Adventure Antigua Eco Tour reviews

Someone sent me this link to a not so nice review on trip advisor. IT's review #10 and doesn't do the tour justice at all. The funny thing is that right at the same time they did the tour this person did the tour too:

From: shoffo27@xxxxxx.net [shoffo27@xxxxxx.net]
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 12:28 AM
To: Adventure Antigua
Subject: Re: AA-Booking Eco Tour Confirmation July 13th x2


Hi All,

Just wanted to say thanks for an absolutely incredible tour. My wife and I went out on the Eco on Monday 7/13 and have not stopped talking about it since - definitely a highlight of our trip. The sightseeing, snorkeling, and the swim/climb to Hell's Gate were unforgettable. The crew of Chris, Alex, and Tony was awesome!! and they had us learning and and laughing the whole time out. It felt like we were saying goodbye to friends by the time it was all over (although a few cups of the rum punch may have had something to do with that!) We know some folks headed your way in a couple months and we will make sure they book their tour(s) with Adventure Antigua. Only bummer was there were no T-shirts left. Let me know if you get more in - i'd be happy to pay to have one shipped.

Top notch experience - thanks again !!

Scott & Cathy

That was such a positive review. After reading several reviews where people voiced their dislike of hearing about the hotels on the way up the coast I made some changes. The thing is that we have to pass these hotels in order to get to the North Sound's islands and people will always ask about them as we pass them. We have been doing this tour for 10 years and if you don't speak about them so that the whole boat can here the crew just get called over by guest after guest to tell them what was the hotel we were just passing. I guess we will just tell people what they are while we pass with some very basic info.
Today another lovely review came in and I am going to try to remember to post them as often as i get them.

From: Andrea Birdsall [ABirdsall@xxxxxx.org]
Sent: Thursday, July 23, 2009 8:18 PM
To: Adventure Antigua
Subject: RE: Adventure Antigua Eco Tour

Hi Eli

I just wanted to drop a note to say what a great tour we had with Chris, Jason and Chantel (sp?) on our visit to Antigua. All three were very nice, extremely knowledgeable and great tour guides. We had a blast! The trip to Hell's gate, the snorkeling, climbing to the top of the mountain and the mangrove 'nursery' were fabulous. All were top notch.

Thanks again and tell Jason I still want to know what he puts in his rum punch! I have the rum but need the mixers. Perfect to sit in my pool and dream of being back there...

Andrea

Many of the people who email nice reviews don't put them on forums or travel sites, so i will put them here for all to see. Thanks for coming out on our tours and thanks even more for telling people about them. We are not hooked up directly with any hotels, cruise ships or travel companies so your reviews are what sell our tours and we thank you!

Sailing down to the BVI from Antigua

At the end of June three of us sailed Ocean Nomad, our Classic Carriacou Sloop down to Virgin Gorda in the BVI to take part in a week long windsurfing regatta and sailing adventure. HIHO (which stands for hook in and hold on) is a world famous windsurfing event that has been going on now since the 70s. This year was the 25th time the event has been put on and with our own sloop for accommodation and transport was looking forward to the adventure.
With just three of us, preparing for the trip was easier than other similar trips i have been on. The last time we wend it was pretty much the entire Adventure Antigua team and more! This time we packed all of our gear the day before and had a fairly relaxed departure before sunset bound for St. Martin just over 90 miles down wind from us. I love cruising down wind at night as there isn't many things as relaxing and peaceful in decent weather. The weather was more than decent with very little cloud cover and a nice 15 knots of wind to keep us going. Neither of my crew were experienced sailors but both were very experienced power boaters and I felt very confident with them on board. Since we were going to be away from home port in Jolly Harbour for two weeks and there were going to be several big crossings we prepared a "grab bag" which most boaters have close by when sailing in open ocean. We had a small inflatable dinghy on the deck, the EPIRB and all the other regular safety equipment.
Our grab bag was huge and we decided to tie it to the tender which was on the forward deck ready to go in case of a dire emergency. The bag had enough survival stuff in there to last a long time. We all felt as though we were going too far with the safety preparations but ya never know. A guy i used to deep sea fish with as a kid always used to say "its better to say here it is than where it is" and I always think that's the right way to prepare.
As soon as we sailed out of Five Islands Harbour we were full of smiles and eager anticipation. David "Choppa" Mendes who has worked with Adventure Antigua on and off for years was on board and even more excited than usual (which is hard to imagine). The African dust in the air was pretty extreme and within a few miles Antigua was hard to see.
In fact, by the time Mykl hooked into her first fish we could hardly see Antigua. It was a Spanish mackerel and we released it. We already had dinner sorted out and there was no need for fresh fish this time.
Sunset was a strange one with the dust in the air and you could look directly into the sun while it was still high above the horizon.
As it got dark some stars managed to push through the haze and it got brighter and brighter as the moon came up. The winds backed off a bit but it was still enough to push us quietly along at 7 knots on a very broad reach towards SXM. We took three hour shifts on the tiller and with all those stars, the phosphorescence, and the "Just cruising" play list on my IPOD I was in heaven holding on to the tiller.
At one point in the night while i was steering I saw the most amazing shooting star i had ever seen. It started off above my starboard side and shot down towards the sea in the north breaking apart like a big "Stanford" firework that we used to see at all the 20 20 cricket matches. Mostly it was white but there was green also as it broke up. The whole boat lit up as it fell and although i was excited to have seen it, I was sorry that the other two who were fast asleep at the time had missed it. David took over afterwards and before dawn Mykl took her turn. As you can see, the sunrise was as strange as the sunset with all the dust making the sun almost look like a rising moon.

