"My rings feel very tight" complained Dave a few days ago. Not to go on and on about this overly hot heat, or harp about the sweltering humidity here in the throes of Grenadian Summer, but really, all these elements were combining to do a number on our bodies, including swelling up our fingers.

"Here you go..." I passed the oil up to Dave so he could grease up his fingers, slide the rings off, pass them down to me so I could tuck 'em away, along with mine, for safe storage.

"What was that?" said Mike
"What?" said Rebecca
"Oh Shit" said Dave.
"WTF?" said I?

The complex series of movements that ensued which had Dave simultaneously getting up to chat with Mike and Rebecca who were standing on the dock, while greasing his fingers to try to slide his ring along and off his finger, and along with a bad back which made him step a little crooked and a little sideways which resulted in the very gut-wrenching and quite umistakeable sound of said wedding ring plop-plopping into fifteen feet of dark murky marina water, right below the transom of our boat, with a decidedly sinking feeling. Oh Shit !

We had already booked UnderWater Solutions to come dive/clean Banyan's bottom in a few days, and so a simple message later had us adding another request,

"Uh, Brett, do you have a metal detector you could bring?" was Dave's simple query?

Brett indicated he did and he would, but chances were very slim, he said, as there were feet, "and I mean many, many feet of murky sludge here in the bay, and things sink, things disappear". Oh Shit !

There was nothing that could be done, and Life after an Oh Shit moment needs to move forward, so the next item on The List, since the winds were pretty non-existant at the moment, was to get the jib on and installed.

"Nice lines" said Dave,
"Why thank you, m'luv" said I with a smile and a wink, wink as Dave continued to admire the new, black-flecked jib sheets we'd bought from Jamie at North Sails Yacht Shop back in Halifax, and who had whipped the ends quite nicely.



The freshly washed Jib, duly inspected and restitched in areas, came out of its bag, and before long, we had it laid out on deck,



and once all things stainless were lubed, black tie-wraps on the shackles,



and wind zero... up it went as Dave winched and I guided ...

"Oh Shit" yelled Dave, just as an impressive out of the blue gust of wind hit and almost knocked me into the water, and I tried haplessly to grab the flapping sail, without much success.

"You almost lost your Other Precious..." I laughed at him.

Moments later, all was calm again, and the jib was rolled up, with mere moments to spare before the next gust, along with the rain squall, drenched us both.

All these Oh Shit moments as of late had us craving some serious sweets and being in Port Louis Marina had us only a wee walk away from The Merry Baker. Before long I had us some freshly baked olive ciabatta bread, still warm to the touch, smelling quite like heaven, along with some Chelsea Buns which is their version of decadent and delicious cinnamon buns. Oh. My. Goodness, a mouthful of these sweets and you really don't care about any Oh Shit Moments.



Munching on said treats, Brett messaged to say that he would be arriving at 14:30, which immediately nixed our planned afternoon excursion with the volleyball team. That's quite alright, as our backs were giving us some grief and not cooperating as of late, and playing volleyball might not have been a wise move.

Brett Fairhead and Devon Joseph, from the local Underwater Solutions company showed up right on time, chatted with Dave for a moment,



and then Brett said, "We shall dive for the ring first, but don't get your hopes up..."



Twenty minutes later the bubbles of the surfacing divers appeared and,



"Oh Shit!!!", proclaimed Dave, "you found it"!!

Brett and Devon spent a good portion of the next hour underwater, scraping Banyan's hull clean of sludge and ooze and barnacles that had affixed themselves during her stay here. However, we were pleased to hear that "it wasn't too bad, ya". A few barnacles and and an oyster farm on the propeller shaft. The prop hub zinc, that Dave had pre-treated with nail polish around the thin parts, was installed, the old one looking pretty dead...



A two-thumbs up from Brett, regarding Banyan's Underwater status. No hauling out needed, the anti-fouling paint we had so laboriously applied last year, was doing its thing, the rudder post and cutlass bearing were showing no signs of wear, so no haul out required this year!

The result ? Banyan gives Brett and Devon from Underwater Solutions a serious Two Thumbs Up for their work, professional attitude, knowledge, and of course, for finding Dave's Precious. We chit-chatted on the docks for a while, exchanging cruising stories. Quite interesting (and a little disgusting) to learn about the sewage and dead things that flow into the Bay here...



Brett also happens to be The Merry Baker's son? Awesomeness all the way 'round.

A nice get together with Mike and Rebecca and friends chit-chatting into the darkness of evening. They did a fantastic show of prepping and preparing, and we did a fantastic job of taste-testing (I'm sure they will agree?) their signature home-made vanilla ice cream. We won't give away the secret ingredient, but let's just say it's on the healthy side !

Dave and I unanimously declared it "The. Best. Ever."



Oh, and just as an FYI... the DIY project of soaking rings in a mixture of vinegar and baking soda, to remove a week's worth of black growth that had started to brew in the ridges of the band, really works ! No Shit.