Saturday, December 31, 2011

Getting Ready to Head South


After several months of enjoying the Alps, we are about the head south to Callisto, on Grenada.  We are flying via London, and since our connection into London is at Heathrow, and our connection to Grenada is out of Gatwick, we decided to spend a couple of nights in London and take in a show.

We are bringing lots of electronics with us.   A friend from long ago in Kalamazoo, Melinda Scott, spent many years cruising in the Caribbean, and has since “swallowed the anchor” and is splitting time with her husband Bill between Kalamazoo, Michigan and St. Croix.  She very graciously volunteered to give us her Pactor Modem.  This is a pricey piece of electronics that will allow us to access e-mail over our shortwave radio.  We are extremely grateful for this generous gift.  We also purchased an alternative way to access WiFi from the boat, and this will hopefully improve our connectivity.  Finally, we invested in a Global SIM card for our cellphone, so we will have a single number as we travel through the islands.

The boatyard appears to have made very good progress on our worklist.  The canvas shop asked us to have the mast stepped earlier than planned, so that they could get good measurements for the sun awning we asked them to build.

Packing is going to be a challenge.  In addition to all the electronics, Gretchen is planning to bring a large stash of yarn for knitting and crocheting projects.   We will need to pack some warm clothes for London.  And I guess we should pack some clothing for the Caribbean.

It is less than a week now before we leave, and the excitement is building.  Our daughter, Esther, and her friend, James, are visiting us for the holidays.  This makes the emptying of the refrigerator/freezer a bit more complicated.