A day in the life

I woke up, got out of bed. Dragged a comb across my head...


I am way behind in blogging. Don't blame you if you moved on. Did you move on? No, you wouldn't answer would you because you are following that other blog. The one that posts regularly and has pictures of things they did every day. I don't blame you. Hey, I do things every day! Nothing you would want to read about though. Take yesterday for instance. We sailed to the other side of the island because of a wind shift. I ate some leftovers for lunch and read a book. I listened to a French radio station and had a beer. I made dinner. I went to bed. I got up in the morning and wrote this post. Boring. Very boring. Maybe you like that stuff though.

Let me expand that day a little and you can let me know if it was dullsville.

Our anchorage in Simpson Bay was too rough to live there anymore so we had to pull anchor. I had a swell bridle hooked up which kept our bow pointed into the waves. Once I removed that, which was not easy, the boat started to roll side to side violently. I was on the bow trying to maintain my balance as I manually cranked in the one hundred or so feet of chain. For every crank I haul in about six inches. That's two hundred cranks for a guy looking at sixty who has not been in a gym in...a while. I looked over at Odin and saw Bonnie waving goodbye. I gave her my best popeye arm flex and I thought I saw her spit her coffee out laughing.

I was leaning on the lifeline relaxing for a bit before I made my way back to the cockpit and I noticed a ring ding, or a retaining ring laying on the deck. What the hell? That's not good. I wonder what that fell off of? I looked at the lifeline pin and there was no retainer. Shit! I was putting my weight on a lifeline that was barely attached to the boat. Had it let lose I would have went overboard and Deb probably would have run over the top of me! Geez. Sailboats - so many ways to die.

Once on the leeward side of the Island the waves settled and the wind backed off. We sailed past the cottage we rented with friends about ten years ago and it brought back some fun memories. We pulled into Marigot Bay in St. Martin among many sailboats and found a primo spot. There were no waves and a gentle breez. Sweet.

I did not check out before we left the Dutch side so I got into the dinghy and drove through the lagoon to the dutch side to pay my fee to leave. Along the way I noticed the plug was out of the transom and water was coming in. I stopped to put the plug in and some other dinghy raced by only inches, and I mean inches away from me. I yelled out ASSHOLE! and the woman passenger looked back but the guy drove on. Apparently I was very loud because now all the people along shore were staring at me. I waved. Bonjour! Sorry! It's part of my culture. Have a nice day.

I drove back to the French side and waited until after lunch to check in else they would wonder how our sailboat made it around the island in thirty minutes. I get to shore but could not find any signs for immigration so I walked to the ferry dock. I was pointed to immigration and the two officers asked for my passport. I gave them two and they were confused. I said one was for my wife and they said, "Where is she?". On the boat. Do you need to see her? They looked more confused and finally said, "Ahh. Yachtie. Go to back building and knock on door." These guys were checking ferry passengers. Doh! I went around back and tried the door. Locals said just to knock. I did. A guy about seven feet tall opened the door. He was huge. I said I would like to check in and he pointed me inside and locked the door. "Sit in front of the computer and answer my questions." I did. He said twenty five Euros. I said US dollars. He opened the door to outside and said, "Go down the street to the
Levis
store. Next to that exchange those dollars for Euros and come back. He gently nudged me out and locked the door.
Shit. OK. Levis. Off I went. There was the Levis store and there was the exchange. I received my Euros from a gorgeous gal who wished me a lovely day and I went back to find the giant. As I raised my hand to knock he opened the door. Good timing! He laughed and said, "Yes, good timing indeed". I paid the fee, he handed me paperwork and told me to enjoy my stay. Then he smiled a huge grin and opened the door for me.
I got back to the dinghy and raced through the anchorage to our boat where I relaxed to a good book. I promptly fell asleep. I have been really tired lately and not feeling all that great. Mosquito virus? I woke to a sunny afternoon and the local French radio station playing some very cool tunes and opened a beer. Relaxing with Debra in the cockpit and talking about our plans while people watching was nice.

Dinner was whipped up from below (BBQ "Chicken" sandwiches and corn on the cob) and we settled in for the night of more reading and texting the children. We are without internet so we can only email and text through the Sat phone. We had a peaceful and motionless night where I slept like the dead. I feel better today.

OK there was a typical day with a little more detail. Sorry, no photos. No bandwidth. What do you think? I could blog more but it would be very texty until we get some internet. Posting photos really kills a data plan so we back off until we get free wifi. I await your comments but I may not see them for a while.

We are in St Martin in case you were wondering. Having a ball but you would not know that because I am a failed blogger. Promise to try harder.
Cheers!
PJB

Appologies to Paul and Ringo for attaching their lyrics to this sorry blog. Sad there is only two of the blokes left in this world.

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