Oct 1
I spent the morning writing the logs. When Barb sat down in my chair (that would be the one over the just rebuilt holding tank area) she felt wetness on the floor. This can't be good. I took the cushions off and opened the cover. I found that since we had the vent line disconnected, the tank had backfilled with seawater and was just full enough that it was dripping out the vent fitting. Well at least we don't have a new leak. The tank shouldn't backfill, even though the valve is open. The old pump wouldn't let that happen before the impeller broke. I guess we'll just have to get used to opening and closing the valve each time we empty the tank. This is how it is supposed to be done anyway, but before I cut the access hole, you couldn't reach the valve, so it was always open. I pumped the tank out, closed the valve, and wiped up the water on the floor. I then uncorked the vent line expecting the vinegar I squirted in from outside to run out, but nothing came. I blew through the hose, and while I can blow through it, it is not without effort. I guess I will have to look seriously at replacing this hose and the fitting where it goes through the hull to finish this job right.
In the evening we watched several episodes of House on DVD.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Oct 2
In the morning, I read and played on the computer, while Barb did a load of laundry. There is no rain forecast, so perhaps the laundry can dry without getting a rain rinse. In the afternoon, we played dominoes with Dave & Sue in the bar. While we were sitting there, a small flatbed truck came down the drive way loaded with stuff. Bob is expecting a new engine for his backhoe today, so we assumed perhaps this was it. But the truck went over to the end of the south dock. It turned out it was Christmas on Free Birds. Brad & Petra bought Free Birds (then named Cap Vic III) in Trinidad a couple of months ago. They brought it up here and are doing major work on it to outfit for a trip around the world. The truck had a new 12' Zodiac center console RIB, two ocean kayaks, and two full pallets of boxes of other goodies. Apparently Brad has been ordering all this stuff online and consolidating it somewhere in the US for shipment here. We watched from the bar as they and half a dozen other guys helping them schlepped all the stuff down the dock to the boat. The RIB got inflated and slid on a couple of pallets into the water.
We also got another new boat in the marina. Kismet has been in the area for several months, but not in the marina. We have met Lloyd and Brenda at the various functions here at the marina. The whole month we spent in the marina at Ponce, Puerto Rico, we were in the slip next to Kismet, but Lloyd and Brenda were in the States, so we never met them until here. They are coming into the marina because one of the local companies is going to do some major work on their engine. They are leaving the boat and staying in a hotel while things are torn apart.
In the evening we again watched a few episodes of House, including re-watching the one Barb fell asleep during last night.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Oct 3
This morning was spent reading and computing again. Barb did another load of laundry, just to test the rain gods. She got away with it. In the afternoon, I did some contemplating about replacing the vent hose and hull fitting. There are two challenges with this project. One is pulling the hose from point A to point B. The run is about twelve feet. Since I have cut several holes along the way now, I think access shouldn't be too bad. Also, since this is a smaller, more flexible hose than the waste hoses themselves, I think I can tape the new hose to the end of the old hose and pull it through that way. I'm hoping. The bigger problem is replacing the vent fitting that goes through the hull. There is no access to the back side of this fitting where the hose attaches. The outside clamshell part of the vent corroded and broke off more than a year ago. At that time I put a little screw on cover over the hole so water wouldn't come it, but the vent line was then basically just hanging in the air between the hull and the inner liner. I'm surprised we haven't been bothered by the smell of the air venting from the tank over the past year. Off course if the hose is plugged I guess there wasn't much venting going on anyway. I went out on deck and put a piece of tape on the lifeline right over the vent on the hull. Then from inside I could look out the port and see the tape to line up where I needed to cut access in the bathroom cabinets. The good news is that since the cutting will take place inside the cabinet, it won't be too ugly. I emptied the cabinet and took off a piece of trim and then was able to just barely see the hose and fitting through a crack. I decided to think about it some more before I cut.
