Lesley's new puppy

We got some pictures from the breeder yesterday - think this could be Lesley's new puppy.

Old San Juan

We are still playing tourist - have been exploring Old San Juan and the Forts Castillo San Felipe del Morro and San Cristobal.  We followed the old walls for about 2 miles then had to stop for lunch at the Old Harbor Brewery.

Today we went back and explored some more and had a nice lunch at St Germaine Bistro.

The old town looks and feels like a really old town.

Arecibo

We drove out West yesterday with the intention of touring the Arecibo Radio Observatory and then the Rio Camuy Caves.  We had originally planned to visit Old San Juan but the place we wanted to have lunch only has brunch on Sundays so we are doing that tour later today.

We stopped at Arecibo and had a nice tour.  This thing is very large and even the feed point is larger than many dishes I've seen.

View of the feed area as you approach the visitors center.

Dish - wire mesh.

One of three pylons that support the feed point assembly.

Feed point - this thing is steerable and is really really big.

We then headed over to Rio Camuy Caves but the crowd was so large and the traffic was so bad we turned around and headed back to the boat.  We think we have already seen the best Caves - Karchner Caverns State Park, Cochise County, Az.

On to Old San Juan after breakfast.

Tourists

Tomorrow we are headed in to old San Juan and will play tourists exploring the old Fort and Castles in the area.  Plan to take the big camera with us tomorrow so will have more photos to add afterwards.  We also plan to visit Araceibo (huge radio telescope) and Camuy caves early in the week.

We hit Costco this morning and bought a few things and also a stop at Home Depot.  Pretty much set now for our departure from PR - weather permitting, 4 Jan with day sails around the South Coast and then clear out of Mayaguez for the Dominican Republic and a planned stop at Ocean World.

Fridge is working again

The guys from Mayday Marine showed up yesterday morning as promised at 7:30.  We spoke briefly about our problem and then they asked me what I wanted to do.  I asked them to vacuum the system and then try a recharge.  After about 4.5 hours on the vacuum pump and a recharge the freezer is working again.  It appears that there may have been some small amount of moisture in the system that was freezing and blocking the capillary tube.

Just in case though I have a new evaporator and add on filter dryer on board should the problem reappear.  Coastal Climate Control sent me the new parts on the 24th and I had then by the afternoon of the 26th.

We moved all of our frozen items from the beach house back to the boat and are now ready to move along on the 4th of Jan.

Working on a boat in Exotic Places!

We were happy to get the boat back together and move her back to a slip yesterday.  After finishing the battery equalization I turned the freezer back on but it did not seem to be acting correctly.  This morning the freezer was only down to 38 so it wasn't.  I'm assuming that we have enough moisture in the refrigerant to freeze at the capillary tube or even worse have a chip blocking the capillary tube.  Have a reefer man coming to look at the system Friday morning.  Hoping he can vacumn the system and then recharge to fix the problem.  But, just in case, a new evaporator and filter dryer are on order from Coastal Climate Control!

I must say it again, so glad that we have the use of Mike and Martina's freezer through this!

We picked up some stuff from the beach house so we are all set for Christmas dinner aboard.

Back in the water

We splashed today at 1:30 PM and stopped by the fuel dock to replace the fuel that we had burned on the way here and also that we had pumped into the emergency reserve fuel bladder.

I ran the engine hard, up to 3200rpm and no noise or vibration, so success on the bearing replacement.  Nice to have things back together and back in the water.

We will go over to the beach house in the morning and move our frozen meat back to the boat.  Right now I'm equalizing the batteries while we get ready to head into Fajardo for dinner.

Merry Christmas

Balnearios Kioscos

My goodness - food everywhere!  A long street of food Kiosks right along Highway 3 West of Luquillo, PR.

Rice & Beans, Italian, Mexican, Peruvian … Oh My!

The 60 kiosks (actually, there are a few less) are very different and range in style, taste and price. You can get humble local fried goodies like bacalaítos, alcapurrias, pastelillos/empanadillas or even rice & beans, and a cold beer, for just a few bucks. You can also get much more unusual things like gourmet hamburgers, local/Caribbean fusion, Thai, Italian, Mexican and even Peruvian food. This mixing of the new cuisine and the classic Puerto Rican food kiosk now offers something for everyone. The places without liquor licenses even allow you to BYOB or, if you want, just stop into one place to pick up an alcoholic beverage to go with your meal at another place.