Within a few hours we would be in St. Martin ready for some more provisioning and a huge creole lunch with some friends there. Clearing in and out of immigration at Simpson Bay was a breeze and we actually bumped into AnnP of http://www.antiguacaribbean.com/ and http://www.antiguabliss.com/ and many other tourism and travel related sites. She had just come back from Anguilla next door. During the day we got some bits and pieces for the boat including a nice fan for the forward bunk and some new lights for the head. St. Martin is always cheaper than Antigua for marine parts as it's a duty free port. We replaced broken or tired bits on the boat and had a big dinner before pulling anchor and heading out to sea once again, but this time it was dark when we left. As we pulled out of Simpson Bay we could tell that the winds had dropped and as we set the main we realized that we would be lucky to average 3 knots without the engine on. We immediately decided to motor sail and off we went at 6 knots. The sea was so calm that it felt strange to be out in the open ocean and hardly rocking at all. Not long after we left we saw a huge search light on the horizon come on for a minute and then go off. I couldn't tell how far away it was as we have no radar but I told David that the coast guard must be doing something out there. Since we hadn't slept much the night before and had been running around a very hot St. Martin we were very tired. Once we were on our way and everything was settled it was my time to go on watch. We decided we would try three hour watches again I only managed about an hour before i started to fall asleep. I struggled but with it being so nice and calm it was even harder to keep my eyes open. Mykl had told us to have a nap before we left but we had decided that we needed to be on the move to the BVI. She was right. We should have slept! I woke David up and told him that he had to give me an hours nap. He didn't even last an hour before waking up Mykl who ended up steering for several hours. Girl power! While she was steering i heard the some talk on the VHF and Mykl said there was a spot light on a few miles away. As we listened to the VHF we heard someone say "This is US Coast Guard west of St. Martin, can the boat in the spot light please identify yourself and your flag". They were inspecting boats out there and Mykl said this was the second one she had seen get the spot light treatment. The US coast guard was out there without any navigation lights, creeping up to boats and hitting them with the flood lights. We were sure we would be next and for the next few hours we kept looking over our backs. Mykl said that before she had heard them on the VHF she had this weird feeling that there was a boat next to us, and i am sure she wasn't far off. With night vision equipment and all the high tech gear that they have, I am sure there was a good reason why we didn't get searched. Our boat is so unusual looking that i was certain we would have been of interest. Anyway, we didn't come under the spotlight and powered on to Virgin Gorda. Like the day before sunrise was slow and not as bright as it usually is.

With about 5 knots of wind the sea only had a small chop and we cruised along. Several unfortunate flying fish had managed to get stuck on the boat during the night and i returned them to the sea as we spotted Gorda in front of us. As we approached the reefy channel just south of the famous Baths we had a dolphin come and play at our bow for a few minutes until it got bored and swam off into the blue once again. What a nice welcome to the BVI!

We were all tired and felt like a swim before going to clear in with immigration and customs at Spanish Town. What better place to have a swim in the Virgin Islands than at the Baths in Virgin Gorda? It was so refreshing that within no time we were ready to enter the islands officially. It had been a lovely trip down and a week of BVI Adventure was in front of us.

Antigua Yacht Club uses classic sloop to teach kids

Antigua Yacht Club uses a Carriacou Sloop like ours to help teach kids about larger boats. The boats are perfect for teaching as all the lines are outside the mast and can be followed and figured out.



For more info on our sloop check http://www.sailing-antigua.com/

More praise for Adventure Antigua

A lovely message in the mail today:


From: kbradley1@xxxxxxxxx.net [kbradley1@xxxxxxxx.net]
Sent: Tuesday, July 14, 2009 7:24 PM
To: Adventure Antigua
Subject: RE: Adventure Antigua Tour Company


Hi Eli,

I want to thank you for an outstanding trip! JD and Chris were great. The only thing I could think to say at the end of the day other than thank-you was that they exceded my expectations. JD's seamanship and knowledge of the waters was exceptional. Chris is both a local historian and naturalist. He was always
sure to point out anything of interest. Chris guided me on the best snorkle trip I have ever experienced. He was always finding interesting sea life and corals and directing me to them. Both of JD and Chris did an
excellent job of representing your company and providing Teri and I with many wonderful memories.
My complements to the chef for the delicious lunch. The banana bread was fantastic!

Best regards,

Kirk

www.adventureantigua.com

A happy ending for the Bullfinch family

Before sailing down to the BVI on Ocean Nomad recently I took some of my family out day sailing for fathers day. Blogged here what I didn't mention was the story about the bird's nest. When we were pulling out of Jolly Harbour i noticed a small nest tucked up under the boom below the sail cover and deep into the sail. There are so many birds constantly trying to make nests all over the place in Antigua during the spring months just like most places around the world and we had already had a few try to make nests in and around the house. I took a quick peak as we motored out between the channel markers and found that the now mobile nest had three small eggs inside it. Since we left kinda later we motor sailed using just the head sail up to Cades Bay. In the afternoon we knew that something had to be done about the nest and little eggs as we would be sailing properly outside the reef and back to Jolly Harbour. I carefully picked it from between the folds of the mainsail and placed it into a bucket which we stored below for the sail home. None of us knew if the nest had been abandoned long before as the boat hadn't been sailing for about 2 weeks. We just figured it was silly to abandon hope of saving the little birds. My family is like that when it comes to animals and there are countless other rescue stories about birds, dogs, cats, horses, goats, turtles, whales, dolphins and others that i could mention.

