We left Nevis early on Friday morning heading for Guadaloupe. However, it turned out that the wind and waves were from the east, not the northeast, making a sail onto Guadaloupe more difficult. Instead we opted to stop halfway at the island of Montserrat. We headed first for a small bay at the base of the volcano, Soufriere. However, as we neared the bay, great whorls of dust were blowing off the mud flows left by the eruption in 1995. We had read that this sometimes happens and can leave your boat very dirty. So we changed direction and headed north to Little Bay.
On Saturday, we had planned to leave bright and early only to find that the weather was going to be worse than Friday--lots of hard sailing into the waves and wind. In fact, we went out for a quick look, but decided not to go further and returned.
Instead, we hiked into the town. What a hike! Montserrat is a very small, mountainous island. The roads are very steep; the climbing was tough going. We met some sailors on the way who were parked near us--Dan and Jean Osborne, from Punta Gorda. They told us about a little restaurant up the hill so we proceeded there since we were is search of a bite to eat. Ingrid, the owner, introduced herself and served us what she had: curried mutton. It was delicious. Ingrid, as it turned out, is also an Osborne--not related, of course, to Dan and Jean, but very friendly.
We had a pleasant evening with the Osbornes and German neighbors, Willie and Uta, on another boat.
On Sunday, Mike worked on our battery charger which has a habit of acting up quite regularly despite its being brand new. No sooner had he finished, when the alternator on our generator failed. He thought it would be a quick fix, but not so! It was going to need some parts. Big question: could we find these parts on this tiny island??? Mike hailed a local on a passing jet ski who said that he and his seven brothers all worked on cars and mght be able to help.
So on Monday morning, Mike pulled the alternator and went to meet Ol' Jack at the appointed time of 10 am. Around noon, when Ol' Jack still hadn't turned up, a fellow named Tom offered to call him. When Ol' Jack showed up, he took Mike to his brother's auto repair shop where they took apart the alternator and after much searching around found the parts for repair. Mike returned about 3 p.m. a happy man with some new friends to boot.
On Tuesday morning, we were able to leave for Guadaloupe. We were really happy to have had such a great time in Montserrat.
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