It was May Day (Labour Day) throughout the Caribbean and a holiday on most islands.
By early afternoon, we finally had the boat back in order. The table was where it belonged and bolted to the floor. This allowed me to reach storage areas that had been inaccessible for more than a week. When our interior looked again like our floating home I relaxed and prepared to start cooking and cleaning.
We have some uninvited guests that seem to appear on the bow of our boat at the same time every day. Rick has named them Gertrude and Heathcliff. They are a pair of laughing gulls. As long as they don’t make too much noise or a mess on the deck, we have decided that they can stay.
Rick asked me to go shopping and buy him some new t-shirts tomorrow. This was an unusual request and I suggested that I could do that later in the week because tomorrow I wanted to wash walls and clean. He then offered to wash the walls and clean the interior of the boat for me if I would buy him these t-shirts. I wasn’t going to give him a chance to change his mind on this offer. I called Ann (Rasi) because she had been asking me to take her to this store in L’Esterre. She then called Susan (Panacea) and Karen (Vagus V). They wanted to come as well.
It poured rain for a good half hour in the morning. Rick mentioned that Susan must be exhausted from doing the rain dance all night. That was the only thing that could have brought so much wet stuff during dry season.
At 9AM Graham and Ann came by to pick me up. Graham was playing chauffeur and picking up all of the women. He dropped us off at the large wharf and returned to his boat while we started on our shopping spree.
The ladies had a wonderful morning. We walked to L’Esterre and went into Ba Ba’s to buy the men their t-shirts. It was extremely hot after the rain. There was almost no breeze on land and we could see the puddles of water evaporating in the heat.
After the t-shirt store, we walked up the hill to the bakery where we all bought what the bakery called meat loaf. It reminded us of a calzone style pizza so none of us was going to have to prepare lunch. This was it.
We walked back to Harvey Vale and after buying a few more things at Alexis Supermarket, we called for our ride back to the boats.
Rick had been hard at work and he had just about finished cleaning the forward portion of the boat. He had the generator and watermaker running and he was using the vacuum while the amps were flowing. He had also ordered the few items we need to finish with the engine. Hopefully, they should arrive at the boat tomorrow afternoon.
I suggested he stop for lunch and leave the rest for me. We had a siesta in the afternoon and then removed the mainsail. There are a few sliders on the sail that need to be repaired before we head out for a sail. We’ll take it into In-Stitches tomorrow. With all chores finished for the day, we sat in the cockpit with our sundowners watching the boats arrive just before dinner.
We could start to feel the dry season heat. The winds were light and the sun very strong. We discussed putting up the sun awning but we are both anxious to go for a sail as soon as everything is back in working order.
I finished washing the walls and the floor. Rick took the main sail to In-Stitches to be repaired. He also took some laundry in to the yacht club to be just washed. It was ready to be picked up in just over an hour and I hung it on the boat to dry in a light breeze.
The rest of the day, we just relaxed onboard.
It was Thursday and shopping day. Before leaving for town, we stopped by to see Barbara and Winston on My Island Girl, a Bayfield 40 that anchored beside us. They are new to Carriacou so I wasn’t sure if they knew about Thursdays. Barbara decided to join us for a trip to town and Winston stayed onboard to work on a few things.
There was no lettuce in town and very little fresh produce but I was able to get most of the items on my list.
When we returned to the boat Barbara invited us to their boat for happy hour but we learned that she had never been on a Bayfield 36 so we offered to have happy hour on our boat instead.
After the groceries were put away I washed the screens and ports. Rick and I had just enough time to stop for some tea and cookies before I had to start preparing a few snacks for the evening.
Barb and Winston arrived in Vagus V’s dingy with Karen and Jim. It was a full house and an enjoyable evening.
Our morning began in a very relaxed mode. After listening to the weather, we sat in the cockpit and had a nice breakfast.
I worked on a web site while Rick put up the sun awning. We’re almost into summer weather so it’s starting to get hot.
In the afternoon, we started the generator and water maker and found that the water production was down on the water maker. Rick pulled the pump out and checked a few things. He replaced the little microswitch but doesn’t really think it was the problem. He ran out of time as we were to leave for the Lambi Queen with Barb and Winston at 5:30PM. We barely had time to get cleaned up before leaving.
There was a good turnout at the Lambi Queen. At our table we had Barb, Winston (My Island Girl), Karen, Jim (Vagus V), Mike, Marlene (Drumbeat), Ann and Graham (Rasi). We were joined off and on throughout the night by others. Aaron (Bongo Man) joined us for a while later Bubbles was driving by and dropped off his girlfriend May who sat with us.
The women were cute. I had told them about the Stickman (who is my heartthrob, next to Rick). After watching just his first performance, Barb short of breath, exclaimed that she needed a glass of water. Graham corrected her statement and said that she looked as if she needed a bucket of water. The evening’s entertainment was excellent but as usual, Stickman was the star of the show.
