Sunday, May 23, 2010
Even though I am, for the most part, finished preparing Zanshin I for storage I did get up 6am and continued work. The power on the docks has gone out but there is no need for air conditioning yet so I am making progress putting the clothing and sheets back into the vacuum seal bags and once the fuel dock opens I will head over there to top off the tank and will then motor to Nanny Cay. It rained heavily all night, making my washing work deck side a bit superfluous but at least Zanshin I will be put away clean.
This is my second attempt at this page, after doing a lot of typing and picture editing in the previous attempt, the power failed at the hotel and I lost all my work. This time I’ll make sure to frequently save my interim status!
As the power was out at the docks at Leverick, I left early and took on fuel at the Nanny Cay docks. I was greeted at the docks by Dieter, a fellow German and new owner of a Jeanneau 43DS named Pinta. We had communicated via e-mail numerous times, but this was the first time that we’d met. He assisted me in docking Zanshin I at a finger pier which was far too short for the boat length; I went in nose-first for the first time and really should have reset my fenders and backed in so that the boat had a solid grip on the finger pier, particularly with the wind direction being what it was. Dieter and I talked for a bit and then I went back to completing storage preparations; which included removing the top layer of batteries so that I could get at the 3 circuits which were attached directly to the batteries and not routed through the main breakers; I suspect that the drain from two of these (the third is the Link10 monitor) caused my batteries to be flat last time I returned. It was so hot down below decks that my T-shirt was soaked with enough water to let me wring it out in the sink; but I did get the work done.
I took an open cab to the airport and that was a mistake. The truck was old and dilapidated and so slow that once we were actually overtaken by a bicycle rider! He stopped infrequently to take on and let off locals for free and once again I felt unfairly treated when we arrived at the airport after about 9 miles and he charged me $36 for the honour. Ahh, it is time that taxi lobby in the BVI was broken and either decent fares or a bus service were implemented.
LIAT’s flight was on-time and we only stopped in St. Martin and not St. Kitts & Nevis; and although the plane was filled to the last seat at St. Martin all of the passengers but 4 were transiting and thus the customs & immigration line was short with one person per inspector and even the luggage came through immediately. My luck ran out when I took one of my infamous short-cuts in the rental car but luckily the island is small and I had a half-tank of gas.
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