Checking things off the checklist this week! We have been pleasantly surprised that the people giving us estimates on boat jobs have actually shown up with only slight prodding. Usually in the islands, “a few hours” can mean anytime today or tomorrow, a specific day of the week such as “I’ll come by Thursday” must be followed up by the question “Which Thursday?” and “Tomorrow” means “You will never hear from me again.” The only major snag we ran into this week was getting a realtor to follow up on our housing request. In August, we will need an apartment while Galt is out of the water. Bill contacted two realtors for assistance. One of them responds every few days but never actually answers our questions so Bill restates the question and then we wait for the same scenario to repeat in a few days. The other realtor gives us the “tomorrow” treatment. This morning, Bill finally emailed the owner of the agency and simply asked, “Do you people work at all?” It took less than 10 minutes for Bill to get a response from the owner who said, “Someone will call in a few hours.” A glimmer of hope!
We had one big success this week! Harry Houdinghy has a new motor! New to us anyway but it cranks easily which is more than we could say about the previous motor. There is a place on the island called “Shrimpy’s.” Shrimpy’s is owned by a man who came to visit St. Maarten 18 years ago and never left. Prior to that vacation, he visited South Africa and stayed for 30 years. I would describe Shrimpy’s as the place old men go to gather. Nothing much ever seems to get done but there’s a lot of talk about getting stuff done. Shrimpy’s had several motors for sale and we were able to reach an agreement along with an “Awe, if you have any problems, just come by and we’ll fix it” warranty. We also found out that if we need laundry, free wifi access for a few hours, a storage unit, directions or anything else on the island, Shrimpy’s has the answer. We continue our search for a new refrigerator but at least the motor issue is off the list! Often when I have been to outdoor concerts, I have had the thought of “wouldn’t it be fun to live close to the amphitheater and you’d get to have free concerts?” Well, I am sure that thought was made when I was going see one of my favorite bands such as Styx or REO Speedwagon. I can guarantee you that Dexta Daps was not on the list. Throughout the week, there have been a horde of people setting up a stage in the marina’s front yard. We heard it was a concert that would take place on Saturday evening. Bill was told, “It’ll probably start around 7pm” so we were feeling pretty good that it would be over by 11pm. On Saturday afternoon, Bill ran into the security guard who laughed at him when he asked if the concert was starting at 7pm. The guard said the concert would start at 9pm at best and go until at least early AM hours. Sound check began around 4pm and we had a little Linda Ronstadt and some Billy Joel so maybe Dexta Daps wasn’t going to be that bad! Around 6pm, we decided to head off the boat and go on a date night to the casino at Maho Beach. Maho was a lively nightlife place (adjacent to the beach where the airplanes fly directly overhead to land) and the casino even had a craps table for Bill. After several hours of fun and only a few dollars poorer, we headed back to the boat. At 9:02pm, the opening act began. She was no Linda Ronstadt. At 11pm, Dexta hit the stage with enough bass to make Galt shake and shiver. Dexta was a combination of Reggae, Pop and Rap so no Billy Joel. It was around 2:00am that the concert ended and I was able to remove my ear plugs. Luckily, we live on a boat and never have any real schedule so we slept in a bit, however, the marina will be getting a Bill lecture on Monday about how to send out notifications of events and timing. It seems that warning us of upcoming torture was not on their radar at all. We closed out go on a date weekend with a super special treat for me! A movie! In an actual movie theater! In the States, I generally went to the movies at least once a week if not twice. I have not been to a theater since we left the States. My sister said Maverick had debuted this weekend so I teasingly said if there was a theater here, it probably was still showing the original Top Gun. Much to my surprise, Maverick was showing! So, we went to an actual movie and it was amazing to see the large screen again! All our movies on the boat are on an Ipad because our tv uses too much power (remember that fact for those “green” energy people out there!). Now, Bill has created a monster because Jurassic Park arrives at the theater in June! Making my list! So, if you want a good Memorial Day celebration with lots of heroics, go see Maverick! Tom Cruise is best on the big screen!
