Blood, Sweat and Tears

Well here we go, we're not talking old rock groups here. 

We arrived in lovely St. Lucia on Thursday and hit the tarmac running. Well not quite. What happened was we were the last people off the plane so by the time we got to customs with four bags and two boxes all the West Jet passengers had gone and a BOAC flight was clearing through. We got waved over to a customs agent who proceeded to sign papers and take phone calls before giving his attention to us. To make a long story short he asked what was in the boxes and we said boat parts. Next thing you know he's on the phone to Rodney Bay Marina customs office and informs us we have until 6:00 to get there to have them clear us in and we will have to pay overtime. Fortunately our pre- arranged taxi driver Smarty had the patience to wait for us. When he heard our deadline he called an associate to check the traffic in Castries (the capital) because it would be busy and we needed to get to the other side. By the way it was 4:30 when we finally got everything loaded into Smarty's van and hit the road. Anyone who has been here knows it is nearly impossible to get from one end of the island to the other in an hour and a half. We made it at 6:10. What a ride. Fortunately Smarty had some Pitons (beer) on ice for us. So the customs agent was still there and came down to the van and looked at the boxes and said that we will need to show the items installed before we leave the country. Quite anticlimacticn! Smarty was a bit peeved at them but we were relieved. Much to do about nothing.

Moving on, we are staying at the BayGardens Hotel which is quite nice and just a short walk or $3.00 EC bus ride from the boat.

The boat was clean on the outside; apparently they had a lot of rain this year. Unfortunately there had been a lot water in the bilge resulting in mold. Most of it had been cleaned up for us but Lorna has been scrubbing and disinfecting like mad. We sent all our bed cushions and linens out to be laundered. They should be ready for us on Monday. I have been busy crawling through the innards of the boat getting the motor ready, hooking up the batteries and generally staying out of Lorna's way!

So much for The Sweat and some of the Tears.

More Tears:

We received this picture from our daughter Kendra:

That's our Grand Daughter Sydney (6 mos) looking at Lorna (Nana) while we face timed from St. Lucia. Nana was crying then and when she saw the picture.

About the Blood:

My hand after a bit of attention. I was removing a line from the wind generator when "twang" my hand got nicked by a blade!!!! Lorna asked if I was okay and I said "yes" then I saw the blood and said "no". No tears though. We got busy with some peroxide and steri strips and stopped the bleeding. I have a cut about two inches long on the knuckle. The first bandage didn't last too long so we went with more peroxide, steri strips, gauze pad and gauze wrap topped with duct tape. No more bleeding and it's not too sore. We will see what tomorrow brings!

Brian