9 May 2011 Rodney Bay
It’s Monday today, so it was declared a shopping day. We did the rounds of hardware stores, chandlers, sail makers, supermarkets and bought various bits and pieces. I bought a saw so that I can make a frame to mount the dive compressor on, some very expensive boat cable to wire the compressor, bits of glue, epoxy, etc, etc. We got back to the boat at about half past one, exhausted.
After lunch, I decided that I should go and buy some 2” * 2” wood for a frame for the dive compressor. What a mission. I foolishly walked to the “lumber” store - it turned out to be about two miles along the road in the beating sun. I stopped off at a few stores on the way and arrived at four o’clock - just as they were closing. Bugger! I decided to walk a little bit further and came across another DIY store and managed to buy some wood. It came in a 20 foot length, so I had to chop it into 3 foot lengths to be able to take it back on the bus. I didn’t get back until about half past five.
We had a steak and chips for dinner with a nice bottle of red wine. I had been craving a steak for a few days after I read a description of a restaurant where they serve huge sizzling, Angus beef steaks. I enjoyed the steak immensely.
I bought a book today called “The Cruisers Handbook of Fishing”, so I stayed up until nearly midnight surfing the Internet trying to understand the differences between the various rods and reels. There’s the potential to spend a lot of money on “big boy” toys for fishing.
10 May 2011 Rodney Bay
We had a late start this morning after my late night last night – I didn’t get up until half past eight. By the time that I had done my exercises, had breakfast, checked the weather and updated this diary it was ten o’clock.
It was a lovely sunny day, so I built a wooden frame for the dive compressor. It wasn’t difficult, but time consuming trying to build it on the back deck with hand tools. It seems to be OK. I now need a piece of plywood for the top of it and to screw it in place.
There’s a lot of equipment cluttering up the aft deck on Alba and the solar panel is on top of the port side guard rail. While we were reefing the other day, the main sheet flicked under the solar panel and nearly ripped it off. I want to get an arch made and fitted to the stern of Alba to get all of the clutter off the aft deck. The design will have to hold two solar panels, the wind generator, four aerials, a crane to lift the 15hp outboard, fishing rod holders, etc, etc. I’m hoping that we’ll be able to incorporate some davits to lift the dinghy out of the water for short passages rather than towing it.
We called in to say hello to Richard and Claire on “Phalarope” – they have an arch so I wanted to have a look at it.
11 May 2011 Rodney Bay to Marin, Martinique
I cleared out of customs and we sailed to Marin in Martinique. It was a very hazy day, but we had a nice close reach sail arriving at half past two.
The highlight of the trip was catching a small Barracuda. It was a very gentle strike and the budgie bell that we use as an indicator barely tinkled. As soon as I confirmed that I had a fish, it was chaos while Glenys found a pair of gloves and something heavy to kill it – I ended up using the handle of a heavy diving knife to club it to death. I then descaled it, gutted it and chopped it up into two pieces to fit in the fridge. We need to be a bit more organised when we catch a fish – perhaps more stuff to store on the arch.
Marin is a strange place – there are literally hundreds of boats at anchor plus hundreds in the marina. There are quite a few of the typical French live-aboard yachts which look like they could never move and are slowly sinking. We weren’t able to check in – customs only turn up in the morning. We wandered around in a daze, checking shops and supermarkets in preparation for doing a “big shop” tomorrow. One of the things that we were hoping to buy was diving cylinders, but they are $400US – I can buy cheaper in Bequia.
The freezer is making a lot of gurgling noises again and is not pulling down the temperature. We’ve obviously still got a leak in the system, so I turned it off. We had pan-fried Barracuda for dinner, with real French bread, red wine and Camembert cheese.
12 May 2011 Marin to Saint Anne, Martinique
We cleared in and wandered around Marin buying a few things. We found a fantastic fishing shop which sells everything including spares for spear guns.
We went to a large supermarket with its own dinghy dock and bought loads of wine, beer, orange juice, food, etc. After lunch I dug out my two spear guns - the large one has a weak rubber band and the small one doesn’t have a spear. I went back to the fishing shop with both spear guns, but they were unable to help me with any spares. While I was there, I bought a small spinning rod, reel and a few bits of tackle.
When I got back to the boat, I found that Glenys had been having a small adventure with a catamaran that had anchored in front of us. The crew had gone ashore and their boat had dragged straight past us. A couple of French guys on a boat next door helped out and let out more chain.
We motored around to Saint Anne which is a much more pleasant anchorage (if a little rolly). I dug out my new fishing rod and set it up. I then cut up some Barracuda to make into bait, salted it and put it into the fridge for tomorrow. As night fell, I tried to fish using a small jig hook and an artificial worm – I had a few nibbles but was not quick enough to catch the little blighters. Now with real bait tomorrow….
We had Barracuda and Chips for dinner.