English Harbour at Christmas

During our previous week in English Harbour we had spent quite a lot of time with a group of people who make up the core of the Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda.  We had bumped into them when we had visited Antigua in April and this time around we enjoyed their company so much, including the hacking and slashing of the ‘Keep Fit’ session, that we decided to try to join the club. ‘Try’ because to join this particular club, one needs to (1) find a sponsor amongst current club members, (2) drink 7 tots (each 1/8 of a pint or 1/2 of a gill) in 14 days and (3) swot up on sufficient Nelsonian history to pass a 1 hour viva on the subject.  So with several people willing to sponsor us and our livers already partly pickled from the tots we had drunk so far, our biggest concern was finding someone who could lend us the official Tot Club crib sheet so that we could do some pretty rapid cramming.  Happily, Mike Briggs had the paperwork to hand (and a copy of his own shortened version) so we spent much of Christmas Eve learning about seminal battles in which Nelson had played a part, memorising dates and the disposition of ships and, almost more importantly, making sure we had the daily toasts off pat.  After the Christmas Eve Tot at the National Sailing Academy, Richard Fear and ‘Des’ (David) O’Conner held our feet to the fire and found our knowledge sufficiently up to scratch for us to become full members of the club.  So, Christmas Day would see us drinking our joining tot (the 7^thwithin 14 days) as well as proposing our Mismuster Tot – to celebrate our joining the club.

Dressed overall, Christmas 2018

Christmas morning dawned a beautiful day and after a cheery exchange of Christmas wishes on the OCC SSB Net we dressed BV overall in celebration.

BV and the rest of the ‘fore-aft’ crowd from Galleon Beach

Christmas in paradise

 

After a lazy breakfast we took a stroll along Galleon Beach….

Tot Club preparations.  Top left: (L-R) Mike Rose, Gordy Howells, Nicky, Linda Howells, Anne Morcom.  Bottom left: Mike consults the 'Royal Navy Day by Day’ book for suitable Christmas Day dits. Bottom right: preparing Nicky and my final pre-membership tots.  Before becoming a full member a guest’s tot must be poured for him/her by the Rum Bosun. Members pour their own tots. Bottom centre: Mike prides himself on being able to pour a tot of the correct volume by eye.  Zoë called on him to prove it – and he did!

…..and then headed off to the Copper & Lumber for the Tot Club’s Christmas Tot.  As you can imagine, it was a very well attended event, with around 50 people present.

Our Mismuster Tot on Christmas Day in the Copper and Lumber, Nelson’s Dockyard, Antigua.
And, yes, John Duffy was fined for wearing a hat at the Tot!

Only about half that number stayed for Nicky and my Mismuster Tot to celebrate our joining the club, mostly those who were staying for the Christmas party at the Dockyard.

The newest members of the Tot Club with Mike Rose, Founder and Chairman.  Apparently, we’re the first members to join on Christmas Day

Mike Rose, the Founder and Chairman of the Tot Club, then presented us with our Tot Club shirts and a pennant for BV. That prompted a quick change for us and celebratory photo with Mike.

Christmas Day in Nelson’s Dockyard. The Tot Club regroups at Andy Howell’s Hot Hot Hot Spot (café shown in bottom right picture).  Bottom left: Mark Clinch (left), Nicky and ‘Des’ O’Conner 4^thfrom left in white polo shirt) plus others

Now that’s what I call a glass!

With tots various complete and the glasses all cleared away, we moved to the Hot Hot Hot Spot, run by Andy Howells, to continue the party.  And it was a very good party.

The band plays and Nelson’s Dockyard’s is open to all

Zoë who sponsored our membership of the Tot Club

The band played, the sun shone and, to be honest, it didn’t feel much like Christmas.  But Andy was serving up roast turkey dinners like they were going out of fashion and even offering Christmas pudding as an option.  Part way through the afternoon we returned to BV for a light meal on board before returning to meet some of the stalwarts after they had eaten their fill of Christmas buffet at the Copper and Lumber.

Boxing Day walk to Falmouth.  Top left: Inner lagoon at English Harbour.
Top and bottom right: Antigua Yacht Club

On Boxing Day we walked over to Falmouth Harbour.  Whilst we had been talking to Mark and Alasdair Clinch, at some point in a somewhat alcofrolic afternoon, there had been talk of the Antigua Yacht Club’s Christmas race series, the last 2 races of which were due to take place on Boxing Day. Nicky had said that it would be fun to take part and we had been invited to join their crew.  But in the cold light of Boxing Day morning, looking at the list of jobs we needed to do before we set sail that evening, it was very obvious that what had seemed such a great idea the day before was no longer.  But we needed to return Alasdair’s sunglasses to him so we tootled down to the club, made our apologies (no bad thing, there’s really only room for the normal crew of 3 on the boat, we’d probably just have been handicapping dead-weight), gave Al his sunglasses, said our goodbyes to him and Mark and returned to the chores.

The Admiral’s Inn and Pillars Restaurant (originally the sail loft)

We took the opportunity to route back into the Dockyard through the Admiral’s Inn and the Pillars Restaurant to see the remains of the old sail loft from the landward side.  The inside of the Inn is also well worth a visit with a bar made from what looks to be a piece of timber from an old sailing vessel and some great pictures on the walls.

The Admiral’s Inn and Pillars Restaurant (originally the sail loft)

And, of course, we needed to clear out, so we completed the formalities at Customs and Immigration, having checked a few days previously that they would be open on Boxing Day.  In fact, the officer Nicky spoke to had said that Customs and Immigration would be open as usual on all the days over the festive period including Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.  Quite amazing!

We planned to depart at 2200hrs so we spent the afternoon sorting out BV for the departure.  By late afternoon everything was complete so we joined our friends at the Tot Club in a final tot for this visit.  Having only just joined it felt almost traitorous to be leaving so soon and we had made so many new friends we really didn’t want to leave. But the forecast was for some very strong winds in a couple of days’ time and, given our plans for the remainder of the winter we really needed to be making tracks.  We’d had a lot of fun in Antigua and stayed much longer than we had originally planned but we will be back and will be able to renew our friendships with the Tot Club crew when we return.  Whilst sailors of old might have had a girl in every port, between the OCC, the CA and the Tot Club we probably have friends in every port instead!

English Harbour, Antigua