Bob called me on the radio to let me know I had FedEx paperwork at the bar. When you have anything shipped here except mail, FedEx just delivers the paperwork. You then have to go get it cleared through Customs and retrieve it yourself. You can pay an agent anywhere from $50EC to $100EC to do this for you, but it really is no big deal to do yourself.
In the evening, we were entertained at the bar by Steve from Liward and his friends who have put together a band. Bob has hired a girl named Ashley to tend bar, so I was free to enjoy myself. We had a good time visiting and enjoyed the music.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Oct 4
This morning will be devoted to exercise. Some more voluntary than other. Barb has been exercising every weekday morning with a group of women here at the marina. Several people have left recently though, and the group has dwindled to only a few. Also, Barb hurt her back last week, and it is still bothering her, so she didn't really want to exercise. But, she and Roxanne, from Raven, decided to walk instead. So they took off walking about 09:00. I, on the other hand, will be walking doing errands. I took the dinghy across the bay to Any Kine Marine's dock. Their rickety dock has gotten worse than ever, which is hard to believe. They seem to be primarily closed and I had to walk up the side of the building and through a small gate in their fence since the main driveway and gate were locked. I caught a bus to town to start my errands.
I got off the bus by the Lagoon and walked up the steep hill to the Immigration office. I should have renewed our visa's last week, but forgot, so we are overdue. The procedures have changed since I extended two months ago. Then you simply came in, told them what you wanted, and they stamped you. Now there is a form to fill out, you go see the officer, he fills out more papers which you then take outside and downstairs to the Treasury office where you pay $25EC per person per month, they stamp and scribble on the papers, which you take back upstairs and get your stamped passports back. We have heard several people speak of long waits since the process changed, so I was happy to see an empty office when I arrived. I filled out a form for me and a form for Barb, and knocked on the door to see the officer. He called me in and I sat down at his desk. I was hoping, that as we had experienced in the Bahamas, he would just overlook the fact that we were late in requesting our extensions. He didn't. Without looking up from the passports he said, "You should have come to see me last Friday". I said "Yes Sir". He said, "Your visa's expired on the 30th". I said, "Yes Sir. I forgot". He paused for what seemed to be a long time, but was probably ten seconds, and then said "You get too comfortable and you forget your responsibilities". At that point he started stamping things and filling out the form I have to take down to the Treasury office, so I guessed I wasn't going to jail. I took the forms downstairs where I found that I could pay for our visa's with my VISA. How cool is that? I think it is the first government office we have encountered where we could use a credit card for fees. Back upstairs, I exchanged my stamped forms for our passports which he had stamped while I was gone. I got us extended to the end of November, so we won't have to go through this again. I thanked the officer and wished him a pleasant day. His demeanor changed from all business to a big smile and thank you.
From here, I walked back down the hill to the water, and towards town to the Grenada Yacht Club where there is a Customs office. I had two copies of the C-14 form with me that identify a "yacht-in-transit" for duty free parts purchases. I have filled these forms out before at both parts stores and the boatyard but I need this one to go to FedEx to get our binoculars that have been repaired. There is a 37% duty on anything you have shipped into the country. "Yachts in transit" are exempt from this for any boat parts, but do still have to pay a 2.5% Customs fee for anything including repairs and the freight charges. Boat parts is very loosely translated to be anything sold in a boat parts store. For instance, I bought a new pair of Crocs at Budget Marine, and they were duty free. Binoculars are not exactly a boat part, but they qualify. Customs stamped my two copies of the C-14 and sent me on my way to FedEx to collect my package. The FedEx office is on the Carenage which is further down the same road the Yacht Club is on. I walked past the freight docks which were busy since a container ship was being unloaded around the Carenage. At FedEx, they took my paperwork in back for a minute. The girl then came back and asked if I wanted to pay cash for the fees or charge it to my FedEx account. I confirmed we were just talking about 2.5% and since we were, said to just charge my account. She went back in back and got my box, but then came to the door and motioned me to come in back. I went back and found an old lady sitting at a desk with a huge ledger book in front of her. If you have ever seen the Miller Light commercials where the guys sit around and decide on "Man Law", think of the old guy who is the scribe. This book was at least 18" x 24" before you opened it up. This lady had to make an entry with the FedEx waybill number, and then I printed and signed my name by it. Even though we are in a country where they love their bullshit paperwork, this really surprised me in an office of a company that relies on computerization to run their business. I got my package and left, unsure of exactly how much it was costing in Customs fees, but it should be around $10US.
