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2009.02.13
Trouble in Paradise???
Dawn wrote the following email message to a fellow
cruiser who had left Antigua for St. Martin/Sint Maarten recently:
Gerry has been feeling kind of yucky for the past 4
days, not sure if that's part of his heart condition or something else. We are
doing some projects here in the marina and don't plan on going anywhere for a
couple of weeks or more. Three boats (all close friends of
ours) recently left for Guadeloupe. Since they left we have
found out virtually everyone in Guadeloupe is on strike, no gas, no food, stores
closed, no customs offices to check into or out of so I guess weird
things are going on all over the place. Blog reports state
that many of the black people want more control over the political
affairs of the island. Apparently it has become a racial thing,
scary.
A mega yacht captain was murdered at English
Harbour here in Antigua a few weeks ago, he caught a thief stealing his wife's
purse so he chased him and the guy shot him 3 times. The wife or someone related
put out a $20,000 US reward for anyone who knew who did it and somebody turned
him in. Three months prior to that a honeymooning couple from the UK were
robbed and murdered in their resort. This made headlines all over Britain
for several days/weeks.
Here in Jolly a native guy who owns a mid-size
power yacht claims a guy came on his boat and stole $20,000 (he's telling Gerry
this whole story, weird), the police came and said they weren't going to take
finger prints because Jolly Harbour had cameras on the marina docks and that was
good enough!? Also a catamaran in the anchorage just outside Jolly Harbour
was broken into at night by 4 locals approaching on surf boards. They
broke in through the open hatch under the salon between the two hulls.
They weren't too bright as they apparently didn't case it out beforehand and
were met by 4 men onboard (they probably were expecting only one sleeping
couple). The yachties overpowered them. Not sure if they got away or
not.
I think cruisers are going to start packing it in
and heading for home if it hasn't started already! We have heard reports
from many of our friends that either they or people that they know are returning
to the US or the UK and giving up the cruising lifestyle. Most of this
seems to be related to the economic situation unfolding here and throughout the
world. If this crisis persists or worsens things could get worse for
cruisers in the West Indies.
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2009.02.04
Beware of Dinghy Buttons
What are 'Dinghy Buttons' you say?? Good question,
aside from the useless reason they are on the dinghy in the first place, they
are four knobs (two in the front and two in the back) and put there solely for
the purpose of wrecking your bathing suit. I am speaking about Zodiac
dinghies and have not researched whether or not other manufacturers place these
annoying little knobs in the stupidest places on the TOP of the dinghy where you
would logically sit when in a dinghy.
Ok I 'think' they are there to hold the oars in
place - I'm not sure - but I seem to recall about six months after purchasing
the dinghy the oars (which were placed in their 'button' holders) fell off the
dinghy and were lost. First of all if that can happen so easily who in
their right mind would design such a set up whereby they jiggle loose and fall
off and/or you have to sit ON TOP of the oar while you are riding in the dinghy
and possibly knock it off!! Regardless, after the loss of the oars the
replacement oars (scavenged from some boat yard) are now neatly stored in the
bottom of the dinghy where they can't go anywhere. And now we are left with just
the 'buttons' hanging around on the top of the pontoons waiting for some poor
unsuspecting (usually female) passenger to launch her way off the dinghy for a
snorkeling trip to find her bathing suit bottom securely hooked onto this button
while she is upside down in the water wondering what the heck is going on while
she's trying to get her snorkel out of the water to spit the water out and
get some air!!
You guessed it - yours truly has done it twice -
wrecked TWO bathing suits while being disentangled from the button by the male
still in the dinghy who is trying to unhook a 100 and something pound whale from
this little innocuous button before she drowns. Swimco warns you to use a
special soap to wash your bathing suit with after being in salt water, little do
they know that every bathing suit should come with a 'dinghy
button' warning!! It's not an easy feat let me tell you,
give it a try if you don't believe me and you have a Zodiac dinghy handy!
The really sad thing is I have warned every visitor we have had to be careful of
this very fact when preparing to launch themselves into the depths below so it's
not like I FORGET!
The most recent occasion was a week ago with our
latest company, sister Miriam and brother-in-law Bob. I went in first, got
caught, ripped my suit and was released like a fish and two seconds later
Miriam on the bow of the dinghy launches herself and oooooooops that horrible
ripping noise, thrashing of legs, arms and head while being disengaged from the
'button'. The dinghy button gods were laughing up a storm with
Neptune I'm sure (along with our husbands still in the dinghy).
So if you are ever sailing and have occasion to see
a boat load of women in a Zodiac dinghy getting ready to get into the water have
your video camera ready - it's quite the show - especially when more than one
performs for you!
04:30 Permalink | Comments (2) | Email this