Rick, just want you to know that we may stop for dinner here on our way back from the San Juan AP when you fly in.

Thinking of a Tatoo while you have a cool draft beer!

There is a very neat breed of ponies here - Paso fino - a mix of ponies from Columbia and here.

The gait on these ponies is amazing, very quick and short - almost sounds like a salsa dance step.

Casa Bavaria

We took off late yesterday heading for Morovis, where we were going to meet Mike and Martina for a late lunch.  We had a nice drive of about 2 hours and stopped at the restaurant.  Mike and Martina are the original owners and passed the place on to their daughter and son several years ago.  We hung out and I had several good German beers - draft.  First a Paulaner hefe-weiss bier, then several from Old Harbor (local San Juan) and then for desert I had a Hoffbrau original (Munich).

But I'm getting ahead of myself.

The view off the back porch looking North toward the Atlantic Ocean.

We've had lots of showers and some higher than normal winds but the weather was warm and we were dry.

There was a good crowd, a mix of locals and not so locals like us.  After a few beers we started eating and was it good.  I had a beef rouladen and Lesley had schweinebraten and we had German potato salad, mashed potatoes, and fresh purple kraut.  We were both to stuffed to have desert so we decided on a very nice pastry with walnuts and cinnamon and unknown to us, Martina snuck in a very nice apple yummy that we had for breakfast this morning.

We met the kids, we met some of the locals, including a local fellow who wears traditional Bavarian lederhosen.  

We struggled with full bellies and finally headed back to Luquillo on the Eastern end of the Island getting back just before dark.

What a great day with super people - THANK YOU MIKE AND MARTINA

New bearing is installed

We got to the yard about 8:30 this morning and started working on the bearing replacement.  The machine shop pressed out the old bearing and then machined out the inside of the stern tube so that the new bearing would be easier to install and more importantly remove next time.

We reinstalled the stern tube then on the inside of the boat reattached the stuffing box and bonding wire.  I removed the old packing and installed new teflon packing and we were finished by 11:00am!

Then we transferred 15 gallons of fuel from the main tank to one of the bladders so we have some reserve fuel as we begin making our way back thru the Bahamas.

Beach House!

Mike came to the marina this morning and we unloaded the fresh/frozen food from the boat and moved it to the beach house - what a relief that was.  We visited with Mike and Martina for awhile then headed back to the marina.  We saw an Enterprise car rental on the road so stopped to see if it was the one holding our reservation - it was - so we picked up the car.

Got back to the marina and after some delays with paperwork the boat was hauled and then moved up next to the machine shop.  Roberts guys had the prop off before the boat was even blocked and the shaft bearing was indeed badly worn.

We pulled the stuffing box loose then removed the stern tube and cleaned everything up.  The old cutlass bearing will have to be pressed out - could not budge it.  Machine shop will take care of that in the morning.

Thanks Mike and Martina - we are relaxing at the beach house having a cold "Medalla" and going back to Fajardo for Cuban food after we clean up.

Puerto Del Rey

We spent the night behind a reef on Culebra and had a great nights sleep.  There were two moorings left when we arrived but both of them were in sad shape so we backed off a bit and anchored.

We left Culebra and motor sailed on to Fajardo and are now resting in the Puerto del Rey marina.  We've contacted Mike and he is going to pick us and our frozen food up in the morning and we are going to move it over to his beach house.  Will become beach house residents for a few days while I replace the cutlass bearing.

Mike and his wife Martina also own a German Restaurant here on the Island so looking forward to getting together with them and enjoying the restaurant as well.

Lesley is baking some brownies now and I am getting ready to service the engine.  Then I plan to have a few nice cold Old Harbor Taina's (Hefeweizen) if I can find them here in the store.

