We arrived today in Cariacou, the Southern most of the Grenadine Islands, which is still part of Grenada. We are anchored in Tyrell Bay with about 80 other yachts and probably 10 different nationalities. The passages between islands is very often boisterous due to the strong currents and contrary winds. Ours was about in the middle - we had a great sail for about half way then we were headed. The passage is called Kick Em Jenny after the active volcano that lies about half way. It gets a little bubbly when you sail over the top. It is presently not very active. It does make the crew nervous!
Sunday 20th was Karen's Birthday. Saturday night we celebrated by going to the Calabash Restaurant which is an up market place run by the British TV Chef Gary Rhodes. Sunday we decided to move to Clarks Court Bay to wait out the weather - 11.59N 61.43.5W. We had a good anchorage with no roll that we were experiencing in Prickly Bay. The winds were forecast to be 20/25 all week so this beautiful bay was agood place to be. There is a small marina here that has a great Happy Hour too.
Wednesday we decided to move into the marina for a couple of days to top up the water tanks and batteries. That afternoon there was a cruisers get together at Misty Cove, just across the Bay, which was a music gam. Anybody could play,sing,whatever. The star was a Norwegian lady who sang great calypso. Most of us just sat back and drank the beer. There were 35 of us so Luc, the French marina owner, was a happy chappy. That evening was hamburger night at our marina - more beer.
Thursday we went into town for provisions. Karen went again on Friday -you have to touch base at all the stores to find all ones needs.
Friday afternoon we dinghied around to Hog Island and Mount Hartmann Bay. This will all soon change as the plan is to build a Four Seasons Hotel in this little piece of paradise. Evidently the Chinese have the contract.
Saturday we moved back to St Georges where the work boat regatta was taking place. These are traditional West Indies craft that are sailed very hard. On the beach was a big party with steel bands. The anchorage was terrible with a big side roll. We were glad to take off on Sunday with a good forecast .
Thursday 17th January
We were going to leave Grenada today and head further North, hoping to get to Mustique for Karen's Birthday on the 20th. I knew that I should not have been bragging to our friend Richard about how everything was working, because, sure enough, the aft head blocked up. This turned out to be a major as all the pipe had been reduced from 2 inch down to about 1/2 inch. It took us a few hours which scrubbed the departure window.
COMPETITION: Here is your opportunity to guess what Peter saild when he came across the blockage in the heads outlet pipe!
Tomorrow we will head back to Prickly Bay from St. Georges, where we are now anchored, and a very nice restaurant. We will see what Monday brings as to when we leave.
It has been a good week. We finally on Friday had to arrange transportation into Prickly Bay so that we could check in. That went well and we used the opportunity to tour St Georges and see how they are recovering from the hurricanes. Friday evening we celebrated our "getting out of Dodge" by going to the very pleasant restaurant in St Davids called the Water's Edge and had lobster. Saturday and Sunday we went for walks and enjoyed a relaxing time, catching up on a little reading and some projects. Monday we went to St Georges. We were just going to Prickly Bay but the sailing was so so good we just kept going. The lagoon at St Georges is a mess as the Brit tycoon Peter de Savary is constructing a new marina resort, which, when finished should be very nice. Tuesday we went out to the Medical School to scope out the place for a friend.
It is a very pleasant situation. So apart from shopping for boat parts and food we just have been having a relaxing time.
January 11th
12 00.6N 61 40.7W
Customs and immigration never did show yesterday, so today we took a taxi to Prickly Bay and did our duty. This is a remote location but very pleasant. There is a boatyard. Grenada Marine, with a small resort that has a very good restaurant. The travel lift is a 70 ton but wide enough for large catamarans, so there are a few Francaise here.
January 10 th
We finally did it and got out of Dodge. We had a good trip arriving in St Davids Grenada at 0730. Customs and immigration were supposed to be here at 0800. But,this is island time, and I am back on the boat waiting his arrival with a radio call. Hopefully some time today.
January 9th 2008.
Today we are finally leaving Trinidad and heading North with the first port of call being Grenada.
We arrived here on November 2nd. It was supposed to have been the 1st, but just as we were approaching Port of Spain airport all the lights went out and we were diverted to Tobago. An interesting diversion which was handled very well by Continental Air.
The first 2 weeks were spent on land making preparations for launch after 18 months on the hard. The boat was in very good shape. The covering and air conditioner paid off in this very wet and hot climate. The fuel tanks were cleaned, a survey out of the water for insurance etcetera. It all went very slowly and our hopes were dashed for being able to sail to Grenada before the end of November when our life raft inspection was delayed beyond that point. There were many other problems which is typical of the boat world. We had a reservation to fly back to Michigan on December 13th so we relaxed, did some touring and Christmas shopping. Karen was able to arrange all her medical appointments in the first week of being back in Ann Arbor. All was positive so we were able to enjoy Christmas with family.
We returned here on January 3rd,actually it was 3 am on the 4th that we went to bed. There were airline delays due to weather. It was 3 F when we left Ann Arbor so th 80's here felt good.
Now we have a weather window to go North. The Trades have diminished-we hope.
