Antigua's 366th beach is an ignored government toxic waste dump.

I loved when the barges would pull in to the Texaco jetty back in the early 80s. Antigua was going through a huge tourism boom and when the droughts arrived every other year, our traditional water source came under huge strain as did our electrical source. As kids we would go to these huge water barges that had just arrived from Dominica and would dive off from them into the sparkling blue waters. At the time we couldn't dream what it all meant and it was all just fun. My mom was a tour rep at some of the new hotels. Jolly Beach would frequently run out of water with hundreds of tourists in house trying to figure out how to brush their teeth and rinse off that salty water.
Finally the government at the time managed to get hold of what had been described as a reconditioned desalination plant. This solved the water shortage problem as well as also another problem we had been having with power generation. The plant produced water and electricity at the same time. It was as if we had been taken into a new stage in our island's development. Clean water was now there for everyone.
However, with as many problems that this new plant solved there were as many new problems created. As you would expect, the desalination plant was on the coast and it was going to be the start of a generation of hidden environmental problems. The purpose of this blog post today is to highlight one of these problems which is simply the contamination of our marine environment from the plant's used engine oil and to also show that the old desalination plant isn't the lone contributor Antigua's generational oil spills into the ocean.
Getting rid of toxic waste has never been easy for any country, but Antigua and Barbuda seems to be unique in their approach to toxic waste. I won't speak about all the other dangerous forms of toxic waste that ultimately get into the ocean because i don't have the space or time today on my birthday. Suffice to say, that we are as bad if not worse than most other third world island nations.
OIL - Antigua surprisingly has a Ministry of Environment but seems to have no official environmental policy. The Environment Division has no legislative powers at all and can only ever offer their advice and suggestions to the Minister and other Government offices. They are by design less effective than someone standing on a soap box on market street. Baldwin Spencer and his UPP government have plenty to answer for environmentally. Like many others, I voted them into power originally because of their huge chapter on all the nice environmental things they promised in their winning manifesto. These promises were summed up in their campaign slogan of "What was wrong would be made right", and to this day nearly 8 years later i am still waiting for one single shimmer of a sign that the UPP may be interested in making a single environmental problem change from being wrong to right. Oil is one of the biggest problems in Antigua environmentally. There are no rules or regulations that I know of that deal with waste oil, and as a result most of the islands waste oil ends up in the ocean eventually. Ewart Harny of Harney Motors is the main man behind a fairly new company that processes waste oil into usable fuel which is similar to diesel. This fantastic company is the only recycling program on the island for used engine oil and I am delighted that it exists here. All of the waste oil from my boats goes to that plant and together with the rest of the oil that they collect, it is eventually put back to use in trucks, buses, vans, SUVs, boats and many other diesel using vehicles. All we need now is a series of hard core laws with real punishment for people who discard used oil, incentives for other plants like Mr. Harney's to be set up (read here), an increase in the tax on the imported diesel, a good price control mechanism on fuel oil derived from wast oil, and a very good collection system for waste engine oil. If these things would be encouraged, the island would be so much better off and photos like this would be a thing of the disgusting past.

This kind of slimy black beach isn't what Antigua is famous for at all is it? Yet, this isn't the only one. Within a few miles of Antigua's most prestigious island resort, Jumby Bay, there are several beaches where you can be lubricated not by sunscreen and rum punch, but by cancer causing toxic sludge like you see also here: 

Since the ALP government purchased the desalination plant, the hazardous waste oil together with all the harmful chemicals has been getting into the ground up at Crabbs Peninsula and slowly making it's way into the ocean and I think ultimately into our food. I have also found out that even before the desalination plant was set up at Crabbs there was a power generation plant there for over ten years. As with all fuel burning engines in Antigua, regular maintenance requires oil changes. I assume that the Antigua Public Utilities Authority  (APUA) does similar service on their engines even if it's not a consistent as it should be judging from all the break downs, but historically their used waste engine oil is buried in the ground or just dumped into an open pit. In have heard that in some cases a "reservoir" is dug and plastic sheets are put down before the oil is dumped into these ponds.
In 2005 the infamous R. Alan Stanford purchased some land up at Crabbs to build a marina. These photos show some small test holes that were dug by the architects and contractors.

Shortly after each hole was dug, it slowly started to be filled with oil oozing out of the ground adjacent to it. According to a representative of the architectural firm OBM, "Stanford spent hundreds of thousands of dollars trying to remove the oil permanently from his site". Stanford didn't want any oil to be sitting below his property and an expert consultant was brought in to study the problem and to make recommendations. OBM says they have the report and have given me several photos from the report. One of the things they did was to dig a huge trench along the property line where it meets the APUA property and put in an impermeable membrane along it to stop further oil from leeching across from the government site. Then the large trenches and holes that now had oil filling them were pumped dry each day until they finally stopped being filled from the surrounding land.

Of course the oil doesn't just seep from the area it has been dumped to lands nearby, but it also seeps or leeches into the water table which is only a few feet below the surface and gets directly into the sea as seen in the top two coastline photos shown above. That oily beach has oil slowly coming out of the ground constantly and will do until the government makes a barrier to the ocean similar to the one Stanford put between his property and theirs. That's the very least the government has to do. Of course they need to stop getting rid of waste oil by dumping it into the ground, and they have to think about getting all of the oil up at Crabbs cleaned up. Stanford did it to his property and there are very good studies available on how to do it again up there. Sadly Crabbs isn't the only place that has waste oil dumping on a large scale.  Andrew Hadeed, one of the people involved in the APC company up at Crabbs, told me once that his company sends all of it's waste oil to Harney's processing plant, but that before Harney started processing waste oil, APC used to deliver their waste oil to The West Indies Oil Company. He tells me that the WIOC buries waste oil at their property just outside St. Johns. This answers the question as to why there is always so much oil getting into McKinnons Pond and why huge amounts of oil gets into the surrounding gutters near the WIOC during times of heavy rain and flooding. Oil floats on water and in a flood the oil escapes the WIOC oil ponds and gets into the McKinnons swamp and eventually into the ocean.
I think the time has come for the Environment Division and the Government to address the waste oil situation island wide and come up with a real policy.
First they have to start with Crabs. As you can see from this old Google Earth image, the oil slick coming off Crabbs is always there and has been there for years and years.

