Jules
16/03/2011, Grenada

Many thanks to all the people who have added comments in the last week. It's really good to know that the blog is being read and appreciated ... I'll keep it up.

We left Canouan last Friday in the end. On Thursday Mike moved the Buzzard round to Whaling Bay, which was much calmer, and put in a mooring buoy for one of the fishing boats. They then came alongside with the aim of working on the rigging. The only problem was the lack of a fitting for the cutting torch; it was supposed to be coming by ferry from Bequia that morning, but it didn't.

In the end it was decided to leave for now and return in a week or so. We signed out at 3 p.m. and had a very pleasant and uneventful trip round Union and back down to Grenada. Before we left we picked up two new crew who are with us for a week or so to help Mike with various projects, like servicing the outboards, the crane, all the doors, getting the launch ready for sale, finishing the generator installation, jobs that Tony can't help with and which seem to be accumulating.

Polaski and Mandela (neither of which names bears any resemblance to what's written in their passports) are settling in well. We met Polaski in Trinidad when he was working for Tanya, and Mandela was on one of the Canouan fishing boats - compared to which he thinks he's on holiday!

The new guys are both St. Vincentians and the last few days have been cooking up chicken backs, rice and peas. It makes a nice change to be eating the local cuisine on board, definitely different to the Indonesian food we've become so accustomed to.

We're now back in Woburn Bay and yesterday we had a preliminary inspection by the Port Authority about our suitability for use as a bar/restaurant. The guy seemed to be quite impressed, the only slight concern was stability because of the structural changes we've made over the years. However, given that most of the changes have increased stability (oh, and we've crossed the Atlantic with no problems) we don't think it's going to be a big issue, but we'll wait to get his written response before moving on to the next step in the process.

We met up with Doug who is down from Bequia delivering a boat and he's going to join us tomorrow. We're hoping to leave here Thursday or Friday, spend the weekend back in Carriacou and then head up to Bequia and Kingstown (St Vincent) for some more water. First we have another broken mast to take out though, at least it will give us a little beer money.

Doug was telling us of the problems in St. Vincent at the moment. Apparently the government, which was re-elected in December by only the narrowest of margins (8-7), decided to remove the opposition, physically. This caused rioting on the streets of Kingstown followed by the suspension of Parliament. Not quite sure what's happening now as local news, surprisingly, doesn't travel even though we're less than 50 miles away. It's all a little worrying though.

Since we've been back in Grenada we've been working away at all the projects, AND managed a Hog Island Sunday. We've also been putting out some feelers for crew. We've talked to quite a few yachties we've met in the Bay who have, over the years, relied on paying crew that they've got through websites such as 7knots.com, floatplan.com and crewseekers.com. And Jeff's friends from Canada said they thought the whole experience was something they and others would be happy to pay for. So far we've managed to put up two advertisements so we'll wait and see what happens. (If anyone reading this is interested in a change of scene and a spell on board .... Come on down!)

Love to all ... and thanks again for your much appreciated comments.

PS Mike's finger is firming up. We ended up having to remove the whole nail when it started to smell. Now he just has crusty burger on the end that bleeds every time he knocks it ... which is quite a lot.

Comments [4]

Jules
10/03/2011, Canouan, SVG

Here we are in Canouan (SVG), after just spending the last four days in Carriacou.

It was Carnival although we didn't really partake. We could hear the pounding music and walked along the beach on Sunday afternoon, past the wet fette, but settled for the Hallelujah Bar instead. We only went out into town on the Tuesday morning to witness the Shakespeare Mass. That was really something. The local guys dress up and have big sticks; they recite from a Shakespeare play (this year it was Julius Caesar) and when one of them forgets their lines they get beaten over the head! (Photos hopefully will follow as it really was a sight worth seeing.)

Before leaving for Carriacou we had quite a busy week. We had the meeting with the Port Authority which went well and we have to organise a preliminary inspection as soon as we're back in Grenada, whenever that will be.

After the meeting we visited our friends who are round in St. Davids and spent a pleasant afternoon at the local beach bar. We then came back to Sep's bar and I'm not quite sure what happened after that. Suddenly the whole place was full and it was just one of those impromptu party nights. Mike ended up doing a couple of much appreciated massages on guys who had bad necks, one of whom said we had a free tab for month. And we met a whole heap of really good people, although whether we ever see them again remains to be seen, but hopefully.

Unfortunately on Friday, just before we left for Carriacou, Mike smashed up his finger really badly. He was checking the bolts on the shaft (which were all fine), and caught his finger between the wrench and the shaft. His whole nail, including the root, was hanging on by a thread at one side and underneath was burger. As you can imagine, there was a fair amount of dancing around going on even though his pain threshold is pretty high.

We had hoped the nail would re-attach but two days later when it was starting to smell we thought it best to cut as much off as we could. Luckily it's looking, and feeling, much better now although it'll be quite some time before it's back to normal.

Yesterday morning we left Carricou and, after a brief detour to Union, arrived in Canouan around 3 o'clock. We're here to see about doing some work for a local fisherman who wants some rigging taking off one of his boats and a mooring putting down.

The sun's shining and the weather's fine but my goodness we're rolling. Last night was so bad I gave up at 1.30 and moved down to the bedsit. It wasn't that much better there but at least I couldn't hear the chains clanking quite as much ... just the sound of water sloshing under the counter-stern. Can't see us doing much craning if this keeps up.

