I had to start the day early, as I still needed to provision for fresh groceries and also visit the 2 chandleries in town for my final boat purchases. Since traffic on the island is miserable at best and the Heineken Regatta imposes several additional bridge openings coupled with over 230 boats going in and out, I knew that I’d need a lot of time. I drove the long way around to avoid the congestion in Marigot and managed to get the chain for the dinghy which I’d ordered but forgotten to pick up at Island Waterworld, got a special LED dimmer at Budget Marine and then did all my shopping at Le Grand Marche; but unfortunately all of the fresh greens were limp-not-so-fresh greens so I didn’t stock up on much fresh produce. I gather that Tuesdays are the best day of the week to get fresh food, as that is when they are delivered on island!
After returning the rental car and storing all of my purchases aboard, I dropped by Octopus diving to visit with Sally & Chris and see their newborn baby, Keiran. All of them are doing well and Keiran is not only cute but also very big and he was full of energy crawling around while we spoke, until it was time for his nap.
Subsequently it became fix-it day aboard. I had to re-solder one of the old LED strips that I’d made, the negative-to-negative connection had previously worked and looked good, but now corrosion had set in and the connection, which still looked good, no longer worked. After soldering that and two of my new LED strips together I attacked some smaller tasks aboard and then proceeded to splice together the dinghy anchoring systems (anchor, shackle, chain, thimble, 3-strand rode) and by the time all that had finished the sun had set and I was confronted with the decision of what to do with the rest of the evening. I still had a full baguette aboard, so made a simple dinner of baguette sandwiches with some salami and fresh French Brie.
After dinner I searched around my boxes until I found my movies USB drive and watched half of an action movie before deciding that I wasn’t really in the mood to sit inside and went topsides with a glass of Talisker in hand and just watched the beach lights move back and forth as the boat gently swung around the anchorage.
 |  |  |  |
 |  |  |
 |