Update on first day…

Things seem to take a long time here… Having anchored (with difficulty, because the electric windlass wouldn’t work… struggled with this and then resorted to using a small second anchor, which was barely holding the boat), I tried to call the official number given me by Port Control for a man to come out to the boat with forms to be filled in. This had to be done before I could see the Health chap, to be cleared for entry, and then Customs. After trying to call for more than 2 hours with no luck, I tried radioing on Channel 16, the emergency channel, and got a result. 

Two guys came to seem me in a dinghy and gave me a few pages of forms to be filled in. This I did, and then waited 2 hours for them to come back. They took me to the Health chap. That was a formality – 24 days alone at sea makes me guaranteed Covid-free! So, on to Customs, around the corner. Oh dear, Customs have knocked off early (big smiles all round, it’s 3:30pm) – you’ll have to come back at 8am tomorrow. 

Nothing to be done – an English couple who’d also arrived (fleeing the ongoing volcano eruption on St Vincent) were in the same position. 

Got back to the boat and shortly after it became apparent that the anchor was dragging. To hell with this – I pulled the anchor up (by hand), turned on the engine and motored over to the marina where the officials are. Fortunately everyone had gone home already, so I just tied up at the dock. Unauthorised, because I haven’t been approved by Customs. I’m still flying my yellow Q flag. Will just play all apologetic in the morning, citing safety etc. So I’m happily tied up, which is positive. People are kind – Pedro, a young Brazilian crewman from a Maltese-registered superyacht attempted to fix my windlass, without success, although he seems to have diagnosed the problem – corroded wiring in the chain locker in the bow (which is very irritating because I had the windlass serviced before departure, and this corrosion doesn’t look like it has just happened recently). 

There’s been an 8pm Covid curfew here, but apparently tomorrow the government is changing it to 11pm. Restaurants are open, but bars not. That’s fine – assuming I don’t get arrested in the morning, and clear Customs, hopefully tomorrow evening I will be sitting in a restaurant. It will be good to eat something different – my diet has relied heavily on canned food, spiced up with dried Portuguese chorizo, canned and dried fruit, and plenty of rice. Fortunately I still have a few cans of Spanish beer in the fridge, so all is not lost…