We arrived in St. Thomas on Monday night and continued on to Virgin Gorda in the morning to check into customs, into an apartment for the week and to look over Cat Tales to see how she summered.
I'm happy to announce that Cat Tales shows NO signs of rats, cockroaches or anything else undesirable! Unlike storing the boat in Trinidad, the outside of the boat was fairly clean. We didn't tarp the boat like we do down south, and it seemed a bit odd that nobody up here tarps, but it weathered the summer heat well. The air is a bit drier up here which kept mould at bay. We had a bit of water in the port hull because of a leaky window in the cockpit. A quick mop up and we were good to go! A little more silicone next season, I would think.
Laurie and I were able to hose the boat down and put up the bimini yesterday before heading to the Bayview Apartments for the night where we'll be staying for the next week before launch. It was lovely to wake up in air conditioning and take a shower before sweating all day at the boatyard! Today, Laurie has already tackled the port engine, installing the impeller and running water the engine when he ran it for a couple minutes. Water was spitting out of the outside exhaust nicely. He is now taking our brand new hot water tank that we had delivered to St. Thomas and will be installing it over the next hour or so.
So, all is well here in Spanishtown, Virgin Gorda.
A special hello to our fellow Canadians (John & Anna) who we met on the flight from Miami to St. Thomas!
Steve and Maria, I'll go check on your boat today and will let you know by email how "Aspen" looks!
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This documents the continuing adventures of Laurie and Dawn on their sailing vessel Cat Tales, a F.P. Tobago 35. The journey began in 2004. cattales35@gmail.com
