English Harbour, Antigua - Nelson's Dockyard

It's been a while since we posted photos, but we've got a good internet connection today so we've added quite a few to the recent photos link.

We left Guadeloupe on Saturday and arrived at English Harbour that afternoon after a pretty good sail. Our friends on "Meggie" hailed us before we got into the harbour and helped us scout out a primo anchoring spot since the harbor was pretty crowded. We've actually got two anchors set because there are so many boats and the wind dies off at night so boats swing every which direction. At least with the second anchor we can keep ourselves far away from everyone else.

This morning we took the dinghy into the Nelson's Dockyard complex. It was originally built in the 1740's and was used as a base for British naval and merchant ships, where they could careen their boats (heel them way over on purpose to clean the barnacles off the bottom) and get other repairs done. Lord Nelson was stationed here for several years (hence the name). After the yard went out of use in the 1800's many of the buildings remained intact, and about 50 years ago they restored everything and put it back in use as a marina. The old brick buildings have been converted into restaurants, hotels, bakeries, etc. and it has become a pretty popular tourist attraction. We enjoyed the museum, which had all kinds of fascinating tidbits of information about sea life at the time. For example: when the flour onboard became infested with weevils, cooks still used it to bake what they called "Weevil Biscuits" for the crew. Aren't you glad I shared that little factoid? And here's another one for you: apparently it was common practice for sailors to wash their clothes in urine (a mild bleaching agent) and then rinse them in saltwater. Yuck. Sure makes me appreciate the washer/dryer we have aboard "Solstice"!

We had lunch at one of the little cafes in the dockyard complex and then took a ten-minute walk up to Fort Berkley where we had great views of the boats in the harbor. It was a decent walk but the weather here in Antigua is kind of like Arizona: very dry. The path was lined with cacti and century plants, and to be honest in the heat of the day it really did seem like we were hiking around back home. Except for the fort, the cannon, and the fantastic view of the ocean, of course. But other than that it was just like Arizona. Anyway, we were melting by the time we got back to the dinghy so we were glad to head home to the boat and take a swim.

Where we are:
Location=English Harbour, Antigua
Lat=17 00.151
Lon=61 45.586