Well it has been a very busy few weeks. The deal on the purchase of the new boat was concluded without too much blood, sweat and tears. John and Chris were a lovely couple who liked drinking wine almost as much as us and we all got along very well. We had some lovely meals. Paying for the boat was a nightmare in the current times when it seems to be assumed that everyone making a foreign transfer is paying for bomb construction elements. And yet they don’t seem to get the ones who actually are. We got there in the end.

Innisfree, named after a rather lovely poem by Yeats, has been out of the water in a hot climate for three years. This is good in some respects as the hull will be lovely and dry and clean, but bad in others as a lot of electrical and plumbing fittings had failed. So an awful lot of work for Colin and for John before he headed back up to Canada. Then when she was finally ready to sail the wind started blowing steady and strong after weeks of no wind at all. The boat is in a pig of a position against pilings and we are struggling to find a good moment to get her off. We had a go this morning which we abandoned due to fear of damaging the boat in the attempt. So we are still waiting. The scenery is good and the wildlife amazing. Manatees lie in the water drinking from the dripping taps, a dolphin or two can often be seen frolicking in the marina and there is a huge variety of birdlife. The latter is not so good because they shit everywhere and I have to follow around with mop and bucket.

So we are champing at the bit to be off. We have to be in Martinique to pick Alexander up for Christmas by 18th December and we have a very long way to go. About 1700 nautical miles in fact, and given that yachts go between 5 and 9 miles an hour and not always in the right direction, is a very long way indeed. It is going to be tiring but on the plus side I will drink less and lose a ridiculous amount of weight so I can binge for the rest of the season. Not a healthy attitude but….

We have profited from the time here and the use of a hire car to do victualling. A good red Cabernet Sauvignon and an oaky white Chardonnay cost 3 dollars a bottle and our storage spaces are well weighed down with it. They have a wonderful shop called the Dollar Tree where, rather unsurprisingly, everything costs a dollar. You can buy a litre of quality shampoo and conditioner for about 86p and many more things besides. So we have gone a bit mad there as well. The satin pillowcases for a dollar each were a temptation too. And the suntan cream, and the body lotion and the coconut milk for cocktails, and the crab bisque and……….. Then there is Walmart. Good for all sorts of stuff. So one laptop, two kayaks, and a 32 inch smart TV later the bank balance is a little lower. Happily so is the flotation level of the boat. The inter coastal highway, which Colin being Colin calls the intercourse highway out of Titsville, has bridges. And our mast is, as we say in France, a peu juste. So the extra weight is good. Mind you if we don’t get out soon the wine will have been depleted and the mast will be that little bit higher.

So hopefully next stop Bahamas. I wish I was as excited about this as I ought to be. It sounds so exotic. However it is horribly shallow there and we have a deep draught so we will have the opposite problem from the mast height at the bridges. I’ll let you all know how it goes.

Have a good day you all from Titsville Florida.