Happily pottering

Saturday 4 Apr, CY 21: A day of shopping and projects, but most important: a video-free day!

Last night I woke up thinking about cockroaches! After Cloudy’s previous owner told me all about his battle with a cockroach infestation I’ve started to get worried. Gladly it was not on Cloudy, it was a previous boat of his, an Oyster. He advised me, along with other cockroachy things, that they come out at night. So there I am, wide awake at 3am, head torch on, poking my face into every cupboard and bilge access that I can without risking waking up the Admiral. And I’m pleased to report not a single sighting – not even a cockroach poo. But I’m sure they are there, hiding, waiting to come out as soon as I’m back in bed again!

Today the surnames L to Z are allowed to go shopping. Yippy! That’s us. We’ve never been a fan of food shopping before. Now it’s a high point. An excuse to get off the boat, stretch our legs, get into some air conditioning and… oh yes… buy some food, to make it official 🙂
We head ashore directly after breakfast while it’s still relatively cool. The queue at the Kirk supermarket is its usual length and we join the end of the line, which has neat 6ft separations between each person. And today most shoppers are wearing face masks. Maybe they heard Donald Trump had just refused to wear a mask, so clearly a good idea to wear one themselves! We don’t have masks, plus I think we are the only ones queuing as a couple, the rest are all single. After 15-20 minutes we are into the air conditioned paradise of wonderful foods and temptations. Living on a cruising yacht really does make you appreciate a good supermarket, on the rare occasion you can find one.

We don’t need much, but as usual buy more than we anticipated. The bill is US$136 with really not much to show for it. But we console ourselves this is the only spend we are doing these days. No meals out, no expensive cocktail bars, no hire cars, no marina fees and even the chandlery is shut. Surely a yacht chandlers should be essential business, no? 🙂 Anyway, despite the high food prices, we are expecting a record low spend in April. Every dark cloud has a silver lining.

By the time we get back to Cloudy it’s 11am and the heat has arrived. But so has the easterly breeze. It’s back again in its full cooling glory, making us very comfortable on board. We note that the two American yachts we have been sailing with since beginning of Jamaica, have departed. Apparently they are sailing direct to USA around the western tip of Cuba. We wish them a safe passage, and more importantly these days, a successful entry to their next country.

No video editing today. We consciously take a break from it. Oana likes me to help her with editing. But looking over her shoulder as she actually does all the work gets somewhat tedious, for both of us. It seems we are both Alpha-male personalities when it comes to editing decisions! I leave to imagination for how that sometimes works out!

So today we get on with some other projects. A few weeks ago a bolt sheared on one of the supporting struts on the opening section of the windscreen. I tried taking it all apart but after 10 years the stainless steel screws are all welded into the alloy screen frames. I’ll have to drill them all out and buy a new pair of struts from HR Parts. (This customer support department of Hallberg-Rassy can supply replacements for all and every part that makes up any HR yacht. I dare say they’d even supply a new hull if you were willing to pay!). But, in these trying times, buying parts is one thing, getting them delivered from Sweden to Cayman in this global lock down is quite another. So I set about doing a makeshift repair on the broken strut. This included (messily) drilling out the broken bolt, drill and tapping a new hole and then adding a new bolt. The end result works perfectly, but isn’t really up to Cloudy’s expectation on the presentation front. So I’ll still buy a new replacement for her… pssss: sometime!

Next, we start on making side sun-shade panels which will clip onto the bimini and secure to the top lifeline. In the canvas shop in Herrington we had been quoted $750 per panel! So this is a real chance for the SailRite sewing machine to earn some of its money back. We’d purchased fine mesh material to make these, and some popper studs to secure them to the bimini. After a lot of measuring we are ready to cutout. But first we experiment with how best to make the hems strong enough. Oana has a brilliant idea. She reminds me that under our berth we have a roll of UV protection for the sails. It’s very strong material. So the hems will be made from that. After successful experimenting today, tomorrow we will cut out and start sewing.

News from the Cayman authorities today: 5 new positive Covid-19 cases, bringing total to 34. And the first positive case on their small island, Cayman Brac. They are particularly worried about this because so far Cayman Brac and Little Cayman Islands have been Covid-19 free. And they apparently have an aging population. Despite these increases there are still no serious cases in hospital. A hospital which seems braced for action that it hopes will never come.

Our evening is relaxing in the cockpit with the lovely cool breeze, reading, writing, listening to music and uploading the last Exuma video. At last, Exuma video marathon editing and uploading is all done. Now to start Jamaica!
We had a very pleasant day today.