NINJAS - ISLE DE RONDE -

The midnight ninja toilet roll assassin has struck again.

Who could it be?

This is your favorite toy.

You are giving it to me?

Now you are going to sleep on my foot.

Elephants Child has been anchored out at Isle de Ronde and Sandy Island for a while and it was good to be back in St Georges for some shopping.

Yes Dizzy there is some good stuff in there for you.

No more land crab stew!

One of the reasons I am back is next Wednesday I get to visit the cruisers library run by the ladies of the island and the Grenada Heart foundation which only opens on the first Wednesday of the month on the balcony of Island Water World.

There was a fine library in town but building problems have resulted in it's closing down and there is no money for repairs.

Seems a shame.

Library closures will become the norm I guess as everyone moves to Kindle and Mr Google.

The Lords and Ladies of the sunset have been slacking recently but they got some of their fine brushes out and did some delicate work last night.

COKE WARS

The French coastguard have been making a series of big cocaine busts but this one hit the jackpot.

They found 2.25 metric tonnes of cocaine on a large sailboat which they intercepted 120 miles off Martinique.

It is pretty obvious that they are getting some really good intelligence and are not stopping vessels at random.

This looks like one of the big Swans at least a 65, which is top of the line.

MORE COKE WARS THOUGH

Finding any Coca Cola product in Grenada has been getting near to impossible and the wholesalers have been importing but even they are struggling. It seems that the main bottler on Grenada has angered the parent company who has pulled the franchise hence the shortages.

So I was not surprised when in town after the bookswap I was searching for a coke and was offered something which at first glance looked about right but was not ' the real thing. '

Still not a million miles away. Now to persuade them to do make something like Coke Zero.







Cinco de Mayo

Any excuse for a party and potluck will do as far as cruisers were concerned. So it was mojitos [ are they Mexican ? ] chilli rellenos quesadillos [ my contribution ] etc.

DINGHY DEFLATION and HOT WATER BOTTLES

Yes Bernadette's kitchen is built around a tree. The tree provides welcome shade and Bernadette does the ' most for the least ' as far as a boneless chicken roti is concerned. I was looking forward to mine.

Zipping back from lunch at Bernadettes I noticed one third of my dinghy was a bit soft. It normally holds air well and a few pumps every month does the job. Adding it to the mental to do list I headed in to Whisper cove to pick up a baguette and say good afternoon to my favorite iguana.

Jumping back in I see the 1/3rd that was soft is now very floppy. OH OH must have a BIG leak.

One of the trials suffered by dinghys in the Carib is the large nails and other sharp bits sticking out and under docks. Ah well it is a few years since I have had to do a patch so getting back to Elephants Child I lift the dinghy and decide to fix it first thing next morning.

I go to sleep thinking about patches and wake to dreams of hot water bottles. Hotties were part of Duncker family life when I was growing up as we did not have central heating.

I sometimes need a hot pack on my left shoulder and when I wake to dreams of hotties nowadays I know Dizzy is socketed in to his favorite sleep spot.


After breakfast, two mugs of coffee [ CURRENTLY THOUGHT TO BE GOOD FOR YOU shame about the aspartame ] and some due diligence on the forums I moderate, I can put things off no longer.

I dig out the repair kit hoping I have a patch big enough, find the two part flexible epoxy that I use instead of the useless supplied glue, find some sand paper, brush, soapy water and the air pump.

Step one find the leak. As it went down fast it must be big or perhaps a whole bunch of little ones caused by getting trapped under something with a nail sticking down. Anyway I pump it up, the cap was off the valve and as I pump I think there is just a faint hope that the valve was leaking because the cap had been knocked off.

Three hours later RESULT It is still hard, must have been that cap, or dinghy viagra.