We left at our usual time with Graham and Ann but Vagus V and My Island Girl wanted to stay a little longer.
As soon as breakfast was finished, we started installing the muffler. I quickly had a headache from lying on the engine with my head down so low. Rick dropped something into the upper bilge and asked me to be ready to pull him out by his feet once he retrieved the item. We tried connecting the muffler in many different positions but neither of us were happy with the results.
After the first hour when we realized it wasn’t going very well we called Graham (Rasi) on the VHF and asked if he would come and help. He took one look, made a recommendation and all was well. We used the new piece of hose and scrapped the elbow we had been using. Graham left, and everything went smoothly after that. Rick wants to install a piece of wood to use to secure the muffler but other than that, it is positioned nicely and all of the hoses are clamped securely. Enough for one day.
With one job done, we moved on to the next. The feed pump that was fixed yesterday needed to have the pressure set before it could be used. That didn’t take long as we have done this many times before.
Rick put the boat back to some semblance of order while I prepared some appetizers to take with us to My Island Girl.
We both had a nice siesta and I woke just in time to get ready to leave.
It was a very interesting and fun evening on My Island Girl. Barbara and Winston gave us a tour of their Bayfield 40. There are many similarities between the 40 and the 36 foot Bayfield and yet they are very different. Theirs is a very nice boat and kept in immaculate condition.
In the morning, Rick cut and prepared the piece of wood he wants mounted on the hull to hold the muffler in place. He also attached a bulb to the fuel line by the tank. This had been a recommendation by the Tool Meister.
When he was finished and had tidied his things, I took over procession of the galley for a while. Jerry and Daniela were having a dinner party this afternoon. I made a salad and some appetisers to take with us. Everything was prepared with just enough time to get ready to go.
It was a lovely party held at Fitzroy’s house, which is perfect for large crowds. Jerry cooked a leg of pork. He made the “crackling” which I have started to believe is the highlight of the dinner. The crackling almost disappears as it is placed on the table. The meal was wonderful and afterwards we had our usual game of pool. Daniela and I played but then Edwin offered to play. He was such a gentleman and an expert pool player. He could have won the game before I was able to get the first ball in the pocket. Instead, he never hit a ball directly, even if it was sitting as a perfect shot. He would make at least three to four bounces off the side of the table with the white ball aiming for his ball. It didn’t take me long to realize he was going to keep doing this and purposely missing until I won. It was a very kind thing to do and created many laughs.
Today Rick started what we hoped was the last of the work on the engine. The muffler was in place it was just a matter of placing a piece of wood on the hull and clamping the muffler to it. It took him a while but it was a nice neat job when he finished.
It was now time to start the engine and see how the new muffler worked. Well, it leaked like a sieve.
Rick then tightened all of the clamps on the muffler gradually. I say gradually because he was trying to be careful not to over tighten them. This took quite a few tries. Each time he tightened them we would run the engine and check again. Gradually we were down to just one little trickle and it wasn’t on the waterlock muffler it was where the exhaust hose attached to the engine.
We keep getting so close to being able to say that the engine is in and working but there seems to be always one little thing left to do. The muffler is installed nicely but we should have ordered some T-Clamps for where the exhaust hose attaches to the engine.
We ran the engine, put it in gear, moved the boat forward, and reverse a
little. It sounded good and started very easily. We’ll order the new clamps
tomorrow and as soon as they arrive, that should be it.
In the afternoon, Rick went to pick up our sail, which has been ready since Friday. While he was gone, Kenroy (Stickman) stopped by for a visit. He stayed quite a while and we had a good talk. He wants to earn some extra cash and wanted to know if we needed any work done on the boat. Since we don’t have anything left to work on, I told him that I would think of something.
I called Kenroy in the morning. As we have a friend coming up from Grenada this weekend to stay with us for a while. I asked if he would like to give us an island tour by boat. He loved the idea but he was going to be in Trinidad from Friday until Monday so we agreed upon Tuesday.
Rick and I went into the Haulout to order the T-Clamps and learned that the Tool Meister kept a supply of them for the tugboats and we could buy some from him.
When we left the Haulout we went across the bay and stopped at the sail loft to pick up an end for one of the sail battens, before going into town. In town we went to a few shops and who should we run into in Matheson’s Supermarket, but Tim and Pauline (Nanou). We last ran into them in Tobago when Kelly was with us. They have a new boat now and invited us to come for a visit when they move around to Tyrrel Bay. They wanted first to spend a night anchored off Sandy Island.
We walked out of the store and met Kenroy. He wanted to let us know that his trip to Trinidad had been cancelled and we could have our island boat tour on the weekend.
We were back at our boat by 2:30PM where we had a quick siesta before preparing some appetizers for a small get together at the yacht club tonight.
We met with Vagus V, Rasi, Drum Beat and Panacea for drinks and snacks.
