Rick had a little more plumbing work to do today and he had to change the oil. In between jobs, he and Bob took the propane tanks to be filled and made another quick visit to Home Depot. My duties today involved staying out of the way. I was able to shampoo the cockpit cushions when Rick finished hoarding all of the space. This used to be a big boat!!! Marta returned with her girl friends just in time for cocktails. We joined them for a while. Laura and Dee are web site fans so we couldn’t really tell them of our adventures, they had already read all about them. We returned home for dinner and a movie on board.
We had a bite to eat and then went grocery shopping in a nice large Pueblo store. It was such a treat to see apples again. They had Macintosh, Red and Yellow Delicious, Gala and Granny Smith there were also a couple of varieties of pears. I think we took apples for granted when traveling through the States and since then the only apples we've seen were a few wilted and bruised ones in Provo. The tropical fruits are nice but it's good to have a nice crisp apple once in a while. I was also able to purchase Caribbean size Roach Traps for Ralph. I haven't seen him again so maybe he's already feasted on the cookies but I'm not taking any chances.
It didn't take us very long and we were pushing 3 large grocery carts out to wait for a taxi. It took me the rest of the afternoon to inventory and store everything onboard.
We went for dinner with Bob, Marta, Dee and Laura but the first two restaurants we attempted to go to were closed. It was about 9pm when we pulled up to a seafood restaurant that was about to close until Marta told them there were 6 of us. We had a very enjoyable meal.
Marta drove back to San Juan to take Dee and Laura to the airport (who we didn't get to say good-bye to), and to pick up Marta Junior who flew in for a visit. Meanwhile poor Bob was still working on the boat. He has not stopped all week. Today he removed the starter motor, which has to be replaced before they can leave here. It poured rain all day but it stopped just long enough for us to top up our fuel tanks.
I vacuumed and cleaned the boat so we're ready to go. Rick decided that our jury-rigged plumbing for the water maker could hang in there until Grenada. It works and would take us at least a full day to install the permanent solution.
We’re on the move again. We left Sirena in Ponce. Bob has ordered a new starter motor and after it arrives they will catch up with us. The winds now are southeast 10 knots and the waves are less than 3 feet. It’s been like this all week and the forecast shows it is to continue for at least the next few days so we couldn’t sit any longer. There was also a lot of rain and thunderstorms in the forecast but without high winds.
We left Ponce at 6:30 with a plan to leave Puerto Rico and go the 66 miles to Vieques. Rick didn’t put a patch on because the waves were to be minimal which they were but the swells were still rolling. I could tell as his eyes became glassy and began to cross that he should have been wearing one. I ran below and put one on him immediately but it takes a while to work. As we got close to a nice anchorage we both decided to drop hook. We arrived in Boca De Infierno just before lunch.
It was nice and quiet after being at dock for a while. Another boat joined us later in the afternoon so there were just the two of us anchored in the mangroves. Two boats and fifty million no see-ums. We didn’t notice them until we had a boatload at which time Rick closed the companionway screen doors. I sprayed with Off but he went on the attack with our electronic mosquito terminator. I think he must have hunted down and killed at least 50 of them. We had a lovely dinner, wine, fresh salad and a beef stir fry made with nice fresh vegetables.
Things happen for a reason. We left Boca De Infierno at 7am a little later than planned but it poured rain all night and was still raining at 6:30. I cannot imagine how clouds can hold as much water as was dumped on us last night. It was a bit of a slog getting out of the bay but once we turned the corner we were flying. The winds and waves were more than what were forecasted (what else is new), but they helped move us along quickly. It wasn’t a nice sail to Punta Arenas on the island of Vieques but it was fast. We covered 40 miles in 7.5 hours and arrived at 2:30.
It’s sure a good thing we didn’t arrive in the dark last night. The anchorage was wide open on a lee shore with absolutely no protection. There was no way we could spend the night there. I quickly plotted a new route that took us to the north side of the island, Isabel Sequnda, a bay with a little more shelter 12 miles away. This was probably the only one of the Spanish Virgin Islands we will stop at this year and it sure was a quick stop. We arrived at 5pm and immediately moved into happy hour, no time to even splash the dink for a little tour.
