After breakfast I kept my eyes peeled for a mooring ball closer inside and once one freed up I weighed anchor and moved closer to shore and thus into calmer waters. Katzenellenbogen went to Gustavia for a day of internet access and shopping and I remained in Anse Colombier and listened to music in the warm sunshine and making a new and improved anchor snubber that wouldn’t chafe through so quickly. The snubber itself is black 3-strand; onto which I spliced the stainless anchor hook and an eye-splice on the other end. Then I parcelled and served the section of line which sees chafe and hope that my efforts will hold up. It took a long time to put on the French Braid for the outside whipping/serving and I hope that the extra diameter there will prevent abrasion.
Mixed in with the rope work were a couple of swims in the clear waters of the anchorage and soon the day was coming to a close. Stephen and Philaine came over for a beer and bubbly and in what seemed like no time the sun was setting and I headed off to their boat to join them for dinner, bringing some thawed sausages and a garlic-bread baguette along for their BBQ. Some of the other boats whipped out laser pointers after dark and were playing with the lights on the surrounding hills and we joined them with a small laser pointer for some interesting light effects (see how easy cruisers are to please?) and after the show I returned to my boat to lounge around the cockpit looking at the lights of St. Martin in the distance and the stars above, somewhat dimmed by the full moon in the sky. By 23:00 I was tired and managed to read about 2 pages of my book before falling asleep.
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