Conjuring people up

When we were in Prickly Bay in January, I looked up from the boat in the late afternoon and thought I saw our friends on Cattiva anchored nearby (they had gone to St. Lucia a couple of weeks earlier).  When I looked closer I realized it was not them - and about 15 minutes later, I saw them sail around the point and into the bay!  I joked that I had conjured them up.  

Yesterday, we were at lunch and I saw a guy from a great distance who looked like our friend Gus from s/v Nino - we last saw him and his wife Terry when we left Grenada in early March, and corresponded with them before we headed for Europe, but not since.  On closer inspection, I realized it was NOT Gus.  An hour later, we made a dash into Caraibe Marine to look (unsatisfactorily, it turned out) for boat wash - and there was Terry.  They had just arrived in Martinique sometime in the last hour (and it definitely was not Gus on the dock).  Weird - and the more so because Terry cut my hair a couple of times, and I was just thinking it would be too long before I would be back in Grenada, and made an appointment with a local hairdresser.  

We also got lucky and go to see our friends Janice and Bob on s/v Tsamaya late last week; we had hoped to meet up with them in Antigua, but decided against going that far north.  They had told us that they were heading out to Guadeloupe from Martinique, so we didn't expect to see them.  JP wanted Susan to call the Capitainerie by VHF, to get them to take a final water reading before we left for Sainte Anne - but she decided to go to the office instead - and ran into Janice and Bob, clearing out.  So, we got to spend a few minutes with them - for the first time (I think) since either Bequia or Trinidad.  

It makes me realize that this cruising world is rather small, really; we do all more or less haunt the same few anchorages, marinas, chandlers, customs offices, bars, restaurants, and Internet cafes.  It's kind of nice.  We are getting together with Gus and Terry for drinks in a couple of hours.

We have decided to fix versus replace the generator, and the part is being ordered from Germany, so we will take a week and head north to Dominica, after doing some provisioning tomorrow with a rented car at the BIG Carrefour near the airport.  Maybe then I can stop whining about the difference between shopping in the "Metropole" (mainland France) and in the "outre-mer" (overseas France).