Today showed some strange weather for the Caribbean, with winds from all over the place; usually light but sometimes at about 15 knots. Of course I managed to get the 15 knot breezes when I crossed the North Sound by dinghy from Prickly Pear to the customs and immigration offices at Gun Creek. They were quite busy, but luckily everyone was clearing in and I only needed to clear out – so in a couple of minutes my passport was stamped and I’d paid my 75¢ and was cleared out of the BVI.
I waited for the chop to settle before taking off the dinghy engine and stowing it in the garage. The engine seems to have gained weight which tells me that I need to get a lot more exercise! I took the plug out of the dinghy but the reverse-flow valve had dropped out and within minutes I had over 100 litres of water in the dinghy. Rather than bail it out, I attached my spinnaker halyard to the dinghy and hoisted it halfway up, letting it self-drain. Then I used the rest afternoon hours just reading in the shade of the cockpit and then doing some more stainless polish work as the sun came close to the horizon.
Maureen and Craig from s/v “A Full Day” came by to say hello and we had a chat until the heavy squalls set it, when we just had to wait it out until the rain had stopped and they could return to their boat. I do need to see if there’s a way to treat the Sunbrella material of the dodger/bimini as it is starting to leak a bit.
After Maureen and Craig left, I fired up the BBQ and made two hamburgers that I’d thawed out during the day and I have to admit that with some onions and French’s mustard they tasted pretty good indeed. This wasn’t a tribute to my cooking skills, but the consequence of not having eaten anything all day except for an afternoon apple. I retired early as I planned on getting underway at first light.
