Monday 22nd March (Lini’s Journal)
Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Mon 29 Mar 2010 17:22
intermittently over us. As we neared Pointe-à-Pitre in the centre of
the island it was obvious that the approaching squall was not going to
miss us and we were caught in our first bad weather in ages: It was
all rather inconvenient. I couldn’t even remember where I’d put the
canvas cover for the companion way as the wind picked up over 34 knots
and down came torrential rain. Luckily Si had seen it coming and we
had dropped the sails as we were approaching the marina anyway. The
cooling sky juice was most welcome and Brindabella had a well overdue
bath.
After several weeks of being at anchor I dug out mooring lines and
fenders in preparation for a couple of nights at Bas-du- Fort Marina.
Fortunately the harbour master was standing by in his RIB and tied our
bow line to the buoy as it had no pick-up line, no ‘give’ and was
miles from the pontoon necessitating a far longer line than I had
prepared. Our neighbours took our stern lines which was probably just
as well as the bow line wasn’t really long enough to get our stern
near enough to the pontoon for me to jump ashore. We added on another
bow line then all secure chatted to our new Dutch neighbours on their
huge catamaran ‘Waterman’ and were invited for drinks later.
Lotte and Silke the beautiful young daughters made wonderful
hostesses and served us smoked salmon nibbles with our drinks as
eleven year old Lotte practiced her excellent English. She was very
enthusiastic and excitedly talked about their travels and wildlife
they’d seen. The Dutch always put us to shame in their efforts with
languages. Our planned routes are similar so I have no doubt we will
see them again on our travels.