12:00.418N 61:45.914W

Thurs 28^{th April} – Monday 2^nd May

Up with the lark on Thursday to motor round to the boatyard at Spice Island Marine. Bit more wind blowing and larger seas than we have been used to for a while, which was a pain as we had removed our sails in preparation for being craned out. This meant that we did roll quite a bit until we were clear of all the offshore shoals and were able to turn downwind and run with the waves for about half an hour to Prickly Bay. Once we entered the bay and got behind the protective shelter of the headland, the sea went much smoother and we made our way carefully through all the moorings up to the head of the bay to the boatyard.

Although we were about 40 minutes early, they were ready for us and so we turned round and reversed into the travel lift and Serafina was soon out of the water and poised over dry land as the lads scraped loads of barnacles off the hull before pressure washing it.  They then took her round to where she will be parked for the next six months and we really do seem to have got one of the best seats in the house. We are parked right by the entrance and almost on top of the security guards office. Only  yards from the washing machines, toilets, showers and loos. Also the excellent bar and restaurant ‘De Big Fish’ is barely 50 yards away! Steve from Scott-Free would be in seventh heaven as the large and very well stocked Budget marine chandlery is no more than 30 yards from us.

The only slight drawback is that because the sled is not working at the moment, they were not able to put Serafina into her steel hurricane cradle just yet. I think we might have been a bit happier to see that last bit being done before we left, but such is life.

Sarah set about polishing the hull and then covering it all with a protective layer of special wax which you leave on until you return in 6 months and then polish it off. It helps protect the boat from UV damage. We also decided that we did not want to have the boatyard sanding our antifouling for us as we would not be here to supervise the work, so Sarah set about doing this herself with scouring pads and lots of water! The downside of being where we are is that everyone walks past us on their way to pretty much anywhere so we get lots of visitors and passing comments. One particular American chap was in awe of her hard work and found various spurious reasons to call by, mostly to ask what she was doing and why!! He named her ‘the Beast’ and if you look at the photos on the website http://www.rhbell.com you may see why.

To make life a bit easier and in keeping with most folks here we have booked into an apartment so we can go home at night, shower in peace and enjoy some air conditioning. Sadly the recommendation did not work out too well this time and we are housed in something which on reflection makes staying on board Serafina ashore almost seem attractive. Getting to and from the apartment in the morning and evening is theoretically a breeze as the local mini buses fly past every 20 seconds or so and at 50p each it is barely worth walking the three quarters of a mile. However we might have overlooked that the last three days have been a weekend followed by a bank holiday. So we have walked it and on Sunday night it was very unpleasant as it was pouring with rain. We did however come across a huge toad who was pretending to be invisible.  The very worst aspect of the flat is the large dead cockroach in the middle of the kitchen (he had obviously partaken of the generous dollops of killer powder all round the edges of the kitchen – yes this got Sarah into her more neurotic behaviour mode regarding vermin!).

‘De Big Fish’ is quite a social hot spot for cruisers as it serves the anchorage as well as all those of us now ashore in the yard. It has a great happy hour (a bucket with 3 beers in for 2 pounds sterling) and there are always lots of interesting folks to meet and plenty of old friends who are either passing through or laying up like us. Amongst these were John and Sue off ‘Saltscar 3’ and Catherine, Mark and their children of ‘Pegasus of Jersey’. The later were anchored in the bay undertaking some major repairs as they had belatedly discovered that the reason the steering on their catamaran had become ‘different’ half way across the Atlantic, was because one of their rudders had dropped off!  Mark had dived to investigate the issue in Bequia, some 2 months after the crossing and was astonished to find the complete blade missing. So he and a friend are busy making a new one and have removed and strengthened the existing one. This is making them quite late for their sail down to Panama and transiting the Panama Canal.

On Saturday night we ended up eating with Ken and Wendy who we had first met in Puerto Calero, Lanzarotte. They are from Tasmania and are on their way back to Australia in their Bavaria, bought in Slovenia. Ken until recently held the Australian record for sailing single handed, non-stop around the world in a boat that he built himself and so he seems to consider that sailing a Bavaria  back from the Med, via Panama and the Pacific to be something of a ‘milk run’ (a mere 8,500 miles to go still)!

Sadly De Big Fish also recognises Sundays and bank holidays and has been closed which has caused Sarah some headaches as her catering plans rather revolved around them being open and serving food.