Looking at my distant old spot
Looking at my distant old spot
Picture of Arnd

Arnd

2023-06-16 Moved a bit

St. Pierre is closer now that I've moved a bit
St. Pierre is closer now

I moved a bit this morning. M chosen my spot was perfect with good holding in 25 feet and protected. But some fishermen come by this morning and very hesitantly asked if I spoke French. When I admitted that I could speak a word or two they were visibly relieved; then explained that they would like me to move by tomorrow. I think they have a big netting planned since they are moving all the boats. When I pointed to a possible new location they said it wasn’t far enough away – but then they said “on the other side of the tunnel”. I hadn’t seen where the road tunnel was, but now had a reference point to work from.

I weighed anchor and moved towards town until I could see where the road tunnel was and moved a bit closer to town. I’m now in similarly deep water and think that I’ve got some better wind, too.

Work

I got to do some c++ programming work done today, which was a welcome change. The work day has therefore flown by quickly. It is now just after noon and I’m closing down my connection to the work system.

I've moved a bit closer to St. Pierre
Ashore in St. Pierre

I wanted to have some cheese and baguette for lunch and was dismayed to find I’d already thawed out all my bread! There was none left in the freezer.  This prompted me to zip to shore and go grocery shopping. I also stocked up on Caribe beer as my supplies had dwindled to nothing.

Afternoon
St. Pierre dock market after I've moved a bit
St. Pierre dock market

The weekend is finally here. What I’ll do first is read my book in the cockpit. The jellyfish stings from yesterday still show welts, and one of them has small pustules. I wonder what got me, I’ve never had a sting like that before.

Tropical wave 16/06/2023
Tropical wave 16/06/2023

The hurricane season officially started (for most of us) on July 1st and now we’ve got a tropical wave coming off Africa that might just develop into a TRS (tropical revolving storm) in a couple of days.  They use supercomputers to model storm tracks, and there are several mathematical models used for these predictions, each using up huge amounts processing power. The tracks are then superimposed upon each other and called “spaghetti models”. I am quite unscientific in that I look at those models, choose the one that I like best, and proceed to use that for my planning.

Happy Hour

The Caribe beer from supermarket had gone into the freezer to chill. When I popped open the first one, it was more of a slushy than a drink! After a couple of minutes the ice crystals turned into water and the beer was a perfectly chilled 0°C. Since it is Friday, that first one was quickly followed by another.