We started out at 6am heading for St. Thomas but plans changed quickly as the wind and waves built to be very nasty again. The only heading we could make without tacking a lot was to Culebra another Spanish Virgin Island. A few waves came over the dodger into the cockpit soaking Rick while I was below quickly keying new waypoints into the GPS. We arrived at Culebra and picked up a mooring ball by 9:30 am. St Thomas was only about 25 miles away but the seas were still building so we decided to wait and leave very early in the morning again. How bad was it you ask. It was so bad that for the very first time Rick looked exhausted and said that this beating and pounding to windward was not fun.
The alarm was set for 4am so that we could get an early start while the nighttime calm was still around. Forget it…. The winds didn’t die all night and picked up in the early morning so that they were actually howling by 5am. Now hear this, Rick said that we were not going to move until the winds eased up a bit. I was able to talk him into moving through the reefs to the island of Culebrita which then left us only 15 miles to reach St Thomas. We arrived at Culebrita by 10 am and it was a good spot to keep an eye on the conditions of the wind and waves. We could actually see St Thomas from this island. At about 2pm we decided the winds had lightened a bit and things were not going to get any better for the next week at least so it was now or never. Rick tried tacking as much as possible but the winds, current and waves were so strong that we weren’t making much headway. We finally just rev’d up the engine and pounded into it. We arrived on the north side of St Thomas as we found it truly impossible to reach the south side. Rick was concerned that we would not reach our chosen anchorage before dark so I quickly chose another location. We got to it in good time but the swell in the anchorage too uncomfortable. We did a quick back track (and it was quick because as we turned around the wind and current was behind us) and anchored in Santa Maria Bay.
There is a very strong tidal current in the Virgin Islands that ranges from 1
½ knots to 3 knots in places. High tide was at 7:30am so my thinking was
that if we wanted to head east it would be best to leave on a falling tide.
The reasoning was good but it didn’t work. There are so many islands and
cuts that the tide flows every direction imaginable. I think a lot of the
chop we encountered was the tidal current and winds in opposition. Who
knows? Needless to say it took us from 8 am until 2 pm to travel less than 20
miles to Sopers Hole in Tortola. Once there, Rick decided we needed to
rest a bit and I sure was not going to dispute that. This last week has
been a hard slog and he’s been at the helm the whole time. Since we would
be staying at least a day we checked in with Customs and Immigration.
While checking in we met some people who recommended the Jolly Roger Restaurant
and Bar so we headed over there for happy hour and dinner. Dinner
consisted of Caribbean Jerk Prime Rib Roast Beef served with passion fruit
horseradish sauce both different and very good.
We had decided to move a very short distance today however we didn’t think it
would be such a short distance that we would only take the dinghy. First
thing in the morning we went over check out Pussers General Store and a
provisioning store used by the charter boats. While there we asked a lady
where to find a good breakfast and she directed us to take the dinghy under a
small bridge that separates Sopers Hole from Frenchman’s Cay to get to a local
restaurant call “Kelly's Bar”. It was a neat trip and one we would never
have found on our own. The breakfast was excellent and the view
spectacular. We rested during the afternoon and then returned to the Jolly
Roger for happy hour and dinner. I have been having great difficulty with
email here. I think it must be the mountains all around us again.
What a difference a day of rest can make. This had to be the closest
thing we’ve found to a perfect day in Paradise. We sailed up Sir Francis
Drake Channel from Sopers Hole to Marina Cay. If there were waves or a
current in the channel we didn’t notice. The sailing was perfect and the
view more than spectacular. It was a little after lunchtime when we
arrived at Marina Cay and had the choice of almost any mooring ball we wanted.
A couple of hours later the rush of boats started to arrive. I did some
laundry and then we both dove over the side of the boat for a snorkel. The
water was about 40 feet deep and we could see the bottom clearly. There
was a small barracuda that had taken up residency right under our keel.
Rick tried shooing him away as he was scraping the barnacles off the hull, but
he continued to hang around as if supervising the job.
