amazing weather!!!!

Over the past two months we had to cancel two Xtreme tours and one Eco because of bad weather. January and Feb can have some very difficult weather with typically strong winds. It’s been a little less windy than normal so far and the past few days have actually been totally perfect for boating. I did the Xtreme tour yesterday almost without any pain to my bad knee so you know it was calm! We saw two dolphins in the morning on our way to St. Johns but still haven't seen any whales.

The humpbacks are here passing through with their calves and we should see them any minute. Caribbean Helicopters saw some a few weeks ago. Anyway, today is even calmer and sunnier than yesterday and it doesn't feel like Feb at all. The kitesurfers who are on the island are not happy since the winds are soo light but the fishermen are all delighted. My dad is off today to go and catch mahi mahi as soo many seem to be around at the moment. My skipper JD is also going out on his little boat to go catch some and i am gonna call him in a few hours to order some for dinner:)
I have been asked to go and collect a boat for Marine Power Services from St. Martin and will probably fly down at 4:30 today. The weather is perfect for that and the 100 mile run into the waves shouldn't be too bad. The boat is fairly small at just over 20 feet long, but it’s a pretty big boat for its size with inboard engines and jet propulsion. I took my EPIRB out of Xtreme just in case we have any problems. It is a single engine boat. Anyway, i know that many of you reading this post are sitting inside wishing that you could even think about being in the sunshine as you walked outside, and i hope i am not making you feel miserable. Winter will be over before you know it. I just was on MSN with my sister, Fran, who is in "uni" in the UK, and she said the weather was something called "shite"......I guess that's not good! Here are a few pics from yesterday’s tour and one of me taking my dogs for a walk (jump) on Thursday........Expect an account of our trip to collect this boat coming soon. Have a good weekend.

a little help goes a long way.

Everyone knows that we have been through a difficult time recently with problems on the boats and soo many people have offered help and words of encouragement. I expressed on this blog how desperately hard Tony had worked to get us ship shape in time for scheduled tours and he wasn't alone. One of our young new guys who just started working with us is Louis and I will write bit about him here soon. Anyway, he's into his cars and bikes and owns a quad bike which has had extra engine work done to make it faster I guess. Anyway, he helped Tony quite a bit over the past month and deserves a pat on the back too. It’s good to have people who understand how our equipment works.

I already mentioned how much we spend in terms of labor and parts, and obviously the people at the big mechanic shops have been paid well too. However, they have always gone the extra mile with Adventure Antigua. Companies like Antigua Marine Services (tom), Marine Power Services (the millers) out in English Harbour, and A-1 Marine (Carl, Joel, and glen) in Jolly Harbour all have stopped what they were doing to assist us during emergencies. They have each done favors for us too with Carl and glen at A-1 being soooooo generous.....thanks!!!!

What people from the "civilized" world don't realize is that doing business here is even more difficult because of shipping times and shipping mistakes. We always have problems getting parts. Sometimes they send the wrong parts, sometimes they don't send enough parts, sometimes they say "parts are on order". We can't just run down to the nearest store because we don't have them here on this tiny island. I will give you one of a million examples I have on this topic. Tom from AMS ordered a new "steering helm" which is the main mechanics of the steering wheel side of our steering system. He specifically asked in his email for a 90 degree helm and of course after paying for FEDEX to send it to us.....we get a 45 degree steering helm!!!! Now we need this thing badly so like in all "third world" countries where we cant just change the wrong part.....we modified and fabricated it. These islands and other under-developed countries have some of the best machine shops on the planet. I am sure you must have heard about Cuba’s 1950s cars right? When things break here we try to fix them before we just run out and buy new..as this usually isn't an option. Anyway, when we got this 45 degree helm station I knew we had no choice but to take it to the guys in jolly harbour. We needed to modify one part and completely make another. Woodwork and welding were going to be needed, and Jolly Harbour has the best of both. The photos today are of George from Jolly Harbour woodworks and Glen of A-1 Marine. Glen is actually welding a water tank for another boat just after he cut and welded the steering bracket to the proper size and angle that I needed, and George is making from scratch a new steering base. Both of these modifications ended up being stronger and better than if I had gotten them new even if they did take more time and effort. Both of these guys, by the way, were working on other jobs before they picked up my emergency project.

Anyway, that was Saturday and all went well the past few days on the boat until this morning when I was in jolly harbour about to set off Francis, Tony and Louis on the eco boat. They had a full boat of guests to go and collect and when Tony turned over the port engine we knew we had a problem. The starting motor was stuck!!!! Well we had to laugh because this just takes the cake......new engines shouldn’t have these problems!!!! Anyway, I was on the phone to Nell in seconds while Tony quickly, like a formula 1 mechanic...took off the starter. Nell was already picking up the spare starter from Tom and was on her way into St. Johns to meet the boat by the time the boat left jolly harbour. Tony and crew were quickly on their way into town on one engine to meet her and the main core of our guests....They ended up being twenty minutes late to pick up the guests with the spare starter. Within 5 minutes they were back up and running properly on the two engines going a little faster than normal to make up the time. pfffhheeww!

I guess its all about teamwork here with our associates, our family and crew and we all have one goal at the end of the day which is to make sure your day in Antigua is the best it possibly can be. We want you happy no matter what it takes.

