Tuesday 11 Feb, BHS day 43: Departure postponed, test a FinDelta stabilizing sail, and great evening out.
Very peaceful night, so wonderful to sleep in clean bed sheets, after our laundry day yesterday. We wake up ready to roll. Well, ready to bash upwind to our next destination 15 miles south. Secure everything down below for heal to starboard, tighten the halyards, have coffee and ready to go by 8.30am. Well, that was the plan.
Over breakfast we observe several boats leaving this popular anchorage, and a particular one hoisting their main sail while still on anchor. The sail was desperately flapping and we are glad we don’t have to do that.
At 8.30am, the time agreed with Mahina for departure, we call them on VHF to see if they are ready too. They are, and as if they were reading our minds, they reply “but is there a rush, to go in these conditions?”. Plus, where do we next anchor to be sheltered from this wind? Two minutes later we have a new plan: stay here for another day, and have “two for one rum” (as Michelle calls it) happy hour at Scorpio later this afternoon.
It’s been four days since we last made water, so the generator goes on. We need to charge the batteries anyway.
Even with this breeze, it’s quite hot inside the boat. Out comes the new wind scoop which we bought at Annapolis Boat Show last year. We already had one which works just fine, but trouble with that one is it fits on the inner perimeter of the hatch opening. So every time it rains, Glen has to run outside, untie it from the cutter-stay and collapse it inside. Which generally resulted in both him and the bed getting wet by the time hatch was closed.
This new one, by Breeze Booster, fits on the outer perimeter of the hatch, and in theory we should just pull down the hatch in case of a downpour. Well, we’ll see about that at the first rain. But before installing, a minor service is needed due to one popper being faulty. As for the ventilation, not sure if it helps with the air flow… I guess we will have a verdict on that when there’s hardly any breeze.
Mid morning Glen has a second attempt to clean the fish blood off the bottom of the swim platform door. Last attempt ended in tears and a crushed finger. This time he (sensibly) ties the dinghy close so he doesn’t have to hold by his finger tips! The process ends up with him polishing the whole transom. The Ceramic Pro we put on a year ago (which was supposed to last a minimum of 18 months) is already long gone, leaving dull and oxidized gelcoat. Polishing by hand, he doesn’t manage to get a brilliant shine, but nonetheless much better than it was. After that, he goes for his daily potter under the boat, to cool off and knock off the odd barnacle.
Cloudy Bay men hair salon was open yesterday, today it’s the ladies. The same hairdresser though… I shorten the length of my own hair the best that I can, then I call in help and Glen straightens it in the back where I can’t see. Not the most glamorous haircut I ever got, just the usual while living onboard. It will have to do. And I won’t look in the mirror too often, or at least not when I wear eyeglasses.
Meanwhile, we start receiving feedback with regards to boat storage in Trinidad and Grenada. Both islands more expensive than Herrington Harbour, with Grenada being more expensive that Trinidad. For Trinidad, two boat yards come highly recommended by various OCC people and with good security, so we will focus further inquiries on these two.
Early afternoon Glen heads ashore to test the spare drone. We didn’t fly this one before and we wouldn’t dare to take off from the boat on the first flight. But soon he returns: no flight took place since the controller was not charged. Hm… the test will have to wait till later. He also returns with a sweet bread (with cinnamon, raisins and coconut) baked by Loraine’s mum, which everybody we met raves about.
As we sit for lunch in the cockpit, we realise Cloudy is yawing more than 90 degrees (45 either side of the wind direction). Mahina flies a stabilizing sail while at anchor, which seems to do exactly what it claims: stabilizes the boat from yawing. Ian mentioned that before buying this FinDelta sail, Mahina was yawing up to 180 degrees while at anchor. And now she is hardly moving. Hm… will such sail really work for Cloudy? And with that thought, Glen jumps in the dinghy and heads off to Mahina to borrow the sail for a test. Ian comes along and the twin little sail is up in a minute. We closely monitor how Cloudy moves now, and after several minutes we all agree that she is definitely moving a lot less. I feel an order coming on soon!
On that happy note we head ashore to Scorpio for the happy hour. Michelle has praised the rum punch and we give it a go. Lots of rum, with just a splash of juice, then another shot of rum on top! We must be careful and not get carried away, Michelle warns us. Two is the maximum we should have. And as we sit with our drinks the music gets better and better and I need no further incentive to start dancing. Or maybe it was the rum that took effect… regardless, I have a great time dancing. Felt like it’s been way too long since we had a really good night out.
There are lots of French Canadians at the tables around us, and everybody is having a good time. Seeing the food on their table, leaves our mouths watering for “overdone fries”, meaning French fries buried under all sorts of dressings and jalapeños.
But like all good things, it finishes all too soon. By 8.30pm most people are heading back to their boats. So do Michelle & Ian.
But we hang around for another hour, just chatting to some of the French Canadians we met earlier. We also chat to some of the locals and we try to find out why this island is called Black Point. None seem to know the answer to that question. But they all agree on the fact that is a very safe island and they have zero crime here. “But you do have a prison, we saw it when we walked”. To which they smile and reply “it is there just in case” 🙂
Back onboard it’s yogurt night, we need to make a new batch. Good thing we stopped after two rum punches and a beer, otherwise this yogurt might have come out as wobbly as us!
Quick look at the weather confirms we should be good to go tomorrow morning with a nice upwind sail south. And we are sound asleep as soon as our heads hit the pillows.