Hello again from the sweltering hot Caribbean. Yea, ok, I know you have a lot of pity for us but I would love to have a cold day or two to change things up a bit. Actually…it did get kinda cool last night. I mean it was bad, we had to use the sheet to cover up for about an hour or two while we were sleeping. 🙂
What we get to wake up to every morning…Nevis Peak, a potentially active volcano!
View from the Nevis Port Captain’s office looking towards St. Kitts.
Moon anchored in Nevis with a different view. You can see our favorite red roofed church up on the hillside to the right of us.
Brian is filling our water tanks at the commercial ferry dock in Nevis. We used to be able to use the smaller dinghy dock but it was damaged during hurricane Maria.
We always pass by this house as we walk to the Nevis hot spring. Not sure why but it always calls to me to take a picture…love this house!
On our way to the Nevis Volcanic hot spring.
As planned we sailed from Nevis to Antigua. We had 8 to 12 knots of wind, and seas of less than 3ft. We made the 42 mile trip in just under 8 hours. This was practically heaven compared to the last time that we sailed here. That time we had to beat straight into 5ft or more seas and it took us 12 hours. To say that we were happy with our sail this time is an understatement!
Beneath the roof is a super steaming-hot, pool of spring water warmed by the island’s volcano. The spring water is reputed to contain minerals of medicinal value and is known to have cured chronic rheumatism, gout and many other aliments. Its water temperature ranges from 104F to 110F, hot, hot hot!
No, Brian is not in jail…at least not yet! He is enjoying the volcanic hot spring. We have never seen this many people there before. Guess that we have been lucky in the past to have had it all to ourselves.
Rain heading our way down Nevis peak at sunset.
Have you ever heard of the Caribbean island of Redonda – it’s actually a KINGDOM! Not exactly a resort destination, it hasn’t been lived on since the first world war, and even then it was only inhabited for a short period of mining. It is really just a big rock, with nowhere to anchor and no easy access to get ashore. No beach, no palm trees, the only thing it does have is some goats, and some unique species of lizards that can only be found on Redonda. The thing that I find fascinating though is that some eccentric Irishman claimed it as his own, named it the Kingdom of Redonda and he was thus the King. He then passed this claim down to his 15 year old son. Somehow this “Kingdom” has survived and even though the island is now a dependency of Antigua & Barbuda, there are apparently 9 pretenders to the “throne” of Redonda.
Passing by a flock of boobies floating in the Caribbean Sea as we sail to Antigua.
Approaching the West side of Antigua.
We arrived in Jolly Harbor one of the ports that you can clear into on Antigua. We raised our Q-Flag and went in to see Customs, Immigration and the Port Captain. The process to clear in here is quite painless and all went smoothly.
Closer to Antigua now and approaching Jolly Harbor, our first stop to clear in with Customs, Immigration and the Port Captain.
Inside Jolly Harbor is very protected and it reminds us a lot of being in South Florida.
We’ve been hanging out here in Jolly Harbor for the last few days getting supplies from the Budget Marine and grocery store. Brian has been working to replace a stringer (wood piece that holds things together and up) that is under our battery bank. I guess that over the years the weight of the heavy batteries caused it to sag and crack a bit. He made a new beam that he calls “Jim Beam” to support it all.
Moon anchored just outside of Jolly Harbor.
The Jolly Harbor Yacht Race entertained from the anchorage our first weekend here.
We never like being away from family around the holidays and with tomorrow being Thanksgiving we just want to say how thankful that we are to have all of you in our lives and we sure miss you! More than you will ever know!! We are hoping to see Rachel soon and that is what is keeping my spirits high. Everyone always says that we are living the dream but sometimes I am jealous of all of you…you are living the dream if you can hold and love your family everyday!
We plan on spending Thanksgiving here in Jolly Harbor. I heard that there is a popular reggae band playing at one of the restaurants that night so we will probably check them out. After that we have plans to head to Deep Bay and on to North Sound. Lots of work to do on Moon. Next for us will be to start painting the cockpit and top deck to get Moon all pretty again. Seems like there is always something needed to be painted or scraped! Still jealous?? 🙂
Love and miss you all,
Take care for now.
Jennifer and Brian SV/ Moon
Happy belated Thanksgiving! You are still living the dream and enjoy very much your stories of you and Brian’s travels.
Thank you for sharing your voyages with me! Later. Brian
Thanks Brian!