After Shawnda left we needed to get Laurie’s computer fixed as it would not even start. I called up Dell and apparently her computer was out of the warrantee period. Before I had a chance to discuss the problem, the girl put on her “sales hat” and said that I could buy an extension warrantee for a one year period but it had to be back dated to June and would take it to June 2016 and it was “only” $75.00 CDN! So I thought to myself, I think the mother board and fan plus lord knows what else is fried so, duh….at that price I could not even get anyone to look at it. So, I bought the warrantee extension and added an extra year to mine too. Both of the warrantees were “next day service”. That will be interesting I thought….

Then I got to speak to the tech guy. He walked me through trying to start it, it would, but only for a minute and it would shut down. So, he said I would need to get it serviced. (Really?)

He ordered the parts to be sent to Antigua and I would be notified when they arrived and that a service tech would come out to repair the computer. I explained (again) that I was on a boat but he just did not get it… I also asked him what parts they would be changing. He sent a new mother board ($800.00 alone), a cooling fan and other parts. I guess the 75 bucks was well spent!

It did take a few days for the parts to arrive in Antigua so we went back around to Cades reef to hang out (alone) for a few days. When the parts came in the “local” guy called I agreed to bring the laptop into Jolly Harbour so he could take it back to the shop. See; I AM a reasonable person. I did not insist he swim out to the boat.

During this whole time we had been talking with Havins Marine in Sint Maarten about building a frame for our new solar plans. He assured us “no problem”. I pointed out that we would be arriving a full week ahead of Christmas and was he sure he could fit it in. He assured it was “no problem” and to sail up from Antigua. We agreed and I told him that we would come in through the bridge to the lagoon and where would he like us to go. He asked us to take a dock at Island Water World and his place was just across the road. I said great and that I would be there at 10 AM on Friday December 18.

So we checked out of Antigua and sailed up to Barbuda where we spent the night at Low Bay so it would be an easy 12 hour sail from there. We left Low Bay at 0415, yes it was dark, and off we went. Not long after the sun rose I put out two fishing lines and by 7 AM I hooked onto my first Mahi Mahi. On the trip we got that plus a Barracuda (released), another small Mahi (also released – the hook was in the flesh of his back??? Not sure how that happened, I think he threw the hook from his mouth and then got snagged), two Little Tunny’s and then just as we were approaching Sint Maarten, a very nice Black Fin Tuna around 12 pounds. Kept 4 fish in total. Sushi tonight! (and a few more nights) I am also getting better at cleaning the things while we are still underway but we did have a blood streak down the side of the boat for a few days until I noticed it.

So, we arrived at the dock Friday morning and took it for a full week so the work could be done. First thing in the morning before the bridge opened into the lagoon we took the dingy in so we could clear customs (dingy fits under the bridge) and then went over to see where we would be docked. The girl showed us and we looked at how narrow of it a fit it was getting into the slip. I asked; “how wide is it between the pylons going into the slip?” She answered, “14 feet”. Hedonism is 13.5 feet wide. Okay, this will be tight. We went back to the boat and rigged for our arrival. Fenders “ready” but not overboard otherwise we would be almost 16 feet wide…. We tied them so we could just dump them over as we passed the pylons. And then headed in after the bridge opened up. We made it AND kept all of the paint on the boat!

I went over to Havins Marine by 10 AM to see the guy and have him come to discuss the work. He said that he would be over right after lunch; first warning sign. So, he shows up at 1:30 and we discuss the work. He then asks me what our time frame was. I pointed out that, as discussed on the phone, I needed to leave before Christmas so we had a week. He looked at me and THEN announced “no way, I am too busy” and walked off the boat. If I had a gun……

We had sailed all the way to Sint Maartin, took a dock for a week ($$$) for this idiot. I am STILL mad about it.

So, I had no alternative but to go to another rigging outfit (FKG Rigging) that, after pulling a similar stunt last spring, I wanted to avoid. Apparently this sort of thing is the norm? Anyhow, the problem last spring is that I had been dealing with the General Manager then but when we arrived to have the mast track installed, no one knew anything about it and he was off seriously ill, or so I was told. (I believe he was) This time I went in and he was there and I explained the situation with his “competitor” and he asked “why didn’t you come here first”. (He did not know who I was yet). I said, “Do you really want to know?” He said yes, so I filled him in about him ordering the mast track for our Leisure Furl last spring (THEN he remembered!) and that when I showed up he wasn’t there and I could not get it installed. He smiled and said, “You’re batting a 1000 aren’t you?”

He pointed out that it was just before Christmas and that he could not get it done before but he would have his fabrication manager come and see us in a couple of days. The guy came over on Wednesday (2 days before Christmas) with one of his men to talk about what needed to be done. He said that he would be on holidays all the following week but that his guys would do the work between Christmas and New Years and could I move the boat to their dock for Monday morning? We did, and the work was done that week.

