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Diane's Diary2/2 Sat I made tortilla pinwheels tonight as we are having a little goodbye party for Mima tonight. They are leaving tomorrow heading to the USVI. We will really miss them but we know we will see them again in Venezuela later in the year. We have really enjoyed having them here & it will be lonely without them. Steph came over to talk with me in the am. I cleaned the bathroom & did some other cleanup after she left. We walked over to the marina with Tom & Steph for lunch. I didn't really want to spend the money, as I knew it was expensive & I had heard the food wasn't that great. Well, we went but I was right- the food was only fair, the service was very slow, & it was expensive. It cost us $24USD & I had a ˝ chicken & French fries, Larry had the fish of the day, which was snapper. An entire whole fish- it wasn't even filleted. We had ice cream also. I certainly didn't think it was worth it but Larry had wanted to go so we did. We went over to Mima for dinner that night for tacos except the taco shells I had gotten in Trinidad were stale. So, we just had a chili dinner. We had such a big lunch everyone wasn't that hungry. I brought over the rest of out Margarita mix so we could have margaritas but the guys had already started drinking rum & Steph wasn't drinking since she had taken seasickness medication. So, I finished the mix myself. There really wasn't much though. 2/3 Sun Steph helped us get duty free beer & wine. You have to clear out of French territory in order to get duty free. We wanted to get the booze while we were still at the dock as it makes it easier than when we are at anchor. Liquids are very hard to transport to the boat by dinghy since they weigh so much. We bought 8 cases of Heineken beer (15.3 euros a case or about $13USD- in St. Marten I bought it for 12.50 so we knew this was a good price), 39 bottles of wine, 1 bottle of vodka, & 12 bottles of mineral water. This will last us (hopefully) until we get to Venezuela sometime in May. Also, we really like the French wine. Wine is over $10USD per bottle in Trinidad. Also. Carib beer in Trinidad is about $19USD non duty-free. So, even though we spent a lot, this will last us for a long time. We are going back to the anchorage next week & will be at anchorage when we leave Martinique so it made sense to get the booze now while we are still at the dock. Anyway, Mima left in the afternoon. We were both sad they were gone - we really had a great time with them while they were here. 2/4 Mon We took the dinghy out of the water & cleaned it, washed it & used the 303 preservative on it. It really maintains the appearance of the dinghy & helps with the UV rays. We try to clean it regularly as well as the clear plastic. This helps keep everything looking good. Afterwards I washed the rags & walked over to the marina to call the Yamaha dealer. We are thinking of buying a bigger outboard & dinghy. He won't get another shipment for 2 more weeks so we will have to see if we want to buy it. Actually, the price is not that much higher than St. Martin. In the pm, I updated my logbooks & finished waxing the cockpit. Larry walked over to the Internet store in the afternoon. 2/5 Tues Well, the winds have finally decreased. It's been really blowing here. Since the winds have died down, the marina has really emptied out. I finished waxing the cockpit. I used 3M wax I bought from Mima & was very happy with the results. I used to use Mary Kate cleaner wax but I think the 3M wax makes the boat shine better. The Mary Kate does a better job cleaning the boat so I would use both. One coat using Mary Kate to clean & wax & the second coat of 3M to shine it. Larry worked on the regulator -now that's not working properly! Hope we get it fixed. I am ready to leave the marina- we are squished in here like sardines & there is no privacy. Plus, the French don't know the meaning of "quiet hour" like most marinas have. They make noise at all hours of the night & are generally inconsiderate of their dock neighbors. We found this to be true in our 2 previous times in a French marina. Also, the TV stopped working again tonight. We had this same problem in Trinidad - I think it's the outlet not the TV. 2/6 Wed After several phone calls to the US, Larry fixed the regulator - it was corrosion in the switch! It probably happened when salt water got in the switch on the sail down to Bermuda. Anyway, we were both relieved it was fixed. We thought we were going to have to stay longer & get another part shipped in from the US. Larry worked on the regulator all day long. I finished cleaning & waxing all the stanchions & dodger stainless. I also cleaned the dodger windows with the 303 spray that protects the windows from the UV. I wasn't feeling well in the afternoon so I laid down for a while Larry walked back to the marina to get boat parts. When he came back, I cleaned part of the interior teak using Murphy's oil soap. It does an excellent job of getting up all the dirt. 2/7 Thurs Today was laundry day. How exciting! Since it has to all be hand washed & soaked & line dried, it takes all day to do. It makes me appreciate how valuable a washing machine is. We have met a number of cruisers who have washing machines on the boat. It's a great idea & probably uses the same amount of water. I had so many clothes to wash; they all wouldn't fit on the clothesline Larry hung, & the lifelines. So, I had to wait until the first load of laundry was dried before I could dry the second load. Since we will not be in a marina again until we get back to Trinidad, I made sure to do as much laundry as I can while we have good access to water. Larry worked on cleaning & regreasing the windlass. We watched another video tonight. 