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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