We had a shower and since it was happy hour at Pussers joined the other boaters for a Pain Killer (drink). Michael Bean who we had never heard of before was singing during happy hour. He is great and has been writing songs and entertaining sailors in the Caribbean for over 20 years. I had to buy his CD. When happy hour was over it seemed natural that we just move on down to the dining room to finish the day with a nice meal.
We left Marina Cay about 8 am and did a quick hop across the channel to
Spanish Town, Virgin Gorda. We picked up a mooring and took the dinghy
ashore to checkout with customs. Spanish Town was the last customs office
we would pass in the BVI’s. It didn’t take us long after that to sail to
the Bitter End on Virgin Gorda. It rained off and on all day, sometimes
reducing visibility to almost nothing. It was such a warm rain that it
didn’t seem to bother us or anyone else.
We took the boat to the fuel dock at the Bitter End Yacht Club. This is the first time Rick did not have to use the jerry cans since Florida. When we were all fueled up we left the dock and picked up a mooring for the night. We went ashore to the Bitter End for the first half of happy hour and then took the dinghy over to Saba Rock for the last half plus we had a great buffet dinner there.
Here we sit waiting for weather again. Rick checked in with a HAM Radio Net out of St Croix to check the sea conditions of the Anegada Passage and then as he often does tuned in David Jones for a weather report. As soon as he switched frequencies to listen to David Jones we heard another vessel calling us. Trevor and Trish from Knotts Gypsy were anchored just across the bay from us and they heard us on the HAM but were unable to raise us on the VHF. We switched radios and arranged to meet them for coffee ashore. We had a great gab, they left England a few years ago and after sailing across the Atlantic they have been Island hoping in the Caribbean. Right now they are waiting for weather to head down to St Martin. The waves are 6 to 8 feet and we both would prefer a little less since we will be heading directly into the wind again. We met another gang of cruisers (3 couples) who were chartering a 47-foot Beneteau. They stopped by and invited us over for Happy Hour. They were wonderful hosts but have to practice the art of popping corn.
In the morning we joined Trevor and Trish ashore for coffee again but by the time we finished gabbing it was time for lunch. We all dinghied over to the Fat Virgin Café in Biras Creek for lunch. I had wanted to snorkel the reefs behind Saba Rock in the afternoon but the winds were still too strong.
We read and had a siesta in the afternoon then we had a quiet Happy Hour aboard Wind-Borne III watching all of the charter boats arrive for the evening.
It appears difficult to receive any sympathy from people we meet with regard to our being stuck in Virgin Gorda waiting for weather. In fact they don’t seem to understand what we’re waiting for, around here it’s beautiful. The winds although they piped up over 20 knots, within the islands it was just a little choppy. Out on the ocean the waves were over 8 feet in the Anagada Passage. So it looks like we’ll have to hang in here until sometime next week.
Rick continued on his quest for polished stainless steel this morning and I pulled out the sewing machine and did a little repair job on our last Canadian flag (the fifth one). I have new ones on order through the webmaster but this one has to last us until Grenada.
We had lunch at the Lighthouse Restaurant in Leverick Bay today. It was a nice downwind ride in the dinghy but coming back we got soaked. Trevor and Trish were smart enough to take their waterproof clothing for the ride back. We just plowed into the waves and soaked it all up. The water although wet and salty is nice and warm and I was going to do some laundry again anyway.
We decided to go snorkeling today and stopped to visited Eric and Terri on Penina (a boat we met in the D.R), and Trevor and Trish on Knotts Gypsy to see if they wanted to join us. Penina had already planned to do the same thing with another boat that was anchored in Leverick Bay. So the three dinghies charged across the bay to Leverick and joined Scott and Cathy on Argo. We went to a couple of reefs near where they were anchored. I used up the film in the camera on the first reef and the second was just as wonderful. Snorkeling certainly creates a great thirst and hunger so the eight of us went to the Lighthouse for lunch again. There is a nice freshwater pool at the bar so before we moved into the restaurant area we had a freshwater swim. A lot of oohs and aahs were heard in the freshwater. Since we are in the British Virgin Islands each resort is showing the World Cup finals. The other three boats are soccer fans (here it’s called football which I already knew from my Brit. friend Patrick). They stayed to watch the game and we headed back to the boat for a siesta.
