We were up in the middle of the night with the sound of thunder and rain. There was quite a bit of lightening but it never really came closer than five miles. The wind was gusty but in total I don’t think the storm lasted any more than an hour. I wasn’t sure where this weather came from because I had checked the forecast before going to bed and there was nothing mentioned.
In the morning we found that the disturbed weather that is now to the northeast of us had strengthened to a tropical depression and then a tropical storm (Chris) overnight. I think the nastiness was the tail end of one of the feeder bands to the storm.
We had a visit from Luciana in the morning. She and Daniela used to own the Turtle Dove restaurant. Luciana has been in Italy and England for a few months and just returned a few days ago. It was so good to see her back.
Shortly after lunch, Uwe arrived to help us with the issue of air in the engine. He is such a great mechanic. He sat on the floor in front of the engine and just asked questions regarding what we had done or changed. Then he took out a little valve that really looked more like a bolt from the fuel injector pump. He checked the spring in it and decided that the spring was too strong for the fuel lift pump that we were using. Any way he put a little piece of nylon fishing line in the valve to prop it open just a bit and told us to try starting the engine. It started fine. He told us to let it sit and cool off before restarting it to check again for air.
When Uwe left, Luciana returned with Aaron (Bongo Man) and picked me up. We went to Luciana’s boat and put the sails back on. Rick and Kenroy had removed the sails just before Kenroy left the island about a month ago since neither he nor Luciana would be here to look after it in a storm.
When I returned to the boat, I had just enough time to prepare some snacks and get ready to go for sundowners with Rick and Lucy onboard their boat, Flying Cloud.
It was quite late (10PM) when we returned to our boat but the first thing we did was to start the engine. It started perfectly.
The weather was very nice overnight. Tropical Storm Chris was pulling all of the moisture and winds away from here and we slept beautifully last night with the ports open and a light breeze flowing through the boat.
As soon as the SSB weather report was finished (7AM), Rick started the engine. It again started perfectly. Uwe had said that if this worked he would modify the valve for us. Just in case I asked that we leave the engine 24 hours and try it one more time but it appears that he has solved our problem.
My big project this morning was to string all of our courtesy flags together so that we could fly them all for regatta. Officially, the Carriacou Regatta began at the beginning of the week but the cruiser portion begins today with a potluck barbecue and craft sale.
I baked a macaroni pie to share at the potluck. I then marinated some butterfish for Aaron and Luciana and cooked and marinated some jerk chicken for Sherwin, Rick and I. I think our family here onboard has somehow grown but it makes it a lot of fun.
As soon as we finished breakfast, Rick took the laundry into the yacht club and then went to town. He wanted to visit Dr. Freddy again because his nagging cough, which sounds terrible, is still hanging in there. He also needed to pick up fuel and a few grocery items.
I remained onboard to do a little cleaning so that as soon as he returned we
could leave for the beach party.
He returned with another prescription and Dr. Freddy’s assurance that the cause of the cough was probably the African dust, which has been so bad this year.
After a quick lunch and some pill popping on Rick’s part, we headed ashore. The beach party was great fun. Rick and Susan (Panacea) brought many things in with them but the hit was a balloon launcher. We filled a bunch of balloons with water and as each of the dinghies came toward the shore, three people would be required to fire the balloon launcher. We missed every dinghy by just a little except one. The one bulls eye was perfect and got everyone in the dinghy wet.
Other than the balloon launching there was a balloon-tossing contest, a kayak
race, an underwater scavenger hunt and a sandcastle-building contest. I ended up
falling out of the kayak along with my partner, a young girl but so did most
other team contestants as well. You could easily identify those who kayak
regularly from those who don’t.
When the beach party was over, we rushed back to the boat for a quick shower and change of clothes before leaving for the skippers registration meeting. We weren’t going to race, I was just helping with the registration. Rick did offer to crew for Roy during the around the island race but he had already acquired a crew (Gordon on Dreamcatcher). Susan is off island and Roy was alone. The around the island race originally started as a couples race but now, as long as one person wears a skirt, anyone can crew. Most boats usually take a young person along with them as well.
After the registration, we dinghied over to the Turtle Dove for a pizza and were joined by Lucy and Rick (Flying Cloud).
August 4, 2006, Carriacou The around the island race began at 8:30AM in very light winds. The cruising class boats (serious racers) crossed the start line first, followed five minutes later by the fun class (most other cruisers) and finally by the last class which was a combination of a hobby cat, laser and trimaran that had entered. We were cheering for Luciana who had Hutch (Ambie) and a little local boy named Elvis as crew. We knew she wouldn’t come first but that didn’t matter. As it was, she was in well before many of the last boats.
