Sunday 13 January, Nevis day 5: Shopping, saving a dinghy, then an easy day aboard.
Fridges were crying empty this morning, so before returning the rental car we have a small provisioning exercise. In fact three, as we drove to three different supermarkets in search for fruits, vegetables and yogurt. Although overall well stocked for dry goods, supermarkets here seem to have a shortage of fruits & veg. Even after the third one, we still didn’t get much.
Then we say our goodbyes to the nice hire car, thinking whether we should rent again next week and go for another hike.
When we return to the town dock where we left the dinghy we find a bit of a mess. A big yacht tender was tied close to the dock, with the engine lifted and scratching a speed boat. We find it very rude and inconsiderate when people leave their engines like that when clearly the dinghy dock is crowded.
And a small aluminum boat had lots of water in it. At first we thought it was taking water, but as the big swell is rolling in we realize the boat was actually going under the dock, tilting and taking yet more water. So Glen goes on a mission to rescue it which was challenging as the boat was going yet again under the dock with the next big wave. And we couldn’t move it further out because it was padlocked.
When we were in the middle of the rescuing exercise (bailing out the aluminum boat) a local shows up. He was the owner of the speed boat, trying to save his boat from getting yet more scratches from the tender with the lifted engine. And he also said he’ll go and announce the port with regards to the aluminum boat.
We do eventually complete the bail-out, twice in fact, as it took another load of water with another wave. It took us maybe 20 minutes, as it got filled almost full to the gunwales.
As we dinghy away we see a family coming to the dock, the owners of the aluminum boat. So we go back to warn them about the risk they expose the boat when tied like that. But they don’t seem to be too bothered about the fact that we saved their boat and outboard from sinking, or that they locked the boat despite the very clear sign “locking dinghies prohibited”. Well, maybe the thought of losing their dinghy will soak in with them later on and hopefully they will be more considerate next time they dock.
We wished we could also have seen the owners of the fancy tender with its outboard raised – Glen would certainly have had some words to say to them!
Back at Cloudy Bay we plan for a day of rest. It’s Sunday after all! Reality is we ache a bit after our intense hiking and climbing yesterday, and we would like to have some relaxing time after three days running around the island.
So it’s a mixture of admin and leisure jobs on our computers, things we neglected over the last 4 days. And few calls to family.
And after what seems like a very long time (having dined ashore in the last four days) we have lunch in the cockpit, which feels very nice and homely. Almost like coming back from vacation and cooking again in your own kitchen 🙂 And certainly healthier after the comfort food yesterday!
Neither of us is eager to go back ashore so we entertain ourselves taking advantage of the brief internet from the nearby hotel that we could connect to.
We watch a nice sunset, or better said a nice after-sunset as the sky turned orange half an hour after the sun went down.
Quiet rest of the evening on-board, pottering with the usual admin (cleaning, making water, etc) and we go to bed to the sound of blaring music from the beach bars yet again. We do wonder how these communities balance their beliefs: they are strongly religious and yet they seem to love this horrible music with blatantly vulgar lyrics which leave nothing to the imagination. As usual, ear plugs fix the problem for us.
It was a very relaxing and well deserved day of rest!