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Diane's DiaryJan 9 Wed I washed the boat down with soap & water to remove all the salt. The water is definitely saltier in the Caribbean then NY so the stainless steel gets rustier sooner. I just waxed the stanchions in Trinidad & they are starting to get rusty again. That's because we don't have access to fresh water to wash the boat down. Also, the topsides need to be rewaxed. The last time I did it was when we were here in Martinique last May & it really needs to be done again. It was just too hot to wax the topsides in Trinidad. The mechanic from CS Services came to the boat at 1:30, tested the alternator & brought it back to his shop to test. He called on the VHF & yes, it's the diodes, they are bad & need to be replaced. Even though we had the alternator worked on in Bermuda & Guadeloupe, someone didn't fix the alternator correctly. Luckily, the right part is not expensive, but they don't have the part here since it's an American alternator. So, they will have to order the part from the US. We ordered it Fed Ex priority delivery - it's supposed to be here on Monday but I am not holding my breath about that. Anyway, since the alternator is off, we can't use the engine so we are stuck in the marina until we get the part. Luckily, we are not in a rush & don't have any schedule so we have the time to wait for the part. Larry went back to CS Services at 4pm to make sure everything was ok with ordering the part. I stayed at the boat & made a crabmeat dish. We had drinks in the cockpit, an early dinner & watched a movie. We had been making popcorn but it didn't taste right. Another cruiser told me to use corn oil instead of olive oil & that made all the difference. Wish we had more popcorn! Jan 10 Thursday We walked over to the marina office - from where our boat is; it's about a 10minute walk. CS Services will order the new part via FedEx to expedite receipt. After we left the marina office, we took the dinghy over to the supermarket. They have one of the worst dinghy docks here in the entire Caribbean. Very small, crowded & you are afraid the dinghy will get ripped. But, walking to the supermarket is quite far & you could never walk that far back with groceries so everyone brings their dinghy there. There is now a brand new Leader Price supermarket in addition to a Champion supermarket so there is some competition now. We bought Larry's favorite Brie cheese again - he eats it very quickly! I have to keep telling him not to eat it so fast & make it last a few days, as it's expensive. The best Brie is Brie Supreme which is about $8USD per lb. Anyway, we got back to the boat around 12:15pm, put away groceries, & put up the awning. We had movie night tonight on Destiny. Since we are at the dock with unlimited electric, we can watch movies. Normally, we have to be very careful about electricity usage so we don't get to see movies very often. It's nice to be able to watch them again. Jan 11 Fri I went over to the marina today to call Aunt Mary for her birthday. Since we can't send cards or presents the best thing we can do is call people on their birthdays. CS Services said the part would be here on Tues so it looks like we'll be in the marina awhile longer. It's a good thing it's so cheap though. About $12USD per day- if we stay for one month the daily rate comes to about $7USD per day. That's the cheapest rate in the whole Caribbean. At Crew's Inn in Trinidad we pay about $20USD per day. What a difference! It doesn't seem too much on a daily basis but really adds up over a month. Anyway, we got back to the boat around 11:30. S/V Kristali came over in the afternoon to say goodbye - they are heading north. We will hopefully see them next summer in Venezuela. We will definitely miss their company but we are pretty sure we will see them next summer. We watched another video tonight. Jan 12 Sat Larry worked on fixing the windlass this morning. I put the 303 waterproof fabric spray on all the canvas. It has to be applied when it's not windy out so that can be hard since the wind has been blowing so much. It was a dull dreary day with on again off again rain the whole day. I took a nap in the afternoon. I also vacuumed the boat - it seems to get so dusty out here. Jan 13 Sun The town of Marin has been having a big carnival for the past 3 weekends. Today, we went to see the baby yoles - small handmade wooden sailboats in a race. Larry really enjoyed it. Unfortunately, we didn't bring the digital camera because it looked like it was going to rain out- & it did, but then stopped. We could have gotten some good pictures too. Oh well, next week they are having the bigger yoles so we will definitely bring the camera then. We were fortunate not too many people came to see the race so we had great visibility. They also had carnival type rides & music playing at night. However, the music was supposed to start at 8pm but they are always late so it didn't start until after 9pm. Since we usually go to bed by 9 or 10, we decided not to go see the music. We got back to the boat around 1pm, had lunch & I spent the rest of the day doing emails. We also watched another movie tonight. Jan 14 Mon I decided to