We did our boat chores and ran the generator in the morning so we would be free in the afternoon to take part in the auction.
The money raised at the auction (and all other events involving the cruisers)
is donated to the Children’s Education fund of Carriacou. The bidding is fun as
everything goes to charity so people get crazy. We bought a hat for Rick, a gift
certificate for dinner at the Turtle Dove. I told Elvis who was sitting on the
ground beside me
that he could go ahead and bid for a plate of cookies and I
would cover for him. These cookies are a tradition at the auction and are baked
by Marjorie (North Stand). Everyone bids like crazy for them and then passes
them around to be eaten. It just so happened that a large stuffed gorilla was
included with the plate that Elvis bid on. He was great, and he really wanted
the cookies. When everyone saw who was bidding, they eased off and let him have
them for about $30USD. He didn’t want the stuffed gorilla so it went to Daniela
who was bidding on the cookies just for it. He let Donnel have one cookie when I
asked him to share but other than that, he was keeping them.
Kai and Marla (Apsara) who had just arrived in Carriacou late yesterday and
raced all day today arrived just as the auction was ending. We all left and went
to the Turtle Dove ahead of the crowd so we could talk before everyone arrived
to see the race results. The results were finally posted about 8PM (rather than
the scheduled 5PM) and our friend Roy on Windborne came in first with Jerry on
Bloody Mary as second.
We had great plans for the day but first I wanted to defrost and clean the refrigerator/freezer. This didn’t take long. Rick went ashore to pick up bread and a few things from the local supermarket. This Monday is a holiday on Carriacou because of Regatta.
When he returned and I opened the fridge, all of the nice fresh frost on the
freezer had disappeared. Rick checked it out immediately and found that the
thermostat was acting up. Well a big grey cloud with quite a bit of rain moved
in so we weren’t anxious to rush ashore. It was lunchtime when Rick decided that
the thermostat needed to be replaced, which is not an easy job. The fridge is in
the galley and the compressor is in the cockpit locker. We just happened to have
a couple of spare thermostats on board so right after lunch he got right to it.
When the job was finished and we were able to check that the compressor was
cycling properly neither of us felt like going anywhere. We missed seeing the
long boat races at Paradise Beach but we were able to watch the cruising boats
finish in our bay.
Today there is a lot going on in Hillsborough but nothing starts until around
lunchtime. We took our time and relaxed over a nice breakfast. Marla (Apsara)
came to shore in our dinghy while Kai went around to Hillsborough in their
little sailing dinghy.
There were about four different classes of races just finishing when we arrived. Thinking the shore events (scheduled to start at 11:30AM), would begin soon we walked around stopping to say hello to friends. Eventually we became hungry and went for a bite to eat. While walking by the large commercial jetty by the beach we noticed that workers had begun to construct a stage. Sure enough, it was well after 5PM when the shore activities began and by this time we were getting tired from spending almost the whole afternoon in the sun. We took a bus back to Harvey Vale and called it a day.
There were many on shore events scheduled in Hillsborough today that might
have been a lot of fun but it was an overcast and windy day so we both decided
to remain onboard and attend the barbecue and presentations at the yacht club in
the evening.
It seemed as though most cruisers had the same idea and there was a great turnout for the barbecue.
Although the regatta is over, there are still a few things happening. Today it was my responsibility to gather photos from all of the camera buffs and put together a CD of pictures. This took a good part of the day.
In the evening, we went for sundowners with Greg, Barbara and their daughter Randy onboard C-Toy. They also invited Patrick and Isabelle from a Canadian boat (can’t remember the name). We had such a great time it was after 11PM when we got back to our own boat.
Before going to bed I took a few minutes to check the satellite picture of the weather we’re watching just to the east of us. We’d both feel a little more comfortable if it would hurry up and move just a little further north.
The storm dissipated and moved north west of us over night. North of St. Vincent there were strong winds and thunderstorms, we had nothing.
It was a relaxing day. Graham and Ann (Rasi) returned from St Vincent and a charter.
In the afternoon, we went to the yacht club for a group photo shot of all volunteers involved in the regatta.
Rick removed the fuel return valve from the engine and took it to Uwe in the morning. Uwe replaced the spring in it and returned it to our boat in the afternoon. He wanted us to try it and make sure the problem was resolved.
After reinstalling it, Rick ran the engine for a while with no problem. We will check it again over the next few days to make sure the problem is really resolved.