Oh Oh. Today was Father’s Day and sending and receiving email is still difficult here but I persisted because Rick was anxious to see if the kids remembered him today. It took until well into the evening before we could get a good connection and he didn’t pout but I could tell he was a little hurt that no Father’s Day wishes arrived. Rick cleaned barnacles off the hull and I did some laundry. We went to Saba Rock for a nice dinner for Father’s Day.
Wow, things are getting exciting here. I forgot to mention it but a few days ago there was an earthquake centered on the Island of Culebra that shook Tortola enough for David Jones to interrupt his broadcast. Today, his broadcast was interrupted again as a Tropical Wave went through. In the Bitter End Harbour of Virgin Gorda the winds have been about 15 knots while we’ve been here. This morning started out about the same as every other morning but Rick and I were sitting in the cockpit and we saw the wind coming across the water. I had dishes sitting on the counter as we were still having our morning coffee. Everything slid towards the cabin floor as the boat heeled right over on a mooring. The wind was clocked at 40 knots in the harbour. David Jones clocked it at 50 knots in Road Town, Tortola. Boats that had left earlier hurried back as quickly as possible. The effects of the Wave lasted about a couple of hours but we were told to expect similar squalls until tomorrow afternoon. I was so glad we were on a mooring ball. Knotts Gipsy was anchored but quickly moved onto a ball. Penina and Argo were anchored with each having over two hundred feet of chain out and they both put out a second anchor. Well the rest of the day we spent re-plumbing the water maker. I also did some more laundry and defrosted the fridge again while Rick washed the cockpit. We both had a siesta in the afternoon.
Rick worked on a few projects in the morning and before going ashore he asked to have his hair cut. This time he requested it be cut really short because of the heat. Instead of the scissors we used the clippers and cut it ½ inch all over. He seemed pleased and the passing boats gave good comments so we’ll probably keep it that way for a while. We went ashore for lunch and then returned to the boat in time for more wind and rain.
Today was not a great day we thought Sirena would arrive in the afternoon but she is obviously running a bit behind schedule. Rick worked on many little projects during the day and as we were getting ready for bed he noticed that the compressor on the fridge had stopped running.
The morning started with us trouble shooting the refrigeration problem. We went as far as we could and then decided we needed a refrigeration person. We checked with Ron Hurst who is Canadian from Grand Falls-Windsor Newfoundland. He has been down here for eleven years with his wife Christine. They live on their boat “Rhumb Runner” and work for Moorings at the Bitter End. He doesn’t know our friends Peter and Carolyn from Lewisport Newfoundland but he did know a good refrigeration man, Polo. We were hoping Polo would be able to stop by in the afternoon but he got tied up at another island. There is a plane we have seen flying out of Leverick Bay. It holds the pilot and two passengers and it does site seeing flights around the Virgin Islands. When we saw it in Leverick Bay we noticed a small Canadian flag sticker on it. Sure enough, the Pilot stopped by handing out leaflets. He’s a Canadian from Montreal and Polo’s next door neighbour. It is such a small world. While sitting aboard waiting for Polo, Rick happened to notice the antenna whip was missing from the top of our mast. We have no idea how long it’s been missing but we had a spare so it was a good opportunity to make use of the mast steps. We had to buy some ice and use up some of our once frozen meat so I got out the slow cooker and did a nice “sort of” Beef Stroganoff” on linguini (I have no egg noodles). I had just served dinner and Sirena called. They were on their way into the harbour. We ate and then joined them for Happy Hour. Vivian, one of their daughters was with them so they were going the Bitter End Restaurant for dinner.
We have decided that breakfast at the Bitter End Restaurant is better than lunch. It costs about the same but breakfast is a huge champagne buffet that lasts until just before lunch so it doubles as both.
