Ya just never know. Will it float? Will it start? What will it look like? Did the boat yard do all the things they said they would? Are they done? Will the credit card go through?
What a day, without Wayne and Christine working together, we would never make this happen.
As is par for the course, we (er, I) tied one on last night or basically all day. That first class free drinks is a killer! Up before the sun however, and raring to go I was going to hike the trail to the boat yard from the hotel, but got thwarted as Christine wanted to go too, and then Wayne. By the time that they were ready so was are courtesy shuttle, so we took that.
Before noon we were ready to be put in the water, they call it ‘splash’. We dressed the boat, put the main sail up, attached dingy, put the outboard on the dingy, unpacked and settled up with the yard. We took a break, Christine went back to the hotel to grab our bags and they had just caught a fresh tuna, so she brought Wayne and I a delicious tuna sammich for lunch. Not sunkist, a slab of tuna on sammich, yum yum yum! Just what the hang over needed. We sat at the boat yard grill and had a couple cold drinks and waited for our 2pm splash time.
Did I say how much that main sail weights? I can barely lift it without the battens in it. We are getting better at putting it on, only took about 2 hours to get it and the sailbag all situated. As with anything boat, it always takes 3x to get it done correctly.
Martin our canvas guy at Turbulence, LTD, rocked it, we have some nice window shades for storage, and a new dingy cover to keep the sun at bay. The paint guys at Grenada Marine did a wonderful job on the aluminum that we had fixed. There was a small communication break down on the bottom job, they thought we had approved it so they were sanding the bottom this morning. The problem is that if they were to do the bottom job we would not be in the water till friday, just about the time we have to pick up Christine’s sister and family. Its all good they didn’t have Red bottom paint anyway, we will have St Lucia do the bottom job and order the red paint that Christine wants.
Shortly after 2pm we could hear the beeping of the travel lift coming our direction, a couple last minute washes and engine checks and and they picked up the Shack and hauled it down to the waters edge. Its amazing to see the travel lift pick up the boat like its a toy, course that is what it is.
They dropped it in the water and there were no leaks. Yippie. Port side engine didn’t want to start so we jumped it off the house batteries. I’ve known that starting battery is on its last legs, so we’ll replace it soon. All the rest went off so smoothly The wind was at the perfect direction to pull out of the concrete pier, and just like that we are moored out in the bay.
Now that we are in the water, the fridge and freezer can be turned on. They only work when the boat is in the water as the water is what cools the coils on fridge coils. So back to shore with the dingy and it too started without issues, other than the difficult steering. I brought a grease gun and hopefully that will ease that. Christine called out taxi guy, and we were off to the IGA to get some food. Lots of food, this time we are having 7 people on board, so we stocked up. Not nearly enough alcohol, but we’ll find that along the way. It took 2 dingy trips to load all the food on the boat, and at least an hour to put it away.
We went back ashore while the beers chilled and had beer at the bar, and hoped to get dinner there too, but the kitchen was closed. So we just checked email and had a cold beverage or 2 and then back to the boat for a bite to eat.
A quick sammich and sleeve of pringles (our vacatation treat) and just like that we are passed out. Its 10pm and we are worn out. I stayed up to put up the internet antenna and enjoy the nice cool evening on the bow as we just swing gently on the mooring ball.
Tomorrow, we’ll see what we feel like. Maybe up the east coast of Grenada or back around south and up the West coast, no particular place to be till the 23rd.
Cheers ya’ll.
Paradise found!
