In the morning we finished our chores. Rick began stripping the finish from the main salon table while I worked on the computer.
In the afternoon we went to the beach and watched boats arrive in the strong winds. It was 20 to 25 knots of wind and gusting higher. This weather is being referred to officially as a pre season tropical wave. We only lasted about 2 hours on the beach because of the strong winds and squalls that raced through every half hour.
Things settled down a little at sunset and we went to Chateau Mygo for dinner. April 1st is the anniversary of my quitting smoking 7 years ago so I insist on being pampered. Walt and Elsie (Sea Dream I) joined us to celebrate as it is Elsie’s birthday tomorrow. It was an enjoyable evening with the same band providing entertainment as we had the other week.
The wind is even stronger today than yesterday with gust well over 30 knots. The rain squalls are coming through continually.
Rick sanded the table today and removed the side leafs. The computer kept beeping that I was passed due in backing up the files so I did that in the morning.
At noon we went ashore to purchase a few more groceries and had lunch again at the bakery. Rick was anxious to have some cetol applied to the table but with all of the rain and humidity it wouldn’t dry properly. We spent the afternoon relaxing onboard.
Foxy Johny, from Rodney Bay came and picked up our laundry. Although he works in Rodney Bay he lives closer to Marigot and there is no one else that we could find here to do laundry.
It was a much nicer day today. The winds were down a little, the seas were much higher but the sun was shining. It didn’t shine continually but long enough for us to spend a couple of hours on the beach and only have one rain shower while we were there.
It appears as though we came back to our boat just in time. Cruise ship people are always coming to the beach by taxi and ferry. Today, as we sat on the beach we watched a good size (not massive but large) cruise ship (Le Diamant) anchor in the outer bay. The crew lowered the landing stairway and launched 4 or 5 very large inflatable dinghies but no one got off the ship. Casually sitting in our cockpit the invasion arrived by land. The passengers must have been let off the ship in Castries for a land tour. They were lined up all the way down the street on the mainland for a ride to Marigot beach. The cruise ship inflatables charged into action racing back and forth to transfer everyone to the beach. The regular ferries were having a difficult time with the inflatables taking over the bay. It seemed that no sooner had they finished transferring all of their passengers to the beach (which is a very small beach for so many people) than they were gathering them together and starting the transfer to the ship. I think that the majority of people had about 30 minutes on the beach before they had to leave.
After dark, another cruise ship anchored in the bay. This time there was a very large band and dancers all in costume waiting at the ferry dock. It appeared as though they were supposed to be transferred to the cruise ship but after watching them wait for more than an hour we went below. I’m not sure if they gave up or finally got a lift out to the cruise ship or gave up.
The clean laundry was delivered back to dock by 8AM. We had finished breakfast and were ready to start the morning chores as the weather forecast was for sun. Well forget it. Rain squalls made their way through the bay at least every half hour. There may have been 28 minutes of sun in the 12 hours of daylight.
All was not lost. Although it seemed like a boring day in late afternoon an
America’s cup boat came and anchored in the middle of the moorings (assisted by
the marina staff). Eleonora E is a 135 foot sailing yacht with a 26 foot 10
inch beam, that charters for $103,000 CAD per week. The captain aborted on
the first attempt but returned and successfully anchored the second time when
one boat was moved (out of the way) from it’s mooring. The stern of the
Eleonora E was tied to our mooring ball so that it’s swing was restricted from
wiping out all other boats in the bay. Meanwhile, we are so close that we can
reach out and shake hands from our bow to their stern. In fact I told them I’d
be over for tea and even their guest chuckled.
(http://www.charterworld.com/index.html?sub=yacht-charter&charter=classic-yacht-eleonora-e-1057)
It rained all night and two at a time the crew of the Eleonora stood watch on deck with no canvas to protect them.
It rained off and on all day. Since it isn’t good beach or pool weather we worked on applying cetol. Even though it’s raining the humidity is down allowing us to get two coats per day on the table.
We went ashore and provisioned for a planned departure this coming Tuesday. Although the wind and seas are still extremely high they are forecast to come down beginning on Monday.
It’s still raining.!!! In fact it rained so hard in the morning there was no one on the beach dodging showers because it was a nonstop downpour.
Rick worked on the table. I thought I had done a great job but I sure wasn’t going to push to do the work when he wanted a go at it. I went back to ripping CD’s.
