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 27^th  to 29^th . We are hoping to get a berth here on the 4^th 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!