Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Christmas in Antigua

We got to Antigua on the 7th and Amanda flew down on the 17th which made my birthday extra special.  We have been sailing around the island and stayed in a different bay each night.  Supposedly there are 360 beaches on the island-I don’t know about that but there are certainly quite a few.  It’s been a little bit of a bummer because we have had the Christmas winds down here and it has stirred up all the water so the snorkeling hasn’t been great and there have been a couple of nights when it was really howling.  But it has been so nice to have her here with us.  We decorated a little bit for Christmas and one night we made and decorated Christmas chains and hung them in the galley.
Sunday night we hiked up to Shirley Heights which is in English Harbor and they had a steel drum band playing and a barbecue.  It was a lot of fun.
Then on Monday we sailed over to Green Island and we had a nice fire on the beach.  We decided they should change the name of this island to hermit crab island because it was full of hermit crabs.  
Today we sailed over to Deep Bay and snorkeled the wreck of the Andes and now we are sailing back to Jolly Harbor with the engines off, which is where we picked Amanda up and we will spend the night there so we can take her to the airport tomorrow.
She flies back home on Christmas Eve and then we will head to St. Martin. 
It was a wonderful week and I’m sure going to miss her when she leaves.    
MERRY CHRISTMAS to all and to all a good night

Sailing back to Jolly Harbor with just the wind cruising at around 6 knots

Amanda trying to relax on the trampoline but Max wasn't letting her

Goofing around at the fort in English Harbor

The view from Shirley Heights

The steel drum band at Shirley Heights


relaxing on the beach on Green Island

Amanda's first beach fire
Ready for Christmas