Sunset off Deshaies
Sunset off Deshaies
Picture of Arnd

Arnd

2023-05-19 Working in France

Today I’m working in France. I’m in Guadeloupe and working remotely in my virtual German office. Modern telecommunications with Starlink makes it possible.

Radio in the night

I keep my handheld radio turned on and tuned to channel 16 VHF almost all of the time. This is so I can monitor any emergencies or other items of interest. I don’t use my main VHF radio, since the antenna is mounted high and it is much more powerful. 

My reasoning is that if a signal is strong enough to reach my handheld VHF while it is belowdecks, then it is coming from a station close enough to be of interest to me. If I can’t hear it, then I’m too far to do anything about it, if the situation requires, so I’d rather not hear it and have an uninterrupted sleep.

There was a MAYDAY situation at about 03:00; I only heard half of the communication, but it was closer to Dominica and too far away for me. It did keep me up for a while, though.

Morning

It is calm at the moment in Deshaies, unlike some of my other visits. This means that there’s little incentive to move; particularly with the grocery store ashore.

Afternoon

I had a long day today and it is now 17:30 and I’m still aboard. The shore looks particularly far away at the moment. I might stay aboard tonight and make a simple pasta dish. Then I’ll be ready for tomorrow ashore.

Zarpe/Clearance collection
Zarpe/Clearance collection

I did clean up my paperwork today, as that was easily reachable from my seat at the navigation station. I was surprised at how much clearance paperwork (“zarpes”) I’ve collected on this boat. The older paperwork from the previous boats is all stored elsewhere.

Evening
Anchorage in Deshaies
Anchorage in Deshaies

I decided that I’d work on reducing my cheese and baguette supplies for dinner rather than heading ashore and fighting with the Friday night crowds. I thought I’d set my cheeses out to warm up and then consume them in a manner befitting being on a yacht. 

Chez Ernst in Deshaies
Chez Ernest in Deshaies

While I did manage to let the cheese warm up, I basically devoured my dinner because it was so good. After finishing my meal, I continued working on the computer. I’m still not making progress with my header and footer redesign. But I did find an interesting article about why mosquitoes prefer some people over others for their feeding. One point was that preferred victims have a chemical on their skin related to cheeses. Oh-oh, now I’ve become a prime target.