This was another day of working on the engine. We are still close but not there. Rick finally found why the clamps would not stem the leak on the exhaust mixing elbow. There was a hole on the bottom side of the elbow that none of us had noticed.
We took everything apart and Rick took the elbow to Dominic (the stainless and aluminium welder in the bay). He called me on the radio while Dominic was trying to weld the hole. Dominic was going to Trinidad later this week and offered to pick up a new elbow for us. This was a nice offer and would be good but was not an option for fixing the problem today. We have been spending too many days with the boat totally pulled apart and if the engine is not put back together in working condition by tomorrow morning I have decided to take a vacation off the boat until it’s finished.
Rick returned to the boat with the repaired elbow. Graham (Rasi) had suggested that even with the welding, we should apply JB Weld as well. This was done but now we have to wait until morning before it can be installed.
It was 6:45AM and we were both in working on the engine. Getting the hard walled hose on and off is a two-man job. Things finally went well. The hoses were on and we started the engine. No leaks but there we a couple of other issues. The RPMs seemed very erratic. The only thing we could think of that may be causing this problem would be air, since everything else had been checked out. Sure enough, Rick removed the little bulb that he had installed in the fuel line and the engine was running smoothly again. One last thing before we could put everything away. The amp meter for the alternator was not registering amps. The lights on the regulator indicated that it was charging so Rick had to do some trouble shooting. In the end, he found a fuse connector that was a little rusty. He cleaned it and low and behold, we had amps.
Somewhere in between jobs we had some breakfast and now it was time put things away, for a while (I hope) and get ready to go to town. It was Thursday and time to get our produce. I thought about leaving the shopping until tomorrow but I want to cook all day tomorrow.
We finished our shopping, returned to the boat and waited for Nanou to sail into the bay. They didn’t appear so we had sundowners and watched a beautiful red sky develop as the sun dipped below the horizon.
We received a call from Susan and Roy asking if we had any detailed charts of the Turks and Caicos, which we did. Jerry needed to take a tugboat up there and only had planning charts of the area. I sat in the cockpit and watched the tug arrive a little after 9PM (way past our bedtime) and within minutes a dinghy pulled up beside us in the dark and I passed Jerry the charts.
It was nice to be able to help him a little because he has been so good to us since we’ve been here.
Can you believe it!!! Now that we have a working engine, the first tropical wave appeared in the forecast. It was to be expected as they normally begin in mid May. It has just come off the coast of Africa so it will probably be about a week before it reaches our area.
Nanou called us before breakfast to apologize for not coming around to Tyrrel Bay last night. They were still enjoying Sandy Island but would definitely arrive today. I invited them to join us at the Lambi Queen.
Rick checked the water in the batteries while I made breakfast. I spent the next couple of hours cleaning below while Rick washed the cockpit. We were discussing whether we would eat lunch onboard or go to Sally’s (Just Jinger) when Tim and Pauline (Nanou) pulled up in their dinghy.
We gabbed for long enough that I decided I had too much to do to take the time to go ashore for lunch. Instead, Rick went to Sally’s and got hamburgers to-go and we ate them in the cockpit.
I spent the afternoon in the galley making potato salad, cole slaw and macaroni pie for our picnic tomorrow. Rick ran around in the dinghy and bought drinks, picked up our propane tank, stopped at the sail loft and eventually met with Susan who had the coolers and ice for tomorrow.
We were finished our chores and ready to go for a quick visit aboard Nanou
before going ashore again.
The new Nanou (a 49 foot Beneteau) is a beautiful boat. The highlight of the tour was the large freezer, which Tim assured us, maintained the perfect temperature for keeping ice cream frozen. The problem was he didn’t have any ice cream in it.
When we left their boat we went to shore and met Roy, Susan, J.P. and Julia at the Lambie Queen. I left Rick there and walked through Harvey Vale watching for a bus. I had to walk all the way to the town of L’Esterre before any vehicle drove by and luckily it was a bus. I arrived in town about 10 minutes before the ferry. Karen (Misty) our friend from Grenada arrived on the ferry to spend a few days with us.
We found Bubbles in his pickup truck by the buses when we walked off the wharf and he drove us to the Lambie Queen.
When we arrived, Stickman started his performance. Rick said that he had been waiting for us before beginning. It was a great show and Kenroy played his didgeridoo (a unique wind instrument) and then told us that he was going to use his flaming sticks this night. Just before he was about to do this, all of the power went out in Harvey Vale. Rick accused Kenroy of arranging the power outage. The show moved out of the Lambie Queen onto the road, where by the light of the almost full moon he performed with flaming sticks.
Kenroy arrived in his boat to pick us up at 8AM for an island tour by boat.
We stopped and picked Susan up at the Haul Out and we were ready to go.
He drove around the end of the island and up the east side where we made our first stop at Frigate Island. There we had a swim and gathered enough beautiful dead coral which we used as ballast in the boat.