From FedEx, I retraced my steps back to Island Water World on the Lagoon. I could have stopped here first, but then I would have been carrying a big bag around with me. I got the new vent fitting and hose to fix the vent. Now I just need a bus back to Woburn. The construction that has been disrupting the bus routes is still going on, so I waited on the Lagoon road for a #2 bus, even though this isn't their normal route. After twenty minutes, I walked a few blocks to where they would have to deviate from the normal route because of the construction, making my total walking today about two miles. (Sure seemed longer.) I found that today, the outbound buses can use the regular road, and only the inbound traffic is being detoured. In a few minutes a bus came and I got in the only available seat with my backpack, bag from IWW, and box from FedEx. It was a crowded ride back, but I made it and dinghied back to the boat.
In the afternoon we played cards with Dave & Sue while I also minded the bar while Bob went to town to run some errands. Ashley, the new bartender is off today. Bob got back just after we finished, so it worked perfectly.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Oct 5
Today is shopping day. I don't have any extra errands to run today, so I got out at the IGA with Barb & Sue, while Dave went on into town to Island Water World. We did our shopping and finished up just as Dave & Bert returned. We were in and out today before the rush of students, and even the bus load of cruisers got there. After stowing the groceries and having lunch, I attacked finishing the head/holding tank project.
When we last left this project, we were figuring out how to replace the vent hose and the vent thru-hull thing. I have the parts required, but have to cut fiberglass inside the aft head cabinets to access the place where the vent goes through the hull. I borrowed a saws-all from Bob to do the job. If you don't know what a saws-all is, it's a bad-ass power tool with a straight reciprocating blade that can pretty much cut anything, where precision isn't the of the highest importance. Since there isn't any real measuring involved, the measure twice/cut once rule doesn't apply. But, I did eyeball several times, and drew a pencil line to follow, before I attacked with the saw. With only a little effort, I totally freaked out the cat with the sound, and cut a three inch by four inch hunk out of the back of the cabinet. I pulled the end of the hose with the remains of the old thru-hull out, undid the clamp and took out the thru hull. Between the corrosion of the metal, and the build up of crap in the hose from apparently overflowing the tank more than I thought we ever did, it was pretty clogged. There also was a kink in the hose a couple of inches from the thru-hull, which I cut off. Hoping to avoid pulling a new hose fifteen feet through inaccessible spaces, I went back and disconnected the hose at the tank end. I attached my clean stub of hose that I can blow through and gave it a tentative blow. I could tell immediately that air was flowing better than it had, but also that there was fluid in the line somewhere. Barb took a wad pf paper towels to the head end of the hose to catch what might come out, and then I blew as hard as I could to clear the line. A copious amount of "stuff" came out of the line, and we got it to where I could blow as hard as I could and get no more. It reminded me of medical TV shows where they test your breathing capacity as I blew as hard and long as I could into the hose. If we were on TV, I would probably have failed. But since we are on a boat and not TV I deemed the hose clear and decided not to replace the hose itself now. Barb went outside in the dinghy and stuck the new thru-hull through the hull (I guess that's what they do eh?) while I threaded the nut on the inside and sealed it with gooey stuff. Once secure, I attached the hose and clamped it down. We then switched the Y-valve to go to the tank again, and pumped away. The tank did not expand, indicating that the vent was working. I then opened the output thru-hull and turned on the pump. The tank did not contract because of the pump's sucking, also indicating that the vent is working. High five's all around as the dreaded waste water system has been at least temporarily tamed. I restowed all the stuff from the head cabinets that had been emptied, and took a break. The only remaining part of the project is to reassemble the furniture part. The nav station seat is out, and my regular chair is only sitting in place and not attached. I thought about putting it off for another day, but then decided to get it done. I replaced the eight screws which hold the seat in place, and left out the tube of gooey stuff that the factory used. I then tried to reinstall the nav station seat which has two large bolts that go through the nav station wall and the fiberglass box under my seat. The bolts wouldn't go through because the holes didn't quite line up. I had to undo all the screws so the fiberglass box part was moveable and get the bolts through first. Then I re-screwed the fiberglass part in and tightened the bolts for the nav station seat. I put away all the tools and declared the job done!
