September and October 2011

Thur 1^st Sept

Check first coat of anti-foul and request a further sanding, later this is done to a much better standard.

Fri 2^nd

Props are fitted, but the double locking nut does not arrive. We go back into the water anyway. At the last minute there are air locks in both engines and we get no cooling wa.ter. To the experts on hand this is a two minute job to purge the system. Next we have fitted a water filter so the first job is to run the drinking water for 3 minutes. Unfortunately the pump bearings have seized with not being used for a week so we get a new water pump fitted. This is completed in another half hour and we finally move away from the dock and into the bay again. It is a huge relief.

Sat 3^rd

We lose our virginity! This is our first outing with the Grenada Hash House Harriers and it is their 700^th Hash. For those that haven't heard about this it is an excuse for a party in the pub. Someone lays out a marked trail with direction splits and dead ends. Those doing this for the first time are deemed virgins and duly get soaked with beer at the end. The idea of a hash is that the fastest in the group make the wrong turnings and have to come back before the slowest catch up. The perfect Hash design will result in all abilities arriving at the pub at the same time. Or in this case a beach party with band, bar, all types of local fast food, and eventually a lift back to the boat. The run was a muddy event as we had torrential rain in the morning and a trail that should have taken an hour and a half through rivers and up mountains took 3 hours.

Sun 4^th

Go for Oil down, a beach barbecue at Lance Aux Pines cottages on Prickly Bay.

This is a pot roast cooked on an open fire with calalou, chicken, ocra, carrots, breadfruit, dumplings,pigs tails, saltfish green banana in a coconut source with turmeric. Delicious!

Mon 5^th

We get the chart plotter fitted, the new compass and replacement ST60 tridata display. Johnny “Sails” will arrive tomorrow to do the final measuring for the sail bag and bimini.

Tues 6^th

Move to True Blue Bay to get Racors fitted. Get a call from Jonny, he can't make it.

Move back to Prickly Bay

Wed 7^th

Not sure what Johnny has done except check rigging of sail-bag.

Put 5 litres in Dinghy, Johnny is using all our fuel!

Wed 14^th

Key in lock breaks so we spend all day tracking down a new key. There are no blanks on the island but we find Nigel Nedd who makes keys!

Thurs 15^th

Meet Johnny – his other sister is in hospital so will call us when he can remove bimini.

Fri 16^th

Riggers fit new goose-neck parts

Buy new reefing lines – await sail bag before fitting. Really rough night with winds gusting to 35 kts. Thunderstorms etc..Meet Nigel Nedd he has 4 keys at EC$100 - bargain.

Sat 17^th

De Big Fish has “Barracuda” playing, a rock musician who does a little opera in his acoustic set. Very talented.

Sun 18^th

Acoustic jam session at Whisper Cove marina in Clarkes Court Bay we are made very welcome by Marie and Giles. Giles is a French Canadian butcher. We get free beer and sausages for entertaining the clientèle. We are jamming with the world famous Peter Bonta that played keyboard for Mary Chapin Carpenter!

Mon 19^th

Head out to find guitar strings as I broke one!

Riggers replace remaining sheaves and we wait for Johnny sails who is not answering his phone.

Tues 20^th

Get in touch with Johnny, he lost our phone number again but will call round at 3pm.

Recalibrate wind instrument it was set at a factor of 0.7 so I changed it to 1.0. There is another jam session at De big Fish. Usual thing loads of people and difficult to get going, but I managed long train running Doobie Bros, Black Magic Woman, and a Money for Nothing chord progression. Plus a very enjoyable 12 bar blues session where I got to play lead to much encouragement and applause! (swollen head).

Wed 21^st

Jonny arrives on the dock at 9:00! by half past we have the bimini off to promises that the new one will be measured up on board tomorrow and be completed by Friday. The lazy bag to be worked on over the weekend (total shock (and disbelief)) and completed by Tuesday.

Thur 22^nd

A day waiting.

Fri 23^rd

8:30 Call Jonny no reply. Battery controller is flashing red and indicating we are discharging at 450 amps! I need an electrician. Called Mike from Enza Marine – not available until Monday. Put 5 litres in Dinghy. 11:30 Call Jonny Bimini not ready, “Do we still want a temporary cover?” No, we enjoy getting baked and soaked alternately!

We collect a large tarpaulin from the dock.

Not much happens for the next month apart from waiting in for Jonny sailmaker, its rather like waiting in for the gas man but with more blatant lies about when the work is getting done. He never comes.

OK, we go to the same five bars and have the same nights off every week. We have a couple of very hot days followed by a couple of days thunderstorms. I get to grips with saving rain water with hoses running from the coach-roof into a couple of jerry cans. A months work!

