Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts
Showing posts with label 2011. Show all posts

Sunday, 9 September 2012

December 2011


Thurs 1st Dec
Sailed to Saltwhistle bay on Mayreau a very busy (packed) bay the famous hotel here has been closed for months so
we walked across the island for 3 beers with Robert “Righteous” at the Righteous and d youths bar I.e all his kids.
Some idiot parked 10 meters away from us. After much debate, not helped by the boat boys who he had paid, he final
moves – from ten meters one side to 15 meters the other. Trudy lost sleep doing the late anchor watch as we swung to
within 5 meters in the night.

Fri 2nd
Decide to have a short sail and a rest, so go 6 miles to Charlestown bay on Canouan. We said we would never come
here again but found it much better than we remembered. Although the boat boys were a nag at least they didn't user
the f word to Trudy. We found a bar that did Carrib beer at 6EC$ instead of the $18 last time! So we might come
back.

Sat 3rd
Arrive in Mustique very quiet with extremely clear water. You are not allowed to anchor here unless all mooring buoys
are taken, and then only with permission from the Harbour Master. It costs £50 for three nights on a mooring or at
anchor, as long as you are less than 70ft! We go to two local bars with beer at 5 and 6 dollars, then to the infamous
Bazils bar (where Bowie, Jagger and Collins are known to frequent) and paid £4 for a small tinny!

Sun 4th
Jobs day check sea water sea cock and filter and do all online bank checks.

Mon 5th
Go ashore to the shops, you could buy a pair of shorts for a little over £100, supermarket well stocked with expensive
wines, French boulangerie etc, buy some bits and head off for a walk around the bay, past a lagoon to a beautiful bay.
You need to book the barbecue shelters; its all very toffee town.

Tues 6th
Sail to Friendship bay on Bequia, a beautifully peaceful bay similar to Lullworth cove with extra buildings in pastel
shades. We dingy to a wrecked pontoon, walk through a hotel compound that is run down and mostly closed up. It has
the style of a Spanish Hacienda only the bandits have been and gone.

Wed 7th
Decide to dinghy to the beach to see the whaling museum to avoid the dodgy pontoon. We surfed in and pulling the
dingy up the beach I fall arse over tit. You will have seen the scene on one of those video snapshot programmes,
beach babe cracks up, not a dignified landing. After visiting the museum which is a couple of miles trek we try to
launch the dinghy. The surf is too big and it fills with water a few times before we decide to pull it along the beach.
Several times it nearly capsizes which would be a disaster for us as it would almost certainly knacker the outboard.
We eventually find part of the beach with less surf and manage to paddle out – lesson learned.

Thurs 8th
Motor round to Admiralty bay and park off Princess Margaret beach. Go ashore for a roti and a couple of beers, and
to meet up with friends on the island.

Fri 9th
We meet up with locals and end up listening to local band in Baje finishing as about 2am.

Sat 10th
We are invited to a boat safari supper, 9 boats are visited with beer, wine or cocktails on each, we end up on Tjeldøy
a 100ft motor vessel owned by Robin “Fixman”, It used to be a ferry to the Norwegian island of Tjeldøy; we have
been on a range of yachts from 32 ft to a 150ft fishing vessel sailed single handed by Eric the Frenchman. Out of 9
boats six are single handed.

Sun 11th
Rest day – what do you expect!!!

Mon 12th
Tom arrives, he is an outdoor pursuits instructor, among other things, he show us various climbing techniques for
getting up the mast. We need to practice this as lack of exercise is making climbing difficult.

Tues 13th
Shopping for hardware, plumbing parts etc. followed by a gathering in the Green Boley. Trudy invites ten people round
for dinner next Saturday.

Wed 14th
Get ropes and Karabiners out to make a couple of prusik loops one for hand and one for foot. These will be used as
secondary safety devices when climbing the mast on a halyard.

Thurs 15th
Pump up Kayaks we intend to get fit. They are stowed each side of the deck.

Fri 16th
Meet up in the New York bar It chucks it down with rain so we stay until it stops. Very rolly night.

Sat 17th
We are having a party on board tonight and as it was so rolly we decide to move to a calmer place in the bay. After a
couple of failed attempts we get an alarm on board that I immediately diagnose as engine overheating. So it is turned
off. Further investigation shows that we have a foot of water in the bilge. And the warning light indicates we have a
failed sail drive seal, something that will need a haul out and a 40 mile trip with a hole in the boat! A sail drive is a leg
that sits under the boat with a propeller at the end. It requires a foot diameter hole in the bottom of the boat so it can be
attached to the engine. We are now dangerously close to another boat and with a lack of manoeuvrability I call on a
friend to stand by in case we need a push. We try to drop anchor 4 times with one engine and eventually find a reasonable spot.
Before the party, we arranged to meet up at the Green Boley, unfortunately it is not open as the owner is drunk! Well it
is Saturday evening.
We end up with four guitars on board, penny whistles, blues harps shakers maracas and drums, after chilli and
pancakes a fine jam session follows.

