It's the little things in life that
keep us going, right? These last couple of weeks have been full of
small pleasures strung along through lots of “work” for the
Captain and Crew.
Our ship has come in, literally, with
all kinds of boat bits and pieces arriving from the United States.
The Captain stick-handled the paperwork through customs without any
major hitches. The process included a customs official following the
Captain with the goods from the customs shed to the yacht club,
ensuring that these items really do go onto a boat, since we do not
have to pay any Jamaican import taxes as a yacht-in-transit. I
invited her to come for a cup of tea on Diva, but she didn't look too
thrilled at the idea of getting into the dingy. So she watched us
row the piles of boxes to the boat instead.
Christmas all over again. |
The Captain was happy that everything
seems to have arrived safety with only a few surprises that come from
ordering things online that you've never seen before, provoking a
comments like, “Oh, you mean it's THAT big?”
And of course, the smallest boxes
contain the most expensive parts, tiny computers that will enable us
to rebuild the existing autopilot on the boat – hooray!
The Crew stays out of the way when
major boat projects are in full swing, having her own projects on the
computer to keep her busy. In spite of her magic touch that causes
any internet signal within range to shrivel up and die, she perseveres, with help from coffee that looks like this.
But rest assured, it is not all hard
work and no play! One of the boxes contained the Captain's Christmas
present to the Crew – another boat, of course. We now have a
“two-car-garage” and mine is the sweet little red sports car.
My new kayak! (And my new friend Jocelyn in her kayak.) |
We also spent our first night off the
boat in four months, visiting a friend's lovely house up in the hills
and exploring some of Jamaica's lovely non-waterfront nature.
The Captain and our friend Jackie looking at some of her BIG trees. |
Sending tropical Valentine's warmth to
you wherever you are.