Recent events and plans

We have had a good time getting to know some of the local folks. Last weekend, there was a sort of End-of-Hurricane-Season party at the pool and gazebo here at Coral Cove Marina. Our Columbian friends Suje and Liliana provided an excellent evening meal, and another cruiser brought a music setup for dancing. Cold beer and fine Guyanese rum rounded out the refreshments, and a good time was had by all.

Our recent blog entries probably give the impression that life here is one big party. Actually, we've been working our buns off on the boat. We only seem to take pictures when we're among other people, and generally those are social occasions. Cruisers do know how to party, though.

For example, yesterday, we changed the oil and oil filters in both main engines and the big generator. This has to be done every 150 to 200 hours of running time. We also topped up the 24-volt battery bank with distilled water, a quarterly task. And late yesterday evening, we cleaned out the thru-hull and raw-water strainer for the air-conditioning system to improve its cooling performance.


We're trying to top up our fuel tanks with diesel at a reasonable cost. Looks like we may have a line on it for $1.50 per gallon. We need about 1800 gallons before we take off. We would like to be able to leave here late next week.


Once our tanks are full again, we plan to move up the islands to Puerto Rico rather quickly, then take six or seven months to come back down again for the next hurricane season. Depending on weather, we will probably be in PR or the Virgin Islands for Christmas. When we came down-island in June/July, we were in a hurry to get south of the hurricane belt, and so we bypassed a lot of places we really want to visit; St. Bart's, Martinique, Antigua, etc.


One of the things most people probably don't know is that most full-time, long-range cruisers are grey-haired folks like us, some much older. We know two couples here that are in their mid-80's. The yachting and boating magazines are full of pictures of young people in bikinis and speedos running around in megayachts and fast boats. Truth is, for every one of those, there are a hundred retired or semi-retired couples, typically running a 40-foot sailboat. We are a bit of a rarity, in that we are running a comparatively big motor yacht. In any harbour, we are likely to be the largest boat around. The sailboaters are generally friendly, but envious, since we have amenities their boats cannot support. Two ice-makers, huge refrigerator, extra freezer, washer/dryer, full-size bathtub, air conditioning, etc. Susan sometimes invites other cruising wives to come aboard to do their laundry, though so far they have been too proud to accept. When there are get-togethers, they always ask us to bring ice.


If all goes well, we may be cruising northward to Grenada on Thanksgiving Day, so we will be out of touch for a bit. That is a 90-mile, 12-hour crossing against the prevailing easterly current. We will enjoy imagining everyone sitting down to Turkey and all the trimmings, while we munch on peanut butter sandwiches and power bars - our typical underway snacks.