I’ll be leaving Sint Maarten soon as I’ve been here far too long.
The night was great with no swell, noise, storms, thefts, rain, wind or other potentially bothersome components. I slept very long from early until sunrise. If only conditions had always been this good!
Morning
I’m drinking my coffee and working remotely. I just started another long-running batch job on the remote computer and have a bit of time to think and plan my day. The sail should be finished soon and if the conditions stay this calm I’ll go diving on the hull during my lunch break. I’ve got that full tank of air, my regs seem to be working and my temporary BCD should do the trick. I’ve also got to get the generator repaired and will initiate that right now… Done! I had a document prepared listing all of the diagnostic tests I’d done and e-mailed that to the experts at ELECTEC.
Noon
Work is progressing apace, but I think I will have to buy a new keyboard. The current one is sstarrting to double-tap most of the keys. And a wine spill several weeks ago has left the letter “m” somewhat sticky despite several cleaning sessions. At least I’m in the right place for purchasing items as there’s nowhere cheaper in the Caribbean.
I think I’ve found the source of the saltwater leak, too! The saltwater pump for the aft head is dripping and I think that this drains to area where I see saltwater come into the bilge. I’ve cleaned and re-attached the plumbing; yet there’s still an annoying drip-drip when the pump is running. This is a lot less than before, but replacing an expensive 24V pump for a very, very slow leak is annoying. I’ll see about removing and checking the pump sometime in the near future.
Afternoon shopping
I received a bill for my sail repair from St. Maarten Sails via e-mail in the middle of the afternoon. I combined the pick-up/payment trip with 40L of diesel fuel run.
I used the winch and some line to get the sail up on deck and will enlist the help of Mark and Marjorie tomorrow to get the sail rigged. That really does mean that I’ll be leaving Sint Maarten soon. Filling my tank went without a hitch and there are no new diesel spots on my teak decks.
Evening Ashore
I showered and went ashore around 18:00 and dinghied straight to the Soggy Dollar Bar for their $1 happy-hour drinks. After talking about the fatal dinghy accident that had transpired with one of the patrons on the previous night I opted to try the Pizza and Co. across the road. It was highly recommended by the cruisers and now that I’ve been there I can concur.