We decided that we needed a place to start our projects and we had been told by fellow cruisers that Fishing Bay Marina in Deltaville was a good place to base ourselves for the hurricane season. To comply with our insurance company we need to be above 35° North so thats where we ended up.
On arrival in the anchorage we were pleased to see our cruising buddies Kit and Belinda on their boat Quilcene. We have “bumped” into one another since Gibraltar a few years ago throughout the Caribbean and here in the US.
The marina has pretty good facilities, WiFi, clean bathrooms and showers, several barbecues, volleyball nets, captains lounge with TV the use of pedal bikes, a car to go to the local supermarket, town and hardware store but best of all is a huge swimming pool. Of course we took advantage of the pool with Kit and Belinda sharing a few drinks too.
As we don’t have a huge mast and what we have folds down we moved Pearl into a “shed” which was a pretty tight fit floating but tied up under cover. So grateful for the shade to keep us cooler.
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| The mast "resting" on the dinghy |
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| In the shed |
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| Local residents although the jellyfish weren't welcome they were everywhere for a couple of weeks |
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| Now, how do we get the washer from the deck to the boot? |
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| It took 3 of us so thanks Andrew for the help |
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| Almost installed, and now it works great when we have enough water. |
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| We were sorting out things we no longer need, the mess was sorted out eventually |
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| Strange cloud formation |
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| Another local resident a Blue Heron, always busy fishing |
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On the lookout, that sharp beak comes in handy he uses it as a spear |
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| Gotcha |
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| Going down |
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| Gone, you can see the lump |
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| The watermaker progress |
So, the “projects” a watermaker which will be useful when we have reasonably clear deep water to help later when we reach the Bahamas. A washing machine with a dryer.
Lots of other smaller jobs, led lights for the galley, Wifi bullet for better signals, waterproof USB and 110 power supplies in the flybridge. A larger WiFi TV. A freezer which was one of the more head scratching issues. Another inverter for the watermaker and freezer.
The boot as we call it (lazarette) is pretty big, not quite deep enough to stand up in but very wide. The two water tanks, steering gear, lots of spares ropes and quite a lot of “stuff” lives down the boot. So Don cleaned it and painted it brilliant white ready for all the work.
The washing machine, watermaker, inverter were ordered online which were delivered to the marina along with lots of other bits.
In the marina we met quite a few folks, one young couple (newlyweds) just having bought a Hunter sailing boat not unlike Agua Therapy but smaller. A lovely couple Andrew and Sarah, both taking time off to use their boat.
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| This was taken on Sarahs birthday when we went for dinner |
In August the local fire station has a fund raising event and every year they have a crab feast, our marina were sponsors and gave us tickets so all we had to buy were drinks.
The trays of crab were huge and the provided small wooden mallets, there were burgers and hot dogs too. Don must have dated at least 12 crab but the shells were pretty sharp and were slicing my fingers so my limit were two. Don that night looked like he had been carless with a razor blade with cuts around his mouth.
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| Time out at the crab feast |
We met another couple Hilton and Brenda who invited us to sit with them then so kindly took us back to the boat as it had started to rain. A few hours and drinks later they very kindly offered us the use of an old pick up to use so we could go a little further out of Deltaville for anything we needed.
We drove to Gloucester about 20 miles away to Walmart to collect the freezer and the large hardware stores for other bits.
As our B2 visas are for 6 months in the US October was looming and it meant we had to leave the country so a 3 week trip to the UK and Spain was planned.
First a trip to see my Mum and family and friends in the midlands, followed by a drive down to Devon to see family and friends. Then over to Spain to check on the house.
All of that went by pretty quickly so it was back to Pearl, finish out projects and head south ASAP to move into warmer temperatures.
I'm still trying to find more pictures so they will have to be posted on the next blog so as I'm being asked for this here it is.
Until next time
BFN
Glenys and Don
M.Y. Pearl
