Monday 20th and after breakfast; first things first, we had to find a car. We had been advised that one had to hire from the recognised
Pepe
car hire company at the airport who generally charge around US$40 per day + tax. Normally that would have been fine but for 65 days, well!!!! So we went searching and eventually found a local outfit who gave us a weekly rate, including tax that worked out around US$25, that’ll do. The car was delivered, and additionally the drop-off point can be the airport with no extra costs, very good. Naturally for theses
Jolly Harbour
rates it isn’t a brand new shiny model with only a handful of miles on the clock, no, it’s more of a yesterday car with about 90k miles on the clock, and though it rattles as it goes over or through the numerous potholes there are on the roads around here, it comes out the other side just like a brand new shiny one.
For our first run out we went to Jolly harbour, a large marina and resort complex with numerous condos,
Jolly harbour rentals
golf course etc., where of course memories of our earlier trips aboard “Whitbread” and “ Anam Cara” came flooding back; oh well things have to move on. On the way we bought ourselves a local SIM card, a far cheaper option than using roaming for local calls etc. We sat in the waterside bar enjoying a couple of beers, reminiscing before we headed back.
Tuesday; Jeff and Hillary, friends from the U.K. fly in today but 
unfortunately our car, known as “Pepe” is far too small so Christine elected to stay back at “the ranch”. Prior to me heading to the airport we had a change around with furniture etc., to give us more room and make things “flow” properly.
After lunch I set off knowing the flight was predicted to arrive about 30 minutes ahead of schedule but when I arrived at the airport, an Air Canada flight running late piped them,and landed first so much of the
Geoff daydreaming over boats
30 minutes gained was wasted. Naturally it didn’t end there as the Canadian flight, with over 200 people on board arrived into the immigration hall first!!! the bottom line was a wait for well over an hour before they appeared. Now to get into the car, a feat in its self and a jolly good job Christine stayed behind, there was definitely no space for 4 people with luggage for two! Note to self, upgrade to a bigger car. We had a quiet evening with the 4 of us getting acclimatised, after all we will be living in this quaint cottage for the next two weeks!!!
After a leisurely morning and a supermarket shop we headed to Darkwood beach, one of the 365 beaches in Antigua. It was good to get into the sea, our holiday had now started, though it did take us a
Dark wood beach
little by surprise temperature wise, but we soon acclimatised!! A not to healthy lunch was had on the beach and after another dip and a walk, we headed to Jolly harbour as we wanted to visit a travel agent and enquire about day trips to Montserrat and Barbuda. Whilst there I took the opportunity to visit a broker and see what was for sale, fatal!!!!! Arriving back at the house a larger car was delivered, still a yesterday one but far better.
English harbour
Today we went to Nelson’s Dockyard at English Harbour for some history, always an entertaining place to visit and see how the other half live on their 150ft yachts crawling with crew. This week also saw the Atlantic rowers arriving so there was a lot of activity on the quayside. Today we had the healthy option, a picnic of salad,
English harbour
cold meat and fruit on Pigeon point beach, number 2 of 365 where we also enjoyed the warm waters of the Caribbean looking across at all the boats moored in Falmouth Harbour; my mouth was drooling!
Driving to and from English harbour in the
English harbour
larger car was much more of a pleasure, comfortable, leg room and a tiny bit more “poke” all added to the day’s enjoyment.i
The weather forecast for today, Friday, is overcast, though still around 27-degrees with showers so a morning of chores and shopping took place. Unfortunately our fridge is rather small, especially for 4, so daily shopping is a must. After an early lunch accompanied by a tropical rain shower, we headed back to jolly harbour to book a trip to Montserrat for next week. This was followed by a trip to “Ffryes beech”, number 3 of 365. This mile long beach of white sand was
Dispite the clouds, it was a lovely swim
completely empty, due to the inclement weather we suspect but it was stunning nevertheless and we enjoyed a rather long time in the warm Caribbean water. Today also saw me trying to contact a yacht broker to view a particular yacht that is for sale here, “head and heart”, but unfortunately the brokerage was closed, Christine thinks she got away with this one!!!!
Driving here in Antigua is very interesting, apart from dodging all the pot holes, one has to dodge the other cars, vans, taxis and buses that
So many empty beaches
try and attack you; rules, what rules, still it’s all good fun, ant thanks to SatNav, one doesn’t have to keep looking for signposts that don’t exist.
Tomorrow we head for beach 4 of 365