Wax On, Wax Off

It was time to get the boat all spruced up and pretty for our 'house' guests.  Well, that's not the real reason we spent 2 nights in Rodney Bay Marina, St. Lucia, but it definitely sounds better.  We were there to get our autopilot rebuilt.  However, that's another saga for another day.  Secondly, Craig wanted to repair a small leak in the dinghy.  Which in reality, according the directions, you must first clean it, mix the glue, coat both surfaces, twice, then put the patch on inflated.  Then deflate it and hold pressure on it for 24 - 48 hours.  Finally, it can't be fully inflated until it's completely curred, in a minimum of 6 days.  Wait, there's more..... you can't use it, can't be direct sunlight or near water while doing all those steps!!  So essentially you need to magically transport your dinghy to the Sahara Desert and keep it there for at least a week.  Which would be fine and dandy if you had a 'spare' dinghy, which no one has!  Geez.   At least in the marina, we could get the 24-48 hour part done and not actually use it.  So, while we were there, we did do a major cleaning and took advantage of being plugged into shore power.

Sailing to St. Lucia

Maggie hand steering 

Arriving in Rodney Bay

Out the back window as the sun sets

Our lovely fresh caught Cero with mango salsa, home grown tomatoes and fried plantains

Anything Goes and Patronus are dock buddies

Craig helping I tie up the sailing dinghy after I fell overboard while washing the hulls before they got buffed and waxed.  Let me tell you, NO one wants to fall in the water in a marina or go in voluntarily for that matter.  The water is usually, ummm, let me rephrase, always, nasty.  I did everything in my power not to completely fall out of the dinghy.  So as a result, I was found with my hands and feet in the dinghy and only my butt in the water.  Craig came to my rescue, my hero!

Craig and Chris examining something on the back of our transom

Defrosting the freezer.  You probably can't see it, but I am using the hair dryer to melt the ice that builds up in the fan between the refrigerator and freezer.  This is a bi-monthly job.  Sadly this is the only time the blow dryer is used.  If you look closely, you might be able to see the rope burn on my arm from my dinghy fall.  Can you say 'ouchy'?

"Friend", that's his name, polishes our stainless steel while his 2 co-workers buff and wax the entire boat.  It is more economical to get this work done here rather than the states.  Our plan was to wax the top of our boat ourselves during the trip.  We thought we would have all kinds of time on our hands.  Wrong!  That boat project just wasn't gettin' done.

All kinds of cleaning products being used

Stocking up on local fruit from the guy in his little boat.  You know, the one with all the flags all over it puttin' around

Kids next door on Patronus and grown-ups drinking wine out of real glasses on Anything Goes!