Homecoming

We sighted the island around 10 am yesterday morning, as a landmass through the fog. It was already quite high and wide by the time it came into view – surprising, as one would think it might start off as a dot on the horizon. Took another two hours to actually navigate around the island and then finally into James’ Bay. We anchored officially at 12.15 pm, four hours later than originally scheduled. We were anticipating that families with young children would be given priority in disembarkation, so we didn’t bother trying to get to the front of the queue to see the customs officials, but unfortunately this was not the case, so we ended up being on the last boat off. The boys were dreadfully bored, as were we all, so it wasn’t really a fun wait. Finally we donned lifejackets, walked carefully down the gangplank onto the pontoon (there was a bit of a swell, so we had to wait until the platform rose to meet the stairs again before hopping on), and then into the Gannett Three. The run from the ship to the wharf steps was actually surprisingly long – the RMS really anchors far out! Stripped of our lifejackets, we found space on a mini-bus and were driven the short distance to the customs hall. We were surprised to see a major project on the go at the docks, such that the place where people congregate to welcome passengers has been moved quite far back, even beyond the swimming pool, and there were containers lined up as far as that. Apparently this is the rock-stabilisation project, so instead of the containers being offloaded further down towards the wharf steps, they are now coming right up into the parking area, thus making it unsafe for the general public. Anyway, once we had been through customs and put our hand-luggage through the x-ray machine, we walked along to where people were waiting, to see if anyone had come to welcome us. Steve and Maureen were waiting, along with Elza and her son who is visiting, and Vincent, Joyce and Enid. It was lovely to see them again, of course. We didn’t tarry long, as Maureen asked whether we had had lunch (which we had, an hour previously), and informed us that lunch had been prepared at the manse. They had brought our car down to the docks, so we drove home in our beloved 942, where a large number of our congregation were waiting for us – not just town folk, but some from Sandy Bay as well. They had gone full out with a lunch, the usual way – lots of food and lots of variety. We didn’t eat much, but hopefully looked very grateful anyway! Thankfully the leftovers were plenty, and will serve as our lunches and suppers for the next few days. A great effort had been done with cleaning the manse, so everything had been dusted and vacuumed, and even all the windows had been washed!

Today has just been a lot of unpacking and sorting. The boys are at a Holiday Bible Club being run by the Seventh Day Adventist Church, which they will attend tomorrow and Friday too. It’s probably the only time of the year that I am at home without the boys for any length of time! I had to go to town for a few goodies, and it was a pleasure to walk down the road and be greeted and welcomed home by so many Saints. I can honestly say that we are pleased to be back! The old familiar sights and sounds of the island are much beloved – silly, everyday things like watching the Fairy Terns swoop and glide in their pairs; having a sea view all day; the traffic on the main road outside our window and people talking as they walk by – and even the DJs on Saint FM!