The sail home as i mentioned in the other blog was lovely and we forgot about the nest as we spotted huge green turtles on the sail home. I think we counted 30 big greens.

There is a special spot where we see them on every trip. Anyway as soon as we pulled on to the dock where we keep the boat two bullfinches appeared reminding us about the little nest. The chirped desperately looking to see what we had done to their nest. My bro (the new father) Ali, went below and got the nest out of the bucket and grabbed a bit of green net which Mykl had been decorating our outside light with. He cupped the nest inside the net and hung it in the back of the furled main below the boom. The birds kept trying to get in there but didn't seem to be able to make it. Ali moved it more out into the open and the birds could see it but didn't get in. The next morning when Jason came to work on the sloop i told him about the birds and told him to keep an eye open for them. Neither of us saw the birds actually enter the nest but they were buzzing around and still interested in it. I was losing hope about this nest and with our plan to set sail in four days on a 200 mile trip across the ocean to the British Virgin Islands, the prognosis wasn't good. At the end of the day i caught a glimpse of the bullfinches alternately entering the nest and figured it was a good time to move it off the boat. When i went to remove it from the sail i notice that a tiny inch long pink thing with one feather had hatched out inside the nest and with amazement i let out a surprised laugh. On the wooden deck i had an old rusting BBQ and figured I would hang the netted nest off of it somehow. With the birds chirping and watching from the neighbors balcony i tucked it behind the bbq hanging it in a way the feathered parents could see it and get in if they still wanted to. The boat was going sailing and there was no other way. The next morning I had a quick peak and noticed another almost lifeless chick in there. I still wasn't sure about their chances.
On Friday, we set sail for St. Martin where we would pick up some stocks for our two week trip before doing another 90+ mile sail.
After about 500 miles of sailing and motoring I arrived back in Antigua to find out the good news. Mykl who had flown home a few days before told me that two big chicks had been making a hell of a noise chirping and that they were full of life. I guess the third egg never made it, but i was pleased to hear about the two others. I went to have a look and smiled when i found an empty nest. They had already left the nest. While cleaning out the sloop i caught a glimpse of the mother bird having a bath on one of our coolers. It had just rained and i quickly got the camera out to shoot a few snaps.

She had a good bath before flying off to make more noise next door.

I know this blog seems like plenty of words for not much of a story but it made me smile thinking about it. I haven't told my family yet and am sure they will get a smile out of it too. Out sailing that day, we didn't think the little eggs had a chance.

www.adventureantigua.com

More news from the Jolly Harbour Yacht Club

"Following a couple of great weeks on North Beach with dinghy racing, beach BBQ with food & booze to your choice, it is clear this has become a fun social afternoon for the Yacht Club. We shall be there again this coming Sunday and everyone is welcome. The first 2 weeks have given us a good idea of the format for the future. If you wish to race it is a meagre EC$5 per race for Members and EC$10 for Non Members, if you just wish to lime and enjoy the fun of watching the racing (and the capsizing!) there is NO CHARGE! BBQ grill and coals are supplied so all you have to do is bring your cooler, food and drink. The dinghy area on North Beach is perfect for such an afternoon with plenty of palm trees for shelter.
Come along and check it out and, if you feel up to it, challenge our current hot shot, "Big Al" Ashford to a race or two.
Rigging starts at 12:30, racing begins at 1:30 and the BBQ fires up around 2:30.
Bouyancy jackets must be worn on the water so if you have your own please bring it along although the Club do have a good supply.
See you there!
Pippa - JHYC Dinghy Sailing Director 2009
www.jhycantigua.com"

away from a computer for two weeks. WOW!

Together with some friends and my GF, we took two weeks and sailed up to a windsurfing event in the British Virgin Islands. I will blog more regularly again now and there is plenty to come on our adventure but for now a little movie taken by AcquaFilms of the event we took part in:



www.adventureantigua.com

It's hurricane season in the Atlantic again.

Actually it's been hurricane season since June 1st and as is normal, the Atlantic hasn't seen a named storm yet. The very old hurricane season rhyme went like this:
JUNE too soon
JULY Standby
AUGUST come it must
SEPTEMBER remember
OCTOBER all over

