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Diane's Diary3/2 Friday Finally, the start of the Heineken Regatta! Larry is racing today on Carson Smith's boat- Mistral- a Beneteau 35. I waited for the diver to come & clean the boat bottom- $60 later it was done. Plus, at the same time the diver was there, we got a water delivery-.14cents a gallon. Y2K laundry picked me up again so I could do laundry but they had no room to do it. He was going to take me to another place but I would have had to wait. Fortunately, I knew of another place run by an ex-cruiser. This laundry place was a lot more expensive-$20 vs $15 at Y2K laundry. But, they had TV (can't remember the last time I saw that! & I was able to watch CNN. It was nice to watch TV while waiting. I didn't even know there was an earthquake in Seattle! It was nice to hear about news from home. I volunteered to sell T-shirts in Marigot from 7-11pm. Scott from Yahoo said he would drive me back or I would not have volunteered as I wasn't going to take the bus late at night. Plus, I knew Larry wouldn't want to stay at night as he had been out sailing all day. But how was I going to get over to Marigot? From the side of the lagoon where SMYC is you have to take 2 buses. If I left from Island Water World on the other side of the lagoon it was only 1 bus. I didn't trust leaving the dinghy at Island Water World into the evening. We know there have been thefts there. So, I brought the dinghy to SMYC & hoped to get a ride from someone. I knew if I had to take the bus that it was probably going to take a long time with all the traffic for the regatta. I had my volunteer T-shirt to work so I was hoping to get a lift from someone who could see I was a volunteer. Fortunately, someone was going to Marigot by dinghy & I was able to get a lift. It saved me a lot of time going by dinghy. The dinghy dock at Marigot was packed with all the racers. I was supposed to meet Larry at the dinghy dock at 6. We met at the docks although with all the people around it was kind of hard to spot him. Fortunately, I still had an extra dinner ticket from last night so I was able to get us both a dinner. It was KFC. Larry wasn't thrilled with it. Oh well, I wasn't going to be home to cook so if he wanted dinner that was it or he would have to make something himself or eat out. Larry got a dinghy ride back to the boat from Great White Wonder. He had a great time at the race but was exhausted plus they all had a lot of beers. Alcohol definitely gets to you in the hot afternoon sun. We usually have 1 beer if at all during the day & then cocktails at 5pm. Drinking is definitely a big part of cruising that we can see. We usually only have 1 or 2 drinks at 5pm though - I haven't seen too many drunks among the cruisers. Anyway, before Larry left, while I was selling T-shirts, I happened to meet a guy on the boat Destiny- a J120 (he had his Destiny shirt on so that's how I met him) that owned a Nordic 44 also. Is that coincidence or what? I got his address so we can keep in touch. I had a good time selling T-shirts but it was very noisy & hard to speak with the customers. You had to shout to be heard over the music, as the band was located right next to our T-shirt tent. It was also extremely hot. I wasn't even drinking any alcohol. I had almost run out of drink coupons but I happened to see Robbie Feron the owner of Budget Marine & event chairman. I told him that with the loud noise & heat, I was almost finished my drink coupons & my voice was hoarse from shouting so much. I asked if we couldn't get any more beverages - nonalcoholic was fine. He told the drink staff to give us anything we wanted to drink. That was definitely the right thing to do. Anyway, we tried to close the booth down at 11 but people kept coming up to buy saying they were leaving in the am. We didn't get the booth closed until around 11:30. Scott & Barbara drove me back to SMYC to get my dinghy. I was exhausted when I got home. Larry was still up waiting for me. 3/3 Saturday Larry went racing with Carson again. Since my cousins are coming to Antigua on 3/8, we will have to rush to leave here so I'm trying to do everything I can to get us ready to leave. I went by bus to Marigot to buy more wine. I stopped at the supermarket Match also to get more bread & raisin Danish. I dislike the French but they have great wine, cheese & baguettes! I also went by bus to the Food Center & Price Club. The supermarket was having a sale on Heineken beer- $13.50 case. The liquor Store in La Palapa Marina sells it for $18 case. So, I bought 5 cases today. I have about 11 cases total, all at the sale price, But I gave Larry a 12 pack every day for the race. Of course, I have to lug this home from the supermarket but they have a free van service & the grocery bag packer will put in the van. BTW, the packers don't get any income from the store so they just work for tips. I always give them some change. Plus I give the driver $1 & he carries the groceries right to the dinghy. I put them in the dinghy with the help of some guys on the dock. However, since we don't want to bring cardboard on the boat, I remove all the cardboard from the beer. Since I'm by myself, it's hard to get the cases onboard but I manage to do it. Just as I was almost finished, Larry calls & wants me to pick him up from Carson's boat outside the Lagoon. I was really exhausted (& everyone wants to know what we do all day long!!!!) but I went & picked him up right away anyway. I had really just wanted to rest a few minutes, as I was exhausted. It's a lot harder to shop without a car! It makes me appreciate how lucky we are in the US that almost everyone has a car. Since we were both exhausted, we had an early dinner & went to bed early. There was another Heineken party tonight in Phillipsburg but we were too exhausted to attend. 3/4 Sunday The last day of the Regatta! We were both up very early- by 6 am. I had been invited to go on the Cambridge Technology catamaran for the day. However, it was in Phillipsburg. Normally, taking the bus is no problem but it was Sunday & the buses run infrequently on Sundays. Cambridge told me to get to the boat by 8am or they would leave anyway. Larry dropped me off at the SMYC at 7. I was hoping to get another ride again. As luck would have it, I asked another cruiser coming in by dinghy if there were going to Phillipsburg & luckily they were. So, I rode with them. I couldn't find any of the Cambridge people at the dock like they said they would be. I decided to take the launch service so I could see if I could see the boat. We go round around the anchorage but didn't spot the boat. Just as I was beginning to think maybe the boat wasn't there we found it. Anyway, I had a wonderful day on the boat. We followed the races & even went around the island with them. That was enjoyable, as I hadn't gotten to see the whole island from the sea. They never raised the sails at all. I was impressed with how roomy the boat was. It was really fun watching the races, especially seeing the big boats start. I watched the big boat Sagamore go over on the start. They had lunch & all beverages. It was hot out & sunny so I stayed in the shade as much as possible. We stopped for lunch at Tintamarre Island- we will have to go there on our boat. I saw Mistral finish the race. I brought my Nikon camera with zoom lens & got some pretty good pictures, I think. Cambridge gave me some Tshirts, long & short, & drink cozies. After the race, Simpson Bay was just packed. Cambridge brought me to the dock & I got the dinghy & met Larry back on Carson's boat. I hadn't had any beer on the cat so I was ready to party now. The Bay was just crazy with all these boats. They had a special bridge opening for incoming vessels only at 4pm & Carson wanted to go back in. It was testosterone city with all the "boys" jockeying for position to get their boat in line to go into the lagoon. Anyway, we went into the lagoon & then went back to Destiny before the awards party started at 7:30 pm. However, they had problems with the audio equipment & didn't start the presentations until almost 9. I was exhausted as I was sure the other cruisers were. Carson won first class in their division!!! All the crew got to go up onstage & each got beers (Heineken naturally!) Carson got an engraved mug, big bottle of Heineken, & engraved ships log. We stayed for all the presentations of awards but this took over an hour & by that time we were exhausted. The big entertainment that night was Bob Marley's son. We wanted to hear him but were too exhausted to stay. We later heard he didn't come on until 12:30- I definitely would have fallen asleep by then!! |