2/8 Fri Well, our one-month stay in the marina is up today but we just aren't ready to leave yet. Since Mima left, we have really been working on the boat but while they were here we were goofing off for a bit. We are also both tired from doing all this boat work. Larry equalized the batteries today. I took the dinghy over to the supermarket. I didn't think I would be able to do this myself as the wind was really blowing plus, it's a terrible dinghy dock. But, I found someone to help me both coming & going so it made things easier. We used the last of our mozzarella cheese as I made chicken cutlet Parmesan. For some reason mozzarella cheese is very expensive in the French islands so I will wait until we get back to St. Lucia to buy it. Actually, it's hard to find in most of the Caribbean except for St. Martin & St. Lucia. Trinidad has it in the gourmet grocery store - sometimes. 2/9 Sat Moving day from the marina! Yea! I will be glad to be out of here. Actually, they had a 15% price increase in marina fees on 1/1- probably with the change to euro they decided to increase the price. It's still one of the cheaper marinas around- for 1 month about $250USD. Plus, they charge for water now. However, for one month in the marina, including letting Mima use the water, we paid only 10 euro- about $9USD. Id I had known it was going to be that cheap, I would have used more water! I find the charge very reasonable. Strange but they only have a daily or monthly rate. We had to pay a daily rate for the 1 extra day we stayed in the marina over the 30 days. Most marinas have a policy that once you stay over x days the rate drops & stays the same for the remainder of your stay. Anyway, I finished cleaning the interior of the boat with Murphy's oil soap, filling all the water containers, & vacuuming the boat. Larry went to use the Internet café. I have had a migraine headache the past 2 days that I can't seem to shake. I paid the marina bill, went to the little provisioning store on sight, & we finally left the marina at 4:30pm. We were in no rush to leave as we were only going over to St. Anne & it's not that far. We had the anchor set by about 6pm & settled down to have a drink & early dinner. We were both tired from all the work of the previous few days. 2/10 Sun Well, we decided to take it easy today. We were both tired. Larry decided to oil all his tools - the salt water out here gets them rusty very quick. I read my book- a new Danielle Steel book I traded another cruiser for called Granny Dan. It was quite good & I finished it in one day. I updated this log & the Excel spreadsheet of boat expenses. The wind is really blowing today & we are really rocking & rolling. The anchor is well set in & we are secure though. I just don't like all the rolling. 2/11 Mon We stayed on the boat the entire day today. Larry cleaned his tools again & I oiled the teak on the boat using Scott's Liquid Gold - the stuff I use at home. I completed about half the boat & it looks a lot better. The intense sun beating inside the boat from the open hatch covers really takes a lot of oil out of the teak. I probably should oil it more often than I do. I took a short nap in the afternoon. Our bed is really starting to hurt my back. We need a new mattress & will replace it when we get back to Trinidad. We had a lot of electric since it's been so windy we decided to watch a video. We rarely watch videos at anchor since it uses a lot of electric & we need the electricity for other things. I made sausages & peppers for dinner. I bought the sausages here- different from regular Italian sausages that we have at home but quite good anyway. 2/12 Tues This morning I made a Grecian Pasta Salad & sun dried tomato dip for an appetizer. We are having S/V Lady J over for drinks tonight. We went into town about 12 to get rid of all the garbage & get a baguette but it was very crowded due to Carnival. We waited 20 minutes in line for bread! We needed to get some money as we had less than 10 euros left but the banks we closed for Carnival & the cash machine was not working. We went to play bocce ball on the beach at 3pm with all the other cruisers but it was very crowded due to Carnival. We didn't go to the parade. Lady J came around 6pm after bocce ball & we had a wonderful time. They left around 8:30 & we had the wonderful cold salad for dinner. |