We have dinner-out plans for tonight. We had hoped to join Dave & Sue for a lobster dinner at Little Dipper, across the bay in Lower Woburn. Early in the day, we had Bob call Little Dipper to make a reservation, thinking that Joan, the owner/chef may need to get the lobster. We found out that she isn't getting lobster yet, as the season is off to a slow start. We decided to go anyway and take whatever she had. About 17:00, Dave & Sue came over and we took our dinghy across the bay. We locked the dinghy up at the dock by the dive shop/bar/dope smoking hangout, and walked up the hill to Little Dipper. We found everything shuttered. We walked out on the patio and hoped perhaps Joan would be opening shortly. After just a minute, Joan called to us from her home below the restaurant. We told her we were the party that Bob had called about, and she said she would be up in a few minutes. We sat and enjoyed the view (see pictures) while we waited. Joan came up and took our drink order as she unlocked the kitchen. After getting us drinks and starting up things in the kitchen, Joan came out to tell us our choices. They were curried conch (lambi), Creole king fish, or Creole chicken. We chose one lambi, one fish, and two chickens. As was the case on our first visit a couple of months ago, the food was great. Once our dinners were served, Joan sat quietly in the corner in case we needed anything. As we each finished our plates, she came and took them out of our way. Once we were all done, she joined us for a little bit of conversation. After we paid the check, we started to leave, but Joan asked if I was the guy who sang karaoke at the marina. Turns out she and her husband were there a couple of weeks ago and had heard me sing. She remembered me, and said that perhaps they would come by tomorrow if she didn't have customers.
When we got back to the marina, there seemed to be a party in progress at the bar. We went in to see what was going on, and immediately, half the people left. I'd prefer to think it was just bad timing as opposed to personal hygiene issues. The remaining patrons were all locals who are probably here because of Ashley's new job. We had one drink and headed back to the boat ourselves.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Oct 6
Today was a do nothing day. Barb baked a cake for the potluck later, while I read, played games, and surfed the net. We went up to the potluck about 17:30 and were the first there. Again, the turnout was only about twenty people, but there was plenty of good food, and everybody raved about Barb's cake. Since Amanda from Solstice is still stuck in the boatyard, I played karaoke DJ again. Most of the karaoke was sung by myself, Dave, Bob, Irling, and Ginette - the usual suspects. But, in a dramatic turn of events, Roxanne from Raven got Ernie from Joat Mon to actually stand up and take the mic, albeit with a couple of backup singers. All these weeks, we had noticed that while Ernie would never think about taking the mic, he always sang along in his seat. I guess he just had enough rum tonight. I still find it amazing that after a few weeks of this, I get requests from the non-singers in the crowd for songs.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Oct 7
For the past two days, Bob has spent the majority of the day working with another guy replacing the motor in his front-end loader/backhoe. He had to have the rebuilt motor shipped from Canada , which took almost two weeks. It got here Thursday, and in that time, they have removed the old motor, cleaned it up for shipment back as a core, and installed the new motor. It hasn't started yet, but it's close. This has been a major job for Bob and I know he's glad to have it close to finished.
I was planning to participate in a water basketball game today at noon. Paul, from Sun Runner organized this game. The premise is that you take two large fishing nets (of which I contributed one) and put them on opposite ends of an anchored boat. Then players (women with swim fins - men without) play basketball. As I said, I was going to go, but mid-morning I developed some lower intestinal distress that made it prudent for me not to be more than a quick walk from a bathroom - if you get my drift. Instead, we played dominoes with Sue and Kelton & Doris from Isle Escape while watching (not listening) to the NASCAR race from Talladega.