Sun 18th
Further engine investigation uncovers broken sail drive outer seal and a broken jubilee clip between exhaust hose and
Vetus box”. This is a box that mixes exhaust gasses with sea water that has been used an engine coolant and results
in reasonably quiet exhaust. It now appears that the broken jubilee clip allowed the exhaust to blast gas and water into
the bilge, rapidly filling it up, and as the outer sail drive seal was broken water got between the seals and set off the
warning light. We are lucky, no haul out is required. We hope.
Early afternoon we dinghy ashore and take a walk to “De Reef” a bar in the next bay. On the way John stops for us in a
mini moke and gives us a lift down the hill. We find out later that it is so poorly maintained that we are luck the brakes
didn't fail or a wheel drop off, both have happened before.

Mon 19th
Shopping for parts, takes all day, monkeying around in the bilge puts oil all over the boat.
I manage to drain the water from the sail drive, with a pump and a drinking straw, fit a new jubilee clip on the exhaust
and we are ready to go again. The engine fires up and the alarm is still on. I remove the alarm switch and discover a
load more water, suck this out and the alarm now goes off. We are ready to go.

Tues 20th
We stay on board waiting for Tom to bring his lap top, for an overhaul, and Angie to measure the trampoline to sew a
canvas strip with cringles to cover the trampoline when we need to set two anchors, which may be soon as the
Christmas Winds” are coming. We deflate kayaks as they are a safety hazard on deck in this wind. So much for
getting fit.

Wed 21st
Wind now a steady 20 to 25 knots and there is a “bit of a chop” in the bay so we stay on board again. Catching up with
diary.

Thurs 22nd
Weather no better we are only 200 meters from the shore (and nearest bar) and 600m from the town, but the boat is
swinging around and pulling against the anchor so much that we dare not leave her.

Fri 23rd
We do final xmas shop and end up in the Green Boley. The owner is a notary and a JP. At 8pm he is so pissed that he
goes to bed! We get back on board about 23:00 to discover a French boat “Manuae” has broken away from its
mooring, has hit one cat in front of us and is heading our way. Angie on “Kiba” motors to the left and drops a second
anchor to avoid a collision and Manuae drops an anchor just in time ending 20m in front of us. Just what you need after
a night in the pub! I dinghy out to discover he has no engine and chose a mooring for safety! Restless night..

Sat 24th
Yesterday we booked a meal at the poshest restaurant in town with Stan and Cora playing (an excellent duo); however
last night we apparently agreed, in stead, to have a barbecue at Jurgen's pad with bring your own.....everything food,
drink, guitar. Jurgen has no music system and no gas. And at the same time we agreed to cook the meat for an xmas
dinner for 10.
Chris and sally from Vanity arrive in the bay and we catch up...A brand new Lagoon was washed on the rocks in Chatham bay during recent high winds.
We left Jurgen's at 2:30 and rested at the almond tree as the band was still playing. Back to the boat at 3:30am.

Sun 25th
Slow start, we go to Vanity early on to have a chat then before you know it, it was time to start cooking on Tjeldøy. I
motor of with pressure cooker, frying pan, herbs and 1 1/4 pints of our own water at the stuff on Tjeldøy is brown!
Another great party on Robin's boat.

Mon 26th
Angie wakes us up, “are we going to Irish John's house in Friendship bay?” Yes , we have had a long standing
invitation that we had not yet taken up..We head off to Tjeldøy to do the washing up, and at 3pm we dinghy ashore to
meet Cora and Angie, pick up a “Dollar” bus and set off for Friendship bay.
John is looking after a house and cottage for the guy who runs Roman Abramovich's fleet. It is a very relaxing
environment with no locks and no windows. John looks after about 20 bee hives and supplies the island with Bequia
honey. We buy some and it is delicious. The estate also has about 2000 palm trees, potted and in various states of growth.
On the way there we stop to photograph a dinghy as both Cora and Angie are building a similar dinghy from marine
ply and resin, and the plans are not very clear. We are all (the usual suspects) invited back to John's for a cocktail party on
Thursday. Bring rum.

