Our friends aboard Mai Tia are still here at Rodney Bay Marina! So some catching up to do. First some book swaps then a look at their DVD collection to transfer to our hard drive. Vincent comes back to look at the new inverter and suggests that his boss John has a look. John is up on electrical/computer problems and it certainly looks as through there is a software problem. He phones the team in the USA (who are almost the same time zone as us and speak our language and they suggest that we give the inverter a software update, this is tried but because it has a lower number it thinks that it is being downgraded so we have to convince it to take what we are trying to give it.
This achieved (a couple of days later) and it seems to be working fine! Thanks John! Crescendo is repaired and brought home they have done a grand job glueing all the loose seams down too Thanks here to Francis and his team. So just a few odd items and we are ready for the sail to Bequia. I learn from various friends that we have missed the wedding of the century, but I catch up by watching the photos of who was there and the fashions on the web.
Saturday we pay the Marina and sign out with customs to lay at anchor prior to sailing down to Vieux Fort.
Sunday after loading Crescendo to first class seating we slipped for Vieux Fort. This turned out to be slow (we motor-sailed against adverse currents) and wet (I used my new foulies for the first time!). We almost stopped at Soufrière again in despair but finally made it to the anchorage just after sundown.
Monday, we set off from Vieux Fort for Bequia – up at 5 o’clock in the morning! just in case we have flukey winds and need the extra daylight to get there. It turned out to be a fast beam reach with rain showers and Dolphin sightings so we got in at 14.40 in time for tea. As dusk drew in so did the rain. We are almost self sufficient in water with our Bimini drains catching up to 80L in a rainstorm.
Tuesday 3rd May. We hit Port Elizabeth in full sun and after a trip to the bank we head out to find a local diver to clean the barnacles from the hull. Malcolm suspects that the through the hull holes are possibly being blocked which might account for the log reader intermittently stopping and the Yanmar trying to overheat on full power. The owner of the dive shop recommended Fitzy and we managed to secure his services during the afternoon. We celebrated with a Latte at Gingerbreads and happened to see Andy (from Felice) in his tender. Fitzy arrived as the heavens opened and got to work. We are now nice and clean again (just 1 1/2 hours with scuba gear). Mental note not to sit around idling in the Caribbean as the barnacles just love to grow in these warm waters. I made some more Ciabatta and cleaned the spray hood windows to keep myself busy.
Wednesday. Port Elizabeth is the only town on the Island and seems very friendly probably because the ‘Yachties’ are a regular form of income to them. The water is clear and blue until rainwater run-off clouds it to brown. There looks to be good diving here and plenty of walks if we have time and inclination next year maybe.
Next day we move to Friendship Bay where we hope that it will be less rolly. Some hope! However a hike ashore is pleasant and we see the chap who sold us a crate of beer at wholesale prices. He is mending his car but has time to wish us a good day. During the afternoon a Spanish sailor swims across to invite us for sundowners. When we arrive we find that there are 7 aboard a charter boat and they have taken various holidays together over the years. There week is almost up so we leave them to finish the liquor aboard. They up anchor and are away before us in the morning. We settle ‘Cresendo’ in her bunk and slip for Mustique a mere 7 Nm away.
