...as our friend Johnny would say.

B.O.A.T. - those of you who own one know what that means!

We had a great sail from Deshaies, Guadaloupe up to Jolly Harbor, Antigua where we came in to the marina to do some boat work, and to spend time with friends we knew were soon heading in another directions, and surprise! We found several other friends on the same dock or on nearby mooring balls, and then met friends of friends. Fun evenings of laughter and companionship! Which helped make up for three days of hard work and a big hit on the cruising kitty:

We spent one day replacing the 6 failing 6-volt batteries of our house bank with 3 12-volt batteries. Budget had not ordered the 6 6-volt batteries for which we had given them a deposit and we found that in-stock 12-volt AGMs would fit in the old battery boxes, so rather than wait 4-6 more weeks, we went with the 12-volts. We were very thankful for the strong young man from Budget who transported these three 135-lb beasts to dockside and lifted them one at a time onto and down into the boat. Michael did the wiring in a small space in 95-degree heat while no fans could be turned on to cool him. The fridge held its own, losing only 2 degrees during the day-long process! You could probably hear our sighs of relief all down the dock when the switch was turned on and we had power!

Then, the next day Roberta noticed that no water was being ejected from the boat by the fridge compressor cooling pump. So instead of cleaning as she had planned, we spent the entire day taking everything out of our storage space under the companionway and laz, and making a huge mess so we could access and replace the non-functioning pump. R was so annoyed by how much stuff was in that storage space that she got rid of a tub-full and the tub! Cleaned the water-maker filter while we were down there.

And the third spa day for Celilo (not crew!) was spent washing down the salty (we got splashed!) cockpit, and cleaning the dusty cabin, wiping down woodwork with vinegar water. At the end of these days we were very thankful for the marina's nice pool and cold alcoholic drinks!

After all this, we spent one afternoon resting in lounge chairs on the very beautiful Jolly Beach, another taking the bus in to St. John where Michael got a shorter haircut than he has ever had (who ARE you and what have you done with my husband, said Roberta), and another day taking the bus down to check out English and Falmouth Harbors. Nelson's Dockyard was very cool.

We are now making sure the new batteries have a good charge, and will soon head out into the anchorage to check out how they are working when not plugged in to shore power before moving to another bay here on Antigua. We'll be glad to be back on solar and wind!