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Friday 20th May 2005
The last of our family and friends leave for the UK today, Neet and myself are moving from the splendid quarters of the Admiral’s Inn, where we have been lavished with hospitality, to Galleon’s Beach resort.
The Admiral’s Inn is a shady gem in the Georgian dockyard and we were treated like royalty by Ethelenne and all of the staff there. It was the perfect place to wind down yet at the same time be available for the media and wellwishers.
We are to be given a beach villa at the Galleon’s Beach resort for the remainder of our stay, courtesy of the management, and for which we are very grateful.
The next few days will be spent taking things easy and trying to put some meat back onto my woefully skinny frame; I weighed in at 155 pounds, or eleven stones, or seventy kilos. I don’t have any idea what it might be in London buses, Nelson’s columns or Olympic swimming pools, but you get the drift.
The boat sits happily at the Admiral’s where she will remain for the next few days and we plan to fly back to the UK ourselves next Wednesday, to arrive in Norwich on Thursday afternoon.
Added mass: 5 kilos, and rising.
Saturday 21st May 2005
We made our final decision on the fate of the Womble today; she is to remain in Antigua to be exhibited in the Nelson’s Dockyard museum, and will be available to use again if an Antiguan or Barbudan individual or pairs team wish to enter any of the trans-Atlantic rowing races.
After making our decision, we began removing my personal gear and the remaining electronics and rowing equipment from the boat. The spread of gear which appeared on the pontoon was incredible; it is a source of amazement to me that I managed to fit all of the stuff into the boat in the first instance.
It will feel odd to leave the island without the boat, it has been a constant companion for about a year now and the stripping out phase seems harsh. No matter, all in a good cause.
Sunday 22nd May 2005
Sorry, the briefest of entries today, we have moved to the Galleon Beach resort into our villa, Mr Mark Boswell has provided us with a wonderful beachside villa and we are very busy swimming and drinking punch. Must dash.
Monday 23rd May 2005
The temperature in Antigua has soared and the whole population, visitors, natives and all, are suffering badly. Anywhere with air conditioning is curiously busy and drinks are the business to be buying into. We were lent a handsome 38 foot yacht yesterday and today we took her for a sail to get some fresh air and perhaps see an eddy to pick a fight with. No eddy was brave enough and the wind died away, but it was a most enjoyable few hours and we followed it with a magnificent curry in a local restaurant. Tomorrow will be spent packing rowing equipment into a shipping crate and getting ready to return to Norwich. We decided to burn off the remaining gas from the stove for safety reasons, and Neet did the honours with the lighter.
One click. Plus two kilos and rising…
Tuesday 24th May 2005
The crate was finished today and we began squeezing the equipment into it. A visit to St John’s earlier provided some amusement; we were there to be interviewed by a local journalist in his office at the studios of Observer radio. The interview went well, but on the way out we were accosted and marched into another studio and spent over an hour on the station live for a phone-in. The studio was air conditioned and the time went very quickly.
Back in English Harbour at six we attended a meeting of the Tot Club, a dedicated group of Royal Naval historians who re-enact the rum issue daily.
My appetite for food has caused me some concern, I seem to be uncharacteristically gluttonous and I now eat sweet things in a way I never have before. However my weight is returning and a few of the small defects incurred in the last two weeks are being cured.
Wednesday 25th May 2005
Our last day on the pretty island of Antigua, and a frantic last minute pack of crate and cases before the formal handover ceremony of the Womble at the Admiral’s Inn. Speeches made and photo ops done we handed over our hire car and headed for the airport. Too late to buy a seat with leg room, we opted for the next grade of seat and were told to come back later for our boarding cards. At the appointed time we dutifully arrived and were told to return in an hour. Alarm bells began ringing in my head and an hour later we discovered that our plane was held up in an eddy in St Lucia. We were expecting a number of people back at the Alex on our arrival, some of whom had travelled long distances and it was with some disappointment that we went to a hotel for the night.
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