December 30th 2010: Still in St. Lucia...

Enigma's Transatlantic Voyage
Manuel Ribeiro
Sun 2 Jan 2011 14:20
14:04.00N 60:57.00W

Well over a week since our last update, and really a lot has happened.

Firstly, Catarina and Alberto arrived, in time to spend Christmas with us.
For those who do not know, Catarina is Manuel and Julia’s daughter. 2010
has been a very special year for the Ribeiro family, as Catarina got
married to Alberto in June, just before they both started their 2 year MBA
course at Harvard. So, they arrived straight from the cold winter of
Boston, their white skin contrasting with our Caribbean tan.

On that same day, Boyan returned back to Switzerland, managed a perfect
timing through London airport chaos and went straight into the ski slopes
of Villars-sur-Ollon. That must have been quite a striking change in
environment, after 2 months aboard Enigma! Boyan was our main blog writer
during the crossing, and this should explain partly our “silence” during
the last week. He was a great company to us all, always willing to learn
and help. Thank you Boyan for coming with us on this adventure!

Christmas feels different when you are on the beach. Still, we did our
part of the seasonal decoration (see the 2 raindeers in the photo?) and
had the traditional cod fish dinner on board.

Enigma, which behaved so well during the crossing, had a major breakdown:
the generator, which is the heart of its electric propulsion system,
decided to take a vacation. Without it, we can not recharge the batteries
under way, which means we need to stay in or close to a harbour, so we
connect to shore power every 2 days. It looked like replacing the control
board would fix it, but after waiting a week for one to come from US, we
tried it yesterday and did not work! This changes our plans, but does not
prevent us from enjoying this lovely part of the Caribbean.

So, we sailed south and stayed at anchor near the “Pitons”. These are 2
rocks rising over 700 m, just next to the shore, as if they are keeping
guard to the protected bay that is formed between them. We dined on the
beach and spent the next day around (great snorkelling). In the evening,
we set off sailing upwind (no motoring) and anchored outside Rodney Bay at
4 AM, waiting for the sunrise to find our way into the marina.

Sailing with the whole family in the Caribbean is another dream coming
through. And so it is for Julia and Manuel, as they celebrated their 26th
wedding anniversary on the beach. That evening, we all had dinner at a
restaurant in the bay, the balcony overhanging the water, so we could tie
the dinghy to the leg of the table (pity our table was 2nd row…).

Happy New Year to you all,

The Enigma Crew

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