USVI

We moved over to Maho Bay on the North Side of St John on Saturday.  We used our new Small Vessel Reporting System information and called in to clear in.  All appeared fine and then Lesley had an email from the USCBP telling her that she had to come in to Cruz Bay.  We dropped the mooring and moved on down to find out what was wrong!  Yep, you guessed it - even though we personally appeared at the USCBP office at Fort Myers, Fl this past summer for our interview and updates the office there "FORGOT" to enter her passport into the system.  Will have to try and sort this out once we get back to Florida.

We moved back to Maho Bay and hung out till this morning and then we moved back to Cruz Bay and I picked up a masthead wind indicator connector and a few groceries.  We then moved over to Red Hook so that we could have the EPIRB Battery changed and pick up a liferaft.

Also need to haul out to replace a worn cutlass bearing so spent part of the day trying to arrange that here - no way.  After several phone calls to Puerto Rico we were able to confirm a haulout on Thursday afternoon  and have arranged to have a mechanical services company pull the prop and will help if I need to have the old bearing pressed out.

Plan now is to leave here at 9:00 am tomorrow and anchor for the night off Culebra then move on to PR on Wednesday early.  Have reserved a rental car in PR and Mike, of IP-350 Lorelei, has offered to let us use his beach house - so we will be able to move the frozen food off the boat to his freezer while we are on the hard.

We were really sweating the haulout as we approach the holiday season!

Sint Maarten to Virgin Gorda

We moved out of Simpson Bay Lagoon at 4:00pm yesterday and anchored in Simpson Bay.  It was very rolly but we had dinner, read our Kindles and then crashed early.  No sleep for the rollies!  We got up and left this morning at 1:30am.  Weather (wind/waves) was a bit much but we did fine and arrived here in Gorda Sound at about 2:00pm.

On the way over we ran up on an abandoned fishing boat (200HP Yamaha, fuel tanks, etc) with no one on board.  Then had a nice encounter with a bunch of spotted dolphins.  Will post some photos and a video once we have a chance to decompress some (like in a few days).

Tomorrow were on our way to St John, USVI and hope to take a mooring in Maho Bay, clear in to the US using the SVRS and then go ashore for dinner on the hill.

Would you believe - lightning!

We've spent 8 winters in the Caribbean and on Thursday morning we saw lightning on the Northern horizon.  Then yesterday even we had some here is the St Maarten area and then later in the evening down South toward St Kitts.  Really unusual...  Thunder and lightning in the Islands.

Had cocktails with John and Nancy on IP-420 Adventuress last night.  Had not seen them for several years so was nice to catch up. 

We plan to head in to Budget Marine and Island Water World later this morning.

WiFi is pretty poor here so will post some older pictures once we have better connectivity.

Change of plans!

It looked like the weather was going to change for the worse making a planned trip from St Kitts up to St Martin a bit hairy so we left Jolly Harbor at 4:00am yesterday heading for St Barts instead.  Nice trip up and we were on a mooring at Anse de Columbier by about 4:40pm.  Had a nice dinner of 4 cheese ravioli and steamed broccoli and a bottle of Chianti.

Moved on to St Maarten this morning and came inside Simpson Bay Lagoon to hang out waiting for the weather to improve so that we can move on over the the VI.

Jolly Harbor Antigua

We arrived here about 2:20 this afternoon, washed the boat down and cleared in.  This is our normal turn around spot each season but this year we are continuing on North and then West back to Florida.  It looks like we have a few more days left in this current weather window so the plan now is to move to St Kitts on Thursday, yellow flag it and then move on to St Maarten on Friday.   Then it looks like we will hunker down for an extended blow!

I'm headed in to the store to snag a bag of ice (we now have some room in the freezer so it will not be long now before the Gin and Tonics appear.

More later.....

Moving On

We moved to Martinique on Thursday then went in and cleared in and out Friday morning (out on Sunday).  We moved out to St Anne for the evening and then had a nice sail up to St Pierre.  We anchored in our usual spot north of the town dock up by the fishing port and had some very slow (but free) wifi.  Had Chicken Etouffee, steamed rice and a baguette - yum.

As is usually the case the anchorage was very rolly so about 5:45 this morning we got up and headed for Portsouth, Dominica.  The trip up was very blustery but were here and taking it easy now.  We did mamaged to make 42 gallons of water on the trip up.