We made our way from Frigate to Saline Island. On our way, we passed and old volcano plug that looked like a little mountain sticking out of the sea. The structure of the plug was so unique it appeared man made rather than natural.
At Saline, we walked inland to a lake that was dry at this time of the year.
It was quite large and we were all walking along it. Susan wanted to see if we
could climb a hill at the edge of the lake so we all headed toward the hill with
Susan leading the way. We could feel that the ground had a little moisture under
it and Kenroy told us to walk lightly. Seconds later, Susan had suddenly sunk
almost up to her calves in black sticky mud. Rick and Kenroy quickly lifted her
out before she fell or sank any deeper. It seemed like a good time to turn
around and follow our path back the way we had come. The conversation the whole
way back centred around Susan’s black boots. In wet season people come to this
lake for mud baths so we also commented on what healthy feet she was going to
have.
When we finally reached shore, Susan scrubbed the mud off her legs and shoes
before we continued on. Kenroy led us to what looked like an old military
fortification. He explained that it was really an ancient furnace for burning
coral to make lime for cement. The structure was of stone and coral.
When we returned to Kenroy’s boat, he and Rick took off in search of whelk. Susan, Karen and I went for a swim. We later learned from Rick that it takes death-defying acts to obtain the whelks. They are a type of snail that lives under slippery sharp rocks in very fast moving water. The men returned with a bag full enough to feed us all. We climbed into the boat and moved over to White Island.
There was some nice shade and a fire pit at White Island. We had hoped to
snorkel there but the current was too strong this day. Instead, we helped Kenroy
prepare lunch. He first simmered the whelk in fresh water while we chopped
onion, garlic, seasoning peppers and spring onions. When the whelk was cooked,
he taught us how to remove them from the shell and clean them. They were
returned to the pot with sautéed onions and garlic. He prepared and kneaded some
dumplings. Rick even got into the act by peeling potatoes, sweet potatoes and
green bananas. All of this was eventually added to the pot of whelk with some of
the saved broth. A few yellow plantains were placed on the fire in their skins.
It didn’t take long and we had a wonderful meal that with the additional food I
had brought, would probably have easily
served about twenty people. After we had
eaten and enjoyed every drop of the stew, we made our way back to the boat.
It was 3:30PM when we arrived back in the bay. We were all exhausted, and a little sunburned, even though we were applying sun protector all day long. Kenroy dropped us at the boat and stopped for a little drink. We had a short swim and shower after he left.
While we collapsed in bed early in the evening we could hear the sounds of the drums which meant Kenroy was giving another Stickman performance. It’s nice to be so young and full of energy.
It was a wonderful Mother’s Day. I received an e-card and a phone call to start the day. I served Karen and Rick a big breakfast of sausages, bacon, eggs and toast. Since it was my day, I was able to say where and what we were going to do all day.
When Rick had finished the dishes, we went to visit Fitzroy for a while and then walked along the beach towards town. When we reached the Turtle Dove restaurant, we met friends of Karen from Grenada, Jeff and Wendy (Absinthe) who had just sailed up to Carriacou for the weekend. They agreed to join us for a walk to Paradise Beach.
The Paradise Inn on the beach was our first stop where we needed a cold drink. We continued along the beach to the Hardwood Bar and Restaurant where we met Susan, Roy, Tony and Michael who were having lunch. We ordered our lunch but because of the extremely loud music next door, decided to take the lunch further down the beach to eat it. We found some shade under an old sea grape tree, placed our towels on the sand and got comfortable. We had only been there a few minutes when Joe and Elaine (Island Girl) showed up. They were walking along the beach toward the Hardwood but stopped to say hello.
Gradually we made our way back toward Harvey Vale only stopping again when we arrived at the Lambie Queen. We remained there talking with Punto who was watching the cricket game between Zimbabwe and the West Indies on TV.
On our way back along the beach we stopped at the Turtle Dove for a last drink before returning to the boat.
Everyone had a short siesta before we had dinner in the cockpit.
There were many things we had planned to do today however our bodies didn’t want to cooperate. In fact, Rick went back to bed after breakfast while we endured a heavy but brief rainstorm.
In the afternoon, we went to the yacht club and taught Karen to play Mexican Dominoes. The sky cleared and we went for a quick dinghy ride through the mangroves. When we emerged back to the bay, Denis and Arlene, (Tiger Lilly II) had arrived so went by to say hello to them. While we were onboard Tiger Lilly II, we saw Graham and Ann (Rasi) come motoring back into the bay. They offered to take our wind-vane to Grenada to put into the used boat parts for sale at Island Water World so we finally got it off our deck and secured onto theirs for the passage.
We had dinner onboard and afterward Karen gave Rick a nice leg massage to try to alleviate the leg cramps he sometimes gets.
We took Karen into town this morning. She wanted to look for a few souvenirs and I was hoping to buy a leg of lamb for dinner.
