Rodney Bay

Thursday, March 5, 2009

The sun is setting and there is a curtain of rain on either side of Django, but clear up ahead, so our hatches are open as I enjoy a preprandial. The Artist has made some friends on the beach and is off with both kayaks, one in tow. Our preparations and renewals are complete. We have stocked up with food, including a lovely whole fresh pork loin I found in the supermarket today. There is a Cross designed trimaran in fornt of us, pulled in this afternoon, big and roomy with an acka to acka hard roof and a large wheel house centrally. Looks very comfortable. She is registered in the Turks and Caicos so I thought I would approach and ask after Tim Ainley, a multihull enthusiast whom we knew as children, who settle in the Turks and Caicos Islands. The owner and his wife are French, and have no connections to the Turks other than the boat registry. They warned me off Martinique. No food available, thugs roaming the streets of Fort de France looting and pillaging, not a place to spend any time. But I have an email from the Volvo dealer in Le Marin. She has the wickedly expensive bolt I ordered for the starboard engine. We need to move on in any case, headed for Antigua by the end off the month, whence I shall take a couple of weeks to go home and do taxes for Mum and ex-Dad, as well as my own. We are very well stocked, the only issue will be bread.

In the morning we will water up and top up the fuel with duty free stock only available once the boat is cleared out by customs. I did that this afternoon.

One of the highlights of this week was my discovery of Bruce Chatwin as a writer. I read "The Songlines", set as a travelogue in central Australia, and examining the nature of the aboriginal view of the world and creation through song. Bruce Chatwin seems to have an encyclopedic knowledge, and has shown some really original thought in the book. Very readable and fascinating. I will read his other works. There has been time for guitar and swimming as well. I like Rodney Bay.

The plan for post Antigua is taking shape. I think we will take the boat North this summer, first to Bermuda, than over to the East Coast, hopefully Canada to get past the problems which crop up if we stay out of the country for more than six months. I shall be looking for crew for the long passages to and from Bermuda if anyone is interested (Whit?). Alicia has arranged a position teaching for the summer in Bermuda, we will leave her off there before continuing North. I hve dreamed of bring Django into Bermuda to see old friends again.

Alicia has returned aboard with more horror stories about Guadeloupe. Rioting in the streets, say the rumours. I will have to check my internet news source. In any case we will head for Les Saintes, a small archipelago South of Martinique populated largely by descendants of Brittany fishermen, there being no plantation history on the islands. From there we will keep to the outports, avoiding Pointe a Pitre and the urban areas. After that its the longish crossing to Antigua.

Before we water up in the morning, we need to retrieve the second kayak, which the Artist has lent to her friends. They will meet at 8:00 to say goodbye. This perhaps a blessing, as she will get up at the same time as I do and we will be ready to go at a reasonable hour. The weather report has been difficult to hear, Chris Parker is on holiday in the Bahamas and a new guy out of North Carolina is filling in. His boat name is "Rainy Day". "Rainy Day, Rainy Day" bleat the cruisers trying to get his attention and not hearing his reply. "Relay, relay" call the ones who can.

The wi fi internet connection, which has served us so well in Rodney Bay, has given up the ghost. Where there were once several stations transmitting a signal, now there are none. It seems to be a problem at my end, which I have solved by shutting down the software driver and restarting it. "Woila", the stations all show up again, and we are connected.

Now for the post.