I am not sure if in the old days weather was very different, but as long as i have been alive this rhyme has been a month off. June and July in the Caribbean are as described in the Rhyme, but August and September should be grouped together with September being a far more active storm month than any other month.
We have also learned that October isn't totally all over, and if i remember correctly 2 of the 6 hurricanes that we have been hit by since the 1950s hit us in October. Anyway, the ryhme is a good guide when making plans for a sailing cruise through the Caribbean (as i am at the moment). In between storms which can occasionally pass the weather in the summer is the best all year in my opinion with beautifully clear waters and calm seas.
Interestingly, Antigua has only been directly hit by 6 hurricanes since the mid 1950s and I think all six happened in August, September and October. We have had many close calls and even some very bad weather from the cloud bands coming off hurricanes passing well to our North or South as in the case of Omar last year. Sometimes the only storm conditions we get are huge surfing waves which have been pushed in from hundreds of miles away where a passing storm is churning up the ocean.
In my lifetime, the worst hurricane we got was Hurricane Louis or Luis as it has now been called. That was a cat 5 when it hit according to the US Navy base which was here at the time but what was the worst thing about it was the fact that it was moving slowly. We had hurricane force winds for a day and tropical storm force winds or more for nearly two days. Many houses had damage and most hotels did as well. Both my mom's and my dad's houses fared well in that storm proving that if built well, wood can hold up.
Anyway, the first "blimp on the radar" was picked up by one of the super computer models yesterday (read more about these "models" and how hurricane forecasting is done here).
My good friend Steve mentioned on facebook that he had read on Crown Weather that there was something being detected. Here is today's weather discussion on this private weather site. Click here.
"
Interest Area 2: Another area I am closely watching is completely based on the GFS model. An area of impressive looking shower and thunderstorm activity is located over western Africa this morning. The GFS model insists that this convective complex will develop into a tropical cyclone as soon as this weekend. None of the other global models are forecasting development across the eastern Atlantic, so I remain pretty skeptical that it will happen. Also, the GFS model has been doing very poor with tropical cyclone forecasts so far this season in that it has been forecasting false storms and handling upper level patterns very poorly. So with no other real model support, I am pretty skeptical that this will indeed happen.

With that said, the environmental conditions are favorable for development and will remain favorable for at least the next few days. Sea surface temperatures, however, are actually below normal across the eastern Atlantic and this would inhibit development until this disturbance approaches the Lesser Antilles during Wednesday and Thursday of next week where sea surface temperatures rise to above normal for this time of year.

So, with all of this said, there is the possibility of something to watch in the eastern Atlantic this weekend into next week, but I have very low confidence of it actually happening.
"

I also think that it's kinda early for that type of thing. I also think that the massive amount of African dust in the air at the moment will do as it normally does and stop any storm from getting strong. Read more on African dust coming across the Caribbean here. In that blog post there is a link showing how this increased dust levels kill storm production. Interesting stuff. Anyway, I am not cancelling my sailing plans just yet. This time next week i hope to be 200 miles from home in the BVI enjoying Pussers Pain Killers!

Fathers Day on the Caribbean Island of Antigua

Well with American cable TV in every house in Antigua practically, Father'sDay has become quite a big deal here in Antigua. It's a very nice excuse for the family to get together and have some fun and that's what some of the Fuller family did yesterday.
The two dad's were my Dad and my brother.
I used the Adventure Antigua sailing boat "Ocean Nomad" to go out for a bit of cruising and lunch and then a nice afternoon sail back to Jolly Harbour. We counted over 20 turtles and it was a lovely way to chill. Pinning down my Dad is never easy and it was nice to be out there.
Of course this blog isn't just about telling you the reader what i have been up to. This blog is also about promoting my company, and you too can enjoy a bit of cruising and sailing if you book a sailing tour or charter with us. For more info and photos go to www.sailing-antigua.com
Here is the family slide show from yesterday with three generations of Antiguan Fullers.
We missed the rest of the family who couldn't make it yesterday. Hopefully we will go out with the whole gang soon... maybe for Nell's birthday next month.

Major training setback before international windsurfing regatta

As many of you know, I did windsurf course racing for about 16 years non stop all over the Caribbean and in various places around the world. My all time favorite windsurfing regatta was the HIHO (hook in and hold on) held in the Virgin Islands. This year is the 25th time the event is being held. I first went to the regatta when i was twelve years old about eight months after i started windsurfing back in Antigua. At that time is was being held in the USVI. I was as hooked on racing as i was on windsurfing and since then have done about a dozen more HIHO regattas which are now held in the British Virgin Islands. After i stopped competing professionally the only regatta i kept doing was the HIHO. Anyway, about seven years ago i broke my knee while kitesurfing at Jabbawock beach in Antigua, and since then I have had an array of knee problems, operations and headaches which have done a pretty good job of keeping me from windsurfing, surfing or kitesurfing. Back in 2007 I was asked by some friends to take them and their windsurfing gear to the HIHO and together with the other two Adventute Antigua captains we took off in the Eco Tour boat on a 10 day holiday.



I took along some windsurfing gear at the time telling my girlfriend that i may try to do a race or two just for the hell of it.