Here is another photo taken in 2008 which shows the constant oil slick:

Next time you take off in a plane and happen to bank to the south look out and you will see it. You can also see it when you are driving up Airport Road approaching "Sealy Bend". Of course you can always see it when you pass Crabbs in a boat. Here is another one I took on the weekend showing the same thin reflective, oil slick coming off of Crabbs right next to the APUA plant.

These days there are two different large scale producers of electricity up at the Crabbs Industrial area using huge heavy machines. APUA which runs both desalination and power production is one and the private APC is the other. As i mentioned earlier, Ewart Harney has a waste oil processing plant situated also up at Crabbs. Last week photos were taken of another type of oil spill coming from the area.
I was told my someone from APC that they had a major problem up at their plant recently which lead to "a quantity of oil" escaping into the cooling waters which flow down a canal into the mangroves there and ultimately into the sea seen here in an image taken from the 365Antigua article

On saturday a few of us went down in a small boat to the area where the oil ended up. Samples were collected and a video was shot together with an array of images. These have not been published, but it proves there was a recent oil spill despite the Coast Guard not being able to find it and various people and media questioning the leak.
I understand now after reading a piece in this Caribarena article that APC is saying that the leak wasn't from them which seems to be quite strange considering the photos which were posted on 365Antigua allegedly showing the spill and then people covering up the trail of oil coming from their plant. Here are some more of these telling photos:

As you can see, it is probably not unlikely that APC had something to do with this recent spill considering how much effort they went to to cover up their oily drain only hours after the helicopter photos were published and calls from the local media started coming in. I think this may have been a mistake made by one of the managers. That being said, APC did have some sort of malfunction and during normal periods of maintenance they do supply Haney's oil processing plant with their waste oil as i mentioned earlier and don't have a policy of dumping their oil. According to the Daily Observer article that mentioned this specific oil spill, the local Fisheries department was quoted as saying oil spills have nothing to do with them. This is strange since the entire area has been a marine protected area (NEMMA) under the Fisheries Act. Imagine what would have happened if their had been an oil spill within a marina park in the USA. I think we need some changes in our Fisheries department, but everyone knows this about as much as they know that Antigua needs some Environmental legislation changes. Something as simple as an "environmental inspector" up in the Crabbs Industrial area would be a step in the right direction. It's obvious that you can do whatever you want environmentally in this country and get away with it. (I can only think of one company that has ever gotten into minor trouble for an environmental issue.)
Although the oil spill from APC or whoever you want to blame for last weeks spill is terrible and would mean massive fines in a civilized country, the main problem as i see it is the constant, slow, spill or seepage of oil into the sea from Crabbs. Too many people know about this hazardous and long lasting spill and nobody is doing anything about it.
I am not a scientist and didn't do any more chemistry than i had do to in high school, but I am fairly sure that waste oil is extremely toxic especially when it is derived from a heavy fuel burning old desalination plant and or other large scale commercial applications. Without getting extremely technical you can get the general idea about why waste oil is hazardous by reading this link.
This link describes how chemicals which "include PCBs, VOCs, polyaromatic hydrocarbons (PAHs), petroleum hydrocarbons (PHCs) and lead" ended up in the water table and even in the drinking water because of a similar situation. Check this link.
This one speaks about a chemical that is often found in waste oil especially until the late 80s. In some parts of the Great Lakes: "Locally caught fresh water fish and shellfish are contaminated with PCBs and their consumption is restricted." Click here for more.
I hope that people who read this blog will share it with others and that one day someone who can actually take something that is "wrong" and make it "right" will be inspired to do more than just talk or write.

www.adventureantigua.com 

PS If you want more info on how to purchase recycled or processed oil in the form of diesel oil please call Ewart Harney at Harney Motors. Of course he will tell you how to get rid of your waste oil too.

Birthday Blessings by howard simon

Birthday Blessings by howard simon

A cool video taken by some friends on a recent trip to Barbuda.

Recently we did a private tour right around Barbuda and met up with some friends half way. You can see our boat Xtreme out front at one point. Anyway, it was a very cool trip and I will post a few images and a little story next week. Here is Adam Anton and friends' video:



Barbuda August 2010 from Kite Scoop on Vimeo.

www.adventureantigua.com

More info about the Green Fete: A Roots Reggae Party 27/8/10

WHO? The Green Fete is being organized by Abracadabra Bar in English harbour in partnership with the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG) and is shaping up to be the biggest "end of summer" party the island has seen in ages. The best reggae music from old school to new school will be spun in both sections of the club by DJ Quixx and DJ Kenny Nibbs.

WHAT? The Green Fete is a "Conscious" event and party where Reggae will be the music that makes you dance until the morning. This Roots Reggae dance party will have an eco theme to it with interesting info about Antigua's environment being carefully placed at areas around the club. In one section (not the dance floor) there will be a revolving slide show giving people who want to check it out, an interesting vision into the fascinating ecology of Antigua and Barbuda. ALL PROCEEDS FROM TICKET SALES go towards the Environmental Awareness Group so that they can continue to spread environmental awareness and manage their ecological projects. Buy your ticket before the 27th and you may win a weekend for two at Verandah Resort and Spa. Other prizes for best "Eco Outfit" and best "Green (colour) Outfit" will be awarded during the party. Sugar Ridge is donating one of those prizes and The Al Porto Restaurant is donating the other!

WHEN? This unique Reggae party is the perfect end to a fun filled summer. The Green Fete will kick off after dinner sometime around 10:30 PM on Friday August 27th. For those of you who possibly had your fill of this year's Carnival music, this party's reggae theme will get you dancing once again. You can buy your ticket at the door, but if you buy before you may with a weekend at Verandah Resort and Spa. The Winning ticket # will be announced on the EAG website and in the media on Friday 27th.

WHERE? Abracadabra Bar and Restaurant has been rocking Antigua's late night scene since I went to university back in the Early 1990s. It is located just before the main parking lot for Nelsons Dockyard and the English Harbour Police Station. The food there is amazing, and the nightlife there is just as good. Usually they are the place to go every weekend during the yachting season between November and May, but over the past few years they have been opening up in August too. Check out their Antiguanice website here. Tell everyone that The Green Fete is gonna be at "Abras" in English Harbour!

