Jan 11
The boat that anchored yesterday instead of taking a slip because his motor quit, wanted to try to get to the dock today to make repairs. The wind was blowing pretty good, but from the southeast, meaning that if I could just push the boat sideways from where he is anchored I could get him on the t-head of the south dock. I tied my dinghy to the side of the boat, and drove forward a little to slack the anchor chain while the owner (who is by himself) hauled the anchor in. Once the anchor was up, I pushed the boat sideways, keeping it's nose into the wind, and we made a nice gentle landing on the dock where another boater was waiting to take lines. The other boat movement of the day was that Scotty on Jossie Bird left to be hauled out for a bottom job.
Today is shopping day, so we took off around 11:00. Our first stop was at L&M Enterprises, which is the place that does stuff with gases and tanks. This is where I had my SCUBA tank hydrostatically tested a couple months ago. What I wanted them to do now was adapt the fifty-foot hose I bought in Florida a couple of years ago to my spare regulator. This will allow me to leave my SCUBA tank on the deck of the boat while I dive under it to clean the bottom. The fittings on the hose I bought are not the same threads as the regulator, so I am hoping they can change the ends on the hose. They guy who does this kind of work was not in when I got there, so I left it with instructions of what I wanted.
The next stop was Turbulence Sails and rigging to drop off our old cockpit cushions. Our cockpit cushions are fifteen years old, and are showing it. We dropped off the old ones and asked them to reproduce them. While there, we ran into Paul from Sunrunner, who had taken on the job of captain for FreeBirds when they left here. He had just returned from St. Maarten after quitting the job. Turbulence was the main vendor that FreeBirds screwed while in Grenada, and I think Paul was wanting to clear his name with them, as he was not aware of the true story of the deal when he piloted the boat out of here. Paul told us the short version of his two months on FreeBirds, and it sounds like Brad once again turned into a raving maniac when he didn't get his way. As of last report, FreeBirds was chained up in St. Maarten pending resolution of his outstanding debts. Given how small the cruising community is, it's hard to imagine how they will ever get anybody else to work on the boat or captain for them. Their website has been updated to remove all the comments people had made, and remove the ability to add comments.
After Turbulence, we headed to Grand Anse where we stopped and had pizza at La Boulangerie. We had a shrimp pizza that was quite good. After eating we went to the IGA supermarket and picked up a few things, then it was back to the marina. At the marina we found that the tent rental company had been there and set up two tents for the party Saturday night. One was by the bar for the food, and the other was nearby for the bar.
We had a nice happy hour crowd again. The party didn't go too late, and we got home at a reasonable hour.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Jan 12
Today's early job was to take a power boat out of the water on it's trailer. This boat belongs to a local restaurant owner. He had it in the water for a few weeks over the holidays, and now wants it stored on the trailer again. Since our boat ramp is not concrete, and the water depth drops off pretty quickly at the ramp, we need to do this near high tide. Instead of using the owners mid-sized pickup truck, we used the backhoe with a trailer hitch on the bucket to put the trailer in the water. We got the boat winched up on the trailer and tried to pull it out. A combination of a couple of things worked against us. For one, the high tide wasn't very high, so the trailer was further in the water than we would have liked. This meant it's wheels were right at the point where the bottom drops off, making it harder to pull. Also, we had a heavy downpour this morning, just an hour before we tried to do this, so the ground is quite soft and saturated. When Bob started to back the tractor up, it went a little and then started to dig into the mud. He came back forward and tried several times to no avail. We tried putting some lumber under the wheels to keep them from digging in, but that didn't work either. We tried using the backhoe arm to lift the back of the tractor and scoot it sideways a little to virgin dirt, but it just dug in again. Our next plot was to unhook the trailer, move the tractor, hook the guys truck to the trailer, and then chain the tractor to the truck. The thought was that the tractor would be on more solid ground and not get stuck. Even with the trailer unhooked it took a bit to get the tractor out now that we had dug it in, but with the aid of the bucket, Bob got it out. We hooked the truck up, and put the chain between the truck and the tractor. The truck was in the mud, so it was pretty useless, but to our surprise, the tractor still dug in without making any progress even though it was on drier ground. On to plan C, or D. We unhooked the tractor from the truck, turned it around so the backhoe was facing the truck, extended the backhoe arm, put the big hydraulic feet down on the tractor, and chained the backhoe bucket to the truck. Using just the hydraulics of the backhoe we were then able to pull the whole thing up to a point where I could drive the truck on it's own. We unhooked the tractor and moved it, and I took the boat and backed it in where it gets stored. All this took about an hour and a half and provided great entertainment to the half dozen people in the bar. We all agreed that we really need to concrete the boat ramp if we are going to be doing this.
