Since I never really got to real sleep, I can’t say that I woke up early – but I was up early and saw that I was more than just a little bit in the channel in front of Palapa Marina, and I believe that there were parts of Zanshin that were, occasionally, outside of the marked channel. Since the winds had shifted again my anchor was close to the boat in front of me and I couldn’t weigh anchor to find a better spot until they woke up and moved forward a bit. Since I’d seen them dinghy in at about 3 AM I knew they weren’t going to wake up any time soon. At about 08:30 the little skiff from the marina with a diver marked the two anchors from one of the mega yachts with buoys, both of which were just a few feet behind my boat. So I opted to call Mark on the VHF and ask for his assistance, he would do the chain while I used the motor and bow thruster to ensure that I didn’t bump into any boats. We re-anchored in the general area where I’d been before, the first set had us too close to a boat (the winds were shifting all the time) but the second attempt was a charm and I’m now solidly anchored and not quite in danger of bouncing off any boat unless the winds really shift and the French Bénéteau 51 has let out a very different scope from myself.
It is 15:00 and I’ve been working listlessly on the boat all day, waiting for Andy from Five Star Marine to return as promised and finish the solar panel work. I know he’ll return sometime since he still has a tool bag with cordless drill and other items aboard; but he might be on island time during the weekend. I’ve needed reading glasses for the past couple of years and I forgot to remove them when I went to my bathroom and realized that corrosion and rust had set in with a vengeance, so I spent time polishing the metal fittings to remove as much corrosion as I could.
There will be a big local celebration starting at 20:00 tonight, with locals walking next to big trucks which are weighed down with large generators and even larger (and louder) speakers. Each truck plays different music and they are making a circuit around the Dutch side. I’ll meet up with Mark and perhaps some other cruisers shortly before then and we’ll get our ears blasted from close range.
By 18:30 I knew that I wasn’t going to make it, the lack of sleep the night before caught up with me, plus the winds were changing and I was swinging close to 2 boats again. I pulled up another 10 feet of chain to get some (mainly psychological) distance and opted to stay aboard. I made an early dinner on the stove and was reading in the salon when Mark dropped by, and soon thereafter the music started up ashore and it was bedlam! The various floats/trucks/mobile sound stages all played different music at full volume and the medley of sounds made it impossible to distinguish any single tune. Even at 2 AM I heard what sounded like two trucks doing a modern version of “Battle of the Bands” simultaneously but managed to tune them out and get some sleep.
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