Part of the reason we have been in Dominica so long is that we have been waiting for a package from Canada. It finally made it to my sister, who FedEx'ed it to us here in the Nature Isle. We have certainly not been suffering during the wait (the proof is in other blog postings past and future). And the items finally arrived.
The package was supposed to be delivered to the Portsmouth office, but it was held in Roseau. I don't mind Roseau, and I have friends there, but it can be a tedious bus ride down, with the chaotic method of filling the busses and the extremely aggressive driving (everyone knows the Police don't do traffic patrols of any sort). Okay, road trip. However, I was in luck as our friend Martin, one of the P.A.Y.S. service providers, had errands in Roseau, and was happy to help me out with transportation. Whew!
We arranged for Martin to pick me up at 7:00 am so that we could get into town early and get our stuff done in good time. I was also bringing propane tanks with me to fill (one of ours, and one from other cruising friends). No problem at all, since we had arranged it the day before on our tour (again, another blog). Ken dropped me off, and I was in Martin's bus shortly after that.
We were about 5 miles or so south of Portsmouth when Martin's phone rang. With a dawning horror, Martin realised that he had promised another friend that he was going to take him and his family on an Indian River tour. Okay, I wasn't in a rush, and we turned around and got back to Portsmouth, parked the bus, got a ride out to Martin's boat, and rushed over to the mouth of the Indian River where George and his family were waiting. Ken and I had done that tour 5 years ago when we first arrived in Dominica, so this was a very nice bonus for me. I absolutely enjoyed the tour and the discussion of the birds and plants. Actually, I think I appreciated it more this time, having a better understanding of the island now. Unfortunately for Martin, he was dressed for the city, and was sweating buckets as he has to row the boat on the river.
So, we dropped off the family, docked the boat and got to the bus. A little later than planned, but the tour was nice, at least for me. Martin could have wrung his shirt out. However, now the bus wouldn't start. The day before we had done a tour with Martin, and the last stop of the day it wouldn't start, so we had to push it while he popped the clutch. Well, this time, even that didn't work. Martin pulled out the dead battery, and carried it to the car parts place to get a new one.
So, another glitch, but I had a chance to chat with Paul, one of the drivers that works with Martin, and a very pleasant man. He was sticking around in case martin needed another pair of hands to get things happening. As Paul and I chatted, standing under a mango tree, I had a passion fruit fall on me. There was a passion fruit vine entwined in the mango tree, and I was the day's target. We moved a bit, and Martin showed up with the new battery (and he was still sweating, poor guy). But the new battery did the trick, and we were now off to Roseau.
We arrived at the FedEx office in downtown Roseau, to be told that I had to take some papers to the port. What?!? They get paid how much, and I have to do the running around? Fortunately, Martin knew where we had to go, and we were off. Equally as fortunate, the people working at the Port in Roseau are extremely nice and very willing to assist any way that they can. As a Vessel in Transit, we can get things in at a greatly reduced, or non-existent, Customs rate, but I was supposed to have a declaration. I explained to the gentleman that I had asked Customs in Portsmouth about any paperwork or anything else, and had been reassured that it could be handled when I was picking up my stuff. He made sure I paid the lowest amount possible.
After that, we dropped off the propane tanks. Well, we were going to drop them off, but they had them filled by the time I was trying to pre-pay! Now, coincidence had it that we were going to go see the gentleman who runs that gas depot, and numerous other businesses, next, as part of Martin's errands. Martin got what he needed done, and we arranged a system where cruisers could drop their propane tanks off in Portsmouth and get them filled in a couple of days. Win/win situation.
So I tagged along with Martin as he visited other businesses and organizations for his work. Since it was all cruiser related, I could provide a little input where useful.
We finally got out of town by 3:00 and had a great lunch before we hit the long road back to Portsmouth. We happened to meet up with someone Martin knew, and that I know by sight and regular good mornings, who was also going back to "Possie", so he saved $9.00 EC on the bus fare.
We finally got back to Portsmouth, and still had to do a fuel run for another vessel and 'Silverheels III' so no rest yet. Finally, by about 5:00, everything was done, the errands completed, and the running around done.
What a day!
Ken stayed home and cleaned the bottom of the boat, removed an inner track for the jib sheet (I finished the over-drilling and epoxying today), and various other sundry things, so he didn't lollygag, either!