Well after the sail from hell (mark 2 if you remember the trip from Vieques to Culebra) it was good to be in a place that we knew and that there was no pressure to sight see or be the tourist so we settled in and relaxed for a couple of days, just doing the small things like washing the boat down. Since we had motor sailed, our batteries were fairly full as were our water tanks so we splurged and did a full fresh water wash down of the boat – the first for a long time. WE must have done a reasonable job, because Winfield, who cleaned our boat last year, did not push his services too hard when he came around. Unfortunately, while cleaning the transom, I leant against the port stern stanchions and one of the mounting studs broke – I told Karen cleaning is a bad thing! Now we really had to get this fixed before we left – something for next week. We also continued to work on the Bimini shades we started in St Thomas – this time using Karen’s Husqvana, as the new machine we bought on eBay was not up to the task (now there is a whole other story.

On Saturday evening we felt quite refreshed, and just in time too, as Jim and Dinah on Evergreen, whom we had spent a lot of time with in Venezuela last year arrived from St Lucia. We gave them a little while to get their anchor set and we dropped over to visit and arranged to come back shortly with a couple of beers. Well those couple of beers turned into a very long night, with Dinah throwing together a very nice pasta dinner for us all and it was well after cruiser’s midnight that the laughing subsided and we were able to make it into our dinghy and back to the boat.

Sunday and Monday were slow days just taking it easy and finishing the shades to create a nice comfortable area for afternoon dominos and rum punches no matter what direction we are pointing (although it is normally east here so we get a very hot sun on us in the afternoons – without the new shades)

Whilst we were lounging around in Princess Margaret Beach anchorage, another Aussie boat arrived and anchored next to us– Juliana II with Wendy and Stefan aboard. We introduced ourselves and chatted a while and said we would catch up. Next thing you know they had up anchor and moved – what did we say?

Tuesday was our tourist day and Jim, Dinah Karen and I got up early and grabbed a ferry to Kingstown St Vincent. We strolled around the town which was a bustling little metropolis.

After having seen the cathedrals (there is not much else) we caught a bus to Blue Lagoon for lunch. We were on a search for some local cuisine (ie a good roti). After ordering a couple of beers to quench the thirst at Barefoot restaurants and seeing no rotis on the menu, the waitress kindly gave us directions to the yacht club’s Surfside restaurant which indeed has rotis! They were great (although a bit on the pricey side) and I think they hit no 1 on the Evergreen Roti Charts. 

We then caught a bus back to town and tried to walk to the oldest botanical gardens in the Western Hemisphere. Well I can’t say they were fabulous, but I can say they are not just around the corner. We walked for what seemed like forever in the heat and gave up before getting there – which is why I can’t say they were fabulous – we never saw them. We then headed back into town to do some shopping (including a new toaster that will work on the inverter – now we can have toast and vegemite for breakfast). We also had time to go to Basil’s Bar and have a refreshing pineapple juice and a Hairoun beer (you figure out who had what) before heading back to the ferry dock and home.

On Wednesday we walked around to Simpson Engineering (Fixman 2), talked to Robin about re-welding the stud on the stanchion. With a little bit of um-ing and ah-ing, he said if I bought it in that afternoon, he would be able to fix it for me. So we set off to buy a loaf of bread for lunch (too late, always buy your bread early in the morning in Bequia) headed back to the boat and stripped out the stanchion. We took it in at about 1:30 and he said to come back at 4:00pm. So without our camera we headed up to the old fort and took in the view and history of Port Elizabeth. 

With all that tourism under our belt we still had an hour or so to kill and headed to the nearby Sailor’s Bar and asked for a couple of Rum Punches. Karen’s eyes almost fell out of her head as Bernadette the bar maid started to mix the drinks and even my face showed a bit of fear! It went something like this – ½ litre of Mount Gay Rum, ¼ litre of very strong (local white rum), a splash of grapefruit juice, some pineapple juice, bitters, orange juice and some grenadine. We thought we were going to be there all night, when she explained she was making a batch and it was not all for us! Karen still had to have her’s watered down with extra juice though’ – it did have a kick!

While in the bar we met Cathy and Jack Meyer from Connecticut who were house sitting for a friend for 3 or so weeks (apparently an annual gig for them) so they were doing it tough, having to feed the dogs and all. We chatted for a while and they recommended the Jump Up at Frangipani was a good night out on the weekend.

 

We got out stanchion back with 2 studs replaced instead of one and the promise to make time to fix the starboard one the following day if it required it – so it was back to the boat to replace it and inspect the other. Well the inspection was easy, and remounting 2 of the three legs of the stanchion we easy, but the 3rd leg was a bitch! It was behind a bulkhead that I could not reach from behind and the gap from the front was only wide enough to fit the nut and spanner. I tried blue tack on the spanner, tape and a lot of swearing, but I could not get the bloody nut and washer on the stud at the same time. Karen was there the whole time offering assistance and to give it a try – I don’t think she quite understands male pride – I couldn’t let her try in case she did get it – then how would I live with myself (or am I the one with the problem?). I ended up just gluing the washer on that night, leaving a spanner levered to keep pressure on it and bedding the third one down in the morning which ended up only taking a couple of minutes.

Tonight, Evergreen, Juliana II, (another English boat I will remember the name of soon and update this blog) and Karen and I headed out to dinner at the porthole and had another round of Rotis and a few drinks before heading to the Frangipani and the Jump Up (which I have now found out is just another term for Live Music and a bit of dancing. Wendy from Juliana stole the night with amusing stories (whether she or Stefan started, she always finished them) the odd smoke with Karen (even though she doesn’t really smoke) and a lot of laughter. 

We met up with Cathy and Jack and enjoyed the music for a while, but obviously not as much as this local (who had passed the restaurant and said hello to us at least 3 times earlier in the night).

Juliana II were the first to pull up stumps as Stefan had been up the night before trading on the Aussie market so was starting to wilt (They had motored around the bay with their laptop on trying to find a good wifi signal, barely missing some rocks – that is why they moved away from us, it was nothing we had said). We were not far behind as Evergreen and Where II are sailing for Mayreau tomorrow morning as part of our final run to Grenada.