Antigua 2/12/18

We woke up to more wind, but the breakfast was great!

Captain Ben showed us where we would be sailing. 

Amir, the base captain, had taken his family to the north side of the island where we would normally have gone, but it was very windy there. As a result, we are turning around and heading right back to Valley Church Beach where Bill and Barb Robinson stayed and Jolly Beach where we stayed. We passed Frog Rock - aptly named.

First we stopped at Crab Hill Beach for lunch.There are several all inclusive resorts on the beach. We took the dingy into a beach bar called Rum Bus. We got a cabana with a hammock, but ended up near the bar for the WiFi. The bar was so cute. They had bus seats set up like you were actually on a bus. Sandy, Victor and I swam back to the boat. 

Rum Bus Beach Bar

Our cabana

It was her birthday!

The bus

The plan was to anchor at Valley Church Beach, which is very close to our Jolly Beach Resort. After arriving to lots of wind, George bought ice at the marina and we returned to Crab Hill Bay.

Victor got some fishing in. We wish that those lobsters belonged to us!

We got word from Captain Ben that we all would get our full point reimbursement. Great news! Thank you Tradewinds!

Antigua 2/11/18

From Jolly Harbor we went around Sandy Island to Deep Bay. Fort Barrington, a steep hike with a 360˚ view, was built to protect St. John. Further is the big catamaran in the middle front.

Our first breakfast was amazing. Alett is an amazing chef!

The pre-dinner cocktail by George was a banana rum daiquiri and it was very delicious. Rick and I had a tequila and Ting. There is no Ting on the island due to a shortage. We managed to buy four bottles in St. Johns a few days ago and we brought two bottles with us to the boat. We had requested Patron, not thinking that they would actually have some on board, and low and behold, we have two bottles. What a great Happy Hour for the Wades and Robinsons.

We had an amazing dinner of filet mignon. It was so tender and delicious, the meals have been excellent.

Our boatmates:

Bill and Barb CA

Tom and Pat

Bill and Barb CO

Sandy and Victor

Ruth and Rick

Tom gets along with everyone!

Antigua 2/10/18

After a day at the beach we walked our suitcases over to the Tradewinds Marina for check in. We were told that our intended Flagship boat, New Beginning, had a broken engine, so we were moved to Further, a 59 foot luxury boat. Needless to say, we were not too happy, but our wonderful crew made up for the change.

Ben: Our 25 year old Captain from Ireland who will also be our dive master.

George: Our Romanian First Mate and mixologist.

Alett: Our South African chef extrodianare

After the spread that Alett had set out for us in welcome to Future, we enjoyed some wine and learned about our crew. They each told their story of what led them to Tradewinds.

Our friends Pat and Wands from our St. Martin cruise last year brought Boat Shirts for all of us! I brought ocean themed bracelets for the ladies.

Here is a typical cabin on Further.

Antigua 2/5/18 - 2/10/18

The next morning we flew to the beautiful Caribbean island of Antigua. She was spared in the two devastating hurricanes that passed through earlier.

Upon arrival we took a cab ride with a driver who knew the shortcuts to avoid rush hour traffic. It was enlightening to pass though the areas where the people of Antigua live. Very colorful, if not very poor.

Our destination for five days is Jolly Beach Resort. This reasonable all-inclusive resort sits on acres of manicured grass and one of the most gorgeous beaches in the Caribbean. The water is a soft turquoise blue and the sand is like sugar.

The Jolly Beach resort gets mixed to poor reviews and I was reticent to book it. A new company has purchased it recently and they are making improvements. We found our room to be very nice. The grounds were awesome - very spacious with the big, beautiful beach. We were pleased with our choice.

Actually, we picked this resort because our good friends, Tom and Pat Wands from our St. Martin Tradewinds cruise, were staying at Jolly Beach. We decided to surprise them, which was very fun. After scouring the beach and resort grounds for Pat and Tom, we took a table in the dining patio and waited for them to appear. What fun when we saw them come in!

Then next four days were spent lazing on the beautiful beach, enjoying the resort shows and having meals together. We were so glad that we made the move to Jolly Beach. We had been confirmed previously at Halcyon Cove, a similar resort on another beach. It was damaged in the hurricane, so we made the change. A good one!

Antigua Sunday, 2/4/18

We were off to Miami to spend one night before we could get to our final destination - Antigua in the Lesser Antilles. Our hotel choice was the Miami International Airport Hotel, which was very convenient. No shuttles to and from. We arrived late with the time change, but we were able to watch the Super Bowl in our little room and also at Chilis in the airport.

Our destination in Antigua - our Tradewinds Cruise Club catamaran