Today I cut Dick’s hair using the trimmer we bought in
Prevesa,
Greece, early 2009, for €5.
What amazing value for money!
A lot of super yachts are berthed at Nelson’s Dock Yard
ready for the Super Yacht Challenge which takes place from the 27th to 29th . We are hoping
to get a berth here on the 4th February, ready for the arrival of our
friends from the
UK but as the
dock master doesn’t know how long any of the super yachts will want to stay, he
isn’t prepared to confirm our booking yet. He will only put us on his waiting
list.
We are putting together a list of all the items on
Tucanon which will be included in the sale of the boat; this even includes
detailing the main items in the two grab bags.
Wednesday morning there was a short, heavy shower. I
watched the two guys who sweep the sand on the beach every morning, stand under
one of the beach umbrellas waiting for the rain to cease, before they continued
with the smoothing of the sand. A perfect rainbow spread across the sky to the
north of the bay, stretching across from
Fort
Berkely point, east to
west.
We took the bus from the Dock Yard to Bailey’s
supermarket and did a little provisioning; forgot to buy any more parmesan
cheese though! The guy from whom we buy fruit, who has a stall in the market/
mall at the Dock Yard, didn’t have any papaya; neither did the supermarket which
also didn’t have any regular snickers, only those with a white wrapping. I
bought one just to see if I liked them as well as the original variety. I
didn’t. Dick stocked up on the necessary ingredients for rum punch and
margarita. He has started to make 2litre batches and keep the finished product
in the freezer. They are both quite delicious but too alcoholic to obtain the
consistency of a slush puppy.
One afternoon, we heard a PAN PAN over the VHF. Two
divers were missing off Guadeloupe; how frightening!
Early afternoon later that same week, we heard what sounded like two gunshots,
five minutes apart. We went on deck and looked around but couldn’t see anything
that might have been the cause of the noise so assumed that it was the officials
for the Super Yacht Challenge, testing the starting guns. Soon after that, we
heard someone on the VHF who said he had heard that a boat was sinking but no
position was given. We then heard that a life-raft was being launched. The
outcome of both of these scenarios is unknown to us but we pray that no life was
lost in either case.
On a lighter note, watching another catamaran prepare to
leave the anchorage, I saw a young man walk to the back of the boat and lean
down to get some water in his bucket, presumably to swab the deck. Misjudging
the distance from the step to the water, he leant just a little too far and fell
in, fully clothed, still hanging on to his bucket.
Mia’s Brazilian grandmother was supposed to arrive here
late Saturday night but she has now deferred her visit for a couple of weeks.
Sunday a triathlon took place. The contestants had to
swim 1.2 miles, cycle 5.6 miles and run 13.1 miles.
A catamaran anchored in the bay, jutting into the
channel, called English
Harbour over the VHF, demanding that
someone come to their assistance. It seems that a monohull, unattended, was
bumping into the bow of the catamaran. I was amazed that the dive boat came out
and moved the monohull, rather than tell the people on the catamaran to
re-anchor elsewhere. It’s not as though the boats that
are at anchor in this bay have to pay for the privilege, other than the fee for
being in a national park. Not only that but the monohull was there
first!
