We’ve been in the water since December 7th!

It’s lovely , as you might imagine. The colors of blue are beautiful in contrast to the deep green in the hills of the islands. Yes the palm tree lined beaches have been right out our ‘back door( in fact we just finished a swim to shore and back after a full morning hike to the other side of the island. We have travelled from Grenada to Carriacou. We stayed here a few days for hiking, snorkeling, and beaching ( our reward for so many days of labor before splashing Lost Loon again). We stayed in Mayreau ( where we literally had a 1/2 mile beach to ourselves!) and finally made it to our current location in Admiralty Bay Bequia.

I wrote much of this post in the days during our stay in the boatyard. More about that experience in a later post.

10 …EC ( Eastern Caribbean dollars) or $4 US ….the cost of an amazing lunch for 2 of local steamed fish, a helping of vegetable rice and beans, callalou, and cucumber salad! This was from a lady who prepares meals from her house, and sells them to locals until it’s gone. We walk by her place every morning and evening to and from the boat. She also made terrific Lambi noodle salad ( that’s lobster!).

6 ……the number of days we spent washing, sanding , painting, polishing, reorganizing, and putting up sails….among many other tasks..8 hours sanding( mike) 4 1/2 hours painting, 3 1/2 hours waxing.( until we decided hand waxing wasn’t quite looking so great..and we hired 2 guys to buff the whole thing and they were done in 4 hours!)

3…….the average number of times you must move an item on the boat before it finds its rightful place. Except for the flat head and Phillips screwdrivers…they get a real work out so rarely get more than a few moments in their designated space.

1400….the number of miles we drove from MN to IL to NC and to FL before we flew the near exact same air miles to Grenada.

2…. the number of hours it took to do a load of wash at the apartment we stayed in while prepping the boat. It only took 1 hour to dry in the 85 degree sun. So 3 hours to oversee one load of laundry takes a lot out of an attempted productive day.

14…minutes to walk from the boat to the apartment we rented while working on the boat( most importantly it was a few days of air conditioned respite we had from the hot dusty days in the boatyard) …a little longer if it has rained and we have to dodge the mud puddles, or if we stopped to photograph the baby goats at play, or stop to let all the cars pass at quitting time.

36 …..loose ties that secure the winter cover. And keep showing up everywhere even after the cover was removed and stowed!

14 …throw pillows on the boat that get moved around until everything else is in place….also 13 too many according to Mike….until he needs one and I have a few already.

200…number of boats that they store on land at Clarke’s Court Marina during the summer.

12…the number of full and partial rolls of tape aboard..Gorilla( 3 rolls…the stuff holds like crazy) painters, original masking, duct ( in 3 decorative varieties), two sided, plumbers, electrical, and cellophane. They are housed in a bag behind the port settee, and seem to successfully escape out into the spaces behind there somehow, so we are always chasing them down. Tape is an important temporary fix for many things on the boat, and in some cases permanent.

3 ….miles to IGA from our anchorage in Prickly Bay. Mind you on foot one way isn’t so bad, but after the grocery stop, one stop at Ace and True Value, and we’re in need of a taxi ride back….20 EC. A well spent 8 dollars in 80 degree afternoon heat!

15…the number of hats we have aboard, including 1 “Gillian hat”, a nice fisherman’s rain hat ( that turns inside out with the lightest puff of wind so really doesn’t work well unless we have just rain and no wind) 9 golf caps ( in varying stages of use…some for painting and heavy work and others for general sailing and hiking), 2 straw hats, and 2 Santa hats ( we’ve been tempted to wear this holiday, but they are quite warm after even 5 minutes in this climate). I know this isn’t important, just that going through the stash it was interesting…we’re always losing a hat so it’s nice to have a few around.

23 …the number of feet that a HAM radio antenna needs to be to match the wavelength most often used. It can be longer but must not be closer to the mast than 5 feet. ( it extends from the day it’s in the back to a line from nearly the top of the mast) We found this out when our antennae broke between Grenada and Carriacou. We were lucky to find another 23 ft of spare wire in the “extras supply” under the guest bunk, behind the water heater, alongside the spare headsail. It was successfully wired back up by Mike who says he loves to climb the mast. ( well love wasn’t the word…he’s getting good at going up, my job is to winch the climbing harness, and then let him down..he’s been up there more times than he really likes this season already).

Finally….

3 bottles of RUM….the important stuff…the good kind from Grenada, until we get to the St Lucia…then the French islands……..

Hope you enjoy. Leave me a message…stop again. We will be sailing this season North along the Windward and Leeward chain of Caribbean islands. I will try to post often.