December 6, 2010

Nevis is a separate island from St. Kitts but the two islands now form one country. Nevis is smaller and less commercialized than St. Kitts. The only town in Nevis is Charlestown. Aside from the small main town there isn't much there. A beautiful long stretch of beach is north of town and there were probably fifty moorings for us to choose from off the beach. Checked in with customs and got settled with some groceries. I had not been paying close enough attention to our fuel usage and I thought that we were very low on fuel. Tuesday we made arrangements to come in to the ferry dock where a taxi driver would bring us fuel. Needless to say this process is far more complicated than we had expected. We also needed to fill a propane tank and top off our water. The weather was threatening rain and I considered calling off the refueling. We tied up to the old ferry dock after waiting for the ferry to leave at 1:00 p.m. and to make a long story short after two hours of running around with the cab driver and jerry cans we were finally ready to put fuel in the boat. It was raining and a surge was rocking the boat severely at the dock. One of our fenders was torn apart and several dock lines were shredded. I left again with the driver to get propane and by the time I got back Sharon was justifiably stressed. Dock lines were popping, the port authority officials seemed unconcerned and we needed to get off that dock. No sooner had we backed away and cleared away, the engine quit and would not start. I knew immediately that water must have gotten into the fuel from the rain. We dropped the anchor and the port police came out and towed us back to our mooring. Al Short from a nearby boat came over in his dingy to help us get settled on our mooring. He and his wife Michelle have been traveling the Caribbean for several years and he was a great help in clearing up the water in the fuel problem. Fortunately our time in Nevis got better from that day forward because we met some interesting people at a beach bar called Sunshine's and had two great lunches along with swimming and socializing.

At some point it occurred to us that it was already Dec. 9 and Sharon has a flight home on Dec. 17 from Port a pietre, Guadalupe. So Sunday morning at 4:00 a.m. we left for the long sail (70 miles) to Deshaies. It is an idyllic little port open to the west with some shops, a nice grocery store, and lots of friendly yachties. We rested and explored the town on Monday and Tuesday morning set out for Port a Pitre arriving here about 2:00 p.m.. We will check on Sharon's flights, explore a little bit, arrange a cab for 5:00 a.m. on the 17th so she can be at the airport on time. Port a Pitre is a large city and we are anchored near a large marina where I hope to continue my search for various additions and boat parts for Williard G.. Hopefully I will use my time here productively as there is still much to do on WilliardG.. I will greatly miss the smiles in the morning, and good nature of my dear first mate while she is vacationing for the Holidays with her family.

We want to wish all Happy Holidays!