Oct

Fri 14^th

We get our new wooden bin and have the first fitting of our Bimini. We go out to Whisper Cove Marina for a sirloin steak to celebrate and meet Lorna an ex Prudential sales woman who knows all the best eating places on the island – we take notes. We end up at the Tiki bar in the small hours.

Sat15^th

After a two month wait we have our new bimini and are able to rig our reefing lines. We can go!

Sun 16^th

Weather is rubbish stay put

Mon17^th

We head out weather is good. To start with. We run into two hours of storms with vis down to 50 meters, its very scary and we are sailing over Kickem Jenny, an underwater volcano at the same time. We try to fit our new life jackets, the leg ties are uncomfortable because we fit them incorrectly. Eventually the vis lifts and we arrive in Tyrrel Bay on Carriacou island in time for a sundowner. We go ashore to look for some friends and find them in the bus shelter with some beers that they got from the supermarket. Just like being back at school. Later we go to “Swampy Jo's” - Joanne is a very classy lady living in a swamp. A loud game of dominoes, telly and stereo booming, two tables, three stools and a swamp to wade through to get to it. A perfect bar so we stay for three beers and three rums each. Bill comes out at £50 for five of us. On the way home we meet a girl we met two months ago so we have to stop for another beer. Then back to the boat.

Tues 18^th

Clean mud off the boat from Swampy Jo's. Try to fix log impeller, go out for a burger and bloody mary breakfast (1pm) and feel much better. Try to fit life-jackets correctly.

Wed 19^th

We spend a day taking buses around Carriacou with Chris and Sally from “Vanity” a steel ketch with 32v and 12v electrics. The island is beautiful, the people are friendly and it is no wonder that many yachties have stopped here and bought houses. (only one for sale on the island today). We met a guy building a racing yacht by eye, Beautiful lines and hopefully will do well in the 2012 regata. (he was building it for 2011). Just a really relaxing place to be.

Thurs 20^th

Took a bus to Paradise beach and found an old repainted container with some classy artwork, t-shirts, jewellery, painted calabashes, etc. so bought stuff.

Friday 21^st

Motored round to Sandy beach picked up a mooring buoy that was no good, tried another that was OK and snorkelled ashore in clear weather and a calm sea. The waves got big, the rain came down and we had to wave arms SOS style to get a lift back to the boat. We were rescued by the French for the second time! A nice gent on yacht “Megabass” picked us from a rolling shore and took us back to out boat. The weather suddenly lifted and all was smiles again. He had a look around Manureva as he was considering a Belize in place of his monohull.

We had dinner with Chris and Sally from “Vanity”at Bogles Roundhouse, a very quirky building built from local boulders, whalebones, wagon wheels a hollowed out concrete filled tree with a ferocrete rounded roof. The dinner was delicious chilli and lime prawns, barracuda with shadow bene sauce and finished off with some El Dorado 15 year old rummmm.

Sat 22^nd

Motor to Petite Martinique in no wind and flat sea, A very small quiet island where Matthews supermarket sells cheap booze, a litre of Gordon's and Mount Gay rum at EC$29 about £7-50 a bottle and SA and Chilean wine at £4. We get take away rotis at £3 and have a relaxed afternoon.

Surrounded by reefs, sea bottom is an awful mix of sand and dead coral so don't expect to hold if wind gets up.

Anchor holds as no great winds.

Sun 23^rd

We sit outside the “Lime” mobile shop and pick up the weather it looks like we will get some wind and rain tonight. Go for a walk around the island and end up in a bar halfway up the hill and have a few beers, then back to the boat for a rest.

Anchor drags and we need to grab a buoy in the middle of the night.

Mon 24^th

Set off back to Tyrrel bay Carriacou after a hour it chucks it down and we are again in 100m vis. We stay well out to avoid rocks we cannot see and eventually anchor in the bay soaked through again. This is becoming a habit.

Tues 25^th

Go ashore to get an internet connection, everywhere is closed as it is a public holiday. The anniversary of when the Americans landed and liberated Grenada from the Cubans.

Some idiot has anchored close by and is sitting over our anchor; “Beauty and the Beast” an American cat from Portsmouth NH.

Wed 26^th

Went for a walk in Tyrrel bay, met Anna a girl from Carriacou that runs a shop from a shack on rout to the yacht club. She just got back from England brrr. She gives us some sweet potato to eat raw. Good stuff, we buy some and a few green bananas.

Thurs 27^th

Set off for Prickly bay at 07:00 and have a cracking sail until two miles out when we hit the current. We need to plan to miss this as it is 4 knots against us.