Today I am heading to St. Lucia to get the boat I have under contract surveyed and the sea trail will be carried out on the way there and back since it's 25-miles each way. We began the day at 0930 when I met the the current owner at the dinghy dock. When we got to the boat he showed me how he hauls the motor and dinghy aboard to ready for sailing. Since there are no davits and it is too dangerous to tow the dinghy this must be done. Once we got the dinghy situated went through the checklist before pulling up the anchor and getting under way. We motored out of the harbor and put the sails up when we got clear of all the fish traps (which kill the reef and foul props). We had a nice 4-hour sail down to St. Lucia with the wind mainly on or aft of the beam and a medium sea state (1.5-2m). The sail took about 4-hrs but it went by pretty quickly. I found the boat to have a comfortable motion even with the waves nearly quartering which normally makes for an uncomfortable motion.
We arrived in St. Lucia around 3pm and dropped anchor in Rodney Bay near the cut into the harbor. We got the dinghy in the water and the motor mounted then headed in to the customs office to clear in. Once we got the customs paperwork done we went back to the dinghy to head back to the boat. After the motor was started it made a grinding noise when put into gear, the shear-pin had broken on the way in just as we got to the dock. We paddled the dinghy to the Suzuki dealer in the harbor and luckily the gentleman there confirmed that it was the shear-pin not the lower unit. Then it was noted that the tilt bolt was also rusted through, damn. The gentleman made an offer to trade the old motor plus some cash for a new 4-stroke 4hp model (the olde one was a 2.5hp 4-stroke). The current owner told him he needed to think it over for the night and that he would be in touch. We began the long paddle back out to the boat when I spotted someone in a bigger dinghy coming in and flagged them down. They were nice and gave us a tow back to the boat. We hauled up the dinghy and the anchor since we were now going to head to the marina for the two nights we were planning on being in St. Lucia. We got into our slip just before sunset and cracked a beer while we relaxed and talked about dinner plans. We ended up going to a terrific Indian restaurant that was just a short cab ride away that the owner and his wife had been to many times before. We had a lovely dinner before returning to the boat and calling it a night.
The next morning (Thanksgiving) it was survey day. Both the sellers broker and my surveyor met up at the marina and we began the survey in the slip. After a bit it was time to move to the local yard for the haul-out and out of water portion of the survey. We took a break while waiting for the lift operators to return from their lunch and got ourselves lunch at a cafe just down from the boatyard. Then we had to wait for the manager to get back since there were a couple questions only he could answer and some things we needed him to see. After that was taken care of the boat was put back in her natural element and we went back to the marina. Additionally while the survey was being conducted the current owner got in touch with the gentleman from the Suzuki dealer and got the new motor sorted out for the dinghy. When we got back to the marina the survey continued with the thorough inspection of all interior areas including the water tank under the cabin bilge. We ran out of time to get up the rig but my surveyor offered to come back first thing the next morning. We decided on one of the restaurants in the area of the marina called Seasalt for supper. After a good and filling dinner we returned to the boat fo the night.
We woke up on Friday and had a bit of breakfast and coffee before the surveyor returned to do the aloft rig inspection. He arrived around 0930 and we got to work. Luckily he brought a big cordless Milwaukee right-angle drill with a winch bit in it. This combo saved a ton of winch grinding to get him up the main and mizzen masts. After he completed his work we made the boat ready for departure (I know, don't leave on Friday, but I didn't have a choice since it was not yet my boat). He helped us cast off the lines and we were on our way back to Martinique. The trip back was very uneventful with little to no wind but calm seas. We motored the whole way there at about 6.5kts so it was a relatively quick trip. When we got back to Martinique the boat was moored in the marina (as per the contract) and we hung out in the cockpit and chatted for a little while. Then I packed up the few things I had brought with me and headed back to my airbnb.
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