Polo arrived at the boat just after breakfast and confirmed that we need a new electronic box for our refrigeration. So we decided that we are going to rough it using ice probably the rest of the way to Grenada when we will have the unit shipped in.
In the afternoon Marta, Vivian and I snorkeled on a small reef just off the beach of the Bitter End Resort. Rick and Bob sat on the beach lounges and discussed things that were probably very important somewhere and sometime. Later in the evening the five us went for a buffet dinner at Saba Rock. I’m not quite sure what route Bob took from his boat to the restaurant but the three of them arrived soaked. We had a lovely evening.
Both boats were up with the sun this morning (5:30 am). Vivian had to
get to the ferry and airport and we were tagging along.
We took the 7 am ferry to Gun Creek where Bob had a rental jeep waiting. We then drove to Spanish Town at the other end of the island. It was a magnificent view but difficult to enjoy because the three women were sitting and bouncing very uncomfortably in the back seat of the jeep. The road wound up and over the mountains and was a little scary at times. We passed a lot of goats, cows and chickens on the road even within the town. In fact, I don’t think anyone owns a lawn mower they just let the goats wander the town. We arrived at the ferry dock in plenty of time to see Vivian safely onto the boat.
When her boat left we went for breakfast at the marina and then to a Catholic Church for Marta. Marta had to ensure that Vivian would have a safe trip home.
Next on the agenda were The Baths. Bob and Marta would not allow us to
leave the Islands without visiting “The Baths” even though we explained that we
would return next year and
cover all of the tourist locations. I’m glad they were persistent because
it was well worth visiting. The rocks are amazing although I suggested it
might have been a little frightening here during the earthquake last week.
We went all through the caves and had a wonderful swim on the beach.
Afterward we went for a drink and a freshwater swim at the bar.
Before heading back Bob wanted to visit an old copper mine that was being restored. It was another scary drive but fun.
We returned the rental jeep in Spanish Town and the company delivered us back
to the Ferry docks in a taxi. I take back everything I said before about
scary drives. The taxis on Virgin Gorda are pickup trucks with seats in
the bed of the truck and a surrey on top. It was a rollercoaster ride up
and down the mountain roads that are very narrow and have almost no guardrails.
I was
holding on for dear life and even asked Marta if she said anything back in the church about our safety.
She assured me that she did. We skidded down the last mountain onto the
ferry dock with the driver who was blaring his horn as we all watched the ferry
pull away 3 minutes early. It wasn’t that important to catch the ferry as
it runs hourly. In the end we didn’t even have to wait the hour.
When the Biras Creek Resort ferry arrived 15 minutes later we asked if we could
go with them and then take a shuttle over to The Bitter End. The ferry
captain said he would take us directly to The Bitter End. We got back
pretty fast, stopped at the pub for a few pints and then headed back to the
boats for a rest.
We awoke and started into our morning weather routine that now starts at 6am by receiving a NAVTEX report. We then switch to a Caribbean Net run by Lou from St. Croix at 7 am. After Lou we switch over to David Jones at 8:30 am. After David gives his weather forecast we don’t have to wait long and it’s time to tune in to receive our weather faxes. Weather finally finishes about 915 am each morning.
We went ashore about 10am this morning and had coffee with Trevor and Trish in the dining room. The discussion was of course “weather”. We both thought we saw a window to go, over the next couple of days. There was no movement aboard Sirena until about 11am. They were totally exhausted and slept until after 11am. When they awoke we broke the news to them and they panicked a bit. They had many things they had wanted to do before moving on but if we missed this window we would be here at least another week.
Bob and Marta joined us for lunch at the pub so we could discuss our plans. We all decided to skip St Martin and take a long route to St Kitts which should have given us a better angle on the wind.
