Amulet underway

On Friday, February 10th, we left Iles Des Saintes at 0600 for Monserrat, home of the famous volcano, that is still active. On the way, we ran into 2 or 3 Minke whales. We were hard on the wind the entire day, but made good time, arriving at Montserrat at 1730, and anchoring in Little Bay to stage for another early morning start to the island of Nevis.

We had pretty much covered Montserrat in 2009, and didn't feel the need to repeat the shore tour.

We departed for the island of Nevis at 0830 on Saturday, February 11th with our water tank on the low side (i.e. less than 2 gallons) and no working water maker. Quick trip indeed on a beam reach, arriving at 1230. We were trying to avoid clearing customs, but needed water. I reasoned that customs was closed on Saturday afternoon, and we anchored "Amulet" in front of the ferry dock, looking for a hose spigot. I launched the inflatable, and found a hose spigot, then went to the taxi line and found a cab to take me to buy some jerry cans, then returned, filled them, and made four trips (40 gallons) out to the boat with the filled jerry cans. We then weighed anchor, and found buoy in the mooring field in front of our favorite rum shack, Sunshines. Or what we thought was Sunshines.

So began a comical set of false assumptions on the fate of Sunshines. I was pretty sure of Sunshines location, but it appears to have gone substantially upscale since our last visit. We took the dinghy in, and the building was now evidently a Four Seasons hotel restaurant. I surmised, that Four Seasons, which was always next door to Sunshines, had finally prevailed, and bought him out, remodeling the location into their restaurant. They had an empty table, and underdressed to say the least, we had a fine dinner.

During the course of the dinner, Melinda inquired with our waitress about the fate of Sunshines, and she said, that his old location had indeed been absorbed by Four Seasons, but that the old location was just south of the restaurant, and that he had moved further south still. After dinner we took the dinghy further down the beach, and there was Sunshines, with great music and the old man himself, looking better than ever, overseeing his domain. We had a fine time there, and did further research deconstructing his legendary "Killer Bee". Of course the jerk chicken that was $34 for at the Four Seasons, was on the menu for $14 at Sunshines.. ...

Picture is of Melinda, with our friend Sunshine, eponymous owner of the infamous rum shack.