Pigeon Island beach panorama
Pigeon Island beach panorama
Picture of Arnd

Arnd

2022-12-14 The Tradewinds are back

Rodney Bay returns to normal conditions today. The light prevailing Tradewinds from the ENE have returned, no longer suppressed by the Atlantic storm system. There is a good amount of cloud cover and that brings a chance of rain in the afternoon. And I think that the north swell has shifted enough so that I can re-anchor back in the quiet part of town.

Morning

Despite logging into work at 06:00 I found that I’d missed the first meeting of the day by an hour. And my schedule for tomorrow also has one single morning meeting at 05:00 which I will not be able to reschedule, and I need to attend. 

The internet connection is fast this morning and my Starlink RV antenna delivery has progressed to Panama City, Panama where it has been sitting since yesterday and acclimatizing to the Caribbean warmth.

Dumont D'Urville cruise ship anchoring
Dumont D’Urville cruise ship anchoring

I’m used to the sound of anchor chain being lowered or raised as boats arrive and depart around me. But I had to look topsides as I head a very loud chain drop seemingly right next to me. It turns out that the chain was indeed very large, but much further away than I’d thought. A small cruise ship, the Dumont-D’Urville has arrived in Rodney Bay.

While the new master toilet is not leaking, it is very slow to flush despite the motor running at speed. I’m undecided what to do next. I suspect that the hose between the toilet and holding tank is partially obstructed but am loathe to disassemble everything again. I have run some vinegar into the line and am letting it sit for a while. My goal is to dissolve or soak any blockage that has come from the long storage time. This is the type of video that boat owners actually watch on YouTube.

 

Lunch

Nothing worth noting happened, just online meetings & work.

Afternoon

After concluding my workday at the office, I headed into Rodney Bay. I needed to fill up my outboard gas tank before running dry. The fuel dock had been closed the day before due to a national holiday (National Day).  I filled up on gas and this time I added the correct 2-stroke oil. Ashore I walked to Johnson’s Hardware to get an auger and some 1″ tubing for the toilet repair and only the tubing was in stock.

Happy Hour and Evening

I’ve been cooking aboard for the past week and decided to head into the Boardwalk bar for a happy hour libation and then for a gustatory experience at the pizzeria. Both were satisfactory but returning the long way across the anchorage in the dark with just a small headlamp made me realize that I need to work on lighting for the dinghy.