I’ve spent an enjoyable month and a half in Falmouth, Antigua. I did very little for the first couple of weeks but eat and sleep, then did some exploring and snorkelling, mixed with a lot of relaxing. I also had some modifications made to my mainsail, dismantled my boom to sort out my reefing lines and tightened up my Hydrovane among other useful activities.
My plan was to move round to Jolly Harbour marina on the west coast for a week before moving on northwards. There’s better food shopping here. I’ve also taken delivery of a Duogen wind and water generator from Eclectic Energy in the UK, which is going to revolutionise my power generation, if I can put it together properly and get it to work that is.
Unfortunately, on arrival in the marina, I found that my propeller shaft seal had come off, and water was pouring into the boat. This wasn’t entirely surprising, as the seal’s leaked a little since being put on in Madeira, and I always suspected it was bodged. This means the boat needs to be lifted out of the water so a mechanic in the boatyard here can fix it. She’s coming out on the 17th, and I’m going to have to get towed round there, as I can’t use the engine until the seal is fixed or replaced.
Assuming that all goes ok, I’m hoping then to move north, possibly to Saint Martin and Bermuda before crossing to the Azores, although I haven’t fully decided the where or when yet. I was previously planning to go non-stop to the Azores, but I decided on reflection that I didn’t fancy sailing the straight line route due to the likely weather conditions, and the traditional northern dogleg route would take me fairly close to Bermuda anyway. I want to spend a couple of weeks or so in the Azores before heading back to the UK and getting back to behaving something like a grownup, possibly. So I may only have a couple of months or so of boat fun left, which is sad, although I am looking forward to earning money again (not the working aspect of course).
Love to all.