Monday, February 27, 2012

Antigua: English Harbour, Falmouth Harbour and Green Island

     Hi everyone, sorry there haven't been many posts lately. I am waiting on Dad to write a few posts about sailing and other things but lately he's been too busy kiteboarding, and when he's not kiting he's talking about kiting or going to bed early. So here's an update on what we've been up to in Antigua.

     We arrived last week after a fairly rough passage from Guadeloupe, happy to anchor in the beautiful green water of English Harbour. The docks were crammed with more mega yachts than I've ever imagined, many based here or around for the Caribbean 600 sailing race. English Harbour has some lovely shops and yacht amenities in the historic buildings of Nelson's Dockyard, once a major British naval outpost in the Caribbean.

     The anchorage in the tiny Harbour was very crowded and during the night we swirled around in various directions, coming incredibly close to hitting other boats, so the next day we moved a short distance to the larger Falmouth Harbour. After a few days of rest and lots of bucket laundry we sailed upwind through choppy waves to Green Island, a kiteboarder's paradise.

     Beyond Green Island a large barrier reef cuts off the ocean swell leaving a perfect green slick behind. On one side of the island there is a white sand beach where kites have been piled about every day since we arrived. A local kiting school brings people out in dinghies each day and others come off the few large yachts anchored behind the kiting grounds. This is by far the best spot we've come across for the sport and the flatness of the clear green water makes for an absolute dream.

     Hopefully you will soon read Dad's perspective on the more technical details of our sailing experiences (as I'm sure you've noticed I tend to lean toward traveling as a favourite topic) and on the awesome kiting we've all been partaking in. Right now we have no plans to leave Green Island in the near future.

All the best,
Nicole.

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