Our first stop was Matheson’s Supermarket and I found all of the lamb had been cut into steaks. We didn’t care, it still looked good. As we walked through town, we bought some nice mangos, a pineapple, bananas, apples and even an avocado. Karen had wanted to make us banana flambé and now we had all of the ingredients.
We stopped at the Garden Restaurant and had some great kingfish for lunch.
Later, while we were having sundowners, Kenroy phoned to say hello. We invited him over but his boat was in Belmont so he had no way to get out to the boat. He said he would call again when he got to the beach and I offered to pick him up.
He arrived just in time for dinner and I knew that he didn’t eat meat. It was no problem, we had lots of potatoes and butternut squash, which he enjoyed. Karen topped the meal off with her banana flambé just before the tropical wave arrived. The wind and rain came charging through the anchorage causing the boat in front of us to drag a little. It came only close enough to rip off our anchor marker, which had been floating in the same spot for almost 6 months.
We all took refuge below in the cabin which became very warm after having both the oven and stove on for a while as well as the ports and hatches all closed to keep out the elements. In between squalls we were able to open the hatches for a while to cool the interior a little.
It was an enjoyable evening and finally about 10:30PM Rick and I took Kenroy back to shore between downpours.
This was Karen’s last day in Carriacou. We had a relaxing breakfast but still
had to run below in the morning as the last remnants of the wave passed by.
We stopped for a cheeseburger in paradise at Just Jinger’s before taking Karen into town to catch the ferry.
When we were back at our own boat I suggested to Rick that we share a pizza at the Turtle dove for dinner. Just before dinnertime, Kenroy came by in Sherwin’s boat. He waved and said he was going to stop by Hutch’s boat but would see us later. We told him where we were going for dinner and asked if he wanted to join us.
Kenroy joined us and a little later, Aaron (Bongo Man) came by so we invited
him to join us as well. Poor Aaron had been working on J.P.’s boat (Lumbadive).
He was coughing and his lungs sounded terrible probably from sanding all of the
fibreglass.
We had a wonderful evening and returned to our boat under clear moonlit sky.
As soon as breakfast was finished, we got down to business. Rick put a fresh snubber on our primary anchor and let out about 20 more feet so that the rope that has had a forest growing on it for the past few months can lie in the sand and hopefully with the swinging back and forth of the boat, it will clean itself. This will also clean the last 10 feet of chain that has been suspended off the bottom by the snubber.
He pulled up the second anchor, which was not bad. Very little of the anchor was above the sand so it was reasonably clean. The chain was on the sand so it didn’t need a scrub. Our rope on this anchor is a twist rather than a braid, which seems to clean itself by just laying it in the sun for a day or two. It smells like the shore at low tide while it is spread on the deck but it doesn’t look bad.
I backed up the files in the computer and created a new route on the chart to take us to Bequia.
In the afternoon, we both had a siesta and awoke in time for sundowners.
The wind is southeast and forecast to change to northeast in the next day or two so before it changes we would like to head north. Our friends Jeff and Susan, who are on their way south, have arrived in Martinique. If we leave in the next day or two we can meet them in Bequia and come south together.
As soon as we finished breakfast, we went ashore in the dinghy. In the shade of a big tree and on the sand, Rick sat on a pail while I cut his hair.
We both then went for a dip before cleaning the dinghy. Rick did most of the cleaning but I helped a little.
We returned to the boat and removed the sun awning. This was a two-man job with the winds trying to fill it like a sail. Next, Rick put the reef back in the main sail while I made lunch and ran the engine.
Running the engine was just supposed to be a formality to double check that everything was working ok. Well the engine ran very well until it stopped getting fuel. Unsure of whether it was a clogged new fuel filter or the fuel pump, Rick changed the filter. We ran it again and the same thing happened. This time the fuel pump was changed. The problem is not resolved but we’re getting closer.
There were no amps on the amp meter again. Rick had changed the wiring both to the battery and he had moved the ground wire on the engine. It was my belief that this was the problem but it could wait because another issue had arisen. There was oil spraying out of the front of the engine. We both knew that the front of the engine had been removed so many times while they were trouble shooting the timing problem that this leak was to be expected. We called Yurk (Uve is away) and he said he would come and check it tomorrow morning.
We put everything away and got ready to go to the Lambie Queen. It was early but that wasn’t an issue.
At the Lambie Queen, Sherwin was running around getting things ready. Just before 6PM, he was getting into his boat to go and hustle up some customers. I went along for the ride. We must have done some good hustling because the place was totally packed by the time Stickman started his performance.
True to his word, Yurk arrived in the morning and checked the oil leak. We had to run the engine and let it warm up before the leak would appear. It is a little seal on the camshaft that costs less than $5 to replace. The problem is that the closest one available is in St. Martin. Even using Liat Airline’s same day service, it will take the seal a week to arrive in Carriacou.
When Yurk left we continued working on the other problems. The amp issue was resolved by returning the ground wire to its original spot and rewiring the battery as it had been before.
