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Larry's LogAfter anchoring and eating our last croissants, we started to get the boat shipshape again. I put the sail cover on and started the process to launch the dinghy. After we launched the dinghy, I rinsed off the deck from the salt spray with a sun shower that I had filled for that purpose. The deck gets salt encrusted from the spray during a passage, and we inevitably get it below unless it rains. We didn't expect any rain so I brought my own. We wanted to get into Customs before 12:15, when they close for lunch, but we didn't quite make it so we waited until after lunch (about 1:30). When we went in, we stopped by Kajsa to say hello and get the scoop on the marina, customs, etc. We invited them for drinks later if there wasn't a party at the marina (we had been told by Second Tri that every other Friday there was a party with free food and drink). We said we would stop by later and let them know. We went to Customs and cleared in with no problem. The officials weren't particularly nice but they weren't difficult either. I was finished in about 10 minutes, after waiting for another boat to clear in before me. Diane and I then went to look around the marina complex. There was a small supermarket and chandlery and lots of other small stores. We didn't see them all but we were tired and decided to go back to the boat. Kajsa was out as we passed by so we just went back to Destiny. After we got onboard, we discovered, unfortunately, that the bolts from the windlass still leaked and the v berth was wet again. Damn!! We cleaned it up and hoped that everything would dry before we wanted to go to sleep. I was going to have to address that problem again. Diane called Kajsa on the VHF when we saw them come back and they begged off for that evening but said they would be glad to come over tomorrow. Sounds fine. After a quick dinner (but after Happy Hour) I updated my log while Diane read. The mattress wasn't dry enough to sleep on so we had to sleep on the settees in the main salon. Since it was Friday there was a "jump-up" on shore, with music that could have perforated your eardrum if we had been any closer. As it was, it sounded like it was almost in the cabin. We went to bed and tried to sleep and eventually did although I think the party went on until about 3am! The next day, the wind was really up. It must have been about a steady 25 knots with gusts to 35. Unfortunately, the wind generator automatically cuts out (starts to freewheel) above a certain speed because the "insides" get too hot. Well, it was freewheeling most of that day. Luckily it was also sunny so the solar panels did a good job of recharging the batteries. Diane updated her logs in the morning and was going to go shopping for some things after that but didn't because of the wind, but finally did go in around 2pm. Not that the wind decreased but she was tired of waiting and just wore a bathing suit to shore. She brought some clothes in a bag that she could put on when she got there. I stayed on the boat and did some typing in my log and some general maintenance stuff. Also while I waited, a small motorboat set out a racing mark and then anchored near it. They had setup the finish line for a race only about 100 yards from where we were anchored. About an hour later, boats started tacking into the bay toward the line. I got some good photos of them finishing. Diane finally got back at around 4pm and since I was working on deck, I saw her coming in. She stopped at Kajsa to see if they were still coming over and then came back to the boat. Diane said Patrick and Teresa were coming over later at around 5:30. Diane put her groceries away and then we just relaxed with a "pre-Happy Hour" beer. Diane actually talked about staying out here longer than planned! I was pretty surprised since she hadn't really wanted to go at all in the beginning. We would have to talk about it a lot more. Our guests came over and we had our drinks and hors d'eouvres until way past our bedtime. We had a really good time with them. Sunday finally arrived and while the wind was still blowing, it wasn't as bad as the day before. Heidi was scheduled to arrive at 1:45pm but probably wouldn't get to the hotel until 3 - 3:30. We thought about moving the boat to the anchorage near the hotel but, instead we left the dinghy at the marina and walked over after lunch. The walk over was about 30 minutes and was pretty hot. Once we got there, we just relaxed and waited. At around 3pm, Heidi came in. After our greetings, she checked in and we all went up to the room. She was naturally pretty tired but as we talked, she got out the mail and the boat parts that she had carried down. There was also a package on the way with some groceries, books and magazines (too heavy to carry) that she had brought for us. Thanks Heidi. We all just went down to the hotel's pool and just sat and talked for the rest of the afternoon. We were going to go out to dinner, but finally decided to just eat at one of the hotel's restaurants. We made plans to meet tomorrow on the beach and relax for the day and after dinner we took a cab back to the marina and the dinghy back to the boat. The next day, we took the dinghy across Rodney Bay to the Hyatt's dock at around 11am and brought it up on the beach near the dock. I wanted to keep it from going underneath the dock because it could get damaged that way and the downwind side was all rocks. We had brought our lunch since the hotel was pretty expensive. Heidi was already on the beach. We just sat and talked and went into the pool or bay for the day. That evening we went out to eat at a nice restaurant near the marina. We all got into the dinghy and went across the bay to the marina. It was pretty calm but we all did get a little wet. Heidi was a real sport about it - no "real" complaint. Unfortunately, the restaurant we wanted to go to was inaccessible because the dinghy dock going to it was attached to another place that was closed. Oh well. Of course, now it was dark and Diane had only been in this part of the lagoon once before and I hadn't been in this part at all. So we went to the Rodney Bay Marina dock. We had seen another restaurant from the water and decided to go there. We walked to the other restaurant and it was very good if a little expensive. We treated Heidi as a small "thank you" for lugging all our mail, boat parts and groceries. After dinner, Heidi took a taxi back and we took the dinghy. |