Trautz' travel saga: YOLO folks in Antigua Jan 2019

We stayed on Mira until the owners returned in mid-January. The 'Christmas Winds' (consistently high winds over 20 knots) arrived right on schedule and kept us in port for the first ten days or so after we were launched from the boatyard. We visited the dock often to get out and about and buy food. This sport fisher arrived back in the marina one day with over 20 mahi mahi fish and a small wahoo in its cooler. They all seem to be small, but that is still quite a haul in one day. Most of the fish goes to the local restaurants, but you can request to buy one at a great price, too.

A five-masted sailing ship visited this harbour a few times while we were here. It always anchored out in the same area at the edge of the harbor. Either it didn't want to have to manouver in the shallow harbor or didn't want to pay the huge dockage fees at the marinas here. They only stayed a day and were off to another port.

Here is the same ship lit up at night in the distance. It looks like a lump of light.

Jason probably playing Word Cookies on his phone after a day of working on Mira.

This big turtle stuck around while we were anchored in Carlisle Bay. Lots of turtle grass on the bottom for it to eat. It was injured, though, and seemed to have a hard time getting down to feed. Its tail had been chewed up (probably by a propeller) and its right front flipper didn't work very well. We felt sorry for the big guy but were glad to see him.

Jason after a snorkel. Looking cool behind the shades.

The big turtle came up between the hulls near the escape hatch. The color was muted by the dim light and I wasn't quick enough to capture the image before he submerged again, but you can tell it's a turtle.

Here he is at the transom, too. He kept surfacing next to the boat, so it may have been his proximity to boats that got him mangled.

A pretty sunset looking over an island in the distance.

Sailing up to the north shore of Antigua. We'd had a fourth set of tell tales added to the head sail for Mira, but they are all so close that they may not be visible when the genoa is reefed.

Jason checking out the surrounding areas from our anchor location.

A selfie at sunset.

Guadeloupe is on the left and the tiny mound of Montserrat is also visible in the clear air after a shower.

Goofy selfie of Jason and Karen on Mira in Antigua.

We went to St. John's, the capital, and wandered through the museum there. This old copper sugar pot was outside and is now home to some miniature lillies.

The entrance to the Museum of Antigua and Barbuda. It had a lot more than we expected and we were inside for over an hour looking at all the exhibits.

At St. John's Cathedral that overlooks the capital city, we saw some really old headstones in the surrounding graveyard. The cathedral was originally built in 1683, rebuilt in 1746 and again in 1845, so the graves are really old. This one was from 1816.

Some old headstones are covered in black growth. Many had unreadable engravings. The oldest one I saw that I could read was from 1703.

The carvings in the marble are still pretty impressive.

This headstone has peeled so many layers of rock that there is no lettering left to read.

St. John's Cathedral. It was under reconstruction but was still pretty to behold.

One of the protected crypts was falling apart.

Jason waiting in the shade in the cemetery.

We found this Carnival carving next to an open field on one of our walks.

Another night scene from the anchorage in Falmouth.

Pam in the galley on Mira, cooking up a farewell dinner and using up lots of leftovers.

A shadow of a palm tree caught my eye in the city of St. John's.

The bow on this megayacht sported a huge, shiny, stainless steel eagle. The sculpture looked like the eagle on the US Post Office emblem. My camera was set on low light and the entire series of photos came out blue and blurry (we were passing in the dinghy), but the eagle was very impressive. I'd not seen a bow design like this ever before.