I blogged about it later, but to sum it all up... we had an amazing time and i ended up doing the entire regatta placing first overall. It was a big surprise, but the knee didn't like it at all. Since then i haven't used my big powerful racing gear at all and missed going to HIHO last year as well. This year having the classic sloop (yacht) i thought it would be a good adventure to go back down to the HIHO and the BVI again. Two weeks ago i dusted off my big 10 meter sail and scraped the muck of my one design winsurfing board and went out. While in NYC last month i managed to purchase a special knee brace which i hoped would help protect my knee from any further problems. Anyway, being back out on the board was fantastic and the old feeling of ultimate freedom mixed with spikes of adrenalin gave me a great natural high which i had beed addicted to for so long (in the old days).
I managed to go out several more times up until last weekend enjoying each session as much as the one before. I wanted to go out there this past week but had many other things going on including taking over the Adventure Antigua phone and emails while my sister is on holiday. Anyway, the weekend was going to filled with windsurfing. I had only a week left to get up to speed and i needed the training. Yesterday i arrived at Jabbawock beach and started rigging. It was so sunny and hot that half way through setting up my gear i had to run and jump in the water to cool off. The water is so wonderful at this time of the year. Warm, clear and wildly refreshing!
I got back to my sail to give some more tension and while pulling one of the lines i heard a huge bang. Immoderately i knew what had happened and started shaking my head. It was only a week earlier i was reading a story about the Air France disaster where they were saying that it could have been a problem with composite materials that caused the crash. Some friends and i were speaking about it and also commenting on the rudder break of on our friend's Volvo Ocean racing yacht. See the interview with local Antiguan Shannon Falcone here by clicking this link.
Anyway, my 100% carbon fiber mast had snapped above the boom and that was the end of my sailing for the weekend. Stopped before it even started. This type of top of the line racing equipment is not something you will find here in Antigua so i knew this was a big blow to my plans. Mykl enjoyed her windsurfing session while i had my rigging problems so at least one of us had fun.

Patrick from Windsurfing Antigua called me today and said he had a 75% carbon mast of similar size back at his house. This good news means that although it won't be a racing spec mast, but at least i can train some more later in the week before our departure. For a cool story on the HIHO you can check this link.

Good movie showing Caribbean fishery problems

This movie was done in Jamaica about their fishery, but it is almost word for word what has happened here in Antigua. It's interesting that while Japan is pumping in millions of dollars into Antigua's "fisheries" not any of that money is actually going towards helping sustain the fishery. After reading comments from anonymous on the the blog from a few days ago (click here) you would think that more was being done to help our fishery.
I notice that gill nets were not featured in the movie about Jamaica which means that their fishery probably isn't as bad as ours here in Antigua. Gill nets used all around Antigua and Barbuda are the single biggest problem with our fishery.
The local small scale commercial fishermen of Jolly Harbour area set nets every day in the inshore breeding areas including mangrove inlets and other shallow areas.

Almost all reefs, bays and coves are netted heavily here as well and almost all of the fish consumed at the hotels has been imported. Conch and lobster caught here are exported usually under the radar to the French islands and most of the off shore waters are heavily fished by fishermen from Guadeloupe. Anyway, the movie is an excellent insight into the usual Government lack of understanding and lack of controls with regard to fishing. Have a look:

The end of an era: Sunsail hotel

There has been much talk about this and it certainly looks like after 10 years of operation, Sunsail is finally closing up shop here in Antigua. They were operating on a lease out of The Colonna hotel which is actually an Italian owned property i think. Anyway, the Sunsail brand went through some huge changes in the ten years that it was operating here as it was purchased by different companies. Towards the end i think TUI which is a budget travel company managed to get their hands on it and that was the start of the end. Operating a biz in Antigua is never going to be cheap and you have to be very careful how you run the place.
I had huge problems with Sunsail about a year ago when they were in the middle of changing their managers. The top brass back in the UK seemed to not have a clue about what they were doing and it seemed as though the staff here in Antigua were equally messed about. It's a terrible shame that the hotel as we have known it won't be running anymore. I looked for news on this on their website but it's as if they never had a hotel here. Twitter and other social media networks are buzzing with upset people who wanted to come back here once again and enjoy the typical sunsail Club holiday in the Caribbean.
When i started Adventure Antigua doing my Eco Tour ten years ago it was only with Sunsail. A guy called Roger was the GM there at the moment and he helped me get started and pushed me to get a bigger boat. At first i could just take 6 of his guests at a time, and very quickly we got the Scarab so we could take more. For years Sunsail was my main hotel for Eco Tour passengers as the fun loving outdoors type staying there loved my tours. Here you can see a bunch of Sunsail staff as we passed Hawksbill Hotel. I took them out for the day to say thanks for pushing my biz as hard as they had done. This must be back in 2001 or some time around then.

One of the other things that maintained my close relationship with sunsail was that most of their beach staff windsurfed whenever they had time off. In fact, while i was out there windsurfing they would be out before and after work too. I became very close with many of their windsurfing staff and there were many of them. I don't know how many people worked the beach but it was usually about 15 people and almost all of them windsurfed. Many local kids were hired to work the beach and learned about boats and sailing. I hired several of them over the years after they left sunsail. It's very sad to hear that it won't be opening back up for so many reasons and I suppose most of all at the moment is the job losses. At a time when we need all the tourism that we can get and all the employment we can get I think that Tui and the others who may be involved have made a big mistake here.
I suppose that's what will happen when hotels are absentee managed and owned and lease properties in the Caribbean. I have heard that Sandals was looking at the property, but you never know in Antigua. We'll have to see. Still nothing in the news as far as i can tell but the people at Sunsail Clubs UK: 0844 463 6706
say they are not doing biz in Antigua anymore. The staff at the hotel say they haven't heard anything either, and it seems that without any good reason they are being left in the dark. I feel bad for them.

