In Antigua the first Monday in July is Caricom Day. This year it
happened to fall on July 1st and although they don’t have fireworks it was
definitely a holiday. I spoke with Siesta Dos on the SSB this morning.
They left St. Kitts the same day as us and have been stuck in Monserrat with a
few other boats since then. They did try to leave one day but had to turn
back. Knotts Gipsy was telling us that a lot of their friends who have
been sailing in the Caribbean for many years have not gotten as far south this
year as they would wish to because of the strong winds. We are evidently
having very unusual weather. Rick and I had Jolly Hour and dinner at the
Dogwatch Tavern and then rushed back to the boat in time to receive weather
faxes.
We were hoping to have left Antigua today but it didn’t happen. Instead
we took the bus to St. John’s again. Knotts Gipsy and Sirena continued on
to English Harbour where they both hoped to pick up parts for their generators.
We arranged to meet later in St. Johns near the cruise boat terminal. Rick
and I enjoyed roaming the market since there were only a few tourists from
resorts roaming with us. If there were cruise ships in at dock, this place
would have been wall to wall people. There are advantages to being here in
the off season. We bought a new pair of sandals for Rick. When the
others arrived we all went to the Redcliffe Tavern for lunch. After a late
lunch we returned to the boats to wait out the next tropical wave.
Another Tropical Wave went through yesterday and once the seas settle down a bit we should have at least 4 days of weather with “no significant features”. The winds and waves are still forecast to be abnormally high for this time of the year but there doesn’t appear to be any relief in sight so it’s now or never, again.
We spent the day preparing to depart. The three boats had a final lunch together ashore (any excuse). We checked out with Customs and Immigration then pick up a few groceries before heading back to the boat to raise the dinghy, make sandwiches etc.
All three boats Sirena, Knotts Gipsy and Wind-Borne let go of their mooring
balls at 7am promptly. We were on our way to Guadeloupe. Now picture
this, once we passed the tip Antigua the winds were 15 to 20 knots from the
southeast. The waves were 6 to 8 feet with 10 to 12 foot swells from the
southeast. We were heading south and for a change we had a lovely Close
Reach (For my non-sailing friends, the wind was coming at the boat forward of
the beam). The knot meter was reading 7 to 8 knots but we were really
going 6 to 6 ½ knots over the ground. The phosphorescent foam was being
created all around us as we cut through the waves. Schools of flying fish
were soaring from and to the breaking wave crests. My husband who when we
first set out on this journey was very reliant upon me and I upon him. In
fact we felt we need not rely upon anyone else while at sea (except our children
who are back home). All
of a sudden during this perfect time in our lives
he says to me, “I think I could go through anything and go anywhere now that I
have Jane” (Jane the Wind Vane). It’s sure a good thing that Jane can’t
cook because otherwise I have a feeling I’d be out of a job. She sure does
handle the waves. We had the anchor set in Deshaies Harbour by 3:30 pm.
Sirena called as soon as we were all set and invited us over to their boat for
Independence Day Cocktails. Even though the dress was to be informal they
offered to pick both Knotts Gipsy and us up in their stretch dinghy.
We put on our red and white top hats and taped an American flag to the back of Rick’s T-shirt for the celebrations. There was a charter boat anchored near Sirena and they were better at singing the National Anthem than we were but I think we had more fun.
We left Guadeloupe at 8am and found we had no wind or waves at all.
This hadn’t happened in a long time. I decided to fish until we either
caught something or the wind picked up. The wind arrived first not much but enough to fill the
main and stay sail. About an hour later the winds picked up and came from
the southwest. I didn’t think they were really southwest winds just east
or southeast winds coming down over the mountains and looping back towards shore
but it wasn’t, boats many miles from shore reported southwest as well.
When we got to the tip of the island the winds changed 180 degrees and picked up
to 15 to 20 knots. We had all sails up and quickly furled the headsail
while we tacked the staysail. Everything was fine for about 5 more miles
until we rounded the corner of the island and then we found the water was very
rough for another 8 miles, in fact the wind was 25 to 30 knots. We arrived
just after 3 pm and anchored off Bourg des Saintes.
