We came into the Marina in Pointe a Pitre, Guadeloupe with one goal in mind – fix the generator! It has been making a heck of a lot of noise recently – so much so that when I first heard it while we were down in Dominica, I thought the main bearings had gone, however it continued to run, just with lots of noise.

I ordered spare parts – including engine mounts – which I hoped might solve the problem and had Neal bring them to us on his visit.

This was always going to be a messy job – lifting the generator out and working on it’s oily extremities in the cockpit – and it lived up to expectations! Fortunately, we discovered the cause of the noise… an Aluminium plate between the engine and generator had broken and one of three mounting bolts was therefore inoperable. However, of the two remaining mounts, one had lost it’s nut and the other’s nut was loose. Basically the thing was held together by the drive belt!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

I spotted a tech working on a Halberg Rassey a few slips down and confirmed that he is a welder – he came and took a look and confirmed that he’d be able to weld it up – though because it’s aluminium, there were to be no guarantees! I gave him the piece the following morning and he brought it back in the afternoon!

It took all this morning to reassemble the thing and get it back into it’s spot on it’s new engine mounts. Turned the thing on – and bliss – purrs like a kitten!!!

I love it when a plan works out!

 

We’re off tomorrow – back to Dominica!

 

Having a great visit with Neal and Kathy – enjoying the opportunity to land cruise around Guadeloupe and take advantage of their apartment’s WiFi and washing machine! WooHoo!!! Our livers on the other hand are looking forward to them heading home!!

 

Did a super walk up the Volcano Soufriere – apparently the highest point in the Antilles… Quite a hike!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Timing was rather tight to get out of Antigua after Abigail’s visit and down to Pointe a Pitre in Guadeloupe in time for the arrival of Laurie’s brother Neal and his girlfriend Kathy. We had a very salty 2 day sail but arrived unscathed on Saturday.

Neal and Kathy are actually staying on land – in an Air B&B adjacent to the Marina we use as a dinghy dock. Couldn’t be more convenient.

So, getting right into the program, we headed out to inspect the local beaches and bars – and found several of both! Day two we decided to go for a bit of a walk in the rain forest – and it obliged by showing itself in it’s full glory – wet, wet, wet! And muddy! No matter we survived to live another day and drink another rum!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

We had a lovely Christmas in Les Saintes with David and Leanne of Perigee – Christmas Eve on Toodle-oo! and Christmas Day aboard Perigee – excellent food, far too much alcohol and a little bit of snorkeling for good measure!

 

 

 

 

 

Toodle-oo! was nicely lit up for Christmas, but unfortunately, the last night we were there, we went ashore for the evening and came back to find the boat in darkness… the lights had shorted, and caused a small fire before the electricity was automatically cut. We were very lucky that the only damage was a small hole burned in the sail cover and mainsail. We fixed the main the following morning with a handy little manual sewing machine we were lent by Frank on Infinity B and then hightailed it up towards Antigua where we picked up Abigail and spent New Year.

We took the mainsail into North Sails who did a great repair very quickly – highly recommend them! And then we moved the boat around to English Harbour with David on Perigee aboard to act as coach for our first experience of “Med Mooring” where one sets an anchor and then backs in to the dock stern-to, held off the dock just be the anchor – and hoping you’re not putting your anchor and rode over someone else’s! The whole thing went smoothly – largely because the wind was cooperating!

Laurie then organized a Beach Bar pub crawl for all the OCC boats assembled in the vicinity… we had a tremendous time visiting 4 very different beach bars on Antigua’s western coast.

New Year’s Eve saw 5 OCC boats on the dock host appetizers for about 30 OCC members and then on New Year’s Day we had a Bocce Ball tournament! Quite the weekend!

We’re now in Green Island – a very secluded bay in Antigua – protected from the Atlantic by just a reef – so the next land east of us is Morocco! Abigail steered us here – having the inevitable race (and winning) with 2 boats headed in the same direction as us!

As you can see, all’s well aboard Toodle-oo!