After over a week of busy SCUBA lessons, it was back to business as usual. First off, we were out of food. Bailey’s is up the road at the far end of the bay and next door is a yummy milk shake shop. The kids played on the airplane teeter totter. I’m sure Genny took the helm and flew them somewhere and the trip probably came with a tour as well.
We also spent some time relaxing at the beach. The sand is a bit coarse, but beautifully white with warm clear water. We’ve been warned about the manchineel tree that grows along the beaches through out the Caribbean. In some places they paint a red band around the tree, other places they don’t bother, but on Pigeon Beach, a sign is posted. The sap from the tree can make your skin blister, eating the apples can kill you, and the smoke from a burning tree can cause blindness. These trees have quite a history as Carib and Spanish torture tools.
We had a few land trips planned. Luckily we didn’t have a car to fill up. Every three days or so the gas station runs out of gas.
Instead we hired a taxi to take the 11 of us to Shirley Heights for the Sunday sunset party.
Shirley Heights is part of Antigua’s 18th and 19th century British Military history.
According to the Antigua National park website
“This military complex, within a short distance of the Dockyard, is not named after the fairer sex, but after Sir Thomas Shirley, Governor of the Leeward Islands, who strengthened Antigua’s defenses in 1781. Britain had lost all her West Indian colonies (including North America) at this time except Antigua and Barbados. Much effort, therefore, was put into Antigua’s defenses mainly because of the island’s great sugar producing value and the important Dockyard.”
Roaming around the grounds there are plaques describing the buildings. This site is now used for tourists to enjoy the beautiful view.
The lookout is located on the point that over looks English and Falmouth harbor on one side and the open ocean to the east and south on the other side.
English Harbor is directly below the lookout while Falmouth is just beyond the strip of land.
The Sunday night event includes a steel band early on and then reggae later. The also sell yummy looking BBQ dinners and of course rum punch. The outside grounds are lined with vendors tables full of trinkets.
Inside the lookout building is a bar on one side and tables on the other. Marie found a Mardi Gras costume for a photo op. Since we arrived early, the tables in the bar were empty so the kids set up their activities.
You know moms always taking pictures of the kids. We have Marie, Roy, Kyle, Jacob, Shane, Savannah and Genny.
We’ve been so close with the Orion boat that you would think we were sharing a camp site. Captain Nancy takes care of the technical aspects, Chief Cook Anita does the provisioning and cooking (the best food comes from Orion), and they both keep the operation moving and the kids on track for school and entertainment. You can check out their point of view on our excursions at www.crewaudacious.com .
As time went on, the grounds quickly filled up, the line for BBQ was all the way down the side of the building and there wasn’t any seating.
So we decided to eat closer to home. The taxi returned us to the dinghy dock and The Mad Mongoose, a favorite of the mega yacht crews, is right across the street.
After a few months of eating only what comes out of my galley, this dinner was greatly appreciated. Kyle had the lobster special.
Genny and Marie opted for chicken and fries.
Savannah ordered coconut shrimp.
Roy, Shane and Jacob had wahoo.
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Eric and Anita had burgers, Nancy ordered quesadillas and I was treated to West Indian Curry.
Monday morning is back to school lessons, NOT! We went on a history tour of Nelson’s Dockyard instead.
The British military found that English harbor is well protected against hurricanes, and built Nelson’s dockyard to provide a way to service the fleet without returning to Europe.
The tour guide told us it took the men six months to perform this careening, three months for each side. She also said the men we’re paid a pint of rum or gallon of beer a day. I wonder if a few shillings instead of rum would have gotten this job done faster.
Today’s math lesson is on telling time, we have analogue, digital, or sundial. Feb 18th is also the beginning of the big race, Caribbean 600. We saw the crews posing for their departure photos. The harbors are also giving us flags of the world recognition practice.
I think I heard Genny saying, “Hello, Elena, how many stuffed animals do you have?”
The next stop on our tour is the museum. While Eric got all the facts …..
the kids and I skipped around to the more interesting displays.
We learned that the sailors were paid daily wages in rum. The rum was often distilled using lead lined tubes, so they got lead poisoning. Few people came out of the hospital alive because as well a techniques like blood letting, they also used rum as a cure. On August 21, 1740, British Vice Admiral Edward Vernon decided that the sailors should have their rum watered down, so he ordered that they should be given grog. They took that same pint of rum and added water to it. I don’t see how this reduced the amount of rum in them at all. Vernon often wore a coat made of grogram cloth, he was nicknamed Old Grogram and his watered down rum ration was called Grog.
Wikipedia has a good article about the Rum Ration. I was shocked to see that the British Navy didn’t abolish it until 1970 and the New Zealand Navy continued Rum Rations until 1990. Splice the Mainbrace was the order given to reward the crew. I love wikipedia, follow the link for more information.
Ok, on to the next controversial subject, figure heads.
I spared you all from the nude figure heads figuring offences would be made. Women were not allowed at the dockyard and of course they were bad luck on ships. But the bare breasted figureheads were thought to tame the sea. The kids we’re not amused when I offered to go topless on our next passage.
Then last few days in Falmouth Harbor were getting a leak patched on the dinghy and modifying the cover to fit better. Over time the preshrunk canvas shrinks even more and the cover no longer fits.
And of course the afternoons are filled with wild kid antics. It’s amazing how long a few pumps from a bottle of shampoo can occupy five kids.
We can’t forget math, otherwise we won’t advance to the next grade in the fall.
Roy got to scrape the propellers. His tools are a scuba take and regulator on an extra long hose, weights, and a wire brush.
Then of course there’s the sextant lesson. If the gps and chart plotter goes out as well as the gps and charts on our iphones, we can always take a sun site. I think this is the method the captains of the hundreds of sunken ships used in the old days for navigation.
