True to our word, we loaded up the rental car this late this morning with our beach chairs, beach towels and picnic goodies and headed off to the beach which we love. We have seen it called both Aquarium Beach and Magazine Beach. Whatever it is called, it is wonderful. It is out of the way as you need to veer off a side road once you drive through the airport and then take a path that is made up of two thin strips of concrete (one for each tire) down wooded bluffs to come out onto the beach. Being out of the way, not too many people go there. We shared the quarter mile beach with just a dozen or so people.

The water was clean, clear and very inviting. After plopping our chairs and gear down on the sand, under a shady Tamarind tree, we both ran for the water. Ahhhhhh, it was great!

We spent the better part of the afternoon there running back and forth between the wonderful water and our shady spot on the beach. When we were in the States, I had bought a small set of boom box like speakers which pair to our smart phone via Bluetooth. Thus, we enjoyed our favorite music while taking in the magnificent views that the western side of the island offers. It was a great day.

We had so much fun we decided to extend the rental car one more day so we can drive around the island tomorrow and explore parts of it we have yet to see. Plus, I want to drive over to the rigger’s shop in the early morning to see if I can schedule the replacement of our head sail furler system. It is one of the many systems that failed during our transatlantic crossing last year which we are anxious to replace. It will be the start of our retrofit.

It seems that after each ocean crossing we done, we ended up doing a retrofit. In 2010/2011 we did our first retrofit in New Zealand after crossing the Pacific Ocean. In 2013/2014 we did a retrofit after crossing the Indian Ocean and now, after crossing the Atlantic, we need another retrofit. This one will be the most significant which, when one thinks about it, makes sense. After all, not only did we cross another ocean, we also completed our circumnavigation and our boat is approaching being 10 years old. All of the miles of blue water sailing and especially after the hard pounding we took sailing down the South African coast and rounding the Cape, took its toll on various systems that ended up failing on us during our transatlantic crossing. In a future post I will present a list of the projects we will be doing while here in the Caribbean.