WHY? Why are we having this party? The main reason is that Antigua and Barbuda only has one proper environmental group which despite running some excellent environmental projects has difficulty getting funding for management of these projects and the general administration of the organization. A small team of us mainly made up of the EAG's board came up with a plan to throw a huge reggae party to help raise some very much needed funds. "The Abra-Posse" heard about it and being long supporters of the EAG, wanted to help straight away. If you buy a EC $20 or US $8 ticket for this party you will be helping the environment of Antigua and Barbuda and your money goes a long way! Please buy a ticket even if you don't plan on coming. The EAG needs your help!

HOW? It's very easy to be part of this event. All you have to do is pick up the phone and call +1 268 462 6236 to find out where you can come and get your ticket. So far we have tickets being sold upstairs of the museum in St. Johns at the EAG office. They are being sold at the JHR Caribbean office in Jolly Harbour. They are also being sold by me +1 268 725 7263 when i am not out on the boat. Later today we will start selling them at North Coast Hardware right next to Cafe Bella in the new Village Walk Commercial Center just past the Woods Mall going North. If you have no intention of coming but want to help the EAG and also want to have a chance at that weekend for two at the lovely Verandah Resort and Spa then you can call or email the EAG through their site to find out how to buy your tickets using a credit card. Remember each ticket is just US $8 or EC $20. Buy ten!! As a matter of fact, any company that buys more than ten tickets will have their logo and info included in our slide show which will be show somewhere inside the club all night long.

In a further effort to try to be eco friendly we are not printing thousands of flyers and posters for this one. This party is mostly using the web. Websites like my blog here, 365Antigua, Antiguanice, twitter and our facebook event page are what we are putting most of our energy in. You play a big part in this promotion by sharing the links with your contacts and generally telling people about it. Click on either of the images here to get larger versions of them if you want, and please pass them around or send the link of today's blog. Click here for it.

Big party tonight and A very special Reggae party in Antigua to finish off August

On Friday the 27th of August I am helping to organize a very very exciting reggae party. It's officially called "The Green Fete: a Roots Reggae Party".
As a board member on the islands main environmental group, the Environmental Awareness Group (EAG), I was put in charge of trying to raise some very needed funds. The organization, as you can see from looking at their webiste: EAG , is well run as far as their projects and outreach programs go, but they needed some help with their finances. Anyway, my company did a special catamaran cruise for them a few months ago

That was good fun, but we didn't raise a huge amount of money. We needed more, so we decided to team up with the oldest and best night spot on the island to throw a special party. Abracadabra Bar in English Harbour has always been interested in environmental concerns and wanted to help as soon as i brought the concept to them. It's an all reggae eco party. I will have more info on it to come soon. It's still a few weeks away, but for now check out the amazing poster done for us by Jus Bus:

As you will see if you click on his link, he has a huge birthday party tonight also at Abras. Here is his poster again from that:

www.adventureantigua.com

Another lovely review of our Eco Tour

This lovely review came in this week and made me smile. I am posting it here to show you what kind of feedback we have been getting on our day tours recently. If you have been out with us and take the time to post one of these, I will try to post it here. Remember you can also post them on the Adventure Antigua Trip Advisor page. Click here to these reviews and have a read below:

From: Grainne Hollborn
Sent: Tuesday, August 10, 2010 9:45 PM
To: Adventure Antigua
Subject: Re: July 22nd excursion

Hi Nell-

Just wanted to let you and Eli know how our July 22nd Eco tour went. It was a great-fantastic experience!!!!! WE are SOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO Glad we did this trip!!!!
The crew was so nice and knowledgeable. Cpt. Cool, Chris and Nicolette very welcoming-friendly, professional in every aspect!! (we live on Long Island and grew up on the Great South Bay-grew up on boats and on the water). The boat is very comfortable-in great shape. Very clean. Easy to move around in(even the head). Cpt. Cool was great-very smooth docking. He handled the boat so well-effortless!! Always a smooth ride!! Chris and Nicolette were very interesting, friendly, and very funny!! They were also funny-even Cpt. Cool was funny (in a quiet way).
Your lunch was very good(Yes Nell-the best BBQ chicken we have tasted). The crew was always concerned with everyone's well being. The boat was very easy to get in and out of. The equipment was first rate. Relaxing and informative was the rule of the day.
I highly recommend this trip!!!
We were disappointed not to have been able to go sailing with you this year. Hopefully this tour will get more popular and we can go next July!

Once again thank you for a great trip!!!

Best Warm Regards;
Grainne Hollborn and Family

By the way, the image above is my twitter background.

www.adventureantigua.com

Special Dinner to raise money for Youth Sailing in Antigua

So many people in Antigua complain about the youth of our nation and how so many are going down wrong paths. Some people just don't talk. Some people try to do something about the common problem. One of these people is Pippa who runs the Jolly Harbour Youth Sailing Program. Youth from around Antigua can come and take part in this amazing program and be taught how to sail by some very qualified instructors.
To do this properly the program needs plenty of help and not just in terms of man/woman hours, the program also needs money. Personally, I don't think there are many programs in Antigua that can open up opportunities for young kids like the island's two sailing programs.
The one in Jolly Harbour needs your help and Angie at Al Porto has offered to give them a huge boost by putting on a special dinner for them. The food is very good with one of Antigua's best Italian chefs now running the show there, and if you come and enjoy the lovely dinner there on the 28th of August, you will be helping the sailing program and Antigua's youth. For more info you can contact the Jolly Harbour Youth Sailing Program by clicking this link. Here are the yummy details of the dinner:

Youth Sailing Programme Fund Raising Dinner – Al Porto August 28th 2010




Antipasti:
Insalata ceasar
Romaine hearts, garlic & parmesan dressing

Bruschette miste
Toasted baguette with olive oil, diced tomato, basil, onion, topped with goat cheese

Caprese
Tomato, mozzarella, basil, extra virgin olive oil

Pasta &Pizza

Penne fumo
Pasta with smoked salmon, cherry tomatoes in a light cream sauce

Pappardelle ai funghi
Homemade pasta ribbons, mushrooms and chicken in a light cream sauce

Margherita
Pizza with fresh tomato sauce, mozzarella and basil

Ravioli
Homemade pasta stuffed with ricotta cheese and mushrooms with a light cream sauce

Mains

Melanzana alla parmigiana
Grilled eggplant, tomato & basil baked with a parmesan crust with a side salad

Pollo Al Porto
Wood oven baked chicken breast with homemade fries & tomato mozzarella salad

Grilled catch of the day
Fresh fillet in a pesto cream sauce with homemade fries & tomato mozzarella salad

Vitello limone
Veal scallops in a light lemon cream sauce with homemade fries & tomato mozzarella salad

Dessert

Tiramisu
Layers of sponge and mascarpone cream, coffee and amaretto essence

Mousse al cioccolate
Rich chocolate mousse topped with whipping cream

Three big parties coming up to finish off the summer in style. The First:

My long time friend Justin Nation is teaming up with Abracadabra Bar here in English Harbour to put on a big party on Saturday 14th August.