0 Comments
We arrived back to our lovely St. Maarten this week! Our trip from Antigua was uneventful which is always a plus when travelling by boat. We were welcomed back by our singing and dancing bridge tender and made our way into the Port du Plaisance marina where we spent some time last Spring. This year, we have chosen to stay in St. Maarten for hurricane season instead of making the long journey back to Grenada. Staying in St. Maarten is a bit of a gamble but since we will be pulling Galt out of the water for maintenance, he will be strapped down which should keep him out of any major trouble. The Saharan dust has already begun to blow here in the Caribbean which we love to see. The dust decreases the likelihood of early season hurricanes which makes life much easier for us! St. Maarten is our first “repeat” country that we have visited and we found settling in much easier because we knew the lay of the land. Our first day, we headed over to talk with some of the maintenance people to begin scheduling visits for estimates. Galt needs some new paint, a new manifold to help the fuel tanks function perfectly, a rigging check, fire extinguishers serviced and a multitude of other jobs. What we get ticked off our list will depend on the estimates so we will be busy this week setting priorities. We also need to find a place to live while Galt is “on the hard”. On the hard is boating lingo for out of the water. While we could live on Galt while he is out of the water, I don’t relish finding out where the term “on the hard” came from and since getting on and off the boat involves climbing a ladder at least 10 feet tall, I say no thank you. I’ll take an apartment for the month of August!
We made our way to the Carrefours Market to resupply the galley and I was very excited to find Jif crunchy peanut butter in stock. I have a few American name brands that I am picky about including JIF and Ritz crackers. Carrefours had both for a reasonable price! I threw the JIF into the cart and made my way happily back to the boat. Flash forward two days. My daily morning routine includes checking the Google news feed on my phone to keep up with the headlines from the States. Sunday’s Google Headline: JIF issues voluntary recall of certain peanut butter products due to potential Salmonella contamination….Of course they did…..I grabbed my new (thankfully unopened) jar of joy to check the lot number. Yep. Recalled. Why must the world be so cruel? So, now I need to go to Carrefours today to make sure they received the notice on the JIF before they start a Salmonella outbreak! We are back into superyacht territory and there is one near us named “Limitless”. Bill did his usual boat stalking online and found out the owner was the founder of The Limited clothing stores. He started off with one store in Ohio and made his way to superyacht level. I love stories like this one and it made the name of his boat the best one yet! Now for the surprise I promised you last week….why do we only need an apartment for the month of August when hurricane season lasts until November? We are going on a European and African adventure for three months! Last year in Grenada, Bill and I discussed how difficult it was to stay on a small island for more than 3 months. On one of my down days in Grenada, Bill suggested that we look into travelling abroad for the next hurricane season. That is all it took! I was off and planning. I currently have a spreadsheet that has fifteen tabs covering topics from general information, schedules, flights, things to do, etc. It is organized and color coded (green for flights, blue for car rental, yellow for train, etc) and we are getting close to purchasing flights for the initial leg! We are very excited to take you along on the tour which will include the following: England, Spain, Portugal, Morocco, Nice, Monaco, Italy, Montenegro, Greece, Egypt, Jordan, Tanzania for a safari and a final destination that has yet to be determined. If my spreadsheet is any indication, the trip is going to be amazing….not to mention colorful! We spent our remaining time this week knocking off the rest of the Top 15 list in Antigua. I am sure if you look on Tripadvisor, you would be saying, “I see a lot more than 15 things to do” but in reality, there are fifteen. Why? Because listing every beach on the island is cheating since beaches are beaches and tour groups should not be listed as a “thing to do”. Also, at least 5 of the listings fall under Nelson’s Dockyard so to split them apart is cheating! We definitely enjoyed this week’s endeavors more than last weeks. We were once again driving ourselves through Pothole Paradise as we made our way over to English Harbor. Since there is only one main road, getting lost is not really an issue. It does become an issue, however, when the sign says, “Nelson’s Dockyard straight” but the road is a dead end! We had a 50/50 chance on whether “straight” was turning left or right. Luckily, we had just passed Our Lady of Perpetual Help Catholic Church so we prayed for some perpetual help and picked a direction. Just so you know, “straight” equals “turn right” in Antigua. As we meandered along the road, we passed through a small town that was about one mile of road. On that one mile of road, we counted 34 derelict cars sitting on the side of the road, in yards or on blocks. We aren’t sure what was going on in this particular town but if you need any car parts pre-1990, they’ve got you covered. Nelson’s Dockyard was established in the 1790s by Horatio Nelson. Horatio went to sea at 13 years of age and was a Captain at the age 25 when he arrived in Antigua. I guess his parents told him their basement was not an option for his life’s plan! Back in the day, Nelson’s Dockyard was the center of shipping commerce between England and the Islands and its’ fleet was commissioned to disrupt trade from America. The English did not like us very much in the 1700s! As we arrived at the park, we found the gate opened and no one in the ticket office so we continued our drive up to the fort area called Shirley Heights. The ruins were not much to comment on but the views were spectacular. We then made our way over to The Blockhouse which was the location of the officers’ quarters and the views were even more spectacular! Next stop in the park was the cultural center for a little history lesson. When we arrived, the employee asked for our tickets. We told her the ticket office had been closed so we needed to buy a ticket. She nodded and said, “Yes, the ticket person is running a little late today but you can pay on the way out of the park.”