a SIM card and data package. A friend had recommended FLOW as a good service provider and it just happened the grocery store at the marina had cards and could sell us top up. Another box ticked. The last item for the day was a happy hour cold beer before returning to Jackster for a bite to eat and an early night.
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