The End
07 May 2016
When you hear "Diary of a Galley Wench" one might assume this would, from time to time, include wonderful recipes any wench can cook aboard in her galley. Kind of a go to 'allrecipes' for boat life where storage is minimal and ingredients sometimes even more minimal. Well, it's not as I do not possess any culinary training nor innate ability (confidence) to know lemon juice and potatoes work well together. I did learn to add coconut milk to rice (thanks Ches), used leftovers from the Neebe/Chessons to make Neebe quinoa vs Neebe rice and leftover bacon and a block of Swiss turns an ordinary chicken breast into YUM. Olive oil and lime marinate a Mahi nicely w/either fresh or cooked mango and hard boiled eggs are always great to have on hand (smart Daaarrin). My tip for anyone out at sea or island hoping - relax and know that everything tastes better on a boat! Is it the scenery? The company? The fact that being on the water makes one hungry? Or the mere fact that this is all you've got so it is delicious.
The decision was made to head to the dock a few days early after 3 days of rain. The weather outlook projected more of the same. Of course the next day the skies were blue and every day after that. With our fix it list looming we stayed put and Jim began his projects while I had the great honor of emptying the back lazarettes and cleaning them out. While cleaning the garage I noticed the bilge pump not working - another project for Jimbo.
As much as I like land being at the dock bothers me because if I am on a boat I want to be out on the water. These last few days have been a lot more fun as people were around. s/v Timing was having some fuel issues so we enjoyed time with Ash, Sue, Howard and Hope. Before pulling out Friday they helped us finish up beer and appetizer type foods which is always better than throwing things away. Friday evening Dave & Marney joined us for dinner, catch up and farewell.
Sailing friends are great but we got an extra treat this week. I received an email from my brother (dock time = internet connection) saying he had some friends renting a house on Tortolla. Come to find out their place was along one of my walking routes. Yup,only a mile away from us. Bill, John, Andy and Greg stopped by the dock for a visit. Below deck was a wreck due to fix-its in progress so they got a view of sailing reality. Hahaha We stopped by their place one morning on our walk and got to know them better. 4 new friends! Guess they liked us too as they dined @ Red Rock their last evening, brought their dessert ( & one for us) down to the boat and we all enjoyed.
Below deck is clean, things packed, cupboards are bare and Jim has one more glass of OJ for departure day. I leave you with a few numbers of the season: 5 weeks of guests, 6 day sails, 1 one nighter, 1 WHALE, 5 rain days, ?? night showers, 13 islands 2 races, 1 trail ride, 50+paddle outings, 4 octopi, 6 squid, and oodles of turtles. We had family, friends, first timers, land visitors and all were great company. I have said it before - I love introducing the Virgin Islands to virgins to the islands, and virgins to sailing even more.
We enjoy our winter in the islands but we are both ready to get back to the mainland. Until the temps drop again -