We are "Yellow Flagging" it here so will move on to Deshaies, Guadeloupe in the morning and go in to clear in/out there heading for Antigua the following morning.

We have good WiFi here today - Thanks to HotHotHotSpot (Arnold).

Oh, and I almost forgot - we did get a good green flash last night at sunset!

Christmas Winds

Over the past 8 seasons we have enjoyed sailing in the Caribbean enjoying the Islands between Grenada and Antigua.  Several times over the past several years we have run into people who have stayed in one spot for the entire season due to "Christmas Winds".

Chris Doyle defines these winds as "When the isobars get tight, the wind increases and is sometimes very fresh (25-30 knots). We call these Christmas winds. This high pressure is offset by cold fronts that come down from the northwest. They almost never make it as far as the Windwards, but as they approach, we often get very calm and sunny weather followed by wind and rain, as their tail ends affect our area".
 
Our experience over this time period has been the same - the winds will pipe up for a few days and then fall off as cold fronts spill of the US and enter the Atlantic. 

Several days ago we had another of these encounters - this time with a Canadian woman who was on a large Cat sitting in the Rodney Bay Marina.  She complained that they were unable to move last year because of the "Christmas Winds".  No amount of discussion would convince this woman that there are opportune times to move all season as long as you pay attention to the weather.

So we have been watching the weather and we are heading to Antigua from here with stops along the way at St Pierre, Portsmouth, and Deshaies. 

Happy holidays.

Moving North

We left St Lucia yesterday morning and had a blustery trip to Marin.  Winds and waves higher than forecast but the trip is les than 4 hours so we were fine.  We came in past the Club Med beach resort and anchored in our favorite spot off Cap Dusquene.  Even got some free very low level wifi so were able to check weather and email.

Went in to the Port Captain office and cleared in and out then picked up a few boat parts and some local groceries before moving out to St Anne for the evening (and lunch ashore a Snack Bou Bou).

On to St Pierre tomorrow then Dominica (yellow flag), Deshaies, Guadeloupe (Clear out only so that I have the form for clearing in in Antigua the following day).  We've had some great weather for moving North so far and want to get as far as we can before hunkering down if need be for weather.

We have a reservation at a Marina in St Croix beginning the 10th of Dec - hope we have good weather.

Lesley had a discussion with a cruiser lady in St Lucia about weather and Christmas winds - a story for next time................

Dinner Ashore

We met a friend here for happy hour yesterday afternoon (Vision) and said our goodbyes.  We first met Vision when we hired him to take us on a tour up into the Edmund Forest Preserve 5 years ago and we have remained friends since.  Vision does boat work here in Rodney Bay - usually teak, waxing and polishing and is a very nice fellow.

After  cocktails we had dinner ashore at our favorite Indian place.  We each had a samosa chat and then split an order of chicken biriyani and a side of garlic naan.  Everything was great......

Came back to the boat and watched 2 episodes from the first season of the old series Northern Exposure. We lived in Okinawa Japan when the show first aired and I think that we first started watching Season 2 or 3 on AFRTS.  Good show....  Love our Western Digital Media Player.

The broken pin

Here is a photo of the pin that broke off at the masthead wind speed/direction sensor.

My plan for the repair originally was to feed this wire back through the connector and then splice it in to the cable.  Could not feed the wire through so ended up digging the wire out of the connector slightly then tack soldering the pin to the wire.

Anyway, everything is still working so we plan to move on to Martinique tomorrow and then continue up to Guadeloupe next week early.

Wind Speed/Direction working

Three trip ups the mast, major surgery on the cable and connector, extra parts, soldering iron swap out, SUCCESS!

First, up the mast to see if I had enough slack to access the cable and I was able to pull about a foot up the mast and tie it off.  Then I took the masthead mount loose and took the connector apart to see what I had in store for me....  Molded soft rubber connector so rather than work up on the mast I cut the connector off and brought it down to do the temporary repair.

