Amazingly, the part we ordered from the US has gone from Florida, to Paris, to Guadeloupe in about 6 days. It is now in Pointe-a-Pitre – just got to get it out of customs. UPS says it tried to deliver it today but the business was closed (it was) so they will try again tomorrow.
I go and retrieve our old dinghy off the beach on Isle de Cochon and we head into the marina.
No matter when the part actually gets in our hands we are certain to be ready by Tuesday so now try to confirm a berth on the dock. We also want to rent a car and after much research have decided to grin and bear the extra cost of the marina rental company for just one day. It looks like we would have to take a cab somewhere to meet another rental company. I’m sure they would deliver to us (their websites say they will) but coordinating that over the phone in Frenglish is beyond us. If it was more than one day we would figure it out, but as it is, we go into the local rental place and they actually have a car we can pick up today at 4:30 pm, return tomorrow at the same time. Perfect.
Next stop is the Captainerie to book a berth. Christy went ahead of me to stand in line, she hasn’t moved in 10 minutes. I take my place and after about half an hour, I finally get to talk to the ladies behind the counter. No berths for Tuesday, have to email the dockmaster. So that was a bit of a waste of time.
We return a couple of items, buy a few more, then head back out to Milu. I send an email to the dockmaster do a few other things I don’t remember and head in to the marina to pick up our rental car.
Couple things that have been going on here behind the scenes. Christy has been trying to sell our old dinghy on fb for Guadeloupe – no bites yet. I have been fighting with Digicel over my phone service that I paid for but data is not working. On Monday, while we were outside the Captainerie, Digicel finally called me, reset my phone and an hour later it started working again. Yahoo! The next morning it stopped working again. It seems they communicate in English on chat pretty well so I contacted them on Tuesday. Unbelievably, they told me because I have not used any of my call or SMS minutes, I can’t have any more data. It was completely ridiculous. I told them frankly I don’t care about calls or SMS, just want data. They said that until I use up my calling/SMS minutes, I can’t have any more data.
“How many minutes of calls do I have to make?”.
“2000”.
“You’re hilarious I said.” That’s 30 hours of continuous talking. I said refund my money and cancel the account. They wouldn’t do that but they did convert my EUR$55 in top ups to 20 GB of data. That lasted until Satuday morning.
Anyway, Thursday afternoon at 4:30 pm we picked up our Citroen small SUV and went shopping to Decathlon and the nearby Carre Four. Christy was a kid in a candy shop there and I browsed around. I bought a fishing lure and some swivels and she convinced me to get a new bathing suit and a couple of hats. She doesn’t like my old Adidas hat. I must admit, compared to the new hats, it’s looking a bit tired. Got a nice light ball cap and was coerced into a floppy hat. It is more comfortable than the Tilley. Christy got a bunch of stuff too.
Off to the Carre Four next door.
It’s a huge mall and a large Carre Four, about the same size as Fort-de-France. There are no suitable air fryers nor blenders so we move on to groceries. After 5 minutes I am done, Christy just getting started so I go for a walk while she continues shopping. It’s better for both of us that way. I walk up the mall, get a coffee at McDonalds across from the grocery store, read my book and after about an hour, go to find Christy because she’s obviously been kidnapped by aliens. The stores are all closing. I find her as there are only 10 people left in the store. She’s got about 10 items. Amazing.
We check out and head back to the marina. Park in the big lot and dinghy back to Milu.