I cooked up a pile of chicken wings to take to Rasi for sundowners. We had a very enjoyable evening and it’s great to have them back for a while.
Finally, we made our way into town to do some grocery shopping. We were almost out of everything. It was a good day in town. The bonus items we found this week were local corn on the cob, fresh baby spinach and leg of lamb. There were no potatoes to be found anywhere but one bag of not so healthy looking ones that we decided was better than nothing.
We ran into Graham and Ann (Rasi) in the morning and when we were just about finished our shopping we also met Joe and Elaine (Island Girl). We stopped and had a cold drink with each of them. Our normal watering hole (Velma’s) was closed which was very unusual. In fact, we saw her son, Cuthbert, loading the tables and chairs from the bar into his pickup truck. Worried that maybe the place was closing, as Velma has not been well, Rick went to talk with Cuthbert to ask if everything was all right. It definitely was all right. He is getting married tomorrow, needed the tables, and chairs for the party.
The bad news that we received today was that Enel, the very talented pan drum player on the island died yesterday morning. This was a shock to everyone because although he had been very ill, since returning to the island after being in the hospital for quite a while we saw him driving and spoke with him. We, and it appears everyone else had no idea that he was still ill.
There was absolutely no wind or breeze today. On the water, it is still comfortable but I felt sorry for those in town, as they must have been sweltering.
In the morning, I baked some minced tarts for this evening’s desert. Making flakey pasty in this heat is an accomplishment, as everything has to be kept very cold if it is to end up flakey. I used some of Rick’s ice cubes to make sure the water was as cold as possible.
Graham and Ann came for dinner and I served a leg of lamb. The mince tarts were just because our mutual friends Brian and Anne (Nativa) always served them. Rick complimented me by stating that mine were just about as good as hers.
We had a very enjoyable evening and much too much food to eat.
It was a terrible night. With no wind, every time the tide changed the boat would rock and roll. It rolled so badly at two in the morning, Rick decided to drop the dinghy from the davits into the water. When the boat rolled the dinghy was swinging as well.
During the morning we and everyone else in the bay had turned 180 degrees facing out to sea.
The roll was still uncomfortable and we had rain associated with a tropical wave that was passing by.
Ann and Graham stopped by with a gift for us. Last night we had been speaking of teapots and egg cups which are virtually impossible to find down here. They gave us nice size tea pot and two egg cups. We haven’t had boiled eggs in five years but we will soon.
Most of the day was rainy and overcast so we remained below, reading and sleeping.
The weather was much improved. Ronnie came by with some fish for us. During the morning, Rick changed the oil in the engine.
We had just finished eating lunch when Luciana came by. I gave her a bit to eat; we had a cup of coffee and then went for a swim. As usual, it was more of a float than a swim. There was no wind or waves affecting the water at all. So, we floated around on a noodle with a drink in hand. Rick took the opportunity to clean the fish, then came in, and joined us.
It rained off and on during the night and it still looked a little overcast in the morning. A couple of showers went through, the sky cleared so we dinghied ashore for a hair cut. We always seem to sit under the shade of a Manchineel tree while cutting hair. Afterward we went for a swim both to cool off and to get rid of the hairs.
We moved down the beach a little and tied the dinghy in the shade of an almond tree. I continued to swim around while Rick went across the street to buy some lunch. We just returned to the boat when out of nowhere another shower hit us. It was a strong but short-lived storm.
Luciana arrived just after lunch with her laptop. We looked at some of her pictures and some of ours. We had planned to go to her boat in the afternoon and clean winches but neither of us wanted to do it in the rain.
Our nasty weather is coming to us complements of the ITCZ (Inter Tropical Convergence Zone). So, unlike a Tropical Wave which usually comes and goes in a day, when the ITCZ is up as high as our latitude we have the rain and storms until it decides to move down a little closer to the equator.
I did some laundry by hand today (why not?) and I had just finished when Luciana came by. Rick was busy working on replacing some rigging, specifically the bobstay. I took my rigging bag and went to Luciana’s boat (Kima) where we proceeded to take apart one of her winches. I was going to clean the first one so that she could see how it was done. The rest I left for her. Twice we had to stop as a squall came through the anchorage.
I finished just in time to get cleaned up to go for dinner onboard Rasi. Graham and Ann had invited Rick, Susan (Panacea) and us. We had a fun evening and a very enjoyable dinner but it was well past our bedtime when we returned to our own boat.