Rick checked the fuel pickup tube for blockage and verified that the anti siphon unit in the tube was working properly. He then opened and cleaned the O-ring on the racor filter to ensure that we had a good seal. We ran the engine for a while to remove all air and we’ll try starting it again tomorrow to see if we were successful.
I was feeling a little depressed about not being able to sail anywhere but we
had a party to attend in the evening and I felt that would cheer us up a little.
The party was in celebration of our friends Denis and Arlene (Tiger Lily II) 45th wedding anniversary. They treated seven of their friends to dinner at the Turtle Dove. Rick and I called Simon the Smuggler and had him bring us a few bottles of champagne to take to the celebration. We arrived a little early and gave the bottles to the restaurant to serve after everyone had arrived.
Stickman arrived and performed which was a bonus for Denis and Arlene, as they had never seen his act. For Rick and me it was two nights in a row but since Kenroy (Stickman) is my heartthrob, Rick didn’t think I would mind.
Sherwin arrived and joined us for a while but he had to leave early. After the performance, Kenroy joined Rick and me for a while until we had to leave.
We returned to the boat commenting that it had been a very enjoyable evening.
Well I guess it was a good thing we couldn’t leave. The winds howled through the anchorage all day long. We could see the seas building and found ourselves quite comfortable sitting where we were.
Sherwin was supposed to come by with some live bait for me so I could do a little fishing today but I guess he was tied up. Rick tried to cover for him and caught one little minnow for me using a hook with a little pork on the line. By the end of the day we didn’t really think that one minnow would get us very far so we gave up on the fishing.
Denis (Tiger Lily II) stopped by to give us some fresh baked Chelsea buns that Arlene had made. George (Avalon V) came over and he and Rick sat in the cockpit looking at schematics and discussing wiring.
Rick went into the Haulout to have the paper issued for Budget Marine to ship the seal we need from St. Martin. While he was gone, Kenroy came by. He had moved his boat back to this bay. He was going to paint a dinghy for Hutch (Jim Hutchison on Ambia), so I told him he could come by afterwards for snacks or lunch.
Meanwhile, Susan called, they needed more charts for Jerry who now had to leave for the Panama. This time I went to the Haulout to help Michael load the charts into Jerry’s new computer. We’re not sure if Jerry will return for the computer or the computer will be shipped to him.
When I returned to the boat, my freezer had defrosted and I just had to wash the fridge and put everything back.
We had nothing planned for the rest of the day so I tried making some pita bread. The oven has to be extremely hot to get the pitas to form a pocket. Mine didn’t have a pocket but Rick said they were great.
We went for a swim in the afternoon but had to quickly climb back on board to close the ports when a rain shower came through. It was so silly because as it rained we sat in the cockpit and had a shower using our fresh water rather than the rainwater that was falling on deck.
After nibbling on pita with hummus and the rest of Arlene’s Chelsea buns, neither Rick nor I wanted dinner.
It was about 9AM when we left the boat. We had received a phone call from FedEx to say that our new mixing elbow for the engine had arrived in Grenada. They faxed the information to the Haulout for us and we had to pick up the fax, take it to customs to get a C14 form. Then we had to take that form to the FedEx Representative (Mr. Samerson) who sends them on the ferry to Grenada. Who knows, we could have the elbow later this week but this is not the part that we really need to get the engine running.
While we were in town, we picked up fuel and groceries. When we arrived back in Harvey Vale, we stopped for lunch at Becks before returning to the boat.
When all of the groceries had been put away we both laid down for a short nap. I had been asleep for about ½ hour when I heard Mary (Avalon V) calling us on the radio. They were going to play Bocce Ball on the beach and invited us to join them.
It had been a while since Rick and I had played Bocce Ball but we soon got back into the game. We took a break when the first game was over and while standing in the shade, Kenroy came over. George invited him to join us, which he did. We were now playing with partners and of course, Kenroy was mine. He got us off to a great start by a lead of 4 points before he had to leave. I then had to cover for both of us. In the end however, we won with a great lead over the other teams.
After a swim, the others returned to their boats while Rick and I went for a walk along the beach. We were waiting for the Old Rum Shop to open and we were all going to meet again for dinner. While we were waiting Zachary and her sister Mia with two of their friends entertained Rick and I by singing songs. When the others arrived, the shop had still not opened but one of the owner’s sons saw us and said he would go and get the key.
I’m not sure if it was a good idea or not. I think it was almost another hour before the doors were unlocked. The owner was not feeling well so her daughter was filling in. It was now well after 7PM and she had no meat to barbecue and the barbecue hadn’t been lit. Some of the guys walked down the road to the Alexis supermarket and bought some frozen chicken legs. We had an enjoyable evening but it was 11:30 PM by the time we finished eating our chicken and returned to the boat.
The excitement is mounting!! We spoke with Jeff and Susan (the Raggys) who are on their way south from Toronto. We had hoped to meet them and travel down the island chain with them but that was before the engine problems. They are in Bequia today and will arrive in Carriacou tomorrow.
