Retired to cure hangover.

Oriole
Sat 27 Dec 2003 18:51
Christmas came and went in a social, gastronomic and alcoholic blurr and as midnight mass started at 21.30, only an hour after we had started our Christmas Eve dinner, there will be no possibility of redemption. The Christmas Day beach party turned into a very relaxed affair spent in a beachside restaurant undergoing refurbishment which John had negotiated to hire for the day.  About thirty people from 15 Ocean Cruising Club yachts congregated for lunch with carefully co-ordinated and superb food contributions. 
 
Part of the organising committee and below Oriole's new mascot, the Chairman.
 
 
Many of the yachts including Oriole had dressed overall (see diary for 22/11/2003).  It was well after sunset and a guitar cabaret that the sandflies drove us aboard again.  We were delighted that David and Susie whose yacht Saltwhistle 3, which was damaged when she was rammed in a gale in an anchorage in Grenada, had managed to get clear of the boatyard with repairs completed and get up to Martinique for the celebrations.  Susie produced a lovely Boxing Day lunch on board Saltwhistle and although we did not make the Isles des Saintes as planned we will manage to celebrate New Year with them and AlShaheen in St Pierre, Martinique where we should get some good walking to remove the effects of gastronomic excess.  We have now retired to the quiet mangrove backwater in Marin where we renewed our varnish in February.  We should emerge in time for New Year with a fresh shiney coat of varnish for Oriole, restored liver function for the skipper and mate and ready for sea.