Christmas dinner at Jambe de Bois

There was great debate for the week prior to Christmas as to what we should do for Christmas dinner. Finally it was decided to make it an organized Pot Luck at a local restaurant that we frequent quite often which would be closed for the day. Marsha on Crusader cooked the turkey and stuffing. Since we all have small refrigerators the turkey can't be bought too far ahead but just long enough to thaw before cooking time. On Tuesday, the day of purchase, there were only four turkeys left in the supermarket. But she got a wonderful butterball and cooked it to perfection. Marsha and Bob's son Robert visiting from LA was an added surprise guest. He let his parents know on Monday to send someone to airport to pick him up on Tues.  Barbara on My Island Girl provided pumpkin soup as an appetizer and green beans. I made the mashed potatoes, carrots and gravey. The two single men in the group provided the water,ice,rolls and an after dinner liquor. John on Stopp Knott and Mike on Jackfish were pretty happy to be part of such a fine meal. So much so they decided to sit at the buffet table! Lise on Zardo provided two cakes for dessert and music that turned out to be for dancing. Getting everything loaded into dinghys and getting it all there hot proved to be challenge but worked out well. Food was served in the pots with lids no serving dishes. We started at 2:00 and were home about 5:00 before sunset so everyone was happy and stuffed like a turkey!

Some clarifications

I have some clarifications of some information given in previous blogs. The first question we had was "what is the ARC". Well ARC stands for Atlantic Ralley for Cruisers. It is really not a race although it is said that whenever two sailboats are going in the same direction it usually turns into a race. They left the Canary Islands on route to Rodney Bay Nov 24. The fastest boats arriving in about 12 days and the family cruisers in about 18-21 days. There were 242 boats with over 1200 people including 34 children, under the age of 16, travelling 2700 miles across the Atlantic. Thirty six nations were represented. The marina is buzzing with people and vendors and music and an award ceremony will be held tomorrow. We are anchored behind and off from the finish line and it is fun to sit back and watch the boats arrive sometimes missing the line and having to tack around and come on again. The winds have been very light the past few days and often they are motoring across the finish line. 

Secondly we are not sailing anywhere for the time being. We are having the standing rigging replaced which are the wires that hold the mast upright on the deck of the boat. Ours being made of stainless steel rod as apposed to multi stranded wire has to be made in the US and sent by ship to us. It was supposed to be a five week process.  We have the mast down and laying on the hard (the ground) in the boat yard. Our sails are in the bags and all our new lines are still in the bags. We have a wire and a couple insulators (loaned to us from Dennis the weather friend ) to make our Single Side Band radio work somewhat well. We have a temperamental light Brian has tied off the wind generator pole to provide an anchor light so we can be seen at night in the anchorage. We have still not heard anything from the people in Florida about a date our rigging will be ready to ship. Our supplier here said they would contact before the weekend but I guess they didn't say what weekend. As we have often said there certainly are worse spots to be stuck in! 

I have been making some Christmas treats to deliver around on Christmas morning. Super simple! Just as we were leaving the apt in Oct I spied the Christmas lights we had for the balcony in the apartment. I squeezed them into the suitcase without Brian seeing and pulled them out as a surprise last night.  I think the picture of the lights is too dark but it will give you an idea. We have been sitting up the fore deck the past few nights and watching the meteor showers. There has been really light winds so it is lovely to sit under the stars. 

Sitting in the Bay

We got off the dock and onto the anchor out in the bay on Thursday last week as we had hoped. The air is so much better and of course a swim off the back is always a welcome relief in the heat. The barnacles sure started to take hold in only the one month at the dock. We are anchored just off the finish line of the ARC and the boats have been arriving daily. At least 10-12 daily. Some are huge boats with 18 or more crew and some are small with maybe two or three crew. They left the Canary Islands about the 24th of Nov. So the marina is buzzing with activity, vendors, music etc and we are happy to be out. Pics are just a couple random ARC boats. 

We have been working away on the many jobs while we wait for rigging. We have heard nothing yet and as it gets closer to Christmas we know there will be down days. But it is certainly a great place to be stuck in. Last week as we were preparing to go to anchor Brian checked the anchors and the lid of the anchor locker came off in his hand. There were 24 screws holding the piano hinge and there were 3 left dangling. It so easily could have been lifted by a wave and lost had we been sailing. 

The weather has been so quiet for the last few days almost no winds at all and almost no rain. Nice and peaceful but not good for making energy. But keeping the fridge going has been so much better due to Brian's enhancements last season with the insulation. Even though we turn it off at night the ice cubes at the top don't totally melt by morning. Meat in the bottom is still frozen. So we are getting somewhere.

Busy in the marina

We are still in the marina and this Thursday (tomorrow) will be four weeks! Too long in many ways. But tomorrow is get out in the bay day. 

We have been busy everyday with so many projects and all big jobs that often spawn another job. But we are coming together and can start to see light. The salon cushions are done and look amazing if I do say so and I often do!  To do the curtains I have decided is just too much pattern. So I will either look for more fabric here or bring down some next season. But what a huge difference new fabric makes. 

The wind generator is up and oh so quiet. It was quite a job as it was so high up off the stern. Thankfully we have a friend on a BIG boat and he has lots of tools we just couldn't imagine carrying. A ladder really came in handy. The existing aluminium pole had to be cut down and a new base pole acquired and the connection between took some modification. The whole thing went up quite easily (at least from my view point.) It is such a lovely quiet unit and no vibration. Our old unit shook the whole boat and made a lot of noise. The installation of the solar panels was completed yesterday and this morning as I write Brian is doing the wiring hookup. All the wires were run last week during one of our many rain storms. But for Brian to do the wiring a small locker at the stern of the boat has to be emptied and then he has to crawl into the hole and forget a tool or two. That's where I come in chief  gopher. I made four trips to the chandlery for bits as the solar panels were being installed. Two allen keys and a couple set screws went overboard during the process. Your hands get so sweaty as you are working it is hard to hold on to things. Then the cordless drill runs out of juice as you have one more screw hole to drill. The hardships! Support sections of stainless steel tubing had to added at four places just to add to the rigidity. It was an evolving construction plan for sure.

No word on the rigging project yet. 

Today is the first of the weekly gathering of the lady cruisers for lunch and it is always so nice to get together. More and more cruisers ....many old friends now are arriving daily.