{"id":6617,"date":"2017-02-17T06:37:16","date_gmt":"2017-02-17T11:37:16","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=6617"},"modified":"2017-02-17T06:37:16","modified_gmt":"2017-02-17T11:37:16","slug":"settling-into-caribbean-cruising","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/?p=6617","title":{"rendered":"Settling into Caribbean Cruising."},"content":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s mid February and we have now been aboard for about two weeks, the amount of time it generally takes for me and Brenda to settle in once we”ve moved aboard. \u00a0 \u00a0It’s also about how long it takes to decompress from the pressures of the holidays and “land”. \u00a0 \u00a0Since our really annoying passage from the BVI to St Martin we have enjoyed both the Dutch and French side as well as a short side trip for a few days in Grand Case.\u00a0 I talked about that spot in my last post but it was just so lovely that I have to share a few more images of our visit to that lovely town, home to the largest concentration of French restaurants on the island.<\/p>\n

But, before I get into it, this is the view that greeted me this morning as I put the coffee on. \u00a0What a beautiful way to begin the day. \u00a0 Actually, that was yesterday’s sunrise, but I wanted to use it so let’s just make believe it was today. \u00a0Not to put too fine a point on it but it was dark when I got up today but a view, very similar to this, and you’ll just have to believe me on this, was to be had shortly there after. \u00a0 “Bob, Bob, don’t be so pedantic, it’s exhausting, \u00a0MOVE ON ALREADY.” \u00a0Ok, but just about every day’s sunrise is beautiful. \u00a0SO THERE!\"\"When we were in Grand Case, Bill and I went for a walk on the beach. \u00a0I loved this view of umbrellas, more like a flock of butterflies. \u00a0Do butterflies “flock”?\u00a0\"\"At the end of the beach there was a wrecked sailboat. \u00a0This is Bill taking in the scene. \"\"The beach went on for perhaps a mile with a dramatic “cliffy” end. \u00a0White clouds are endlessly fascinating to me. \u00a0“Yes, that and sunsets Bob.”<\/p>\n

We went out for Valentine’s dinner with our cruising buddies from Kalunamoo, Maureen and Bill, to a very nice French restaurant.\u00a0 Good choice because French is about the only choice in Grand Case.\u00a0 The weather was very cooperative as it seems that the stronger winds that plagued our trip here have abated for the moment.\u00a0 The view from Pandora on the calm waters was pretty amazing. \u00a0Yes, I know, it’s that whole puffy cloud thing again.\u00a0\"\"Our table at dinner was overlooking the water.\u00a0 What a sunset.\u00a0 You can see the showers in the distance, it\u2019s the dark band coming down from the cloud. \"\"Brenda and I did some shopping earlier in the day and enjoyed the sights.\u00a0 I was surprised to see an old Morgan in parts.\u00a0 I wonder what the story behind this car is?\u00a0 Morgans are still made in England and are eagerly sought after by collectors.\u00a0\u00a0 This one would take some doing to get back on the road.\u00a0 However, it would be a fun story to tell. \u00a0“Oh yeah, I found this car in St Martin behind a lovely French restaurant. \u00a0 Had it shipped back to the States….”\"\"I loved the ferns growing up on this doorstep.\"\"Yesterday morning we headed back to Simpson Bay and made the 09:00 bridge.\u00a0 As we were waiting to enter the bay a large spotted eagle ray swam by Pandora.\u00a0 She\/he was about 4\u2019 from wingtip to wingtip.\u00a0 A majestic sight.\"\"This training ship has been in port here for a few weeks. \u00a0It’s a bit odd with it’s green sails. \u00a0 She’s a big girl though so I guess she can dress any way she wishes.\"\"The entrance into the lagoon is impossibly narrow with a rocky shoal protruding into the channel on port side. \"\"Since moving back here I have been consumed with \u201cwhack-a-mole\u201d, yes, boat repairs. \u00a0When we tried to pull up our anchor in Grand Case the windless failed. \u00a0No warning or grinding sound, just no “weighing” except by brute muscle.\u00a0 It was an exhausting job.\u00a0 After hours of \u201canalysis\u201d I decided to scrap it and get a new one.\u00a0 It looked nasty. \u00a0 \u00a0Looking at this photo now I realize that I could have saved myself a lot of time if I had just realized that it was hopeless from the get go. \u00a0However, sometimes “ugly is only skin deep” but not with windlesses, it woudl seem.\u00a0\"\"Fortunately St Martin, both the Dutch and French sides are \u201cduty free\u201d so prices are competitive with the U.S. and in some cases, less.\u00a0 There are two large chandleries on the Dutch side, Island Water World and Budget Marine.\u00a0 However, Island Water World has a much larger selection and as luck would have it, windlasses were on sale.\u00a0 They even had a 24V unit in stock.\u00a0 How lucky was that? \u00a0I can not tell a lie but I’d have paid most anything. \u00a0The store manager helped me set things up by taking parts from several units and putting them together so I\u2019d have enough power to pull up the anchor in a package that would integrate with the electrical components already installed on Pandora from the failed unit. It took some time to get everything settled but I was very pleased to have been able to find that they had everything in stock.\u00a0\u00a0 Thank goodness that the unit failed here instead of somewhere more remote.\u00a0 Lucky me.\u00a0 Yes, very, very lucky.<\/p>\n

