Will we ever get out of here?

My flight to Trinidad was uneventful and it was lovely to be back with Scott, but our situation on the boat isn't as attractive. We are having the entire interior revarnished. It was supposed to be completed while we were gone but it is now four weeks since Scott returned, and it isn't done yet. An observant overseer is necessary to make pr
ogress. We've heard this a million times but didn't take it to heart. We know now.
For the first week after I arrived we stayed in a motel room in the Marina complex and spent our days on the boat. The kitchen was unusable, no doors, floorboards and tons of dust. We ate out more than usual but there was a small kitchenette in the motel room and I cooked some meals there. That's a picture from a Swordfist BBQ evening at the Wheelhouse Restaurant at the Tropical Marina above. The fish was definitely fresh! He's cutting the steaks right at the grill.

Our bedroom needed to be redone - drips in an early coat, so we pitched in as helpers to make some quicker progress. Nigel Barker (that's him above with our ship's wheel), our contractor, was apologetic and we set up a new schedule with intermediate deadlines. So our best guess is that they'll be done by this weekend.
We did get the exterior of our boat cleaned. Tony and his wife Stacy polished the hull when she was out of the water and then the decks and stainless after we were splashed. We're now in the water on the marina dock.

Our new anchor chain is supposed to arrive by Friday, so it's possible we could be out of here on Sunday. The weather reports have been poor for the last two weeks with wind from the NE and wave heights 7 - 9 feet from the same direction (where we're going) but they are moderating and turning more easterly by the end of the week. Yeh!
So the boat is a mess. No floor boards in places (translation - holes in the floors in almost every room), the smell of varnish ever present, our possessions scattered randomly (all cushions gone until the work is completed) etc. But the kitchen is no cleaned up and workable and our bedroom is completed! So we can cook and sleep.
We made good friends with a boat from Juno, Alaska "Quest". Louise and Chris and Louise's brother Ellis (from left to right Chris, Ellis, Louise and Scott) were great companions for several weeks.

They left on Sunday headed west, following our own route of three years ago. An Australian/New Zealand couple Ross and Fran on "Pacific Quest" have been great fun to hang around with too. We've been taking our dinner up to eat with them by the tiny pool at our marina (as we don't have even one of our three tables at present - see the salon as work room at left).
Carnival is approaching here in Trinidad and soon no work will be done at all. Officially Carnival is the 15th and 16th but the weeks before are filled with events. More on this in my next entry!