July 10th
We learned from Albert and Josie, long time Caribbean veterans, that they allow about three weeks from the time they haul out until the time they fly back to Belgium for the summer. We had allowed two days.
And a hectic two days they were. We had to
make arrangements with the company that would be watching our boat. They
brought us a couple of boxes that we stuffed full of stuff going back
to the States, including one huge fender that I managed to crush as we
on the dock at Iles des Saints (but they have a lifetime warranty).
Without AC, the boat was almost unbearably hot. We rented a room at the
basic hotel Peakes has at the boatyard to help make things a little
easier. Most importantly, the room was air conditioned and had a shower,
two huge amenities for those of us living on a boat.
Similar to
an early morning departure when sailing, we got up at 4:00 am for the
hour-long drive to the Port of Spain airport. We were very fortunate to
get two seats on the flight to Houston. Just getting out of the heat of
Trinidad (Texans must be laughing here) was a big deal for us.
Unfortunately we missed the connecting flight to Seattle, so we
improvised and asked the gate agent where to get ice cream in the
massive Houston airport complex. His eyes lit up as he mentioned the
secret favorite of all Texans: Blue Bell ice cream. And hidden in the
back of the Rocky Mountain Chocolate store was a freezer full of Blue
Bell. Going for broke I had vanilla with chocolate sauce, a little piece
of heaven as my arteries hardened before my eyes.
We finally caught the later Seattle flight and enjoyed just relaxing (we got Economy Plus seating) in our seats after all the work getting the boat ready for haul out. Once at SeaTac we headed down to Ivars Restaurant, another staple for long time Seattleites. Picked up our rental car, came back to wrestle all of our luggage into the little Nissan and headed to the Berry B&B for a couple of days.
Our first stop is always to see the grand kids, so amazing how Brody and his younger brother Bennett have grown up. Also got caught up with Rod and Mary Helen’s on their Catalina 36, Spirit Wind, which is moored at Elliott Bay Marina, our old stomping grounds.
We learned from Albert and Josie, long time Caribbean veterans, that they allow about three weeks from the time they haul out until the time they fly back to Belgium for the summer. We had allowed two days.
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| As stand-by passengers, it's critical that we travel light. |
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| Not a La Dame Blanche, but close. |
We finally caught the later Seattle flight and enjoyed just relaxing (we got Economy Plus seating) in our seats after all the work getting the boat ready for haul out. Once at SeaTac we headed down to Ivars Restaurant, another staple for long time Seattleites. Picked up our rental car, came back to wrestle all of our luggage into the little Nissan and headed to the Berry B&B for a couple of days.
Our first stop is always to see the grand kids, so amazing how Brody and his younger brother Bennett have grown up. Also got caught up with Rod and Mary Helen’s on their Catalina 36, Spirit Wind, which is moored at Elliott Bay Marina, our old stomping grounds.
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