Antigua's Seasons

I always find it very funny when people say to me "I just couldn't live in Antigua because you don't have seasons". Although we don't get cold here we do have very specific and noticeable seasons.
Just yesterday, someone was saying that they couldn't wait until spring time when the Marlin come around in large numbers. I guess that's the biggest change you notice here with regard to seasonal changes....the change in species of migratory animals. Winter time sees many animals that are fleeing from the cold weather that is chilling out North America. When I got back from being away from Antigua for a month the first thing I noticed was the number of Osprey and other birds. I have also seen many kingfishers and Red billed Tropic Birds. There are so many species of birds that arrive here or pass through at this time of year. But its not just birds, the Humpback Whales will be here from about the end of January until April which is always something we boaters look foreword to. See these amazing creatures up close is something special indeed. Make sure that if you are here during that time you keep you eyes open because you may see them "breach" or spout out in the Atlantic. We tend to see more dolphins in the winter as well but they are here year round. Another species we get here in large numbers during the winter is the "tourist". Some fly all the way from Europe while others migrate by ships all the way from the US Mainland. Since we want to show them how cool our island is, we tend to get quite busy at this time of year. As the winter gets old and signs of spring show up we see other animals showing up. For me, it’s the time of year to get my fishing tackle set up. Mahi Mahi (the Hawaiian name for Dolphin FISH) school in large numbers here in the Caribbean at that time and apart from being great fish for sport fishermen, they are absolutely delicious. We often go camping in Barbuda for the Easter public holidays and will eat plenty of Mahi Mahi then. Yum I can't wait......then again there are some great things to eat coming up this month too...... Another funny thing that visitors to Antigua comment on is how surprised they are that we have Christmas Trees and eat turkey and ham for Christmas. Why not? I think i'd like to eat ham and turkey more often myself, but for sure at Christmas time. I know it's strange for people who are used to snow and freezing temps during the "holidays", but its still the same deal down here give or take 20 degrees. hehehe
Anyway, back to the seasons before my stomach makes too much noise with all the talk of ham and turkey.......
As spring turns into summer the big game fishing heats up with the massive Blue Marlin congregating off-shore in large numbers. They are very difficult to catch but can be a fisherman's dream "fight". Some of my crew and I am hooked on hooking marlin and you can read about it in the blog entry about Tony.

This is also the time of year when massive flocks of migratory birds show up in the islands to lay eggs and feed their chicks. To assure this all works out there are also even bigger schools of tiny pilchards and other small fish hatching out. These poor creatures almost at the bottom of the food chain are gobbled up by birds, dolphins and other fish. It’s a tough time of the year for them for sure.
For me these days, the summer is my favorite Season with all the cool things that started in spring reaching their full potential. It is also "hurricane season" but mostly the weather is best at that time of year. I just love the clear waters and calm seas of the summer and it is when we have the smallest number of migratory "tourist" species here, and because of the free time we end up playing more. Fishing, diving, camping, traveling to other islands, carnival,.....there is plenty to do with our freed up time in the summer and usually the weather makes it all worthwhile. The chicks are starting to leave their nests and are all getting fishing lessons from their parents. You should see the Laughing Gulls. I swear that they have designated teachers giving flying and fishing lessons. As we pass though Rabbit and Exchange islands in August we will see 20 little grey juvenile laughing gulls sitting in the water around one adult. I am not kidding either……it makes us laugh every year. Another bunch of animals that are nesting in the summer are the endangered Hawksbill Turtles. Do you know that one in 10,000 eggs will eventually become a mature adult. The rest just don’t make it. Anyway, these beautiful majestic reptiles nest between May and November and each female can lay over 400 eggs during that time. You will learn all about them on the Eco Tour.
Of course there is a chance that the weather will do the opposite and a destructive hurricane will cause trouble, but that just adds to the excitement of the summer. Remember that over the past 50 years we have been hit by 6 hurricanes, so the chances are pretty slim even though they are there.
As summer comes to an end, the winds calm down even more and the heat seems to slow you down a bit if you are one of the unlucky ones who has to work on land. For us, it means more swimming and snorkeling. The months of September and October can be very hot and still, and sailing can be tough. Powerboating is perfect then though, and it just happens to be the time of year when the Wahoo fish start showing up in large numbers. Wahoo are a delicious fish shaped very much like a muscle packed torpedo with stripes. They fight extremely hard and Tony, the self proclaimed “Wahoo King” longs for this time of year to catch and eat wahoo on all his days off. IT really is a beautiful thing to be out on the water with friends when the deep blue water is totally glass calm. We have been fishing many times where we caught so many fish that we had to come in early……so much fun and action. …..but there are other times as is the case with fishing when we have been out there all day and ended up with nothing. Those days are still fun because the people I go fishing with just love the sea. Late in the “Fall” the weather changes a bit with the sea chilling a bit down to the very low 80s and the air dropping a bit. American cold fronts can make it all the way down here too making it quite windy and for us…a bit chilly. Visitors laugh at us when we mention that we are getting cold (since for them 83 degrees is a dream come true), but you do feel and see the changes throughout the year. It’s just as interesting as anywhere else that you may call home.
I am sorry, but I know it sounds cheesy saying I love living here. I just can’t help it….......
The photo today is of a humpback whale we saw while doing the eco tour. The guests on board was awestruck....which always makes me happy. I added another of me releasing a blue marlin (most of the marlin caught here are released to figh again another day).