March 1
Get ready for a change. No I'm not talking US politics here, I'm talking about who is writing these logs. You guessed it, you now have the first mate writing. This may not be as interesting as Chris's but here goes.
In case you haven't gotten the schedule of events down, today is Saturday and we went to shop for our personal grocery needs and pot luck is this evening. While we were in the IGA Chris came back to the deli counter with stuff in the cart from the dairy isle. This included about 6 containers of yogurt, which he usually eats for breakfast. I looked at him said, "You are leaving on Tuesday, I think you have enough on the boat." He put it back. Wow, to have that power over your child with cereal...priceless. After shopping at the IGA, Chris decided to take me the long way back to the marina. This included a couple of steep mountain roads with spectacular views of the Caribbean. I guess he thought that I would need a fix away from the marina while he was gone for a week. He's right! It was most enjoyable. In case you haven't guessed, I don't drive here. They drive on the left and (in my opinion) not very good. On top of that I don't have a license here. That is easily obtained for a meager amount of money, but it is down right frightening!
When we got back to the marina, I unloaded the groceries and started a potato dish for pot luck. Around 17:30 I took my potato dish offering up to the bar and settled in for the pot luck dinner with a glass of chilled red wine (it seems that is the norm here to chill the red wine). I also had defrosted some salmon to throw on the grill. Again, like last week, Gordon and Susan from Suhaila and us were the only attendees. We had a great meal and conversation with them and turned in around 21:00. Needless to say, no one sang far into the evening. Where are you Willie Nelson???
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 2
We are getting ready for Chris's trip back to Texas. He needs to renew his commercial drivers license and this can't be done over the internet. You never know when he'll need to drive for a living so it is easier to not let it lapse and at the same time get a few needed things from the States. These things include Pepperidge Farms stuffing mix, (here you go Jerry, time to open a Caribbean store), a new computer for me (mine bit the dust), and a few apparel items which we ordered over the internet (bras and shorts) shipped to our UPS address. This by no means was the extent of it.
During a lull in the afternoon, I (Barb) went to the boat to dig out the rolling bag that would house all the items brought back from the states. This bag was buried in the forward berth and required unloading a few crates of food items to get to. (I'm sure Chris doesn't know this and was busy doing various marina activities that was much more important) Let it be known that this bag was stored with other things inside it and as far forward in the v-berth as possible because we were getting ready for our cruising season north when last we stowed it.
After we closed for the evening and over dinner we reviewed the list of what needed to be addressed while Chris was in Houston. The list was long and getting longer. I just hope we don't exceed the 50 pound weight limit that Liat has on the last leg of the journey home from Trinidad. (Yikes! don't give up the stuffing mix, AND NOT MY BRAS!)
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 3
This morning was quite busy. Chris did his usual early morning thing, opening up the bar and stuff. He then came down to the boat at 08:00 to host the Coconut Telegraph on the SSB radio. While he was doing that I helped Saga leave the dock. The boat has been here for well over a month but Rhom had flown out to help crew a trimaran and just returned in the last couple of weeks. They are ready to resume their cruising and are leaving this morning. Getting off the dock was easy for them, but it was a little challenging for me in that I don't speak French too well. They were very good sports and everything went well.
While I was down on the dock waiting for Saga to get ready to leave, I noticed that one of the dock lines on another boat had snapped again. This particular boat is unattended and a few weeks ago, the boat had snapped a bow line and was side ways in the slip and trying to do a walkabout. At that time we double tied the remaining line and that lasted a couple of weeks. We even put a section of old hose on the line to try and stop the chaffing. Well, that didn't last either. After Chris was done with the Coconut Telegraph net we went to the boat trying to do the walkabout and re-secured it as best we could. We will just have to keep a close eye on it.
Chris did burger shopping in the morning and returned with what I hope is enough supplies for this week. We are going to change burger night a little in that we are not going to have the steel drum player every week. We are going to start to alternate between the steel drum player and movie night. Every other week we will show a movie on the 50 inch flat screen TV and save the cost of having a band. I hope it works out well.
Riley from Sentosa, who is from the Houston area, has agreed to flip burgers for us this Wednesday in place of Chris.
During the lull periods of the day, Chris packed for his trip to Houston. They had cold front come through so the contents of the suit case has changed accordingly (we think).
Suhaila checked out and have plans on going over to St. Davids to get their generator tomorrow afternoon.
Chris left for Trinidad around 17:00. Riley took him as Bob had old friends visiting in the bar. He had not seen at least one of them for 30 years. I'm surprised he recognized him!
