November 2011

Tues 1^st Nov

Mum and Dad arrive in Grenada we meet at about 7pm and have a meal in the Rhodes (Gary) restaurant in the Calabash hotel. This is the start or a gourmet fortnight!

Wed 2^nd Nov

Go for a meal at the Red Crab, 400m from the Rhodes Resaurant, a quarter the price and a good local selection. Lambi (conch) Red Snapper, Lobster etc. back to the boat.

About midnight we awake to a banging, we are hitting another boat. So we have move away, stow the dinghy and lift the anchor. The anchor is quite stuck so we don't think we were dragging and are fairly sure we were just at the limit of the chain. The other yacht did anchor quite close with wind from a different direction to the direction when we dropped. So it is possible they swung and rode forward until we touched at the extent of our chain.

Thurs 3^rd

Things are a bit fraught but we eventually calm down and swap insurance details.

Fri 4^th

We move to Clarkes Court Bay marina so we can dinghy to Whisper Cove Marina restaurant for a meal with M&D. (And so they can get onto the boat on Saturday.)

Sat 5^th

M&D arrive at Clarkes Court Bay marina dock and we proceed to load them on board. There is not much swell so its all OK. We hang around drinking tea and coffee until the current is in the right direction for a trip to the next bay. The forecast is for 15 to 20 knots and 5 to 7 foot swell so I am expecting an uncomfortable ride for their début on our yacht. However the seas remain calm, the wind below 15 knots and the weather is just sunny and hot. We get to Phare Bleu marina in a couple of hours. The marina is new and we get excellent help from their dock manager Keith from Loghborough. He's been here 7 years. The Phare Bleu restaurant is on the Västra Banken an old light ship and the meal is exquisite, we ran out of superlatives for each of four courses on their “teaser” menu. We put M&D in their taxi and retire.

Sun 6^th

Decide to stay another night

Mon 7^th

Travel back to Prickley bay for a rest.

Go to BB Crab back for dinner after a taxi round St Georges – just to prove to Dad how difficult it is to walk up and down hills with 1/2 meter drains to fall down!

Tues 8^th

Tour around the island with Terry who is a wealth of botanical information. We meet Alice in wonderland who is a guide at a fort above St Georges. We hear that the Grenadian schools teach anger management and conflict resolution in infants school! No wonder they are so laid back and there is no road rage. See the rain forest and don't get our picture taken with ladies wearing multi coloured dresses and hats made from fruit. It costs $10US a picture. I never buy anything where prices are in US$. It always seem that when the prices are in EC$ the numbers are the same, i.e 1/3.

Wed 9^th

Run out of gas at breakfast time!

It may not be possible to fill old gas bottle here. We buy new one with American fittings there are no adaptors available so we may need a new regulator etc.. We will know by Friday. Go to Mount Hartman Estate for dinner, the most beautiful setting so far, overlooking secret harbour and Mount Hartman bay.

Thurs 10^th

Restful day on board.

Fri 11^th

Mike from “Whitebird” tells us that our solar panels were not damaged in the collision, phew. We are on butane and the American system is propane so we will need a new regulator and hoses.

We go to the Calabash for cocktails and a meal then afterwards meet up with the usual suspects in the Tiki bar. A guy named Sam tells us that has spent the last seven years sailing the pacific. Among the advice he gives is that when you see dolphins turn up your music and they will stick with you. I ask him what music and he says he only has 60s and 70s so they must like that.

Sat 12^th

Last minute shopping for Mum, she wanted a hat made to measure from palm leaves, and a meal in the Coconut Beach very good value and too much king fish and lobster to eat.

Sun 13^th

Spend a day at the beach and eat at the Aquarium listening to a band playing mostly Marley. Haven't heard any reggae for ages – strange but true. It felt like we were in the Caribbean.

Mon 14^th

Last evening with M&D so we go to a Sushi bar; full of students and very noisy. Sake is sold by “cup”, small or medium carafe. We ask for large, they don't do it. We ask for Gin and Tonic they don't do that either. This is a bad start. Tempura is good but they forget to bring the wine so we do without.

Tues 15^th

Say bye to M&D in hotel room – no one likes all that airport OTT hugs and stuff.

Wed 16^th

Final shop before we set off North.

Thurs 17^th

Travel from Prickley to Tyrrel Bay, On the way we meet a pod of about 10 dolphins. We think they were bottle nose but were only about 6 feet long. As suggested by Sam we turn up the music Stevie Ray Vaughan seemed to go down well as they stayed for three tracks. We have been here several times and have always needed to re-anchor 3 or 4 times. We do it in 2.