Justin grew up essentially on the streets of Antigua and had a pretty tough time throughout his childhood. Somehow he managed to find out that he was magically gifted artistically and taught himself how to create art on his computer. He never limited himself to any one art form and is as good at visual arts and graphic design as he is at his music endeavors. That being said, it's his music that has become his main passion. Working with many other great artists across the Caribbean and in the USA where he was based for a few years recently, he has produced many remarkable songs. Some have ended up being very successful. Recently he has been teaming up with other singers and producers to not only produce but also to perform in his music.

An album is in the works at the moment in collaboration with several of Antigua's top musicians as well as my friend Torsten Stenzel, himself an internationally recognized producer originally from Germany. I am sure I will have more info about this album soon as it is going to be marketed internationally and will be very good without a doubt.
A few days ago  http://www.365antigua.com/ ran a story on Justin JUS BUS Nation and specifically about the party. Here is a little of it:

Well, it's a joint celebration for Abras and birthday boy Jus Bus. The diverse artist was born in America but raised in the islands of the Caribbean. He's spent the last 26 years of his life perfecting a natural talent for music and graphic arts. To promote his struggling brand and musical abilities, he unofficially remixed artist including Jay Z, Drake, Rihanna, Marcy Playground, John Legend and Nina Simone until 2009 when he landed his first official placement with Sony USA on the John Legend "Evolver" album for the remix of No Other Love featuring Estelle.

The article goes on to say that this party on the 14th will be:

A well-rounded journey through sound will feature the best of todayʼs hottest exotic DJ's along with guest appearances by F.R.E.E. Entertainment and Team Ultra to create the ultimate party experience. Musical performances on the night by Wardadli Souljahs, Deejay Charlie, T-Dawg, with special appearances by Shamobe, Kenne Blessin, Team Ultra, Trilla, Lee Pee Ching, Logiq Pryce & Jus Bus and more!

Justin and I both use new media quite a bit to promote our brand and you can find him on his twitter account here and on his website here.

Later this week I will speak about the other big party the following weekend. Save your energy, the end of the summer is going to be active in more ways than one.

i've been missing in action

For the past week i have been once again down on the tiny island of Carriacou. We are told that "Carriacou" means island surrounded by reefs in the now extinct Arawak language. The Arawaks were one of two tribes of Indian people found in the Caribbean when the first Europeans arrived in the late fifteenth century. 

Another Arawak name is Zemi which is a unique sculpture that housed the spirit(s). It was a very special piece in the Arawak village and I have found many of them here in Antigua with my dad who is the local expert on Zemis. Anyway, our new sailing vessel seen out at anchor above, which sailed for the first time recently was named Zemi by my wife. I was thinking of naming it Calalloo after the popular Caribbean dish and also the name of the hotel my grandfather built over next to Curtain Bluff. Anyway, Zemi sounded better and that was the name that she was launched under. Since her launch in the new year, she has had a mast put in, rigging set up, and sails built.

Last weekend was the Carriacou Regatta and Zemi's builders had said that they wanted to race her then.

This forty two foot sloop with a massive genoa and main was going to be sailed for the first time the day before the race if all went well. Of course, as is usually the case down there, things didn't get done on a tight schedule and the first race ended up starting with us still on anchor scrubbing moss off the bottom and putting spinnaker blocks on the top of the mast.

Somehow we managed to set sail and cross the line 20 minutes late. This boat is ready to sail..... sort of, because without any winches at all, it wasn't easy. We had to add extra sand bags to ballast the boat enough to race and we found out that in winds over 15 knots we simply didn't have enough down below.

Anyway, we did fairly well an managed to improve in every race as we changed bits and pieces on the boat.

For me the regatta was the "sea trial" that every new boat needs before she can go off shore, and the plan was to sail back to Antigua after the regatta once we knew she was sea worthy. That plan also got changed when we realized that tropical storm Collin was going to be passing too close for comfort to Antigua. Without any modern navigational equipment and no engine the risk that something could go wrong in bad weather spinning off from a tropical storm was too great. We decided to slip the boat in Carriacou and get some fresh paint on her before we made the 350 mile trip up to Antigua. As it happened the storm fizzled out and we had beautiful weather in Antigua. Zemi will soon be sailing up from Carriacou to be properly painted and finished here in Antigua in a similar way to what we did with the Ocean Nomad which we use with http://www.sailingantigua.com/

The Lionfish is probably here in Antigua already.

From island to island all the way from Florida along the West Indian archipelago the Pacific Lionfish has migrated up current. The story is that this very dangerous alien species first first got into the waters off Florida during the disastrous Hurricane Andrew back in 1992. I don't think there were many people who thought we would see them here. Just over a week ago The Nature Foundation St. Maarten reported that a specimen had been spotted on a wreck very close to shore.
Why is this terrible news and why do i describe them as "very dangerous"?
I describe them as dangerous for several reasons. The lesser evil is that they have a very painful sting. According to the Nature Foundation speaking about the fish that was spotted there:

If you do happen to catch it please be VERY careful; all of the spines on the caudal, pectoral, anal and dorsal fins are venomous and can cause an EXTREMELY painful and dangerous sting. First aid treatment is immersion in hot water, as hot as the victim can take. Advise your divers about this as well.
It is important that if you do catch it the specimen be delivered to or picked up by the Nature Foundation as we need to do tissue sampling and send it off to NOAA in the States, we need to analyze the stomach contents to figure out what its been eating, and we need to positively i.d the subspecies (P.miles or P.volitans). All of this info will help us control the invasion better.

The sting you get from touching one is pretty bad, but another more sinister evil is how quickly they reproduce and take over habitats in the Caribbean. These fish are not natural to this area at all and have almost no predators. They on the other hand, prey on anything that swims near them. A Jamaican fisheries officer told me that when they arrive on a reef, they quickly kill all of the other fish on the reef. He says that before long the Lions are the only fish on the reef. This type of invasive species is the most dangerous one as it destroys the ecosystem's food chain and ultimately the system itself. After writing these words I googled a bit to see if i could find some good articles to back this up. The Guardian out of the UK printed this article yesterday: Read Here.