We closed up and I went back to the boat a little after 21:00. I made pita pizzas for dinner and hit the sack around 23:00 but didn't sleep well since I lent our alarm clock to a boat out on the mooring. They are leaving at 05:00 to fly back to the states for a week.
Before Chris left today he raised all of our flags. US, Texas and SSCA burgee. Well it was very windy all night and I am not use to hearing the noise of flags blowing in the rigging. Granted, I have been on this boat for almost 3 years and know almost all of the noises that it can produce but we took the flags down at the first threat of a hurricane back in August. It is amazing the sounds they made all night long. Or maybe it was the absence of the Captain that made the sound louder.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 4
At 05:45 the familiar knock came that indicated that John (security guard) was ready to leave. I got up and acknowledged that I heard him. I laid back down and finally got up at about 06:30. I knew the couple on Canvas Maker were leaving early and were returning our alarm clock to the deck outside the bar when they left. True to their word the clock was there. But, by the time I hauled my ass out of bed, Bob was already here and had put the alarm clock inside the bar.
This is the first time for me to open up on my own and do announcements on the local cruisers net. I absolutely HATE to talk on the radio but I guess I did OK. After the morning net I went back to the boat to check in short time with Coconut Telegraph. After that I logged on to Continental airlines to see what Chris's flight status was. OH MY!, There was a voice mail from them at 03:00 this morning on our Skype-in number asking for him to call about the status of his flight. There is no way I can relay this message to him. I logged on the Continentals website to see what the delay was. The reason for the delay was "Required Crew rest". I guess they got in late the prior evening and couldn't leave until 2 hours later than scheduled. The only thing I could do was notify Mike in Houston who was picking him up.
Ashley got here on her own at 10:00, but lost her phone in the taxi and had to have him come back to bring it to her.
Suhaila was going to leave today, but decided to do it tomorrow since it is blowing like stink. They will also come back tomorrow afternoon and possibly stay for a while longer to try to resolve a battery issue. Yeah! 2 Burgers sold!
I made 37 hamburgers, sliced 21 small tomatoes, 7 onions and 2 heads of lettuce. I think we need more onions so Bob will get them on Wednesday when he picks up the buns.
We closed up at 19:30 tonight and I went back on the boat and was writing and eating popcorn by 20:30.
Chris began to Skype-chat me from Houston at 23:15 from my new computer! That's one item on the list that is complete. We only talked a short while because we both had long days. When he gets back next week he will add to these logs so you will get a "He said....She said" version from two different countries.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 5
Tonight is burger night and we just never know how it is going to turn out. It was overcast a large part of the day and we had one really intense shower that lasted about twenty minutes. There were early kayakers from the cruise ships and some of them didn't come in the regular bus. They came in a couple of taxies that double as buses. I recognized one of the drivers as the guy that sometimes drives the Friday shopping bus from here. He pulled up in front of the steps to the bar and I walked over to see what the deal was. All he said was that Elvis sent him. Elvis is the guy that runs our shopping excursions. I looked at the occupants in the buses and asked kayaking? Several people nodded and I proceeded to direct them around to the other side of the bar were the kayak company rents space. It's fairly easy to spot cruise ship passengers. They're usually, overweight and very white.
Just before the kayakers took off, Gordon and Susan wanted to leave. They are in a slip right next to where the kayaks are launched. One of the kayak workers helped me get their lines free and we sent them on their way to St. Davids to get their generator reinstalled in the boat. They didn't make it back before dark so we should see them tomorrow. It was extremely quiet all day so the big screen TV was great entertainment.
Around 17:00 Riley and Lucy from Sentosa came up to the bar to help with burger night. Riley very graciously offered to flip burgers in Chris's absence. He helped me load the coolers and lug everything to the bar. It was an extremely light turnout. We only sold fourteen burgers and gave away another seven to those that help put the whole show on. I also talked with "Smokey", the steel pan player, about playing every other week instead of every week. We are in the slowest part of the season so we are trying to save on expenses. Next Wednesday we are going to try something a little different. It will be "Dinner and a Movie" so stay tuned to see how it turns out.