Tue 27th
Get up and decide it is a jobs day, including an oil change on Stb motor. This is done by warming the engine and
using a suction device to remove the oil. Robin offered to lend me his manual oil extractor but instead I decide to use a
cheap electric pump that I have on board. I need to suspend an old water bottle to collect the oil, clip the motor to
alternator positive and an earth and hold one pipe in the water bottle and hold the other in the hole where the dip stick comes out. All goes well until a dinghy passes creating swell and the pipe in the water bottle comes out spraying my bare feet with hot oil and spraying the engine bilge with the black stuff. I now need to get around to cleaning the bilge, but cannot do this in the bay.

Wed 28th
Our visas run out today and our ships papers tomorrow so we need to go to customs and immigration today. We go
but they need to keep out passports overnight. They do not explain the process.

Thur 29th
11:15 Immigration open but revenue and customs closed, back at 14:15 three queues working - good. Get to the front
of immigration and we get two more forms to fill – to the back of the queue. When back at the front we need 2x $25
stamps, need to go into revenue queue (could have told us earlier!) queue for stamps, back to immigration all OK.
Passports back and off to Customs queue. They try to send us to immigration again but we argue (politely) and they
agree we don't need to. Pay a further £10 each for a month cruising permit and we are clear. The only advice that any
official gave us was that we needed a photocopy of our cruising permit when we renew. We did not need this and still
have both copies.
We go to cocktail party in friendship bay, then its on to the jump up at the Frangipani. We bump into Stewart who we met with his partner in Grenada. We ask where Cassie is and he tells us she died on the beach. she was 54 and had a brain haemorrhage.

Fri 30th
We have a late one on “Vanity”.

Sat 31st
We are informed that “No Fear” Robin's second boat, has broken its mooring and has been washed ashore. We see in the new year and watch the fireworks from the upper deck on Tjeldøy, they last 12 minutes, very good. Four
Norwegians visit and bring some prepared mojito cocktail. After this we did not go to the beach party which finished at 6:30am!

November 2011


Tues 1st 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 2nd 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 3rd
Things are a bit fraught but we eventually calm down and swap insurance details.

Fri 4th
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 5th
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 6th
Decide to stay another night

Mon 7th
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 8th
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 9th
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 10th
Restful day on board.

Fri 11th
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 12th
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 13th
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 14th
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 15th
Say bye to M&D in hotel room – no one likes all that airport OTT hugs and stuff.

Wed 16th
Final shop before we set off North.

Thurs 17th
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 18th
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 19th
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 20th
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 21st
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 22nd
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 23rd
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 24th
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 25th
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 26th
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 27th
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 28th
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 29th
We search for the olive but there are none of the correct size on the island and Budget marine do not have them.

Wed 30th
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.

September and October 2011


Thur 1st Sept
Check first coat of anti-foul and request a further sanding, later this is done to a much better standard.

Fri 2nd
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 3rd
We lose our virginity! This is our first outing with the Grenada Hash House Harriers and it is their 700th 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 4th
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 5th
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 6th
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 7th
Not sure what Johnny has done except check rigging of sail-bag.
Put 5 litres in Dinghy, Johnny is using all our fuel!

Wed 14th
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 15th
Meet Johnny – his other sister is in hospital so will call us when he can remove bimini.

Fri 16th
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 17th
De Big Fish has “Barracuda” playing, a rock musician who does a little opera in his acoustic set. Very talented.

Sun 18th
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 19th
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 20th
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 21st
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 22nd
A day waiting.

Fri 23rd
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 14th
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.

Sat15th
After a two month wait we have our new bimini and are able to rig our reefing lines. We can go!

Sun 16th
Weather is rubbish stay put

Mon17th
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 18th
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 19th
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 20th
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 21st
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 22nd
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 23rd
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 24th
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 25th
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 26th
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 27th
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.

August 2011



Monday 1st
First thing check the navtext and get on line to National Hurricane Centre Florida. “91L” appears to be moving north and will miss us.
I am invited to race on “No Fear” and head off at 8:30 for the next bay. We get a poor start in pouring rain that is impossible to see through, but are first around the windward mark pointing higher than all other yachts. We have no down wind performance and when the race is stopped early we are disappointed with a fourth place. We lunch at the Yacht club and catch a van through beautiful scenery above Hilsborough and down to watch a donkey race held around Hilsborough town, greasy pole and beer drinking competitions. There is loud music that you can feel through your stomach all around town with crowds of people in a carnival atmosphere. Back to the slipway for prize giving where we meet loads of new people living the boat life, have a barbecue, and end up on “Loose Cannon” the winning boat for rum and cokes etc. We cram 24 people aboard to exceed their previous record. She is 24ft long. Have trouble getting home as we did not leave any lights on.

Tuesday 2nd August
Laundry day (with book swap) hear that Jay came out of hospital the previous night and has gone back in again this morning. We meet French Eric (white with dreadlocks) who has been living on his trawler for 25 years. He tells us his friend has been on his boat for 50! Bijorn came aboard to advise on battery situation, we are under powered and need to buy more charging kit.