Our next project was to have a diver inspect our moorings. We have four mooring balls that we can use to actually put boats on, several more that we use as extra support for big boats on the dock during heavy weather, and the docks themselves are anchored to big cement blocks on the bottom by chain. We had the diver inspect all the chains, and decided to replace two of the mooring ball chains. Bob had a barrel of chain that we needed to cut two twenty foot sections from. To cut the chain I used a power grinder. As I was cutting the links, while holding the chain tight on the ground between my feet, I thought of the accident that one of our guests had with a grinder a couple of weeks ago. I was careful not to repeat his performance. Once I had the two twenty foot sections of chain and new shackles, Adrianne, the diver, swam them out to the moorings. Yes, he took twenty feet of half inch chain, looped it over his shoulders and swam a couple hundred feet off the end of the dock. This was without his dive equipment on, so there was no help with buoyancy. I was impressed.
A boat left today. Tom & Cathy on Yellow Rose had left their boat here over the holidays, but had been aboard for several days either side of the stay and were fun to have around.
I made a trip to CK's for a few things. I did this against my better judgment, because last time I went to CK's of a Saturday, it was packed. This time wasn't too bad though and I was in and out quickly.
The afternoon was pretty quiet, with us just doing little things in preparation of the big party. Originally we had been under the impression that the party was in the late afternoon, but then we saw an invitation and saw it was from 20:00 to midnight. From about 16:00 on, the caterers were working setting up all their stuff. They had fancy chafing dishes, neat lights, nice table decorations, etc. The setup was as nice as any I have seen at a fancy hotel for a wedding or convention. We had to improvise a little to get them power at the tents for lights, but we worked it out. We moved the pool table up against the wall and moved our tables to make room for the band and a dancing. Guests started showing up a little before 20:00 but the majority probably got here around 21:00. The band wasn't here yet, so Bob put on some music. Turns out the band was booked from 22:00 to 01:00, so I guess we won't be ending at midnight. The band was Roots, whom we have seen before at the Aquarium restaurant on the beach. Since the party was entirely catered, including the bar, we really didn't have much to do. We have a few cruisers at the bar to watch the late NFL playoff game, so we did that, even though we had to keep the TV muted. Sometime between 01:00 and 02:00 Barb gave in and went to bed. By 02:00, the party was over and the people were gone. The caterers asked if we wanted any food since there was lots left over. I thought it might have been nice if the host had invited us to partake after all the guests were obviously done, but he didn't, and he split as soon as the rest of the guests had. So, I got a plate of food and ate while we waited for the caterers to get packed up. We got everything turned off and closed up to a point where it was secure and I was back on the boat at 03:00.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Jan 13
Of all mornings for our early employee to not show up, today was the worst. Because that meant I got a knock on the boat at 06:00. Since I was up, I started putting things back to normal. That meant picking up trash (I was shocked at how much garbage was just left on the ground since this was a group of well to do people), moving tables back where they belonged, stacking our extra chairs, moving the pool table, and undoing the wiring we had done to light the tents.