After cleaning up and closing the bar down, I went back to the boat and Chris called from my new computer again. This time however I was able to SEE him! He is having fun shopping for new technology so I'll let him write about that. So far my new computer seems to be working quite well.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 6
After the 05:45 wake up knock from the security guard, I fell back to sleep. I swear it was only for a few minutes but next thing I knew it was 07:15. Bob has been here a little after 06:00 each morning since Chris left and our normal day crew guy is out sick. I hurried up to the bar where Bob had already turned off the outside lights and opened the windows. The two other grounds workers were proceeding to their assigned duties so all I needed to do was put the money in the register and make the announcements on the morning cruisers net. Now I told you that I absolutely hate talking on the radio, but with Chris gone I just have to suck it up and do the job. He had written scripts to read so it is really very easy to do, just not my favorite thing. After that, was done I walked to office to apologize to the boss for being late. I think he got a kick out of that.
Suhaila and Lady Natalie returned late in the afternoon. It was a very quiet day in the bar and after closing up Susan and Gordon on Suhaila asked me to dinner on their boat. I accepted and it was great to relax and have someone else do the cooking.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 7
This morning I was up before John knocked on the boat. I opened the bar up and for the first time all week, did all the other morning tasks that Chris documented before leaving.
The shopping bus was about fifteen minutes late this morning. I called the driver who has been organizing it at 10:05 just to light a fire under him and they sent the big bus to get the shoppers. There were ten of them this week and they rode in comfort on the big air conditioned bus
Bob left to go in to town for a while in the afternoon and I was literally the only person in the marina. The workers were gone as well as everyone on all the occupied boats. It was kind of eerie.
The car rental guy came by to pick up a rental from Riley and Lucy on Sentosa. However they were gone with the car! When they came back I walked down to the dock to tell them that the rental agency was inquiring when they would give up the car. They had already spoken to him and worked everything out. While I was relaying the message, Riley and Lucy invited me to dinner this evening. It was another really slow day so I accepted and told them that I would close the bar up at 19:00 and then would be over. Dinner was spicy curry chicken and salad. It was excellent and a very enjoyable evening.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 8
I got up again this morning before the knock. Again.
While listening to the cruisers net in the bar I was waiting for cruiser announcements section to announce tonight's pot luck and rugby schedule. The net controller was on the local business section and started making my announcement for rugby for me. I was a little shocked that they would do this so I broke in and gave the times for the games and went ahead and announced the pot luck.
With the games scheduled to begin at 09:15 there was constant traffic in bar from 9:00 on. Ashley came in around 14:30 and I was free to go to the boat and decide what to make for pot luck and maybe take a shower. Just as I was half way in to cooking my macaroni and cheese, Mariche VII hailed the marina on the radio. We were expecting them sometime today so I answered them and directed them to their slip. I turned off the stove and Gordon helped me dock them. Back on the boat I finished making my pot luck dish and cleaned myself up for the dinner. Just as I was leaving the boat with my dish Gypsy Sol hailed the marina. Bob got to the radio in the bar and directed them to a slip. Bob, Gary and I got them tied up and they settled in and came up to pot luck. There were ten people this week along with four crew members from a ninety foot boat anchored out in the bay. They were celebrating because they just delivered their guests ashore to fly home. They celebrated and celebrated and celebrated.
Bob has been working on the configuration of the stereo and speakers and TV all day today. He bought a new piece of equipment and has been moving wires and components around everywhere. I pretty much stayed away from helping and let him have his fun. He was like a kid on Christmas morning. He got everything working by the time we were done eating and brought out the karaoke machine. Lola and Gilfey on Shangri-La were here and Gilfey sings in a band locally here in Grenada. Gilfey started off singing and next thing you know there was dancing and singing and everyone had a good time, including our bartender! I had to exercise managerial power to get her back behind the bar to do dishes. It was a late night for me after an early start.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 9
This was a very slow Sunday. No one showed up for the French vs. Italy rugby game so we didn't purchase it. I have better things to do than sit around watching a game I don't understand. Like sitting around watching the TV, which is what I did most of the day.