Wednesday 3rd August
I remember that I have a dental appointment for some implants on the 11th and wonder if I can make it. We go to the yacht club to sign up for the Cariacou Childrens Fund Internet connection. A bunch of companies pay towards the connection and hardware, the yacht club offer connections to anyone and you are left to donate to the fund. Another bright idea from the Caribbean...
Trudy checks on line to see if we can get tickets and although this is possible we have to spend ages phoning the UK to pay, get listed and confirm flights as Grenada to the UK is a two sector flight.

Thursday 4th
We start the engine at 6:30 in preparation for a long sail to St Georges in Grenada. We make good time and are able to play with the sails gibing in light winds until we finally motor in to Ross point and anchor in a mix of rock and dead coral.
We dinghy round to Port Louis marina where we are told they have a carnival special offer with berths at £15 a night for ten nights. This is good news as we can get to England and back in that time. So my trip to the dentist is on.
We have a restless night as the anchor is dragging and we have to move before we start an anchor watch. I fall asleep on watch and Trudy wakes me at 4am. There is no wind so we can get some sleep before motoring in to Port Louis.



Friday 5th
We moor up on pier S8. This is a super-yacht berth and we are surrounded by 30 meter plus yachts, tall masts, and free-boards that block our view. We search for an electrician but as Carnival is due to start tonight and will run though until Wednesday morning we don't stand much chance. However after a chain of phone calls we get hold of Mark from Grenada Marine who says he will get someone to look at the boat whilst we are in the UK.

Saturday 6th,
We go into town to the only cash point in St Georges. This is an eventful journey as the music is blaring out of the van as it speeds two meters behind a scooter three up, man with helmet, large dog held by small girl with shorts and flip flops. Dog and girl have no helmets.
We visit the market which includes several rum shops each being less than two meters square but include a bar a fridge and sometimes a seat. There is a wealth of unrecognisable things. We buy shadow bene, avocados limes etc. the limes are really strong, zesty and fresh, the avocados have red skins, yellow flesh and are ripe and very creamy, the shadow bene plant has a sharp leaf. The taste is hard to describe, a mix of coriander, celery and basil.


After the market we catch a bus towards True Blue Bay as we hope to find someone to help with a range of other boat needs, sail bag, bimini, compass, propeller, trampoline etc. We need to walk a fair way and by chance find Prickly bay Marina with De Big Fish restaurant and Budget Marine chandlery. We have a beer before lunch and watch an Alsation pup dash about. It has huge feet that cannot miss standing on yours. It can neither control them nor its legs and careers around generally bumping into everything. It belongs to no-one but selects a couple leaving in a dinghy and leaps into the water after them. We don't see this but are told afterwards by an American girl who arrives in the restaurant asking for help to rescue a dog that cannot get out of the water. (unless it swam to the shore?) Trudy volunteers and climbs over a fence watched by the other diners. Together with the other rescuer she retrieves the dog from the sea. Of course it has to share the sea with everyone else and continues paddling around until eventually collapsing. After lunch we realise that it is half day closing on Saturday and the chandlers closed 10 minutes ago. Oh well, back to the marina for a beer.

Sunday 7th, Monday 8th
We spend the week end drinking Caribs and dinghying about trying to find “Carnival”. It is not until Monday that we realise that the various parades start at 5AM! And this is after partying from 9pm the previous night. We are out of our depth by a long way. However by chance we hear of a warm up for the evening at 4pm on Monday so we dinghy to the Carenage where we experience what we have been missing. The costumes are various colours with each float having its own theme. Costumes are very small; and the dancing is of an extremely lewd nature, a mixture of pole dancing and fornication with several parties all joining in together. No you can't imagine, you have to see it!



Tuesday 9th
We have to move the boat to a safer berth as we will be leaving her unattended and they are expecting a large swell that may cause us damage where we are. Set off by taxi to the airport for the rip off price of EC$65 in was only 25 in December.

Wednesday 10th
Arrive Gatwick pick up hire car and off to Dorchester hoping to see Shaun at the White Heart, he's on holiday. We sleep then go to the Cockado for dinner.

Thursday 11th
Go to dentist and get a dose of temazepam, the rest of the day was well cool.

Friday 12th
Off to Oxford for the summer sales, (I have run out of shorts) then Dorchester before a trip to the seven stars. It was great to see you all again. Just a pity I was on antibiotics.

Saturday 13th
Trip to Southampton for some cooker parts and back to Nuneham Courtenay for a curry with Margie and Steve.

Sunday 14th
Arrive back on Manureva, Electrician has turned all power off so we have a deep freeze and fridge full of rotting food! We go out for dinner and leave it all until tomorrow.