Barb was up at the bar by about 09:00 and I went to take a nap. I laid down from about 09:00 until noon, and even though it didn't seem like I slept soundly, I got some rest. At noon, Barb woke me calling on the VHF. Bob had called her from home to tell her a boat was coming in. They had called on the phone, which forwards to Bob's cell phone, and said they were coming. Barb saw them and alerted me. I got to the bar and saw they were heading for the shallow spot in the middle of the bay, so I hailed them on the VHF. Just as I told them to turn either to port or starboard, they went aground. The wind was blowing from behind them, so it didn't help matters. I jumped in my dinghy and raced out to see if I could push them off. Two other boaters joined with their dinghies and we tried and tried to get them off the shallows. We were able to pivot them around, but their keel is a winged keel similar to mine, which means you have lots of traction when you are aground. Bob was nearly to the marina by now, so we gave up with the dinghies and I went back to the marina to meet Bob. We took White Squall, Bob's power boat with two 175 horse motors out to try. I threw a line to the captain and he made it fast on the bow. We tightened up the line and throttled up. It took full throttle and about fifteen long seconds, but the sailboat finally popped free. Bob and I got back to the dock and then met them to take their lines.
Another boat came in a little later that we weren't expecting. This was a Norwegian couple and we got them docked near us.
Today is a football day. The games started at 14:00. We had several people in to watch both games, however, during the second game we had a bar emergency. We ran out of gin, and had three people drinking gin & tonic at the time. There go the tips.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Jan 14
I took care of last night's bar emergency and went to the store for gin. A boat that came in a few days ago and took a spot on the t-head was going to move to a regular slip this morning before the wind picked up too much, so we helped them with their lines. They had come in early in the morning a few days ago and not called on the radio since they didn't think we were open yet, although I was in the bar. By the time I realized they did intend to dock and not anchor, and got headed down the dock, they had committed to tying up to the t-head. Turned out they had just come from crossing the Atlantic and were tired, so we just left them there for the time being. Today they moved to a regular slip where they will stay for a few weeks.
In the afternoon I noticed the two black SUV's that the Prime Minister came in last week, coming down the driveway. I asked Bob if we were expecting company, and the answer was no. Turned out the PM had left Martin's Marina in Mount Hartman Bay in the Coast Guard boat and gone somewhere. He wanted to come back to here, so the cars drove over to wait for him. After about forty-five minutes, we saw the boat coming and went out to take their lines. The Coast Guard guys simply ignored us and took care of their own lines and didn't use the slip we directed them to. The entourage piled into the two cars and took off. The Coast Guard boat backed out of the slip and took off out of the marina under full power, waking the crap out of all the boats.
We finished the day with another good happy hour.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Jan 15
During the night, I got up to use the bathroom. I heard the main bilge pump turn on, which isn't unusual, but I noticed that it didn't turn off after a few seconds like it should. It sounded like it had pumped water until it sucked air, but it just kept running. I went and turned the pump off and went back to bed. In the morning, after the radio nets, Barb went to baby sit the bar while I looked into the bilge pump problem. The main problem is that I have to remove a section of floorboard that is not designed to be easily removed, in order to get to the pump and it's float switch. I got the floor up and played with the switch. The pump seemed to come on and off as it should. I got the garden hose and brought it inside and started running water into the bilge to watch what happened. When left to it's own devices, the pump would come on until it sucked a little air, and then just keep running but not pump any more water. This left the water level just a tad too high to make the float witch turn off. Bilge pumps are pretty simple centrifugal pumps. But I thought perhaps the plastic body of the pump had eroded enough over time that it was weak and the little bit of air introduced at the end of a cycle was enough to break it's prime. I have a spare bilge pump buried under a bunch of stuff, but since we're in a place with good marine stores, I decided to just buy a new one and keep my spare for an emergency. I called Budget Marine and they didn't have the pump I wanted in stock. I called Island Water World, and they did. Both stores give a discount to the marina, so Bob called in my order and said I would be picking it up and I saved 25%. I took off for IWW, and also stopped at Foodland just down the street and did all the shopping for burger night. Usually I have to hit at least two stores to do the burger night shopping, but they had everything at Foodland for a change. When I got back, I installed the new pump and started running water in the bilge again. The new pump cycled correctly a few times but then did the same thing as the old one. Frustrated, I put the floor down and gave up for the day.
