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Back in the Marina

by steve, on April 11th, 2009 (Bees Knees, Dominica, Maltese Falcon, Reality, St Lucia)

This morning we motored back into the Rodney Bay Marina. Jim from Bees Knees hailed us on the VHF to see if we wanted help coming into the slip. Given that last time I back into a slip I made a bit of a hash of it I welcomed the offer. So around 9am, Anne and Jim dinghied over to Dignity and we made our plans.

We motored into the cut and hailed the marina to give us our slip number. They had earlier told us to have our fenders out on the starboard side but they’d had a change of mind and now it was port. As we approached the docks, Anne unhitched both their and our dinghy and took them to a safe place. We then approached the dock, span the boat and backed in against the wind. It went a lot better than last time.

Before Anne and Jim left, Sharon and Vaughn popped by and we discussed our plans for the Pitons. A new plan was agreed to meet up on Sunday in readiness of a Monday hike.

We said our goodbyes and got on with the tasks we had to do. I went to the marina office to check in. It took a while as the office was crowded and I had to wait my turn. Back on the boat we again met Jim and Anne who were busying around. I had asked for the marina staff to come and enable the power but they hadn’t turned up. So I stayed

on the boat while Helen when to the shops within easy walking distance not failing to bump into Anne and Jim yet again.

By the time Helen returned the power had just been attached – an overall wait of over an hour. I wasn’t too pleased but I guess it’s island time. Having started the batteries charging and equalizing I dashed off to Island Water World before it closed for the day to pick up a fishing lure along the lines of that recommended by the fisherman I spoke to in Marigot Bay. While there I bumped into Mario and his wife from Maltese Falcon who we met in Point-a-Pitre. Having discussed our summer options it looks like we’ll be in the same area in September so we may see them again in the near future.

Back on the boat we had a quick bite to eat then dinghied off to the local supermarket to provision for the next 5 weeks. Heading south we won’t see any big supermarkets until we hit Grenada so we’re stocking up on frozen and specialist stuff.

Leaving the supermarket with a full trolley we bumped into Vaughn and Sharon – seems we’re all doing the same thing. They were now having doubts as to climbing the Pitons as their quick in and out visa expires tomorrow and this may make things awkward. I let them know we’d just seen Bees Knees who would probably still be contactable. We dinghied off to our boats together and parted company when we reached Dignity. As Helen and I were putting the food aboard Vaughn popped round to say they’d run out of fuel. I was planning to fill our second spare can so I agreed to take them over to the fuel dock so they could grab a bit of fuel. By the time I made it round to where they had stopped they’d managed to get their dinghy going again by tipping it up but still wanted to get some fuel.

So over we went to the fuel dock and waited for the attendant to arrive. While waiting, guess who turns up. Anne and Jim arrived on Bees Knees to pick up diesel. Seems we can’t get away from each other. We again discussed plans for the weekend and more or less stayed with this morning’s plan with Sharon and Vaughn being maybes.

Now all the shopping is done and we can relax. The batteries will stay equalizing until this evening and we’ll continue to trickle charge overnight. I’ve asked for an 8am read of the meter so we can quickly depart and head south for our rendezvous in Soufrierre.

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Category: Bees Knees, Dominica, Maltese Falcon, Reality, St Lucia | Here is my comment

Dominoes

by steve, on April 11th, 2009 (Bees Knees, Reality, St Lucia)

We had a lot of fun yesterday evening. Anne/Jim and Sharon/Vaughn all arrived within a minute of each other. Everyone brought their own tidbits/nibbles and we shared amongst ourselves. Knowing that the dominoes game can take hours we cleared the table early and started playing. Vaughn and Sharon picked up the rules very quickly and did well. The game seems to be more luck than anything but entertaining none-the-less. The evening ended around 11pm which is very late for us.

We’ve sort of agreed a plan to meet up near the Pitons on Monday for a hike to the top on Tuesday.

This morning we’ll be moving into the marina to perform maintenance and shopping for the next five weeks.

Category: Bees Knees, Reality, St Lucia | Here is my comment

Dominoes Tonight?

by steve, on April 10th, 2009 (Bees Knees, Reality, St Lucia)

Shortly after writing yesterday’s blog, to our complete surprise and pleasure, our friend Sharon and Vaughn from Reality anchored behind us. We first met them on the Boiling Lake hike in Dominica.

We’ve had a couple of chats this morning and agreed that it would be a good idea for them to join us on our Pitons climb with Jim and Anne from Bees Knees in a few days time. We’ve also agreed the six of us should get together this evening to make plans aboard Dignity along with the usual tid bits and beverages. We may even resort to a game of dominoes – our first this year.

This morning I’ve agreed with CatCo that we’d be better off waiting until we get to Grenada for our chip upgrade. There is no urgency to this and would rather have the distance of time to make scheduling simpler. This means we can leave any time. We’d like to go into the marina for a day and an evening to equalize the house bank again so we may squeeze that in tomorrow.

