Date: 5.12.2021
Author: Dana
Position: English Harbour, Antigua
Geographical Position: 16°57‘7N 061°47‘7W
Etmal: 0 NM (total: 5632NM)

We really are in the Caribbean now! The part of the voyage many people were the most excited about (apart from Costa Rica).

And the part of the journey I thought would be the most challenging for me.
Actually, it’s not; It’s just great here!
What a nice way of being wrong… It even gives you a topic for your next daily report.

So, here we go:

I had expected the weather to be way too hot for me to do anything else than laying around in the shade, especially after the days without wind on the Atlantic.

Usually, the warmest days in summer in the north of Germany are too hot for me but here it‘s just nice weather: Lots of sun but also lots of wind and shade. It even rained several times a day for the last two days: One time in the middle of the day when the sun was burning the hottest and at least once more in the evening a few hours after sunset.

The next thing was the language: I didn’t know Antigua was British and thought it would be a bit like it was in Santiago de Compostela or on the Canaries where little to no one spoke English. We still got everything we needed back there so it would definitely work here too, it‘s just easier when you have a language you and the person in front of you share.

Which also made it possible to understand how friendly the people here are.
That‘s another awesome thing: Everyone is just so friendly and welcoming!

One example: I was at the beach and a girl, about two years older than me, came over to me and asked where I was from, how long I would stay and if I liked Antigua. She was very nice and in the end she asked for my Instagram account to be able to text me again. What she actually did.

Something like that would never happen in Europe. Or maybe once but not everywhere you go and whoever you meet.

The only “struggle” we had was the money: Caribbean Dollars you can only use here or maybe on the next island or so, but nowhere else we are going to visit.

Only paying with card was not the perfect option because you lose money when paying like this. Even more than when paying with US-Dollars.

That´s what most of us did: Paying with US-Dollars for two days and getting change in EC-Dollars until you had enough to only pay with those for the last day.

The thing we didn´t struggle with at all were the covid-rules. At the moment, I am just very happy to be here where the rules are clear and everyone sticks to them and not be at home.

Yes, I’m really far away from home now, but I am very happy to be here.
The island is so beautiful, with lots of palm trees and small wooden houses in a colourful american style, white beaches and a super relaxed culture and very friendly people.