Anchors aweigh

26.03.2011

26th March – Simpson Bay

Well it has been a long time since we dropped anchor with a great sigh of relief. Fortunately the bay that we are anchored in is very pretty and the water is relatively clean. There is a beautiful long stretch of white beach which fortunately doesn’t have the usual string of bar and restaurants on it so getting to sleep at night is fine. Well until the swell starts to roll in and then you are rocking and rolling the night away with the swell thumping on the hull. SLEEP can become elusive.

Otherwise we have been pottering around doing bits and bobs around the boat waiting for the parts to arrive. It took a week for the engineer to come out and diagnose the problem and take the offending bit away. The new part (torque limiter) was ordered and promised for a Monday past. However by Tuesday there was still no sign of the part. The firm said they didn’t understand what was happening and would send an e mail. Apparently one bit was being shipped from Georgia and the other was in Miami. By Thursday both bit were together but there was no flight from their carrier that day so it took until yesterday for the bits to arrive in St Maarten. There was a delay getting to the airport to get them as there had been an accident on the road and traffic was solid for a long time. Then of course it was lunch time so the assembling couldn’t be done till later!!!!!! Would anyone work on Saturday to fit it – well come on now it is the Caribbee. However we were proved wrong and around 11.00 this morning we got a call to say they were on their way. Yippee it is now done and appears to be working. A day of sea trials and with a bit of luck it will be up anchors and away on Monday.

So further frustrated we put the generator on to charge the batteries and lo and behold the water had stopped coming out of it. ***T. John then had to empty lockers and find the source of the problem. He did and after much sweating and lots of expletives managed to get the pump out to discover a severed pipe. So of we went in search of a fabrication shop to get some welding done. We could have gotten a full replacement pump for $500 (will be needing a mortgage soon!) but managed to get the weld done for $43 (everything cross it holds). Glad to report that the man was on a mission and had the whole thing back and running by 8.00 p.m. Felt a bit like a surgery nurse passing instruments up and down into the hold. Bless him he was pooped so it was a large beer to recover. Followed of course by another night of rocking and rolling but this time we put our ear plugs in and managed to sleep! Suppose it beats hot water bottles and howling gales.

Seems that this season is full of boat issues. Friends have had their plans spiked due to major generator difficulties and are still stranded in St Lucia. For others its starter motors, loos – you name it.. No wonder there are a lot of happy chappies in the marine business – it is an endless source of income for them. Hourly rate varies from $50 to 100 an hour and they don’t go fast around here.

However on the plus side – we have met some more lovely folks and spent time sharing drinks and food with them before they left the Bay (will that wedding outfit ever fit?) As one lot left another arrived so we haven’t been lonely which is great.

Our visitors are due next weekend into Antigua and if things go to plan we will be there in time phew!!!. We are still hopeful that we will get there in time as it is only an overnight sail of 100 miles. Unfortunately we won’t get to see any of the other Dutch islands and they are supposed to be quite lovely. We had wanted to visit Saba as friends spent a long time there last year and said the snorkelling and diving was excellent. There are no fishies round the boat here as it is a sandy bottom and there’s nothing for them to nibble. Well actually Tony on Nychea was down scrubbing the hull the other day and said he was visited by an interested looking 5 foot nurse shark. He got out of the water in double quick time. Took me a few days to go back in after that story.

So anchors aweigh and Antigua here we come Allelujah!