We splashed on Oct. 17,  checked to see that neither the new drive leg nor the new depth sounder were leaking, and proceeded directly to Crews Inn, where we discovered that the slip that had been reserved for us was occupied.   The squatter had limped in and requested a single night with which to sort out their problems.   They had already been there more than a week when we arrived, and they just finally left a few days ago, some three weeks after their arrival.

Meanwhile, we were placed in the slip owned by a local who temporarily had his boat on the hard.   Our thanks to him and to Crews Inn for accommodating us — we stayed much much longer in that spot than what was originally discussed.

When we arrived at Crews Inn, there were two other Krogens there:  Richard and Lavinia on Partners, and Bill and Ann on Ann Louise.  Great fun to spend some time with them — as you can imagine we had much in common to discuss.  My only regret is that I didn’t take any pictures.

When we left Trinidad in July, we had intended on embarking on two additional major projects upon our return:  1) installation of solar panels on the roof of the pilot house and on a reconstructed bimini and 2) reworking of all of the wiring associated with our house battery bank and the starter battery for the John Deere.  While we were away we decided against the former and engaged Dockside Electric to do the latter.  So since arriving at Crews Inn we have often had a worker crawling about in the engine room.  And then most recently after listening to Richard (Partners) enthuse about his solar panels, we decided to install three panels on the pilot house roof after all.  The problem was that it didn’t appear that we could get them ordered and delivered to Trinidad in time to have them installed before we wanted to begin our annual trek northward.  And then Lee (Allegro) told us about a note he saw on the Power Boat’s bulletin board, Barb followed up, and we bought three 145-watt panels from a local.  Richard had his installed by an electrician cruiser while they were both in Carriacou and was very pleased with the work and the price.  So we have ordered a controller (which can be gotten here easier than panels) and will take the materials to Grenada to be installed.  Stay tuned for further developments.

With Lee and Sharon (Allegro) we rented a car and drove up to Maracas Bay one day to see the famous beach and sample the best-on-the-island bake-n-shark sandwiches.  Impressive overlooks on the way to the beach, and the sandwiches were indeed yummy.  The beach was almost deserted; not surprising since it was a weekday morning and threatening rain.  Indeed, I had time to only take a few pictures on the beach before the skies opened.  When we returned to town the boys dropped the girls off to do some shopping, and the boys ventured off to find the NP facility for filling propane tanks.  We were looking for an “NP” sign on the right, and got all the way down to the airport before realizing that we had missed the entrance.  After coming all the way back to town we thought we had found it, but alas, we had just gone past and so had to go west, do a U-turn, head east, miss a chance to do a U-turn that would take us past the entrance, drive many miles to find the next opportunity, and then finally come back west to turn into an unmarked dirt road that soon was festooned with “NO ADMITTANCE” signs that bore a water treatment plant logo.  Signs or no — by the process of lengthy elimination we just had to be in the right entrance.   And we were: our little dirt road opened up onto a little-used paved road, and there was the propane facility.  Getting the tank filled was by that time somewhat anti-climatic.

Back at the boat, in the process of cleaning the teak cap rails we realized how worn and rutted they had become in the three years since we had stripped them and let them “go natural”.  Reluctantly we decided to sand them down and return to periodic varnishing.  Soon after I had begun using a power sander on the rails, an employee of Crews Inn appeared and said that a neighbor was trying to take a nap, and that the sander was too noisy.   Diplomatic Barb spoke with the neighbor, and managed to negotiate a “compromise” in which I could sand when the neighbor and her husband were off the boat.  After I had sanded for days on only a small portion of the rails, Barb insisted that we enlist some help, and so Raoul joined the work crew.  Fortunately, the disabled vessel that was occupying “our” spot finally was able to depart, and so we moved there, and although we were still fairly close to the sensitive neighbor, we judged that we were far enough away to sand with impunity.  Raoul of course wanted to do the varnishing too, but I have my pride.   As this is written we have applied three coats of sealer and four coats of varnish, and there are still ruts showing, even in that portion in which I aggressively sanded the varnish in the hope that I could remove the ruts.   Many more coats will be required to restore the smooth surface we had before the stripping three years ago.

While all of the sanding was going on, we also had a worker down in the engine room rewiring the house battery bank and starter battery.   Basically, off-bank bus bars were used for both negative and positive cables, a project that rendered some organization to what was formerly a tangled mess that had some battery terminals so full that the nuts could barely grab the threads.  In addition, careful consideration of cable lengths and placement should result in much more even charging of all cells.  The project was expensive, but I am happy with the result.

We have been working hard, but also relaxing in the late afternoons and evenings.  We have been to the Wheelhouse Pub several times for Sword Fish, and visited the new restaurant (“Old Navy”) at the military museum.  While Lee and Sharon (Allegro) and John and Amy (Wind Horse) were still here, we often joined them for late afternoon cocktails at the Crews Inn pool.