At noon we were to meet with Walt and Elsie (Sea Dream I) for lunch at the
Hurricane Hole Bar and restaurant and then spend the afternoon in the pool. We
all agreed that the lunch would be great but we would skip the pool. It’s not
fun swimming in the rain.
We finished lunch and it’s unbelievable but the sun came out. We were sitting at the bar next to the pool without our bathing suits. The pool all of a sudden was full of young children who had probably been waiting for a few minutes of sun so we didn’t feel too bad about not splashing around with them.
We were promised sun today. Eric on the 6:30AM HAM weather report said we should have a lot of sun today. It was a little after 7AM when the rain started and it continued to rain off and on all day.
We had things to do in the morning but the plan was to relax on the beach if the sun made an appearance.
Rick applied a coat of cetol to the table and then checked the water level in the batteries. We needed to pay the marina for one more night on the mooring so Captain Rick went ashore, paid our bill and picked up the last loaf of awesome bread from the French Bakery
We had’t run the engine for a week so that was next on the list. Problem!!! Engine would start. I shouldn’t say that because even I knew that it wasn’t the engine, there was no click when the key was turned. First Rick checked the starter motor but it was fine. I thought maybe there was a loose wire behind the engine panel because he had checked the wiring to the starter and it was fine. Next he walked over to the panel and checked the volt meter for the starter battery. Dead, totally in the red. He turned the combiner switch and I was able to start the engine with no problem at all.
We let the engine run for an hour to charge the starter battery. When finished, Rick put the multimeter on the battery and we could watch the amps drain away. First he thought that the new electric windlass may have a defect in one of the parts allowing it to drain the battery even though it was powered off but he disconnected the windlass and the amps were still dropping. He turned on the inline blower for the engine (only other thing connected to the starter battery. The amps plummeted. The thought of the moment was that the blower has been around awhile, it’s probably burning itself out. Once the word “burning” gets mentioned, the problem requires immediate resolution. Even though he assured me that he really meant that it was worn out. Yes, it had a fuse and no it can’t cause a fire.
It didn’t matter, I have gotten so used to these breakdowns and having to find parts fast, I got excited when the Island Water World (IWW) catalogue had an inline blower (our size) for $35US. The only trick was that we were in Marigot Bay and Island Water World was in Rodney Bay. Rick said that when he was in the marina office earlier, one of the girls were placing an order with IWW. I called them to see if it was an order that was being delivered today. It wasn’t but when I told them I needed something picked up from there they told me to call Bob, the marina manager who was in town. I called poor Bob but he was in Castries on his way to the dentist. I know it’s a long storey but he suggested I have the girls in the office check with the marina driver. Sure enough, they found him in Rodney Bay and yes he would pick up the blower for us.
Meanwhile back at the engine, the original blower had been disconnected and the battery was still draining. There was nothing wrong with anything other than the battery itself. We have never experienced a dying battery before, we replaced them before they got to that point.
Oh well, since the old blower was already removed, there is nothing wrong with having a new one. As well, while Rick was curled up in the aft cockpit locker, he had wanted to put a one-way valve on the propane locker drain so this was the perfect opportunity.
The blower arrived at the marina office in less than an hour and when I asked how much for delivery, there was no charge.
So, we are not going to worry about the starter battery at this point, our combiner switch works perfectly and everything has been reconnected to the almost dead battery which works fine while the engine is running, it just can’t hold a charge.
Everything was put back together, the outboard placed on the motor mount and the dinghy raised for tomorrow’s little trip back to the Pitons. We have made reservations for a mooring and dinner at Harmony Beach and will also have Ben Jr. take us ashore in his water taxi to check out with customs and Immigration.
It was a very uneventful two hour trip from Marigot Bay to the Pitons. We left at 7:30AM and arrived at 9:30. The sun was shining and the sky was clear blue with hardly any clouds in site. There was still a Northeast swell but the waves and wind were dropping quickly.
We had Ben Jr. pick us up in his water taxi and escort us to Customs and Immigration to check out. He also picked us up and took us to the restaurant for dinner. It was nice not to have to lower the dinghy.
When we arrived at the restaurant, Ben Sr. pointed out that most of the sand had been washed away from his beach during the Northeast swells that occurred while we were safely tucked into Marigot Bay. We had considered waiting them out right here in Soufriere. I’m sure glad we didn’t it looks like it was a little rough. We had a wonderful dinner and Ben Jr. took us back to our boat.
