Clearing into St. Lucia
At sunrise I went topsides and saw that I’d not anchored directly behind the outermost boat, but that I was several hundred feet away. That showed me how difficult depth perception is at night, even using my radar. The water out there was shallow enough and the holding was good.
I got the outboard mounted on the dinghy and then showered and shaved so that I’d look my best going ashore. I was at the immigration office at 08:00 but they were closed. At 08:30 the first officer came, but told me I had to do the health check first. That office was still closed until closer to 09:00. Armed with my health certificate I did the customs procedure of clearing in. But as the immigration and port authority officials weren’t there yet, I went downstairs and had a leisurely breakfast at Café Ole. An hour later I returned and within a couple of minutes had my passport stamped and had paid my $40XCD entry fees.
Docking Zanshin
I walked to my new dock position to see how I would need to arrange the fenders and lines, then waited for the passing showers to give me a small window to make it back to the boat without getting soaked. Once back aboard I spent an hour getting Zanshin ready for docking. Fenders and lines had been stowed deep in the garage and had to be taken out and prepared so that my docking would go smoothly. I called the marina and told them I was coming in and proceeded to enter the narrow channel that protects the marina from the elements.
Docking Zanshin went without a hitch thanks to two helpers ashore. Within minutes the power and water lines were hooked up and I opened up the hatches to get some ventilation going and logged into the computer system so that I could do some home-office work.
Happy Hour and Dinner
After work and some more preparing the boat for storage, I headed ashore to the Boardwalk for some happy hour libations. Subsequently I was too lazy to leave the marina and went upstairs to Bosun’s Bar and Bistro for some Thai curried cuisine.