This is an interesting place because there is no Customs or Immigration office located on any of The Saintes. No matter what direction you have come from you had to check out before arriving here. Unlike other places, you fly your quarantine flag and then go to shore for shopping or dining.
Sirena, Knotts Gipsy and us went into town at 5:30 pm and absolutely
everything was closed except for one bar that overlooked the harbour. It
is a lovely little town. We had a couple of drinks and waited for 7pm when
the restaurants reopen for dinner. Rick and I shared a bottle of French
red wine with dinner (we haven’t had wine in a long time), and had a lovely
chicken dinner. The French here are amazing cooks just like everywhere
else in the world but here there is a definite Caribbean flavour to their
cooking. The chicken was served with red beans and rice.
We left a 6am in order to make it at least part way across the 15-mile gap
between The Saintes and Dominica before the trade winds (and waves) picked up.
It worked. The winds picked up when we were part way across but it was
only another hour and we were in the lee of Dominica.
We made great time to Roseau arriving a little after lunch. Knotts
Gipsy arrived first and picked up the last mooring. They called to let us
know that Poncho would meet us in his runabout and help us anchor but we should
also have a stern line ready which he will tie off on shore. We had never
done this before so it was really nice to have help. Poncho showed us
where to drop the anchor and then took our stern line and tied it off on
something sticking out of the water near shore. This left our stern about
50 feet from a great wall of rocks. Rick and I both looked at each other
and said I’m not
sure if I like this. Poncho assured us we were quite
safe. He even waited while we backed down on the anchor again just to
double check it. He then moved on to help Sirena anchor the same way.
At 6am Poncho arrived to release first Sirena’s and then our stern line.
It was about 5 miles to the end of the island and then we had a 25-mile gap to
cross before reaching Martinique. David Jones would describe the passage
as “quite boisterous”. We were wearing our inflatable life jackets that
have a harness, and we were tethered to the boat. We have been doing this
in all open water especially at night. It gives us a secure feeling to
know that no one is able to go overboard. The winds were over 25 knots
again and the waves were 8 to 10 feet. Jane was handling the helm but Rick
chose to sit with her just in case she needed some help. The bow would
sometimes dig into one of the large waves the water would rush down the deck
over the dodger and somehow around the bimini and get him totally soaked.
That only happened a few times but the spray from the crests of the waves was
hitting him in the face regularly for almost the whole crossing. As well,
every seventh or eighth wave would be much larger and as it hit the side of the
boat it would break and splash him. He mentioned that it might have been a
good day to have the enclosure up around the cockpit. The
wind and the
water are so nice and warm it would have been a shame to do that so instead I
just offered him his snorkel mask to wear until we reach the lee of Martinique.
It didn’t take us long to cross the Martinique Channel so we continued down the
island having a wonderful sail with just the staysail and the reefed main.
We reached Grand Anse D’Arlet by 2pm, which meant we had traveled 50 miles in 8
hours. Guadeloupe was the end of the Leeward Islands and Martinique the
beginning of the Windward Islands. After we were anchored, showered and
rested Sirena picked us up and we dinghied ashore to find another French
restaurant.
Another tropical wave went through last night. We could hear the wind
but we were well anchored so no problem. We were only traveling 15 miles
to Marin so we didn’t leave until almost 9am. The first 8 miles were a
little rough but the waves eased up as we got closer to Le Marin. We
arrived at the fuel dock around 1230 when everything closes down for lunch until
2:30 PM.
We made ourselves comfortable had some lunch and waited. Eventually we were able to get the fuel and move over to a mooring ball. Knotts Gipsy and Siren left Grand Anse much later than us but they arrived before we left the fuel dock, Knotts Gipsy chose to anchor for a few days. They will move to a dock and Trish will remain here for the season while Trevor takes care of some business back home. Sirena chose to be at dock so they could use their air conditioner.
That evening we sat under the stars at a beachside bar with Knotts Gipsy and had pizza and beer for dinner. When the stars disappeared and the rain started we had to move inside. Sirena was going to join us when Bob finished a few repairs but they never made it.