We had an active evening at the bar and didn't close up until about 21:30. At 22:00, I got a call from Bob telling me that Dave the taxi driver had guests returning from the airport at the gate and the security guard was not coming to open the gate. I went out and found the guard and told him to open the gate. The returning guests were Hunter & Devy from Arctic Tern. They apologized for not having let us know they were returning late, but I assured them that it was not their problem and I apologized for them having to wait. After they were in, Bob (on the phone) and I questioned the security guard about why he didn't respond to the horn. He said Bob had told him that once everybody we expected was in and the gate was closed, that he was not to let anybody in. We explained to him that he was interpreting what Bob said a little too strictly. We do our best to know when people will be coming or going late, but we can't always know. We told him that he should always respond to a horn and see who it is. If it is a boat owner, he should let them in. He knows all the boat names in the marina at any given time. I told him that if there was ever any question in the future to come get me and not just ignore them. Back to bed.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Jan 16
This morning after the nets, I went to work on the bilge pump problem again while Barb watched the bar. I kept running water in from the hose while watching both automatic pumps cycle. The main one kept not shutting off unless I pushed the float switch down a tiny bit more once the pump sucked air. I also have a spare switch, but using the same logic as yesterday, I decided to just go buy a new one. I zipped over to Budget Marine and got one. While I was out I stopped by the place where I had left my SCUBA regulator to get the long hose put on it. The guy there said he couldn't do what I wanted because he didn't have fittings that small. He suggested the NAPA store by IWW. Back at the boat, I installed the new float switch.
Because Barb had to watch the bar while I worked on the boat, she got a late start prepping for burger night. But, from 14:00 to 16:00, she sliced tomato, sliced onion, washed lettuce, and made three dozen burgers. I was concerned again about how many people would show up, since the cruising community has shrunk over the past couple of weeks. But, people came from all over, even one couple via taxi, and we had a very successful night.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Jan 17
We had a couple of boats leave today, and a couple of new ones come in. Never Never Land is a Hatteras 58 LRC. It has been here for over a month while Ron & Janice had flown home for the holidays. Before Never Never Land was on that dock, another Hatteras 58 Motor Yacht had been there since April. There had only been one day since April that a big Hatteras had not been on that dock. It looks very bare now that it is empty. A sailboat named Arctic Tern left today also. Hunter & Devy had come in about ten days ago to leave the boat while they flew home due to a death in the family. We had met them a month or more ago when they were anchored in the area. It wasn't until after they were gone today, when I was updating my list of boats we have met, that I realized we actually met Hunter & Devy back in the Bahamas our first year out. They were in the slip next to us in Marsh Harbor replacing their generator.
After the boats were gone, we went to run some errands. We first we to the NAPA store to see if they could put the proper fittings on my hose for the SCUBA setup. The parking lot was full and I was only able to squeeze into a space down a dead end aisle. We went in and I was told they could not do what I wanted. While we were there we picked up a few other things we needed including a new smoke detector. The old one made a strange noise last time it detected bread being baked, and now it won't even do a test beep. When we came out to the car, we found a car had parked in the aisle blocking us in. I squeezed the car out of the parking space and backed up the aisle right to the bumper of the blocking car. We sat there for at least five minutes before a woman came out of an office that shares the parking lot and got in. She didn't even acknowledge that she was blocking us. From there we went to the sushi place for lunch. Once again it was great, and I enjoyed watching the guys work behind the counter. We then went to the IGA, where we found many things out of stock. The container doesn't come in until overnight tonight, but I thought perhaps it wouldn't be that bad. But it was. There was almost no dairy products, and the deli case was slim pickings. There was no meat except ham. It's funny to me that when the store is almost out of something, they will spread the remaining few packages so they take up the space that is empty. Imagine a ten-foot long refrigerated case with five chickens in it, with two feet between each one. Guess we'll have come back tomorrow.