We went into town in the morning to do some grocery shopping. We weren’t expecting to find much. The boat that brings all of the fresh provisions to the islands has been busy with transporting people for Carnival in Grenada. It didn’t arrive in Carriacou as it normally does on a Wednesday and we learned that it was now down in Trinidad helping replace one of their ferries that is out of service with engine problems. Meanwhile, Osprey Express has been running their small ferry between Carriacou and Grenada because the large one has blown and engine and there is not a spare available (anywhere in the world) right now. The small ferry is much slower and often hours late. The other day when it was leaving Carriacou, the engines stopped and it was drifting for a while before they were able to resolve the problem.
Regardless of ferry problems, we were still able to get everything on our list. After a quick lunch in town, we returned to the boat for a short siesta.
I prepared some of my cream cheese and roasted red pepper appetizers to take to the wake for Enel this evening.
While the appetizers were chilling in the refrigerator I had to get together some pictures of the regatta races to email to the Caribbean Compass newspaper. They had received people pictures but wanted some of the race pictures. Jerry had asked if I would get them to them today.
We went ashore and met Sherwin at the Lambi Queen. He had offered us a ride to the wake, which was being held in L’Esterre, the town next to Harvey Vale. Sherwin has a pickup truck and Luciana and I claimed the front seat this meant that Gordon (Dream Catcher), JP (Lumbadive) and Rick had to ride in the back of the truck. This is quite common in the islands.
When we arrived in L’Esterre, Sherwin asked the first people we saw, where the wake was being held and they directed us to the right house.
We had never been to a wake before and I’m sure that each country has their own customs and traditions. In Carriacou, they had set up many chairs and benches on the grass outside the house. A couple of tables were set up and piled with bottles of liquor and cold drinks. There was a freezer full of ice, pop and beer. The food was all delivered and passed into the house. Another table with chairs was set for a game of dominoes. The longest and largest table was set with a table cloth, flowers and again many bottles of drinks. When we arrived, the game of dominoes was well underway. Nicely dressed ladies sat around the large table with the flowers. As the crowds grew, the wake was officially started with a prayer that everyone knew and repeated by heart. The family was Catholic and I think this was Catholic thing. After that, everyone sitting around and near the largest table started singing. They sang and harmonized all night and it wasn’t just the women. Many men not only joined but at times led the singing which consisted of all my favourite gospel songs. Many of the ladies had their song books with them but most everyone just new the words.
As the evening went on, young girls brought small plates of food from the house and served everyone a bite to eat. The plates all had a little sandwich, a cake and fish fritter on it. The young men would come by and offer drinks throughout the evening. Everyone was either singing, mixing and talking or playing dominoes. We knew many people there so we were doing a bit of mixing and singing. When Rick said it was time to leave, I was disappointed because I could see that a few men were just tuning their guitars. If we thought the music was enjoyable before, I knew it was only going to get better.
It was after 11PM when we arrived back at the boat and I couldn’t believe how quickly the evening had gone. I’m sure the wake continued until the wee hours of the morning.
It was a beautiful but very hot day. Rick worked on polishing stainless steel in the morning. Simon (the smuggler) came by with some wine for us. I prepared our clothes for the funeral this afternoon. I’ve learned that it’s a waste of time ironing. Instead, I just rinsed the clothes with fresh water and hung them outside to dry in the breeze. It only took about ½ hour and they were wrinkle free without the heat of the iron.
Enel’s funeral was to begin at 2PM so we met Luciana on shore about 1:30PM. When Luxin came by with his bus, many other people had arrived, all wanting to go to the funeral. We got to the church just in time to get a good back seat near a window with a bit of breeze.
The ladies attending the funeral wore either all white dresses and hats or mixed black and white outfits. Some wore all black but white was the prominent colour.
It was a lovely service, but again I was very surprised. We were in a Catholic church. Some of the service seemed traditionally Catholic such as the priest sprinkling the holy water but the rest of the service was definitely non-traditional to what we think of as Catholic.
The music was again all gospel songs and they were wonderful. There was a string band with tambourine and drums. Part way through the service, just as we found in the Anglican church, there is a rousing song that everyone sings while we all reach and even wander around shaking everyone’s hand. It is a great way to meet everyone and it appears that all churches on the island do it.
After the service, everyone (there must have been at least a couple of hundred people) walked behind the hearse singing as we travelled down the road a short distance from the church to the family cemetery.
The cemetery was on a hill with a magnificent view of the ocean. The goats and sheep all moved out of the way, as the people made their way up the hill to the tree by the gravesite.
