May BVI back to Antigu w Mom and Dad

 Still back blogging but hopefully with the extended respite in the UK I will catch up

We left off the last blog post in the BVIs after the charter/regatta/charter.
The Captain and I stayed on for a day or two as it was a friend of ours' 30ieth birthday (yip we're all getting there quickly) and she happened to be in the BVIs too as they (her and her captain/boyfriend) had been in the Oyster Regatta.

 The rib that was hired for the day so that the 6 of us could zoom from island to island (they are close in the BVIs) beach to beach and bar to bar (swimming ashore to reach the aptly named Soggy Dollar Bar)

After Island - beach - bar hopping we returned to our respective boats to get ready for the evening out in a smart Caribbean restaurant. 
Can you think of a better way to bring in the next decade?

Waving goodbye to the BVIs we started our upwind journey to Antigua with a stop in St Maarten/Martin for some shopping

The bridge dividing Dutch and French St Maarten/Martin

 

 After years of squabbling the Dutch and French decided to simply share St Maarten. The harbour you sail into dictates which entry fees you pay.

 The shop with the impractical but totally irresistible shoes (yip Sis, this is where they came from)

 Shopping urges temporarily satiated, we completed the final leg of the journey to Antigua to meet Mom and Dad.

Beach 1: Picnic on Rendevoux Beach

 

 With the BVI regatta followed closely by the much appreciated and enjoyed visit with Mom and Dad followed literally days by the next charter (a 3 week epic saved for the next blog post) meant that there was some work that needed to be done while Mom and Dad were with us.
So the Captain worked most of the time, Mom and Dad helped out some of the time and the rest we went beaching, snorkeling, exploring and, courtesy of the owner, sailing! 

Beach 1: A mermaid emerging from the sea after an almost hour long swim (ok we sort of got swept down the coast while floating and chatting)

followed by drinks at OJs beach bar

 Beach 3: Spotted Eagle Ray obliging us with an appearance off windward beach

 

 Mom and Dad timed their trip well, arriving in time for Antigua Classic Week. This is a week of the world's most elegant and often largest, classic yachts gracefully racing each other around courses off the Antiguan coast. http://www.antiguaclassics.com/13html/gallery.html for anyone who's interested.

After a snorkel at windward Mom Dad and I took the dingy out to watch the start of that day's racing. Trying to get close to the race while staying out of the way proved a challenge. Finally we decided that if we stuck right next to a boat that was flying an RC flag and didnt seem to be moving, we wouldnt be somewhere we shouldn't...right? They obviously knew where they should be. All the other spectator boats (and the ABSAR safety boat) saw our confidence and followed us...
This was the point we realised that RC stood for Race Committee which is the boat that is the marker for one side of the start line...and we had just merrily led the spectators into the starting area... No harm, no foul hey?

'Beach' 4: Resting after a hard day's sailing, swimming and swinging

The owner had very generously offered us to take Mom and Dad sailing. So off we sailed into the wind and waves up the east coast of Antigua to Green Island. It's where most crew bring their boats for some relax time as it is a bay well sheltered by the island, with great reefs for snorkeling and good winds for kite boarding. Best of all, as it is an upwind sail from the major harbours, it's not normally too crowded.

Dad's first attempt at halyard swinging ended in him becoming intimate with the yacht first person to actually connect

 Lunch ashore at Harmony Hall 

(when we found it, having never been there by boat before)

 We each had a dessert to finish our 3 course culinary and visual delight

My favourite: Pineapple carpaccio, marinaded in ginger

Mom's halyard swinging

 Perfect dismount

 Neat splash

 And now for Dad's go

 Hey look, he remembered to let go this time...

 Sploosh. Both Dad and boat safe

If anybody is curious as to why Mom's sequence is a mere 5 photos long...ask her...

A hint: remember that the bow of the boat where you jump from is about 3m from the water

Sailing back from Green Island. The downwind run

 Sailing around the southern tip of the island we came face to face with the entire Classic Regatta Fleet

No probs, we just slowed down and stayed off to the side. Unfortunately two of the oncoming yachts were in a bit of a fight, one keeping the other out, which meant that they went much further past the mark than anticipated. But easily avoided. Much to our surprise though, the outside boat kept coming resulting in very unexpected avoidance tactics needed. We watched them sail very far past the mark and put it down to strange sailing angles due to sail shape etc.

Dad with Elena in the background

(http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=sy-elena-1839 for those of you who are interested)

Back ashore, we later found out that the tactician on the strangely behaving boat had been using a gps assisted computer program to tell him where to go. Unfortunately for him, the race committee had moved the outer mark in a bit and as he hadnt changed its position on his program, they unnecessarily sailed around the fictitious original marker. Score 0 for technology. Score 1 for old school sailing.

Beach 5: Snorkeling off the beach around the corner from Half Moon Bay, Mom spotted an alien

After literally hours of snorkelling: check out those wrinkly toes

View of Falmouth Harbour from half way up Monk's Hill

What's a trip to the Caribbean without exploring some of Nelson's forts? We climbed Monk's hill for the stunning view of Falmouth and English Harbours. And of course to do some treasure hunting for 300 year old glass, clay pipes etc

All in all: too much fun that passed by way too quickly!

Thank you so very much for making the 2 day trip out here to visit us and see what its all about, It really meant a lot to me