Paradise Nearly Found
Tillymint.fortescue
Sat 12 Dec 2009 17:24
Saturday 12 December
Somewhat unusually its raining, not just a quick
refreshing squall then back to blue skies. It's cloudy and the rain comes down
then stops and then starts and then stops...most frustrating as its open
hatches close hatches, open hatches close hatches. We'll be worn out before our
first rum punch of the day. Anyway won't dwell on the rain too much as I
understand that all at home are a bit done with rain.
About the sun then, mostly it's very hot, incredibly nice weather over here, it's been shining on
us all week as we emerged from our Atlantic Odyssey and began to adjust to daily
life without wall to wall ocean. The good news is that Tilly Mint has been
transformed from Atlantic Convoy Vessel to Caribbean Cruise Liner. All the
toddler proof non drip up deck cups have been stowed and wine glasses stacked in
their place. The foredeck has been cleared of the white flappy things and I can
at last hang my washing out and watch it dry from a prime sunbathing spot.
After spending some quality time apart from the
galley we girded ourselves for a mammoth spring clean and sorting of the stores
on Thursday. It was hot work but the team of galley rats plugged away til every
tin, can, packet, carton and bag was counted, ordered and sorted;
every nook and cranny was emptied and cleaned. We have crossed the
Atlantic with onions, oranges, UHT milk, tomato puree, baked beans, weetabix,
frozen brocoli and salami to spare so we are looking down the barrel
of some strange meals before the end of our trip......
Somewhat boringly we haven't budged from Rodney Bay
Marina. There has been lots of swobbing of the decks and good old fashioned
application of elbow grease down below to restore our good ship to her natural
good looks. There is also a depressingly large amount of repair work needed to
our boat. Alex as been up the mast, down the mast, up the mast, down the mast
and have made progress toward being able to hoist our genoa but we are waiting
new furling gear before we can finish the job. Our good old faithful blade jib
was taken down and sent off to a Sail Spa for a few days. She had a very frayed
bottom and was on her last legs in many places but has come back to us
rejuvenated and ready to fly another day. Lots of other stuff is still "to do"-
I won't bore you with the detail but the list is so long it's silly. The
boat builders are coming out next week to continue with the tasks and, somewhat
ironically, we are going to decant ourselves to a hotel for a few days while the
work is done, so ensuring domestic harmony and a sense of balance to
proceedings.
Hard work though but just in case you are beginning
to feel sorry for us.......
The children have had a grand time swimming, eating
ice cream and striking deals with fruit sellers and purveyors of very fine
palm leaf hats. There's a great vibe around the marina and the pool by the bar
is permanently brimming with ARC kiddies burning off an Atlantic's worth of
pent up energy (the grown-ups wisely stay in the bar drinking an
Atlantic's worth of rum punch in order to better explain their mariner's
tales). We have been to a great fun ARC welcome party on the beach and had a
lovely night out with Steve and Claire and our friends on Sotto Vento
before we go our separate ways. Tomorrow we are going to amble over to
Martinique for a couple of days, it's 10 miles away and I think we have enough
bits of boat that work to make the short hop.
By the by - Laurence can make a mean rum punch and
the grown-ups are getting really quite good at drinking
them........
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