18th November

12 00 N
61 46 W

Weather; sunny, wind n/a, waves n/a

We had plans today! The first plan was to go into the dock for 9.15 to meet up with a guy who runs a delivery business of soft drinks, water, beer, wine and an assortment of frozen grocery items. Gerry had ordered some ginger beer, coke and a cask of wine over the internet and the delivery time was going to be this morning meaning I had to get up and get going earlier than I like but once up I'm fine. We also thought that as we were going into the dock anyway we might as well take our sheets, towels and the small amount of laundry that we had accumulated and do the washing at the marina yard where they have washers and driers for use (with tokens of course) add to this the fact that Gerry had a need to visit Budget marine Ð the chandlery store and we had a few very good reasons to go, oh and of course no trip ashore is complete without a trash run!. So it got to just after 9 and we loaded up the dinghy with the laundry, trash and ourselves and headed on in. The first stop was the trash bin for Gerry whilst I stopped to buy tokens for the washer and drier, Gerry joined me just as the security guard was explaining that only one washing machine was working - that's OK I only needed one, but then she added that none of the driers were working - "what use is that" came out of Gerry's mouth before I even thought it! Forget buying tokens - there was no point in us taking a bagful of clean wet laundry back out to the boat as we have nowhere to dry it unless we want salty items from the spray. Gerry said he would take it just around the road to Lorie who is in the apartments where we stayed for the week - we would ask if she would mind us using her onsite laundry privileges and let us do our stuff there. Gerry hiked around to the apartments whilst I stood and waited for John Hovan (the delivery man) to turn up with our order. I got talking to a small group of yachties who were piling into a bus, they asked if I was joining them on the shopping trip and when I said no, they proceeded to tell me about the 3 times a week trip to the supermarket which is open to everyone for EC$15 per head - it's worth bearing in mind even though we hire a car once a fortnight to do our major shopping, you never know when you might run our of toilet paper! The bus left and Gerry reappeared before John turned up, giving him time to go into Budget Marine and order whatever it was he needed there. When John did arrive we were in for a disappointment as there was no ginger beer or coke to be had this week, the delivery hadn't arrived from Trinidad apparently so we had to make do with just a cask of wine - our second strike out for the day. Lorie had suggested that we go to her apartment for dinner that evening and at the same time do our laundry, she was cooking but needed some assistance. Back out on our boat Gerry got stuck into the job of the day, with a lot of help from yours truly. The moment had come to remove the compressor from the lazarette, yes the very same one that we put in just a few months ago in St Thomas! Out came the assortment of spanners and screwdrivers along with the ratchet hoist which was positioned over the lazarette. Gerry climbed into his second home and began the task of unbolting the compressor and securing the hoist tape around it then it was time to lift the damn thing out. I operated the ratchet hoist until the compressor was clear of the edges of the lazarette then Gerry was able to climb back out of the hole and operate the hoist the rest of the way until we had it safely on the cockpit floor - no cursing, no arguing, no crushed toes and no paintwork damage - it's a miracle! It's going to stay where it is until Friday when we have the hire car and then it's going to the Marine treasure shop for parts. We cleaned everything away and did nothing for an hour or so before heading back into shore for dinner with Lorie. Our third strike for the day happened then - Gerry had ordered a lifting strop in the morning which had to be made up and would be ready by the afternoon - in who's dreams? Of course it wasn't done, it's a good job we weren't in dire need today! So we walked round to the apartments and once there I set about putting the washing machine on then helped Lorie out with making dinner. By the time we had finished eating I dashed across to the laundry to throw everything into the drier and then we sat chatting for the next hour or so. Gerry asked if the washing would be dry yet and I suggested that he was as capable as I was to go and check. It was only minutes before he was back saying that everything was still soaking wet (slight exaggeration on his part I think as it wasn't soaking when I put it into the drier!) anyway by now he was itching to get back to the boat as it was getting dark so he asked Lorie if she would mind bagging our laundry when it was dry and he would pick it up tomorrow - not a problem. We thanked her for a wonderful dinner and the prospect of clean and dry clothes tomorrow and made our way back out to our boat in the pitch black.