So we've been back in Grenada for over a month ... and already wondering now whether or not we actually left.

Things have been pretty hectic and we don't seem to have time to catch our breath since we got back. Luckily the hurricane that was scheduled for the first weekend we got back veered to the north which meant we didn't have to vacate the mooring buoy. There seems to be at least tropical depression springing up each week but so far they've all got north by quite a way.

That being said, we have been getting the tail end of some of them and it's making for quite unsettled weather patterns. Mike was up in Carriacou last week, he arrived in a massive squall and couldn't get anchored, and then the next day was another one which saw the fuel barge let go and head out to sea, a ferry break its chain and end up pirouetting along the beach, and another tug with barge attached dragging slowly out of the bay.

The Buzzard went five miles out to bring back the fuel barge and then had to reattach it to it's broken mooring chain. The next morning he brought the other barge from the dead in the water tug, closer into shore and put it on it's mooring... probably just as well we were there, we may even have made a bit of money on it.

While Mike was up in Carriacou I was staying with friends and getting my mouth surgery done. It all went relatively well, the most pain being the injections which I honestly thought were going to come out through my nose. The dentist was really good and gentle, although I wasn't feeling too happy when she asked her assistant for the retractors, I already had my eyes shut but in hindsight it might have been better to have earplugs in as well. Unfortunately the stitches didn't dissolve like they were supposed to and I had to go back a couple of days ago to get them taken out, and I won't actually know if it's solved the problem for three months or so, but hopefully that's it on the mouth front for a while.

Mike took some of the Hog Island boys out fishing and they managed to catch a fair number of tuna, mahi-mahi and crevalle, and apparently a 120lb nurse shark was almost brought on board too but they didn't have a big enough gaff to get it over the side. The four legged critters sure had a good feed, as did most of Hog Island when they got back.

We went with some friends to witness the Grenada Carnival Mas which was really something else, and of which I've got some great photos that will hopefully be uploaded at some point in the not too distant future. We didn't go to the all night drinking/paint throwing part of the Carnival 'cos we're getting a bit old for that kind of thing, but saw the big parade on the Tuesday afternoon from the comfort of the German bar on the Carenage.

The way the locals, men and women, shake their boodies and hump the traffic is quite spectacular. Every troupe of masqueraders (that's why it's called mas) has a "Queen" at the front, with a huge outfit, that has some relevance to the theme of the troupe, eg: Olympics. For us non-locals it can be quite difficult to comprehend, but luckily we were near a judging place and had a great view and the commentary from the HUGE sound systems that explains it all as they do their routines for the judges..........A GREAT DAY OUT!!!

During one of the squalls our laptop up in the wheelhouse managed to get a little damp so we've been struggling without one (one of the reasons there hasn't been a blog for a while, that and too much going on.) There's obviously corrosion in the keyboard as we can only get about a third of the characters so we went and got a USB keyboard to plug in which seems to be working, but I think it's time we splashed (no pun intended, honest) out on a good water-proof one.

As usual we've been working away. We moved the pontoon on to the back deck and have prepped and now finally painted the rest of the top deck. Mike and James spent several days taking the crane apart and fixing the slew which had been playing up for quite some time. They also fitted the turbo and the new oil lines for the main engine that we got made up while we were in Canada. Unfortunately though another smaller oil line went when they were towing the barge back into Hillsborough. And as they were coming back to Woburn the water line on the main engine went; they stopped and epoxied it up but we've had to spend the last three days getting fittings and parts machined to replace it.

Spanny the welder is here today to patch some of the holes James uncovered when he was banging the top deck and the wingbridges. And to weld up the boiler room door that we never use, and several other odd welding jobs that seem to be forever cropping up, the sliding plate in the chain locker that had rusted out so the chain was getting looped round and wouldn't go in properly.

James is still here and happy. We even had to get yet another extension for him when they went to Carriacou. He was hoping to get over to Union but by the time the squalls and tow-jobs had abated it was time to get moving again. Unfortunately though, his passport runs out in just over six months so he really, really does have to go back fairly soon.

Our friend Al has just arrived back from Trinidad, bringing lots of nice bright shiny things, like parts and fittings and fire-engine red two-part top coat paint so that we can paint the gunwales, yet again, and then give the funnel, which is looking a bit sorry and faded, a bit of a spruce up. Of course this is all in the in-between times when we're not doing the serious mechanical/maintenance stuff.

Why is it that no matter how hard we work our list of things that need doing just never seems to get any shorter !! BUT the "old girl", who's just turned 61, is definitely getting better, bit by, time, effort, money, bit............SO THERE !!!!!! (Just wish I could say the same for the two of us - Mike's back is playing up and I've developed painter's shoulder.)

On Sunday I'm going to stay at our friend Lucy's house for a week to dog/house sit while she's out on charter. I'm hoping, if I can get a computer, I'll be able to get some work done on the new blog site ... how long have been saying that for?? Obviously I'm back on Caribbean time.

Love to all ...

PS Just so you know, all capital letters and exclamation marks belong to Mike !! (Apart from those two.)