I was down on the boat talking with Chris via Skype back in Houston when the VHF came alive with the voice of Lone Star. We have not seen Tom and Pat since St. Maarten on our trek south last year. They had spent the hurricane season in St. Lucia. I guess there are some benefits to being self insured. I hailed them on the VHF while still talking with Chris so I had a 3-way call going with 2 computer, 2 VHF's and 2 Countries. Ain't technology grand.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 10
No knock on the boat, YEAH!!! But now I'm use to getting up at 06:00 so I'm up anyway. Bob won't be here this morning because he has an appointment in town at 10:00. I gave him the burger night shopping list last night so he could pick up the stuff before he comes this afternoon. All the workers showed up today and they were anxious to go when I opened the shed at a little before 07:00. At about 12:00 Riley from Sentosa wanted to check out. I didn't have his reservation on the computer in the office, so I called Bob. He was done with his appointment and was standing in line at the bank. He said he would be here in an hour. Bank lines are long here in Grenada. Riley and Lucy bought 4 bags of ice and got their boat ready to depart. Thank goodness I called the ice man to deliver us twenty bags this morning. They then waited in the bar for Bob. When he got here, I said goodbye to Riley and Lucy and headed to the boat to call Chris back in Kemah. I had a nice long conversation with him as well as with John and Pege. It was great to "see" them via the new web camera attached to my computer. Pege made the comment that my new computer looks nice. I said I wouldn't know because I have only seen it from the inside. Hopefully tomorrow night I'll see the real thing when Chris returns.
After talking with Chris, I went back to the bar and Bob had left again to run another errand. Riley and Lucy were gone so the south dock looks really bare. Gordon on Suhaila wanted to check out too so I took care of that and then hung up my laundry that has been in the washer for almost an hour and a half. Thank goodness it's a sunny day because I could really use the clean underwear. By the time laundry was hung, Suhaila was ready to leave so I helped them off the dock. They will be back in a couple of weeks but I'm not sure if Sentosa will be back at all.
Bob showed up around 16:30 with a replacement component to the stereo system that he had been playing with on Saturday. The one he had then wasn't working properly so he took it back. He spent a couple of hours hooking up everything and testing it out. He also brought the hamburger so I can make the burgers for Wednesday. I closed the register out and he was still listening to CD's and testing out various configurations of CD, DVD, TV and karaoke equipment. I left him to play with his new toys and went to the boat to eat and relax.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 11
Bob had another appointment in town this morning, but getting up early is now routine. I opened up the bar around 06:45 and everyone showed up today to work so it's a good day...so far. I kept pretty busy until 07:30 and the cruisers net started. I had to change the normal Tuesday script to announce that burger night will include a movie instead of a band. We decided to change this since we have been pretty light on attendance and save the cost of the band. Bob now has all the components talking to each other including a new DVD player. Now we don't have to use his computer to play a DVD.
Ashley arrived around 10:00 so I took all the meat and supplies to the boat to make burgers for tomorrow night. The burger only made 23 patties but with our last weeks frozen ones hope we have enough. Bob still had to get tomatoes and lettuce and he did that later in the afternoon. I ordered the buns and had the propane picked up and filled and returned. I think we are ready.
Chris called a little after noon and said his flight is delayed so he won't be making the Liat connection in Trinidad. Then his cell phone went dead. I had to call Liat to reschedule him for Wednesday morning so I headed to the boat to do that. After I got him rescheduled, I called Continental airlines and asked how to get a message to a passenger in Houston. They gave me the number of the page operator at George Bush Intercontinental Airport. I called there and gave them the message to be delivered to Chris at the gate. As an added measure I sent him an e-mail which he may get in Trinidad now that he has a computer. He will have to spend the night in Trinidad and is now scheduled to arrive here at 06:45 Wednesday morning. I needed to get him here before evening because he has to flip the burgers tomorrow night.
The rest of the afternoon was fairly slow, so around 17:00 Bob put in a DVD and we watched it until a little after 19:00. When it ended we closed down and went home.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 12
Well, the Captain is back and writing again. I think Barb did an excellent job of writing while I was gone. She my have to contribute more in the future.
My trip to Houston was good. I accomplished everything I went for and got to visit with lots of old friends, most of whom I hadn't seen in almost three years since we left. I flew from Grenada to Trinidad on Liat, the inter-island airline on Monday evening. Liat flies fifty passenger Dash 8 aircraft, which are twin-props. The joke in the islands is that Liat means "Leaves Airport Any Time", but we were right on time, which put me in Trinidad about 20:30. There is only one hotel right near the airport and it's a Holiday Inn Express. They have a free shuttle so I went outside and waited for it. Thanks to Tom on Yellow Rose, who made this trip a couple months ago, I knew to go into the Tourist Information office and have them call the shuttle for me. By the time I got to the hotel it was 21:00 and I was hungry. There is no restaurant at the hotel, but they have a deal with a place nearby to deliver from a limited menu. I called and ordered a burger and fries and three bottles of beer. The prices on the menu were quoted in TT (the Trinidad money) so the amount sounded high, but I was hungry. When the food came, the bill was printed in TT and USD . The large burger, a huge order of fries and three bottles of beer were $12.62 USD including the 10% service charge for delivery. No wonder cruisers we know liked it here.