Everything is ready for an early departure tomorrow.
We awoke to a beautiful sunny morning with light winds. It was 7AM when Rick raised the mainsail and I released the mooring. It seemed a little choppy near the Pitons but it always is. Once we were further out, the sea was as flat as we have seen it this year. I immediately had visions of us turning off the engine, turning up the music and serving snacks and drinks as we gently made our way to St. Vincent. The forecast was for 15 knot winds occasionally 20knots. The sea was to be 5 to 7 feet.
The chart indicated that we were only five miles off the end of St. Lucia when the first dark cloud appeared on the horizon. There was a boat sailing beside us with one person at the helm and two others stretched on the aft deck sunbathing. Meanwhile, wearing life jackets and harnessed into our cockpit, we started reducing sail. Rick said that the squall line didn’t look very wide so it shouldn’t take too long to pass over us. It wasn’t wide but it was very long and it took forever to move off. During the squall which now looked like an all day rain and fog (we don’t have fog down here), the visibility was down to zip. Boats talking on the radio indicated that they were being pushed to the west, way off of their course. When the rain eased up and the visibility improved we could see that there were many sails on the horizon heading towards Honduras. We had eased off of our course a little but Ray kept us heading more south than west.
After the second or third squall Rick made the comment that although the wind has been gusting 20 to 25 knots, the seas were not building as one would expect them to. I just about bopped him for not touching wood. I tell him time and again not to say things like that because it will jinx us. Sure enough, I swear it was less than 10 minutes later that I saw the first of the mountains of water heading toward us. Right on the beam for the next 15 miles we had the high seas, rain, and nasty winds. This really has been the worst season for weather.
Finally we were in the lee of St Vincent and knowing that today’s forecast was better than the rest of the week, I suggested that we continue to Young Island Cut rather than Wallilabou for the night. Young Island Cut is right on the southern tip of St Vincent and it is just a short hop across the channel to Bequia. We had travelled about 50 nautical miles today and I didn’t want to go all the way to Bequia.
It was 5PM when we picked up a mooring in Young Island Cut.
I was hoping that we could cross the channel to Bequia before the morning winds and seas picked up but I knew last night when I was awaked by squall after squall passing by that the seas and wind would not have a chance to settle down this night.
We left at 7:45AM and began our mountain climbing trek across the channel. The channel is less than 10 miles wide but the wind and sea funnelling into this narrow gap has come all the way across the Atlantic with no interruption. The Bequia Blast is usually rough even in the best of times. We arrived in Admiralty Bay Bequia at 9:15AM and anchored in the “Hole”
The hole is a spot where we normally like to anchor in this bay. It is about 35 feet deep where we drop the anchor and 8 to 10 feet where we back down and sit. Today we hit the 8 foot spot. Rick was a little concerned about the 8 foot but I felt we only needed 6 feet of water and it was almost low tide so we would probably be fine.
We went into shore and checked in with customs and immigration then went for lunch. I bought four large Mahi Mahi steaks from the fishermen. It’s nice to be back in 8EC land as I refer to it. Both St Vincent and Grenada (including Carriacou) charge $8EC ($3CAD) per lb for fish. In St. Lucia, the fishermen wanted $20EC per lb.
On our way back to the boat we stopped and purchased a new starter battery which Rick will probably replace tomorrow. He would have done it today but we got side-tracked. When we arrived back onboard, we could tell the boat was sitting on the bottom which is not a problem now but the motion would probably wake us in the middle of the night at low tide so we decided to move. We are still anchored in the hole but this time the anchor is sitting in 35 feet and the boat is in 30 feet. Just a couple of boat lengths behind us, the depth is 10 feet. We have yet to see an anchor drag uphill, so we will probably stay here unless Rick wants to use his new electric windlass again tomorrow.
It rained a few times overnight but we awoke to sunshine. It was a gorgeous day and we didn’t even put the dinghy in the water.
Rick replaced the starter battery and checked the levels in the house batteries. It is nice not having to worry whether I use up all the amps in the house banks again because the new starter battery is now available to start the engine. As well, since we are stationary for a while, Rick put the generator out on deck which means we have all the amps I need.
Last night I cooked 2 of the Mahi Mahi steaks in a creamy garlic sauce. Today however, since I had a good pile of mangos onboard I made mango chutney to serve with the last two steaks. I think I might purchase a whole fish and fillet and freeze it. You don’t find fishermen cutting boneless fillets down here so if I want it without bones we do it ourselves. The mango chutney would be amazing with a fillet rather than a fish steak.
