Heading South
Irie
Sun 6 Apr 2008 15:52
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Position 13 57.94N 61 01.682W Marigot Bay
Sunday 6th April
Nine thirty in the morning, and all it's done is rain
since the early hours. The big winds of the last week have started to settle
down, but a tropical wave is moving down through the islands bringing a band of
cloud and showers - a sort of Mexican wave, but wetter. The downpours are
extremely heavy, so the good news is that the boat has had a really good
fresh water wash - very helpful in removing the half ton of sand deposited
everywhere by the happy holidaymakers. After Tuesday's departures,
Wednesday and Thursday disappeared in a welter of boat sorting, laundry and some
reprovisioning. The fruit man arrived as usual early Wednesday morning. 'Family
all gone now' he said, as Millie had always spotted his aged, flag bedecked
boat in the distance, rushing to see him as he motored in and
hung off our stern. On her last morning, he presented her with a special
ripe mango.
Early Friday, the anchor broke out of the bay, and we set
off on the first small step south. Rodney Bay's been a great base for the
family, but we arrived here almost exactly a month ago, the last couple of days
it's blown very hard, a swell has set in from the north, and the constant wind
noise and motion has been quite wearing so it's a relief to move
on. It's only an hour and a half down the coast, though time enough for a
couple of heavy showers on the way, and with a lumpy, following sea, but
Marigot is remarkably sheltered, with little or no swell, and good protection
from the breeze. The anchorage is fairly tight, and there's no easy space to
drop the hook, so we pick up a mooring tended by Johnson on Jey Jey's behalf.
Johnson has a Piton beer in one hand which may be one in a line
of several others, as he fumbles and drops it, then addresses me in French
patois before tumbling to my origins and changing to English.
Marigot is very pretty, the sun's out and the water's
clear, so the rest of Friday beomes a holiday. Ashore for lunch in the
Mygot where we ate last week - respectively calaloo soup and chiken roti - and
excellent value at a tenner for the lot including drinks. Saturday is a mix of
sun and showers, permanantly plumbing in the water maker to the main tanks
and startng to clean the boat's bottom. Rodney Bay and the Lagoon must be a rich
soup of nutrients, as the boat has rapidly become festooned with weed and
covered in barnacles. It's a laborious job with mask, Scotchbrite and scraper
and the debris attracts the attention of a large shoal of fish six or eight
inches long, creating great excitement as the shreds of weed and barnacle tumble
beneath the hull. Also, a couple of tiny sergeant -major fish seem to have taken
up residence in the bow thruster tube. Later in the afternoon there's the
sound of singing up the bay, and the Marigot version of the fruit man arrives,
poling himself round on a surf board, on which is perched a basket of
limes, mangoes and bananas.He calls me brother, but his prices are double that
of Rodney Bay, so we discuss for a while, he makes a special price as we're
a private boat rather than one of those 'rich' chartercraft and we settle at
around half the starting point. The fruit looks good, everybody's happy, and he
poles away again serenading all the while the late afternoon
glow.
The Fruit Man cometh
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