The overnight rain causes Mike and I to sleep badly, unfortunately at different times. By about 4.30 am, Mike is back to sleep and I am fully awake. After wriggling around for about an hour, I give in and get up to do something more productive with my time – like last night’s washing up.
I catch up with my blog and get some other work done too, then Mike gets an unexpected treat – a cup of tea already in the pot when he gets up.
Some time during the morning, and for no discernable reason, a wave of homesickness hits me, and I start to cry. This is the first time this has happened this year, and the fact that there is no apparent trigger is almost more unnerving than the emotion itself. The last person I want to offload to is Mike as I do not want him to feel guilty in any way, but he is also the person that I most want a cuddle from, so the poor man is summoned, the cuddle is given and received, and gradually the hollow sickness ebbs away.
We lunch on an old English favourite – Heinz baked beans on toast – hardly a culinary triumph and not one I would give to guests, but yummy just the same. The addition of sweet chilli sauce makes all the difference.
In the afternoon, Kim and Rick visit the boat and I give Kim the guided tour as it is her first time aboard. She enjoys the air conditioning! Rick agrees to help winch Mike up the mast later, if the wind dies down. Yes, it’s that time again – that ridiculously expensive bit of plastic (the anchor light) needs to be fitted at the top. Mike puts together a sort of stirrup arrangement made out of rope so that he can stand up when he gets to the top, to actually see what he is doing. Not that he really wants to see anything, as he is afraid of heights!
The wind does die down, so Rick takes up position at the electric winch with me at the mast and up Mike goes. Once at the top, he orders me to move away from underneath just in case he drops anything on my head. From that height, a falling object would probably kill me, so I move, quickly. He realises that the actual fitting is slightly bent and has to be winched back down to retrieve his Swiss army pen knife, then he goes back up. By this time, an assortment of people have arrived to watch, cameras in hand, shutters clicking.
Photo: Rick and I start to winch Mike up the mast
Photo: Almost up to the first spreaders – half way
Photo: Don’t look down!!
Photo: Standing up in the stirrups to see over the top
Photo: This puts into perspective how high it actually is
He fixes the new anchor light into position and we start to lower him, or, more accurately, start to try and lower him, but neither rope moves, even though they are slack at our ends. Something at the top is jammed. I look at the grey skies over the top of Virgin Gorda and start to imagine Mike being there all night. How would we get him down? Would a helicopter have to come and winch him off from above? Would we have to cut him off? In the event, it’s nothing quite as dramatic. With a little jiggery-pokery, the lines, which have become twisted and are now under tension, come free, and we lower his safely once more.
Guests aboard Snowbird, Jeannius’ sister ship, reward Mike with a can of Boddingtons. A man comes and thanks Mike for providing entertainment for all the people at the bar who have been watching the entire proceedings. And the anchor light works – for now!
Exhausted, Mike and I join Kim and Rick on the beach for a drink, but as the sun goes down, we move to the bar as biting things are emerging from the sand and having a good old nibble on Kim’s legs. Being sick of mosquito repellent, I have resorted to boiling in long trousers. At the bar we bump into Sally from TMM and her husband Craig, who are enjoying a few days off sailing around on their boat. Their boat is only 26’ long and Sally tells me stories of life on board without a toilet, but with a ‘bucket and chuck it’ system. You are a hardier woman than me, Sally – I take my hat off to you!!
Kim invites us to eat with her and Rick and goes off to prepare some food. We manage to persuade them to prepare the food and bring it to our boat as Mike is desperate for a shower to remove all the white mast paint from his legs, and to spend an evening in the air conditioning. I prepare tiger shrimp to add to their teriyaki salmon, rice and vegetables, and we wile away a few hours, happily chatting. A lovely evening. And the anchor light is still working when we go to bed – even better!
Thanks again to Kim and Rick for the photos!
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