Musings from Big Pink (with apologies to The Band)

Jolly Harbour, Antigua

The Pink Dock, a landmark here in Jolly Harbour on the west coast of Antigua has been our home since we returned from the States in early January. The original plan was to have covered a fair amount of this portion of the Caribbean by now but plans being the anathema of the cruising sailor, that just didn’t happen. We can blame most of this on the delay in getting our new mainsail shipped in from South Africa but honestly, inertia has played a role as well. As always there have been plenty of jobs, little and large, to get done and without a sense of urgency we somehow manage to fill the time so that the days have gone by quickly.

Harl took a week at the beginning of February to return to the States to see Sophia and learn all about the college search and seizure process and then stopped off in Durango to see his Dad and family on the way back. Jen used the time to spread her sewing operation throughout the main cabin and, after scavenging yards and yards of material from the old mainsail, began making tote bags and patching old duffels which, given that the old sailcloth has many of the attributes of body armor, means that our grocery bags can also be used to ward off stray shrapnel. Sort of. Move over Kate Spade.

Anne, our hostess on this private and very pink dock, is a delightful and gracious lady who retired here 23 years back from Ireland. She has the nicest villa of the many that line the harbour and we are fortunate to have been able to take advantage of her hospitality. We are a short dinghy ride across the harbour from the grocery, the chandlery and to a pool where Jen can swim her morning laps. The harbour abounds with avian life as pelicans dive around the boat to catch their meals and frigate birds soar on the wind and thermals hoping to steal a meal from the industrious terns. There are the requisite island dogs and cats about as well as many a furtive mongoose. We suspect the latter are responsible for catching, killing and dining upon most of an egret that we found strewn about on our deck and the dock one morning.

The list of projects grows shorter and on Tuesday once the cap rail is caulked and sealed and we retrieve Jen’s exercise bike from the welder where it has undergone modification to fit in a locker we will move out to the anchorage off the beach and wait a day or two for the wind to back into the NE and push us down to Guadalupe. We have heard that the French influence means fresh pastries amid a picturesque group of smaller islands. As good a reason as any to break the inertial bond.

17 04 N. 061 53 W
On the Pink Dock
Jolly Harbour, Antigua and Barbuda