We've been trying for so long to get the internet on the boat. We have what is supposed to be the very best wifi booster in the market which SHOULD allow us to either "get" another boat's wifi signal (all of these megayachts that surround us have their own wifi network and many of them...so I've been told...have "unprotected" signals) or log on to a wifi network, we would pay for gladly. So far, no luck. Anyway, I haven't given up hope.
We arrived in Falmouth Harbor, Antigua, from Jolly Harbor, Antigua, on Saturday afternoon. We stayed on board that evening on our anchor in this big and beautiful place surrounded by these megayachts which are lit up like Christmas trees at night (their masts are so tall that they are required by law to have red lights on top to warn off airplanes). We are very close to Mirabella V (top photo), the tallest sloop in the world and Maltese Falcon, much bigger but with four rotating masts, each supporting four or five spars for square rigged sails.
On Sunday we walked about a bit and checked in with our Saga buddies, Bill & Sando on Lucille. They moved to a mooring as big winds were expected and so we did also. Sunday late afternoon there is a weekly happening on Shirley Heights, a fort on heights overlooking English Harbor (pictured above). A twelve piece steel drum band was the main attraction and about 1000 people drinking and eating up a storm. We walked up and back, about five miles, which was good exercise., with the Donaldsons, and then ate a good dinner at the Mad Mongoose, which has free 24/7 wifi! Roger had his first Wahoo, a tasty flaky fish that looks like a barracuda while swimming but is good eating.
That night at 1:30 a drunk dingy driver at high speed crashed into the side of our boat, making two gashes into the fiberglass about 2 inches long, about 25 inches above the waterline. Roger went up on deck and asked if he was hurt and he said yes but didn't need help and drifted away into the darkness. There is a five knot speed limit in the harbor and at night, without lights, he was crazy to be going fast. This damage needs to be repaired because otherwise salt water will get into the fiberglass and eat away the boat. So Roger covered it with duck tape to keep out the rain. Then we found a man who does this work, got an estimate from him and will get the work done, a few hours a day over three days, which means we will be here yet a while.
We are in the big roomy Falmouth Harbor which is a 500 yard walk from the much smaller, more protected and picturesque English Harbor. English is the home of "Nelson's Dockyard" on a peninsula into the harbor, which was the headquarters of the British navy until the late 1800's when it was given to the government of Antigua and later, starting in the 1940's, developed into a refuge for pleasure yachts instead of square rigged warships. They have a great little museum and Roger has spent several hours in it over the last few days. Nelson, Britain's greatest naval hero, actually was in command here for a few years, about 20 before his death at Trafalgar aboard the flagship Victory. But he was rather unpopular when he was posted here because of his strict enforcement of the British law that only British ships could trade with the new USA, thereby depriving local merchants of revenue. His wife, the one he separated from when he had his affair with Lady Emma, starting in 1800, who bore his daughter, Horatia, after his death, was born and raised on St. Kitts, about 40 miles from here.
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