It looks like we might be here a few days. A strong tropical wave is coming through and in the interim the wind and seas are still abnormally high. Although I’d like to get moving I don’t mind being stuck here. It rained all night but Rick was up early and ashore by 7:30 to check in with Customs and Immigration. He returned in the pouring rain with baguettes with ham and cheese as well as a couple or warm butter croissants. It tasted like we were back in Paris. Later in the morning we took the laundry to the laundry lady and met Sirena and Knotts Gipsy for coffee. Bob and Marta were still having a hard time with breakdowns. Their electrical cord was fried this morning. The air conditioner is still not working. We went to one chandlery and a grocery store in the morning and then had to wait over lunch (12:30 until 2:30 PM), for the stores to reopen. By the afternoon Marta was ready to fly home but dinner in a nice French Restaurant resolved that issue.
The harbour of Le Marin is huge. There are as many boats in Le Marin as there were in Annapolis Maryland when we were there. Rick and I went for a dinghy ride to see if we could recognize any. We found it interesting that there were very few Canadian and American boats in this harbour. The majority of boats were local and flying a French flag. This is a hurricane hole and we found some boats in the mangroves anchored and tied up for the season.
We met Knotts Gipsy for drinks in the afternoon but Sirena was still busy. Last night after dinner they returned to their boat and Bob tried to have a shower. The faucet broke. Today their engine blower broke meanwhile Bob has been busy trying to rebuild the sump pump which stopped working and an air conditioning technician has been trying to fix both the air conditioner and their 110 volt fridge. He has so far determined that the compressor needs to be cleaned and they need a new breaker switch for the boat. Both Marta and Bob were ready to buy a couple of tickets home. They could only be persuaded to stay by going back to the same French restaurant (Indigo), as the night before.
The major Tropical Wave that was to pass over us last night fizzled out. The winds that were to be 30 to 40 knots didn’t go above 20. The thunderstorms became light showers. First thing in the morning Rick went into Customs and told them we would be leaving tomorrow. He returned with our final baguette and croissant. Martinique is our last French Island this season. We went grocery shopping to stock up on wine, paté and cheese and use up as many of our Euros as possible.
Since leaving Canada we first used U.S. money until we reached the Bahamas then we had to switch to Bahamian dollars. It was back to US dollars when we stayed in the Turks and Caicos. In the Dominican Republic we used Pesos but in Puerto Rico we again switched back to the U.S. dollar which saw us through the Virgin Islands. St Kitts and Antigua were the first islands where we used E.C. (Eastern Caribbean) money. Guadeloupe we needed Euros. Dominica we were back to using EC’s. Martinique it was Euros again but from St Lucia south it will be EC’s and my poor little brain can take a rest.
Knotts Gipsy invited Sirena and us over for Happy our on our last night together. It was a very enjoyable evening but Rick and I left early (9pm) as we had to take the outboard off the dinghy and raise the dinghy in the davits before going to bed. I made some sandwiches for the passage and we set the alarm for 5am. Sirena is not leaving until 9am at the earliest so we arranged to meet in St Lucia. We will miss Trevor and Trish, as they will be in the Mediterranean next season.
July 12, Le Marin, Martinique to Rodney Bay St. Lucia
When the alarm went off at 5am we both got up and Rick started to get things ready to go while I made coffee and breakfast. We were ready by 6am but there was a very black cloud and squall headed our way so we waited until 6:30. No sooner were we out of the harbour than Rick remembered that we hadn’t put our patches on last night. Oh well, it was too late now and the crossing between Martinique and St. Lucia was just over 20 miles so it wouldn’t take too long. Famous last words. We went through a couple of squalls which although they had some heavy rain they didn’t seem to do much other than give us a great push towards our destination. We were doing almost 8 knots with the engine running less than 1200 RPMs. There were some pretty impressive swells but Jane was handling them very well. Halfway across the gap and almost through the second squall the engine alarm sounded. It had overheated. This was a little strange because we weren’t really using it. We shut if off and Rick went below to check things out (without a patch on). He lasted a good 15 minutes which was long enough for him to determine that there was no water in the strainer and yet no blockage in the thru hull. He started to check out the raw water pump but couldn’t manage long enough to even pickup his tools without being sick. Our speed now ranged between 4 ½ knots to over 6 knots when we could catch a squall. We were originally going to Marigot Bay but we were closer to Rodney and Rodney was an easier bay to sail into and drop anchor without an engine. We had the help of another squall just as we dropped the anchor, which solved the issue of backing down on it. We knew immediately the anchor was set. After lunch Rick pulled the pump apart and everything looked fine. We think that during one of the mountainous swells as the boat heeled maybe it got an air block. We’re not really sure but everything seemed to be running fine now.
