Departure
Sunday, March 4 (Happy Birthday, Doug)
Falmouth Harbor, Antigua
I can almost smell the roast beef most likely being served at 161 Federal Street to honor Doug's entrance into his LATE forties today. I would be extremely envious, were I not still very full from last night's dinner of Irish sausages--the good kind--available every day in the local supermarket!
We have had a fairly quiet and relaxing week, anchored within swimming distance of Pigeon Beach, and enjoying the company of Kim and David on Amanzi. We also had another very late night with Amanzi, Mange Tout, and Kenneth, who is not a sailor but is in Antigua because he directs an organization that supports people who desire to row across large bodies of water. Three such boats have just landed in Antigua, having been rowed across the Atlantic this winter. Tara and Stewart, who watched the British boat entering English Harbor, had met Kenneth while attempting to buy the EPIRB from one of the rowboats. As luck would have it, not only were they able to rent the EPIRB (cheaper than buying, for sure), they also acquired, for free, a life raft and extra flares--all items they had planned to purchase before they cross the Atlantic themselves this spring, returning to England on the sailboat they bought in the Dominican Republic last winter.
We said goodbye to Mange Tout and Nancy Dawson on Thursday and prepared the boat for Lisa and Jim, who were supposed to fly in on Thursday night but wound up arriving in the predawn hours of Friday morning because of flight delays. Once again, we were up late enough to view the Southern Cross as it made its brief transit across the southern sky.
But that was nothing compared to the beautiful eclipse of the moon just after nightfall yesterday. Through binoculars, it had a 3-dimensional quality that a bright moon does not, and the reddish tinge was rather eerie. Lisa recalled the last time we witnessed such a phenomenon: October 27, 2004. Lisa knows the exact date because it was her birthday, and because the Red Sox won the World Series on that day. So, as we entertain our Boston friends, keep an eye out for John Henry, whose yacht is still docked here in Falmouth Harbor, and analyze spring training and the upcoming baseball season, we wonder, could this be an early and affirmative sign for success in 2007?
The weather has been rather rough for the past few days, but I still managed to sneak in one more dive with divemaster David on Amanzi's big, new, fast, and dry dinghy. We found the dive boat mooring off Windward Beach, where we had gone with Ian the week before, and spent close to an hour noodling along the ledge there. I saw no rays this time, but I did see an eel, a brightly-colored flounder, a turtle, some big groupers, and two enormous lobsters. It's illegal to take lobster while scuba diving, so we had to be content to look and merely imagine how those babies would taste grilled and topped with butter and lemon.
Today is our last day in Antigua. This afternoon we will check out of the country with our two new crew members before making the hike to Shirley Heights to watch the sunset. And at dawn tomorrow we will raise our anchor, raise our sails, and turn Delilah west for a 50-mile sail toward Nevis.
Falmouth Harbor, Antigua
I can almost smell the roast beef most likely being served at 161 Federal Street to honor Doug's entrance into his LATE forties today. I would be extremely envious, were I not still very full from last night's dinner of Irish sausages--the good kind--available every day in the local supermarket!
We have had a fairly quiet and relaxing week, anchored within swimming distance of Pigeon Beach, and enjoying the company of Kim and David on Amanzi. We also had another very late night with Amanzi, Mange Tout, and Kenneth, who is not a sailor but is in Antigua because he directs an organization that supports people who desire to row across large bodies of water. Three such boats have just landed in Antigua, having been rowed across the Atlantic this winter. Tara and Stewart, who watched the British boat entering English Harbor, had met Kenneth while attempting to buy the EPIRB from one of the rowboats. As luck would have it, not only were they able to rent the EPIRB (cheaper than buying, for sure), they also acquired, for free, a life raft and extra flares--all items they had planned to purchase before they cross the Atlantic themselves this spring, returning to England on the sailboat they bought in the Dominican Republic last winter.
We said goodbye to Mange Tout and Nancy Dawson on Thursday and prepared the boat for Lisa and Jim, who were supposed to fly in on Thursday night but wound up arriving in the predawn hours of Friday morning because of flight delays. Once again, we were up late enough to view the Southern Cross as it made its brief transit across the southern sky.
But that was nothing compared to the beautiful eclipse of the moon just after nightfall yesterday. Through binoculars, it had a 3-dimensional quality that a bright moon does not, and the reddish tinge was rather eerie. Lisa recalled the last time we witnessed such a phenomenon: October 27, 2004. Lisa knows the exact date because it was her birthday, and because the Red Sox won the World Series on that day. So, as we entertain our Boston friends, keep an eye out for John Henry, whose yacht is still docked here in Falmouth Harbor, and analyze spring training and the upcoming baseball season, we wonder, could this be an early and affirmative sign for success in 2007?
The weather has been rather rough for the past few days, but I still managed to sneak in one more dive with divemaster David on Amanzi's big, new, fast, and dry dinghy. We found the dive boat mooring off Windward Beach, where we had gone with Ian the week before, and spent close to an hour noodling along the ledge there. I saw no rays this time, but I did see an eel, a brightly-colored flounder, a turtle, some big groupers, and two enormous lobsters. It's illegal to take lobster while scuba diving, so we had to be content to look and merely imagine how those babies would taste grilled and topped with butter and lemon.
Today is our last day in Antigua. This afternoon we will check out of the country with our two new crew members before making the hike to Shirley Heights to watch the sunset. And at dawn tomorrow we will raise our anchor, raise our sails, and turn Delilah west for a 50-mile sail toward Nevis.
posted by S/V Delilah | 2:35 PM
1 Comments:
Tell Lisa that we share a birthday.
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