Unless there is some very weird miracle, the lionfish will be spotted in Antigua and Barbuda very soon as it continues to spread like a plague down towards South America.
All Doom and Gloom? Well, there isn't much positive to say about this story, but I can only say that this is once again another reason among the many that i have already written about that the Fisheries Department of Antigua and Barbuda need to start working on protection of key species of fish. Groupers are one of the only predators of lionfish, and we naturally had a very healthy population of groupers until very recently. Overfishing and the total lack of proper fisheries management has lead to some species of grouper becoming extinct here and all of the rest of the shallow water reef species severely endangered. If the North East Marine Management Area gets started with a proper board and a proper manager, groupers and all other species of reef fish will make a rapid comeback. We will then start to see other large predators out on the reefs including the green moray eels and sharks that were so common up until the 1990s. The NEMMA and other carefully managed marine parks may be the key to preventing the total destruction of our marine habitats. Lionfish are killed by groupers, but without groupers the lionfish will takeover. Have a read of this interesting report on lionfish in other areas of the West Indies. Click here. This is a section from that article:

While complete eradication does not seem realistic, affected nations are encouraged to initiate targeted lionfish control efforts as soon as possible, including targeted fisheries (lionfish flesh is tasty and cooking denatures the spine venom). Efforts to reduce densities of lionfish at key locations may help to lessen their ecological impacts. Recovering and maintaining healthy populations of potential native predators of lionfish, such as large grouper and sharks, may also help reduce the deleterious effects of these voracious invasive predators.

 History repeats itself unless you learn from it.

Just back from a trip to see Zemi in Carriacou.

Last week I took on a quick delivery job which entailed me taking a powerboat down to the Grenadines. The boat belonged to Elite Island Resorts which has Galley Bay, St. James Club, and Verandah here in Antigua. They run a magnificent island resort in the heart of the Grenadines called Palm Island which is in fact where my wife and I spend the second half of our honeymoon last year. We had to deliver the boat to Palm, but part of the deal was that I would use the boat to deliver a few small items to our new Carriacou Sloop "Zemi". Eventually we will add this boat to our fleet.
Back in the early part of this year the new boat was launched with the usual traditions and ceremony. Here is a movie which contains a collection of images several of us took along the way as well as on launch day:

She has now had most of her ballast added, and just before we arrived there last week, she had her mast put in.
Our job while there was to get the mast properly rigged with the forestay, shrouds and running backstays. We also had to attach both jib and main halyards. Imagine trying to attach blocks and halyards to a mast that had none in it before. It's a good thing one of the builder's sons has ice running through his veins. It was a scary thing to watch as he climbed up the mast and balanced on the spreaders while attaching the blocks. Crazy. Don't ask me why they couldn't find a single shackle on windward to put on the top of the mast. That would have made it easier to get him up there safely. Anyway, by the end of a day and a half of work, we were almost ready to sail. Unfortunately we had to return to Antigua and left them trying to fit the rudder and boom. I think they will be sailing by the start of next week.
This shot taken with my phone shows Calistus up high on the mast fixing the rigging in place.

He was up there for ages as it was very hard work and not the safest. Imagine if this boat was being built in the UK where health and safety regulations are the strongest on the planet!
Anyway, the boss was his dad, and it seemed like this was something Cal had done many times. He showed no fear at all and got the job done.
Alexis Andrew's Genesis is almost in Carriacou and another Carriacou sloop will be on its way down from Antigua this weekend. They are both on their way to the Carriacou Regatta which is held over a few days starting on the 30th. We went last year and I was toying with the idea of going down to race Zemi this year, but I think I may end up missing it. That being said, the Zemi may end up sailing it's maiden voyage in the regatta if the builders get her ready in time. I will go down again some time this summer to sail her out of Carriacou.

Tropical Meteorology 101 - hurricane season must.

I found this on the CrownWeather site and he had taken it from another site shown in the link below. If you are planning a holiday to the Caribbean this summer then I hve to tell you not to worry. Remember Antigua which is in a pretty good spot for hurricanes has had 6 days of hurricane conditions over the past 50+ years. You will be fine! Anyway, you should brush up on your meterology and how a hurricane forms and what happens next. This is the best set of info I have seen so far. Check it out so that you know what we are speaking about this summer. "Tek it easy", eli.

Tropical Meteorology 101 - GCWX - Hurricane Season 2010 - The Premiere WX Community For LA & MS

Digicel has had a problem in Antigua and has kept it secret.

The problem with Digicel in Antigua that most people don't know about has to do with phones that receive and send data. Because it's so easy to miss this problem, most people won't even believe it if you tell them. In fact, many people working for Digicel have no idea about the problem either, but it's costing some of us money and causing many problems for others. Of course Digicel says that they service allows the user to send and receive date while receiving phone calls and texts, but this isn't working properly. The problem is that calls are not coming through occasionally when you are sending or receiving data. Our company has several phones in using data on our corporate plan where we have quite a few phones. It doesn't happen all the time, but we have had to buy a LIME phone which receives forwarded calls from our digicel number printed on the brochure. We sit in full signal with our digi phone and get calls on our secret LIME number every single day.
We had been complaining about the problem for over a year with Digicel always telling us that we must be in a bad signal area. All of our Adventure Antigua brochures have our digicel number on it and don't have our lime number. Our employees, our customers and I have to call our office/brochure number many times during the day and we all have gotten voice mail thousands of times. Our phone is manned 24/7 and we know that without it being answered we don't get customers and our boats sit in port. Answering the phone is paramount to getting good business and we make sure that we are in an area that has good signal. Yet for over two years we have been noticed the problem with voice mail all of a sudden coming in without a single ring. We have also been told by everyone who calls the number that it just after it not being answered it just goes to voice mail. Time and time again we called Digicel reps to be told that we don't know what we are talking about. Finally after a year of our Lime phone taking forwarded calls each day, I spoke to a Digicel technician who we can call "Mitch". He listened to the same story i had been telling the corporate account reps for ages and said "yes, we recently found out about this problem. We know that some of the calls coming into phones that are sending or receiving data don't come through. We have done some research and found out that we need some new equipment to solve this problem". I called the Digicel office in Antigua straight away demanding another phone and sim card for my phone so that i wouldn't have to buy another Lime phone. They asked me to put it in writing to them. I did and never got a reply. Ten days later I sent it again, but didn't get a reply. Recently I spoke to our corporate representative and asked him to find out about the problem and to find out why I haven't had a reply to my letters. I am still waiting to hear from him. Anyone using data and receiving plenty of calls.... you are missing many of them. Anyone ever tell u they called you and you had no missed call, or have you ever received a voicemail without the phone ringing when you are sitting in an area that has a strong signal? It's time for digicel to come clean and to not only do something about it but to compensate many of us for lost business.
I would go as far as to say that if Digicel know about this problem and has kept it secret, then this is fraud according to my definition of it. What do you think? Below is the first email that I sent to their office here in Antigua as requested.

