The morning was a bit rainy, so we skipped the idea of running over to Cinnamon Bay to check it out. Instead, the kids did their school work in the morning while we cleaned up the boat. By 11, the boat traffic had picked back up and the waves rolling through were rocking us again. So we headed across the channel towards Red Hook on St. Johns. We have a dock reserved in the American Yacht Harbor to make it easier to pick up the See’s. We get in to the harbor at noon and hail the marina office to get our slip assignment. We are told its still full and we may have to wait until 2pm to pull in. We also need diesel, so decide to pull into the fuel dock and stall there, hoping that by the time we are done our slip will be open and we can just move over. The Fuel dock is full, so we have to circle a bit in the harbor. The twin engines amaze me again – so easy to maneuver. Although, there were some very strong gusts blowing through that managed to shove us around a bit and make things interesting at times. On our last pass, I hear someone yell my name and look over to see Tim Mays on the dock. He had just finished a fishing charter and was leaving the marina. We have plans to meet up with him later in the afternoon. Once on the fuel dock, we put about 70 gallons of diesel in the two tanks. We must have hit the rush when we got there, because now things are calm and no one is coming in. We can sit there for a bit and wait for our slip to open.
Our slip requires stern-to docking, meaning we need to back in, securing the bow lines to pilings as we pull in. We don’t want the dinghy to get in the way during this process, so we try to drop it off at a dinghy dock where we can walk over and get it later. While getting ready to do this, a guy in a dinghy comes over to ask if we are leaving soon. I tell him what we are doing, and that we can leave when the fuel dock is needed. He has a cat coming in with one engine, and thinks he may need to tie up to the fuel dock, and then use lines to swing it around into his slip. He’s going back out to the boat now, so we can wait a bit longer. Tracy and Noah take the dinghy up to the dock, but as soon as they leave, I can see the guy in the other dinghy heading back. I yell for them to hurry, but as we should know by now, some things can’t be rushed. It turns out that the owner of the cat doesn’t need the fuel dock, and will just pull directly into the slip behind the fuel dock. As it comes in, I help grab the lines and pull the back end into the slip while the dinghy shoves the front end around. I notice its a ‘Fairwinds’ Sailing School boat, and it turns out the captain is Dave, the owner. We had met briefly in Annapolis at the boat show, and I took a Fairwinds boat from Norfolk to the Abacos back in November. Small world. We can still see a boat in our assigned slip, so Tracy walks down to ask what their schedule is. Turns out they intend to stay another night, so we need to call the office to get things straightened out. Finally about 30 minutes later, they hail us on the radio to let us know that we will be moved to the ‘T’ slip at the end of the same dock. This is fine with us, as now we don’t have to back in and can have the boat facing the wind to catch the breeze in the cabins. They have another boat with one engine coming in, and need us to either wait or stay way down on one end of the T, giving enough room for the other cat to come in. Not knowing when the other cat will arrive, we go ahead and dock. Even with the twins, this still takes a couple of tries in the gusty conditions. There’s no dock help and we need to get close enough to catch a line on the cleats. On the second pass, Carl the dock guy finally ambles out and ties us off. We are just in when we see the dinghy from the second wounded cat come up to check things out. The cat is on its way in, not too happy that we are already docked and now he will have to maneuver around us. Oh well. Their dinghy driver is between the two hulls and shoves the boat around into the wind. From there it takes about 5 attempts to get the boat coming in at the right angle, but we finally grab a line and pull them in. Yes, it would have been easier if Seabbatical were not already parked there, but there was no way we were going to circle and wait in the harbor with no way of knowing when they would show up. Everything is tied and and secure now, so no problem. Its almost 2 now, so we head out in search of food and to check out the Laundromat. Unfortunately, the ‘Open 7 days’ laundry is closed – its Good Friday. We had lunch at Molly Malones, and Irish Pub right on the docks. Food is good, we have a great view of the marina, they have a ring game, and we spot several huge iguanas in the yard next door.
After lunch we walk around to find the market, to see if they are well stocked, or if we need to make other arrangements to find a bigger market. It turns out that the market is great – well stocked and good prices. So our plan to just check it out turns into a full shopping spree. They don’t have delivery service, but they don’t mind if we use the shopping carts to go across the street to the marina. So off we go with 2 full shopping carts trying to keep them from sliding sideways down the hills and bouncing over the cobblestone sidewalks and docks. We are just returning the carts when Tim Mays and his family and friends stop by. We have a great visit with them on the back of the boat. While there, Capt. Bob calls. He and his wife Sueno are here in the marina and we are going over to meet them. After a nice visit with them, we grab a pizza for the kids at the Island Time Pub, and go back to the boat to wait for the See’s. They arrive right on schedule at around 10 pm. Everyone is excited to tour the boat and check out the netting at the bow, so it takes a while to get everyone settled down and into bed.
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