Japanese fueled debate on killing whales continues

Today the debate on my blog from several days ago continues stemming from a hard core pro whaling person who decided to post pro whaling and anti - "activist" comments. As comments come in from people the anonymous poster continues to write the typical Japanese Whaling propaganda which is flavoured with a bit of hatred for people he calls "neo colonialists" and "children of colonialists". IT's all a very interesting read once you get to the comments section. Martin like someone called "Triniman" decided to spend some time, and in this case wrote too much to fit it into my comments section so decided to blog his reply which you can read here in
http://wadadliwaters.blogspot.com/
But to be honest, all of the comments are worth a read and give a broader picture to hold up against the scribble from anonymous. My brother Ali pointed out that this pro Japan person didn't say a word on any of my other ecological type blogs. Anyone who reads my blog knows that i regularly speak about over fishing or the lack of fishery controls which lead to a totally unsustainable fishery here in Antigua. I write about gill netting wiping out a huge variety of breeding species, I write about uncontrolled spear fishing, I write about destruction of mangroves, I write about dredging, about the destruction of beaches, sand mining, about the destruction of flats eco systems, and all sorts of other terrible things that happen here which all have a huge impact on the ability of our people to sustainably find seafood for themselves. As someone pointed out; there is so little seafood left here to harvest because of that lack of control that we are now forced to eat farmed talipia now. You can use the search feature on my blog to see more on all of these topics. Not once did i have a comment from this person or anyone else from the government. In fact, i have rarely got comments from Antiguans on any of those blogs. With Antiguan ministers and reps being flown to Japan, with fifty million dollars spent here in Antigua by Japan, and with Japanese officials working full time in our Ministry of Fisheries there is no wonder why a blog of this nature would elicit such passion from the pro whaling minority here in Antigua and I welcome their comments. I just wish we had a tiny percentage of the passion coming from them when we speak about the other fisheries related things. Read the very interesting comments and debate here below the slide show in the comments section. Click this link.
And since we are here speaking pro whaling and anti whaling. Check this link too which someone just sent me:
http://www.caribbeanwhalefriends.org/index.htm

Jolly Harbour Youth Sailing Program

Dear JHYC Members (and others),

A lot has been happening with our Dinghy Sailing Project and there is much to report.

Firstly, our Project Director, Yvonne Payne has resigned on health grounds and your Committee have accepted Pippa Pettingell as her replacement. Pippa will endeavour to carry on the excellent work done by Yvonne and her predecessors, Lawrie May, Rick Gormley and Chris Chitty. If it wasn’t for the unselfish efforts of these people, and generous support of others, this newsletter would not be possible.

Pippa is delighted to report that we now have a fully qualified RYA Dinghy Instructor on the beach for Saturday & Sunday every weekend. His name is Tony and he is an excellent dinghy sailor and instructor.

This means we are now able to offer regular dinghy pleasure sailing, training, and racing throughout the year from our location on the northern end of North Beach, Jolly Harbour.

Our fleet now comprises:

Three Lasers

Two Sport 16’s

One Hobie 16

One Topper International One Design

One Fin (currently in need of some maintenance so not available for sailing just yet)

The weekend programme, effective immediately, will be as follows:

SATURDAY MORNING SESSION 09:30 - 12:30

Youth Development

The cornerstone of JHYC Dinghy Sailing is the Youth Development Project that offers FREE Dinghy Sailing Instruction to local Antiguan children between the ages of 8 and 18. Any child that is Antiguan born is welcome to join this training session and will receive “Certificates of Achievement” as they progress through the course. Completion of the course will be Tony’s acknowledgement that they are competent to sail a Laser Dinghy on their own. We are currently working with several Antiguan Youth Organisations but stress that ALL Antiguan born children are welcome.

The Youth Development Project and Dinghy Sailing Programme are ambitious undertakings for JHYC and involve effort in many areas of training, organisation, publicity and sponsor support. If you, as a Member of the Club, feel you can contribute in any way, Pippa would be delighted to hear from you!!

Provision and Maintenance of the JHYC Dinghy Sailing Programme requires money and our very meagre annual subscription fees do not produce anywhere near enough! Harsh but true!!

Unfortunately, reasonable charges will be levied for the remaining weekend sessions and all participants sail entirely at their own risk. ALL sessions are open to ALL! I.e. JHYC Membership is not necessary. Participants must be able to swim 25 yards with a buoyancy aid which MUST be worn at all times on the water



SATURDAY AFTERNOON SESSION 13:30 – 16:30:

Pleasure Sailing & Practise.

If you wish to sail one of our fleet you will first need to demonstrate a suitable level of competence to our Instructor.

To avoid disappointment it will be necessary to “book a boat” for this session with Pippa Tel: 722 8468 or e-mail pippapettingell@hotmail.com



SUNDAY MORNING SESSION 09:30 – 12:30

Adult Dinghy & Junior Sailing Instruction

We aim to provide a structured course covering all aspects of Dinghy Sailing including basic sailing theory & practise, rigging, capsize drill, helming and single handing.

Course numbers are limited and you will need to book a slot with Pippa.



SUNDAY AFTERNOON SESSION 13:30 – 16:30

One Design Racing

On Sunday June 21st we shall be running a series of Laser Races with four boats competing.

The entries are: Al Ashford sailing his own Laser; Tony, Nick White and Chris Chitty each sailing a Club Laser.

The idea is to stage the first JHYC One Design Dinghy Race to gain knowledge of the waters and establish some courses, time keeping and a format for the future.

There will be a Series of 3 races of approximately 30 minutes duration with approximately a 20 minute break in between.

No more Club Lasers are available for this event but if you have, or can borrow, a Laser you are more than welcome to join in. Please let Pippa know to expect you.