---------- Forwarded message ----------


From: eli fuller
Date: Mon, Mar 22, 2010 at 4:19 PM

Subject: problem with incoming calls that are also receiving/sending data

To: mailto:&%5E$%5E#&@digicelgroup.com

Cc: Adventure Antigua,

Dear Althea, For what seems like six months i have been complaining to Digicel representatives about a problem that i had noticed with your service. When in a position with full signal I often a) receive voice mail alerts and/or b) am told by people (including my staff and customers) that they had called me without getting a reply.
This wouldn't normally be a problem IF I heard the phone ring or noticed a missed call. The problem is that this usually happens without my phone ringing and registering a missed call.
As i mentioned, i complained about this time and time again. In fact, it happened so much on our main company phone 268 726 6355, that I nearly fired my own sister who answers that call. I accused her of not telling the truth because I would be calling her counting the calls, only to get her voice mail. She'd ring me back saying that the phone never rang. This is our main company phone that is advertised in all of our promotional materials. Our business depends on this phone receiving calls so much that I told her to go and buy a phone from Lime. We now have our 726 6355 number forwarded to the lime number, so that we don't miss calls from our customers. Despite this phone number not being on any of our promotional materials YET, we get calls on that number forwarded from our digicel number every day. This is totally unacceptable but what makes matters worse, is that for months and months I have been telling digicel reps that I am experiencing this problem on my phones and they always tell me that essentially i am imagining it. You can imagine how frustrating it is to know a problem exists and to be told that there isn't one.
Today I finally spoke with someone in your company who knew something about the problem. I was told by this person that they recently realized that they had problems occasionally where people who were using data were not receiving calls that rang through on the other end as if they were not being answered. THIS IS THE PROBLEM I HAVE BEEN EXPERIENCING FOR WHAT SEEMS LIKE A YEAR!
I know I have lost business because of this as tour reps tell me that they have just called the next tour company time and time again when they were unable to get a reply from our number.
At the very least I want you to give me simple phones and sim cards for three of my company phones that I know are experiencing this problem. We will then forward all calls to these (non data) phones so that we can receive our calls when the other phones are experiencing problems. I also would like a credit for the amount i spend every month with Lime which as it happens is a tiny charge. We only use the phone to receive calls that don't come through on our 726 6355 number and have been doing this for nearly a year.
As I mentioned on the phone, this problem which is being kept quiet by Digicel has cost my company money and wasted quite a bit of my time and patience.
Please let me know what you are going to do about it, and also please tell me when you think it will be repaired.

Thanks, eli
--

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Just another comment on fisheries in Antigua

As you will know if you have been a regular reader of my blogs over the years, I often comment on the lack of proper fisheries management here in Antigua. Our marine ecosystem is way bigger than our terrestrial systems yet it has no real visible management and as a result many areas of the fishery and the marine environment that support it are having huge problems. Use the little search box up in the corner to search for "fisheries" and you will probably find more posts.
The comment here is about a dinner I went to this week. Actually it happened twice. The first was a dinner with a bunch of people from both sides of Antigua's political divide. The politics wasn't that interesting, but what was to me was that dinner was two different types of fish. One is probably the most widely consumed fish in Antigua and Barbuda. I have no idea what the real name of the fish is or even what it looks like. "Banga Mary" is imported from South America and eaten all around Antigua these days. The other was flying fish, another import. While i ate the deeply fried fish, I contemplated the situation. Here we were in a room with some of Antigua's most influential people and possibly the next prime minister and we were eating imported fish. Why is it a big deal? Well it's not that I am complaining as I was a guest, and the fish actually tasted very nice. It's just that I know that the reason we were eating this imported fish is that it's almost impossible to get enough local fish for a large group such as we had that night.
On Saturday night I went to another dinner. This time the dinner and import was salmon and it was totally delicious, but again had the cook had been able to get some nice local fish we wouldn't have been eating something imported.
Yesterday I went to First Choice Supermarket, where I was surprised as how much seafood they had on the shelves. Salmon, shrimp, squid, scallops, lingfish, mackerel, conch, mahi mahi and others. The only thing on the shelf that was actually locally harvested was conch. Interesting as conch fishing is banned in many parts of the Caribbean because of such low stocks. On paper, we have legislation about conch fishing and there are size limits, but if you go around Antigua's coastline you will see piles of tiny conch shells that were illegally harvested. Why? Simply because nobody is out there checking.
Anyway, even the mahi mahi at First Choice was imported. I assumed it was simply because each time I have seen mahi before in the supermarkets, it had been imported from the Indian Ocean. These had a funny colour to them and had been frozen some time ago. The labels didn't say if the fish was from Antigua as did the conch. This is a fish that we have around Antigua off shore in good numbers.
The average hotel guest coming here to Antigua will not eat local seafood in their hotel at any time during their stay. This is almost totally because of terrible fisheries management. The same can be said for our residents. We have a very hard time finding any variety of fresh local fish. IT isn't because we don't have good fisheries facilities. We have quite a few lovely ones donated by the Japanese in exchange for our whaling vote. The simple problem is that overfishing without management has all but killed our fishery. There are still a few areas which can be utilized, but without management they won't last long. I fear that conch and lobster will be wiped out before long unless something is done. The sand producing and reef sustaining parrot fish and other similar herbivores are being harvested in unsustainable netting methods at alarming rates at the moment without any management at all. It's almost not worth speaking about it because the powers that be don't seem to be interested at all.
There is always cod fish right? We have been eating that here for hundreds of years..... Hold on a moment. The cod fish industry wiped cod out.

"My wife and I had an AWESOME time!!!!"

Another lovely review of our Xtreme around Antigua day tour. It's reviews like these that make us very happy to be doing what we do. THANK YOU MIKE!!!!!

