Back to being a Vacation

After all the work of putting Ambition back together and making her our winter home, we have finally left the marina. 

Our next step is to get the watermaker up and running to refill our main 140 gallon water tank. We never mix water from the dock with the water that we make on board, as there is a risk of damaging the membrane in the watermaker. In the bay at Jolly Harbour is the perfect spot to make sure all is well. 

Good news, watermaker is up and running after a 9 month storage which is great news. Checked out of Antigua Customs so we are all ready to leave. 

This home is now finished after 3 years work!

Now we NEED to go sailing. Jan 15^this our first day back under sail and what a beautiful day to start our winter vacation. Anchor is up at 7AM and we sailed all the way to Deshaies at the north west corner of Guadeloupe. This is a bout a 55 mile romp through the waves and with the wind on our beam, we hustled right along. 

8 Knots is always a good toot!

Feels SOOO good to be sailing again

The afternoon brought us a whole bunch of squalls and for the really black ones, we reduced sail as there is a risk of heavy wind gusts although today that wasn’t the case. Just a fresh water rinse for Ambition. 

A squall line.....

We were lucky to find a good spot to anchor as often if it is crowded, the only spots left are in 40 or 50 feet of water, which is deeper than I prefer. 

Off to clear into French Customs, along with a quick stop for a baguettes, ham and pate. Life is good! 

Deshaies

Deshaies

We were not so lucky with our second day of sailing to get us from Deshaies to Les Saintes - little or no wind as we sailed down the western shore and then as we got to the south western point, as always the wind was 20+ knots and right on the nose - what a surprise!! 

We did have some company today! 

Anyway we were able to get a great mooring ball close to town in Les Saintes. 

This is how I started sailing!!!

Les Saints

Maryse got a chance to try out her fancy boat hook that lets her pass a line through the loop on the top of the mooring ball without having to lie on her belly on the deck to reach down and catch the mooring ball. It works FANTASTIC – we have a winner! 

 




















We will be here for 4 nights until we have to head to Pointe a Pitre.

Ambition is back in the water again.

Ambition is back in the water again. 

All polished up and ready to get back in salt water

We arrived back in Antigua December 30^thwelcomed by warm air and sunshine. Bringing our 5 hockey bags of boat parts and stuff through Customs was a breeze. It is obvious that Antigua does everything to make it simple to keep and maintain a boat here. 

We checked into our AIRBNB villa where we will stay while the boat is still in the boatyard. Launch day is Jan 2^ndand there remains the final touches on the work that was done over the summer. The biggest job was the removal of all 18 through hull fitting valves. More than a few had reached a point where I could no longer close them. This is not good in that if a hose fails I would have no way to stop the water flow into the boat. With all my experience, I have learned that keeping the salt water OUTSIDE the boat is a rule that must NOT be broken! I tip my hat to David who had to disassemble the valves in locations where there is barely room for a hand to fit and this after pulling off the hoses that had been in place for 16 years!!  Once removed, he cleaned, polished and reassembled them all and reinstalled in the boat. I feel MUCH better now knowing that all the valves operate properly. 

Fairing the through hull fittings - 18 all done!

The only surprise we had was with the bow thruster. After launching, while backing down the dock and into the slip discovered that when turned on, it would fire up pushing the bow to port …. very practical if you wanted to go around in circles but less so, as we manoeuvred between two boats and pilings! Turned out to be just a dirty microswitch in the joystick. 

We have now spent about 8 days putting the boat back into top shape. Sails reinstalled, a trip up the mast to reinstall the wind instruments, interior all cleaned and freshened up, and a bunch of little projects checked off the to do list. 

Maryse has completed all the provisioning for the boat as the grocery store here in Jolly Harbour is one of the largest and most convenient. Refilling the wine cellar will have to wait for a few more days when we arrive in Guadeloupe – selection and price is by far better in the French islands.