21st & 22nd November

12 00 N
61 46 W

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

We have arrived at the weekend once more, I have no idea where the week has gone really - reading back on the blog for the week it would appear that we haven't done a great deal but isn't that what retirement is all about anyway?
I've lumped the two days together once again as there hasn't been much to report from the good ship lollypop, Saturday saw us confined to below decks for a good deal of the day as it rained on and off - well more on than off to be honest. Gerry had to go ashore in the morning as our hire car had to be returned by 11am and Lorie had a couple of things that she needed to check out and do whilst we had the car. Our shower curtain runs on a strange little track, probably specifically made for boats, which has sort of poppers to hold the curtain in place and just recently we have noticed that the poppers seem to come undone with increasing frequency - we wanted to see if there would be any sort of replacement for them locally (she says rolling around on the floor laughing). Anyway between rain showers Gerry headed off in the dinghy whilst I stayed below keeping dry. Our small bag of trash went ashore with him to be dumped, he met up with Lorie who was considering emptying her freezer out and taking it all to the apartment as she was worrying that her battery voltage wasn't keeping up whilst the boat was out in the yard. Gerry thought that it was doing OK so for the moment they decided to leave things where they are and took off for the hardware stores. Of course the trip was a waste of time - they didn't have anything like what we were after, why would they? Lorie had thought to get some beer ready for Dale's quarantine period when he returns this Thursday but he decided he didn't want any so Lories jobs were cut to nothing. The pair of them took a short detour to find the best way to get to the brewery with or without using a car - one way was a hairy goat track and another required a dinghy ride then a 6-10 minute walk, mostly up hill - the car or taxi remains the best option at this point! They returned in time to drop the car key at the security sentry box and Gerry headed back out to the boat and Lorie to the apartment. The rain continued all afternoon and we played open and close the hatches - not quite quickly enough at one point as the bed got a bit wet, not to worry though the heat from the closed up boat soon dried it out even if it made things even more humid inside. We did nothing for the entire afternoon as there were no outstanding jobs for a change. The good news for the day was that our new compressors have arrived in the country from the moon via both the north and south poles, we now have to patiently wait for them to be cleared by customs before we can get them installed. The fridge experts were thinking that it might be possible to do the job on Tuesday or Wednesday - they obviously have more faith in the customs clearing process than we have, but I'll go along with their thinking if it means I'll have a fridge again by next Friday! By the time it came around to 5pm we were over being cooped up inside the boat and decided to brave the cockpit for a "sunset" wine as the rain had stopped and we wouldn't be deterred by the entire cockpit being wet and there not being a single ray of sun to even consider setting. As we sat there one of our neighbours began putting out fenders and hoisting his anchor - had we stared sternly enough to scare him off? - no, it would appear that he is being lifted out of the water first thing on Monday and was getting a jump on positioning in the travel lift slip as we saw him tied up there on Sunday all ready to go. We just need to stare sternly at one other neighbor and we will be surrounded by nothing but water once more and maybe our turtle will come back from MIA.
So on to Sunday, it was time to top up our alcohol levels, a trip to the brewery was in order as long as it wasn't raining. Happily for us it was a sunny day so we jumped in the dinghy and headed to shore, met up with Lorie and got a taxi to the brewery. As they hold a craft and veggie market there on Sunday we expected it to be busier than it was, but we weren't complaining as we got the pick of veggies, drinks and food in record time and a table under the fan. For the first time since we have been here they were out of Ginger beer so we had to content ourselves with mimosas - someone has to do it so why not us! The craft side of the market was a little on the lean side but Lorie browsed anyway as she is looking for things to take back home for her grandkids, I have no grandkids so no real need to look! After a drawn out lunch it was time to get the taxi back to the dock and make our way back to our boat where we gave in to a nanna nap until it was Wine o'clock. At least today the cockpit was dry and there was a few rays of sun to set. As we are behind hills we don't actually ever get to see the sun set completely but tonight we did have a very pretty pink sky - Shepherds (or sailors) delight, so I grabbed the camera for a photo, unfortunately the photo doesn't capture the pink but I think you'll sort of get the idea of how it looked. Again, sadly, no turtle tonight, we'll have to throw out more dead veggies as he must be hungry by now!
So as you can tell we've had far too much time on our hands with nothing to do this weekend, I'm sure Gerry will fix this in the coming week - there must be something that he can break!