The graveside service was very short and the coffin was lowered into the ground almost immediately. Then all of the friends and family (men) helped fill in the grave while everyone sang many more gospel songs, for as long as it took. It took quite a while. Although the grave was dug only yesterday, the ground was like clay and had compacted overnight. It was hard work and the men took turns relieving each other repeatedly from the strenuous digging. There was no thought given to their shiny leather shoes or white shirts, they were all helping.
Rick went ashore and picked up Aaron at the dive shop. He brought him back to
clean the bottom of our boat. While he was doing that, I prepared a double batch
of macaroni pie. I needed some to take to a party tonight and hopefully we are
going sailing on Monday so I’d like to have something prepared for underway.
Next, I prepared some more of my cream cheese and roasted red pepper wraps to take with us tonight. I have become well known for these wraps so there is no way I can show up without them.
We then got ready and went to an afternoon party. Edwin (Sherwin’s dad) was having a pig roast to celebrate his birthday otherwise known as a free street party. It was an all day event with free food that continued into the evening. When we arrived, the pig was on the spit and almost ready. There was a pork soup simmering over some flames on another fire pit.
“Slow” (everyone has a nickname) was responsible for the soup. When it was
time to make the dumplings, I helped. He and I had a great system going, we made
enough dumplings to fill the big kettle of soup.
The music was blaring and the smell of the pig roasting was starting to attract a good crowd.
The soup was served and it had a wonderful flavour. The dumplings were perfect. I had a small piece of the pork that was cooked in the soup but I didn’t want too much. All of the normal parts of a pig that we are familiar with eating were roasting on the spit so I knew that the soup contained all other parts that we would never consider eating back home. Even so, it was good.
Next, I helped to prepare the rice balls that are a traditional way of
serving the rice with the large gatherings. I always thought that they had
shaped the rice with a spoon or a mould of some type. No way, a large spoon full
of rice is placed into a small oiled bowl and then it is spun around and thrown
into the air to turn it over and caught (hopefully) again in the bowl. It took
me awhile to get the first few rice balls to form but after that, I had the
routine down pat. I think Sherwin’s mother wanted to make me feel good so she
dropped and wasted three rice balls while we were doing this.
I was just about to join everyone again when I found Rick helping to wrap the
fish. There was a huge pail
of individual size fish. They had all been cleaned
and flavoured with the local green seasoning sauce. We just had to place each in
a piece of foil, add some butter and wrap it tightly before placing them on the
grill. Four of us, Elaine, Josie, Rick and I made fast work of the fish and then
we all went back to the party.
The numbers of young children were increasing as well. They wanted something to drink (many of their parents hadn’t arrived yet) while eating their serving of fish. Rick got them all a soft drink from the bar. These kids eat and love fish (bone in) like it is a treat.
We played with the children for a while, danced on the street, talked with friends until it was dark. At this time of year, the days are a little longer so it is almost 6:30PM before it got dark. We then said our goodbyes and headed back to the boat.
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At the boat, we quickly gathered the food I had prepared earlier to take to
this evening’s party at Fitzroy’s house.
A A good crowd had already gathered there and the large dinning room table was overflowing with food. It was a great party. Daniela and I played our usual game of pool. In fact, we played two games and she won both. After eating (again), the music was turned up and the dancing began. I was fading quickly. I think we were the first to leave the party and it was only 10PM. Fitzroy wanted us to stay a little longer but I needed my bed.
Today was our 30th wedding anniversary. We had a late breakfast and then prepared the boat to go sailing. I did some more laundry. Rick took down our squall proof wind scoops. Down below everything was tidied and put in it’s proper place.
In the afternoon, we had a siesta. It was 6PM when we picked up Graham and Ann (Rasi) in our dinghy and went to the Turtle Dove for dinner. It was a quiet night at the restaurant, probably because everyone was partied out from yesterday.
It was 9PM when we returned to the boat. The motor was removed from the dinghy and they were both raised and secured for travelling.
Once in bed, it seemed nice to be able to see the sky full of stars through the hatch with the wind scoops gone.
The novelty of stars didn’t last long. We were awakened twice during the night for rain drills. The phone rang around midnight and it was a wrong number and then Rick’s cough acted up again.
We didn’t have a good night sleep. p>
Never the less, it was 6AM when we awoke, listened to the weather, had breakfast and prepared for our departure.
