|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogAfter Ken and Vesta's party on Great White Wonder, we went back to Destiny and just crashed. Between getting up early, the passage and the party, we were exhausted. The following morning, we got up around 7:30 (very late for us) and made our way into town, stopping at GWW to thank them for a very nice evening. We found the Customs and Immigration office and went in. The Customs officer, not very busy, was playing with a Rubik's Cube, which he put down to give me the forms to fill out. After completing the forms and checking our documents, we joked about our inability to solve the puzzle. After clearing in, we walked around town a bit. Port. Elizabeth was pretty, with flowers planted in the main square, but it was also a commercial port with fair sized freighters coming in and out with cargo. There were several marine stores although they weren't very big, as well as some sail lofts. It was obvious that they catered to the sailing community. We went back to the boat and ate lunch and relaxed a bit. That evening we went over to Legacy, a large catamaran with Joe and Ruth aboard that we had also first met in St. Martin. We had seen them again in Rodney Bay and had planned to get together, but they had their daughter visiting and, of course, we had Heidi visiting. By the time all the guests left, we ran out of time. They had left for Bequia a day ahead of us. We had a nice chat about what we had both been doing since St. Martin and I tried to diagnose some problems Joe was having with his laptop. Some strange things were happening although the machine was basically working. I didn't get too far with it since Joe said we should just enjoy the evening. Sounds OK to me… During the evening, they said they had seen the party on GWW the night before and wondered why they hadn't been invited. We said we weren't sure but invited them to our boat the next night and said we would also invite Ken and Vesta so they could meet. After we left and got back to Destiny, we both commented that they had seemed really disappointed about missing the party the prior day. Well, maybe we could fix it a little. The next day we didn't do much except straighten up the boat. We went swimming later and Diane spotted a stingray on the bottom under the boat, about 22 feet down. That was our first. Ken said he had seen a large manta ray a couple of days before; now that would be cool! Around 5:30 our guests arrived. I think 6 people are about the max I would want on a party on Destiny. We could all sit in the cockpit and enjoy a nice evening. More than that and we would be crowded. Great White Wonder had about 30 people at their party but the boat was 60 feet, flush decked (so you could stand anywhere above) and had a very large main salon with seating for 8. Besides, I usually prefer a small crowd where you can get a chance to talk to everyone. Anyway, we all enjoyed the evening, but at some point Diane mentioned that Joe and Ruth wondered why they hadn't been invited to the party the night before. First, understand that Ken and Vesta did not know everyone they invited - the party was actually their way to meet new people sharing the cruising life. Ken said that they both thought that Legacy was a charter boat and that's why they didn't go over to talk to them. It was true that Legacy did look like a charter - she was a brand new, large catamaran and didn't have any of the obvious cruiser paraphernalia, like jerry jugs on deck, a wind generator and such. Legacy does have solar panels, but they were mounted such that you couldn't see them from deck level. Well, I'm not sure how it happened, but Joe said that he would be glad to have a potluck party on Legacy if Ken would invite the people. Ken had no problem with that, especially since many of the boats he had invited had left and there was a whole new group in the anchorage now. OK, three nights - three parties. After everyone left, we knew Joe and Ruth felt better about the situation; we hoped they would feel the same after their party! The next morning, Ken came by around 9am, wanting to see if we thought that Joe and Ruth were still serious about the party on Legacy that night. I said yes, as far as I knew they were. So Ken zoomed off to corral a group of cruisers. That day, we just did some chores around the boat and went into town to check out a carnival that was supposed to start. The carnival was not much, just some outrageously loud, bad, music broadcast on huge loudspeakers on the beach. Needless to say, we didn't stay long and went back to the boat. Around 5 we went over to Legacy to help with the party preparations. Ken and Vesta were there already and everything was going well. Other people started coming over shortly after we got there and the party was in full swing. The evening was a great success, and since a catamaran had SOOO much room, there was even dancing on deck!! We also met lots of new people; Bob and Mona on Mutual Fun, Steve Connie, and their son Mike, on Kristali, and many others. We also saw Mike and Nancy from Footloose again, whom we had met in Martinique. In all, there was about 25 people there, not bad for an "impromptu" party! That night though, another tropical wave came through, with some significant wind, around 35 knot gusts, and rain. The boats were all rolling and it made sleep very difficult. The next morning, everyone on the radio said that sleep was difficult. Since it was very overcast, we didn't do much although Diane had made an appointment to get her hair cut, which she did around 12:30. I stayed on the boat and another cruiser picked her up and later, she saw Ken and Vesta who drove her back. While she was ashore, I checked the engine oil, transmission fluid, coolant and fuel filter; all seemed well. When Diane got back, we just stayed on the boat and had a lazy day. A high point though was when I took down the laundry; I spotted a large manta ray gliding by just below the surface about 15 feet from the boat. I immediately called out to Diane to come and see it. Really cool! The next day, we went into town and met GWW and Mutual Fun there and had a quick drink at a local bar in the early afternoon. We walked around a bit more but then went back to the boat. Later in the afternoon, we went to the pretty beach we were anchored near, called Princess Margaret Beach, so called because, supposedly, someone once caught her "doing something" with a companion there. Anyway, we went to meet our friends and play beach baci ball. That evening, we went to another party on Great White Wonder, meeting several new cruisers who had just come in. |