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Diane's Diary5/10 Thursday Happy Birthday Mom! I waited to call her so the flowers would have a chance to arrive. I called several times (getting people to call for me each time) & she wasn't home! Finally, I had to leave a message on her machine. I didn't want her to think I forgot about her birthday. Today I tackled putting all the food away. What a big job as I had to go into all the long term storage berths & enter where I put all the food on my Excel spreadsheet. It took all day to do. But is was necessary as it's difficult to remember where all the food is. 5/11 Friday We went to lunch at the Auberge de Marin restaurant. Good food. Terrible service- the one lady was cooking & serving! Larry cleared out the aft cabin, rearranged the storage there, changed the secondary fuel filters,& checked the alternator belts. In the afternoon I started hand washing laundry. At about $6 USD per load to wash only, it was much cheaper to hand wash since we have free unlimited water. But it's definitely a lot of work & very time consuming. It definitely makes me appreciate my washing machine back home. 5/12 Saturday I called Mom this morning & they were home so we got to talk. Good to speak with them! Today I hand washed clothes all day again. I quit around 4pm to relax. It's definitely hotter in the marina than when we are moored as we don't swing into the wind & get the good breeze. However, since we don't pay for electricity, we are freely running all our fans to keep the boat as cool as possible. 5/13 Sunday Today I cleaned the boat the entire day- I cleaned the cockpit, cockpit cushions, put fabric protectant on the dodger windows, cleaned the bathroom, kitchen, etc. With free water, I wanted to do as much as possible. Who knows when we will be able to clean the boat this well again. When you pay for water, you try to conserve it as much as possible. The watermaker works but makes only 5 gallons/hour & uses 18 amps. So, it's not really energy efficient. Whenever we can get free water, we stock up. I called Aunt Mary & Mom to wish them a happy Mother's Day. 5/14 Monday I did last minute cleaning like cleaning the oven (what a job- I am definitely used to my self cleaning oven at home). Then, Vivian & I tried to dinghy to the supermarket when the engine stopped & I couldn't get it restarted. Some French guy towed us back. I had told Larry that morning that fuel was spilling from the fuel line when I went to start the engine. Sure enough, the fuel line was the problem & he was able to fix it. So, back we went to the supermarket. Even though we had just done a major shopping, I was still able to spend another $100 USD. Mainly on some meats & a lot of pate we like. After we got back & I put everything away. Autumn Wind invited us to their boat for lunch. By that time, I was too tired to leave so we decided to go the next day. 5/15 Tuesday We finally left the marina this morning. Before we left, we topped up the water tanks & filled all the spare 2 liter soda bottles I had been saving. We paid the marina bill. I had cleared out of customs the previous day. Larry walked around to take pictures & went to the internet place to update our website. I did some more last minute cleaning & dumped the trash. Then, finally, it was off to St. Anne. We had never intended to stay in the marina so long but it was so cheap & we did a lot of things to the boat. Also, we weren't in any rush as Heidi was not due into St. Lucia until 5/20 so we had plenty of time. Also, we wanted to do a large food shopping while we were at the docks. I'm only sorry we didn't get to see more of the island. We left the marina at 11am & it took almost an hour to motor around to St. Anne. I was very anxious to walk around the Club Med again as this is where Karen Rudman & I had come over 20 years ago & had had such a wonderful time. I actually was in the marina checking out when the guy brought in the Caribbean Compass- the Caribbean boating magazine that all the cruisers like. We had been told that Larry was in the paper as part of the Heineken Regatta crew so naturally we were curious to read the article. When we got to St. Anne, we relaxed for the remainder of the day, reading the paper. I also dove on the anchor to make sure it was set. I also cleaned the prop. The water line & boat bottom need to be cleaned again but that's a project for another day. 5/16 Wednesday We went for a long walk around St. Anne this morning & also walked over to the Club Med. We walked around the grounds for 1.5 hours (we had to give Larry's drivers license to the guard as security & he said we had to be back by noon for some reason- maybe so we didn't have lunch there). Anyway, I really enjoyed walking around again. However, this Club Med is 30 years old now & has never been renovated. It needs a serious renovation. Also, hardly any Americans come here anymore. My Fodor's travel book said it was due to a series of labor disputes- whatever that means. Anyway, it is primarily French now. When I was here, it was predominately Americans. The beach looked a lot smaller- perhaps from hurricane damage. There is still no swimming pool. The grounds looked a lot shabbier & some of the roads were not maintained well. Just looking at it now, I wouldn't come here but we certainly had a good time when we were here. I had learned how to waterski, scuba, windsurf, & sail while I was here. We even managed to find the room Karen & I had stayed in. At least I am 95% sure that's where it was. When I get home I'll have to look at my old Club Med pictures so I can compare it. Well, we were hot, tired & thirsty after our long walk in the heat so we ate lunch out at a sandwich place. We met other cruisers from S/V Footloose. They invited us over for cocktails later that evening. So we went back to the boat around 2pm & relaxed & swam. There was almost no wind at all. I took a little nap. We had been woken up at 5am that morning by charters next to us in the marina. Since they were from France, they were probably up early with their time difference. Nevertheless, they woke us up with all their talking, & running the water from the dock since they didn't have a hose (we know this because the day before the leaving charters asked to borrow our hose). They didn't seem concerned with waking others in the marina up with all their talking. Also, their cigarette smoke came into our cabin. Later that that, we went to Footloose for cocktails. |