We were about half an hour behind Rasi leaving. The sky was clear and the winds were good. We were on a beam reach with a reefed main and only the stay sail up yet our knot meter and GPS was indicating that we were making 8knots. This didn’t last long, we eventually were averaging about 6 knots. The seas built with the wind and wind waves from the north east at 15 to 20 knots with gusts to 25 knots. There was a large swell of about 8 to 10 feet from the east. It was the swell that got to Rick as we closed in on Kick-em-Jenny (Diamond Rock). Here the underwater shoals were causing very confused seas. Rick spent the couple of hours while we were in this vicinity hanging over the side, conversing with the fish.
When the confused seas settled down, so did Rick. He slept until we were well into the lee of Grenada. About halfway down the length of the island we lost all wind and had to motor. Rick felt well enough for some macaroni pie and sprite. There was a pod of dolphins swimming between us and the shore. We wound our way around many small fishing boats as we rounded the last point of land heading toward St.George’s.
At this time, a huge black cloud appeared heading directly for us. We eased off and turned the bow into the wind, which was quite strong. A wonderful downpour washed all of the salt off our sails. I was prepared to anchor outside of the harbour until the squall passed but it dissipated as quickly as it had come.
We pulled into the harbour and found our favourite parking spot in the lagoon empty. We set the anchor and settled in. Rick raised the sail to let it dry and we put away or turned off all sailing instruments. I started making phone calls to arrange appointments with dentists and doctors etc. for our regular check ups.
Graham and Ann who had anchored before us came by to see if we wanted to join them at the yacht club for drinks later. They even offered to pick us up. It was an enjoyable evening. We were joined for a short while by Debbie (Illusions). When Debbie left, another couple Alan and Liz (Duppy Conqueror) friends of Rasi joined us and then John (Pleiades) joined the party as well.
It was 9PM when we returned to the boat. Even though I had marinated some fish for dinner, it remained in the fridge, as neither of us was hungry.
The fish was tossed overboard this morning because we’re not going to be around to eat it today.
The first of the medical appointments was this morning a 10:30AM. Rick was to see Dr. Bradford Noel for a colonoscopy. The doctor was very nice and offered to do the procedure on Thursday but we were already booked that day so it’s scheduled for Friday.
We left the doctors office and strolled through a few stores in Spiceland Mall while making our way over to Grand Anse Mall where we had lunch at Rick’s Pizza.
We took a bus ride down to the cruise ship building, which Rick had not seen yet. It’s quite impressive with many stores for tourists but it’s also very Americanized rather than “Islandy”. We walked from there past the market to see where the doctor’s office is that I am going to on Thursday. Since we had made our way up the hill there was no reason to take the bus back, we continued walking. It was raining off and on as we walked around the Carnage. We had our umbrellas but in some instances the wind and rain was too strong for the umbrella so we ducked into a doorway.
By the time we arrived back at the yacht club, Luciana and Gordon had arrived
in Luciana’s sailboat (Kima). Gordon helped her sail it from Tyrrel Bay. We
spoke with them for a while and agreed to meet back at the yacht club for dinner
after she picked up her brother at the airport.
We had a lovely dinner with Luciana, her brother Roberto and Gordon. Marla (Apsara) who is alone for a week while Kai is back in the U.S., Richard and Beth (Slow Dancing) who have decided to stay here rather than continue on to Trinidad or Venezuela this season also joined us.
We were about to relax as hurricane Debby formed out in the Atlantic and steered north west far away from the island chain. This morning’s weather report however announced a very active wave just to the east of us that is expected to develop into a depression within the next day or so.
Rick, checked the fluids in the engine and serviced the forward hatch. We both got ready and took the bus downtown to find the dentist office. The instructions we had received were perfect so it was much too early when we arrived. We walked around outside and went back through the cruise ship terminal for something to do. When we had killed about 45 minutes, we returned to the dentist office. The timing was good, we waited about another 30 minutes and then each of us had a check up and cleaning. I also had x-rays, which indicated that all was well.
We walked passed the market and went for a quick chicken dinner before heading off to the next doctors appointment. This one was an ear nose and throat specialist for Rick. We had a little trouble finding his office in the Carnage, but still we arrived a little early. We were in and out of his office within less than an hour. The doctor found nothing wrong and repeated what doctor Freddy on Carriacou told Rick, it will take a long time for his cough to clear up.
Next we walked from the Carnage back to the yacht club where we took the dinghy across the anchorage to Foodland and picked up a few groceries. Rick must have only clear fluids tomorrow so we needed some consume, apple juice and jello to keep him happy.
When we returned to the boat, Rick removed the sun awning that he had just put up yesterday. The tropical wave that is headed our way is forecast to become a tropical depression either just before or after it reaches us. We both thought it would be wise to remove any unnecessary canvas before it arrives.