For dinner, Barb made pizza while we watched the local TV. As usual, the local TV was primarily stuff they get from elsewhere. We watched BBC World News for half an hour, where I was shocked to see coverage of a story from Wisconsin, where a deputy sheriff shot five people. What shocked me wasn't that this happened, but that it was covered on BBC World News. In the US, all we ever hear on the news is murders, fires, car chases or crashes, etc. Blood and guts sells. Outside the US, stuff like that is never covered. For instance, today we learned that last week there was a large fight amongst locals on the beach at Hog Island. We learned this because people coming back from the weekly barbeque warned us not to go to the beach there barefoot since there is a lot of broken glass on the beach. The broken glass is from beer bottles broken over heads, and the fight apparently escalated to spear guns. Did we hear about that on the news? No. We heard about the local spice and craft vendors worrying about the taxi drivers not bringing cruise ship passengers to their market. Granted, that was local, but since we watch BBC World News frequently at the bar, even they talk much more about world politics, and wars, not some lunatic with a gun in the US. After the news, we watched an hour of Digicel's (that's a Caribbean cell phone company) Rising Stars. It's the Caribbean version of American Idol.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Oct 8
This morning we actually did some boat work. Barb did most of it. She cleaned the rust stains off the deck where the stanchions attach. They happen when salt water splashes on deck. We have been putting off cleaning them since we got here, but we might as well be looking good when we leave. I suppose the opposite logic makes more sense. We should have cleaned them when we got here so we looked good at the dock, since once we leave we'll just be splashing the decks and the stains will come back. While Barb did that, I cleaned the cockpit out. I removed the teak grating on the floor to reveal all the dirt and stuff that falls between the grating and collects there. There was enough cat hair under there to build a whole new cat. I hosed it all out as well as took out the cockpit cushions and hosed them off on the dock.
The rest of the day was spent reading. I started a book another boater lent us, and read all three hundred pages by 21:00. I'm slow to start books, but once I start I don't want to stop.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Oct 9
Barb was still on a cleaning kick today. The stuff she uses to clean the rust stains is pretty harsh, so if she doesn't follow up by then polishing the stainless with the stainless wax, it gets ugly. So, she spent a couple hours polishing stainless. I resisted the urge to do anything productive today, other than call the IRS and spend twenty minutes on hold to get a number from them.
In the afternoon, we played dominoes with Dave & Sue. Sue brought homemade brownies which was a delicious treat. In the evening, Bob the marina owner came to the boat to tell me he was going to replace the modem in the office so the internet access would be gone for a few minutes. It has been dying overnight about every other night for the past couple of weeks, and he asked if I would monitor it for the next few days to see if the new modem resolves the problem.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Oct 10
During the night we had some heavy thunder storms come through. There was lots of thunder and lightening, heavy winds, and heavy rain for about an hour. Fortunately, none of the lightening seemed to hit near us, but it put on a good show. After the big storm passed, it continued raining lightly off and on until daybreak. It stayed overcast all day threatening to rain more, but never did. We spent the day aboard, reading, playing on the computer and watching TV. There was actually several hours of good stuff on TV, like Law & Order and Without A Trace. Of course at 15:00, both stations switched to cartoons.
I went to take a shower late in the afternoon. When I returned to the boat, I found a fish laying on the dock. He couldn't have been there more than fifteen minutes, but he was stiff as a board. Who needs a fishing pole when they just jump out of the water at your doorstep?
Tonight Bob is having a special happy hour. For the past few weeks, Steve's band has played on Wednesday nights, but they aren't tonight. Instead, Bob's offering special drink prices for an hour and going to do karaoke. Unfortunately for Bob, the band apparently is a big draw, because only five of us showed up. We had a nice evening visiting with Bill & Roxanne from Raven and comparing notes about places we've been and other boats we have met in common over the past couple of years.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.