It took hours to remove and diagnose the old unit but once out about a half day of work got the new one in place and cleaned up.\u00a0 And, as a special bonus, the anchor locker is now all tidy and clean. \u00a0Doesn’t it look like a “million bucks”? \u00a0Actually, it was less than two “boat bucks” not counting the multiple hammers I wore out “whacking” down the moles. \u00a0 However, whatever the price, my aching back says “priceless”. \u00a0\"\"I also was able to pick up my repaired mainsail and will install it today.\u00a0 Hopefully, it won\u2019t be too windy as getting such a big sail up can be challenging.\u00a0\u00a0 Fingers crossed that it goes smoothly.\u00a0 My friend Bill has said he\u2019d help.<\/p>\n

So, with the mainsail repaired and the newly failed windless back in business I have \u201cwhacked\u201d most of the moles back into their holes for the moment.\u00a0 Of course, that doesn\u2019t mean that the SSB is back in service yet but hopefully, I will be able to run some new power cables to get that in shape today. Well, I\u2019ll at least have the materials on board.<\/p>\n

So, our plan is to take advantage of light winds in the next few days to make our way to St Barths where we will stay for a day or so before heading further south to perhaps Nevis or St Kitts.\u00a0 After that, who knows.\u00a0\u00a0 Brenda and I would like to visit some of the islands, like Guadeloupe, a group sometimes called “the islands that brush the clouds” that have rainforests before she heads home from Antigua in mid April.<\/p>\n

Perhaps I\u2019ll close with a shot of last evening\u2019s sunset.\u00a0 It was beautiful and enhanced by a wonderful Mexican chili dish by Brenda.\u00a0 To call it chili doesn\u2019t do it justice. Yum.\"\"Oh yeah, one more thing.\u00a0 Meet Louis, Pandora\u2019s new mascot.\u00a0 Brenda \u201cadopted\u201d him in Grand Case a few days ago. \u00a0 Louis comes in his own “match box” bed, complete with a pillow, blanket and mattress. \u00a0Of course, the sailors suit is, as Brenda would say in a high pitch “mousy” voice, “just soooo cute”. \u00a0\"\"Louis will be traveling with us for the next few years until our Granddaughter Tori is old enough for Louis to live with her and tell her all about all the wonderful places he traveled with her Ya Ya and grandpa.<\/p>\n

Just like me and Brenda, Louis seems to be settling in nicely to the Caribbean cruising life and enjoyed sharing stories with us during our candlelight supper last night.<\/p>\n

I guess that\u2019s about it for now.\u00a0 \u00a0Yes, a few more \u201cmoles\u201d whack at and then on to other adventures.<\/p>\n

Louis tells me that he\u2019s about ready too.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

It\u2019s mid February and we have now been aboard for about two weeks, the amount of time it generally takes for me and Brenda to settle in once we”ve moved aboard. \u00a0 \u00a0It’s also about how long it takes to decompress from the pressures of the holidays and “land”. \u00a0 \u00a0Since our really annoying passage […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_mo_disable_npp":"","_s2mail":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-4)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-6617","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6617","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=6617"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6617\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6637,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6617\/revisions\/6637"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=6617"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=6617"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.sailpandora.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=6617"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}