I was up at 05:30, had breakfast at the hotel's free buffet and was at the airport at 07:00 for my 09:00 Continental flight to Houston. There was a long line already at the check-in counter when I got there, and it didn't seem to be moving at all, even though there were six agents working with people. After a while it became clear what the problem was. Even though there was no indication on the TV monitors, our flight was delayed until 11:00. This meant almost every customer required re-routing from Houston because they were going to miss connections. Turned out the flight was delayed because of bad weather the day before in Houston. That weather had made the Houston to Trinidad flight late. The same crew flies the plane back to Houston in the morning, and they needed the required amount of rest between flights, thus our two hour delay. I finally got checked in at 09:00 after two hours of standing in line. The flight itself was fine except they ran out of booze. This flight is probably 80% oilfield workers coming and going from offshore assignments where they can't drink for however many weeks they are aboard. So, they drink a lot on the way to Trinidad. The plane is catered for the round-trip in Houston, so the return flight frequently is out of liquor. Seems to me they could project this and just start with more, but they don't. The flight was fine and I got to Houston about 15:30 local time after six hours in the air. My friend Mike was waiting for me outside Customs.
I spent the week nights near Houston at Mike's house and got my list of things pretty much accomplished by Friday. One of the first things I did was get a phone. You can buy a cell phone in a store like Target for $20 and buy a card for minutes for $15/hr. You call an 800 number to activate the phone and charge your account and you're in business. Perfect for my trip so I can be in touch. I got my driver's license renewed, which was the original reason for the trip, bought a new computer for Barb, figured out how to renew the boat registration from afar in a few months, and purchased numerous other things on my list which we can't get in Grenada. The list was an odd assortment of things. There isn't much we can't get in Grenada, but getting a particular brand of something we like can be a problem. For instance, I have a particular brand of shorts I wear all the time. I could get new shorts here, but not that brand, so I mail ordered eight pairs and they were waiting at our mailbox. I traveled up with an almost empty suitcase, and I have my doubts if I will be able to pack everything I bought in it for the return. Anything that came in some kind of fancy plastic packaging got unpacked. This not only will make packing it easier, but may avoid questions at Customs when I return to Grenada.
Friday morning I went to BMC to visit old friends that we had worked with. The place looks the same, but there have been changes. When we left, BMC occupied most of all four buildings on the campus. Now they only occupy one and a half. This means when the security guard asks who you are there to see, he also asks which company they are with. That never needed to be asked before. I got up to the floor where my old group still is and visited with the folks who were there. It was good to see them. Several of us went to lunch together and we caught up on my travels as well as what's been going on at BMC. Of course the visit was too short, and not everybody I would have liked to have seen was at the office that day.
After visiting BMC I headed down to Kemah. I collected our mail from the UPS store that is our legal home, and went to our friends John & Pege's house. They are out of town until Sunday evening, but graciously offered to let me stay at their house anyway. Friday night I hooked up with friends Terry & Michelle and also went to the Parrothead Club happy hour briefly. Saturday I went to the marina I used to live at and found several old boat friends there. I spent a couple of hours there visiting before going to Michelle & Terry's house for a barbeque in the afternoon. Between a late night Saturday and the time-change loosing an hour, I got a late start to Sunday. John & Pege got home from their trip Sunday evening and we went to dinner. Monday I just hung out with them all day and caught up.
Food was high on my list of things to do while in Houston. I had a mental list of food to eat that I can't get in Grenada. This included Texas style barbeque, Mexican food, Hooters, crawfish (which I didn't get), Marble Slab Creamery ice cream, and breakfast at Skipper's in Kemah. I could have spent another week satisfying food cravings, but alas, time ran out.
The whole week I was there, it was fairly cold. Not cold by Chicago standards, but cold by Houston standards. It was in the low forties in the mornings and only mid fifties most days. There were two days it got to about seventy, but that was it. I had brought a sweatshirt and some long-sleeved t-shirts, but I was chilly a lot.
