We've been away from home for over a week and it's time for
a blog and a few pictures of our adventures.
I think Laurie has Facebooked a few shots. We flew to Arizona for a few days to visit
Kristen and Terry from the boat "Silk Pajamas". Their boat is stored in St. Lucia and it will
be ready for them later this month.
Laurie and I have never been to Arizona, but have always been amazed by
the beauty of the mountains and deserts as depicted in various media.
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| A common site in Scottsdale |
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| Kristin & Terry |
Scottsdale is a lovely little city where
walking trails and parks scatter in every direction. The main streets are dotted with touristy
spots that sell all the usual fare; items with cactus or hot peppers on them,
or cowboys, Indians, and horses. Laurie
bought a beautiful Stetson sun hat, because he is afraid that his signature
pith helmets won't last forever! What a
great hat that is!
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| The Singing Cowboy |
During the evenings at 5:00 sharp, we joined Kristin and Terry for drinks in their back
yard and to watch the sun set. You don't
actually see the horizon from their back yard but the sky was certainly
beautiful with the view of palm trees.
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| The view from Kristin and Terry's back yard |
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| Laurie patiently waiting 5:00 |
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| Taken out of the car window! |
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| Stopped to go on a wee 40 minute hike along this beautiful lake! |
We walked, drove and ate in and out. Finally it was time to say "Goodbye and
we'll see you at Christmas in St. Lucia!"
We flew all day Monday and were picked up at the airport in
Port of Spain, Trinidad at midnight by Blugh our trusty, dependable friend who
works with the travel lift at Peak's Boatyard.
When we unlocked the door of Cat Tales, everything looked just fine; no
break-ins, no water, no rats, no roaches, and to make Laurie happy the batteries were working just fine. So...what were we to do, but toast the day
with a glass of wine at 1:30 am!!
In the morning, we trudged off for 20 minutes in the blazing
heat to Customs and Immigration where
they looked at us indifferently and told us that we had cleared at the airport
and there was no need to be there.
Funny how the rules change and we were expected to arrive there at the
first light of day for the past several years.
We will still go again next year because you never know when it will
change back! Trinidad is certainly the
land of paperwork ; there are no breaks if you screw up, and the rules change
with the office managers! So...we smile
and do what they say!
Shawn and Candace,
from Superb Canvas and Sails arrived at our boat this afternoon right
after lunch to install the last bits of our bimini. Imagine, on a Saturday in the
Caribbean!! We have the most beautiful
bimini complete with textilene sunscreen across the entire back, and 2 side
panels to block out the sun, and last but not least a new windscreen to go all
along the front of the boat to keep out the driving rain as well as the
seawater when we bash into waves and they bash back! The panels will all roll up with ties to get
them out of the way, or we can choose to remove them altogether.
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| Superb Sails and Canvas (Trinidad) Candace & Shawn |
When Cat Tales was up on the boat lift last May, we had the
rudders removed from the boat. After
investigating, Laurie found one rudder cracked along its forward seam, and the
other rudder full of water. He has
stripped them of bottom paint, and scraped a lot of gel coat off. After draining, he has injected 'git rot' and
west epoxy and is now adding layers of fibreglass to all the edges. He has many steps left to go, as well as the
usual boat recommissioning and reassembly,
but we're hopeful to be able to
keep our Nov. 29th splash date here at Peake's.
He can probably explain the operation better, but he's presently under
the boat out of the rain and working hard!
My sister, Lorna and hubby, Brian are sitting pretty on
their new boat up in Rodney Bay, St. Lucia.
Laurie and I intend to sail up to St. Lucia by Christmas if all goes
well. Val and her husband, Rick will fly
down to meet us for Christmas. Lorna
mentioned that it's a bit strange to hear Christmas tunes blaring out of stores
and malls. I would have to agree! We've been Christmasing down in the Caribbean
since we were in our 20's and I'm still not used to the decorations and music
in such a hot climate. And Santa with
short pants on and skinny black legs, in Guadeloupe years ago, has been etched in my memory forever!