Sirena arrived in the early afternoon and we all went and checked in with Customs and Immigration. It seemed like old home week in Rodney Bay. Evelyn’s Beach, Penina and Argo are all here. We had an early dinner aboard and called it a night.
Plan “A” was to sail down to Marigot Bay and the Pitons for a lovely dinner
ashore to celebrate Rick’s Birthday. All of our weather Guru’s informed us
that the Tropical Wave that was originally due to pass over St Lucia overnight
tonight had moved forward faster than expected and increased into a major
system. It would pass over us sometime this afternoon. The squalls
associated with it had already started. In fact Sirena had been up at
4:30am resetting their anchor after dragging a good distance. The holding
is good here and if we drag we have many miles before we have to worry about
hitting anything so we decided to stay put. It was a very restful day
spent reading and watching very black skies with walls of rain and wind
screaming by us. Siesta Dos sailed in just before lunch. Their
engine had died half way across the gap from Martinique. Both Bob and Rick
readied our dinghies in case they needed help. They sailed in and anchored
without any problem at all. Rick’s birthday celebration has been postponed
until we have better weather. The winds increased in the afternoon to
gusts above 40 knots and the rain came through in sheets so heavy we couldn’t
seen 50 feet in any direction. It only lasted about an hour and then we
were back to very frequent normal squalls. Marta asked me to call her
later in the evening after I had received the weather faxes. The
8pm-weather that provides the surface analysis as of 4 hours earlier indicated
that the wave had not yet reached us. This had me a little worried because
if the nasty weather we had experienced about 6 hours earlier was not the wave
than I didn’t want to see this wave. I decided to get at satellite image,
which was not available for another hour. When it came I was very relieved
to see that the wave had indeed passed over us. Things eventually settled
down and we had a good nights sleep.
P.S. Rick was ecstatic over the number of people who remembered he was a year older today and he appreciated all of the sympathy messages he received.
We left Rodney Bay at about 8:30 am and had a lovely relaxing sail to
Soufriere, arriving just before lunch. We picked up a mooring ball in one
of the most picturesque spots in the Caribbean. We were anchored just across from the Pitons.
I have always wanted to visit St Lucia and I’m glad we have but I don’t think
I’ll return to Soufriere and the Pitons too soon. There are some excellent
restaurants and things to see but we have experienced a lot of begging here
which is something we didn’t see at all in the French islands.
We all roamed around town in the afternoon and returned to the boat for a few minutes. The boats were rolling so much we had trouble getting aboard. Marta and Bob had more trouble still trying to have a shower without being thrown out of the head by the rolling motion. We returned to town and went to a small restaurant called “Auberge" for dinner. By the time we returned to the boats for the evening the wind had picked up but the waves and rolling motion had subsided a bit.
We didn’t have to awaken this morning because we never got to sleep.
The winds continued to increase and by 10 pm they were blowing 35 to 40 knots.
Actually the guys did get some sleep it was Marta and I who were awake all
night. She was praying to
St. Jude again and I was checking lines.
