Friday, February 8
St. Vincent, TMM docks at Blue Lagoon
Our day started with a continental breakfast up top in the cockpit – just coffee, bagels and cream cheese, but with an awesome view! Over breakfast we planned the day’s projects, including
some research we wanted to do with local residents and TMM staff about the feasibility of living and working part-time in this part of the world (and the remainder in our other “home base” in Maine). This long-term goal is simply wishful thinking at this point, but we know people who manage to eek out a living doing it, and we’re both motivated enough to make it work in the way that people do -- with a little luck and lots of perseverance. Doing that “due diligence” research is a key part of why I’m remaining a more extended time down here – because it just takes time to get to know enough people and begin to learn the ins and outs.
Around 8:30am the TMM crew came out and moved the boat on the dock for the additional refrigeration repairs. While Tim worked with them on that, I topped water again in our freshwater tanks (where our water comes from for showers, cooking, etc.), and I also washed a few clothes by hand in our bucket, then hung them on the life lines to dry. After lunch I walked about 2k to nearby Calliaqua to purchase some beers for our fridge (and for the guys after work as a thank you for all their hard work and their patience with teaching us at the same time).
It was a warm and sunny day and the wind occasionally howled; and after carrying the beers back in my LL. Bean bag I was hot and tired, so I put on a light sundresss and rested in the sade and breeze below deck. Mid to late afternoon can be the most uncomfortable time of day on a boat in a warm climate. That's because in addition to the heat of the day, the sun is starting to get low in the sky so it’s hard to find shade unless you’re below; and that can be very warm as the boat heats up during the day. Often I try to keep shades drawn by mid-day to keep the accumulated heat in the boat to a minimum, but of course keeping the hatches (and shades) closed presents heating issues.
I also charged both of our laptops and transferred money from savings to checking to cover bills to be mailed today at home, and I checked emails and sent one to Camille to notify her of our delay in arriving in Bequia until over the weekend earliest. All the online work was done from the forward cabin in our boat while at the TMM dock – I love this Internet access from the boat.
It’s around 3pm and we’re now waiting to see if Marcus can go up the mast today to repair our wind speed and electronics for wind direction – both seem to be a problem with on top of the mast. Marcus is the electrician guy and he’s willing to go up the mast, but so far no one wants to take on the responsibility to hoist him up. It’s pretty windy today and typically they do not go up the mast when the winds are over 10-15 knots, and today they are regularly in excess of 20-25. In the end we decided it was too windy, so we’ll check again another day.
That’s all I have time for to write today, so stay tuned for another day’s log. Cheers! cy
St. Vincent, TMM docks at Blue Lagoon
Our day started with a continental breakfast up top in the cockpit – just coffee, bagels and cream cheese, but with an awesome view! Over breakfast we planned the day’s projects, including
some research we wanted to do with local residents and TMM staff about the feasibility of living and working part-time in this part of the world (and the remainder in our other “home base” in Maine). This long-term goal is simply wishful thinking at this point, but we know people who manage to eek out a living doing it, and we’re both motivated enough to make it work in the way that people do -- with a little luck and lots of perseverance. Doing that “due diligence” research is a key part of why I’m remaining a more extended time down here – because it just takes time to get to know enough people and begin to learn the ins and outs.Around 8:30am the TMM crew came out and moved the boat on the dock for the additional refrigeration repairs. While Tim worked with them on that, I topped water again in our freshwater tanks (where our water comes from for showers, cooking, etc.), and I also washed a few clothes by hand in our bucket, then hung them on the life lines to dry. After lunch I walked about 2k to nearby Calliaqua to purchase some beers for our fridge (and for the guys after work as a thank you for all their hard work and their patience with teaching us at the same time).
It was a warm and sunny day and the wind occasionally howled; and after carrying the beers back in my LL. Bean bag I was hot and tired, so I put on a light sundresss and rested in the sade and breeze below deck. Mid to late afternoon can be the most uncomfortable time of day on a boat in a warm climate. That's because in addition to the heat of the day, the sun is starting to get low in the sky so it’s hard to find shade unless you’re below; and that can be very warm as the boat heats up during the day. Often I try to keep shades drawn by mid-day to keep the accumulated heat in the boat to a minimum, but of course keeping the hatches (and shades) closed presents heating issues.
I also charged both of our laptops and transferred money from savings to checking to cover bills to be mailed today at home, and I checked emails and sent one to Camille to notify her of our delay in arriving in Bequia until over the weekend earliest. All the online work was done from the forward cabin in our boat while at the TMM dock – I love this Internet access from the boat.
It’s around 3pm and we’re now waiting to see if Marcus can go up the mast today to repair our wind speed and electronics for wind direction – both seem to be a problem with on top of the mast. Marcus is the electrician guy and he’s willing to go up the mast, but so far no one wants to take on the responsibility to hoist him up. It’s pretty windy today and typically they do not go up the mast when the winds are over 10-15 knots, and today they are regularly in excess of 20-25. In the end we decided it was too windy, so we’ll check again another day.
That’s all I have time for to write today, so stay tuned for another day’s log. Cheers! cy
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