Disaster averted thanks to friends

Well I made it to Dominica this morning but nearly had a catastrophe to deal with. It took me 24 hours to do the 70 miles because i took the western side of both islands which is sheltered from the prevailing Easterly trade winds.

I did get a glimpse of Mount Pelee on my way past which is a rarity because it is always covered in clouds.
I was greeted on my way into Portsmouth, here in Dominica by Titus, one of the boat boys.

He is not really a boy by any means. So I went to anchor and found that my boat was slipping when I backed down on it. There is sea grass here so you have to find a spot with just sand. I anchored again and the same thing happened, only this time, my prop was no longer spinning. I had no transmission and I was dragging down on another boat. Fortunately, my friends Mark and Pete came to my rescue. A mooring had just opened up and they took me over to it.

I took a look at my engine and discovered the problem. My prop shaft has a flange connecting it with the transmission and the 4 bolts had come off.

Not good. One, they should never have come off and two, I should have picked up that they were loose. Now I have to find some new ones in a country that doesn't seem to know what a hardware store looks like.