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Diane's Diary6/16 Saturday I decided to do some hand laundry today since we have extra water. The wind generator & solar panels have really been kicking in amps out here so we have been running the water maker every day. There are absolutely no services out here- no electricity, water, garbage disposal, phone, stores etc. so you have to really come prepared. This is where the water maker really pays for itself as we can stay as long as we want. Jerry jugging water is a real pain in the ass. We went snorkeling at 2pm on the inner reef & came back to the boat by 3:30. Our American flag is really taking a beating & is getting torn & faded. We will definitely have to get another one when we go home. Anyway, I stitched up the flag where it was torn. I made veal cordon bleu with the last of the veal. We watched a movie after dinner; I can't remember the last time we watched TV, but I honestly don't even miss it. 6/17 Sunday Fathers' Day Happy Fathers' Day. Sorry we can't call Dad but there isn't even a phone around for miles. We were thinking of you though & hope you had a good day! I had bought some bacon in Union Island so we had bacon & eggs for breakfast. I did emails from 9-11. Then we went snorkeling from 11-1:30 on the inner & outer reef. We also dinghied around the anchorage. I was tired so I took a nap & Larry went back out snorkeling. He saw another stingray & said he got some terrific pictures of it. Hope they come out good. Glad we have the camera. Larry came back around 4:30 & we cleaned the water line from 4:30- 6. The bottom needs to be cleaned also but we didn't have time for both. The growth seems to be really bad here- we just cleaned it in Mayreau less than a week ago. I guess the paint is losing it's effectiveness- we've had the boat in the water almost a year now. I did paint 2 coats of bottom paint myself when I did it before we left. We are going to get the bottom painted in Trinidad or Venezuela. 6/18 Monday We went snorkeling on the inner & outer reef at 11 today. We took Ruth from Legacy as her husband hurt his knee & had to take it easy. She lent me this fantastic book - Stolen Lives by Malika Oufir. It was excellent & I would highly recommend it to everyone! I could not put it down. We came back to the boat, had lunch & read for a while. I decided to take the dinghy to the beach to get some exercise. Another Tropical wave is due to come in tonight but we have decided to stay here & ride it out. The wave started about 9pm with heavy wind. At 3am, the increased wind & heavy rain woke us up. A large catamaran dragged close by to us & after that we couldn't get to sleep. We are at the back of the anchorage so if anyone drags it will be down on us. How they missed the other boats I will never know. We finally got to sleep about 5am. We slept right through our morning radio nets though. 6/19 Tuesday Well, the Tropical wave stayed with us the whole day today so we just stayed on board the entire day. It wasn't too bad - the worse wind was about 3-5am last night. Today we've had wind about 20-25 knots, little rain & overcast. Not a good day to go snorkeling though. I finished the book Ruth from Legacy gave me- it was so good I couldn't put it down! We had lunch, then I did some emails & updated my logs. In all a lazy day but sometimes I think you need days like this. The anchorage really cleared out today- at least 10 boats left so now we have less then 20 boats here. 6/20 Wednesday I did email this morning after we listened to our various nets in the morning. We listen to sometimes 3 different weather reports each day as well as the security net, & the net to reach our cruising friends via SSB radio. Breakfast is usually the only meal we eat inside because we are listening to our various nets. We eat all our other meals in the cockpit since it's much cooler. Since we have so much electricity out here in the Cays we are running our water maker everyday. We went snorkeling at 11am. The sun is up high at this time & is great for the underwater camera. It was too rough to snorkel the outer reef since it's blowing about 20-25 knots. I made my sun dried tomato dip, & some turkey enchiladas. At 4pm, we went to the beach for cocktails & appetizers with a bunch of other cruisers. It was nice to get to land for a change. We stayed from 4-7. Our dinghy engine quit just as we were going to land in between the reefs. Luckily, other cruisers were also landing & pulled us in. We had to get a tow back to the boat also. S/V Kristali was nice enough to tow us back to the anchorage. Larry will have to look at the engine tomorrow although Kristali offered to help with it. 6/21 Thursday Well, Larry got on the engine first thing this morning. We can't go anywhere unless we have a dinghy engine- it's too windy to row. He found the problem- dirt in the carburetor. He cleaned it out & all is well again. While he was looking at the engine, I made some chili, cleaned the bathroom, swept & mopped the floors, shook out the rugs, & cleaned the kitchen. I also changed the roach traps- I haven't seen any for months & then I only saw 2 so I am just doing this as a precaution. We went snorkeling around 2 on the inner reef but the light wasn't good & we had a lot of current so I didn't like it that much. We also cleaned the dinghy bottom while it was in the water. I made some homemade bread. I'm learning how to make bread. I think I finally got it right. There are no food supplies out here, any restaurants, grocery, phones, or electric. If you want to stay in the Cays you must be prepared to have everything. |