It was very difficult to get to the bow of the boat because the winds were so
strong you had to really hold on and bend down into the wind. We just
counted down to daylight because there was absolutely nothing we could do in the
dark. Shortly after daylight Rick followed the shore around the harbour to
the other side. Normally he would have gone straight across to the other
side but the wind had created large waves in the harbour. He found a spot
right under one of the Pitons that looked a lot calmer so we moved both boats
over there immediately. We had to pick up a mooring and take a stern line
to shore. It was very easy as there was a boat boy ready to help. He
swam to the boat and we gave him our stern line that he then took to shore and
tied off on a huge rock for us. Of course, once we were settled, the winds
diminished and the waves began to roll. Rolling was very comfortable after
what we had been through. Everyone had a bite to eat and went back to bed
and slept until a little after 2pm. Feeling much better we went into town
which was almost deserted since this was the day of the Carnival parade in
Castries. We took a taxi up the mountain to go to the Dasheene Restaurant,
which has a spectacular view between the Pitons. They were booked solid
and we hadn’t made a reservation so we went back down the mountain to the
Hilton, which is on the beach between the Pitons. We had a nice dinner and
evening there.
We had arranged a small tour through one of the boat boys. He picked us
up at 9:30am in his boat and took us to a taxi he had arranged. The taxi
took us first up to the volcano which was very interesting and smelly (sulfur).
We had picked up a guide who we had to pay a “little something”. The
crater has vents that are full of boiling mud. Some people have mud baths
there but we passed. We then went to the waterfall that contains some
sulfur but is diluted with fresh mountain water and is warm as well.
Afterwards our Waterfall Guide (who we had to pay a little something), picked
some fresh mangos for us and a coconut to share. The mangos just picked
like that were the sweetest I have ever tasted. The taxi took us back to
town and we checked in and out with Customs. We had originally told them
we were only staying in St. Lucia 3 days and we have now been here five days.
We had stopped in at Customs yesterday but they had left early. As in most
of the other Islands, it wasn’t a problem.
Since it was lunchtime and we were still ashore we went to the Hummingbird
Resort for lunch. After lunch we took a taxi to the Botanical Gardens
where you have to have a guide who you pay “a little
something”. The
gardens were beautiful and afterward we followed a nature trail that took us
back to town. Exhausted we returned to the boats to prepare for our
departure early tomorrow.
I take back some of what I said about the boat boys. Although they try and wangle every dollar they can from you, after you get to know them they can be quite nice. There is Curtis who was always in charge of our dinghy but had to share his income with an older guy who seemed to rule the boat boys as well as whoever covered for him during lunch got a third of his take. There is also Brad who calls himself Brad Pitt. I told him his eyes are the wrong colour. Levi who tied our stern lines ashore and arranged our tour just appeared at 5:30 am this morning when we wanted to leave and released our lines from shore knowing that we had no way of passing him more money.
We headed out towards St. Vincent but planned to sail right past and on into Bequia. We’ve learned that most cruisers don’t stop in St. Vincent because the crime rate is so high.
We were half way across the 30-mile gap when our engine over heated again. It really doesn’t like the beam seas. There was no panic because we knew exactly what the problem was and Rick was wearing a patch. We sailed the last half of the gap (15 miles) with no engine at about 7 to 7 ½ knots. Once we were in the lee of St Vincent Rick went below and poured water into the sea water strainer while I turned the engine over. It worked perfectly. On Rick’s to-do list is now a notation to re-plumb the engine intake to a different thru hull.
We went through a few heavy showers and arrived in Bequia at about 3:30 pm.
We weren’t leaving until 9am this morning so everyone got to sleep a little later as we were only going 35 miles. It was the most pleasant and beautiful 35 miles in a long time. We sailed in lovely flat seas past the Grenadines, which included the Tobago Cays. The islands we saw had sandy beaches, reefs and turquoise water. We may have trouble going any further north than this next season. We arrived in Hillsborough Carriacou and dropped anchors just before 3:30pm. Everyone put on some clean clothes and raced to shore in Bob’s dinghy to catch Customs and Immigration before they closed at 4pm. There was one boat boy (who was really a man) and he charged 1/3 the price that the boat boys in St. Lucia charged. We made it to Customs by 3:55. The Customs and Port Authority were in the same building. Without our asking, the Customs Officer called the Immigration office, which is in another building and told them not to close, as we would be there in a few minutes.