Fri 18^th

Want to move as anchor not dug in! Port engine won't start. Solenoid or starter, most likely starter. Go ashore to Tyrrel Haul Out and Paul gets us a mechanic to the boat by 1:30 pm. Brilliant. “Jurg” is a German mechanic and quickly diagnoses the starter as the problem, whips it off and takes it ashore. He comes back saying it was OK but dirty inside, we need a new starter battery as the 12v Trojan that we have for the port engine is a deep cycle and will cause build up of carbon in the starter which will eventually make it fail again. We re-anchor and dig in well.

Sat 19^th

Anna, who has a small shack on the beach, made pancakes as promised, very tasty but a bit small, so I ate Trudy's. We collect our vegetables from Princess Aliesha's palace, another shack on the beach but a great place to shop. Cheap, fresh, ripe or near ripe as requested and excellent quality with a long shelf or fridge life on the boat. The big supermarkets should aspire to provide such a service. Even if the selection is small and eggs and tomatoes are only available every other day.

Sun 20^th

Tania and Steve from Windigo arrive in the bay. They met on the internet (crew finder not desperate sailors) and we meet for beers in Tantie Lizzie's. We catch up on Prickley Bay scandal, discuss our respective routes and how Lorna should put her name up on crew finder. She is amused but says NO!

Mon 21^st

Sail to Hillsborough, we have all day to do about 4 miles so as the wind is good we put in some practice tacks. We get dinghy fuel, 2stroke oil and a few provisions. And ask customs if we can check out now and leave Granada tomorrow, we can, so later we get paperwork done. No internet here so rely on day old forecast.

Tues 22^nd

Sail to Clifton, it is a beautiful day and we need only put in two tacks. Clifton has been famous for the boat boys who hassle you from when you are a mile out until after you have anchored. However they must have been subdued by the tourist board as they were extremely helpful. They left us alone until we had anchored and set well. We check in to Immigration and Customs, look at the shark pool in the Anchorage Yacht Club and pick up some water. Go to Jantie's bar on an island on the reef; about 150 square meters, built entirely from recycled stuff e.g. conch shells and flotsam. He runs on solar power and rainwater. i.e. no flush loo! The bay is called “Roundabout Reef” we watch a boat try to go straight across about 6 knots (flat out) with expected results! Boat boys are very quick to help. It is a Bavaria which have been documented as loosing keels. He should keep his fingers crossed.

Wed 23^rd

Pick up more water, provisions and laundry. We will get no more chance for about a week. The wind blows up in the night and we swing through over 30 meters East to South to North and back East. Anchor alarm was set at 0.03 miles but still a restless night.

Thur 24^th

Sail round to Chatham Bay a wide open sheltered bay with three bars remaining open, several have closed. This is a shame, as the best have gone and a new one is reported in Compass to have the best swimming pool and Conch fritters in the Caribbean. I assume that the author dislikes conch fritters and does not swim as the pool has no water and conch is not on the menu. We give it thumbs down after we have two small beers for £4. And try the other two bars.

Fri 25^th

Boat clean and jobs day, measure and catalogue our warps and lines, retie bridle, empty clean and re-stow lockers. We spend a couple of hours planning a rout north with distances between islands and ports for clearance in and out. We notice another gas leek on the main burner – one of the knobs caught fire. After taking the stove apart it is not fixable so we need a new one. After putting it back together we still get a leak from a tap so we cannot use it at all. All gas taps turned of and residual gas is burned off. Its too late to contact anyone and we have no mobile signal. We go ashore to eat and no one gets a signal.

Sat 26^th

On waking we microwave some water for tea – lucky we didn't chuck the thing away. Set off back to Clifton and on the way we get a mobile signal are amazed at our luck; Budget marine in Grenada have a stove, and Paul from Carriacou Haul Out can get it shipped to him by Monday and fit it by Tuesday at the latest. Usual boat boy hassle in Clifton but we are used to it now.

Sun 27^th

Check out at airport on Union, as it is the week end we need to pay overtime rate, an extra £15. Sail to Hillsborough on Carriacou and check in overtime is £20 and we need to pay for a month cruising even though we will be here for only a couple of days.

Mon 28^th

Move to Tyrell bay and contact Paul, he will collect the stove from the “Osprey” later and we will be able to collect it mid pm. Stove arrives with no compression fitting “olive”.

Tues 29^th

We search for the olive but there are none of the correct size on the island and Budget marine do not have them.

Wed 30^th

Lime digital mobiles are not working so we take new stove to Jork, the engineer we met before. He was able to extract and reuse an old olive so we can now cook again! Thank heavens for real mechanics, as my fitting skills did not work.