According to DHL, our Raymarine Chartplotter arrived in Tortola before Christmas, after a brief, unexplained detour to South Korea. On Dec 30th, we left JVD and headed to Nanny Cay marina on Tortola to pick it up. We stopped for lunch in Francis Bay and called the marina to confirm it was there. Unfortunately, it wasn't. Evidently, the driver got hung up clearing another package through customs and didn't make it the 8 miles to deliver my plotter in 3 days. With no reason to go to the marina, we sat in Francis Bay for the night.
About 11 am on the 31st, Brenda at the Marina called to say the driver was there with my package and wanted $23 for customs. I talked Brenda into paying him and promised to be there before she had to close out her cash drawer at the end of the day. This ended up being a real challenge. It was dead upwind, and with our unreliable engine, we tacked for hours, getting there at the last minute. However, we collected the box, thanked Brenda profusely, and installed it. It was nice to have charts, radar and AIS functioning again!
While at Nanny Cay, we caught up with Mary on Windward, and had a great chat with Teresa and Tony on Southern Cross. They were one of the Catalina's that lost steering on the way south. They had only just arrived in Tortola, almost a month after the rest of the rally. It seems they got towed into Bermuda (cost $8k) after sailing in circles for 24hrs in heavy seas. They replaced their rudder and then ran into more weather and problems trying to get down island. Again, we were grateful for our successful passage.
Since we arrived so late in the day, and it was New Year's Eve, we decided to stay at the marina for the night. Yeah! We enjoyed awesome showers - the best we've come across at a marina, and ice cream cones, then played cards and listened to some noise makers elsewhere in the marina as the clock struck 12. Welcome 2014! Wonder how that party at Foxy's went - it pretty much rained all night! Can you say wet t-shirt contest?
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