Down the mast and took the connector apart.  Cut into the connector to expose the wire from the broken pin.  I used an ohmmeter to confirm that it was the red wire and then tack soldered the wire and connector and put everything back together.

Second - up the mast with the repaired connector and parts, tools, soldering iron, extension cord etc.  Plugged the soldering iron in and started attempting to splice the 6 conductor cable - Trade winds to strong for the small soldering iron cooling it off so Lesley sent the 100watt iron up.  Spliced with wires and shield, reinstalled the unit at the mast  head and then started putting the wind vane cups and direction vane back on.  Dropped one of the nuts and watched as it made a one point landing in Rodney Bay.  Verified that the wind direction was now working and then went through the calibration procedure.  Back down the mast - need a replacement nut for the wind speed head.

Third, back up the mast and managed not to drop anything this time.

Finished, Success, we now know where the wind is coming from and at what speed.

This is a temporary repair that should hold till we can make it to the USVI to pick up permanent repair parts.

This morning in Rodney Bay

The plan for today was to start off by going up the mast to repair a connector on the masthead wind instrument - wrong.  Overcast with rain showers so will wait till it dries out to attempt the repair.

In the meantime I replaced the keyboard on my laptop.  We started having trouble with it while we were still in Grenada so ordered a replacement, shipped to a friend in Florida who then shipped the part to us here in care of the Marina.

Old keyboard out!

New keyboard in!

Now, over to Island Water World to offer a sacrifice to the Boat Gods.

Bequia walk around

We had been hanging around Bequia with the intent of moving a WiFi Access Point but the "Local Ladies", even after 1 year of planning still could not get a plan together.  So we took of early yesterday and walked over toward the Old Hegg Turtle sanctuary. 

Along the way we noticed that the local health center was undergoing major renovation.  Not sure where the temporary facility is located.

Garden on the side of a hill.  Pigeon peas, corn, yams, etc.

Some of the unusual plats that we saw on our walk.

It was to late for "Bread Fast" so we had a Roti instead. 

 Firefly Plantation.

Now we are chilling out having just arrived at Rodney Bay Marina (we beat the ARC).

Pizza, salad and a nice Chianti for dinner and then it is time for bed.  We left Bequia at 0300 this morning - way before I'm ready to even growl.

Bequia

We arrived here yesterday afternoon and just as we started to anchor we got a nice free boat wash - love those short rain showers.....  I went in and cleared Customs and Immigration and then back to the boat.  Tried to setup access to WiFi but some issues with my preferred provider so switched to another.  Have email access so arranging customs clearance of a new laptop keyboard in St Lucia and shipment of a new masthead wind instrument connector to the US VI.

Had a nice dinner of leftover stuffed peppers and read for an hour or so in the cockpit - love our Library and the Kindle - what a way to read while out here.

Tonight I'm making Szechuan Beef and spiced snow peas over buckwheat noodles.  Shower time now and poised for another potential green flash!

Tomorrow - reading and some minor boat maintenance - then a break for ice cream ashore.

Carriacou

I went ashore shortly after anchoring and cleared out at the new port of entry.  Still some bugs to be worked out as only an Immigration Officer mans the facility and he has to call into Hillsborough frequently with questions on Customs.  With us we the problem was a 30 day cruising permit that we purchased when we reentered Grenada with the boat this past April.  The permit is good for 30 days and days spent in a yard or marina do not count.  We had used 12 days of our permit but the Officer tried to charge us another $50EC.  Several phone calls later and we were good to go without having to pay for the additional permit.

Once I got back to our boat we had a great evening.  Started out with the best Green Flash we've ever seen, then after showers we had grilled burgers with all the sides we like including Serrano peppers.

We organized the boat and made ready for our trip to Bequia the following day.

Leaving Grenada

Well, the Chicken Ship made it in yesterday so we have eggs.

WE left Grenada at about 9:30 this morning and had a great trip up to Carriacou.  We anchored on or very near the spot that we usually use and I took the dinghy in to clear out.  Nice to have the Immigration Office here in Tyrrel Bay now but the Officer is still sorting everything out, having to call into Hillsborough with and Customs related questions.  Today the officer tried to charge me $50EC for a new cruising permit (the old one was still valid).  After a phone call and some hemin and hawin I was told that I was OK - THIS TIME......