Monday 15th
Clean out fridge and deep freeze, twice. Contact electrician, he will get back to me later.
4:45 get back to electrician he will send an email. 7:30 read email, he has suggested all the things I requested. The only useful information is that only 2 out of 4 solar panels are working so we are down 150 watts in charging power.
Mahi Mahi for dinner, we eat out again as we have no food on board.

Tuesday 16th
Call electrician again, he will visit us in the afternoon, so we go shopping to the nearest chandlers and supermarket. All we find of any use to us at the chandlers is some polyurethane polish, we can't buy it because we forgot our yacht papers and it is a duty free shop! We get supplies at Foodland and go back to the boat to wait for an electrician.

Wednesday 17th to Friday 19th
We wait for electrician, finally he arrives with 4 out of 8 batteries and over next few hours 8 batteries and a new 100ah alternator are fitted. The solar panels are ok, the solar panel regulator was preventing overcharging the dead batteries.

Saturday 20th
Prepare to move out of marina, thunderstorms all day so postpone the move.

Sunday 21st
Moved boat from St Georges Marina to Prickly Bay anchorage. Beer in yacht club two hour happy hour ooh! We listen to an American talking at a Dutch couple. He says they can ask any American, Canadian, Englishman or European and none would have anything good to say about the Dutch! How strange..

Monday 22nd
We have a list of jobs requiring the boat to be hauled out of the water, antifouling, propeller changing, rudders dropped and greased, sail drives serviced etc. So we try Spice Island Marine for yacht haul-out, no slots available until end September!
Visit Choo light a local Chinese – same as UK but with Conch!
Get a call to say we may get a place in the queue for a haul-out Tuesday. We just need to wait on board.

Tuesday 23rd
The 7:30 am "cruisers net" is receivable on VHF channel 68 in Prickly Bay so we get to know about weather, yoga, painting classes, film club, musician jams, cooking classes, restaurant specials, live gigs, yacht services, shopping trips etc. This service has a standard format and protocol with details of security issues, weather, arrivals and departures, social events, treasures of the bilge, commercial services and general announcements. You call in your yacht name and await for the request to speak. As part of this “net” you can call in with “Treasures of the Bilge” if you have anything to sell, give away, or need to buy. This morning a Dutch guy called in saying he had a grumpy wife and did anybody want her. The American operator ask him to repeat – I guess she didn't believe what she'd heard. He repeated the request and added he wanted to swap her for a blond bimbo....The operator asked for the next request – no sense of humour.
We have been on solar and battery power for two days now and, so far, with new batteries we are self sufficient without starting the engine. Great news.
As we are now in clean water, Trudy can swim again so dives to check the propeller connectors as these need to be changed.

Wednesday 24th
We hear that we can get a haul out on Friday and that we can include anti-fouling during the free 4 days ashore. It looks like a good deal. So we investigate what paint has been used, soft anti-foul, this rubs off slowly and does not require any scrubbing if you sail every now and then! Sound good, if we need to go for hard anti-foul this would cost extra as we will need a further sanding and an extra coat of barrier paint.

Thursday 25th
In the bar we discuss the various merits of soft and hard anti-foul and discover that the soft we have on the boat already is the worst kind. We will need to put the same on again or go to the extra cost of sanding down the hulls to bare epoxy.



Friday 26th
Our haul out is postponed until Monday.

Sat 27th
Re visit the St Georges market and buy some more plastic baskets. Trinkets etc.

Sun 28th
We visit Terry and Julie on “Melvin” a 3700 Lagoon and swap books and ideas on keeping cool and avoiding mosquitoes. Later in the Tiki bar we meet an Aussie who has been sailing for about 25 years and delivered his latest child on the galley table. We are told by a number of experts (there are a lot around) that we should have chosen hard, not soft anti-foul.

Mon 29th
We haul out the boat, this is a delicate steering manoeuvre with a need to fit a 23ft wide boat into a 25 ft gap with concrete pontoons. In addition our fenders are about a ft in diameter. We are perfectly lined up and all goes well until we are told to go back as there is no one to receive the boat. Great! With a side wind we need to reverse her and try again. We succeed without a bump, huge sigh of relief. All I have to do now is sign a declaration to say that the boatyard are not responsible for any accidents, breakages weather etc...anything. Everybody signs, there is no where else to go within 150 miles and they are the cheapest for 200 miles.
A welsh guy Steve (Liverpool supporter, I can tell from the tattoos) invites us out to his boat for a meal its a good relaxed evening where we swap information and ideas and we end with a list of stuff we need to buy.

