First few days in Barbados
Ile Jeudi
Bob and Lin Griffiths
Mon 18 Mar 2013 14:15
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Friday 15 to Monday 18 March 2013
Angie had invited us to dinner with her and
Mark and to stay for the night on Friday as she was flying to the UK the
following day. So after lunch on Friday we
returned to the boat and sorted things out to come back ashore to be picked up
by Angie later. Unfortunately Angie had to hang around because
our outboard engine, which had worked
perfectly earlier in the day, decided to go on the blink so we couldn't get
ashore in the dinghy for a while. Out with the tools, drain the carb, dry
the spark plug, restart, repeat, repeat - and eventually we were
off.
It was a lovely evening and we both slept well even
though the perfectly still bed seemed to move a bit. Angie took Lin to the supermarket for some fresh food on Saturday and
had a good chat when they came back talking about whatever it is they talk
about. It was really good to have caught Angie before she left for the
UK. Mark and watched some football and I hit the emails and we were
able to Skype Lin's parents later. That time with Mark and Angie at their
house was so good and they helped us to settle down and get a number
of other things organised.
We returned to the boat at anchor later on
Saturday and had lunch before bringing her in to the
reception pontoon in the marina - the swell and surge having calmed down a
lot. Lin and I had a quiet dinner at the 'Yacht Club' restaurant before
hitting the sack early.
Sunday was spent on the internet at the Yacht Club
and generally getting the boat out of 'passage mode' into normal sailing mode,
arranging a hire car for the next day etc etc. We had a roast dinner on
board in the evening so we would know what day it was!
On Monday morning Lin was collected by Judy and
Carol to join the rest of the coven and play Mah Jong. This was a regular
feature of life in Barbados for Lin and she was so happy to meet lots of her
friends again.
Nigel and Asa-Britt took some photographs of us
approaching Port St Charles last Friday. I am in the cockpit looking
through binoculars to try to identify who was waving to us! :-
 Everything looks calm:-
 There was not much wind as you can see but what you
can't tell from this picture is the surge and swell from storms in the
north Atlantic which was pushing the boat away and then violently throwing her
back on to the pontoon. Lin is trying rapidly to sort out lines and we are
both playing with the height of the fenders. The boat was
smashed against the pontoon and a support pile several times and eventually
we abandoned the whole thing before too much damage was done and went back out
to anchor for the night. This did not go down well with Customs who
expected us to clear in immediately (as indeed we should) :-
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