Once we have established the format of Sunday Afternoon racing, we shall offer Sport 16 Match Racing and, when we are fortunate enough to be donated yet another Hobie 16, Match Racing in these exciting cats.



SESSION FEES

ALL SESSIONS (except, of course, Saturday Morning) will be charged as follows:

Adult JHYC Members: EC$ 50 per session. NON JHYC Members: EC$ 75 per session.

Junior JHYC Members: EC$ 30 per session. NON JHYC Members: EC$ 45 per session.

Active participants in the Youth Development Project will be eligible for Junior Member rates in the Pleasure Sailing & Practise Sessions.



All participants will be liable to reimburse for any damage caused.

All sessions must be booked and paid in advance. Contact Pippa as above.

Buoyancy Aids are limited so please bring your own if you have one.



ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We should all be grateful to the following businesses and individuals who have made the above possible.

John Hall of Anjo Insurance for a very favourable policy premium

Swaylings for their generous offer of free swimming lessons for Antiguan children to help them get onto the Youth Development Project

Sunsail Club Colonna for the donation of one of our Sport 16’s

Ron Schofield of Sign Pro for our Dinghy Area Sign

Wayne Gruden for permission to use his land.

Franklyn Braithwaite of A & F Sails for the donation of Fin Racing Sails and free sail maintenance.

Ron Budacz for the generous donation of our Hobie 16

Trish Webster for the loan of her Laser and persuading friends to donate the other two.

Bernie Wong for the loan of his Fin.

Seagull Inflatables for the repair of the safety boat.

Gaye Hechme of CDAL

Angie Dickinson of the Foredeck Bar for her fund raising projects.

Lawrie May, Rick Gormley, Chris Chitty and Yvonne Payne for their unstinting work in the early days to get this programme off the ground. They were enthusiastically supported by Steve Coughlan, Eddie Williams, Sharon Gunning, Tanner Jones and Iain Mellows.

Pippa welcomes the current enthusiasm and help from Alecks Dickinson and Sophia Erdahl, two very accomplished dinghy sailors and hopes to welcome back some of those mentioned above into the programme.

JHYC is now Sailing Dinghies! Come and join in and ENJOY!



Brian - Rear Commodore 2009

Hard core pro whaling comment

As some of you know, i can often be very anti-whaling and ashamed of my government's stance on the issue. They accept japanese bribes in the form of "fisheries grants" in exchange for our support on international whaling. Yesterday i posted a slide show of images depicting a huge wall painting done here in Antigua by Antiguan kids from all backgrounds. They all painted fish, turtles, whales, dolphins and other marine life on the wall with such enthusiasm. Many of the fish seen on the wall have been hunted almost to extinction here in Antigua which is beside the point i suppose until you read the hard core pro japan whaling comment that was posted there later. I left the comment there to show you how warped and mislead some people can be. In fact, i think if more Antiguans were to be able to read this message then i think it would hurt the japanese efforts. Check the blog by clicking this link and read the comment under it. Make a comment if you like to but include your name (and website) if you like.

Wyland Wall huge marine murial in Antigua. The video

A great movie showing photos taken by Roddy Grimes Graeme of www.acquafilms.com here in Antigua of the soon to be famous whale and marine murial done by Wyland and kids from all over Antigua. If you are in Antigua you should go have a look at this thing. It's kids like these who will help change Antigua's stance on whaling. Aquafilms didn't do the movie, but Roddy's images are always nice to look at.

fun golf tounament this sunday 2 raise $ for good cause

INVITATION TO THE

2009 LONGO MAI GOLF TOURNAMENT.





Sponsored by:
PHOENIX CUSTOM CARPENTRY
THE CARIB HOUSE – COCO BAY – JANE’S YACHT SERVICES
SEAGULL INFLATABLES –– ISLAND I.T. LIMITED – WOODSTOCK BOAT BUILDERS
STANLEY’S ESTATE AGENTS Ltd.


This is not a serious competition.
Fun, beer & fancy dress (this year the fancy dress theme is “Rock Stars”)



Place: Cedar Valley Golf Course

Date: Sunday 14 June 2009

Registration: 09:30 please be on time.

Tee Time: 10:30 this will be a Shot-Gun start (see instructions over-leaf)

Teams: Teams of four will be selected by the organizers on the day. Beginners and experienced players will be mixed.



Cost: Entry fee: $40 USD this includes your green fees & a $20 donation.

Poss. Extras: Club hire: $25 USD or $67 ECD

Golf cart hire: $17 USD or $45 ECD

(Two people per cart only…walking is healthy!)

Prize giving: To complete the day, prize giving will be in the club house at 14:30

Please be at the club house at 14:30 whether you have completed the course or not. We suggest you stop play at 14:00.

Remember there is a prize for the best fancy dressed golfer.

Refreshment: Free food and drinks will be circulated by golf carts during the day supplied by the sponsors. In addition, the pay bar is open all day at the Club House.

Charity: This year we will be collecting funds for “ABSAR” (Antigua & Barbuda Search & Rescue). Your green fees include a $20 USD donation to this fund. There will be an opportunity to make a further donation, if you wish. We will ensure that monies raised will be used effectively for the benefit of the charity.



RSVP: dennen@candw.ag



Contact details:

Phone: Barney’s mob: 464 0446 Richard’s mob: 770 4077 Fiona’s mob: 728 7807

Shareen’s mob: 728 3555



With assistance from:

Temo Sports – Stitches - Shareen & Mark Boswell – Eric Chobert









THE 2009 LONGO MAI GOLF OPEN.