We had talked of going for a nice walk as soon as the boat chores were done today. After listening to the early morning weather forecast it seemed imperative that we get all outside jobs done as soon as possible and stay below for the deluge that was supposedly almost on top of us.
We did exactly that, and since the rain hadn’t arrived by noon, Rick started applying cetol to the table leafs in the cockpit.
Down below, I verified the measurements of our ports and was ready to start ironing the hems of new black out curtains as soon as the Honda generator was started. As it turned out, the wind kept the amps flowing from the wind generator all morning. The Honda was turned on in the afternoon when the water maker was started and at the same time Rick was in the salon applying more cetol.
I was beat to the punch on floor space so I spent the day knitting. I’ll try again to iron during tomorrow’s rain. The curtains are not needed until we haul the boat to head home again. Last season we covered the ports with aluminum foil to reduce the interior heat. The blackout curtains will just be an upgrade to the foil.
Every so often we checked the satellite picture and looked outside. Although it was very overcast and windy, the heavy rain never came.
The rain that didn’t arrive yesterday came today. It rained all day and again we stayed below working on the table, knitting, reading and anything else we could find to keep busy.
It’s still raining but there are breaks in the clouds every so often. We took advantage of one of the breaks and went ashore for a while. It was time to get one of our propane tanks refilled, get rid of garbage and purchase a few groceries.
We just finished lunch at the Salty Dog Restaurant when we ran into Jeff and Kathleen (Gladys). Since we haven’t seen them for awhile we had to stop and catch up at a local rum shop.
Back at the boat, we just hunkered down below again for the duration of this nasty system that’s still passing through.
It was another day of rain.
Rick did a little more work on the table. I was able to finish sewing all of the black-out curtains for the 10 ports. Last year when the boat was stored during the summer months, we covered all of the ports with aluminum foil to keep out as much sun and heat as possible. It worked but I’m hoping that the black-out curtains work better.
Between squalls we went ashore to Mac’s Pizza for dinner.
There was no change in the weather so we continued to find things to do indoors. The sky cleared in the afternoon but we weren’t willing to really trust that the sun would remain more than an hour. We sat on deck with our books but that was as close to going out doors that we were willing to risk.
Finally! Summer has arrived in the Caribbean. It was a beautiful day, warm and sunny.
As soon as our boat chores were finished we went ashore and did a little roaming and shopping. On our way along Back Street we stopped in and reserved a couple of chicken lunches at Colombo’s. Colombo’s is a small local restaurant that is very popular with the locals and yachties. The food is very good and the price is right but if you are a little late arriving without reserving for lunch they often have no food left.
At the Rasta Market we loaded up with fruits and vegetables. I bought some huge Ceylon mangos, pineapple, papaya, bananas, a small watermelon along with lettuce, cucumbers and tomatoes. I wanted some fish from the fish market next door but the Mahi Mahi fishermen had not arrived yet. Rick took the bags of food back to the boat while I waited for the fishermen.
When they arrived after stopping at a few of the popular restaurants they still had at least 20 large Mahi Mahi in the bottom of their boat. I wanted a whole fish this time and one of the fishermen from the boat asked if he could clean it for me. Although the fish is $8EC per pound, it is custom to give the person who cuts or cleans the fish for you a couple of dollars.
I explained to the fisherman that I would like him to clean and remove the head, tail and skin of the fish and I would take care of the rest. He stood in the water and cleaned the fish (17 pounds) on the dock rather than in the market, I think because the tables in the market belong to certain people. Quite a few locals came by and watched as he prepared my fish. He started filleting the fish which made me very nervous because locals don’t fillet as we do and I thought my big fish was about to be destroyed. He however was doing a magnificent job. The locals who were watching were in awe. I asked him where he learned to do this and found that he used to work for Windjammer Cruise lines and his job was to catch and fillet the fish. When he was finished I left him with the head, roe and skeleton to keep or share with his friends who were asking for a few bones.
We returned to the boat and I cleaned, packaged the fillets. There are enough really nice fillets for about nine meals for the two of us. Once all of the groceries were put away it was time to go ashore again to meet with a huge number of cruisers who were getting together at Captain Mac’s for happy hour. I think we ended up pulling about six long tables together to accommodate everyone.