With the paper work done, we walked through town for awhile. People we met were extremely friendly and helpful. We had dinner at a Restaurant called Callaloo by the Sea. Rick enjoyed their Honey and Nutmeg Salad dressing so much that I asked Rena, our waitress if she would share the recipe with us. She very willingly gave us the ingredients (not the amounts).
We then raced back to the boat in Sirena’s leaky dinghy to turn on our anchor lights before the ferryboat ran us down in the dark.
It was such a lovely day that we decided to stay and play for a while. We took the dinghies to Sandy Island where we snorkeled for a while. There wasn’t a lot of reef but there were so many fish if you held your hand up in front of your face it would be difficult to see because of the millions of fish. Rick described it as so many fish there was hardly room to swim. There were also huge varieties in the type of fish. After we snorkeled for a while we headed over to the Callaloo Restaurant again, We just beached the dinghies, put a shirt on over our bathing suits and had lunch overlooking the beach and water.
This was a perfect day to reach our destination. The skies were clear and the seas were almost flat. We had 15 knots of wind and with a reefed main and the headsail we were sometimes making over 7 knots. There were about 16 dolphins swimming on either side of the boat and at the bow just before we reached St. George’s. We anchored in the lagoon and went for dinner with Sirena. Rudolf’s the restaurant we had originally planned to visit burnt down two weeks ago. It was a major fire and took out a complete city block. We returned to the boat in calm winds with the lights of the city sparkling on the hillside.
We moved a short distance this morning to Mount Hartman Bay in Grenada. We plan to make the Secret Harbour Marina and Resort our home for the hurricane season. So this really is our final destination for now. Rick and I have been reminiscing about the last 10 months. We learned a lot, saw a lot, but most of all met some wonderful people and made some great new friends.
The journey was a lot tougher than we initially thought it would be, partially because of the abnormal weather this year but mostly because it just is a long difficult journey. We discussed whether we would have taken on such a passage if we had really comprehended before hand the degree of difficulty. Who knows? Now that we’re here we both say we wouldn’t have missed it for the world.
We will spend the next few months cleaning, polishing and providing some TLC to Wind-Borne III who has been the most reliable boat on the water. In the 3500 miles that we traveled the only thing that broke and had to be replaced was the original (1985), electronic box on the refrigerator.
There were some really rough passages that we could do nothing other than to rely upon our boat to get us safely to port.
I don’t think you would want to read about scrubbing the bottom and waxing the topsides so I’m going to end this phase of the journal and I will begin a new phase next season. Our plan next season is to return to islands that we raced past. This visit we want to spend time and get to know both the island and the people.
Meanwhile, I love to hear from everyone so please send emails.
We have had a few requests to continue our journal even though we’re not traveling. I was maintaining the journal for my own purpose but I felt it would not be of interest to others. We’ll post it but if you find our life ashore a little boring then please take a break and tune in after hurricane season when we hope to be island hopping.
We’ve been in Mount Hartman Bay, Grenada for two days now and twice we have walked to Prickly Bay. The first day all four of us were huffing and puffing because of the steep hills. The second seemed much easier so I think that by the time we leave here we should be in much better condition physically. We were all awed by the proliferation of colour in the plants, trees and bushes everywhere. It is definitely one of the prettiest islands we have visited. We also did not expect to find so many varieties of cacti especially with the lushness of the island.
Everyone we’ve met here is extremely friendly and we have not noticed poverty on this island. I am however searching for some needy groups because one of the things on my to-do list is to go through the boat and remove many of the things we brought but haven’t used and donate them to someone.
Well we’ve learned that the laundry lady arrives to pick-up and return
laundry every day between 9 and 10AM. The bus to town stops near the marina
office at 9:15AM. Happy Hour is between 5 and 6PM. What more could we need?
