16 December 2011 | Pr. Rupert Bay, Dominica
05 September 2011 | Grenada Marine, St. Davids Harbour
12 May 2011 | Clarkes Court Bay, Grenada
05 May 2011 | Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
25 April 2011 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia
22 April 2011 | Admiralty Bay, Bequia
10 April 2011 | St. Pierre, Martinique
09 April 2011 | Roseau, Dominica
21 March 2011 | Deshaies, Guadeloupe
19 March 2011 | Basseterre, St. Kitts
17 March 2011 | Orajestad, Statia
11 March 2011 | Simpson Bay Lagoon, Sint Maarten
25 February 2011 | Frenchtown Marina, Charlotte Amalie
16 February 2011 | Great Harbour, Jost Van Dyke, BVI
13 February 2011 | Port Purcell, Tortola, BVI
05 February 2011 | Port Purcell, Tortola, BVI
17 January 2011 | Village Cay Marina, Road Town, Tortola
15 January 2011 | Coral Harbor, St. John, USVI
11 January 2011 | Frenchtown Marina, Charlotte Amalie
07 January 2011 | American Yacht Harbor, Red Hook, St. Thomas
Goodbye Grenada - On the Move Again!
16 December 2011 | Pr. Rupert Bay, Dominica
Yer Ol' Skip
Two-Much Fun! is on the move again... after several wonderful months spent in Grenada, keeping away from hurricanes, forging fine friendships, coming down with dengue fever (NO fun whatsoever) and spending wonderful Sunday afternoons and evenings at Whisper Cove Marina playing fine music with several great cruising musicians and locals (HUGE fun. almost too much fun!!!).
We're currently in Prince Rupert Bay, Dominica after stops in Carriacou, Union Island, Bequia, Rodney Bay in St. Lucia, and St. Pierre in Martinique. Next stop - Deshaies, Guadeloupe, then, depending on the status of our new jib's delivery, either St. Maarten or St. Thomas. Watch this space for updates... and, as usual, new pix in the gallery.
Back home and hauled out!
05 September 2011 | Grenada Marine, St. Davids Harbour
Yer ol' skipper
Well, cruising fans, where to begin? We flew home in June, bringing Mimi and Dino along for their very first airplane ride which they tolerated very well, much to our surprise. The adaptability of critters never ceases to amaze me. We had a great visit stateside, saw more live music (a big shout-out to Cathy Ponton King Band, The Nighthawks, The VI-Kings, Mike Auldridge, Hula Monsters, Robin and Linda Williams, Bill Kirchen & Two Much Fun, Cathy Fink & Marcy Marxer, the mighty Bob Perilla and Big Hillbilly Bluegrass) than I had in the last few years and we loved visiting dear friends, family and former colleagues but after a couple of weeks we realized we really missed being on the boat in Grenada and our new friends there...
So, we arrived back at beautiful Clarkes Court Bay to a warm welcome and soon settled into shipboard life again. I met and reconnected with some wonderful and talented cruising musicians, sat in at a fun jam at Whisper Cove Marina across Clarkes Court Bay one Friday night that we all hope to turn into a (semi) regular affair.
Our new genset finally arrived so yesterday we left Clarkes Court Bay and set out for Grenada Marine at St. Davids Harbour... or so we tried. After starting the engines, I put the drives into reverse, found some headway and had LeeAnn cast off the docking lines. Halfway out of our slip I realized we HAD no headway and were headed straight into 2 other docked catamarans with no maneuverability whatsoever! We called out to friends at dockside for help; a fellow cruiser hopped into his dinghy and pushed Two-Much Fun! back into her slip. I dove on the props with mask & snorkel and found that the folding props had, in the 2 months they sat idle during our stateside visit, fused into a solid blob of barnacles which prevented the props from folding out and propelling the boat. An hour and a half of underwater scraping with a 5-in-1 tool (thank you again, John Longbottom!) and wire brush cleared away most of the barnacle crud and we were able to proceed to Grenada Marine without further incident... whew! We spent a nice evening at anchor in the bay and awoke awaiting our haul-out call on VHF radio. The folks at Grenada Marine promptly called us at 9am, we motored over to the haul-out dock and an hour later were hauled out, power-washed and "on the hard", our new home while they repair our saildrive, install new zincs, the new genset and get the bottom paint refreshed... hopefully about a week's work. As usual, new pix in the blog gallery!
Our new home, sweet home, Grenada
12 May 2011 | Clarkes Court Bay, Grenada
Yer ol' skipper...
