English Harbour 1 Antigua

View south across Freeman Bay from BV’s place in the anchorage

We had anchored BV at the north end of Freeman Bay in English Harbour, between Freeman Point and the edge of the shipping channel leading up to Nelson’s Dockyard and the inner reaches of the harbour. But we weren’t clear to go ashore until we had sorted out all the paperwork with Customs and Immigration, which was our priority task on the morning of Monday 10 December.  In Antigua, only the captain is allowed ashore to complete the arrivals procedure so we decided that Nicky would visit the harbour office, customs and immigration, whilst I tackled the immediate post passage maintenance jobs.

The Copper and Lumber bar/restaurant

Superyachts on the quay at Nelson’s Dockyard

Running the gauntlet of Customs and Immigration took rather longer than either of us had expected.  First, there’s the arrivals paperwork to complete on a computer system called E-Sea Clear [Ed: which, had I remembered, I could have completed prior to our arrival though of course, I wouldn’t have known our arrival date].  Then you bounce back and forth between ‘windows’ first speaking to Customs and Excise, then to Immigration, back to Customs and, finally, to the Port Authority (where you pay).  And, of course, there are queues at each window and it’s not clear where to begin the process [Ed: a sign would help]……. But after much signing and stamping and general officialdom, we (and BV) had officially arrived.  The Q flag could come down and I could go ashore too!

After a lazy lunch we headed ashore to dispose of rubbish, wander around the Dockyard, ogle at all the enormous and brilliantly polished superyachts and, lastly, stop at the Copper and Lumber to use the wifi and catch up on emails.

Looking out at the superyacht dock from the Dockyard quay.  Crossed anchor chains are a fact of life here and if your vessel is big enough the yard will always provide divers and a yard boat to help with laying and lifting anchors when you enter and leave your berth

The dinghy dock, at the shallow end of the superyacht dock

It was a Bank Holiday, VC Bird Day, commemorating Antigua and Barbuda’s first Premier after independence, so there was no point in going in search of a mobile telephone provider in St John’s. But we did use some of the online time at the Copper and Lumber to research their locations – recce for the next day’s task.  However, we only got some of our admin completed as the Copper and Lumber closed at 1700hrs, remarkably early for a bar we thought.

Evening view of the Dockyard from the dinghy dock

But it meant that we got back to BV before dark and were able to enjoy the sunset on board in preparation for an earlyish night before a busy day in St John’s the next day.

English Harbour, Antigua