When the group broke up everyone headed in different directions. Rick and I decided to have dinner ashore but we weren’t sure where we wanted to eat. As we were walking along the main street we ran into Dave, a landlubber from Carriacou who was here visiting friends. We tagged along with them and ended up at Coco’s for dinner. Rick and I both ordered rack of lamb which was cooked perfectly and served with a wonderful selection of sautéed vegetables and roasted potatoes.
It was another beautiful day. We talked about spending the afternoon on the beach but for some reason we never made it there.
Since summer has finally arrived, I made coleslaw, pasta salad, and a tossed salad for lunch with watermelon for dessert.
It appears that the wind and seas are starting to settle down again and we may leave in a day or two and spend some time in Tobago Cays. We both had a few boat chores to finish while we were still here. Bequia is a very comfortable anchorage with no roll even when the wind is howling.
We had the first of our Mahi Mahi fillets for dinner with my homemade mango chutney.
It was another beautiful day. We did boat chores in the morning and discussed going to the beach in the afternoon but didn’t. We are so bad! We both chose to lounge in the shade of the cockpit rather than get covered with sand on the beach.
Since I had all the ingredients to make Hawaiian Chicken for dinner that’s what we had. Often I am missing either the red or green peppers or even the fresh pineapple. It was a treat to not have to improvise.
We have never seen Bequia look so deserted. The anchorage on both sides of the bay was almost empty by late morning. A few charter boats arrived in the afternoon but it still seemed strange.
We joined Steve and Hope (Starshine) along with Dick and Jo (Remedy) at Dawns Restaurant on the beach in Lower Bay. We all had a nice lunch, enjoyed the sun and then returned to our boats. Very few cruisers are going in the water as it still feels quite chilly. We noticed many of the charter people swimming all afternoon. I guess the temperature is relative to what you are used to.
We returned to the boat and prepared for a morning departure to Tobago Cays. Now that the wind and seas are coming down, I wanted to swim with the turtles.
There was no reason to leave early for our passage to Tobago Cays as it was only 25 miles but we are always up early so we hauled anchor and booted it out at 7:30AM. We had a nice little downwind push to get us out of the bay and we were on our way. The forecast had changed and was now east to southeast winds 15 knots with seas 4 to 6 feet. We didn’t believe the “Southeast” part and we were right. The wind remained mostly East averaging 10 to 15 knots. The visibility was only about 10 miles due to a haze. The seas were choppy and during the change of tide became quite robust however it was a full moon last night so the tides are a little stronger than normal.
We arrived at Mayreau and turned to port to take the back door into the Tobago Cays. It was almost noon so the sun was good and high in the sky to let us eyeball navigate through the reefs.
The anchor was down by 12:30PM and I was thinking that it was nice to have an incident free passage when Rick let me know that he had caught his finger between the anchor chain and the stopper hook. Well, he lost a nice chunk of surface skin and bled a bit but nothing serious.
He needed a rum and pineapple juice to kill the pain before lunch and then a siesta. Later we both felt that his finger should not be in the ocean today. Depending upon how it looks tomorrow I may wrap it in saran and duct tape if he wants to swim.
I took my cushion and book up on deck and read a little while I people watched. I ended up turtle watching. A very large turtle poked his head up right beside the boat as if to ask why I wasn’t coming in to play. Hopefully tomorrow I’ll swim with the turtles.
I noticed that most of the boat boys don’t bother with the cruisers (most cruisers don’t spend money anyway) they instead go to all of the charter boats. Thank goodness at least the bread man stopped at our boat, I ordered a pan loaf (bread baked in a loaf pan) to be delivered at 7:30 AM tomorrow.
Dinner was teriyaki mahi mahi with sautéed vegetables (christophene, carrots, onions and green peppers) and basmati rice. There were no leftovers.
Well forget it! We’re out of here. Last night we didn’t rock and roll, we bounced all night. At times I felt I was on a trampoline. We have never seen the water so rough inside the reef. We are anchored behind the reef and yes the waves were crashing over the reef so I wasn’t going to snorkel there, but usually a little further in from the reef the water settles down. Not this time. The turtles may be all down there munching on the turtle grass but it’s too rough for me. We are moving over to Union Island for a good night sleep.