At 8 am in the morning it looked like a grand exodus. All of the boats were leaving the Bitter End with the charter boats turning to port and the cruisers turning to starboard. In our group heading for St. Kitts were Penina, Argo, Otter, Knotts Gipsy, Sirena and ourselves. Sirena was delayed trying to get fuel. I say trying because Bitter End was out of fuel. They stopped at Leverick Bay on the way out but the fuel pump there stopped working. They gave up and went to leave but the engine would not start. After many attempts Marta finally asked for help from St. Jude and they were off (She sure does have her contacts). This was going to be a long run so we decided it was time for our other crewmember to help out. What a difference Jane made. “Jane the Vane” is a Voyager Wind Vane and now that we are in consistent winds, she handles the helm better than Rick or I. It would have been an exhausting passage not only because of the duration but the Anagada Passage has some very confused seas. We ended up motor sailing with just the main sail but Jane handled it well. It was about 4:30 am the next morning when we decided to stop in the lee of Saba Island for a rest. There were suppose to be some mooring balls there but we got up to the wall of a mountain and still couldn’t find the balls so we gave up. We headed away from land a bit but remained in the lee just drifting for a while as we made some tea and had a bit of toast for breakfast. When finished we started out again but the bilge alarm went off and didn’t stop going off. Rick went below to check and found everything completely dry. It appears that our bilge strainer needs a cleaning at least once a month, which is a routine that we have not gotten into yet. We just finished resolving that and we looked around and could see Sirena coming towards us. They asked if everything was ok and we both headed towards St Kitts. We decided to stop and get fuel in Basseterre and then continue on to Nevis. I think Sirena somehow jinxes the fuel pumps. We pulled into the only marina that has fuel and tied up along the fuel dock. We had Sirena raft to us because the water at the dock was too skimpy for them. Once tied up we found the gas pump guy had not come into work yet. Marta had them do some checking and they found he was not coming into work. She did a lot begging and they got someone else to open the pumps. Bob started to take on fuel first but wasn’t having much luck. After checking into it they found the pumps were empty. They might be able to get a delivery the next day but couldn’t promise. We left and instead of heading towards Nevis we went to a small bay on St. Kitts just across the narrows from Nevis. Knotts Gipsy had been to the bay in Nevis and found it too rolly so they crossed back to Majors Bay on St. Kitts. We dropped anchor near them at about 6pm. Although everyone was tired we decided to move on in the morning to get into a more protected anchorage before the next Tropical Wave arrived. This meant we had a few things to do before going to bed. Rick cleaned the bilge pump strainer. We emptied the jerry cans into the fuel tank. We both had a shower to remove some of the salt crystals coating our bodies and then a quick bite to eat before going to bed.
We set the alarm so we were up and ready to go by 7am. The first thing
we did was nose our bow up to Sirena’s stern so that Bob could pass a full jerry
can of diesel to Rick “just in case”. We were a little low on fuel.
We headed out through the narrows and Rick noticed that Knotts Gipsy was taking
a more northerly exit through the gap probably to get a better angle towards
Antigua so he wanted to follow. Sirena took our original route. We
traveled an extra 5 miles only to determine the angle didn’t help. Rick
turned onto our course and didn’t like the speed we were making in fact he was
concerned that we may not have sufficient fuel and wanted to turn back.
The admiral (me), said not this time! There was no fuel in St. Kitts.
One could only get fuel in Nevis if a large ship had a truck coming to deliver
fuel. The guidebooks didn’t say whether Montserrat, which was closer, had
any fuel and we wanted a safer anchorage as well as fuel. I calculated
that we had more than enough and my math although it’s not great is better than
Rick’s. We had a rollicking ride to Antigua. The winds were 20 knots
and gusting higher. The seas were 8 to ten feet and I felt I was riding a
bucking bronco. Jane sure earned her keep again. There were times
when we would ride a wave up and the bow would be high up in the air and the
water would suddenly disappear from under us. I would brace myself for a
pounding down into the wave but Jane would just flip the helm over and all of a
sudden we would be surfing down a wave. Rick slept on and off most of the
way and I had a couple of naps myself. As we were nearing the island we
were racing to be in before dark. We just about made it but the last half
a mile through a buoyed channel was nerve racking. I had Sirena who was
the first to arrive give us their Lat. and Long. so I would know exactly where
the mooring buoys were. We would have missed the last red and green marker
leading to the mooring field if Sirena had not been watching for us and shone
their flashlight on the buoys to point them out to us. The channel markers
were about 2 ½ to 3 feet above the water and were not lit. We are the only
three boats in the Jolly Harbour mooring field and it is a great place. We
would never have thought to come here if it weren’t for Knotts Gipsy who had
been here before.
