Island Pearl

Our New Home As Delphinus Is Refit
(back to HomePage)

Delphinus was purchased in July and picked up from Grenada.  She was moved to Antigua with the capable crew of the young Mr. William Friend and a Kiwi engineer/refit captain who joined us to ensure that the engine kept ticking.  After 40 hours of motor sailing we arrived in the midst of an all out gale at the entrance to English Harbor.  Strangely, one of the range bearing lights was out and we were diverted to Falmouth Harbor, just around the corner, for the evening.  In the morning we sailed back around the corner past the Pillars of Hercules and Galleon Beach and into English harbor and ultimately into Nelsons Dockyard at the Slipway - home of Lord Nelson himself and the famed Antigua Race Week.

For the next  4.5 months Delphinus would go through a comprehensive refit that would include a new Yanmar 125 engine, Northern Lights generator, complete running rigging replacement, complete Sika Flex teak deck sealant replacement, new electric primary winches, new Harken roller reefing units for staysail and genoa, new Sea Recovery 40 gal/hr water maker, an electronics upgrade, new sails, cabin joinery work and refitting below decks, thru hull fittings replaced, a bottom paint job, etc. etc. etc. 

To accomplish this, the now officially Captained Bill Stone would bring his family to Antigua where he would manage the refit, with the assistance of Deb and the girls. And so we required a place to stay, in the heat of the summer and the heart of the hurricane season.  Just above Galleon Beach is a quiet little road that takes you up a very steep hill to our home away from Massachusetts - Island Pearl.  At Island Pearl we set up our base camp where we managed the refit, the home schooling and our lives.  It was somewhere between the existence of an ex-Pat, a native, a local trades person and a tourist that we me the island of Antigua from what truly was our own little slice of heaven at Island Pearl.  Below are photos of our island home away from home.

Galleon Beach and Bay

The view from the pool deck across the entrance to English Harbor.

Many new experiences await the stone family.  From the flora, fauna and vegetation on the porch to the climbing sea snails that can be found 100's of feet up the slopes of the trails leading to Shirley Heights.

The work day has begun....and continues in some of the most extraordinary places!

A History lesson is just across the harbor entrance with a powder house used to store gunpowder for the cannons protecting the harbor entrance.  The entire building is made of stone many feet thick to protect it from potential inbound cannon balls from enemy ships.  Below is a photo of the Sailing Yacht Metani.  In March of 2003 the Stones chartered her with the Captain/Cook combination of David and Judy Ramage - possibly two of the nicest people we have met in the Caribbean.  David and Judy actually built Metani in Australia and have sailed around the world and now call the Caribbean their home.  It was the positive experience we had as a family aboard Metani that enticed us to push the button on taking our sabbatical aboard Delphinus.  David and Judy have become good friends.  We have bumped into each other all over the islands - in Antigua, Bequia or the Tobago Keys. Judy inevitably calls the girls over for a swim or a fruit juice while later on the older folk congregate on each others aft decks.  There we enjoy stories of recent excitements while taking in the "green flash" (Yes! we have seen it.) or breath taking sunsets.  The girls in our laps, diving off the rails or below playing Roller Coaster Tycoon.   .

Kelsey's Birthday Celebration!! And her two sisters the Bakers!

The Pillars of Hercules

(back to HomePage)