We have now settled easily back into our routine – mornings are for boat jobs and afternoons are for having fun!
We awoke Friday morning – still in Le Phare Bleu marina – to a beautifully stunning bright day with a flat calm sea as we looked out from the bow. Wow!
Richard is still trying to work out where to store everything and is reorganising his tools and spare parts into a more logical order… Along with essential things like changing impellers, fan belts, tightening stuffing glands etc. I was definitely in the way so decided to get busy on the stainless steel again – and we were both pretty pleased with our efforts. Suitably hot and bothered we took ourselves off to the pool and enjoyed a leisurely few hours until we returned to Morphie for a curry dinner on board. Walking back we enjoyed the sights of the Vastra Banken lit up for Christmas.
Saturday morning up early and again Richard is doing essential mechanical maintenance things down below – and I’m off to the shop for some more ice. It looks like our fridge is playing up unfortunately. Oh well….things do break on boats. Will give it another couple of days to see how it gets on before we call out someone to help. We have done all the obvious trouble-shooting things… Anyway, after I come back I start on the woodwork – there are a few spots on the rail where the varnish has started to peel – so I rubbed them down and did some patch repairs. Pretty pleased with my efforts!
In the middle of all this, we were pleased to see Eric and Pat from Cutter Loose – another Island Packet – who had just pulled in having splashed from Grenada Marine. Really nice to see them again. After a few hours in the pool cooling off we came back, cleaned up, and headed into the restaurant for dinner…. and were joined by Eric and Pat and had a lovely evening catching up. Oh yes, there was a polar bear in the restaurant too…. and Morphie was looking very festive with her new Christmas lights at the end of the dock.
Sunday morning and we declare it a day of rest. So at noon we head off to Taffys in Lower Woburn for Sunday lunch with Sha Sha. Roast pork and fresh veggies with the rare addition of a Yorkshire pudding – not very Caribbean I know, but couldn’t resist it! Yum.
We enjoyed the dinghy ride there and back and the views from the restaurant across to Calvigny Island – a very exclusive island resort which has to be rented in its entirety and can take up to 50 guests for an unpublished price!
Headed back about 2.30 pm having said our farewells…. Bit rainy and we hoped that it would hold off as there is a dinghy concert this afternoon. Back on the dock, quickly got ourselves ready, and then took the big rib over to the barge for the concert. Today Madison Violet were playing – a singer songwriter duo from Toronto.
On the barge we enjoyed watching the dinghies coming in and had a bit of a giggle at the cruiser’s dog with sunglasses – just one of many sights to be seen! The concert was great, the beer was cold and the company was fun. I did feel for the group though – the barge they were performing on was really rolling and at one point they had to grab on to avoid falling over! People fell over on our barge too – but this may have been excess alcohol???
They even sent Mike up the mast to take the video…..
Thankfully we didn’t get any serious downpours although there was a lovely rainbow at one point.
Monday morning and we were supposed to be on our way out to the anchorages. But unfortunately the fridge is definitely playing up – and it’s pouring with rain – so we are staying put and have asked for a guy to come by to have a look. So it looks like we will remain marina dwellers for a little while longer…..
We have an important announcement to make – there has been a crew change this season! Bubo the owl decided that he didn’t like being parted from his mum and Hullbridge so he was returned to Elaine – who was pretty happy to get him back! That left us with a vacancy and Jack donated Gervaise – the monkey – as a replacement. Gervaise has been living on board Jack’s boat which was anchored in the Crouch and he wanted some sun. So he is now on Morphie and is entertaining us with his magical dance moves and monkey noises. You cannot fail to be happy when he gets going…so a welcome addition!
Bye for now
Jan