antigua still.

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Good morning, if you are reading this surrounded by snow and ice I suspect that our trials on the boat willseem very trivial and unimportant. Here in Antigua the weather is balmy and calm. Generally it takes us about a week to get used to the heat, and then start to feel chilly in the evening. Last night Alan asked if he should take his red fleece, the temperature was about 28 degrees!

As you know from the last blog our first week here was trying to say the least. The flu was virulent and left us weak and grumpy. Then my tooth disintegrated. Then the generator exhaust disintegrated. The stern gland is not leaking so badly and we can get a spare in st martins. The batteries are still pretty useless but again we can get more in St Martins.

Alan was exhausted when he tried to repair the generator. First he had to dismantle the exhaust, then in the dinghy across to the mangroves to try to get somewhere near the welding place. He tied his dinghy up to a little jetty, then came to a pair of gates which he went through, trying to avoid the large rotweiller which was jerking it's chain and barking like a fiend, then a long hot walk up a track, to finally find the lady welder who would do the job. He did this three times, firstly it was out of alignment, then it was still not quite right, on the final trip the large man who owned the rotweiller came and told him off, it was private property, he had to search for a new route through, the man on the next headland was very kind and let him past. At last it was refitted and after some adjustment did not leak too much.

Then to hire a car to go to the dentist,. What a great dentist, even tv in the chair as you are being drilled, a dentist who was so quick and efficient. Fantastic, hardly knew he had rebuilt my tooth in an instant.
We bought a new microwave as well, but have not fitted it yet.

Right got to go we are off to jolly harbour, stock up check out and off to barbuda.

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