We now have nearly two weeks until our up-island charter back to the BVIs. After an extra night and most of the next day at Phare Bleu, during which time I manage to get the laundry done, we motor round the corner to Clarkes Court Bay where we plan to stay until just before the charter.
One evening I make the mistake of offering Mike some biscuits after his dinner and when going to get them, I slip off one of the stairs and fall down the lot. My language is abysmal. I hit everything on the way down – my hip, my bum, the tops of my arms and somehow, the tops of the toes on my left foot. (Given that I land on my bum, I have no idea how this happened!) After telling Mike that nothing is broken I continue to swear and curse – it hurts like hell – and inform him that he can get his own sodding biscuits in future!
He also gets me the ice pack from the freezer and I sit for the rest of the evening on one bum cheek with the pack pressed against the other. My skin is frozen after an hour or so and we have no way of telling whether the red mark is my burgeoning bruise or frost bite.
Getting into bed is interesting. For the last few weeks my left knee has been painful if I kneel on it, even if I kneel on something soft, so I have taken to scooting up the bed on my right side. Now with my injured bum cheek, I have no way of painlessly getting up and into bed. For one moment I consider sleeping standing up but eventually settle for slithering snakelike up the bed on my belly before turning over, swearing as my bum scrapes across the sheet.
The days continue to pass in a haze of doing nothing in particular. Having joined in on the Grenada Cruisers’ Net, we find out all sorts of things like the buses for shopping trips, joining in on the Saturday trip to the supermarket and the Tuesday trip which basically takes the cruisers wherever they want to go – supermarket, bank, hardware shops and chandleries. I sit lopsided in the bus as the lack of suspension and a hard ride jolt painfully on my bottom. I feel every bump in the road – and there are plenty!
While in one of the chandleries, I get talking to a nice woman who is looking to buy a catamaran and although Jeannius is not for sale (unless you get me on a bad day in the middle of the ocean where I would sell her for a bloody good price) I invite her and her husband to come and have a look at an example of a well used Privilege 435.
Of course, this necessitates giving the boat a bit of a once over, something I wasn’t going to bother doing until just before our charter guests arrive, although I have to say I just skim the surfaces and make sure that the boat is just above the dysentery line!
Julie, her husband Greg and their friend John, arrive in the late afternoon. After showing them around the boat we sit in the cockpit until it is dark sharing some beer and wine. Basically we have a thoroughly and very unexpected pleasant afternoon in the company of lovely people.
We also get the bus into town to meet up with Jutta and Jochem. Getting the local bus is quite an event for me as I don’t do buses under normal circumstances but not wanting to waste money ($2.5 EC as against $45 EC each way) I take the plunge and amazingly get to the Port Louis Marina via Island Water World without mishap. We have a lovely lunch with them before going back to see Chessie now that she has nearly finished with her ‘Extreme Makeover’.
Photo: Lunch with Jutta and Jochem
Photos: Chessie looking pretty after her facelift
Each morning I ask Mike for an update on the colour of my bruise. Bruising is something I do not normally do - my capillaries must be as tough as old boots – so having something the size of a saucer develop and change each day is a source of constant excitement and I want to see each day’s progress. However, this is something I cannot do by myself. I am unable to see it in the mirror over the bathroom sink even if I stand on the toilet seat, which of course would be to invite further injury if the boat lurches - you have to hold on to the ceiling by putting your hand through the hatch and the one in our bathroom has a tendency to fall down. Of course, I have now given away the fact that I’ve actually tried to do this, to no avail I might add – wrong angle. The solution? Mike takes a picture of it so I can get a good look then delete the image immediately! This is what can pass for entertainment on a boat when one is bored!
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