Monday, February 16
St. Martin West Indies

Hi everyone. Sorry that I haven’t posted lately. It’s NOT because I’m feeling bad or because I’m not enjoying the trip. Actually it’s been a better trip as we have been buddy boating with Walkabout and Vision Quest who just left early this morning for the BVI’s to meet family and friends.

We have been very busy starting with going to the Ladies Luncheon last Wednesday with Jeanne. It started at 12noon and I drove us in the dinghy. What a great bunch of women! And I met up with Bridget on SV Kioni and Mary on SV Nightwatch whom I met on the way south. It was soooo good to see them again. We went swimming in the pool and was talking, so I didn’t back to Changes until about 530pm.

Today was an errand day after life is not all fun and games. First on the agenda today was dropping off the Propane tank to be filled at Island Water World. Unfortunately, as we were ready to leave, it started to pour in the distance. We went back to Changes, I got my poncho and we set off again. It did start pouring and Phil got soaked, but we made it before the 9am deadline. Then we filled our 2-5 gal jerry jugs with water at the close by gas dock. Back to Changes for our next jobs: Phil working on the the Alternator bracket. When it was fixed on of the times, it was fixed so it was off 32nd of an inch causing the alternator to be crooked eating belts and needing to be tightened more often. At first Phil was going to take it to be straightened, but today he decided to put on an extra washer to try to straighten it, so we’ll see how that works. We ran the engine for 15 min to check out how the alternator belt was running and it looks pretty good, better than it was. I put the 10 gals of water in the tank and we’ll refill the jerry jugs when we go out again later. By this time it was 1030am and we were hungry, so I made sandwiches and ate some of the guacamole I made yesterday.

Third, we went to MVP Technology after Day Dreamer gave us directions to the dinghy dock close to it in Cole Bay in response to my Query on Ch 10 Thanks Day Dreamer, as your directions were spot on. the “0” key has stopped working and it’s very important as it’s in my passwords. Once there, I found out that they don’t make the keyboard anymore since Katie’a MacBook Pro was made in 2008. They suggested that I go next door and buy an external key board which would save me the $55 look it over to determine the problem charge. The iStore had a too small Bluetooth Keyboard they were kind enough to let me try and the “0” key worked so I got the next size up for $27.00 – no tax. I’m using it now and am very happy with it. It’s soooo much easier to type than the keyboard on the iPad. Yeah!!!

4th on out agenda was grocery shopping at the biggest store in the area Grand Marche. We docked the dinghy at the Port de Plaisance Marina dinghy dock and walked to the grocery store. Being our first time, we took the drive behind the Princess Casino and past the Country Club and around about until we got to the main road. Right turn and about 50ft down it the RBC Bank, and just past it to the left was the grocery store. It IS big and had a really good produce section. They had a good broccoli which is rare to have it at a reasonable price and available. I saw brussels sprouts, and U.S. sweet potatoes (we haven’t had them fresh since we have been down here!!) and many other items available. Here we have been drinking long life milk and bought a 6 pack. They had fresh, but this is so good tasting and a liter at a time so fits in the refrigerator better. We got a backup Jiff peanut butter and Phil was even able to get a quart of half and half which is the first time since Grenada that he has been able to buy it. Our refrigerator is so full that I can’t fit everything in there!!

We went back to Changes to gather together the laundry, 5th on our agenda, along with the jerry jugs to go over to Shrimpys to use their internet, get water and drop off laundry where they wash, dry and fold the laundry. St. Pierre, Martinique was the last place that we washed the clothes ourselves. That’s the way it is here in the Caribbean. We filled the water jugs for $2 for 10 gals and then worked on the internet. Unfortunately, Phil had a hard time connecting which was fixed when they reset the router. Phil started our taxes but has to wait until he gets information from his Maytag Pension.

We got back to the boat before 6pm when I started making the V-berth. When I was home this past summer, I had made a casing and inserted 3/8″ elastic so it fit around the mattress tighter. I forgot that I lot track of one end of the elastic and didn’t fix it at the time. Well it hasn’t been working, but as I put it on, I remembered the ends of the elastic weren’t connected, so fixed that and we’ll see how it works after sleeping on it. It will be nice to have clean sheets. Tomorrow we pick up the laundry mid morning.

By 630pm I started fixing supper of sirloin steak, potatoes and broccoli. We have half of the sirloin left over for another meal.

On the boat we don’t have internet. We have really been spoiled down island with being able to have WiFi from the boat. Here we have to go to LaGoonies, Shrimpys, or other bars to get the wifi. Not so easy to write posts on the boat. Oh well.

Our plans are to see what the weather looks like for making the big jump over to the BVI’s. Walkabout wants to leave Thursday. I have an appointment to get my teeth cleaned on Friday @ 230pm, so we want to stay.

We are having problems with the SSB. Phil has ruled out that the problem is with the microphone. He took the radio apart the other day and he doesn’t know what’s wrong with the SSB. We can hear on it but can’t transmit, which combined with not having internet on the boat, limits us to not being able to ask Chris Parker questions. I have sent a support request, so hope I hear something about when is a good weather window. We would really like to leave early next week, but time will tell.