CURRENT LOCATION: Anchored in Anse Marcel Bay, adjacent to the Radisson resort
18 07.012' N, 063 02.436' W

It was a mere 2.8 nautical mile trip from Grand Case to Anse Marcel. However, it did involve going out into the wind and waves in the open Anguilla Channel. Therefore, all of the standard preparations for a voyage had to be made. It took us longer to get ready to move and then settle back into anchor mode at the new location than the total time spent underway. "Why the short move?" you may ask. The time for water and laundry has arrived, and neither could be done in Grand Case.

It has been nearly a month since we took laundry to land for cleaning. We arrived just before noon, and Sheryl was immediately off in Patience seated next to a big bag of laundry. Sometimes I get the impression that she actually likes to do laundry. When I approach her with this notion, she replies that she simply, "...likes to have clean laundry." Can't say I disagree with that sentiment, especially after having it accumulate on board for a month. Meanwhile, I stayed behind to make sure our newly planted anchor stays planted.

The laundry facilities at the marina here in Anse Marcel do not include a dryer. In fact, there was only a single washer which operated on ultra-water-saving mode, which meant that each load took nearly two hours to complete. So, once each load was finished, Sheryl stuffed the wet clothes into the laundry bag and brought them back to the boat. We employed our lifelines and a few extra clotheslines strung between the rigging to hang the laundry. The wind and sun provided courtesy of Mother Nature was our clothes dryer on this day.



As for the taking on of fresh water, it has been exactly 21 days since our last top-off. I am happy to report that, if my calculations are correct, we are still using less than 4 gallons per day (seeing as how it took 70 gallons, carted in jerry cans over four trips, to return us to full capacity). Also nice to note that we paid only 0.07 Euro per gallon here, a fair bit cheaper than the $0.25 per gallon charge in Culebra. While we are playing the numbers game, are you aware that 70 gallons of water weighs 585 lbs? That is a lot to lift from our little dinghy up to the toe rail.



Light was dwindling from the sky as Sheryl returned with her final load of water and clean laundry. Unfortunately, most of the last load did not have time to completely dry before a misty rain began to fall. We hurried around in the darkness trying to gather items as quickly as possible and stuffed them back into the laundry bag below decks. Let's hope tomorrow is a dry and sunny day.