My return trip was not exactly as planned. I am flying Continental non-stop to Trinidad and then planned to connect to Liat to get back to Grenada about 21:30 Tuesday night. There is only an hour and twenty minutes between flights, so getting through Customs, collecting my bag, and getting to the Liat flight may be impossible. While at the gate in Houston, they announced we would be delayed in departing due to a maintenance problem. Any delay screws any hope of making the connection. I called Barb with the last few minutes of time I had on the cell phone and asked her to call Liat and change me to the earliest flight she could in the morning. I was afraid this would cost me big time since I have a cheap ticket, but I have to get home. We boarded the Continental flight and left about an hour later than planned. The flight itself was fine and we arrived in Trinidad at 20:00. The Liat flight to Grenada was parked where I could see it while I stood in a huge line at Immigration, and I watched it leave right on time. I finally got through Immigration, got my bag and went through Customs. I proceeded to the Liat counter to find out what Barb had been able to arrange. She got me on the first flight in the morning, which departs at 06:10, and it only cost $25 for a change fee. I was afraid there might have been an increase in the fare too, but there wasn't. Now the only problem is what to do between now and then. I considered going to the hotel again, but didn't think it was worth another $200 just to spend six hours, so I found a place to try and sleep in the airport. Most airports these day have armrests on every seat making it impossible to lay down across several seats. But here there were four seats together between armrests. The problem was that there was a several inch gap between seats and no matter how I tried, I couldn't get my head, my shoulder, and my hip to line up on three seats comfortably. So, using my laptop case and sweatshirt as a pillow, I tossed and turned and tried to rest until the ticket counter opened at 04:00 and I could check my bag. The place was pretty quiet after the last flight out left about 01:00, and even though I never really felt like I was asleep, the three hours went by quickly. At 04:00, I checked my bag and went to the gate. None of the food places were open that early, so I was traveling hungry. I got to Grenada at 06:45 and was through Immigration in just a few minutes. There was a problem with the baggage carousel, so it took a while to get our bags and then I headed to Customs. I went to the "nothing to declare" line all prepared to be questioned about what I had in the bag. Since they knew I was on a boat, I especially was ready to be asked if I bought back any boat parts. I could honestly answer no, since there were no boat parts in my bag. There was a lot of other stuff that they may have expected duty on, but no boat parts. They guy took a long look at my paperwork, asked me where I was staying, and let me through. Dave, one of the taxis we use regularly was waiting for me outside, and we headed to the marina. It was good to be back.
I got unpacked and Barb stowed all the crap I brought back. I was pretty tired, but stayed up all day. Tonight was burger night. Barb had Bob do the required shopping yesterday, so all I had to do was flip burgers. We had a medium turnout, and we tried a new thing. Instead of the steel drum player, we played a movie on the big screen after we ate. Just about everybody stayed for the movie, although I dozed off before the end. We are going to try alternating the steel drum guy with a movie night for a while and see how that goes.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 13
I tried to get back into the routine today, getting up before 07:00 to unlock things and get the workers started. It was a quiet day and I spent most of it dozing here or there. I slept like a log last night, but at my age staying up all night requires a couple of days to get over. About the only productive thing I did was put air in the tire on the car we drive. It has a slow leak and I normally fill it every third day or so. Since I was gone, it hasn't been filled and is almost flat. I was able to move the car to the air compressor without hurting the tire and blew it up.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 14
Today is shopping bus day. We used to go shopping on Friday also, but now that Friday is Ashley's day off, that is hard to do. This week we are trying something new in that Barb will go on the bus and do the shopping by herself. I sat in the bar and visited with Tom from Lone Star and another guy while they were gone. We spent most of the afternoon watching TV in the bar as it was very quiet. This time of year everybody is out cruising, so the marina is not busy at all. Late in the afternoon, several local folks came in, including the guy who had the big birthday party here a few months ago. They stayed for a couple of hours drinking the expensive scotch, so they ran up a nice tab. We closed about 21:00.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
March 15
We have a full day planned today. This is the final weekend of the Six Nations Rugby Tournament and all three games are today. They are at 09:00, 11:00, and 13:00. Then we have our usual pot-luck dinner in the evening. We only had a few here at 09:00 for the first game, then at 11:00 the crowd grew to fifteen or so, and then by 13:00 we had almost thirty for the final game which included Wales, who won the tournament. It was a lively crowd and they all had fun even though a few times the streaming video hung up for a few minutes. (We get the broadcast via the internet.) After the last game, everybody left and we had a breather before pot luck. I took all the empty bottles out of the bar and restocked the cooler.
There was only a small crowd for pot luck. Tom & Pat from Lone Star, Scott & Jean from Omarsea with their three kids, and John & Sue from Alouette with their two kids. After dinner, the kids were all engrossed in a movie on TV, and the adults were having a lively conversation, so we didn't do karaoke.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.