I washed the cockpit cushions and small rugs that we have onboard. Rick washed the screens and vacuumed for me. Other than that, we did nothing for the remainder of the day. I think we are both resting up for tomorrow.
In the evening, we received an email from our other friends in Toronto, Patrick and Darline. They are putting their Bayfield 36 (Arctic Wolf) up for sale. This is very sad news for us because we were hoping that Arctic Wolf would some day see salt water and join us down here. Arctic Wolf is Wind-Borne III’s sister ship. We were on the same dock in Outer Harbour Marina and when we return for a visit, it will seem very strange if she is no longer there. The good news was that Patrick and Darline are not getting out of boating, just going bigger.
The last thing we did before going to bed was to put a bottle of champagne in the fridge in preparation of the celebrations tomorrow and put some pigeon peas to soak.
It felt like Christmas morning (my favourite day of the year). I gathered laundry and Rick took it into the yacht club for me.
I prepared a local island meal for Jeff and Susan. First thing I did was to
crack open a coconut and slice the meat nice and thin and bake it in the oven
for coconut nibbles. Next I cooked up some green bananas to make green banana
salad which is basically the very same as potato salad but it will probably be
new to them. I cooked the pigeon peas that will be cooked again later with rice
and coconut milk. I cleaned and put the “provisions” to soak. There was dasheen,
sweet potatoes, sweet cassava, white potatoes and green bananas to serve. I
didn’t have any fresh fish so I prepared chicken for the oven. I also had some
sweet plantain that would be baked as I was running out of burners on top of the
stove.
It was just after 1PM when they limped into the bay with engine problems. As soon as the boat was anchored, they came over and we popped a bottle of champagne to celebrate their arrival.
Initially Jeff was going to stay behind and look at the engine so I went with
Susan into Hillsborough where she checked in with customs and immigration. When
we returned to Harvey Vale and called Rick to pick us up at the jetty, we found
the two men were still on our boat. They hadn’t stopped talking.
It was too late to work on the engine at this time of day so we moved right into sundowners. We had finished dinner when Kenroy called to say he was on shore and his boat was over in Belmont. Rick went ashore, picked him up, and brought him to the boat. He had some leftover dinner and we talked about his leaving for a turtle watch in Trinidad tomorrow.
It was about 11PM when Susan and Jeff found they just couldn’t stay awake any longer and had to leave. Kenroy stayed a little longer and left at 11:30.
Rick and I looked at each other and said that the dishes could wait until morning.
After a good night sleep, we cleaned the boat up and then while Rick changed filters in the water maker and in the main water system, I went to the Yacht Club and picked up our clean laundry.
It was almost lunchtime when we decided to go ashore and wait for the Roti lady. Jeff and Susan came along with us and we sat in the shade of the tree on the beach watching for her car. It was quite a while and she stopped for us but was totally sold out of all rotis. She promised to make some rotis for us tomorrow and she will phone me when she gets near.
Meanwhile we were all hungry and Just Jinger (Sally’s little restaurant) was just down the road. We went for a cheeseburger in paradise and found she had a cottage cheese salad on the menu today. Cottage cheese is one of the things that are not yet available on the island. I couldn’t resist. I had to have a salad along with a small burger. Rick went for the small burger and fries while Jeff and Susan who hadn’t seen a burger in quite a few months tackled a large one each.
When we returned to the boat, we just relaxed for a while and then got into checking the pumps on the water maker. He thinks we may need some new pump heads as the water production is down a little.
Just before dinnertime, Jeff and Susan delivered new pillows to us. They purchased these pillows in Puerto Rico for us, as we had no luck in buying good quality pillows in Venezuela or even Trinidad. They even had difficulty finding them in Puerto Rico. They eventually found these “100% memory foam” pillows, which are quite different, but I’m sure we’ll get use to them. Rick and I had a lot of fun this evening discussing how these pillows would help our memory. Rick was going to tell me all about his dreams in the morning. I will no longer have to make grocery lists. With these pillows, we will remember everything. They must be specially made for seniors or cruisers.
We went to the Haulout in the morning and introduced Susan and Jeff to Susan and Roy. Our new mixing elbow had arrived so we picked that up while we were there.
Our next stop was to visit with Harold on Hallelujah. He was having trouble getting Skype to work on his new computer. Neither Jeff nor I could resolve the problem, which seemed to be with his microphone. His computer is an Apple so we told him that we would check it out on the internet and come back tomorrow.
Just as we were leaving, my phone rang. It was the Roti lady with the rotis and she was almost at the beach. We climbed into the dinghies and raced for the beach. She had the rotis for us and gave me her phone number so we could get rotis from her anytime.
As we sat under the tree eating, we were joined by Tracy who used to work at the Yacht club but now works for Beverly at the Alexis Supermarket. When we finished eating Tracy went back to work and we went for a swim.
