A Quiet Week

This has been a very quiet week here. We have been perusing a dinghy and motor. Our present dinghy is original to the boat all 24 years. The engine is a small 4 horse Mariner and has let us down on more than one occasion. So we are pricing out and at this point in the season seeing what is available also. We can find a 9foot 6 inch dinghy but no one seems to have a 9.9 motor available. One fellow is sourcing out in St Martin and then what will be the added costs of the freight,duty etc? Friday was a holiday Independence Day so no one worked and Monday we should have some figures. We also wonder if this late in the season it is worth bothering. We are also pricing out davits (the arch system on the back of the boat to hold the dinghy and solar panels ) so we must have weights and sizes of the equipment to store. I see more than a few boat units going out the door soon. Two boats loaned us their dinghies for a test drive. But each had a 15 horse motor and we agreed you don't need that much speed or the extra weight.
We have met so many more people lately and have had invites out and people in. As you know that makes me happy. The ladies lunch on Wednesday is a great source of meeting people. Today in the park on Pigeon Island is a Taste of St Lucia with food vendors and music. I hope to be able to add pictures on this blog. Tomorrow we are invited to a wine tasting on a trawler for about 20 people. Each couple has to bring a French wine under 25EC and I guess we'll compare. They are all good!! On Tuesday we are going to the Pink Plantation for a tour and lunch. We will take the bus to Castries. Many of the ladies are painters and they will be taking pictures of flowers and things for future paintings. We have had a couple of good hikes with new friends also.
The weather has been quite windy and I must say it really does wear you out. The anchor lines squeak and stretch all night but yesterday Brian worked out a new anchor bridle that didn't squeak. We will hope that lasts. Brian is about to dive in the water to spend an hour or so scraping barnacles ...... a never ending job. We have started to think about our preparations for putting the boat up for the season. I made sun shades for the windows this week.
We also had the police boat stop in for a random check. Just information gathering ..... how many people ,when did you arrive,safety equipment on board etc. but why do they have to wear black hard soled shoes. What a mess they left!