Safe aboard

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Alicia and I arrived last evening just before sundown. Our first resolution, to take the bus from Vieux Port in the south of the island up to Castries where Django is lying to a mooring, fell to the wayside once in the taxi to the bus stop. Our driver was keen to make a deal, so we saved US$10 and came in the taxi all the way. Good thing as the little tourist cat landing where we stay was closing for the evening as we arrived, bags in hand. after a long day of successful travel.

The battered little dinghy from the landing loaded with our bags, some ice and two loaves of bread we paddled out to Django hoping to find all well. She seemed fine, but the batteries were way down, reading 11.9 volts on the meter. Not what I had hoped for, but enough juice to start an engine. So the mystery is why have they not been kept up by our banks of solar panels, as they have in the past. Is it a slow leak or a failure to charge?. Now we are charging back up slowly; finding the cause may take a while.

Last night was squally and this morning there is rain and cloud intermittently with a fair bit of wind. No Chris Parker with the weather on the SSB this morning. I heard one fellow calling in but nothing on the other side. Very poor propagation. The weather does not look promising, probably a tropical wave going over, so we will sit tight until it clears.

Alicia has brought along a water colour kit and is painting the scene out over the cockpit from the saloon. It is the entrance to Castries Harbour, dappled water and the shore on the far side. She has also been let loose with the camera and we have lots of pictures to sort through already.