Finally all pieces have come together

We are still in St Anne Martinique and waiting no more. The parts for the back stay adjuster have arrived and we have picked up the piece and installed it. We are a complete sailboar again. But we will continue to sit here for a week or so since Dawn and Laurie on Cat Tales have arrived and the weather is not suitable for sailing. We have been busy since they arrived at the end of last week. Visiting,catching up and generally having a good time. Friends on Terentela from Halifax have been here too and another boat Aspen is due in today. So lots of social activity. We have been on several walks and enjoying too much good French food. But we need more walks than the good food to make a good balance. Today we are meeting in town for a walk around town and lunch at a neat little street cafe where we can catch up on Internet (oops it's Wednesday and it's closed!) The Internet and phone service on the French islands are not like the English islands at all. We now have no phone or Internet on the boat because of the high prices. Phone doesn't matter so much but we do miss news and weather we were getting. But it does make you get off the boat and go to town have a beer and buy a fresh baguette. Can you see our boat from here?

The weather has been lovely.... cooler at night and just enough rain to keep the water jug full of rain water for laundry. Not too much wind for the last week but should pick up again over the next few days. Dawn and Laurie plan to head out mid next week and possibly we will go up the coast of Martinique for a couple weeks and explore some new harbours before heading back to St Lucia. We have a bit of an early departure this year leaving on April 2. We want to be home and settled before heading west for grandchild number 3 ( another boy for Heather). We will go to Calgary May 1 for two weeks. We will be home for Easter, Kendra's birthday,Sydney's birthday .....all fun things we have missed the last couple years. 

When it comes to boat projects and job difficulty one just never knows. We installed the back stay adjuster in about 5 mins. We bought replacement winch handle holders with predrilled screw holes and screws included yesterday and Brian is installing as I write. Since they are French made they are ever so slightly different and after almost an hour and the whole tool box out and electric drill in play he is nearly finished. What a headache! 

And Then We Wait

We could call all of our blogs this season "and then we wait". That is what it seems like for this year. We are sitting in the lovely big bay of St Anne on the south part of Martinique and have been since we arrived 12 days ago. We took the back stay adjuster in to a very reputable place to be rebuilt. The fellow who spoke very little English sorted through his boxes and indicated he had the right parts and told us he would call us Tues or Wed. But he didn't say what week! Another friend on the boat Zardo speaks France French (in fact he and the service man were born in Brittany about 10 miles apart) and has been in contact for us and now the parts are coming from France. But no date. Here Quebec French and France French are a bit different. Especially when it comes to technical terms for parts etc. Serge found that last year when he visited us. He could certainly understand but some differences. But back to my story....we proceeded to try to make a back stay adjuster from some shackles and a turn buckle. What a procedure! We mentioned it to one friend that we were going in ( into the town of LeMarin where the chandleries are it is a 20 min dinghy ride) to find the bits we needed. He thought he had a turnbuckle we might be able to use. It was a perfect size. A bit old and anything that has been taken off and replaced is usually off for a reason but we thought we would give it a try. Well when we looked at the price of a new one of 500€ we definitely decided Jim's old one would work as a temporary measure. Brian got it all put together and we have the front (jib) sail back one. It is a temporary fix until the proper piece comes in. Jim is a Marine Surveyor by trade and we had him come over for a look and he thinks it is just fine.   As I write this the weather is looking like we will have rain any moment. The rain catchers are in place ready to collect enough for laundry. 

We have decided to wait here for Dawn and Laurie on Cat Tales. The weather is not supposed to be great for the next few days with lots of swells and we are in a good bay for that. They will leave when the seas look good. We will have a couple weeks to spend around here.

Yesterday we packed up our cooler bag and books and went by dinghy to a lovely beach. We had been on a hike to the Saline Ponds on Sun and spied this beach. It was good to get a good walk in since we really have been quite lazy in the walking routine. With Dawn and Laurie coming we better get our legs in shape! 

We have no internet or phone on the boat while we are in Martinique. Definitely the down side of this island. On the English islands the systems are next to free and easy but not here. We write what we want on the boat and post when in town. Carnival has started on all the islands and it is quite a noisy show. On Sunday night we were in town for a FaceTime chat with Heather and got to see the parade. A helicopter was lowering people down onto the main dock maybe just for display ? We weren't sure. This morning at 7:00 they were tuning up the drums again. They park a couple of cars on the street corner and rev them up and make them back fire! Why? No one seems to know just for the noise value we figure. 

