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Larry's LogThe next morning was filled with work. I started getting the second anchor set up while Diane went off to do the laundry at a local place. Its amazing how simple things, like the laundry, that 99 percent of people in the USA take for granted as easy, is a real project once you live on a boat at anchor. Anyway, I got the second anchor attached to the stern rail and would now have to figure out a way to attach the second anchor rode. I also moved the flagpole holder since every time we flew the US flag, it was constantly catching on the windvane. Later that day, Mark and Ann from Cameron, and Paul and Louise from Nirvana came over for drinks. We again thanked them for saving our boat and enjoyed their company for the evening. The next day was my birthday. I had gotten some emails wishing me happy b-day, which was nice. Diane had bought a present of a nice cruising guide to the Windward Islands. No birthday card though because they were all in French. Oh well. To celebrate, we ate lunch on shore at a nice Cuban restaurant. As we got to the dinghy dock, we saw Mark and Ann had followed us. They wanted to know if we wanted to go snorkeling, but we told them about our plans to go eat out. Ann then showed me their present of pineapples in spiced rum. It was in a jar they had with them. What a nice thing to do. They said they would put it back on the boat as they went back out. Thanks guys! The meal was the French version of fajitas, but was pretty good. I then had a dessert crepe flambé. We walked around a bit and ran into Mark and Ann and Paul and Louise as they had come in for ice cream. We walked around a bit first and then went to the ice cream place. We had already had dessert, but I "forced" myself to have 2 scoops. We walked a bit more and then decided to go back to Nirvana for drinks. We went back to Destiny to get some beer and Ann and Mark did the same. We met at Nirvana and had a great time. And, at sunset, on my birthday naturally, I finally saw the mystical green flash. Yes, it's real. In certain atmospheric conditions and when there are no clouds on the horizon, there is a VERY brief flash of green light (a lime green) just as the sun disappears over the horizon. Diane and I had looked for it since we arrived in the Caribbean but had yet to see it. Our crew, Kirk and Harleigh, on the way to St. Martin said they saw it but we didn't. Well, I guess we can now say we are official. The next day, we went back to Fort-de-France. I wanted to update the web site and we also wanted to see some sights that we missed the first time. As we left the boat, I said a silent prayer hoping that the boat would be in the same place when we got back (it was). We took the ferry again and noticed that the schedule is not exactly accurate, or is it that the boat is late (or early)? It doesn't matter really since we did get there fine. We saw the Schoelcher Library, which is a really magnificent building. Not as big as the New York City Library, but much more intricate decorations and certainly nicer colors. We also went to see the old fort, Fort St. Louis, which is still an active military post although it does have historical landmark status. Since it still had military personnel, we had to have a guide, fortunately in English. Actually, although we had to wait about 10 minutes, we had a personal tour since there were no other English speakers there. It was a very interesting place but there was no formal museum as yet. All we saw was the grounds and the beautiful views from the top of the walls. Still, it was worth doing. We walked through the park and were attracted to a band that was playing. As we got there, we saw that it was the San Juan, Puerto Rico Police Band. There was evidently a small festival going on and there would be Salsa music from some of the Spanish islands played over the next few days. I saw that Cuba and the Dominican Republic were also represented. It's a pity that the music can't at least crack some of the political walls that prevent good relations between countries. At least start talking. For lunch, we went back to Marie Sainte, the Creole restaurant we had been to before. Again, we were not disappointed. We thought we would have to catch the 3pm ferry back to Pointe a Bout, since the schedule said there was no 2:30 boat, but again, we were surprised. The 2:30 ferry left on time (maybe it was the 3pm boat leaving early?). Back at the boat (yep, it was in the same place as we left it), we got the boat ready to leave for Marin the next day. We had spoken to Tom and Stephanie on Mima and said we would probably be there. But, as cruisers often say, we have no plans and we're sticking to them. On Sunday, the next morning, we made final preparations to leave. The dinghy engine was hoisted onto the stern rail and everything was stowed below. After listening to the morning radio net, we started the engine and were about to bring up the anchor when we saw a large trimaran coming in. We knew that our friends Joyce and Jack were on their way to either Anse Mitan or Fort-de-France, so we waited for a bit to see. It was them. Diane called up to me on the bow to point them out and asked. "Should we stay?" Well, we hadn't seen them in awhile and it would be nice, so - why not. Turn off the engine. We waived and they came in to anchor near us. Diane called across that she would come over as soon as they were situated. And so, we put the outboard back on and she went over for a visit. Jack had offered to clean my prop (he was an ex-commercial diver) and I said sure. So he came over and did the prop while Diane visited with Joyce. I stayed on the boat to help if needed. That done, he swam back to his boat and I just read. It turned out to be a good move to stay anyway as the weather was pretty bad. It had rained all night and had started to rain again, at times pretty hard. There were also some gusts that were really strong. The channel into Marin is well marked but there are reefs all around it and I would prefer to be able to see them as well as the bouys. After a while, Jack swam back over and said he could leave the job half done - he was going to clean the hull. What could I say, OK if you insist! I owe you one. Actually, the hull did need it - it hadn't been cleaned, except for the waterline, in about 8 to 10 weeks. |