Tues 30th
We are told that the whole anti-foul needs to be sanded back and discover a load more evidence of osmosis. We agree to extra work and decide to go for the hard stuff. A lucky break as it turns out to be £50 cheaper a gallon – we need six! This fits in with all the opinions we received.
Next we are informed that we need to change the rudders. Is this ever going to stop?
We arrange a visit from a surveyor, minimum call out 2 hours at $150.
Go to the Quiz at the Tiki bar run by the owner, Darrel, a guy from Nottingham. He only came here to service swimming pools and eventually decided to run the bar. (We later find out that he gets deported for bad mouthing a judge and bigamy!)

Wed 31st
Discover blisters in barrier coat for anti-foul it needs to be sanded back and repainted. I replace the ridge and deep freeze compressor mounts.
We meet Bob Goodchild the surveyor, after introductions and a quick view of the rudders he says they are OK for a cruise around the Caribbean but will need to be changed for an ocean passage. They should last another year. Apparently some professional sailors do not even notice when they lose one! The best bit, he doesn't charge us a thing.
We hear that our electrics have arrived from Raymarine and Herve can fit them on Monday, lets hope that we are back in the water by then.

July 2011


Friday 1st July
Checking in and out of each country will become a regular routine as we travel between the islands.
We meet Patrich at customs to check in to Martinique. For all the French islands this is a simple on
line process and is free! On other islands the customs officers make a charge depending on time and day of the week.
It will be a few days before we check out under a British flag.
We start unpacking and at 6 pm Francois picks up in his dinghy and we go for a drink with him and his Venezuelan wife Marina on his Legend 45 Feline Good. He is a wealth of information both locally and in Venezuela.

We have a beer in the Mango Bay, a local yachty bar and go to a local restaurant for a meal.

Saturday 2nd July
We try to get our local phone topped up but the orange shop is shut on Saturday. So we go to the internet café who are very helpful and we finally get connected, and do a few emails. 
We head back to the boat, pump the dingy up and set off across the bay to do some shopping. Very exciting ride  as we have a 15hp Tohatsu 2 stroke engine on a Caribe rib with v shaped hull. (We thought it was a 4 stroke at the time)
Emmanuel, the French Dr who sold us the boat, arrives about 4pm and we spend the rest of the day removing a broken topping lift spinlock from the mast that has completely rusted up. I wish I had remembered my grinder! (and my allen keys). We cooked our usual Saturday curry with local scotch bonnets that are not as hot as those we get in England.
Sunday 3rd July
We get free wifi at the Mango Bay bar so spend 2 hours there accessing all accounts to keep up to date until the laptop battery is flat. Back to the boat to empty water from the dinghy check engine filters and complete the unpacking.

Monday 4th July
Started the day with a dinghy ride across the bay and up a small mango creek to find a sailmaker and a cheap chandler. We found the sail maker but the chandler was too far to walk. 
On the way back the dinghy packed up. This was a bad time to realise that we did not bring the oars! A quick paddle with our shoes took us onto a yacht anchored in the bay where we tried to work out what to do. Got the engine restarted just as some kindly French people offered to follow us back to the marina in case we had another fault. We got out the oars but it was now too late to get back to the chandler; all shops shut between 12 and 1:30 in Martinique.
We took a walk for a juice at the internet café and completed the monthly banking logons.
Priced up a range of parts in the expensive chandler and came back to the boat to complete a few more chores.
We got hold of Pichto,  a well worn old school mechanic who estimated about €250 to clean injectors and fix a gearbox selector. We visit another sail maker and return to remove the head sail for delivery tomorrow as the sail maker closes at 1pm. We asked around about Pichto and it appears he is an excellent mechanic when he is sober. (which he is when his wife is with him)

Tuesday 5th
Headsail stitched and looking good. Will not put this up until main halyard is replaced in order to use two halyards for the lift. Buy blue tooth dongle to access net via phones.
Bought jack-stay material and two headsail sheets (half meter too short!) Spend two hours trying to install the dongle – and fail it requires registration.

Wednesday 6th
Bought new main sail halyard in spectre (two meters too long) and reef line material.
Plumber inspects gas hose (with a lighter!) and says it is ok.
Pichto returns with his wife and fits clean injectors and gear selector. Spend two hours on the net trying to register the dongle – and fail bad internet connection.

Thursday 7th
Got the riggers to fit the new main sheet and radar reflector, Did all deep freeze shopping, checked out the gas pipe shop and place for servicing extinguishers for the fourth time – beginning to think we go without them. Took Reef line and strop material to sail maker Josine. Extinguisher service man calls to say he will visit us at 9am tomorrow.
DigiNav man does not show, phones at 10:45 to say he he will be with us at 3pm, I phone at 4:30 and he will be with us later...
Our friend Stephan from Germany, living in Venezuela arrives fresh from a major drug bust on a yacht and we have dinner in the Mango Bay, the Tourist menu with Ti-punch cocktail, lemon, sugar syrup and white rum.

