Helen: We're leaving the god-awful boat tomorrow. Hurrah!!! We have found another boat and are going to meet the new guy in Panama in mid Feb. This time we have done our homework. We asked him sooo many questions about him and his experience and the boat, and he gave us really really detailed responses which made us v v happy. Really wanted to make sure we weren't jumping out of the frying pan and into the fire. And, to make things even better, he's sailed in the Scillies :) (We'd still love to have our own boat, but the lazy Swede isn't so keen just now - watch this space though, we might still get our own yacht sometime this trip...)
Anyway, the plan is to leave the boat we're on tomorrow, and take the MV Barracuda to St Vincent (this is the mail boat that comes 3 times a week to Union Island - the locals have been telling us that the captain has a v bad temper. He has been known to get all the way here (5 hours) and then turn around and go straight home again if someone has blocked the entrance to the harbour (now, who would do a thing like that? Surely not - anchoring in the middle of the harbour entrance - you'd have to have a numpty of a skipper to do that.... The Barracuda captain has also left his wife ashore, apparently, when she took too long at the bakery, and she's had to take a speedboat to catch up with the ferry...on more than one occasion!)
So, after that, we'll head to St Lucia to see the lazy Swede and try to pick up a lift to Panama/Central America. Then, if all goes according to plan (ha ha ha), we should get a few weeks sight seeing in C America and then it's off to the Galapagos/the Cook Islands etc... to be in NZ by Nov.
It really is raining outside. Can't even see the boat its raining so much. Feel v smug that I'm in an internet cafe and not out there just now.
Oh, I wanted to tell you all about pelicans. Saw some today for the first time. They are odd looking creatures. And when they land on the sea they seem to plummet head first into the water! God knows how they don't break their necks. And then they lift their heads up and glug a whole load of fresh fish down. We nearly bought some fresh fish this morning on the quay side (the fishermen blow on a conch when they have a fresh catch) but while we were arguing about whether or not C knew how to gut/cook a whole fish (so fresh they kept leaping off the scales!) they sold out...
Think that's all our news - waiting for the rain to stop then got to head back to the boat to tell the skipper we're off. Not looking forward to that - we both feel really bad about leaving him in the lurch...but we didn' t give up our jobs and our lives just so that we could look after him and his boat. He is not our responsibility and, awkward as it might be, we have to get on with our adventure...
Ok, more later
H &Cxx
1 comment:
Good to hear from you and catch up on all your news. I can imagine it was difficult leaving the second boat - but there really did not appear to be any other option. Hope the encounter was not too draining and that it will be third time lucky for you both! Certainly sounds like you are well prepared (and I assume there are no cats involved). Will try to phone one evening next week. Much love, Susan XX
Post a Comment