The day did not start out looking very good. Trinidad was being blown away and the storm headed in our direction looked large. The hurricane centre said they would send Aircraft Reconnaissance to check the status of it during the afternoon.
Meanwhile I had an appointment with the dermatologist and Rick had to start drinking his least favourite concoction in preparation for the colonoscopy tomorrow.
He stayed onboard while I went downtown for my appointment. The doctor was very prompt and I was in and out in no time but with another appointment scheduled in a couple of weeks.
When I returned to the boat, we found ourselves just waiting for the storm to arrive. I was checking the satellite pictures almost every half hour. In the anchorage, the boats were all facing the wrong direction. It certainly seemed like ‘the calm before the storm’.
Around lunchtime when I checked the satellite picture, things had suddenly changed. The low-pressure area and the visible rotation of the storm that went through Trinidad to the south of us was gone. The clouds were still there but the clouds to the north of us were now the ones that appeared more ferocious. Sure enough, the next weather update confirmed it. The low was now to the northwest of us, and moving westerly. I called up to Carriacou to see how our friends were doing and learned that the south west winds were blowing into the anchorage at about 30 knots. Most of the boats had raised anchor and headed into the mangroves. Meanwhile, just 30 miles away we were still sitting in a calm. It appears that of all the Windward Islands only Grenada is not being affected by this storm. I think this is called being in the right place at the right time.
A few squalls went through between midnight and 1AM bringing strong winds but very little rain. The temperature dropped significantly and it became very comfortable for sleeping.
The rain arrived in the morning. We had feeder bands for the storm coming over us but we could see on the satellite picture that there were clear skies coming soon. p>
We had a call from Jeff and Susan (the Raggys). They were just down the street from the yacht club and on their way to see us. We went ashore and had a nice cold drink with them in the club. It was time for Rick’s appointment so we had to leave but it ended up that we were all going the same direction so we continued our conversation on the bus.
After his colonoscopy, Rick and I walked down the street about a block to the La Boulangerie where we again met Jeff and Susan, this time for lunch.
Just after we arrived back in the boat, another good size squall went through. It ended just in time for us to get back into the dinghy a go ashore. We were meeting Ann and Graham (Rasi) at 4:45PM and a complimentary bus was taking us to Whisper Cove. Whisper Cove is a new marina/restaurant/bar that just opened last month. It’s owned by Henry of Henry’s Safari (a long time tour operator) and run by a young couple from Niagara on the Lake.
When we arrived on shore, Ann and Graham were just getting into the bus. We climbed in with them and were followed by two more couples. The driver mentioned that he was picking up six more people at Prickly Bay, giving us a full busload. We were all gabbing and having a wonderful conversation when the bus stopped at Clarke’s Court Marina (owned by Bob, another Canadian). We were on the wrong bus! Clarke’s Court Marina has a potluck dinner on Friday night and everyone else was going there. The two marinas are very close by boat but by car, they are on opposite sides of the bay. We asked the driver to take us to Whisper Cove. He had never heard of it but when we explained who it belonged to, he knew of it as “Henry’s place”.
There was a good group there and we knew just about everyone. The Raggys, C Toy, Happy Spirit, Flying Cloud and Choucas. They had all been in Tyrrel Bay for a while. John and Deb (Sea Witch) were working behind the bar. The food served at Whisper cove is awesome. The menu is simple, ribs, chicken, fish and burgers etc. but their recipes are to die for.
Henry drove us back to the yacht club about 9PM after a fun evening.
It was the weekend and a good day to relax. Rick put the sun awning back up as the winds had died and the sun was extremely hot.
I worked on some web site updates while he sanded and cleaned the port side rub rails on the boat.
It was early afternoon when I looked out and saw Marla and Kaj having great difficulty lifting an anchor. While Kaj was away in the States and the tropical depression was headed our way, Marla had put down a second anchor. A local boat later dragged his mooring over the anchor. The dragging had nothing to do with strong winds, he had been testing some very large outboards on a power boat. Rick went over to help Kaj and even the local guy (Patrick) tried to help. It took the three men at least an hour but finally they had it untangled.
I I relaxed with a book until it was time for sundowners. The sky had cleared enough that we could even watch the sunset as we sat in the cockpit.
We didn’t even splash the dink today. It was a nice day, hot with a gentle breeze. We did a few boat chores in the morning and watched a DVD in the afternoon.
