Staging for the BVI

Hello Dear Family and Friends,

We've been boat-bound for most of the week. The wind is high and it makes for a challenging launch of Murphy the Dinghy. Also dragging your butt out of the dinghy onto the shore dock in a surge isn't fun. So we've been reading, cleaning, fixing, doing solitaire and sudoku. Also sipping on the odd beer and glass of wine. According to Canada's new liquor consumption guidelines we are raging alcoholics so... can you crack me another one? 

Anchorage

Speaking of alcohol, on Wednesday we got dangerously low on wine so when the wind settled for a brief period we raced ashore, caught a bus and headed for the Super-U. We wandered around the store amazed at the selection and prices. Love our Super-U. Picked up several boxes of wine of dubious quality. But we are at safe limits for now. 

Pam found me Marmalade at the Super-U

Premium Box Wine

Grande Case is all the rage for fun French eateries. We had lunch at one of the many cafes on Monday. I had the creole conch with macaroni and plantains and Pam had King Fish with fries. Wonderful.

 

Friday we went back. This time I was all in with a huge lobster, rice and plantain. Saved half for a lobster salad lunch later. Pam had a skewer of shrimp with fries. I'm doing the ribs before we leave. So good and the whole town smells delicious with the smoke from the BBQs. 

Mmmmmm lobster

Mmmmm... tiny lobsters!

Market Garden is the only place I know in SXM that has Plantation Rum. And their prices are excellent. So we took 3 buses to get there today and I stocked up on the regular and bought a Barbados and a Belize to entice prospective crew members. But better to get here before I drink it all. Plantation rum is purchased from different rum zones and then aged in France in nuclear barrels - or something like that. It's really good and you can get it at home but not for these prices.

Belize, Barbados and Original

The wind is looking good for an overnight Tuesday/Wednesday to the BVI. It will be almost dead downwind but it clocks a bit to the north a little later. We'll head out later in the evening and in the wee hours we should have full sails - or sail. Probably will just use the jib to avoid accidental jibes in the dark.

Looking at a late February marina visit in PR to send Pam home to kiss the grandkids. I'm tempted to come too but there's all the issues with leaving the boat. Maybe? Maybe no. We'll soon see. Stay tuned.

Beam Reach - wind on the bum

Cheers,

Blue Pearl