. The park opened at 9:00am and it was already 11:00am. I know my employees would have loved that definition of a “little late!” We settled into the theater for our cultural lesson on Antigua. The presentation was a combination of videos and dioramas lit up with a spotlight during the narration. The presentation was interesting but the narrator was the Sun. Imagine the opening sequence of the Teletubbies with the huge sun that had the creepy baby’s face on it and that summed up the narrator. It took me a few minutes to get over the Teletubbies’ traumatic flashbacks but I survived. By the time we headed out of the park, the ticket taker had shown up for work. We paid our park fee and drove over to the second half of the park which was the actual dockyard. Nelson’s Dockyard had been refurbished in the 1960s and was now a UNESCO world heritage site. The museum was very well done and they had many personal effects of the soldiers and workers that lived at the dockyard in the 1700s. One interesting find was in the early 2000s after a hurricane. The hurricane had washed away the beach in front of the resort area. Under the beach had been a mass grave so skeletons were stacked everywhere on the beach! Needless to say, the resort had to be closed so the site could be excavated. No updated information on the skeletons was reported and I could not find one ghost story online about dockyard hauntings but I am sure we were surrounded by ghosts! We finished our night with a stay at the Copper and Lumber Inn. The inn was one of the restored buildings and was beautiful! We were on the top floor where the soldiers had reportedly slept with their hammocks hanging from the rafters. Fortunately, we did not have to sleep in hammocks! At breakfast, Bill asked if they had decaffeinated coffee because that is what I drink. The waiter’s response was, “No, but you can mix in hot water with the regular coffee to make it decaffeinated.” I am sure those of you who drink regular coffee would probably agree! Our last day of exploring was spent snorkeling out to the Pillars of Hercules. The point was deceptively far away so our snorkel ended up being about a mile against the current so that was a little more exercise than planned. With a name like the Pillars of Hercules, one would expect quite the site. As most sites Antiguan, it was less than enthralling but at least we burned off enough calories to enjoy lunch on the beach. Our take on the Top 15 Things to Do…. Ffryes Beach, Dickenson Beach, Darkwood Beach, Galley Bay Beach, Long Bay Beach, Deep Bay Beach, Valley Church Beach, Runaway Beach, Jabberwock Beach, Pigeon Point Beach, Galleon Beach, Jolly Beach, Half Moon Bay: Beaches. Sand, water, people, restaurants, fish. Fort Barrington: Climb up high hill. Sandals not recommended. Look at view for 5 minutes. Slide back downhill. Shirley’s Heights: part of National Park so cheating to count it separately as a Thing to Do. Nice view. Arrive early and you can miss the ticket taker…. Betty’s Hope: Cannot fairly judge since we did not get to enter. Very nice looking locked gate, though. Nelson’s Dockyard: By far the number one thing to do on the island. Loads of history! Heritage Quay: cruise ship shopping. Not a destination. Museum of Antigua and Barbuda: A good way to spend 30 minutes but considering it takes an hour to find a parking spot takes it down a notch. Fort James: Pile of rocks. St John’s Cathedral: Eh, it’s a church. Devil’s Bridge: It was hell getting to Devil’s Bridge. Enough said. Figtree Drive: Same road, different potholes. Figtree Art Gallery: Literally someone’s house. Perhaps they would buy one of my paintings…. St. Peter’s Church: cool slave ship ceiling so worth the potholes Pillars of Hercules: hardly Herculean….I swam a mile for this? Fort Berkeley: Another pile of rocks….slightly more organized pile than Fort James. So, our final summation of Antigua is that the island is worth a short visit especially if you like resorts with beautiful beaches. If you are more of the exploring type, you’ll want to skip over to St. Lucia or Martinique. Before we leave, I am going to start an Adopt a Pothole program….I’ll even let you name your pothole. I have named mine Our Hole of Perpetual Hell….the 16th Top Thing to Do on Antigua! Jumping to St. Maarten this week so we’ll be back to $1.00 beer happy hours to get us through all the boat projects for 2022 hurricane season. I also have a special surprise for you this coming hurricane season but you’ll have to wait a bit longer for the reveal! ***More pics on Pictures tab Welcome to Antigua! I am sure when Islanders come to visit the States they find a lot of our culture humorous. Such as “Why are there 17 pharmacies on every corner?” or “Why do their gas stations need 100 fuel pumps?” or “Why do they have 250 kinds of cereal in every store?” This week, we have been getting to know the culture of Antigua and as usual, humor abounds. So, if you need to go to the bathroom, now is the time because I am not responsible for your wet pants!
