CURRENT LOCATION: On the hard at Jolly Harbor Boat Yard
17 04.037' N, 061 53.051' W
Prudence is due for a bottom job. Our ablative paint has mostly ablated from large sections of the hull, and the remaining paint appears to have minimal antifouling capability. We woke early on a Monday morning to pick up the anchor and motor into the boat yard. This is the first time we have brought the boat near land since October of 2007. It was odd to simply step off the boat and be ashore. We have grown accustomed to needing some form of tender to make such a transition.
Once they lifted her out of the water, you could see how badly she needed the attention which is to come over the next few days. The growth they are blasting off with a pressure washer in the photo below had developed in just the last two weeks since the last time I scraped the bottom:
While
Prudence is on the hard, Sheryl and I have arranged for a room. We will be staying at Antigua Budget Rooms. Gertrude is our host (an Austrian woman who reminds me of my mother) and we have a simple room in the back of her home. It is nothing fancy, but it beats sleeping on a boat which can only be accessed via a 12-foot ladder. We plan to be back in the water and living 'normally' again on Wednesday.