June 11 - 23, 2001 -- Prickly Bay

Today, Mike was feeling well enough to go into town to look around. There is a bus that offers a round trip running at 9:00 AM into St. George's and then returning at 1:00 PM from the Nutmeg Restaurant. The bus was extremely crowded so we decided to take a taxi into town with a few other folks; it cost a little more than the bus, but we rode in comfort.

We started the morning by checking out the open air market. The market had your standard fresh fruits and vegetables as well as spices. We then wandered around checking out several of the office supply and computer stores since we need a new printer. Our old one died while we were in St. Lucia!

Next we stopped by the Nutmeg Restaurant for breakfast. Then we walked around the rest of the Caranage and continued on to Island Water World by the Grenada Yacht Club. We stopped in there to check for some spares and stuff we need for the various projects we want to complete on the boat.

Finally, we walked up to the Food Fair grocery store. We picked up some fresh stuff including milk. It is one of the nice things about being here, fresh milk! Now if we can just find sour cream.

We returned to the boat with our stuff and spent the rest of the day lounging.

June 12 we spent the day recovering from going to town. Mike wasn't quite as recovered as he thought he was. However, that didn't stop us from going to happy hour. A number of the boats that we have met in the various places we stopped arrived today and we had a reunion of sorts. It was great to see the familiar faces and compare notes on our various trips and impressions of places we have been.

On June 13, we started on the boat chores. Today's task was caulking the front of the fly bridge equipment panel, specifically under the radars. It doesn't sound like much, but it took most of the morning! Actually, the task didn't take that long; however, cleaning up afterwards did. Mike managed to get life caulk in his beard, on his chest, legs, hands and pretty much everywhere else!

On June 14, we rebedded our aft hatch. We did it right this time. We pulled the hatch up, and cleaned it up. Then, we patched the old holes with Marine Tex. After that set up, we caulked the bottom of the hatch, placed it and screwed it down. We will see if this solves the problem.

On June 15, I walked into the Grand Anse with Nancy on Tahoe and Jan on Sojourner. We spent the day wandering around the two mini-malls there. In the Food Fair I did manage to find bagels, fresh not frozen! We haven't had them since the Bahamas. We finished the day by going to the Real Value grocery store, where again, I picked up milk and other perishables.

We took a cab back to the marina for a variety of reasons, the least of which was the fact that it was raining small furry quadrupeds. We beat the rain back to the marina, and I managed to get back to the boat before it started raining.

While I was gone, Mike continued working on the boat and did some laundry. When I got back he proudly told me to check out the light switches in the forward section of the boat. We have working light switches again! It was so nice to be able to find those in St. Lucia. The switches on the boat are European, and they have been slowly dying for the last year and a half with no replacements in sight. US switches wouldn't fit without doing major renovations on the teak.

We spent the rest of the day relaxing, me from my walk and Mike from his hard work.

That evening, we headed into the marina for the last steel band performance before the restaurant and bar shut down for two weeks of renovations. It was a busy night! The band was excellent, and at one point, I joined a conga line through the restaurant and bar! We finally dragged ourselves back to the boat late that night.

On June 16, I was to sore to move much. Between walking all over yesterday and dancing the night away, I was not moving. We spent a quiet day on the boat.

On June 17, We spent another lazy day.

On June 18, we headed back into town to look around a bit more and, of course, to stop by the marine store and the grocery store.

On June 19, we continued working on the boat. We started by changing Tink's oil, then moved on to changing one of his motor mounts that had deteriorated, since it was located under the oil fill. This took the greater part of the day due to the how the motor mount was designed.

On June 20, we sanded down where the Marine Tex had dripped on the hatch trim. Next we applied a coat of varnish to the trim. Having concluded our work for the day, Sue from Lady Simcoe and I walked over to the Moorings to have lunch and play dominoes. It was a fun afternoon. I arrived back at the marina in time to pick up one of the packages we were expecting. We now have new weather fax print heads (the print heads only last for 50 rolls of paper before they have to be changed) and the NMEA multiplexer!

On June 21, we moved the boat from where it was anchored 200 yards closer to shore. This took us out of the bulk of the surge that hits Prickly Bay. Unfortunately, it wasn't quite enough because the surge was still too bad for us to raise the dinghy for the work we need to do it. It was also to rolly for us to put the new weather fax head on.

Masade arrived! After lunch, we headed over to say hey. They introduced us to their guests, Sheena and Bruce. We chatted for a little while, then made plans to do cocktails aboard Nightwinds. Sue from Lady Simco, and Mike and Barb from Mariah also joined us. It was a fun, albeit early evening since Masade had been traveling since 6:00 AM.

On June 22, it was flat calm so we hoisted the dinghy on deck so it could dry for the day. We need to repair a spot on the engine mount block. We picked up the boat and then spent a quiet morning. We were invited to Mexican night at the True Blue Bay Resort. Bob on Bahati picked us up in his dinghy and we headed to dinner with Lady Simco, Sojourn, Tahoe, and Bahati. The evening was enjoyable, and except for the drink prices it was fun. We started talking about how much fun Dominoes was so Sue and I planned to do a combination dominoes and cocktail hour at the marina.

On June 23, we patched the engine mount block on the dinghy and then later, dropped it back in the water. We did it just in time because the swell was back a little bit later in the afternoon.

We had a late lunch/early dinner then headed in to play dominoes. Sue from Lady Simco, Sue from Kokopelli, John from Sojourn and Mike and I played dominoes until the cocktail party kicked off. 20 people showed up for an evening of socializing and drinking. We ran into Moonrise, who we haven't seen since Beaufort two years ago! It was a great evening.
Voyages Section