It was nice to be able to sleep late. We left the boat at 10 am and picked up Bob and Marta to check in with customs and immigration. We then took the time to roam the marine store before going to lunch at Peter’s Restaurant with Sirena and Knotts Gipsy. After lunch we returned to the boat, picked up laundry and delivered it to the laundry lady. Marta and I then went on to the beauty salon and the guys returned to the boat with a to-do list. Marta had a pedicure and I had my hair hair cut. I asked for short but I think we are now talking a hat for the next couple of weeks. When finished we called the guys to meet us at the pub for Jolly Hour, which was very similar to Happy hour. We finished the evening with dinner at Peter's Restaurant.
Plan “A” today was to move the boats over to English Harbour. The
forecast was not nice but we thought we could just hug the coast and stay in the
lee of the island and travel the 11 miles. When we awoke the winds were
howling at 25 knots plus. I called Sirena, Marta and I both agreed we did
not want to even leave the mooring ball to go to the fuel dock. Instead we
decided to take a bus into English Harbour. Knotts Gipsy joined us. We
took a bus first to St. Johns where we changed and got the bus to Falmouth and
English Harbour.
I think that Antigua is one of the friendliest islands we have visited. Everyone speaks to everyone. When the locals get on the bus they say a general good day to everyone. As the bus driver travels across the island he almost continually gives tiny honks of the horn. Everyone walking along the street or sitting on their veranda stops and waves. Storekeepers seem to go out of their way to help you even if your request has nothing to do with their business. Rick and I agreed that we are definitely coming back to this island.
We eventually arrived in Falmouth where Knotts Gipsy told us we should get off the bus here for one of the best refrigeration place in the Caribbean. “Aboard Refrigeration” and yes, they had the part we needed. This was great news because we thought we would have to have it shipped in from Canada or the States. Sirena was able to contact a water maker company for some filters they needed. The man there promised them that if there were none at the Budget Marine Store where we are staying he would bring some tomorrow. Knotts Gipsy was able to discuss a water maker problem they were having and he told them to perform a test and depending upon the result he would bring the part they needed as well. It was a very productive bus stop.
We walked from Falmouth over to English Harbour where we had lunch in The
Admiral’s Inn and then roamed Nelson’s Dockyard. The whole complex is a
very interesting museum. The original buildings have all been restored and
are now used as restaurants and boutiques but it has been done in such a way
that you can really picture English Harbour as it was in Nelson’s time.
WWe returned to Jolly Harbour on the bus and even though we were a little late for Jolly Hour, the bartender gave us a round at Jolly Hour prices.
It appears that we will be here at least a few more days. The wind is 20 to 25 knots with higher gusts and the waves are 9 to 11 feet. Rick had the new electronic box for the refrigerator installed by 9:30am. We were in the midst of cheering when all of a sudden the water maker stopped working. Poor Rick had no time to rest between one project and the other. This one didn’t take him long to determine that the filter was clogged. It appeared that the strong wind was stirring up the silty, sandy bottom and clogging everyone’s filters. We decided to try and conserve water for a few days and hopefully not have to use the water maker.
We went into the marina to pick up some spare fuses for the new fridge component since we didn’t have any of this type on board. Afterward we went for lunch with Knotts Gipsy and Sirena and then to the grocery store to pick up some cold meats and steaks to put in the nice cold fridge.
We finally moved over to the fuel dock first thing in the morning. It was raining but the winds were not as strong as they had been the last few days. Knotts Gipsy moved over next and Sirena followed shortly after. We won’t be able to check out of customs until Tuesday since Monday is a holiday (Commonwealth Day). It doesn’t look like we will have enough easing of the winds before then anyway.
We all had dinner together at the sports bar in the resort. It was the most gourmet meal that we have ever had in a bar and the price was even better than Peter’s Restaurant where we had become regulars.
