A new direction in life
Charlie here – these parents of mine decided they needed some sort of Christmasy picture. And guess who got to wear the ‘elf’ hat. You guessed it, me. Do I look happy about it. At least I obeyed and sat for the darn photo op. Not my best shot, but hey, for you to have a look at the life of a true salty dog, here I am.
While P works on installing our water maker (all I want for Christmas is a working water maker), I spend my time making things like ginger snap granola and oatmeal cookies (vegan style). When I get bored with cooking, which happens less often than I ever expected, I move to what else I can do with my time on a boat. As we near the peak of the holiday season, I put up a set of Xmas lights (solar and LED). It looks pretty good off the back of the boat, but I wish I had bought a few more strings, but it does help get us in the mood to put on the music of the season and sit and gaze at the full moon on the water. Along with that I had to get a little creative regarding a Xmas tree. What do you make a tree out of when you live on a boat that is in the tropics. It took a few days and nights of exploring around the boat, but I finally came up with an piece of old line and turned it into the shape of a tree. Next I had to find something to decorate it with. Out came a scrap of green felt and the sewing pins. Lastly, I had in my jewelry some shell necklaces, these became the garland and a shell from the Bahamas worked perfectly as my star. So there you have it, I spent some time creating our 2013 Xmas tree.
As I write this, the last bits of painting are being done to the boat. New antifoul paint is important to keep the growth of barnicles, etc. from taking over. This annual paint along with weekly bottom scrubs by us while we are in the water will keep Blue Sky happy when under way.
While the boat was being painted, Paul installed the new folding props. He needed some help getting the old props off. These we”ll keep for spares. When he removed one of the props, he discovered some old fishing line tangled around the shaft. Who knows how long it’s been there as it was not visible until the prop was removed. Again we feel blessed that it didn’t cause any issues.
I spent time walking the dog and making a batch of Ginger Snap granola (a new favorite breakfast). This morning Charlie and I cleared the accumulated 6-8″ of rain from the dinghy which we left tied to the dock during the haul out. I can’t believe the amount of rain that has fallen in the last 48 hours. They call them Christmas rains. Paul was talking with the painter who said he’s lived here 15 years, and this is the first time he’s seen this much rain in November and December. I guess we can count ourselves lucky to have been here to see it. It’s not so bad. You can give your hair a rainwater rinse. Even shower in it if you are so inclined and it’s still warm, so not complaining.
On this morning’s walk, Charlie and I were greeted by 5 goats at the entrance to the boat yard. They stood their ground while we sidelined them to get to the sidewalk. They seem friendly enough, but you never know, so we kept our distance. They, like most animals on the island, have the freedom to roam where they want. One of them wagged it’s tail at Charlie. I think he was curious about our little pup.
Monday was one of those perfect blue sky days. Charlie and I were on the paddleboard before 9 am. We headed to the beach. While I combed the beach, Charlie managed to get himself into a patch of burrs. His fur is like velcro and the burrs were sharp little things. I managed to pull them out one by one. We were met at the beach by Paul, who kayaked over. After heading back to the boat we decided to go snorkeling again. This time I put Charlie on the paddleboard while I snorkeled. I was able to tie him to a dinghy mooring line which kept him near me. The snorkeling was great. So many fish to wander with. After snorkeling, we put up the sails and had a pleasant drift sail from Norman island, back to Soper’s Hole on Tortola. The skies were clear all day and evening, which has been rare. Most days we see rain showers.
Tuesday we woke early to ready the boat for it’s haul out. We are having the bottom painted as well as installing new folding props. We’ll be living on the hard for a few days. For the first few hours, we both felt like we were moving. The motion of the ocean really gets under your skin. No sooner was the boat out of the water, and the rain came down in sheets. This has happened three times so far. You can’t paint a wet boat, so the prep work is done and we wait for the clouds to clear again. The plan was a few days on the hard, but my guess is it will double at least.
Meanwhile, Charlie is enjoying the extra walks and we are doing other tasks on board while we have shore power. I’ll try to get some photos uploaded to the blog soon.
Yesterday we sailed from Road Town Tortola over to Jost Van Dyke. Prior to departing we put sail tape on a tear we discovered in the sail. Hoping it will hold enough until we can locate some sail fabric for a proper repair. Upon arrival to Jost, as we prepared to anchor we discovered that our remote for the anchor windlass would not work. So I idled the boat in a circle while P investigated. It seems that corrosion took place on the connector. After fiddling to fix it to no avail, P decided to remove the connector and hard wire it. Was no fun in 25 gusting to 35 knot winds with 4 foot swell and wind chop – but it worked.
An hour or so later, we were ready to try anchoring again. Now the problem was where, given that all the best spots were now taken and the wind decided to perk up to 25-35 knots. We found a spot, let the anchor down and had a wind gust turn the boat sideways just as the anchor took hold. This caused the anchor roller to bend. We’re talking about a heavy duty piece of steel. With that being the third issue of the day, and stormy weather all around we reversed course and headed to Soper’s Hole to pick up a mooring ball for the night. Next thing we know is large party cat moors behind us and proceeds to play loud party music from dusk until dawn. We are ready for some quiet. Tomorrow we will head to another island for a few days. We do have to be back at Soper’s Hole on Tuesday morning to be hauled for a bottom paint job and to install our new props.
It’s not all fun and games, but it is warm and that beats winter.