Hi all,
We are still here in St. Martin in the waters of Port Royale Marina. We've been hanging out a lot with Bill & Sandy Donaldson of the S/V Lucille, another Saga 43. They bought their boat about 5 years ago new from Saga and Bill is meticulous! He is a former racer and knows a lot about boats. Roger and I are shadowing both he and Sando, his wife (that is not a typo...that's her name) as they know so much about boating and about Sagas. I am keeping a list of small and large changes I want to make to ILENE to make it easier to keep clean and better organized. These changes include taking shoes off when entering the cabin and having shoes dedicated to cockpit use. Shoes that are worn off of the boat are never worn on the boat. There are mats that can be bought from LL Bean which absorb water, protect the floors and are of material that the cats cannot damage or use as a nail sharpener There are micro fiber towels that absorb water and dry almost instantly and will be great for use after showers. Also, we might remove our microwave, which we hardly use, and replace it with another cabinet...storage space is always a good thing. I tend not to pay so much attention to those changes that make her more seaworthy or a better sailing vessel. Roger pays a lot of attention to those details.
We play cards with them, and have now learned how to play dominoes. I'm not overwhelmed with the game but the tiles are real fun to handle. They eat on our boat and we on theirs. There is a protocol to visiting other yachts. You bring your own beverages and you take home your own garbage. They are a lot of fun as well as being terrific people. Bill is a retired orthopedic surgeon from the Boston area who did a lot of work with children suffering from rheumatoid arthritis. His stories are so moving, and the joy he feels in having helped suffering children get relief is a privilege to hear. They will be heading to Antigua as well. This is their third season in the Caribbean so we gain a lot of knowledge about different islands and where to go and what to do when we get there.
A few days ago while we were paying another visit to Budget Marine...we've probably been there a dozen times... Roger met two French women, Emmanuel and Michelle, who hitched a ride to St. Martin on Ciao Bella, a 40' Jenneau, to buy some supplies. They left their boat, which they sailed from France to Antigua, in Antigua. They are hitching a ride with us back to Antigua. In fact, as I sit here in the air conditioned marina office, Roger and the two ladies are working away getting ILENE ready for departure. We await word from Bill Donaldson on the weather to see if we will be leaving today, tomorrow or Thursday. We are waiting for slightly calmer seas as the wave height and wind direction and speed will make the 16 hour sail not as comfortable as we like. Of course the two French ladies who sailed across the Atlantic on a smaller boat are ready to go now and think conditions are just fine. I am thrilled they will be with us as it allows me to be the "stay in the cabin and cook" part of the crew. Overnight sailing is not my thing although it will be much nicer to be with someone else in the cockpit. What bothers me about the night time sailing is seeing the lights of other boats. I get frightened. On the other hand, it is an amazing experience to be in the middle of an ocean on a clear night with millions of stars alone in the cockpit. This is an experience where believing in a higher power becomes easy.
Above is a picture we took from our cockpit at dusk. One really can't capture the sunset in a photo. At least I can't. But, it is really a beautiful sight. Kind of makes it easier again to have faith that there is a power greater than myself at play in the world.
We just got word that Bill & Sando aren't leaving for Antigua until Friday or Saturday. They are subscribers to a professional weather service run by a man named Chris Parker and they put a lot of faith in his broadcasts. A lot of people do. Chris says they should not leave until then as there is a "trough" heading north which will cause gale force winds. Decisions, decisions, decisions. Well, we won't leave today and we'll take another peek at weather tomorrow.
No comments:
Post a Comment