So, we spent Christmas on the dock at Island Water World. We met other cruisers including a couple from Ontario who had just purchased a catamaran and were starting a charter business. We all got along well and met up on their cat for a Christmas Eve party. On Christmas day Laurie put our Turkey in the oven (a “Lit’lball” by Butter Ball – I had never seen one before either, just a small version of the butterball) I had comments on the dock that they could smell a Christmas turkey roasting and were envious. That is my Laurie!!

We ended up staying on FKG’s dock through New Years as by then, we had made the decision that we could not make it to Panama given the Columbian low pressure system in the way with winds steady at 45 knots and forecast to continue for a few weeks. This would be about a 7 or 8 day passage and we would be stupid to head out into that. 45 knots for a bit, okay but not steady.

We had tickets to fly home from Panama already for the month of February so we changed them to depart from Antigua.

The New Year’s fireworks in Sint Maarten were really something. Not one or two displays going off; probably more like 12 sites all along the shore.

We left the Lagoon on January 5 and motored around to Marigot Bay on the French side. I dove on the hull and WOW. The Lagoon was a really a breeding ground for barnacles. I knew it but now we got to see it. I spent a couple of hours scraping the hull. We were having problems with our “new” bottom paint and had put in a claim with Sea Hawk paints in December but this was in addition to that. I am not sure what all of the “super yachts” do that stay in the lagoon. They must employ a full time diver?
We left Marigot Bay after provisioning. We paid $10 USD for 5 litre boxes of red wine. No, that is not a typo. When we first visited the store (we had been there last year) this time we saw the wine and bought one box to “try it”. It was actually VERY good so we went back to pick up a “few” more. And French beer at $10 per case. Okay, the beer is a bit of an acquired taste but after 1 or 2….

We headed around and anchored for 2 days at Orient Beach to wait for forecasted northeast winds and then set sail back to Barbuda. As usual, we had to get “special permission” to clear in from the bosses in Antigua but it was not a problem. Heading to Barbuda from St. Martin is usually into the wind but we picked our day when the wind was supposed to be more north east but light. In fact, we got to use our Code Zero sail for the first real time. (Other than a trial) The wind was around 10 to 12 knots and it moved us along at about 7.5. Pretty good, but it is strictly a light air sail and after a bit the wind started to pick up so we rolled it up and continued on the main and genoa for the rest of the trip. We did not see any other boats along the route. A 12 to 14’ swell from the north built during the day. This had been forecasted for several a days as they were from a storm off the east coast of the US and Canada. The waves had an interval of about 15 seconds so they were just big rollers and not breaking. A fun ride actually.

And for extra fun, we caught 4 more tuna on the trip including Little Tunnys and another Black Fin. Okay, the freezer is now almost full. Need to put the fishing gear away for a while!

We arrived in Barbuda after sunset but having been in and out of Low Bay numerous times we were fine. The only problem, the north swells I was just talking about. Low Bay is open to the west and the swells wrap around the island and roll into the beach (and back out) making it a very uncomfortable anchorage in those conditions. We anchored out anyways as going around to Spanish Point in the dark is not an option. However, at first light we raised anchor and went around as you could not even entertain the idea of landing the dingy on the Low Bay beach in those conditions.

Once at Spanish point I called a taxi to meet me to drive into Codrington to go Customs and Immigration. When I arrived at customs he (John) wasn’t there so I called his cell and he said he would be right there. He drove up in a couple of minutes and I went in. He asked where we were anchored and I told him Spanish Point, that we had arrived at Low Bay the previous evening but it was too rough to land so we went around. He had actually followed us on the AIS and was wondering if we had turned it off midway from St. Martin and then back on approaching Barbuda. I explained no and the differences in AIS units. Ships and really big yachts have Satellite based AIS while ours and most boats our size only have AIS units that transmit over our VHF radios so we once we are out of sight of land, land based repeaters do not see them.

He then pulled out the customs paperwork and said just sign here. Codrington does not have a computer for customs. John knew us, had looked up our “old” documents and had filled out all of the forms longhand for us ahead of time!!!!! WOW! He then asked where Laurie was and I said that she had stayed on the boat so he said to be sure to say hi for him. You won’t get service like that from most customs that I know of. It is why we love Barbuda and everyone there!

As per our new plan, we hung out in Barbuda until the 25th. Lots of hiking, boat chores and so on. We took the opportunity to disassemble the traveler, boom fittings, and genoa cars and so on, doing complete service on them. The salt takes a toll on things but many parts had not been apart before. We ensured to “Teff Gel” them so they come apart easier next time and to stop corrosion.

During this time I had noticed that I was waking up with swollen hands in the morning. Thinking of what another sailor had told me, I checked the salinity of our water in the tanks and it was almost double what it was supposed to be. We ran a cleaning solution through the watermaker to try to lower it. It helped a bit but was still not near where it should have been. Glad we found out now so we could order a new membrane that we could pick up back home.

We arrived back at Jolly Harbor on the 25th, changed the engine oil and serviced the engine and got ready to head north for the month of February. I forgot how cold Thunder Bay was in February…..not really but….