Late in the afternoon, a boat was approaching the marina. They did not call on the radio, and we weren't expecting anyone, so we assumed they were just having a look and were going to turn around and anchor. When they got up to the north dock, they turned towards it and obviously were planning to park on the t-head. Bob and I hustled down there and got them tied up. It was a German couple and they wanted to stay for one night. Since they are only staying the one night, I didn't worry about moving them from the t-head. Just after getting that boat secure, we saw another boat coming in the bay. This one clearly had fenders down and planned to dock. They did hail us on the radio and I assigned them a slip on our dock. Gavin & Pat on Seahawk had come by a couple weeks ago and said they would be in when they launched from Grenada Marine, but they didn't know the exact day then.
We had a light happy hour crowd. By 18:00 there was nobody in the bar except Ashley, Barb, Bob and I. But, we had gotten involved in watching a stupid movie called Special Forces. It had to have been made by the same people who made the A-Team TV show years ago. An incredible amount of firepower was being expended and most of the good guys never got shot, while the bad guys, who out numbered the good guys ten to one, all got killed. We had the sound on the stereo turned up pretty loud, and Christopher the security guard got quite a kick out of the four of us concentrating on all the shooting. As soon as the movie ended, we closed up.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Jan 18
Today is shopping bus day. The last two weeks there have only been a handful of people going, so they sent a regular van sized taxi today. Out of the blue about twenty people showed up. The driver loaded up a full van fifteen minutes before the scheduled departure, took them to the store and then came back for the rest. Once the people were all gone we hopped in the car and went to finish our shopping. Turned out the container is late, and the shelves were just as bare as they had been yesterday. Life on an island.
Our friends Harry & Melinda on Sea Schell came in this morning from Tobago. They anchored out in front of the marina. They have a refrigeration problem they need fixed, and plan to come to the dock for that, but they expect they won't be able to get a service man until Monday. Harry dinghied in and called one of the guys we recommend. The guy said he could be here today at 13:00. So Harry went back to his boat and brought her to the dock. The repairman then didn't show up. Harry called him back and he apologized and said he'd come out Saturday morning. Life on an island.
I gave Harry a ride over to Prickly Bay to check in with Customs & Immigration. We got stuck in traffic both ways. On the way over, we got behind an eighteen wheeler going slow, and then we all stopped at a construction site while a full-size cement truck made a u-turn on the narrow road. We then got to slowly follow both trucks all the way to the Prickly Bay roundabout. On the way back, as we climbed the hill from Prickly Bay, we came to a stop. I could see two motorcycle cops off their bikes doing something. Then I saw a hearse. I'm guessing there must have been a funeral at a home, and now the hearse and a few cars were leaving. The traffic jam locked everything up, and the two cops took a while to sort things out enough for the hearse to get underway. When it passed us, it had music playing from external speakers. First time I've seen that. Death on an island.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Jan 19
The day started early. I spent most of the morning in the bar writing my logs. Things stayed quiet until late afternoon when people started coming for the weekly potluck. There turned out to only be five couples who brought food, but seven folks from two boats came back from an island tour just as we were all gathering. They didn't have time to go fix a dish, but it was obvious we had plenty of food, so we invited them to join us anyway. After dinner we fired up the karaoke machine. We haven't done karaoke in a couple of weeks, but we had fun this week. We got a few new people to overcome their fears and sing for us. Most everybody left about 21:00, but Harry & Melinda from Sea Schell stayed until almost midnight. We played pool with them and caught up on stuff since we last saw them in August.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Jan 20
Like yesterday, the day was quiet and I spent most of the morning catching up on my writings. We have announced on the morning net that we will be showing both NFL championship games on TV this evening, so we are just waiting for 16:00. We had a number of people show up, some from other bays. One couple took a land taxi from Prickly Bay, and another person took a water taxi from Mt. Hartman Bay. We also had people from the anchorage and people from the marina. The second game went into overtime, so we didn't get to close the place until after 23:00.
Folks from two boats that were left here over the holidays came back this evening. They all came in from the UK, so they had long travel days.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.