Heading north

Serafina
Rob & Sarah Bell
Tue 13 Dec 2011 10:41

This might be our last WiFi for a few days so we are posting this entry even though we have little to report yet!

 

The hope is to leave Grenada in the morning and head north to Union Island and then on to Bequia. This was a great anchorage on the way down and we had a great week there, but we have heard disturbing things about a dramatic rise in petty crime there and suddenly parts of the anchorage are deemed unwise to use and vigilance is required day and night. Rather a shame, but we gather that the authorities are very much on the case as tourism is the small island’s lifeblood.

 

From Bequia we will sail overnight to St Lucia where we plan to spend Christmas. But doubtless these plans will be changed as we go along.

 

Port Louis has been a good spot from which to make our final preparations for the coming cruising season as it is close to a few specialist services and another good chandlery (Island Waterworld). Today we had Basil (St John) along to see to the problem with the main fridge which was frosting along the top (more serious from the user’s point of view, when the fridge baskets are firmly welded to the side of the fridge by a glacier!) but not really at all cold inside. He swiftly diagnosed a lack of gas in the system and set about refilling it for us and by early afternoon all was well.

 

I was fully occupied yesterday polishing all the stainless steel, well all of the gantry at the rear of the boat to start with. Once again we used Spotless Stainless cleaner and this is a remarkable product for sure. The first time we used it there was the issue of existing wax on the steel which made the job a bit slower, but as I said the other day, we were thrilled how it protected everything over the period ashore. Now that we are simply redoing the existing stuff, it is an absolute breeze and the results are staggering and it is all so easy. Wish we had the franchise!!

 

Kenny, our on board washing machine failed to start the season and with a full load of washing inside it refused to spin or empty itself. So I set about taking things apart to sort this out and after a number of excitements got it all fixed and took the opportunity to service some of the items associated with Kenny as well.

 

Naturally if things are playing up, you can be certain that the toilets will not want to be left out of things! So both were back-flushing and the forward heads was just not working properly at all. So with humidity running at 89% still, I had the joy of taking both sets of pumps apart and fitting new seals where needed. Not a lot of fun, but just something that has to be done. Both loos are fine and running well now which is pretty important given that we are not going to be seeing another marina for quite a while.

 

We used the dinghy to get about and for simplicity we just put the 2.5 hp Yamaha outboard on. Sarah did question on our first outing the fact that we did not have the oars with us. I said that they hardly mattered as we were within the harbour and all was fine with the outboard……so of course it stopped dead with us stranded in the middle of the lagoon. Finally got it restarted and we went straight back and unearthed the oars – which doubtless we will never need again.

 

Poor WiFi here which means having to go to the bar with the laptop to send and receive emails etc. Sounds like fun, but at their prices it is best to avoid the drinking part.

 

So with luck we will off sailing shortly and the next entry should be somewhere north of here. But the way things go in sailing in the early season we are not holding our breath just yet.