Cole high-tailed it back through the gates to the best hiding place he could find...a large tree, leaving his family members holding the bag. 

Another week gone in paradise. FedEx is holding us hostage in Antigua. They have our windsurfing board and sails. It was all supposed to arrive on July 15th. Ya mon, patience. We waited, and waited, and Falmouth Harbor, as beautiful as it is, got a little old, so we hoisted sails and took a weekend excursion to the northern part of Antigua.

Government must know Zen has troublemakers on board, they sent a huge war ship to escort us part of the way (see pic). Unsure of exactly which government was tracking us, we are having Jim do some research for us. Thanks, Jim! After giving the navy wide berth, our course was set for Long Island, Antigua.

Weaving up inside a reef, passing St Johns to starboard, with beautiful winds and flat water, feeling the 10-knots-boatspeed was exhilarating. A 4-hour sail turned out to be a perfect shake down for Zen. Couple of little things will make it to the "fix it" list, but overall, considering she sat on a mooring for 3 months, it was seamless. Only one other vessel, a chartered cat, w/French aboard, were in our anchorage. In just 6 feet of water, sandy bottom, and reefs all around, we found a new slice of paradise.

Ashore lies the Jumby Bay Resort on a 300-acre private island. It looked to inviting, so we got on proper attire, hit the dinghy, and went in to check out the resort (voted #1 in the Caribbean 2 years running....so they tell us). It didn't disappoint. The resort, recently closed for renovations, open only to the 15 local homeowners, has 1 restaurant serving lunch and dinners. And fortunately for the Burgess Crew sweet-tooth, desserts, too!

The resort was deserted and dark, but beautiful. It took a few minutes and a couple of wrong turns, but finally found the place and had the whole dining area to ourselves. The homeowners go off-island for weekend excursions, which is a good thing. "Why?" you ask?

The walk back to the dinghy dock, (did I mention it was dark?) was a bit convoluted, to say the least. A few more wrong turns later and we stood in front of a well-lit set of gates. Tom says, "Oh, this must be the way. We can cut through here to the dock." The Zen troublemakers all follow the leader. Down past an open-air foyer, with a fountain, and beautiful tiled floors, low-level ambiance lighting, we suddenly realized we stumbled upon one of the 15 owners' living rooms!

As their voices started to increase in volume, Cole high-tailed it back through the gates to the best hiding place he could find...a large tree, leaving his family members holding the bag. The remaining Zen burglars hustled quietly through the gates, down the manicured path, retrieving our "lookout" from behind his tree. We think we got away undetected.

Tomorrow's dinner reservations will bring new promise for other trespassing opportunities. Maybe we'll keep the dinghy engine running for a quick getaway.