Friday 2nd April (Lini’s Journal)
Brindabella's Web Diary
Simon Williams
Fri 9 Apr 2010 13:32
During the night the wind blew offshore bringing with it zillions
of nasty, horrible bitey things that snacked on my flesh all night.
Yes, I had a bad night! I thought I was seeing things when I emerged
from the cabin and called good morning to Si who was in his usual spot
on deck. He looked like Pig Pen from the cartoon Charlie Brown with a
swarm of killer no-see-ums all around him. Why don’t they ever bite
him? I know he meant well when he lit a mosquito coil in the cockpit
but this sent them all down below to the galley. I slowly came to life
with rythmical kneading of bread dough interspersed with the slapping
of bugs from my limbs. A short while later eleven buttery, eggy,
spicy, fruity mounds proved in the sun. Lini’s Easter treat was half
of the normal bread dough with fruit and spices kneaded in which I
have to say turned out much better than I thought they would. We
nursed heavy bellies for a while after breakfast!
Squalls approached from the Atlantic firstly missing us and
hopefully doing much to hydrate Antigua which now has a very serious
water shortage. Si had bumped into Tam just before we left who was
desperately trying to buy water with none for sale anywhere. Thank
goodness the watermaker is producing something. As rain clouds now
threatened us, all around sailors turned into boy scouts gathering
buckets and erecting rain catchers. On went my swimwear and out came
the boat brush as down came the rain and with it great excitement as
Simon repositioned buckets and made mental notes for a grand rain
catching system. With salt now rinsed after my early morning swim it
was time to visit the hairdressing salon: I grabbed scissors from the
cabinet and declared war on the barnet. Nothing seems to scare Simon
so it was somewhat amusing to see the look of terror on his face when
I asked him to cut the back for me. It’s great, I can now see where
I’m going and other people, not me have to look at all the tufty bits
we missed.
Here we are off an uninhabited island in a huge bay and Si has
picked up a free wifi connection; he is a very happy bunny and spent
much of the day investigating the superyachts which come and go.
Except for watermaker moments he seems to have chilled no end and not
only can be seen out in a t-shirt without a collar (never known
before) but has been persuaded to wear a much lighter sarong rather
than a towel after swims in the heat of the day! (I never thought I
would se the day!) But this afternoon, after transporting the thing
for thousands of miles, the guitar finally came out of the case.
Yeehah!!! It was shame I wasn’t able to listen to lesson one while I
attempted painting the macaroon; Phil offered me a paddle round Green
Island in their kayak, an opportunity not to be missed.
I left Simon strumming and confess to being a tad nervous as I
slipped into the front seat. This was my first ever attempt at
kayaking and we were heading out into the Atlantic! Phil was a patient
instructor however and the waves rolling towards us outside the reef
didn’t roll us over as I’d expected. It was remarkably stable, even
when waves rebounded off the rocks round the eastern headland and
briefly my heart pounded in my chest. Turning west we paused to watch
the frigate birds and tropic birds gliding elegantly overhead then
rounded the reef back to the anchorage. I spent much of my first
kayaking experience watching the ends of the paddle rather than the
passing scenery but what great fun it was. I feel an internet search
for folding kayaks coming on! After our enjoyable sessions rowing, my
hero made extra reinforcements to Shovell’s broken oar. It now has
pieces of sail batten strapped to each side making it stronger than
the original and is ready for Lini’s next rowing adventure.
The changing light of late afternoon wasn’t helpful as I continued
trying to paint the macaroon. In the variable winds Brindabella was
also swinging around her chain and I frequently had to swivel round
and move my paint box. With no hope of finishing my attempt today I
packed away my toys and we cleared the decks and cockpit in case
problems arose with onshore winds forecast in the night.
To find that a corner of our only sweet pepper had turned to mush
called for careful dissection to preserve some for tomorrow and still
have some for our stir(fry) tonight. I divided our fresh produce to
last until shopping day and stirsteamed a concoction for dinner while
Si prepared tonight’s big picture. After supper, gangster Johnny Depp
deafened most of the anchorage for the rest of the evening.
It was an eventful night for Si as the wind picked up and the motor
boat anchored too close behind us was in danger of catching its anchor
round our rudder. He spent several hours up on deck until satisfied
Brindabella was safe. At least with the wind blowing onshore we
weren’t infested with bitey beasties tonight.