When we arrived in Antigua, we pulled Galt up to the Customs and Immigration office dock. It was 3pm on a Sunday so we did not expect the office to be opened but we thought the dock would be a calm place to spend the night. As we pulled in, a fellow American came out to assist us with securing Galt to the dock which is always greatly appreciated and it was wonderful to be greeted in English once again. He told us that several groups had been waiting for the Immigration officer to return to the office. They had been waiting an hour. We decided to wait on the boat rather than stand in the heat. A few minutes later, I saw the office door open so I made my way over to the office. I had to put on a mask even though masks are no longer required by the Antiguan government. The officer stated that Bill also needed to come over to check in which was unusual but I walked back to the boat and got Bill. The officer then took both our temperatures and that was Bill’s role for the day, completed. My role had just begun. I had already completed the required customs and immigration forms online. The officer handed me the same forms and asked me to complete them. I informed her I had completed the forms online and she said, “I still need these forms” and handed me a pen. I have learned not to argue with Immigration folks so I patiently completed the forms again. She stamped them and then told me to knock on the other door. I knocked. A lady came out and asked if I had completed the forms online. I told her I had and tried to hand her the stamped forms I held in my hand. She responded, “I don’t need those” as she disappeared into her office. She then returned with the printed forms from online. “I need you to sign these forms”…..which were the same forms as the signed forms I held in my hand. Keeping my sigh to myself, I signed her forms. She then directed me back to the original officer. That officer took my newly printed online forms and stamped them. So, now I have one copy of online printed stamped forms in one hand and one copy of handwritten stamped forms in my other hand. Next stop is the Port Authority office. I am allowed to go into his office for some reason and sit in the air conditioning. Perhaps the thirty minutes of paperwork was like quarantine and I was no longer a contagion threat. I tried to hand him my two sets of papers but he shook his head and said he did not need them. He reached into his desk and….finally, what I had been waiting for…..the carbon paper emerged! I knew it had to be hiding somewhere because we have yet to be in an immigration office that did not use carbon paper. He wrote on his forms, stamped them several times and asked for $32.00 for the port fees. No credit cards accepted. No Euros accepted. I went out to find Bill to inform him that his duties were not complete and he needed to find $32.00 in either US currency or Eastern Caribbean dollars. He pointed out that there were US dollars in the billfold that was in my hand….so much for his uncompleted duties. In spite of the massive killing of trees for paper, it was one of our easier check ins! By now it was about 5pm so we voted to spend the night on the Customs dock. In the morning, we moved Galt into Jolly Harbor Marina and settled in nicely. Docking in English rather than French was so much easier! I will never take it for granted again! We began our explorations of Antigua on Jolly Harbor Beach. Antigua boasts having 365 beaches on the island and we decided Jolly Harbor Beach had to be one of the best beaches we have encountered. The water was gorgeous, the sand was snow white and it was quiet and peaceful. After our day at the beach, we were ready to get on the road to see what the island had to offer. Unfortunately, the rental car company did not have a Cactus so we had to settled for a Yaris with 150,000 km on it….but the rental guy was sure to point out the new tires! Whenever we arrive on a new island, I go online to research things to do. I usually check Tripadvisor which always has the top things to do for a given destination. Tripadvisor usually starts with the Top 15 Things To Do and then has a lot more than just fifteen. For Antigua, there were just 15….and that was pushing it! We began with one of the four forts that were on the island. First stop, Fort Barrington. As we approached the fort that was high on a hill, Bill asked, “This wasn’t the fort that