As we pulled into Clifton Harbour at Union Island our boat boy friend, Buddha was there to greet us. A little further in and we heard our friend Karen yelling hello from the cockpit of a boat (Lucia) we didn’t know. Buddha tied us up to a mooring ball and then stopped to talk for a while. I called Karen and we agreed to meet at the dock at noon and go for lunch. We stopped at Jenny’s fruit stand and ordered lunch which today was a chicken roti. We then walked through and around town before returning to Jenny’s where our lunch was ready and waiting.
After lunch we walked to the airport and checked out with Customs and Immigration. On our way back to the dinghy dock we had to pass by Unitec which is the Yamaha dealer that we purchased our outboard motor from a few years ago. Rick stopped in to ask about an overheating problem that only happens when the dinghy is run at full speed for a while. The mechanic looked at him and chuckled. “Down here” he said, “we just remove the thermostat”. Problem solved.
When we returned to the boat we raised the dinghy into the davits and prepared everything for a morning departure. We were both tired from lack of sleep last night so we just relaxed and read for the rest of the day.
Other than the howling of the wind through all of the masts in Clifton Harbour all night, it was a comfortable night.
We awoke, had breakfast and prepared to leave. The weather forecasting has been so inaccurate this season that we had no idea what we would encounter today. Wouldn’t you know it, the best sailing day yet and we only had about seven miles to Hillsborough. We left Union Island just after 8AM and we were anchored in Hillsborough, Carriacou a little after 9AM.
I love it each time we return to Carriacou. We were walking down the street toward the Immigration office when from behind us we heard some calling “Wind-Borne III”. It was our friend Roy welcoming us back. Next, Andy (In Stitches) called from the other side of the street to say welcome back. Christine at Patty’s Deli had hugs for both of us. At least five of the bus drivers stopped and came by to say hello.
When we were finished in Hillsborough and moved over to Tyrrel Bay, Alana and Brad (Witches Song) were in the cockpit welcoming us home, Bram (Mad Dog) came by with some engine oil he had been saving for us, Tito (Halleluiah) came to ask if Rick would help winch him up the mast to recover a halyard. It feels good to be back.
I turned on the water maker and we began the task of rinsing the salt from life jackets, cargo straps, jack lines and anything else we were finished with for the season.
After a wonderful night sleep, we began our boat chores. Rick removed and anchor chain from the bottom of the aft locker. This was one of our hurricane preparedness anchor lines that we no longer need since we now go home for hurricane season. Brad and Alana (Witches Song) said they would make use of it so it was delivered by dinghy to their boat. Next while down in the aft locker we both worked on removing the chain plate for the back stay. Dominic (Stainless man) is going to make us a new one.
With enough water in the tanks I washed and rinsed the salt from the dodger windows and cabin ports so they could be opened without salt crystals dropping inside the cabin.
I also began cleaning and organizing the first of the cupboards for storage.
In the afternoon, Roy and Susan picked us up at the dock and we went to the Hardwood Café on Paradise Beach for an afternoon of beer and gab. I also had a box of Zaka masks from St Lucia to deliver to Sandra at her store on the beach. It was a really nice afternoon.
We returned to the boat just before dark and had a light snack for dinner.
Susan and Roy have invited us along with a few other couples to their home for a barbeque this Sunday. Rick wanted a couple of things in town and I needed to pick up some salad ingredients.
On our arrival at shore we first dropped our laundry with Selma (the laundry lady), put a warm loaf of bread on hold with Beverley at the Alexis Supermarket and then went for Bake and Eggs at the Bay Side Restaurant. We received a wonderful welcome back from everyone as we walked along the road.
On the bus to town (Hillsborough) we learned that both cell phone companies (Cable and Wireless and Digicel) were giving away cell phones today and tomorrow. We are with Cable and Wireless and their offer was if you topped up your phone number with $59EC ($22CAD) you received a free Motorola phone or if you topped up for $99EC ($37CAD) you received a free Nokia phone. I prefer the Nokia phone. This offer was only good for today and tomorrow so once we arrived in town our first stop was the Cable and Wireless office.
We ran around and picked up everything we needed and then returned to Harvey Vale and the Bay Side restaurant for lunch which consisted of rice with vegetables, fried plantain, coleslaw and a red snapper steak for $12EC ($4.50CAD). It must have been a big Snapper to be able to provide the size of steaks that we received.
We are really noticing how the prices of things in Carriacou are so much better than the very touristy islands north of here. Pan bread (a loaf baked in a pan) in Bequia at almost every store was $15EC while in Carriacou it is $3EC.
