Almost good bye Horta
We are tearing ourselves away from Horta and saying farewell to our temporary patch of wall to head across the archipelago to San Miguel.
Adventures on our Trintella 57a…
We are tearing ourselves away from Horta and saying farewell to our temporary patch of wall to head across the archipelago to San Miguel.
Understanding that a whale weighed in at somewhere around 100 tons it was a bit of a mystery as to how these small wooden boats could possibly tow a carcass back to the factory from the open water; at least that’s the case until you peak inside the cabin. These things are essentially a large diesel engine with a rudder. The small mast at the front is a tiny crow’s nest for the whale spotter.
The long boats seen in Horta harbour are the original whaling boats that put to sea up until the 1980’s. They were towed out by the launch to wherever a whale was sighted, then rowed or sailed sometimes for hours, and when a whale was in range drew alongside. The harpoon expert threw from the bow and the attached line ran out through the slot seen in the bow. After a messy fight the motor launch would drag the whale back to a holding buoy just before the whale factory. At it’s peak in about 1952 about 160 whales were
Highly recommended as a day out in St Lucia far away from the rather seedy coastal towns
Why are we still in Horta? Yes, it’s a great place but the truth is we are stuck, or ‘stuk’ again! This time all that is holding us up is waiting for the delivery of a small Seagull water filter from General Ecology. The filters are great. Water quality in the Caribbean was poor so we have got through our filter stock. But the company ships via Royal Mail International so here we are over two week after the initial shipment still waiting around checking the inbound mail at the marina three times a day. Since when are Royal Mail
So the ‘artwork’ if one can call it that is now underway. In Peter’s Cafe it is written that any yacht visiting Horta and not painting the wall shall have bad luck at sea.
So having claimed our square and painted our white background over the completely faded blue something or other by midday we returned at 16.30 to start the next layer. Our white background was still tacky so we watched the Brazil world cup game nearby. At 7pm it was looking good but it was too damp to start anything new. Returning next day we were outraged to find that our square had been painted! Can you imagine another boat helping itself to your pre-prepared section of wall. We couldn’t believe it but there it was. A green chameleon, the boat name
A quick second look at the yachties onshore transport system in Grenada
So the Aditi wall patch is on it’s way and we hope for good dry weather. The design is as yet unknown….
Prickly Bay Bingo – A young couple, leaving Grenada by air next day, give up the donkey which they won at Bingo in exchange for $800 ECD. They then help with the judging of a 5 person dance-off for 3 goats.