James is here in Guadeloupe

Saturday morning we did various chores around the boat that needed to be done. There are 3 heads (washrooms) and one toilet needed work on it before James uses it, so that got fixed and in working order. I put sheets on James bed... top sheet is optional down here. James was arriving at the Pointe de Pitre airport at 3:50pm so Traci and I went and did a final provisioning at the grocery store at the marina. The prices here are in Euros (French island). So, items can be expensive. The wine is cheap! Anyway, off we go with a big shopping cart (we were the only ones with one), French and Europeans only use a hand basket and buy for a day or two. Cashiers down here actually sit down while scanning, well, along come Traci and I and this poor girl at the cash exhales very loudly and had to stand up to scan everything. We were sure loaded down. I have a handheld VHF radio (I took my course last winter), so I call to Daruma and tell them we are ready to get picked up by the tender. Paul and I got changed and refreshed to get a cab to the airport. The Pizza place here at the marina called a taxi for us. James arrived with no problems.... mind you there was 3 other flights that arrived within a 15min period, so customs was busy. James arrived with his red duffel bag with duct tape to keep it secure. He arrived tired as he did go to his hockey game (start time 10pm) on Friday night. We arrived back at the marina and had take out pizza to take back to Daruma. It is Sunday evening right now and we headed up Guadeloupe to Anse a La Barque, just a little hideout with calm water. There is great snorkeling here, Dave and James already went, Paul and I will in the morning. The water is so warm here and so blue. We sure have enjoyed this island, the people here are so friendly and nice. This is an island we want to come back to in the future in our own boat.

When we know we are going to be sailing all day, we get ready, I thought I would share what we go through to get ready. We had to go through this with James. We make lunches in advance and have them handy as it is usually too rough to go down to the galley. We close all hatches, port windows, lock shut all cupboards, if you don't lock cupboards things are on the floor. Stuff usually on the kitchen counter gets put into the sink. We all go to the bathroom before we leave, it is rough to go while sailing. Anything we want handy, like a camera, sunscreen, water etc bring out with us to the cockpit. It is not always like this but usually some time during the sailing day it can be and one must be ready. It wasn't very rough today but Tuesday will be as we will head to Montserrat.

Thanks for you all reading the blog, we have no email today (Sunday), so I will send this blog as soon as we have it.