It was an " And Then Day "

The rig is up! So We had a sail trial by ourselves for an hour or so making several tacks and all worked well.....even us. The next day Uli the fellow doing all the work came out for a test sail and put us through the paces and did some adjusting on the side stays and the back stay. He didn't quite like the angle of the mast and suggested we go back into the marina and he would get a piece to lengthen the front stay. So in we go and tie up again. Anchoring and docking are not most sailors favorite things but after this past week I must say we are much more practiced for sure. First thing on Wed am he was there and were adjusted and back out in the bay by 9:30. Wed is Ladies Lunch day so I left and Brian proceeded to get us ready to leave S. Lucia....check out,extra fuel,a few groceries etc. Customs turned out to be the usual disaster. The paperwork for the temporary importation ( when we leave it in the summer season) was no where to be found. Brian went back to the boat and searched all our papers. I knew we had turned it in in Nov. but they said we shouldn't have. In the end they let him check out and let's hope all will be well when we check in. We listened for Dennis's weather forecast and set sail for a 4-5 hour trip at 9:30 or so. The winds were perfect and waves were perfect and only a slight swell. We were sailing at about 6-7 knots for about 3/4 of the way with the finicky auto pilot working perfectly. All was perfect! Brian looked at the dinghy. The first time we sailed with the dinghy up on the new davits and all was good,not much swing. 

And then .......he saw the back stay adjuster spewing oil. It had totally lost all the pressure on the back stay. The piece that holds the mast back. 

And then.......at about 5 miles out of St Anne, Martinique the jib started to flap in an unusual manner just as squall of 22 knot winds hit. The schackle that holds up the jib snapped off. The sail only dropped about four feet and continued to stay up with the wind in it. We put on our life jackets in case we had to make a quick run to the front to manage the sail if it came down. We sailed into the very large bay and Brian pulled it down and tied it down on the deck. It is a lovely bay to anchor in so problems at all. We had our customary anchor beer.... No two beers and had a short rest to calm down.

And then....... French customs were along side wanting to do an inspection. One agent spoke English. Brian answered their questions. He explained the day we had, the mess of sails on the deck and they were very nice and they left. 

And then.....Brian prepared to go up the mast with his trusty mast climber. It was about 5:00 and I reminded him he had only about 45 mins of good light. Well his adrenalin was talking when he said ....this won't take long and proceeded up the mast. Well 30 minutes in and half way up he decided his light would be gone soon. Try again another day. 

And then......As Brian was lighting the small oil light we use daily the glass shattered in a million pieces in the cockpit. What a mess in the dark. We cleaned it up as dinner cooled and wore shoes for the rest of the night. Properly cleaned up in the morning. No blood was shed!

And then........We went to bed!!!

All in all too much excitement for me in one day and we are glad to be a quiet anchorage. The back stay adjuster should be repaired by Tue or Wed. We found the part we need to reattach the jib so all is working out. Except that Leader Price the big grocery store is almost out of box wine and very little cheese. They are waiting for their ship to come in they say. Maybe it had trouble at sea! 

We are a Sail Boat again.

Well our saga for this season seems to be wrapped up and we are fully rigged and have anchored in the bay after a test sail. Friday afternoon the mast went up and we moved onto a dock for a few days of pulling things together. We got the furling on Sat am and worked the rest of the day getting the running rigging installed (all the lines). Sunday we got the sails on and some work on the dinghy davits. Then Monday am we got the reef lines attached and got a few supplies and we left the dock at 3:00. We had a lovely sail around the bay and made several successful tacks and anchored right back in our two month spot. All systems seem to working well. Ullie the installer of this whole mess wants to come for a shake down sail before we leave so maybe in a day or so. It was good just to have the two of  us onboard to try to remember how to sail before inviting the expert. Don't want to look too inept with a professional onboard. We will probably leave on Thurs when the winds are predicted to be right and not too much swell. We will get to Martinique and spend a couple days visiting with the friends that left in Dec and get supplies ....... wine and cheese etc. Then we are off to join Dawn and Laurie in Dominica and will work our way back down the islands with them. 

It really has been a stressful experience not one I want to relive. But we are set now and have almost two months left to enjoy. 

One last thing to do before we leave......pay the bill!