Antigua
English Harbor
17.00.259N
61.45.596W

We hoisted anchor about 8:00 am, unfurled our jib and continued on our journey to English Harbor. The seas appeared to have calmed a bit but the wind was coming more and more out of the south which is not the norm. We entered historical English Harbor and threaded our way to the back just to get the lay of the land, so to speak.

Dale ooo’d and ahh’d over the classic yachts med-moored to the quay while I tried not to bump into any of them. The harbor was pretty full. We decided to head back towards the entrance where there appeared to be more room.

We weaved our way in and out and finally decided upon a spot close to shore in Galleon Bay. We dropped our hook and backed down on it hoping that it wouldn’t catch on any of the old hurricane chains that once crossed the harbor in several areas. It dragged a bit before it finally caught and held. We were close to one boat but hoped that we had allowed enough swing room.

The difficult part of estimating where to anchor is that the water in this harbor has a movement of its own. It rises and falls with the swell and has the normal ebb and flow of the tide but it also rocks back and forth. You could sit in the cockpit and watch the boats ride up on their anchors and then fall back. When Dale jumped in to check ours, it was essentially a few feet from our bow, regardless of the 100’ we let out and backed down on. At least the fluke was dug in.

While Dale went to check us in, I stayed back to keep an eye on things. As it turned out, we were fine.

When he returned, we dinghied in for a tour of the old English dockside where a young 26 year old Capt. Horacio Nelson had once served. They’ve done a fine job maintaining the buildings, with signs outside of each one describing what it had been originally designed for. They still have the winches used to careen boats for cleaning and the rock slips used to do repair work. There were massive stone pillars still standing which used to support a sail loft; kind of like a barn on stilts. As I understand it, the ships would pull into the slip built beneath the building and craftsmen could work on the sails without having to haul them up and down the mast. There was even a sign placed on the spot where two lieutenants dueled over who was the most senior.

We searched out a couple of internet cafés and as soon as our taxes are done we’ll make a run in to connect and keep Uncle Sam happy.