Waiting...

Enjoying ice water on this hot, windless day at Molly Malone's

Pamela and Garry joined us yesterday for a tasty breakfast at Fish Tails, and we hugged each other good-bye.  But wait, Tim the mechanic did not call last night, so here we are another day.  Described as a work-a-holic by his buddies, his business is booming right now and he's got more than one boat job going on.  Hope he'll be able to squeeze us in this evening and bring the new strut by so we can put it on the bow and take off.  We can't be too picky because he worked over the weekend and drove around the island to find a machinist for us.  On the bright side, the next weather window to traverse the Anegada Passage to St. Martin is at least a week away, so (provided that the repair takes place soon) we'll be able to take a bit more leisurely pace through the Virgins.  Nice for me, a Virgins virgin. (yuck yuck...or maybe just YUCK!)

I'm tellin' ya, Dave really likes these guys.

Got to spend a little time yesterday chatting with one of the local cruisers, Mack, who was one of Wayward Wind's saviours.  Mack is a white-haired, sun-scarred, salty former marine who likes his rum and coke and has lived on his motor sailer, Actuator, here in Red Hook since 2007.  He's planning on heading to Panama because it's cheaper, after he gets a new alternator.  His old marine buddy who has a place on Boca del Toro told Mack that he can stay as long as he wants if he builds a dock.  Mack's built docks before, so it's a win-win.  I asked Mack what he'll do if a hurricane blows into Red Hook.  "I'll do what I did last time.  I'll take my boat straight north 300 miles and then I'll turn around and come back after it passes.  Three days out and three days back."  He bought a lottery ticket and if he wins, he's going to buy a few of his old friends new trucks because they have a deal that that's what they'll do if one of them wins.  Mack knows boats, and we're really glad he happened to notice our boat going on walkabout in the harbor the other day.