Friday 8th
Diginav arrive 9am and prepare half the work, some faults need correcting in the workshop so we wait another day. We collect reefing strops and jack stays. Extinguisher service man calls says ours are ok to use but he will not service them, he sells us two new ones.

Saturday 9th
Diginav complete all work, we check out of Martinique at the customs, so we can leave on Sunday. We fill with diesel and water and anchor in the bay overnight. It is the first time out on the boat on our own and it feels great.

Sunday 10th
a very quiet night with an excellent anchor, At 8:30 we up anchor and head out. We try two reefs for a while then shake one out and go with full headsail at 7.5 knots a lovely day sail with a pleasant breeze and plenty of sun. We moor in Rodney bay and check into St Lucia, the nice man in the customs clears us out of St Lucia as well so we don't need to go to customs again, then charges $15EC because it is Sunday and they are on overtime.

Monday
Shop for food and chandlery, Island Water World (IWW)and Johnson's for resin, pilot-book, snap shackle and Tupperware and look for an electrician to test the log. He comes immediately and after half an hour tells us its broken and he doesn't have another. So we are without a log until Grenada. (thank heavens for GPS!) We move to an anchorage in the bay and reorganise the boat cupboards and draws. We read the pilot and it tells of “Life-rafts and Inflatables” (Lr&I) a company dealing in dinghys.

Tuesday
We ring Lr&I to find they have no new dingy stock but a one year old and a few others. We head off in our old dingy and get a lift to their warehouse. There are non that fit between our hulls but they say they can repair ours overnight! (US$325 – a snip) We borrow their rib and get back to our boat that is now 10 meters from the boat behind ("Wind's Way") the owners tell us that local fishermen have lifted our anchor and “reset” it. They had removed the bridle which made us less stable at anchor. We lift and reset the anchor again with 40m chain in 5m water. Should be ok for another fishing attack. A loud crack and the heavier dingy on loan has pulled the snap shackle out from our davit block (with Becket). Have our first swim in the sea - marvellous.

Wednesday
Watch fishermen putting nets around yachts and lifting their anchors. At least they were on board. We pick up our dinghy and drop the security chain in the water. Back to IWW and Johnson's for shackles and a large screwdriver (that I left at home). The weather forecast this morning was grim with rain and thunder so we decide to stay in the bay for another night. Strangely weather is pretty good very sunny, with a light breeze and a couple of light showers.

Thursday
We set off for Soufrier bay, a beautiful bay between the two Pitons, the mountains on the St Lucia flag. It is a protected bay with no anchoring allowed. This would have been ok but the mooring we got allocated was too close to the next one and we spent a night on “mooring watch” as at times we were side by side with a monohull ..fenders out! Etc.
The customs official had a touch of “epiletsy” and gave us a talking to because we had not left St Lucia when we said we would. The last customs officer told us to drop into Soufrier if we didn't leave by the date set, but no point in arguing.

Friday
It takes an eight hour sail to reach Williabou on St Vincent. We arrive and moor with the full main still up! It was a long day...the mooring guys have an argument about how much to pay them to take the mooring lines to a buoy. Trudy gives them EC$10, like the book says. They expect twice as much. Try to find customs to check into the Grenadines but find that they phone about 3pm to ask if anyone has arrived. As we didn't get there until 3:50 there is no customs and we have visions of a further issue when we get to the next port of entry.


We have a beer or two in the Waliabou Hotel and look at all the Pirates of the Caribbean memorabilia. The whole bay has been left as it was when the set was put up, with stuffed pirates, the water wheel, cannons and coffins lined up against several walls.

Saturday
We set off for Bequia with no wind, so we motor. The Starboard engine overheating alarm goes off so off goes the engine for inspection. Not much water in the filter but it is clean, start her up again with load of revs and with water out the side it cools down and we are ok again. After a couple of hours when I raise the revs we get black smoke from the Port engine and a streak of oil behind. Rev up and down we get no more than 2000 rpm until it clears, then ok again. We get the Sails up and engine off and sail on a warm 15 kt breeze at 6 to 7 knts. We see loads of flying fish as usual but also dolphins for the first time this trip. They are in a pod of about 20. We get to Admiralty Bay and anchor in Princess Margaret / Tony Gibson bay in time for lunch. When rounding the point at Devils Table we see a dead dog floating out to sea with a string lead attached, not a pretty site.
We check in at customs and get clearance for a month, this is for St Vincent and the Grenadines.



Sunday
Not much happening so we have a day cleaning the boat and reading the pilot.

