And So On And So On

Well, here we are, still in Falmouth Harbour in Antigua but at least we are ready to sail. Just to update, we have been waiting since Holly and Joe left for the parts for our staysail problem to arrive from the US and for our chart plotter to come back from repair. We had broken the ball joint on the staysail - it fastens the top of the stay to the mast - during our Curacao to Antigua voyage and because we had the sail up there was a lot of flapping until we could get it down. We were congratulating ourselves on doing such a good job getting it down and stowed away under somewhat rough conditions. Well, we had done a good job but when we looked at the furler unit after we go to Antigua we discovered that most of the inserts that hold the sections together had broken.

After some pricing and research we discovered that it would be nearly as expensive to repair the one we have as it was to replace it. In the interests of further possible wear and tear we chose to replace. You know all of this information may already be in a blog but I have to have a more selective memory now cause the pathways to where I store my memories are suffering from previous abuse and age so I delete stuff more easily now!!! (just kidding I hope)

Anyway, we waited until Joe and Holly had gone back home to get started on the repair because we had to come to the south end of the island to do it and since we were waiting for the Perrys we thought that if the Gods of convenience were kind to us, we would finish the repairs just as they were getting here. Not to be of course but it was a nice thought.

So, after delays due to the airlines and the shipping agent our parts finally arrived and we moved into Falmouth Harbour Marina so they could be put on. A word here - there are 3 marinas here in Falmouth and all of them cater almost exclusively to super yachts i.e. Maltese Falcon. The second thing about these marinas is most of them do the Mediterranean docking - stern to the dock. Therefore sideslips - which we needed to do the job - are double the normal rate, which is high to begin with. Well you would think that with the clientele that the facilities would reflect the cost. Not so - no showers, shared washrooms, docks about 4 feet higher than the toerail on our boat and finally, no power available unless you have a 50 Amp extension, which we don't. They don't have any to loan or rent either and to buy just the plug to make up a cable is about $150 USD.

Friday night we moved into the marina and early Saturday Ashley (our rigger) and his helper were there bright and early. Ashely was the one bright spot in all this. It is very unusual to find workers down here who do exactly what they say they are going to do and do it when they say.

Incidentally, some good news was that our chart plotter, which provides us with radar and navigation facilities was repairable and we didn't have to get a new one (about $2,500 USD). We were able to pick this up Friday also after we came to the marina and it works!!!

Saturday was spent putting the new furling unit together and installing it on the boat. It went really well and we were actually finished before the time Ashley had promised it would be done. Since it was after 12:00 noon, we had to pay for another night so we decided to stay at the marina Saturday night.

It was amazing watching Ashley's assistant up the mast. He was in a bosun's chair attached to a halyard (lifting rope), but once he was at the top he was swinging back and forth between the mast and the forestay. He obviously felt comfortable up there.

Early Sunday morning (8:30) we were ready to go and were able to get away from the dock without too much difficulty. The possible problem we faced was that since the dock was higher than the toerail of our boat and there were only a few places where the fenders would keep us from hitting the cement, we had to be really careful we didn't move under the dock as we left.

So here we are, back on an anchorage and loving it. We had intended to move up to Jolly Harbour ASAP to re-provision (that is another thing - 3 huge marinas and a grocery store about the size of an average Mac Store) Since Julie and Graham are still having some problems and we have been here so long, we decided that we needed to do some sailing. Our intention was to go to Jolly to re-provision and then do some sailing around the islands up here - not going more south than Martinique since we are picking Jason up in April in St Lucia, the next island down from Martinique.

Our intentions of moving have been put on hold temporarily by the weather. There is a blow coming in that is going to produce some 25-35 kt winds and swells 9-12 feet. Although we could sail in that, it wouldn't be comfortable and we had enough uncomfortable sailing coming up from Curacao to last us a while. So, here we sit - we will keep you informed as best we can. (another downer - the wifi here is only accessible from land)

Take Care All