Antigua is one of those special places in the world that is enjoyed by all types of people.

From superyachts topping $100m to the humblest of boats, everyone is here to enjoy what Antigua offers.  We found that we were very much on the small side of the boats here in Antigua. In fact, of the 100s of boats we’ve seen come through Falmouth Bay, we could count the smaller boats on one hand.

For the nature oriented, we have found several naturally sheltered anchorages behind reefs amount the rugged eastern shores.

The protected Green Island marine park hosts some interesting creatures providing opportunity to snorkel and explore the sandy beaches.

Katerina found a live Conch.

…..and geckos everywhere to sing us to sleep.

From pelicans to colourful reef fish we easily spent several days there with some new friends.

We even found some fresh coconuts that provided a healthy natural snack with no added processing or chemicals.

It was interesting to see the kids faces as we cracked open coconuts and peeled the white meat out of the husks and handed it to them.  Of course they were a bit apprehensive – there was no plastic packaging to protect it!  They soon got over the lack of packaging as they realized it tasted good and went on a hunt for more.

We could have stayed longer in the quiet Green Island anchorage, but we have guests arriving! Back to Falmouth Bay to meet up with Allen and Kathryn to spend a week on the beach at the beautiful Catamaran Hotel.

Ok, so we stayed on the boat, but we got to enjoy the amenities of the hotel while visiting.

 Internet was a big hit with the kids.

And catching up with friends is always good.  Especially in a tropical paradise…..

This week is Antigua’s Charter Yacht show.  We thought we were a small boat already, but as the superyachts started funneling in for the show, we felt humbled by yet another order of magnitude (more like 3 orders of magnitude!)

It was clear there was no expense spared on these luxurious, fully crewed yachts as the crews spent countless hours polishing the yachts for their owners (or maybe the show too).

The sailing yachts had masts so tall that they were required to have full time red lights on the top of their masts to meet the international aviation regulations (ie. So planes don’t run into them).  This is a status symbol for sure…… or perhaps an attempt to make up for other non-financial shortages….

For all of the humbling received from wandering through the rows of tightly packed multi-million dollar yachts, it was nice to return to Saphira Blue in her spacey anchorage to be comforted by the homey feel and her very efficient use of resources and crew.  It was actually a rather large sigh of relief as I cracked open a beer and figured it didn’t cost me $100 or more for all of the crew stumbling over each other to serve it.  It was like falling in love with Saphira Blue all over again.  She definitely feels like home now here in the tropics.