Admiralty Bay, Bequia

June 29

Didn't lounge abed late as promised, but that done was done well. Hit the ground running with boat duties early then to customs before they opened. After becoming legal, began to explore Port Elizabeth and that's when the wheels fell off. Found Night Hawks for breakfast at Gingerbread Restaurant and remained planted there wounding guano until afternoon. Finally roused torpid carcasses to ambulate about checking for cruiser oriented stores. Successfully found a Texmex place that served margaritas. For those interested, the big four are: chandlery, grocery, laundry and bar, not necessarily in that order.

Some sort of Calvinist-like guilt eventually began to insinuate into what passes for my mind, so bought 1/4" Dacron double-braid rope (it's not line until it crosses the gunwale) from Piper Chandlery to repair shredding starboard lazy jack (for you sniggering I-knew-its out there, that phrase predates me). Whipping was required. On a boat, this is often a socially acceptable activity. Of course, because no messenger was tied to the old line (reference 'mind' above), the Topclimber had to be rigged for reeving new one through its block at the spreaders. (For non-sailors, I climbed halfway up the mast to run some new rope through a pulley because I screwed up taking old one off)

Having fulfilled second or third curious urge toward constructive activity, repaired to Sea Otter (met at the Pitons) for incredibly rich dessert and, as I recall in retrospect, additional adult beverage disguised as coffee.

Jack