We returned to the boat with our groceries and clean laundry and had a couple
of hours before we were to leave again. Rick used that time to clean the
carburetor and change the plugs on the outboard dinghy motor which has been
misfiring lately. He also removed the thermostat as recommended by the mechanic
in Union Island.
I received a phone call from both Fitzroy and Sherwin today. Sherwin was little upset that we had been back two days and hadn’t called or gone to see him yet. I promised that we would see him in the evening and would be joined by others who were coming for dinner and to hear the pan band. We had also promised Scraper that we would stop by his new beach bar for a drink before going to the Lambi Queen.
Ronnie who runs a small bar out of his home in Hermitage invited us to a barbecue Saturday night. He later had Brad come by the boat to let us know that they would be killing a young pig for the barbecue and there would be a lot of food and people. It’s a no wonder that we have difficulty getting all of our boat chores done in Carriacou with all of the parties going on.
We had a great dinner (Swordfish) at the Lambi Queen. I received many more welcome home hugs. The pan band was wonderful and it was after 9PM when we left after their first set.
It was overcast and windy all day but at least it was a warm wind. In the morning Rick went over to see Dominic who is making a new chain plate for our backstay. While he was gone I cleaned and reorganized two more cupboards which sure didn’t take long this year compared to last year.
I washed all of the stainless steel and the deck using my nice florescent green washing mitt from West Marine.
Rick made some sandwiches for lunch and served them in the cockpit. After lunch I had great plans to scrub all of the stainless using cif but only got a few stanchions done before I was ready to relax and rest for an evening out.
Ronnie was barbecuing both the pork and very large jack (fish) that he had caught today. Rick and I had some of each and both were wonderful. I asked Ronnie if he was selling any of the pork and sure enough he was. There wasn’t a lot because the pig was only six months old and what he had was all packaged in 8 lb bags. I took one of the bags knowing that a large portion would be bone skin and fat but the meat would be tender and tasty.
Rick made his usual Sunday morning poached eggs. After cleaning up I started preparing a salad to take with us to the barbecue at Susan and Roy’s house. Roy picked us up at 11AM so Rick and I would arrive before the other guests. I helped Susan prepare the appetizers and salads.
Everything was ready when the nine other guests arrived. Rick and I were in charge of the barbecue which was almost filled to overflowing with fresh chicken and then pork tenderloins.
It was a wonderful afternoon and Roy drove us back down to the dinghy just as the sun was setting.
It was a gorgeous day with sunshine and blue skies. As soon as we finished breakfast I prepared a marinade for the pork.
Rick took the generator almost totally apart just to replace the pull cord. While apart he serviced it by spraying the metal parts with corrosion preventative oil.
I went through our first aid kits and medications making a fresh inventory of what will be on board when we return next season, what we should bring from home and what is needed but can be purchased here in Carriacou.
When we finished with lunch we dinghied into shore where Rick sat in the shade under the Machineel tree while I trimmed his hair. Afterward we both dove in for a nice swim before returning to the boat.
The pork was put into the oven and ready for us to have dinner in the cockpit just after sunset.
Dominic had finished making the stern chain plate so after picking it up Rick prepared for the installation only to find that the only sikaflex we had on board was black. He made a quick trip to the haulout for some white 5200 and then into town for bread, cash and spark plugs.
While Rick was gone I finished the inventory in the head.
When he returned I made lunch and then we went at the chain plate. It didn’t take long so we started on the next project which we probably should have left for the next day and instead gone for a swim but we were both ready to tackle it.
Dominic is going to make new stainless bars that hold the bow pulpit on the bowsprit. We have to remove or at least lift the bow pulpit before we can remove the bars. The only problem we encountered was that because it had been there 23 years even the screws didn’t want to be removed never mind the whole pulpit. We removed most of the screws connecting the pulpit and left the rest for tomorrow.
Work continued on the pulpit in the morning and we were able to take the pieces to Dominic before lunch for him to use as a pattern. He is not working tomorrow as it is May Day.
While lifting the bowsprit high enough to remove the stanchion holders we broke the wire for the forward navigational lights that feeds through the stainless tubing. Rick said that it’s not a big deal we can replace the wire before it goes back together.
We had lunch and then went ashore for a swim. There is a bit of a north swell but the winds are light and there isn’t much of a wind wave.
I made a mahi mahi fish chowder for dinner and between the two of us we ate it all.
