Posted by Liz
It has cooled down a bit (thank God) - like 80 today but lower humidity - so that helps me out. I don't like all the humidity - Ed loves it!
We woke up around 6:30/7 today, had some cereal/coffee and then had our "chores" to do:
- take garbage up to the garbage truck by 9am (he's there between 7 and 9)
- take our diesel jerry jugs (2 five gallon jugs) to refill at the gas station - then take them back and put that diesel into our main fuel tanks to top everything off
- fill up the little gas tank for the dinghy
- "stick" the fuel tanks on board, to check fuel levels
- check oil and Racor fuel filter
- ran the engine for one hour, charging our batteries, running the refrigerator to cool it down and running the watermaker to make a few more gallons
Then, a walk over to English Harbor (a short 10 min walk) where we have to check out at the Customs/Immigration facility - because we're planning on taking off tomorrow morning around 7am to sail down to Deshaies, Guadeloupe (south of here by 42 miles - about a 7 hr sail).
We're just planning on staying there one night and then heading to some beautiful islands called Isles des Saintes (Les Saintes) - part of Guadeloupe - south of Guadeloupe. French, great food, quaint - some good snorkeling which I'm looking forward to (haven't really been swimming here because we're in a big harbor with too much boat activity - dinghies and big tenders to these huge ships just go whizzing by - pretty scary actually if you were in the water). We'll probably just hang there for a couple of weeks through New Years and then head to Dominica - which is known for it's hiking, waterfalls, thermal springs, rainforests.... I'm totally psyched to get there and explore inland - probably not up for some of the more serious hikes - but it should be beautiful. It's been likened to the Garden of Eden. From everything we've read, it's a lot safer and people we know (like Mike & Debbi Young) have had great experiences there.
Ed and I did meet a lovely young couple (mid-20's) from Australia (Perth). They were living in Manchester England for the past couple of years working (he in banking, she's a schoolteacher) and they bought a small 27 foot boat. He got laid off, so they decided to go sailing! (Seems like a mantra for a lot of us during this recession) They sailed across the Atlantic in that little boat and did fine - and now are planning on heading south to Grenada, then through the Panama canal by March - and across the Pacific, ending up in Sydney Australia - where they have a condo that they have been renting out, and will plan on living there and trying to find work again.
It's pretty amazing to see people out there "doing it" on a small boat - but what we agreed upon - is that no matter what size boat we're all on - we all get the same view out of of our portholes. And as my yoga practice has taught me - don't compare - just be in your moment!
There don't seem to be a lot of "cruisers" here in Antigua - just more of the big mega yachts, which are filled with younger "kids" (20's) who are the full time crew members - always cleaning, polishing and the "stewardesses" who organize everything for the owners. Quite a lifestyle - hard work, but probably pretty cool if you're young - and you get to see some amazing places and live aboard these gorgeous yachts! Hopefully as we get to other places, we'll meet more "regular" type of people like the kids from Australia.
Ed and I are getting along really well - as with any friend, we just have to be mindful of when we need some space and not take each other for granted and just remember to be polite and courteous and gentle with each other. I think sometimes if you're in close quarters, it can get "snappy" unless you really make a conscience effort to watch that.
So, that's about it for now. I'm hoping to take some video of our sailing trip tomorrow and post some new pics on the blog once we get to the Saintes.
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