Nice breeze here now and after a swim and hopefully a green flash it is burger time on Gra'inne.

Chicken Ship or Chickens on Strike!

Each season here in the Caribbean we find that there are things that we just can't find.  This time it is eggs - pretty sure that the chickens have gone on strike or the "Chicken Ship" didn't leave on time!

In the meantime we plan to move on North and hope that we bump into the "Chicken Ship" somewhere along the way.

We did stop at KFC and think that from the crowd that maybe all the chickens were here instead of out laying eggs. 

Splash down - Houston we don't have a problem, mon.....

Like Greg said - but someone is still looking after us!  We walked into the office this morning about 9:15 and told them we were ready to launch and if they could fit us in that would be great.  Raquel said "right, now, is anyone behind you?"  We said no she called the travelift guy and 20 minutes later we were headed for the lift well!

We did not even tie up in the lift well, verified that there were no unusual water leaks, we had already test run the engine, so switch on the freezer and electronics and we headed to LePhareBleu.

After a trip in to town we picked up beer at the brewery, LLB, Pepsi's etc, oil, a new handheld, some propane bottles for the grill and we are now back at the hotel enjoying a cool adult beverage!

Isn't life great? 

Ready to Launch

We finished waxing the hull today and are now ready to splash.  Boat computer and screen are in, Flat screen TV reinstalled, fridge/freezer checked and ready, and loose items secured for our move around to Le Phare Bleu.

Will try to go in one day early - will see what the yards God can do for us tomorrow.

Working, Part time!

We were at the boat at 9:30 this morning and started off on the port side hull using our buffer to apply Collinite Cleaner Wax then wiped that off by hand.  Started over with Collinite wax and finished in short order.  We were back at the hotel before noon!

Taking it easy now and plan to head in to Grande Anse to Carib Sushi for dinner this evening.

Another nice day in the yard, not to hot, not to humid, etc.  We had a rain shower later yesterday afternoon so the yard was not dusty at all for a change.

Making progress, Day 2

Another half day today, the weather cooperated again and we got a lot done.  Bottom job is finished, engine is serviced, belt retightened and test run.  Started right up and ran for about 5 minutes.  Clothes have been removed from vacuum bags, damp rid containers are cleaned and stowed, water filters changed, some waxing on the topsides completed.

We had a few sprinkles this morning but then the weather cleared and we had nice weather for the remainder of the day, not to hot, not to cold, just right.

We are headed to the beach now.

Boat work today

We started out with a nice breakfast here at LaSagesse.

Office

Manor House where we stay in the Pink Room (Always).

After breakfast we called Chris for a pickup for our rental car.  Chris's wife, Marylyn came about 20 minutes later and we rode in to the police station at the Carenage so I could get my temporary drivers license.  About 10 minutes and $30EC later we were head to Port Louis Marina where we picked up a few things from this years shipment.

We stopped off at Spiceland Mall and picked up a few things (drinks mostly) then headed back toward St Davids.  We decided to stop at LePhareBleu Marina and check on some cushion work that we were having done and then have lunch.  While we were there I walked out to IP38 Blue Pearl to say hi but no one was home so I left a note, we finished lunch and headed to the boat yard.

We arrived and check on the boat at Grenada Marine and it was in great shape.  Interior was fine and some green mold on the hull near the cap rail drains but otherwise fine.  We spent a few hours washing the UV polish off the boat and then put the canvas up before heading back to the hotel.

We were back here by 3:30 so a nice easy first day back in Grenada - tomorrow we will paint the bottom and get ready to wax the hull and topsides.

In the bar ready for a cocktail - the clock on the wall is wrong - it is really beer thirty!

Pictures are posted but I'm really jet lagged!  One hour time difference and all.

 

We're here!

We enjoyed our Thanksgiving subs, celery, carrot sticks and cheese and some wine enroute.  Several nice slices of fresh roast turkey, thick sliced cranberry sauce, mashed potatoes, dressing and gravy all on a seedy ass bun...  Kind of like a Big Mac but much better.