I find that mornings in St. George’s are very different from those in Tyrrel Bay. The roosters start crowing at 5:30AM, well before the sun is up. I think that it is people and traffic rather than the sun that get the roosters crowing here so early. In Tyrrel Bay when a car drives by, we know who the car belongs to and usually where they are going. St. George’s is a large city and never mind the cars, there are even too many buses to get to know the drivers. New fire trucks and ambulances with sirens have been acquired since we were last here. The fire trucks especially, like to use the sirens at all hours. In Carriacou, there is only one fire truck and it usually travels only between the fire station and the airport. It must be present whenever an airplane is landing or taking off. The only sirens heard in Tyrrel Bay are those on a hearse when it is time for all traffic to leave the road for the walkers following the hearse to the graveyard. All of this to say that waking up in St. George’s is not as gentle as waking in Carriacou.
We had things to do today. I gathered laundry and Rick took it ashore to the yacht club. He then took a bus over to Prickly Bay to talk to the riggers there about new standing rigging for Wind-Borne.
He returned to the boat with freshly baked bread and some sliced cold meats for lunch. I had finished my boat chores by the time he returned so after lunch we watched another DVD.
It was 5:30 when we got together with Graham and Ann for sundowners at the yacht club.
We were meeting Pastor Jim and his wife Joyce along with Gary and Sharon (Elusive) at Grand Anse Mall for lunch. Jim and Joyce became friends with many of the cruisers when they use to live just a couple of houses away from Secret Harbour Marina a few years ago. They have worked with some of the very under privileged families in the Grand Anse area and started the Grace Lutheran Church there. They brought along another couple Pam and John who they stayed with after hurricane Ivan. John is a retired policeman from Toronto. He brought along a friend of his, Shannon, who was visiting Grenada and who is also a (not retired) Toronto Police officer. We had some interesting conversations as they both worked with a friend of ours, Scott (Privateer) who we hope to see down here next year.
After lunch, since we had nothing else planned for the day we decided to make it a shopping day. We weren’t looking for groceries, we had a list of boat items we needed. We went to Ace Hardware, NAPA, Island Water World and got just about everything we hoped to find there. The list is still a few pages long but we need to have something to do during the rest of our stay here.
I went on a ladies day today while Rick stayed behind and work on messy boat chores. He changed a seal on the head, changed the filters on the water maker and water system. Cleaned strainers and exchanged the fuel pump on the engine. This was all done by the time I returned from a day of visiting the dress factory, where the owner and seamstress’s remembered me from a few years ago. There were 15 ladies and after the dress factory we went to Art Fabrik which is a batik store run by a cruiser, Lilo. After we finished shopping in the retail store we went up the hill a couple of buildings to watch the ladies do the waxing and dying.
Mary (Avalon V) and I took some time to go into the Marketing Board, a computer store, Tikal (a gift shop) and then Food Fair to pick up a few things. We then made our way around the Carenage to a small restaurant where they have great lime squash (like lemonade made with limes and ice in a blender). As we were sipping our ice cold drinks, the other ladies made their way around and eventually joined us. It was a good place to wait for the bus that was picking us up just on the other side of the street. We made one more stop and that was at the art centre which is just across the street from the lagoon where we are anchored. The other ladies were going back to Prickly Bay and Hog Island. I left them and walked across the street where I met Rick.
There is a nice Rasta man that has an awning on the shore of the lagoon with a sign that says “Soup Master”. We see a lot of locals getting lunch there so we wanted to try it. He had huge pots of callaloo soup and corn soup. I prefer my callaloo soup done in a blender, which his wasn’t, so we tried the corn soup. We bought a small bowl each that was really quite large and took them back to the boat. The soup was wonderful and really more of a chowder. It had sections of corn on the cob in it and a nice mixture of local spices.
Rick was exhausted so after showing him my purchases he had a short siesta while I read.
We went to the yacht club for dinner. Rick had chicken and chips while I had flying fish and chips. After seeing flying fish on our decks the mornings after rough passages and even being hit in the face on one passage I really had a hard time coming up with a desire to taste them. Well I’m so glad I finally did and from now on, when flying fish are on the menu, this will be my first choice. They are so mild and are always filleted, you could close your eyes and image eating English style fish and chips.
Rick had an appointment this morning with the dermatologist but we also had the rigger coming to give us a new estimate on the standing rigging. So I dropped him off at the dock at 8:30 and returned to the boat to wait for the rigger.
The rigger and Rick both arrived at 10AM and Rick got to speak with him regarding our requirements.
It was still early in the day so we went downtown to look for some fabric. I desperately need some new clothes.
We were back at the boat by noon. After a quick lunch we both relaxed and read during the afternoon. It was a very hot day with absolutely no wind.
