English Harbour (1) Antigua

Cruise ships at St Johns

Bars and restaurants close to the cruise ship dock in St Johns

We had several very busy days at anchor in English Harbour but also several very lazy days reading books and generally enjoying the scenery.  One of the first things we needed/wanted to do was to go into St Johns to buy a Digicel sim card so that we could check emails and access the internet from BV rather than having to find a bar with variable access via wifi.  The bus journey in was the usual rocket-sled ride, excellent value for money provided that you arrive alive!  The queue in Digicel moved remarkably quickly and we were out as the proud owners of a Digicel sim well before 1030.  That gave us time for a wander around St John’s to work up an appetite before, what has become a tradition for us, lunch at the Indian Spice curry house.  It was an excellent meal (as always) and more replete than perhaps we should have been, we returned to the bus station via some of the many fresh food stalls for a slightly less rocket-propelled ride back home.

And after a successful morning out, we found that the lady in the laundry at English Harbour had been very good in the service she had provided for us.  We had handed over all our cold weather kit and duvets for laundering before heading into town in the morning but had asked that some items not be tumble dried.  She had said that she would wash them late in the day for us to collect, damp, at 1600hr.  As it turned out, she had washed everything early on and had then hung our ‘do not tumble dry’ clothes on a washing line outside, so when we arrived everything was almost fully dried.  An excellent service, not a cheap one, but we had everything clean and ready to pack away into long term storage.  Hopefully the next time we need to dig out those duvets will be late on in 2020.

Ashore in Nelson’s Dockyard for a Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda gathering

Unsurprisingly, since we are members of the Royal Naval Tot Club of Antigua and Barbuda, we had a very social time whilst we were in English Harbour.  Once we’d worked out the normal locations for each evening’s get-together we made it to most of the Tots and also took part in a morning’s ‘keep fit’ (trail clearing) on the Sunday with the Club.  The Tot Club is responsible for maintaining the various trails that link many of the historic sites and viewpoints around English and Falmouth Harbours.  We have always enjoyed walking the trails and it seems only fair to put in a couple of hours cutting back undergrowth for the benefit it brings.

Hosting Richard and Jane (Zwailer) and David and Roberta (Pleione) on board BV

We also introduced several of our friends to the Tot Club, some as guests for one evening, some as potential members in their own right.  Richard and Jane Kingsnorth (Zwailer) were frequent guests as Richard was keen to join the Club (he took and passed his test and had his joining mismuster after we had left Antigua unfortunately).  We also saw David and Roberta Hobbs (Pleione) at the Club most nights, with David joining during our stay on the island.  Katherine and Stephen Paine, friends from Guernsey who crossed to Antigua from Tenerife in their new motoryacht, Anura, joined us for a Friday night Tot in the Copper and Lumber, along with their crew for the crossing, Stephen’s brother Mike.

Top: David’s joining mismuster.  Bottom right: (Facing the camera L to R) Nicky, Richard Kingsnorth (Zwailer), Doug Mann (Zipporah), me

And we also hosted Doug and Mary Mann (Zipporah), as it happens the same night as David’s joining mismuster which made it a particularly fun night and one that Doug will remember [Ed: or not!] for some time: the new Tot Club rum really is ‘gunpowder strength’, which perhaps makes it a little unfair on the guests!

English Harbour, Antigua