Wednesday afternoon –I’m writing this on word & hoping I can copy onto my Blog when we get to shore!

We are out at anchor by Green Island for our third night.  Earlier we took the dinghy over to Harmony Hall on the mainland which is a restaurant & art gallery. Friends of ours used to manage it but now it is Italian run & the owner owns most of Falmouth Harbour too (The Italians are here!!!)  Jess & I had such a strong  Pina Colada that we had to ask for more pineapple to be added.  Hubby used to say that Rum was cheaper than mixers here.  It is very expensive now but eating on board saves us quite a bit.

Before the crew left on the crossing, Jess & I stowed away a bucket BBQ. Well it has been FANTASTIC!! We used it on the beach & on board.



Last Sunday on Pigeon beach  hubby & our bucket BBQ. The bloke in the background is selling joints...and I'm not talking Sunday roasts!

Yesterday was blistering hot – too hot for me even with the breeze. Today it’s cloudy giving some relief & last night we had torrential rain. After dinner we sometimes set up the laptop & put on a film. Hubby & Jess bought some speakers and someone on a boat gave them a huge file of DVDs to borrow. Watching the remake of “The Stepford Wives “on a yacht anchored off Antigua is pretty random but fantastic!

 I got spooked the first night we were here as we anchored off a beach where there were no other boats.  A man driving a Rib came up in the dark & asked for someone. I got spooked. Years ago one of hubby’s close friends was murdered on a boat anchored off Barbuda.  All the crew were killed.  You may remember it on the news – it was about nineteen years ago. We have decided not to go to Barbuda. Anyway we saw the bloke today & he works at Harmony hall… he had been looking for a friend on a boat - but the other night I was anxious,  so located all the sharp fishing knives & went to bed with a heavy winch handle under my pillow….just in case.

Since then we have anchored near lots of other boats & it’s comforting to see their twinkling lights in the darkness.

Joe & I waited on a magical sandy beach while Roddy & Jess moved the boat near to it. We went snorkelling & Joe suddenly grabbed me & pointed. He came up for air shouting, “ SHIT !!! “  It looked like shit … lots of it. Roddy doesn’t believe us but hasn’t been to investigate.  Joe & I were in hysterics making all kinds of jokes like, “This beach is crap “or “shit happens “

Anyway, we have been to our favourite beach for great shit free snorkelling, have seen camouflaged fish burying themselves in the sand and have started to collect dried out sea urchins along the shore.  Jess saw what she named an “Emo fish “– pale - translucent almost with black around the eyes like thick eyeliner!

 I made Jess do a James Bond photo shoot – photographed her while wading out of the sea - snorkel & mask on head, conch shell in hand with me  singing,  “ Underneath a Mango tree “  A  La Ursula Andres… it didn’t really work as Jess kept falling over !   She won’t make a Bond girl!

We see an Egret at the same spot everyday & Jess has nicknamed it Eddie.  Beautiful lizards dart everywhere across the sand into the rocks & plants.

There are so many Pelicans around which make me think of dinosaurs. Frigate birds,  Bananaquits who love sugar & today at Harmony Hall a Hummingbird.

I’ve read a lot – enjoyed Sisters by Rosamund Lupton - we’ve all been reading even Joe for whom reading has suddenly happened.  He & Jess were jumping off the boat as the sun went down last night. Jess & Roddy are really brown. Joe & I being careful & I wear a hat most of the time.

There are many over loaded tourist boats offloading their guests onto the small beaches. I feel so lucky & privileged to be on this lovely yacht. Last night I had my maxi dress on, glass of wine in hand sun setting over this beautiful island my family all here and with Blondie blasting out. Can’t get much better than that.

Thursday – a quiet night in! It’s raining now   We see the squalls coming from far away – very dramatic.  Heavy rain at times & we huddle under the canopy.  Jess is upset as her second Kindle has died.  Heat exhaustion I think.  There was the most amazing rainbow earlier. We could see both ends in the water.

This morning we went to our favourite beach again & the snorkelling was great… we saw fish that had army combat style camouflage, rainbow coloured fish, flatfish.  Roddy & Joe swam after a stingray.  We saw lovely white Angel style fish with black outlines, then a Barracuda lurking in the dark.  Really scary! I gave him some distance!

The downside of snorkelling is that my neck is in a lot of pain again. I’m enjoying swimming & feel it’s doing me good but I could do without the constant neck pain.

I could do with being stretched !

Yesterday Joe found a coconut & today has spent ages breaking it out of its protective shell tearing away at the stringy husk til the nut showed. We were imagining being cast always & using the fibres inside the outer shell for string & rope.  Joe succeeded getting the coconut inside free & made a hole in it. We sipped the milk then cracked the nut open & ate delicious fresh coconut.

I cooked a Spanish omelette for lunch – apt really as Antigua was named when Christopher Columbus discovered it & named it after  Antigua, the church of Santa maria in Serville .

 Tonight we are going to watch “Blade Runner “in honour of the Dutch Actor Rutger Hauer. He’s the blond replicant in the film, was also in the very menacing film Hitcher & a series of beer adverts in the eighties. I remember going to see Blade Runner after college in Worthing one evening.  Most of us had the hots for Harrison Ford but some fancied Rutger…

Well, when hubby I lived here twenty two years ago, we heard that Rutger was on the Island! Hubby’s cook - my friend Kay had the real HOTS for Rutger. She missed sightings of him every time.

Hubby was asked to go to a meeting at the yacht agents to meet someone who wanted to charter a boat to Green Island for diving. He went back to tell Kay that some bloke called Roger had chartered the boat. Imagine her surprise (and joy) when she popped her head out of the galley to find movie star Rutger sitting on deck! She hissed at hubby, “That’s Rutger not Roger!!!” Hubby looked non pulsed.

So they sailed to green Island & anchored at  the very place where we are anchored now &  “ Roger “ went off for a dive having told hubby how long he’d be.  He was FAR LONGER so a panicking hubby went out in the dinghy searching for him imagining the newspaper headlines…

” Charismatic Dutch actor dies in diving tragedy…”

He surfaced smiling saying he’s had more air in his tank than he thought! Phew!!!

There was one relieved young yacht skipper who’d been thinking his career was over before it really started I can tell you!

back soon xx