Rigging It!

The rigging parts arrived!  It was time to move Merengue to the Crown Bay Marina so her new rigging could be installed.  This was what the anchor chain looked like after 5 weeks in Charlotte Amalie Harbor.

We weren't too concerned about cleaning it up real well because we were also purchasing 150 feet of new anchor chain which we planned on loading onto the boat while we were at the dock.

The guys from Island Rigging showed up just minutes after we docked to begin their inspection and install the new back stays.

You can see in this photo how one strand had become rusted and consequently weakened.  Why just one strand?  It looked like one strand was made up of an inferior grade stainless steel.  It showed up throughout each of the stays.

These guys were great! We found them quick, efficient and knowledgeable.  They found rusting on the upper stays and recommended that we replace those as well.  They installed the 2 back stays in about an hour and then headed back to the shop to make the new upper stays.  We had those installed that afternoon!

We were glad we made the decision to leave this to the professionals.  We were so pleased with their work that we decided to have them come back the next day to replace our fore stay.  Now Merengue has new rigging on all sides.  We will have to replace the lower stays at some point in the future but for now they look good. 

After weeks of high winds, the wind died, temperatures rose and the humidity climbed.  It was a hot time to be in a marina doing projects all day long.  We hit an all time high temperature when we hit 100 degrees inside the cabin.  Looks like we melted the outside sensor!  We drank gallons of water and looked forward to our shower at the end of the day.  Bailey was a furry puddle on the floor of the cabin!

Boat projects completed and time to head to Brewer Bay for clean water and swimming.

Wildlife abounds here!  There are lots of sea turtles, pelicans, laughing gulls and brown boobies.

Across the bay is the airstrip.  It's far enough away to provide entertainment without being annoying.  If you look closely, you'll see a jet taxiing to the end for takeoff.

Thia morning we had a visit from a brown booby.  He landed on the bimini and settled in for a stay.  He was completely unconcerned with how close we got to him and refused to leave even we tried to shake him off.

Jim asked the bird nicely to leave and it shook it's head No!  Then it started to close it's eyes as though it wanted to nap.  It took quite a bit of prodding to get it to move on.

(We call this photo "The Boob and the Booby")

We plan on enjoying Brewer Bay for a few more days before heading back to Charlotte Amalie to see the Carnival parade and fireworks on Saturday.