Monday
There are three chandlers in Port Elizabeth so we track down each one and buy a new 1/2 inch main sheet 123 feet for about £150. Cockpit looks a bit smarter when it's rigged. It runs freely though an open spinlock and pulls easily though a closed one. The old sheet did neither of these. We find Robin Smith (Fixman 2) an ex Ferrari driver in Le Mans. He agrees to service our engines on Wednesday, he hopes he can see better by then, we just need to get part numbers for service kit. He has recently had a battery explode in his face and has Bakelite scars and an acid burn near his eye.

Tuesday
Deliver engine type, impeller and filter numbers to Robin. Shop for frozen food, stop by at the boat and go to Nolene Taylor's for a Roti lunch, Conch for me Chicken for Trudy. This is our first “local” meal. It is a bit like a Chinese yellow curry with potato corn and peppers wrapped in a 10 inch Chapati. Both chicken and conch are tender. At 5:30 we go for a beer in the New York, the ex pats bar and meet Jurgen, Sue, Deborah, Dee, Robin and Tony who will start the yachting net on Wednesday ch68 at 8:00am broadcasting from the Fig Tree.



Wednesday
In the quest to find free wifi we visit the Fig tree, but it does not open until 11am. Back to the boat to wait for Robin who arrives about 4pm, fits port impeller and takes oil and fine filters to try to obtain a match. We go back to the Fig Tree to catch up with emails and a fruit cocktail (beer for Trudy)

Thursday
Robin spends most of the day completing the service on the engines. We have a “raccord” primary diesel filter that is leaking but there is nothing we can do about that until we get a replacement. We go to the New York bar and meet Duff, Dave, Bob, Robin, Chris and Dee have a few rums and beers and home for supper.

Friday
Took the ferry for a day out in Kingstown St Vincent, an hour each way on an old roly vessel. Busy working port will endless street vendors but no decent chandlers however we did find a nice piece of beef sirloin. We visit Digicel head office and a helpful guy gives us the settings to link phone to internet. For lunch we go back to Nolene 's for a chicken roti.
I finally get an internet link using my old Nokia 6230i with new settings and we hear the shocking new about Mark Williams. a neighbour from England who at 32 has just been killed in a fork lift accident.

Saturday
Whist Trudy is sourcing envelopes and writing paper I check dinghy engine for misfire. A local (girl) water taxi driver takes over, cleans the plugs and after looking in the tank tells me that my fuel has too much two stroke oil in the mix, and that this will make it stutter and stall, which is exactly what has been happening. Bought new fins and masks with nose clearing valves, and go snorkelling, get back to the boat and clean the weed off the outside hulls. Steak for supper, we got 12 from a £10 sirloin!

Sunday
Clean bilges put bilge matting down, relaxing day before the “jump up” at Beige, an acoustic music night. Quite a few attend and there are good local musicians and yachties alike. We see an example of Caribbean dancing that is pretty raunchy.

Monday
Rest day, filled up with water diesel and petrol.

Tuesday
Head for Charles town on Canouan, we walk around the bay buy a few supplies and head to the Pirates Cove for two beers and rum. EC$75 we will not recommend this place!



Wednesday
Canouan to Mayreau, a beautiful small friendly island. We walk to the top and view Tobago Keys from the top. On the way back we stop off a Dennis's bar for a Dennis special – 2 rums, bitters, grenadine, lime pineapple grapefruit and orange juice – very good.



Thursday
Mayreau to Union Island a 2 mile motor as our starboard and house batteries are dead. We check out at customs and immigration have a beer and wifi access at the Green light bar and head back to check the battery water. Use the 2 litres we have to top up 3 cells and go ashore again to buy more to complete the job.



Friday
We wake to dead batteries on starboard again. Left Union and head for Hillsborough on Cariacou. We check in and deal with very friendly customs and immigration and port authority. EC$ 50 to cruise in Grenada and we are given a 3 month visa. The immigration officer tells us all about the Cariacou regatta and that this is the safest place in the Caribbean with only one homicide in the last five years. We do a bit if victualling, watch the hand built fishing vessels practising in the bay and have an early night.



Saturday
Move 4 miles around the coast to Tyrrel bay meet up with the crowd from Bequia to discover that Jay has been taken to hospital with an undiagnosed stomach pain. We have conch creole in the Twilight bar and finish up in a bar run by a scot, Lorna.



Sunday
Recheck batteries and add a further 2 litres of water they are not bubbling up so I must not have refilled with enough in the first place. Need to keep a close watch on them. We move anchor but it takes 3 goes to get a good hold in the right place – tropical storm “91L” may become more organised and get classified as a Tropical Cyclone it is 150 miles to our East. We need to get some reliable weather information.