Mike Esposito

Review posted on Trip Advisor....7/4/10

My wife and I have nothing but good things to say about Adventure Antigua. They were extremely helpful in getting our reservations setup before we arrived in Antigua and great throughout the tour. We did the Extreme Circumnavigation tour - it is a little more expensive than some of the other tours available, but well worth it!!!!

The power boat that they take you on is a blast - make sure to sit in the front if you like waves, ocean spray and to feel the full experience of the boat. It happened to be raining on the day we went, but my wife and I still had an AWESOME time!!!! We laughed the entire time and made the best of it. The captain and tour guide (forgot their names) both taller, skinnier guys, were hilarious. They knew that some people were not too happy with the rain, but tried to make the best out of the day. In our opinion, the rain was not something that anyone could control, so we just made the best of it. The captain and guide were very down to earth and great to talk with - they type of people you enjoy hanging out with, plus they were full of great knowledge about the island.

You go through a bunch of smaller islands and then you go to Stingray City - the camera guy who takes your pics and the guys who help you touch the stingrays were also great - very friendly and helpful to those who might have been a little scared at first (my wife). The stingrays are beautiful and come right up to you - you can even feed and pet them.

From here you go to a private beach where the team sets up a lunch for everyone - the BBQ chicken is to die for - some of the best I have ever had...! Then you go to Nelson's dockyard and then to pillars or Hercules where you snorkel for a little bit. We had a massive storm come in and so we were only there for about 10 minutes - I have been a Scuba diver for over 15 years and that was definitely some of the most "extreme" snorkeling I had ever did - the captain and guide quickly got everyone back into the boat and then we continued to make our way around the island. We were supposed to stop at one more beach for rum punch, but the weather took a turn for the worse, so we just started heading in - I learned how to drink rum punch in 6 - 7 foot seas while going 30 - 40 mph haha - seriously so much fun!

The waves were huge that day, but for us, it only added to the fun of the tour - definitely "extreme" haha...it is a tour and day we will never forget - tons of laughing, beautiful sites and well worth the money. I can only imagine that it is that much more beautiful and fun when the seas and weather are calm.

This tour books up quickly so make sure you get your reservations either before you get to the island or right when you get to your resort. Top class operation that I would definitely use again.

While Antigua's fisheries policy is focussed on Japanese Aid, Rome burns!

The title above is just so true. I have written many articles pointing out how exactly our nations marine eco systems are in severe decline while at the same time our government has received tens of millions in grants from Japan in a "quid pro quo" arrangement. We vote with them on any fisheries related issues at the various international conventions. Each country has one vote and ours is worth quite a sum.

This is simple politics and its the same world wide. I won't change it and will have to live with it. That being said, it is unacceptable that all of this money and support we are receiving form Japan isn't actually helping our marine eco systems in a way that will benefit future generations of fishermen or any other group.

Several days ago a large foreign flagged boat ran aground in the North East Marine Management Area (NEMMA) causing some damage to an area of shallow sea grass beds teaming with marine life. Remember, this area has been legally made into a Marine Protected Area (MPA). Our boat tours passed it early in the morning while the ship tried fruitlessly to get itself off the shallows. There was a huge cloud of silt all around the boat as its prop wash pushed and pulled the boat in the shallow waters. Here is a photo of the boat taken later on when they had stopped trying to move themselves:

If you look above the L in "Lovely Lisa" there is a guy at the wheel house, and this gives you an idea of how big the boat is. A little further back yo can see the boat's registration number. "TT" shows that this fishing boat is from Trinidad & Tobago which doesn't actually have anything to do with the point I am trying to make, but opens up another huge can or worms which I will tackle when i get more info. Everyone involved is being very tight lipped, so I don't know why a huge TT registered commercial fishing boat was stuck on a grass flat in our waters.
Back to my point...... We called the coast guard so that some help to the situation could be afforded. They didn't seem to know about it. A call was made to the Fisheries Division who also didn't know about it. The person on the phone seemed concerned and surprised and obviously wanted to do something about it, BUT they said something like they didn't have access to transportation. Later it was alleged that the budget for fuel in the Fisheries Division had been cut to almost nothing which meant that they were essentially grounded. All those millions of dollars in Japanese aid to build fisheries buildings and not a dime permitted to be used in protection of Marine Protected Areas or anything else for that matter. What a joke. It's all politics and you have to feel for the workers in the Fisheries Department. A call was also made to the Environment Division because they always seem to have transportation in the form of cars and trucks. They said they would speak with the Coast Guard.
In the end the boat was pulled off the shallows by a tug after considerable effort and it was towed to the tug's base nearby at Crabs industrial area.
Finally the Coast Guard and Fisheries inspected the boat and the decision was made to take the boat to the Coast Guard Base. I have seen nothing in the news about this boat but as far as I am aware, no charges or considerations were made in association with the damage to NEMMA's Marine Protected Area.
Anywhere else, the boat would have been heavily fined and impounded until the fines were paid.
Here is an article taken from the Amandala by Aaron Humes. It speaks of a more serious situation that happened recently in Belize. It shows that the financial side of these accidents are something that a broke government may want to take not of!

In what Chief Justice Abdulai Conteh called one of the most “technical” cases he has ever decided in his time in the Belize Supreme Court, the Government of Belize won its claim against the owners of Dutch cargo ship Westerhaven, which plowed into Belize’s Barrier Reef on the night of January 13, 2009, allegedly because of negligence on the part of its captain, Fritz Schroeder.

