Thursday, January 8, 2015

Heading Out -

We were down to our last bottle of propane from Bora Bora, and also had not fueled up since Bora Bora. It was time to get serious with resupplying. 

We had heard that you could go to the end of the bay and get the propane via dingy. It sounded so easy! When we got where we thought we were supposed to be all we found was a guy beaching his Sea Runner Trimaran. After discussing the merits of a beachable boat he showed us where to go. The propane was hunt was "getting" interesting, you take the dingy tiny little dock, maybe 6 feet long, then climb up these, steep, twisting stairs that are perched on the cliff edge. My propane helpers were Vitality and Valiant. After about a 50 foot climb the trail becomes more of a jungle excursion. After a while we come to a six-foot high fence with barbed wire on top, and inside the enclosure is the propane filling station. I could see someone's legs tapping out a rhythm so I gave a few hollers! He came down and with minimal talk took the propane tanks as I handed them between the top of the fence and the lowest barbed wire. During this time Vitality though it would be good to test our her hiding skills, and the last I saw of her was a shaved head rounding the corner to the steep stairs down to the dingy. Valiant on the other hand thought he saw a chicken, and drug me up and down the path trying to find if again. The propane bottles came back over the fence, and the heavy climb back to the dingy started all over again. Vitality was found, smirking at her success, hiding near the dingy, and Valiant fell down the stairs with only ego injuries.

The diesel was a little trickier. You call the diesel truck and arrange for it to arrive at the wharf at whatever time is convent for them. Now tying up to the wharf is tricky. The last time I had done it I had Shannon, Cassidy, Wolfie, and a friendly boater, and there had been some minor issues, but nothing serious, just some black marks on the hull.

This time the children let me know how close I was, and when we were within a few feet I managed to throw a rope around a Bullard and get the bow tied off, then Intrepid was able to jump from the top of the pulpit onto the dock and do the stern line. Down here diesel is $8 per gallon. So I only got enough to last us a few months. When we leave we can get it duty free at about half price.

Courage

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