Category: Bees Knees, Reality, St Lucia | Here is my comment

Dinner, Boat Work & Hike

by steve, on April 9th, 2009 (Bees Knees, St Lucia)

Dinner aboard Bees Knees yesterday evening was very tasty. Jim cooked a “Caribbean Stew” which went down very well – both servings. We chucked back a few beers / wine / rums depending on taste and preferred sequence before heading back to Dignity and falling asleep quite quickly. The rain that had begun just after we returned from Castries never really let up so in retrospect we were particularly lucky to get the weather window we did.

This morning it was up early for boat chores. I wanted to put the single network cable in place for my mast mounted wifi box to replace the joined cable that was taped temporarily to the outside of the mast. I also wanted to insulate the metal fittings of the antenna box from the strut it was attached to. In the end I was up the mast for over an hour.

The first job was to send my fish wire down inside the mast for Helen to retrieve at the bottom. This took less time than I feared. Helen then taped the network cable to the end of the fish wire and I pulled it up inside the mast and out through the hole that was made for the radar cable by Eddie back in St Martin last December. Having done this bit, I lowered the fish wire to Helen who untied it from my line and attached my tool bag which I raised. Then it was a matter of loosening the attachments, taping the strut, reattaching the antenna box, connecting the network cable, insulating that, taping it to the strut and finally protecting the cables as they entered the mast.

While I was up the mast, Helen finished off the work fixing the starboard trampoline. That worked well as she was around to respond to any needs I had – like being let down – which is kind of important.

Back down on the boat I had to remove the temporary cables and run the rest of the 50ft cable through the gooseneck and into the salon. I have been testing the new cable today and it is definitely better than the last. It is also safer as it is now inside the mast rather than being on the outside and vulnerable to wind or being caught on something.

I managed to get this all ready in time for a 10am call to the US which had no quality issues at all as far as I could tell. All well worth the effort.

This afternoon we rejoined Anne and Jim to climb the small hills of Pigeon Island and explore the old fortifications. We did this last month with our guests but that didn’t diminish a repeat visit.

This time we explored more of the area surrounding the hills. In fact we were forced to because this time we were told to go to the entrance and pay to explore the area. We got to see where they hold weddings looking out to sea to the north. In the foreground is Burgot Rock and off in the distance, Martinique can be seen on clear days as we could today. Very pretty.

We then climbed to the fort on the western hill. From there we saw the pirate ship which takes tourists up and down the coast. I understand it is the one used in Pirates of the Caribbean and if I believe what I googled it was also used in Roots.

We heard some loud shots and it transpired they were acting out a little ship to shore battle. We were unimpressed by the chap with the canon just below us as he threw up the white flag after just two shots.

We then wondered over to the other hill, took some pics and descended down to where we’d left the dinghy. With all the hard climbing in the heat of day we needed some refreshment so it was off to Dignity for a beer before parting ways.

Looking ahead we’ve agreed to climb at least one of the Pitons together. Anne and Jim need to visit a few of the places down the coast we’ve already been to. We’re still trying to arrange for a rendezvous with the CatCo tech for our chip upgrade. Looks like we’re getting there but it’s not sorted out yet. One way or the other we’ll work this out.

Turns out Bees Knees quite independently chose to summer in Grenada as well. Anne, who is a nurse, will be working in Maine for the summer but Jim will be around. They’re also thinking about heading west and through the canal next season. Who knows, we could end up going about the same time.

Category: Bees Knees, St Lucia | Here is my comment

A Day Out With Friends

by steve, on April 8th, 2009 (Bees Knees, St Lucia)

The rain continued throughout this morning. We’d very much settled on the idea of another day doing not a lot when it began to lighten up a little. After a brief Skype with Bees Knees we decided to chance a trip into Castries.

Deciding to all go in one Dinghy, Jim and Anne collected us and took us ashore. Before we’d even crossed the road coming out of the marina a bus was arriving. It was the usual mini bus stuffed with damp people that we’ve grown to love down here in the islands.

The fare was less than a dollar each all the way into Castries. We didn’t really see much of the scenery as we chatted most of the way.

We arrived right by the fruit market of which I took a couple of photos last time around. By now it was close to lunchtime and we were all hungry. We looked for and found local food in one of the booths in the market, one with a couple of tables outside. There were in fact quite a few booths offering variations on much the same thing so it was hard to choose among them. Nevertheless we found one we liked the look of and ordered our various rotis and drinks. It was delicious. And very good value too.

After lunch it was a case of walking around town, looking at shops, etc. Jim bought some food for his parakeet. I managed to buy a 50ft network cable that is long enough to run down inside my mast for the wifi box I have up there.

On the way back to the bus we all picked up fruit from the market. Then it was back to Rodney Bay and back to the boats. We’d had light rain on and off all afternoon but the skies opened up as we reached the boats. Our timing was almost perfect. Now it’s time to rest before we head back to Bees Knees for dinner there.

Tomorrow I hope the rain breaks. I want to go up the mast and install the new cable. The current one has a join in the middle which has been causing problems (never ending it seems). A single cable should do the trick. We also plan to reclimb the small hills of Pigeon Island if the weather agrees to let us.

Category: Bees Knees, St Lucia | Here is my comment
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