The Countdown Has Begun!

Le Marin - Largest marina in the SE Caribbean .......can't buy flares!

 The countdown has begun! We arrived in Martinique on Tues and have been working ever since to get the boat back in liveable and sailable condition.

Monday we flew from Toronto to Montreal to catch the early flight Tues here. We left home at 10:30 and were in the hotel by 4. That was for a 50 minute flight. That’s flying! At least we got to watch the Canadian Juniors win. It was -22C in Montreal and +28 for us later in the afternoon.

As well as many small jobs, the big ones on the list are life raft, new throttle and relay on engine, sealing the hull/deck joint, buying updated safety equipment, reinstalling the repaired chart plotter, and installing more mast steps. We have been disappointed with the marine stores compared to Grenada and St. Lucia. Many things are unavailable and it is hard to get helpful advice. That last one is probably our own fault as we cannot converse in French.

I’ll start with news on the liferaft as some of you know our initial concern. The one that came with the boat was recertified July 2012 and normally that needs doing every 3 to 5 years. We called the only company here that does that but they don’t work on our brand. The US company that made them requires a yearly inspection now since it is 15 years old. A new life raft can be ordered from France, but takes 5 weeks as they do not fly them. Our friend, Francis, in St Lucia, would do it and give 2 year certificate. The weather has been very blustery this week so did not look forward to taking several days to get there and back. Rob tried calling a Florida company and they would send a new one by air next Wed-for a price. He had already ordered that when we walked into another marine store and saw the exact same raft sitting on the floor for sail! It is now on our deck awaiting installation. We may be transporting 2 of them to Panama as so far haven’t found anywhere to dispose of it. I’m sure if there were a net here someone would take it for free.

The other supply thing we were surprised about was flares for safety. The stores don’t want to carry them because they are considered hazardous and they can’t get rid of them when expired. One suggestion was to rent a car and visit the fishermens’ coops on the east coast as they still require them.

We have managed with difficulty to get the dinghy and motor in the water. We are tied stern to the dock with no space between boats, with the motor on the back and the dinghy on the bow. It feels better already to have a “car” which we used to bring the life raft from the store. At the dinghy dock we bumped into friends, Tim and Patti, who are anchored at Ste Anne’s. We plan on getting together again this week.

The BPO staff and other boats doing this leg with us arrive Mon. Bob comes in Tues. I’m not sure what all is planned for us but we know the boat inspections will be a priority. It is like a “final exam” on boat prep. It would be nice if the wind would calm down for a gentle start but we will have to take what we get.