water. The weather has been mostly hot, but then very rainy for a day
(with lots of lightning), followed by totally still air and horribly
hot/humid conditions for two days while hurricane Ida (though far
away) pushed back the trade winds. The water is still 84-85F
(compared to 82F in the winter) and it's usually about 88-90F inside
the boat, with 70% humidity. Lots of fluids are the order of the
day. Today the trade winds returned and cooled things down a bit,
though it's still quite warm below decks.
Much of the last week was focused on working with Lyman Morse, and
various subcontractors, as they finished up some major warranty work
on our refrigerators and freezers. It was an enormous project but one
which they have executed very meticulously. There are still some
items to be finalized, but the boxes are chilling!
We were also working with Antigua Rigging to get the boat re-rigged,
sails bent on and our new autopilots finished up. And then in the
middle of everything the fresh water pump quit working and the
replacement pump turned out to have a different mounting bolt pattern
that the new one, though it is the same model!
Yesterday we got out for our first sail, calibrated the autopilot,
checked all the running rigging and even got our spinnaker up for the
first time! It was a great afternoon on the water with Stan and Kevin
from Antigua Rigging. The new autopilot (Raymarine) seems to be
working much better than the old one, though Fay is holding off
judgement until we can do 40-50 miles in reaching and running
conditions.
Today we started sorting through the 600lbs of stuff we brought down
from California and figuring out where to stow it all. Everything
from water maker filters to salsa and scuba gear. New Morning will
definitely sit a little lower on her lines when we're finished.
We're hoping to move from the Catamaran Marina to the anchorage in
English Harbour in a few days. Once we get to English Harbour we'll
start in on the 75 other maintenance and "home improvement" projects
that are on our lists.
The plan is to spend 2-3 weeks in Antigua, Guadeloupe and Les Saints,
then return to Antigua for a hopefully final set of Lyman Morse
warranty projects. Then we'll be leave Antigua and head west.