Arrived Maurice Bishop International Airport ahead of schedule and were able to get through Immigration quickly, claim our bags and pay the small duty for our spares and were out in a jiffy.  Cuddy was waiting for us as we left the terminal and we were sitting at the bar in LaSagesse in no time at all.

This evening is cooler than it has been on our return for the past several years with some sign of rain showers and the tree frogs are really happy.  We are relaxing now and ready to start recommissioning again.
 

Heading for Grenada

We left Burnt Store Marina this morning in our one-way rental car headed for Miami and  later this evening Grenada.  We checked one suitcase and our rolling ice chest with this years "Meat" supply.  Down from the normal 50lbs to about 42.

Our 2 barrel shipment of boat stuff and provisions is sitting waiting for us at Port Louis Marina and we are booked into La Sagesse for a week as we prep the boat for launch and movement around to Port Louis.  We have a car reserved at Le Phare Bleu with Chris for pickup tomorrow and will head in to St Georges to pick up some stuff we need for launch prep.

We had "Thanksgiving" dinner this past weekend and Lesley used the left-overs to make two Thanksgiving subs for our trip to Grenada this evening, yum!  Cuddy, a local tour operator, will pick us up at the airport this evening and will be bringing with him the Grenada C-14 form for Customs entry of some of the items we are carrying back with us.

The past several days have been relaxing as we finished putting things away in the house and I even had time to drive up to Port Charlotte and meet a fellow IP owner, Ron.  Ron has an IP-38 and we plan to get together with him on our return to Florida next year.

We've already made reservations for my Birthday Dinner, 11 Nov, at Le Chateau, near the Spiceland Mall.  Will also crack open a bottle of cold champagne to celebrate!

More to follow as we put things together and enjoy ourselves in the Yard at Grenada Marine and later each day on the nicest beach in the Islands, La Sagesse Bay.

Enjoy the winter!  We certainly will.

Boat Condition

I was walking around the Marina today looking at boats (IP's?) and I was amazed at the way most people care for them.

 

And the way some people don't!  Oh well.......

We are having thanksgiving dinner tonight.  Turkey with all the trimmings a nice bottle of La Crema Chardonnay and a chocolate sundae for desert.  Lesley will make thanksgiving subs with the left overs and we will take these with us when we fly to Grenada next Wednesday.

Happy Thanksgiving!

Finishing up!

We've shipped two barrels of boat parts and provisions to Grenada, packed up our checked bag and completed the associated Grenada Customs C-14, frozen the meat that we are taking back with us and made all of our reservations.

I'm finishing up work on an IP-37 freezer rebuild and completing the installation of new overhead hatches on an IP-32.

Divider with new evaporator plate:

 
 Rebuilt interior, divider in place and final fitting of evaporator:

 New dual thermostat panel:

 I'm also finishing up with the remodel on our guest bath now. Time is flying.

Lesley has stocked up on all sorts of puppy paraphernalia for use on our return to Florida in February - I think she even has a few names picked out! 

We are both looking forward to getting back to the boat and spending another (short this time) season in the Caribbean before returning with the boat.

 

The bird!

We've just spent the day in and around Jupiter Inlet Colony and had a nice time.  I caught a glimpse of a very pretty bird and could help but take a photo.

Lesley said that this is a painted bunting.

We also picked up the Exploer Charts for the lower Bahamas and the T&Cs so we should have all the guides and charts we need for this season.

Visited the Tequesta Brewing Company and sampled 6 beers - enjoyed them all and picked up a growler of the German Alt Bier for this evening.

Now it's time to head for the pool.

Fan Nest?

When we left Rock Hall last week the AC fan in the truck would not work.  When we got back to the house I took the fan apart and found this large collection of grass clippings inside the fan squirrel cage.

I cleaned the grass out of the fan and then replaced the fan speed resistor and everything is back to normal.

Heading to Miami

It's that time of the year again - heading to Tropical shipping this morning to drop off our two barrels for shipment to Grenada.  

Unloading the barrels and getting them on a pallet.

 Medley Facility

 Inside the warehouse

From there we will be heading to Jupiter Inlet Colony to visit a friend for a few days.