Today we gave the laundry to Claire (the laundry lady) and then took the bus to Spice Island Mall to get a few groceries. The bus is a van, as are all buses in the islands. It was almost full of Prickly Bay Cruisers when it arrived and there were enough of us from Secret Harbour to fill the bus on our own. No Problem Mon, we cuddled in together with Marta sitting on Bob’s knee and I with some stranger’s arm around my shoulders. Others were not quite as comfortable. Our Bus driver John, told us that he would make three separate trips after lunch for our return with groceries. There were about 8 of us who headed for a known donut store. This was the first coffee and donut for everyone in many months. (Rick ate 3 donuts). Next we walked a little way to the Grand Anse Mall and then back to Spice Island Mall. I found a new outfit in one store and we still had time to Grocery Shop before John returned for us.
Back at the boat there was a call on the VHF to ask if Marta and I wanted to play Dominos at 2:00PM. Definitely, and it was a lot of fun. We were still playing when happy hour began at 5PM and I was a little worried about Rick who was back at the boat without a dinghy. I should not have worried because it was only a few minutes later and he and Bob appeared in Bob’s Dinghy.
The wind is not going to let up for a few days so in 25 to 30 knots we moved the boat into our slip. The wind was directly behind us so I kept the boat in reverse while Rick scrambled to fend off the bow and tie the lines on dock. Meanwhile one of the marina employees in a dinghy took our stern lines to a couple of mooring balls. It wasn’t easy but it worked.
We disassembled the water maker today and found a small crack in one of the end caps. Another boat anchored close by has the very same problem. We decided to go to Budget Marine together tomorrow. We also called a refrigeration man who will try to come tomorrow. The compressor is not shutting down and although the fridge is cold, it is no longer making ice cubes.
It seems that all project work will have to be completed before noon each day because my agenda is becoming very full.
Tuesday at 10AM a bunch of ladies met and shared a cab to go shopping or at least roam some stores and then we went out for lunch. 2:00PM is Dominos, 4PM is Spanish lessons (instructor Marta), 5PM is Happy Hour. On Friday’s at 6PM is a Barbecue each week. Now that we are at dock we have pool privileges with the Secret Harbour Resort so I have to save some pool time.
Craig the refrigerator man arrived at 8:30AM. He topped up the R12 because we have a leak. He’s not sure how long it will hold but he is sourcing new evaporator plates. The leak is right where the tubing joins the plates. We walked over to Prickly again and bought some new rope. I wanted 2 two hundred foot lengths of 5/8 twist for stern tie ups. We seem to need it frequently now and I thought I would like some extra line onboard just in case of a bad storm. We have the three anchor rodes but if we have to tie in the mangroves that wouldn’t be enough. I also think that rope is the first thing that would disappear off the shelves.
We returned to Secret Harbour just in time for Dominos followed by our Spanish lesson with Marta and then followed by Happy Hour.
We took the bus into Grand Anse again today. I needed some cash from the ATM and I wanted to book a flight home. Both were completed very quickly so we hopped another bus into St George’s and roamed around there for awhile. We had lunch at the Nutmeg Restaurant which just happens to be where John our Secret Harbour Bus Driver stops to pick-up.
We didn’t play Dominos today but we did work on the Spanish. Happy Hour led right into the Friday night Barbecue that we found to be a great feast for about $10 US per person
We finally got started on boat projects but not before we ordered a new refrigeration system. We got a price on new evaporator plates which we found were going to cost us over three hundred dollars U.S. and was not going to solve the problem. The compressor is now running continually and Rick’s not sure if it is the sensor or the thermostat. So before going any further and replacing a 17 year old system piece by piece we decided to upgrade and have a new system installed.
That is almost said and done, we have to walk over to Prickly Bay on Monday with a deposit.
I finally started cleaning. I emptied everything in the forward portion of the boat and sorted all clothing and linen into three piles "keep", "charity", and "send home". Then I removed all of the teak slats so I could wash walls and ceilings. Meanwhile Rick wanted to tighten a few toe rail bolts that were now accessible with the top teak trim removed. He finished and I finished just in time for dominos, which of course led into Spanish lessons followed by Happy Hour. We were on our way back to the boat when Rick noticed Michael Bean’s boat (recognizable by the palm leaf bimini), docked near ours. Michael was the singer I enjoyed in Marina Cay, BVI so we stopped and said hi. He told us he has been sailing in the Caribbean for 20 years and this is his first time as far south as Grenada.
