Not a bad place to end up!

Nice place. We’re having a good time reacquainting ourselves with land again. In fact, we were so wobbly-kneed when we got here, Ann fell down because her legs just weren’t working after 24 days at sea. I almost feel off the dock after climbing up out of the dinghy.

So, we’ve been having a good time and working our b***’s off as well as cleaning up the mess that all that time at sea makes. We were just commenting tonight that we never thought the inside of Charisma would ever be dry again. However, one good, dry day today with the intense sun and all the cushions and stuff that were damp are now dry again after being left out in the sun all day (with no squalls). Ann heroically took apart the entire supply locker which had salt water in it from a leak through the after chainplates. That’s a huge job moving hundreds of pounds of canned goods and stuff out of the lockers onto the floor and then after cleaning out the locker, moving it all back in-and packing it carefully so it fits. I cleaned the hull which had barnacles and other sea grime that was turning the hull dark brown up to two feet above the waterline. I guess the bow wave when you’re moving allows the creatures to bond with the hull above the antifouling paint. Anyway, it was grueling. In the dinghy, hanging onto Charisma with one arm while scrubbing with a brush with the other arm-all in two foot waves that were banging me into the hull the whole time. When that was done, I hauled a friend on one of the other boats 70 feet up his mast so he could run a new halyard (his broke about four days out of here); Then, I hauled another one of our friends up Charisma’s mast to look at our radar. It’s been malfunctioning and we were hoping to find some corrosion or something that we could fix. Sadly, at this point it looks like a software issue and we’re still looking for a way to make it function again. Our latest thinking is that it may have been “tweaked” by some of the lightning in the ITCZ. Here’s hoping we can get it functioning again. Then I took apart the chainplate cover that was leaking so I can reseal it tomorrow so we don’t end up with soggy mattresses and cans (that are under the mattresses).

Tomorrow, more boat projects, but we’re also heading into the village for the monthly arts and crafts fair. Also, in the evening we’re going to a pig roast. One of the other boats found a local guy who will host a pig roast at his house as long as we have at least 10 people. We do, so we are. More to come on that. We also bought an internet card, so we hope to be able to get some wi-fi and upload at least a few pictures in the next day or so. But, this is a really small and remote town, and it only works within 50 feet of the post office, so we’ll see…