Hi everybody! I know it has been a long time since I posted a blog but that is because not much changes when we are in Grenada for hurricane season. We hang out with friends twice a week and play games, Friday is grocery shopping and then sometimes we find other interesting things to do like attend information meetings about sailing to places we haven’t tried yet. On hot days Chris and I head for the beach to cool off, sometimes with friends, sometimes alone. Once in a while it’s nice to have the beach all to ourselves.

There is an awful new virus that mosquitoes are carrying, I can’t spell the name right but down here everyone calls it “Chickenguna”. The symptoms are aching joints, and I mean aching, swollen feet, tiredness and fever. Not everyone has all symptoms and the severity is different amongst those with it and the really bad news is that it last for weeks and can go away and keep coming back for up to a couple of years. I unfortunately have gotten it, thank heaves Chris has been spared, for now. Most of our friends have it and it is actually an epidemic here in Grenada with 85% of the locals sick as well. The thing that really gets to you is that you wake up and don’t feel too bad and you think you are on the mend then BAM, it’s back the next day. I’m getting really tired of hurting!!! The guys down here say Chris hasn’t gotten it because the mosquitoes don’t like the taste of him with all the moonshine he drinks!

We finally got our wind generator, after months and only after friends of friends picked it up for us in St. Martin and brought it south for us. We had to order a control panel for it. Because of the problems we had in St. Martin with the generator not arriving and me trying to get my money back, the company we purchased the generator from blocked me from making any additional purchases. Thank goodness once again for friends. I had my buddy Helen order the controller from E-bay and I paid her via Paypal. It is up and running!! The great thing about this new controller is that you also hook up the solar panels to it. The difference in amp input is amazing. Most days now our batteries are fully charged all day and we wouldn’t need to run the Kabota except to make refrigeration.

We also had to order a new carburetor main jet for the 30 hp outboard, new batten cars for our main sail, and materials to fix our bow pulpit that we broke on the way south. Everything has been ordered a month ago and nothing is here yet. As of today I am being told it will all come this week. Not holding my breath!!! Strange thing is, it is all coming from different suppliers, go figure.

I am posting some pics from my birthday party in September . The pics are what I took, silly husband never thought to pick up the camera and get some of me!!! Stand by, some may show up next month.

Hope you are all well,
Jackie & Chris
Sailors at Large