we needed the good hiking shoes was it?” After doing the climb, I can most assuredly tell you that Fort Barrington was indeed that fort….and we indeed did not have on our good hiking shoes. Regardless of the footwear faux pas, we made it to the top and the views were amazing. Second stop, St. John’s Cathedral in the downtown capital of St. John’s. A nice cathedral but hardly Top 15 material on any list. Next stop, the waterfront boardwalk. Nope. Definitely built just for the cruise ship passengers so if we were in need of a Prada handbag, we would have been covered. End of Day 1. For Day 2, we made our way to Fort James which was on the opposite side of St. John from Fort Barrington. The good news was there was no climbing. The bad news was the fort was in ruins so not much to explore. We then proceeded to some of the beaches that were listed on the Top 15 list but in all honesty, after Jolly Harbor Beach, the bar was set so high I do not think the other beaches had a chance. We did find a really good shawarma place for lunch so that was a highlight. End of Day 2. Day 3 began with a quick stop by the grocery store to get some beer. We had been to the same grocery store every day since arriving and every day, the security guard would direct us to wash our hands before entering the store. We would wash our hands, enter the store with no masks and complete our shopping. Bill never wants his receipt when checking out so the cashier would just throw it away. Not on Day 3. On Day 3, which was a Sunday, we were directed to wash our hands as usual. Then, we had to do a temperature check. Then, the cashier told Bill he had to keep his receipt. Then, as we left the store, the security officer asked for the receipt so she could check it. As we walked away, I decided that Sunday must be the only day of the week that fevered, beer stealing people shop. After the store trauma, we began a long and bumpy ride to Devil’s Bridge. The Antiguan roads are by far the most challenging ones we have encountered for potholes. You would think the paved roads would be better than the gravel roads but they all have essentially the same amount of potholes. Bill would ask, “Are we on the right road? Check Google maps, please.” I would check the map, hold up the phone and say, “It’s the only road.” “Well then, I guess it must be the right road,” was his response as he continued jarring through the potholes. When we arrived at Devil’s Bridge National Park (which was listed as the number one thing to see on Tripadvisor), we wandered aimlessly along the rough shoreline cliffs looking for a bridge. The cliffs were covered in loose rock that would slide off the cliff when you stepped. Not one safety rail in sight. Not one “Stay off the cliffs” sign. We finally gave up and asked a local where the bridge was located. She laughed and said, “I’ve been watching you walk around up there. I’m glad you were smart enough to come ask me because the bridge is right here. Walk straight, take two steps down and you’ll see it”. Good grief….would a sign with an arrow be too much to ask? While the Devil’s Bridge was cool, hardly number one of Top 15 things to do. Next stop was Betty’s Hope. Odd name for an old sugar plantation but we were just going with it at this point. As you can see from the picture below, Betty might have had hope but we were not hopeful as we pulled up to find the gates locked. As we made our way back to the boat, we located a couple of quaint churches. One church was the oldest one in Antigua and reportedly the ceiling had been built out of an old slave ship. One of the reviewers on Tripadvisor said it was made out of an old “spaceship” so a slave ship was a little disappointing to say the least. Our final pondering for the week has been the memorial billboards that cover the island. They are billboards that are put up in memory of a loved one that has died. I am not sure what the protocol is but we saw some signs that had been remembering since 2017….I took a picture of our favorite (see below). The billboard, for “Bambi” Alexander Belle, was put up by his son Tion and Hurricane Lypstick. What more can I say? This week, we will finish off the remaining of our Top 15 sites in Antigua….not sure if that is good or bad but it should be interesting! Until next week, have a wonderful Mother’s Day! ***More pics on Pictures tab this week |
AuthorSally Miller Archives
May 2024
|