Tomorrow we're heading off once again, only not quite sure where too as yet. There is some talk of going back to Grenada and some of going up to St. Martin. I guess we'll find out once we're underway.

Love to everyone ... and all comments are greatly appreciated, we don't seem to be getting that many at the moment and it really does make me wonder if anybody reads this stuff!

Comments [11]

Jules
28/02/2011, Grenada

Well not quite two weeks since the last blog, but close.

We've had lots going on. The Saturday before last we pulled anchor and went to Carriacou. It wasn't the best crossing, although not as windy as it's been since then. Probably wasn't helped by the fact that we had a Friday night at Hog Island saying goodbye to Jeff and June (June's now back in snowy Toronto), and ended up leaving at 1.30 instead of midday which meant we didn't get into Tyrell Bay until after dark. Still, we were back amongst the tugs so everything was fine.

Unfortunately there was a northerly swell coming in so we were rolling pretty badly most of our time there. We met up with friends there that we hadn't seen for a while, and some others we'd just left in Grenada.

On the Sunday we went with Pete, Pat and Mary around to Saline Island. It's only about a mile round the point and Mike took Toby in the sailing dinghy. The day was one of the most idyllic we've had in the Caribbean so far; swimming, snorkeling, walking on a deserted, pristine white beach. We collected lots of beautiful conch shells, all of which had already been divested of their inhabitants; you can tell by the slit at the end. Mike's got an idea about epoxying up the hole and then drilling a series of smaller ones to make musical instruments .... in his spare time.

The only downside to the idyll was Mike sailing without a T-shirt on and managing to get burnt, to such an extent that the next day he couldn't go outside and had to stay in the shade even indoors. We're normally quite good at avoiding the sun and it's the first time either of us has peeled in over two years. We might look a bit stripey on occasions but never usually like we're shedding snakeskins.

The Buzzard was supposed to be going over to Union Island in St. Vincent on Tuesday, but that got changed to Wednesday. We thought we might have a few issues booking out of Grenada as when we'd signed in we had eight people on the crew list (including Julie and Twent), and only Mike and Tony would be leaving. As it turned out they were wonderful and it all went without a hitch.

Mike left Wednesday afternoon and I moved on board Tiempo as it was Pat's 82nd birthday and we'd agreed that I'd stay with them and sail back to Grenada the next day. We had a great, if slightly damp, birthday party and set sail back to Hog Island at 9.30 Thursday morning.

It was a little lumpy to begin with but I really enjoyed it, especially watching the flying fish at sea-level. The way they flipped their tails on the crests of the waves and soared across the ocean is quite amazing. We were anchored back in the calm of Hog island by 3 p.m.

Meanwhile, back on the Buzzard ... Mike was not having fun. There were quite a few squalls when he anchored and he ended up going just inside the harbour, not a small feat given the size of us and size of Clifton. The next day he had to go out off Palm Island alongside a 250ft freighter, once again not the easiest maneuver in rolling swells and strong winds. And then back into Clifton to wait for another boat.

Once inside the harbour all should have been well but a 60ft steel fuel boat came onto a buoy in front of them, and even though the customs told them move, they didn't. Mike spent a sleepless night as they constantly banged back into our bow, despite Mike putting out as much chain as he could. Just as well I wasn't on board or the whole boat would have been full of kittens!

The next morning the other boat dragged their mooring and ended up alongside the Buzzard and heading for the reef. Mike tied them on to us while they tried to sort out another anchor. Four hours later, after much tension and debate, they were finally in a position to let go.

Mike should have been heading back to Grenada but after all the excitement and delays only made it as far as Carriacou. He took Tony into shore to get some food and have a couple of well deserved beers ... and then the painter got caught round the prop of the outboard. They ended up having to drag it over to the beach and taking the outboard off to try and free it. Only it didn't work and they got caught in a swell and the outboard ended up in the water. Eventually they got towed back to the Buzzard. Oh but Mike's phone ended up wet and in the bottom of the dinghy.

I couldn't work out why Mike hadn't been in touch and called him at midday the next day. He was already in St. George's, having left at 7 a.m., and he couldn't phone me because our new Grenadian number was in his phone and not his head. At least his sim card withstood the dunking.

So, he was back in Grenada and managed to put the dinghy in, only the outboard, which he'd got working on the boat, decided it didn't want to go anywhere. The swell was so bad he didn't want to risk putting the Zodiac in so he just upped anchor and came round to the relative calm of Clarkes Court Bay.

Needless to say he was pretty shattered by the time he got back. We called in the bar for a couple of beers but by 8.30 he was literally falling asleep, even the driving rain didn't do much to wake him up.

Yesterday was another day: the rain cleared up, the sun shone. We went round to La Phare Blue to check in and watch some of the sailing regatta. Then on to Hog Island for the usual Sunday Barefoot Bar session. Jeff and his friends came back for supper and I think we closed it down around 1 a.m.

Tomorrow we have a meeting with the Port Authority (re-scheduled from last week when we were away). And Wednesday or Thursday we may be going back to Carriacou. It's carnival weekend in Carriacou, and of course in Trinidad also. It would have been good to be there but I guess it's not going to happen this year ... maybe next.

Love to all ...

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