12:38.03N  61:23.87W

 

Friday 14 to Sunday 16 February 2014

 

Distance Run 3 nm !

 

We left Union Island around 10 am and motored around to the island of Mayreau.  Our favourite spot is Saltwhistle Bay but we had been told the anchorage is now crowded so we opted instead for Saline Bay.  The engine continued with it’s worrying buzzing noise but we were anchored and had the engine turned off within an hour.

 

Mayreau is a small island and we walked up the very steep hill to the settlement and stopped at the first place we came to for a basic but very pleasant lunch.  We checked out a ‘supermarket’ on the way back where two ladies were unpacking some thawing chicken – not wrapped - from a cardboard box on the floor.  The collapsing box was soft with melted ice and had opened at the bottom allowing some of the meat to rest on the dusty concrete.  A piece was dropped on the floor and with un-gloved hands it was picked up and put back with the rest, no doubt to be re-frozen.  The ladies were chatting to us throughout and obviously didn’t see anything unusual in what they were doing.  We didn’t buy anything.

 

 

 

This is a view of Saline Bay with Union Island in the background:-

 

 

 

Once back at the boat I had a look at the engine, could find nothing obviously wrong but tightened the alternator belt whilst I was there.  To my surprise when I ran the engine the buzzing noise had gone!

 

Saturday 15 February 2014

 

We were in need of some water so decided to run the watermaker – which wouldn’t start.  There has been an intermittent problem with this for some months now and whenever I have checked there is voltage at the switch.  I bought a replacement switch last week but before changing it now I checked the voltage again – nada.  No voltage at the electric motor either.  More poking and prodding and eventually discovered a cable was disconnected near the batteries.  I could see that the cable was still touching the connector but would occasionally drift away.  The penny dropped.  When we fitted our towed generator in Las Palmas last November for crossing the Atlantic I got an electrician to do the final connections.  He had removed a bolt with about 5 cables attached, added the generator cable but one of the five – the one for the watermaker - had dropped off.  It was hidden from view so it was difficult to see that it was no longer connected.  No wonder it was only running intermittently.  So I now have a spare new switch.

 

Feeling chuffed that that problem was resolved I ran the engine only to find our buzzing noise was back.  I changed the alternator belt which quietened things down for a while but the noise returned after 5 minutes.

 

We walked up the hill for lunch and internet.  We thought this place looked nice and it was recommended in the pilot book:-

 

 

 

However we were told that lunch was not possible because the owner/chef had just gone for a snooze.  Oh, all right then, only to be expected at 12.30 pm on a Saturday afternoon I suppose, so we walked on up the hill and decided to have lunch at ‘Island Paradise’.

 

 

 

Here it is, typically Caribbean and full of character.  I’m doing a blog update and the two men in the background are watching the winter Olympics in the ‘lean to’:-

 

 

 

 

We visited another, cleaner looking supermarket and bought some frozen meat in sealed bags and tried not to think that the process for getting the meat to the freezer might be much the same as we witnessed yesterday.

 

 

 

 

On the way back we saw this cafe / bar:-

 

 

 

 

 

 

And again:-

 

 

 

 

On Sunday we ran the watermaker, did a few jobs and had a roast dinner – lovely!