On our way to Grenada from Carriacou, we sailed just outside the exclusion zone of Grenada's active underwater volcano, Kick 'Em Jenny, luckily dormant for our passage. Seismologists think that Kick 'Em Jenny, now only 350 meters below sea level, will poke above the sea's surface in about 10-15 years at its present rate of growth, if it doesn't erupt violently before then. Its last eruptions were in the mid '80s and early '90s. We sailed past Grenada's lovely shore and dropped anchor off Ross Point in martins Bay, just outside the harbor at St. Georges, Grenada's lovely capital. Spent a couple of days there, re-provisioning and sightseeing, though we plan on returning soon to explore in depth. We sailed past the gorgeous beaches at Grande Anse and around Point Saline and arrived at Clarkes Court Bay Marina, which will be Two-Much Fun!'s new home for hurricane season. We're awaiting the arrival of my friend and former USHMM colleague, Carl Modig, a keen sailor himself. Carl will spend a few days sailing and snorkeling with us as well as a bit of hiking, exploring, birding and touring a rum distillery and chocolate factory or two.
We're also really looking forward to our brief trip home to see family and friends... we miss y'all!
We had a delightful time at the marina's Oasis Lounge, listening to local live music at the Wednesday night burger cookout, and got to meet some of the nice local cruising community as well... looks like we're going to really enjoy our sojourn here while we refit with new sails and a new genset (finally!)...
News as it develops...
Hello new islands, goodbye dear friend
05 May 2011 | Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
Cap'n PeBo
What a complex, interesting and emotionally exhausting week this has been! We reluctantly left Bequia (locals pronounce it Bek-way) and headed for Canouan, a very short sail away. It had been sporadically raining for a few days but it really opened up about half way there. We dropped the anchor and spent a very uncomfortable night rolling and dragging anchor. We left early the next morning in a drizzle, without really exploring this nice island, and made for Union Island, passing by Mayreau, with its lovely white beach anchorages. Clearing the reef, we picked up a mooring in Clifton Harbour and watched about 4 or 5 kite-boarders and windsurfers literally flying down the lagoon in the reef. We loved hiking around the town and outlying beaches in Clifton Harbour, truly enjoyed the local folks there at the fruit stands and, on the last day of lobster season, we bought a nice 2 ½ pound lobster from one of the local watermen, which I cooked with a saffron rice pilaf and green beans... yum!
As we were taking on water at the Anchorage Yacht Club's dock before leaving for Carriacou, I noticed the TV at the dockside bar was announcing the death of Osama Bin Laden. LeeAnn and I felt much relief that he's no longer a menace to the world. Our sense of relief was cut short once we arrived in Carriacou, hooked up wifi and found that my dear friend Symon, a great musician from Naples, Florida, had passed away following a brief and intense fight with Leukemia... he was truly one of the nicest folks I've ever met and I'm just plain heart-broken. Rest in peace, my dear friend...
Carriacou is part of a group of islands that are governed by Grenada, it is quiet, lovely and really only visited by cruising sailors. They have a long tradition of local boat-building here as well, much like Bequia and they have an all local boat regatta over their Emancipation Day holiday week at the end of July through the first part of August. Hillsborough, their main town was quite interesting, built as it is along a long, perfect beach. After a night there, it began to rain and we made for Tyrell Bay around the corner. It rained hard for two solid days, so much so that I bathed on deck, with fresh rainwater! We collected over 50 gallons of it for our water tank, too! Last night, LeeAnn and I had quite an experience with Jack Iron, a rough local rum of about 140 proof - let me tell you, a little bit definitely goes a loooong way! WooHoo!
This afternoon we launched the "Banana Barge", our kayak, and explored the Carriacou Oyster Bed Preserve and mangrove swamp behind Tyrell Bay, tranquil and mysterious, with lots of birds fishing and fish jumping... saw sea turtles in the bay, too! You can get a great overhead view of the mangrove swamp using the google Earth plugin on the blogsite.
We're off to Grenada tomorrow, passing within a mile of the active underwater volcano, Kick 'Em Jenny... hope she stays dormant during our passage!
Once in Grenada, we'll put Two-Much Fun! into her summer slip in a hurricane hole marina and then fly home to the Washington area on June 15th until August 16th, when we'll return and wrap up a few refits to the boat...
SHAMELESS COMMERCIAL PLUG! - LeeAnn wants all her friends and clients to know that she'll be back at The Kindest Cut SpaSalon working to feed the sailing kitty during our visit there, so book those appointments early before she ships out on the early tide on August 16th! Call the salon for details!
As always... new pix in the photo gallery.