Sometimes, not much is happening, we’re just chilling: we go for walks, we swim off the boat, we do happy hours with friends, we read our books/the news, we communicate with friends and family. We have 5 weeks left before the marina will lift Komeekha out of the water (May 2nd). During the last four weeks, we’ll be increasingly busy to prep her for the off season. So, just chilling now is a good idea.
Ninety percent of our waking hours on Komeekha is spent in the cockpit. We eat, read, chat, entertain, snooze there. We only go inside after dinner and overnight.
In the cockpit, we have a plastic window across the “ceiling” that allows us to see the bow (for waves) and the masthead (for wind direction and sails) when we navigate. On the sides and the stern (back), we put no panels to allow uninterrupted wind and breeze. However, this arrangement gives us very little protection from the sun, heats up the inside of the cockpit; and the sun blinds us before it sets on the horizon. Consequently, we often need to move inside the boat to avoid sun burns. Sometimes, to make our lives more comfortable, we hang a bed sheet on the side or the stern using clothes pins. Last week, we paid for custom-made sun shades (blog photo). One piece covers the ceiling window, one piece for the side and one piece for the stern. We are now protected and comfortable all day. When we don't need them, we roll them up. What a difference!
From the blog photo, you can also see that our solar panels are now at angle, held by my walking sticks. This new position has noticeably increased our solar energy. A trick Frank learned from another boater. Cool!
As we visit different stores in town, we discover little gems that are not advertised. For example, we noticed that one tourist store had fresh bread loaves in paper bags with people’s names on them. On the day we were there, the bread was “Thai Basil”. It smelled so delicious! We found out that a Canadian expat woman makes them every Friday. Besides Thai Basil, Judy also makes Turmeric Ginger bread. If we give our order on Tuesday, we’d have our little bag waiting for us on Friday morning. As of today, we love the Turmeric Ginger bread. The Thai Basil is in the freezer. We already made our order for next Friday (Easter).
For Easter brunch (frittata, sausage ratatouille, hashbrowns, Thai Basil bread), we invited our new friends Steve and Jacquie (on catamaran called Spy Hop II). We met them at the dinghie dock when they arrived with a case of wine. Of course, wine is always a good subject to get to know perfect strangers. They buy it online from a store on St. Vincent (an island nearby). It is delivered by ferry for only CDN $2.50. It’s a very good deal when you can’t find your favourite wine in Bequia. So far, we’ve enjoyed a couple of Happy Hours together.
Yesterday was a full fun day. But before I tell you about it, I need to back up to the previous day. Steve and Jacquie had invited us to join them at the Cocktail Lab by the water for Happy Hour. As we were waiting for them sipping a Pain Killer (Frank) and a something with rum? for me, we saw our friends Dawn and Laurie (on catamaran called Cat Tales) sitting with friends! Grenada in November was the last place we saw them. What a pleasure! They invited us to join their group in the following morning for a hike to Hope Bay. As I mentioned our upcoming hike to Jacquie, she reminded me that I had shown interested in volunteering for a kids reading club at the Fig Tree Restaurant from 14:00 to 16:00 on hike day. Hmm! Starting the hike at 9:30, I was able to keep my commitment for 14:00.
The hike was awesome: strenuous (good exercise), fun (good friends, a lot to chat), and a hearty lunch and cold beers at the end.
The Fig Tree Restaurant has been committed every Saturday afternoon for many years to help children read and present their understanding of the story to the group. I was assigned to Stancia, an 8-year-old little girl without an ounce of concentration in her. A bundle of happy energy! She picked books that had as few words as possible on each page. She couldn’t remember any part of the story after reading it a couple of times. But she was able to capture every movement in and around the restaurant. So I had to rack my brain for ways to attract her attention back to me and the books. During the second hour, each child would give a summary and a drawing of the story with the help of his/her assigned volunteer. I loved the experience and committed to volunteering again next Saturday. I won’t forget!
