Guest blogger, week two (aka the Silver Linings post)

If week one was something of a Caribbean idyll, week two has been a much more typical "day in the life of a cruiser" - no less entertaining - better stories, says Susan, and she's right.  We returned briefly to the marina at Rodney on Sunday, and stuck around long enough on Monday morning to greet the guys who were to replace the instruments.  I wish I had taken a photo of the giant pile of boxes and cables that had arrived on Friday. Anyway, on Monday Susan gamely drove the mountain roads between Rodney and Soufriere for a third time, as we were staying at an island-style hotel called Hummingbird Resort.  We had a two bedroom cottage up the hill from the actual resort; it is a bit of a faded glory but a lovely location and very good food (if seriously erratic service) in the restaurant.  I thought

 I would include some less glamorous photos - the first one is us working and writing postcards at the bar; the second our swimsuits hanging on the cottage porch, and the third JP finishing to pack our tiny little rental before Susan's FOURTH drive across the mountains, back to Rodney Bay and Raconteur.  One side note - there were two large cruise ships in port at Castries on Wednesday, the day of our drive, and we saw dozens of buses and taxis heading to Soufriere - probably five hundred people or

 more on there way for a couple of hours at the Pitons.  We know how much the economy of St Lucia and other ports of call depend on these visits, but it seems like such a peculiar way to "see" the Caribbean.
We got back to Raconteur around noon and found that the installation work was complete and the electrical work well underway - a very impressive performance by John White and his team at Regis Electronics.  When they left us on Wednesday late day, there were two relatively minor challenges to be addressed - the VHF mike in the cockpit was not working, and the large light over the saloon table had also quit.  They came back promptly on Thursday morning, fixed both problems, and we were underway (just out to the bay at Rodney Bay to drop the hook) before noon.  That's the good part of the story...now for the rest.  JP and Susan expertly dropped the anchor on the Jambe de Bois side of the Bay, near Sandals.  JP thought we were a bit close to a boat off our stern, so they re-raised (twice) and then...the windlass quit.  To make a long story short, I took the helm while JP and Susan raised the anchor by hand and we called the marina.  They told us we could return to our slip, so we did.  After a call to John at Regis and then to our contact at Island Water World, we found someone (Phillip Brown) to come and have a look.  He arrived within a half hour, and he cleared his Friday for us.  As I write, on Saturday noon, he is re-installing the transmission and we have our fingers crossed.  This is something of an "engineered" windlass - a powerful Simpson Laurence that we had installed in Trinidad - they don't make those any more, so we are hoping it holds together as the alternative is rather daunting.  To be continued...
As for the silver linings, we decided to try a restaurant that we have read about and talked about and even passed by many time, The Edge, which is indeed at the edge of the lagoon on the inside of Rodney Bay marina.  It was really delightful, a lovely setting and very good and interesting cooking (chef Bobo Bergstrom calls it "Eurobbean"); a fitting end to another day in the life...