Waddya know, it’s hot and sunny. Sometimes rains.
Hard to believe we launch today and are leaving Bob’s. We meet Dwayne (Bob and Mila’s house sitters who stay in the apartment above us) early in the morning and they say to take our time checking out as, not surprising, there is no one coming after us. Dwayne will help me haul out Bob’s dinghy sometime over the next day or two as Bob has agreed to let us continue to use it. We tell him about our old p.o.s. and he is interested. Good trade – he can have our dinghy, he helps me haul out Bob’s.
We’re over at Clarke’s by 8:30 am – a few things to do to get the boat ready to launch. There ain’t a terrible hurry as they have to move at least one large monohull to get to ours. Turns out we have to haul up our anchor so that is a bit of a task.
Sure enough they are working on the boat directly in front of us pretty early. They get it moved and by about 9:30 am they arrive to get us. Jose and I go for a walk as he explains how to set up the boat for the launch and where we are going to park for the next day or two.
They bring the hydraulic flatbed over to Milu – turns out we’re not going in the sling, just going to launch down the ramp with us on board. I didn’t think that was possible but waddya know?
It is a very tight squeeze to get Milu out between the two boats in front and on either side of us. But these guys are good. They won’t tolerate the least touch between boats so they inch forward, jack up Milu a few inches to get the wide part away from their wide part. Takes maybe a half hour but they get her out without a scratch.
I paint the bottom of the keel with that nasty anti-fouling paint and before you know it, we’re in the water. Will she start? Like a dream, purrs like a kitten. We’re parking alongside the docks instead of between piers on the dock which is a slightly tricky park. We motor over and, although the Clarke’s crew are supposed to meet us there to assist, they’re not there and I must say I execute a perfect 90 degree turn onto the dock. Christy jumps off and secures us as Jose shows up and helps.
We have officially splashed, it’s about 10:30 am. Boat appears to float.
Dinghy back to Bob’s to pick up our gear and officially check out (tho there is no official check out). We left our stuff and some food down at the dock. We have lunch and a swim on Bob’s dock before heading back to meet Nils at the Treasure Trove. I have been swimming au naturel most of the time – there’s no one around and why get your suit wet?
Nils, Christy and I carry the dinghy down to the water beside Treasure Trove – this is a good sign, it would take 4 strong men to do that with our old dinghy, then Nils and I manhandle the rickety dolly with the motor onto it across the rickety pier to the rickety repair shop. He’ll fix the reverse gear switch lever and also add the fins we bought for EC$200. Nils will pay half of that.
We give Nils the cash and head back to Clarke’s. We’ll pick up the dinghy and motor tomorrow at 11 am.
Fabien and gang have a bunch of work to do on Milu to upgrade the solar. The parts just came in today so they will be in and out of Milu until Friday. Lots of workers, lots of trash.
At 4:30 we go to the restaurant to meet Axel and buy him a burger and a beer. Then back to Milu for our first night afloat in a while. It’s very hot.