Shot-Gun start:

This is when the entire field starts at the same time from different holes.

You will be told to go to a particular hole with your team and will be required to start the game from your allocated Tee at 10:30 - Men play off the White Tees, Ladies play off the Red Tees. Even if you have not finished your game, you should be back at the Club House at 14:30 as the prize giving will start at this time.



We ask for your patience, there may be delays during the game due to the amount of people taking part. Remember this is not a serious competition. It’s a fun day!

Keep the play going, keep moving on.



Please look after the golf course, replace your divots, two people per cart only etc.



Game: Back 9 holes “Scramble”

How to play: 1 All team members Tee off.

2 You then choose one of the four balls played.

3 Everyone else on the team picks up their ball and carries it to this new position.

4 Everyone now plays from this new position.

5 You continue to play in this way on the fairway, rough & green through out the whole game (this keeps people moving and playing). Once one ball has gone in, that hole is completed and the whole team moves onto the next Tee.

6 During the game you must use a drive (from the Tee) at least twice, from each team member. You choose who & when. This makes the game fair by making your team use shots from the inexperienced players.

7 In the event of a draw, a “putt off” will take place on the putting green next to the bar and will be adjudicated by the committee.



Prizes for: Over all champions: Team prize.

Team best gross score

Longo Mai Deck Department Trophy.

Longest drive: Individual prize.

On hole number 18 for men and ladies

(to qualify the ball must land on the mown fairway)

Men: Longo Mai Engineering Department Trophy.

Ladies: Longo Mai Millie Mai trophy

Nearest the pin: Individual prize.

On hole number 11 for men and ladies

(this must be a drive from the Tee & the ball must stop on the green).

Men: Longo Mai Galley trophy.

Ladies: Longo Mai Navigation trophy

Best dressed golfer! Individual prize.

Longo Mai Domestic department trophy.

New Video from West Indies Regatta in St. Barts

If you are one of my regular blog readers then you will remember that we won the first Annual West Indies Regatta. Acquafilms finally finished up their video of that regatta which you can see at the West Indies Regatta Website here. Part three of the blog covering that regatta is here if you would like to have a look at some photos and words describing it.

RCL Adventure of The Seas turned away from Caribbean Islands!

Very early today we started receiving calls from concerned cruise passengers who were on their ship, the Adventure of the Seas, which is operated by Royal Caribbean. They told Nell in our office that the ship had been turned away from St. Lucia before they arrived there because two of their passengers had "flu like symptoms" on board the ship while at sea. They had just heard that Antigua was following St. Lucia's lead and not giving clearance to the AOS to come into port in Antigua.
The passengers told Nell that although the two passengers had flu like symptoms, they had been told that these symptoms were not indicative of Swine Flu which is probably what St. Lucia and now Antigua's port authorities were worried about. In fact, i am guessing on who made the decisions not to give the Adventure of the Seas clearance but with up to 5100 people on board the ship is a huge income generator for the islands. If in fact the people were tested for swine flu and were found not to have symptoms then i think it was pretty stupid for Antigua to blockade the ship. I can't find any news on this anywhere but i understand from Wadadli Cats that the ship is on it's way to Miami and has told them to contact RCL for more info.
The good news is that it doesn't sound like there is swine flu on that cruise ship and even if there was the ship didn't arrive in Antigua or St. Lucia. The bad news is that all the guests on the ship have had their holidays ruined and all the starving businesses here in the Caribbean will be hungry once again tomorrow.

Since writing this and posting it on twitter earlier today this link just came out with news about it.

Adventure Antigua cruise and tour prices discounted.

Now i don't usually vent on my blog but this is a hot day here in Antigua and i am not in the best of moods after reading a silly review.

I read today on Cruise Critic that someone said that our Xtreme tour of the island (6 hour plus) that has drinks all day, lunch, an exclusive stop at Stingray City just for my boat(in between cruise ship tour arrivals), two beach stops, two snorkeling stops, a historical tour of Nelson's Dockyard, the 50+ mile round trip of the island is too expensive for what it is. Wow!!!!!
Sometimes i shake my head. It's all fine and dandy for someone to pay US $68 bucks to do a segway tour with soft drinks for 3 hours, or US $220+ for a 45 minute helicopter tour of Montserrat, or even an hour at stingray city for $55, A three hour kayaking trip for $65, a 3 hour jeep tour with soft drinks for US $65 and the list goes on.
Our tour described at the top is on offer at our website for this summer for US $135. The boat is a US $200,000 boat that is exceptionally maintained and run by a professional crew. Contrary to what was said on the Cruise review..... we do have a ladder in the water at every snorkeling or beach stop too seen here with one ladder and here with the two ladders. If this tour is too expensive for you then please do the eco tour which is US $80 this summer for a full day with lunch drinks all day, snorkeling gear, and a full day of adventure. It has three ladders that people use on each of the beach and snorkeling stops. Imagine that..... for $18 more than a segway tour you can have lunch, snorkeling and a full day on the water and on the off shore islands being guided by Antiguan professionals.
Sorry to rant but sometimes you just can't make everyone happy and those unhappy ones just can't be unhappy by themselves. Tomorrow i will be more happy again.
For more images of the boats and the trips we do check out my flickr photo page here.