The water was warm and extremely clear but the sky was very overcast. We received a little sprinkle while swimming but managed to return to the boat before the main downpour began.
In the evening, we went to the Turtle Dove for dinner with Jeff and Susan. Aaron (Bongo Man), Andrea (Yurk’s wife) and Nick were drumming. It was a good evening and very interesting because the place was packed with Canadians most of whom we knew. Jean Baptist (JB) arrived with some pickled ginger he had purchased in Grenada for me to make California Rolls.
It was Sunday and therefore a quiet day on Carriacou.
Rick changed the sparkplugs in the outboard engine and then polished stainless steel for a while. I went back to bed but then finally found some energy just before lunch. I had purchased some roti skins from the Roti lady yesterday and I was anxious to try making a roti. I was pleasantly surprised to find that they were quite easy to make. Rick was impressed and said I should make them more often.
In the afternoon, we went to shore and played Bocce Ball with Lorie, Dale (Gypsy Palace) Mary and George (Avalon V). It was a fun game and I lucked out by being on the winning team again.
When we returned to the boat, Jeff and Susan (the Raggy’s) came by with their dog Jamie but wouldn’t come aboard because Jamie’s hair was full of salt and sand from playing on the beach. I didn’t push the issue so they sat in the dinghy. We talked until dark when we all decided it was time to start cooking dinner.
We went to the Haul Out in the morning to check the status of our oil seal that was supposed to be coming “rush” from Budget Marine in Trinidad rather than St. Martin. Roy called them and we learned that it was still sitting in the store in Trinidad. We’ve learned to be patient so we’ll check again tomorrow and see if it has moved at all.
When we left the Haulout we went to In-Stitches and asked Petra to make a small canvas bag for our throw rope. There wasn’t much left of the existing bag. We then walked down the road to take some empty jars to Sally at Just Jinger for her home made preserves. It was 11:50AM so Rick suggested we stay for lunch. Alana (Witches Song) was already there. We sat down and soon we were joined by many locals and it was one big party.
When we left there and returned to the boat, I started preparing food for a party a Fitzroy’s this evening. I made my usual wraps of cream cheese and roasted red peppers then I cooked up a stack of devilled eggs. Lastly I wanted to make a recipe for corn spoon bread that a friend of ours had served in Venezuela. I had found the Jiffy Corn Muffin Mix in Grenada and packed it away.
When I opened the zip lock bag and the box of corn muffin mix I found it full of weevils. It was very quickly disposed of overboard. I was disappointed because I really wanted to try making this recipe. I searched for a homemade version of the corn muffin mix on the internet and decided to give it a try. The end result of the corn spoon bread was not quite what I remembered but it wasn’t bad.
The party at Fitzroy’s was one of the largest ones he had thrown. It was Ellie’s (Bon Bini) idea for a get together as many of our friends were leaving to go off island for a while. Rosie and Daniela had just returned from a trip to New York and Montreal. They nearly froze while in Montreal when the temperatures dropped to 6 degrees. Therefore, it was also a welcome home party for them.
Daniela and I played three games of pool during the evening and she won them all. The floor of Fitzroy’s house was vibrating with everyone dancing to the old 50’s and 60’s music he was playing. It was an excellent party and we stayed until well after 11PM.
Rick went into the Haulout to check on the status of our oil seal from Trinidad. He learned that it may be at the airport but we’re not sure if that means the airport in Trinidad or Grenada.
With no other reason to pull the engine apart, Rick decided to install the new mixing elbow that arrived the other day. We’re getting very good at disconnecting and reconnecting the water lock muffler so it didn’t take us very long.
While we were working away at it, Rodney, a local fisherman came by with some
moonfish for us. He cleaned them and then I filleted a couple but froze two
others whole.
I decided to try making a fish broth. Normally I give the head and bones to the fishermen to use for broth. I had learned from Kenroy, how to flavour the broth and let it simmer. After almost an hour, I poured everything through a colander with cheesecloth. I returned the broth and a little of the fish with vegetables and small noodles. It wasn’t very traditional but Rick said it was one of my best soups.
We went for a swim in the afternoon and afterwards Rick put up our squall proof wind scoops. We’re going into rainy season and I hate running around closing hatches in the middle of the night. With these wind scoops we can leave the hatches open all the time even in the pouring rain. They allow the wind to enter but not the rain.
I’ve been really bad at keeping my inventory up to date so today I went through all of my storage areas and re-inventoried everything from spices to canned goods.
Rick sanded and applied Cetol to a couple of the hatch screens.
In the afternoon, we went ashore to the yacht club for drinks with Susan and Jeff and their friends Melanie and Cliff (Cliff Notes) who had Melanie’s parents visiting with them. We were joined by Mary and George (Avalon V) and Fitzroy.
IIt was a pleasant afternoon but Cliff had ordered oysters to be delivered to the boat for 6:30PM so we all returned to our boats at that time.