Today we continued doing much the same as yesterday but seeing as it was Sunday we had lunch in the Hotel and a swim in the pool. It was a short swim because we still had to be back in time for dominos.
We walked over to Prickly Bay early in the morning to give Enza Marine a deposit for our new refrigeration system. After talking to Neil from Enza, we were very pleased with the type of system he recommended, not that we weren’t pleased with our Nova Cool system. It had worked well since 1985 but in the Tropics we have decided to switch to a water-cooled system. The one that Neil has recommended is called Stone Cold (WWW.NAUTKOL.COM). The company is in Trinidad but the parts are internationally available i.e. Danfoss compressor. Although this system is water-cooled it does not circulate the water using a thru hull, it taps into the vessel's fresh water system and just re-circulates the water from the tank. It also has an air cooled option which cost us $50 dollars extra but this option allows us to flip a switch if we have no water and the system becomes air cooled.
When we returned, Rona, Michael Bean’s wife asked us if we would help her take their boat over to Prickly Bay to be hauled out. Michael had to fly back to the States early in the morning so she was on her own. We told her we would round up some others and make a party of it. Bob from Sirena and Bob from Pride both agreed to help. What I didn’t realize was that all guys including Rick really only offered to give advice none of them wanted to take the helm. Rona took the boat out from Mount Hartman and I took it into Prickly since she informed us partway there that she does not dock the boat. It was not a problem the boat handled nicely.
We took the bus into town again today. Although Enza Marine is going to install the new refrigerator Rick has told them he would prefer to do his own wiring and plumbing. So we had to go get the parts. When we returned there was no one interested in playing dominos so I read for a while. I fell asleep reading and missed my Spanish lesson but was awake in time for happy hour and a book exchange.
What a busy day! After listening to our regular weather nets and the local cruisers net (in Hartman Bay), we started our day. I met John our regular bus driver a little after 9AM to confirm a tour of the island for next Tuesday when Kelly arrives. I then picked up my laundry from Claire. When I returned to the boat although it was a little early for me to leave for our ladies day out, Rick kicked me out. He wanted to get working on his portion of the preparations for the new refrigerator. No problem, I sat in the breeze at the Rum Squall Bar.
It was 10AM and we were off. There were 12 of us and the first stop was the bank so that everyone could have a little spending money. Next was the Island Water World Marine Store. Rick had asked me to pick up some wire for him while I was there which I did and by chance our next door neighbor, Guy was in the store. I asked him if he would take the wire with him so Rick could have it sooner. (Our new neighbors are Canadian’s from Montreal, Guy and Christian, Norman and Nicole. They just bought the Halberg- Rassy 42 next to us.) We left Island Water World and went on to a gift shop that sells a lot of baskets. I have been looking for some small woven place mats that are made by the blind people of the Island and this store had 6, exactly what I wanted. When we left there we stopped at the post office for a minute and then continued on to Lisa’s. Lisa’s sells gold and silver jewelry, some Batik clothing and ice cream. The driver had a parking spot so we walked from there to the duty free store and then a tee shirt store.
Next stop was the "Art Fabrik" store and we also went to the next building where they manufacture the clothing. It was very interesting. Almost everyone bought something. I bought a new slack and top outfit.
It was 12:30PM and we had to move on. Lunch was at the Aquarium Restaurant, which is a lovely place. It’s right on the beach so after having an enjoyable lunch with a couple of Pina Coladas we all went for a swim. If we had had a little more time there was some good snorkeling there as well.
We arrived back at the marina a little after 3PM, just leaving us enough time to change and get to our Spanish lesson by 4PM.
Poor Rick looked like he had been for a swim but it was just extremely hot and he was working in the bilge. He looked much better by happy hour at 5PM.
WeWe had a light dinner and I think it was just shortly after that that we both fell asleep.