vacuum everything on the boat since we have all this electric & can run our small vacuum. I took off all the cushions & vacuumed underneath them all. What a lot of stuff! Around 12, we heard our friends S/V Mima on the VHF radio coming into Martinique. We knew they were coming up this way to see us & another boat called Lady J in St. Anne, but weren't sure when they would arrive. We had heard from them several days before on the SSB radio when they had to divert into St. Lucia. They were coming up from Margarita & had had a rough trip up. The fuel dock was closed for lunch but we told them we would help them get onto it. We said we would meet them over there but by the time it took us to walk the 10 minutes over to the fuel dock they were already there. We didn't even recognize the boat as they had it painted a beautiful slate blue color in Venezuela. The boat looked great & we were thrilled to see them. We last saw them when we left Trinidad for the US - prior to the 9/11 bombing. They were the ones who called us in the US to see if we were OK. Anyway, they decided to stay in the marina for a few days to visit us & do some shopping. We spoke to the marina & they put them on the slip right next to us as we had previously made a reservation for them. We helped them get into the dock. Anyway, it was 3pm by this time & we were all starved. Steph & I walked over to the small bakery here but they had no baguettes at this time since it was late. So, we walked over to the other bakery in the marina, which is more expensive, & not as good, to get the baguettes. I knew Tom would be dying for baguettes. When all cruisers first come into the French islands the first thing they want is the wonderful French bread. So, I knew Tom would appreciate it. Since they were so tired from their long trip from St. Lucia under terrible conditions, I made lunch. We had a great time catching up with them. We really have enjoyed their company & had missed them a lot. Anyway, we had them over for dinner as I had just made a pot of zucchini beef stew that morning. I knew they would be too tired to cook. We cruisers seem to know what helps each other out & I knew they appreciated the dinner. 1/15 Tues Larry worked on the rebedding the forestay chain plate this morning. I baked a Key Lime pie - I knew we would see Mima & had brought the ingredients to make the pie for them. Since they are from Florida, we knew they liked Key Lime pie. We decided to go to a restaurant for lunch that Larry & I had been to the last time we were in Martinique called Auberge du Marin. We had a wonderful meal there the last time. Well, we went, but the prices had gone up (maybe we had gotten the off season amount) & the meal was very disappointing. I had the lamb chops as they were on the special menu of the day- they were not cooked well at all & were very tough. I didn't like them at all. We had 3 courses - accras as an appetizer (fried fish in dough - very good), lamb chops & fries (the fries were very good) & ice cream for dessert. For $13 USD per person, I didn't think it was worth it. Maybe if the meat had been better, it would have been OK. Anyway, some of the other meals were much better. Larry had the shark that was very good. Tom had a steak that was also good. It must have been the meat I ordered - I don't think the French do well with meat. Anyway, after lunch we went to the bank with Mima. We walked over to the marina to make phone calls & check on the boat part. The boat part is not in yet. We had a drink in the restaurant/bar near the marina. We saw some friends from the S/V Piano - they were friends of S/V Dazzler. Mima invited us over for dinner & drinks later that night. We have had a great time catching up with them & will miss them terribly when they leave. They had only planned to stay here a few days but the winds & seas have been high so they want to wait until they get a good weather window to leave as they are heading directly to St. Croix- about 300 miles. They are going to St. Thomas after that & want Larry & I to follow them there. We talked about it, as we would both like to see St. Thomas & St. John with our own boat - we have been there by cruise ship. Plus, we could get our mail, make phone calls to 800 numbers, go shopping in a US supermarket, Price Club & Kmart for things we need on the boat. It was all so tempting. But, if we go with them we need to go south east again in order to go back to Trinidad. We are not willing to buck the trade winds to go east again when we are already east. But, we decided it would be best to do as we planned & head back to Trinidad by the end of March, get the work done on the boat, see Scotland Bay & Chacachacare Island, & then head for Venezuela by early May. We need to go back to the US in late July to rent the house out again so we won't have that much time in Venezuela, as we will head north to St. Martin next November. We'll spend some time in St. Martin & go to the BVI & USVI. If the weather is good, hopefully, we'll be able to go to St. Croix next year. So, that's the current cruising plan. Except you all must know by now if you have been reading these logs, that cruising plans are subject to revision at any moment! |