The MS Westerhaven Schiffahrb GMBH& Co. KG must now pay BZ$11.5 million in damages for running over an acre of pristine coral while on its way out of Belize, headed for Santo Tomas in Guatemala. The Company was represented by Michael Young and Darrell Bradley of Youngs Law Firm, while the case for the Attorney General was argued by the mother-daughter team of Lois Young and Deanne Barrow.
Estimates of the damage were as high as BZ$52 million at one point, but when the case went to court in November the defendants conceded liability and pressed for a judgment of US$2.5 million – the amount they estimated it would cost to rebuild the reef with artificial coral. They also argued that a 1976 Convention of Limitation of Liability on Maritime Liens, to which Belize is a party, would limit the amount the C.J. could grant to the Government.
The Government on the other hand requested as much as $31 million, based on an estimate of value of some $5,000 per square meter of coral.
In the judgment, according to Barrow, the C.J. stated that the 1976 Convention does not apply to injury to coral reefs, and therefore he was unlimited in what he could award in damages.
At the same time, the C.J. thought that $11.5 million was “fair” based on a reduced measure of value, at about BZ$2,000 per square meter. (The amount of coral damaged is estimated at a little over an acre, or between 5,500 and 6,500 square meters.)
Deanne Barrow told us that on the matter of rebuilding the reef, the idea was considered “not practical” because of the state of devastation the Westerhaven left in its wake; there was quite literally “nothing to build on,” she told us.
The area damaged is located about 32 miles southeast of Belize City, and is according to Barrow located within a prime protected area for Nassau Grouper spawning.
Expecting a possible appeal, the Government is seeking to enforce the BZ$13 million bond on the ship signed last February, weeks after the grounding.
In court this morning, we are told, the Chief Justice read a poem celebrating the value and beauty of the Belize Barrier Reef, long recognized as the second-longest unbroken chain of coral reef in the world behind its more illustrious cousin in Australia, and which demands Belize’s protection.

Recently back in Feb, another yacht ran aground on a lovely reef inside the NEMMA. Huge efforts were made by nearby residents and others to get this boat moved. All the government departments kicked the problem between them like a world cup football while the boat caused more and more environmental damage. The boat is still high and dry up there off Green Island. There is aslo another ship causing environmental damage in Seatons also in the NEMMA. Nothing has been done there either. A massive fuel leak from the West Indies Oil platform happened a few months back. NADA done bout that either. There are many more similar cases. There are environmental accidents all the time here and nobody pays any attention to them. When will our leaders learn?

EDIT 2/7/10

I called the local Coast Guard to find out more about this T&T registered fishing boat. They told me that they didn't really know why the boat was being kept and that i should speak with the Customs Department which i did next. They told me that the only reason the boat was being kept was that "it was found in an unofficial port of entry." JEEZ!!!! They were taken there by a tug boat that took several hours to get them off of a protected bit of marine eco system!!!!!!!!

Purple haze all in the Caribbean......

At various times of the year, the Caribbean can be covered in thick haze which makes it difficult to see very far at all. Many people looking at things like web cams will think that what they are seeing is just a cloudy day, but most of the time in the spring and summer months what they are seeing is haze caused by African dust or the Saharan Air Layer (SAL) as it is called in meteorological circles. Check this photo from today's Saharan Air Layer (SAL) Analysis:

As you can see, the dust coloured in orange and yellow, is covering the eastern Caribbean as it comes over the Atlantic from Africa. I just took a photo on my HTC and uploaded it to my twitter page for you to see the stuff. Click here for that photo. Pro photographers hate this haze as it can make for fairly flat images, but to be honest, that's the least of the problems this dust can cause. I wrote a long detailed blog about it with a pretty good explanation about it all in 2007. Click here to learn more about African Dust in the Caribbean.

Happy cruise passengers vowing to come back!

A review from one of our cruise passengers who unfortunately came to antigua on a rare rainy day. They should have been out today when the weather was perfect! Thanks for the review!

From: Paula [vital1@******.net]


Sent: Tuesday, June 29, 2010 1:17 AM

To: Adventure Antigua

Subject: Re: AA-Booking Eco Tour Confirmation June 23rd 2010 x4

 Hi! The weather didn't cooperate at all for this tour, but I had to let you know what an outstanding job the crew did that day. They warned us it was going to rain and everyone decided to go anyway. The first rain wasn't that bad, but when the storm blew in at Bird Island it got rough! Captain Cool, Chris and did a great job keeping everyone safe. I've grown up near the water and know how quickly the seas can become angry.
Anyway, Nicole was the other crew member and everyone was fantastic! This was my son and my second time and my boyfriend and his son's first time to take the tour. Even though we only did half, they had a great time and are using the rain as an excuse to go back and try it again! I just felt compelled to let you know that you have wonderful people working for you and we will be back again.

hot and sticky at the moment in antigua.

At the moment, I am sitting on my computer trying to catch up on emails and all the other admin kinda stuff that you try to ignore but know you can't.
We had a stretch of bad weather for boating last week. We canceled both our tours on two different days that started out terribly but ended up being nice days. The satellite and radar sites that we often use in conjunction together didn't work in our favor, but from experience i know it's better to be safe than sorry. On another day we looked at the same websites and forecast that it would clear up sending out our boats. Xtreme managed to miss most of the bad weather which seemed not to be as bad on the East and South of the island. That being said, the North and West side where the Eco Tour had been didn't fare the same. They had significant rains for quite a bit of the tour. My captain gave the guests the option of paying for as much as 50% of the tour's price but said that it would be up to them to decide if it was worth that. It was his decision on what call to make. Anyway, the guests, mostly from a cruise ship all decided to pay the 50% which i must say was very kind of them. Cancelling four other boat trips that week wasn't too cool at all, but sometimes the weather can be a bit hard to predict when a tropical wave is passing through. We usually get it right and don't usually have to cancel tours. Of course when we do, we credit 100% of the money back to our customers.
Today there was no need to worry about that and the Eco Tour is out in some very warm but calm conditions. It's dry too unless you are snorkeling which is where most people would want to be today. WOW it's warm. JD and I will be out cleaning the sloop's bottom later today. This isn't usually the best way to spend an afternoon but it's sooo hot that I think neither of us will mind being below the surface.
I have been uploading photos from my phone quite often to my twitter account. Keep an eye out there every now and then for images like this one.

This is one I posted the other day over at Weatherills Beach.

interesting film about our home

A very interesting and timely presentation from visiting ambassador.

"Birds as environmental indicators" will be a very interesting lecture held in Antigua on Monday. Once in a while I am sure that many of you reading this get tired the same old TV programs, tired of just hearing the same stuff every day, tired of seeing the same people every week. During the summer many people complain that there isn't enough stuff to do. If you want to experience and LEARN something new and possibly meet some new people, come to the EAG lecture this Monday evening at 7 PM.
For me it's very interesting that this lecture is being presented at a point when many Shearwaters and other birds seem to be dropping dead in alarming numbers. It's also a very poignant lecture for Antigua because so many habitats are being wiped out and with them bird species. I can only imagine what the meeting "Fish as environmental indicators would be like". Anyway, I hope to see you there this Monday!

A fishing video from Marlin Magazine

Some fishing video action taken out with friends in Antigua.

Marlin 300 Player