Hugh
14/03/09, Carriacou Island

Well an update on what has been happening. Just after I left, Pizzazz was taken out the water for dimensions to be taken of the shaft and existing prop setup below, to be able to order the new prop, and then Pizzazz was put back in the water within the same day. In that time Glyn cleaned the bottom as best she could. We have also had our friend Dave onboard, doing repairs to the forward port chain plate, which moved due to the company in Cape Town over tightening the stay.....luckily we did not lose the rig. We are also having repairs done to our Dingy and a extra piece added to the one saloon bunk, to make a comfortable space to sleep. So a bit has been happening.
Then on Thursday, Glyn's sister Di arrived in Grenada to spend 2 months with us, so are hoping to go sailing around the Grenadines when I return next week Saturday. Glyn & Di are presently touring around Grenada and will be flying back to Pizzazz on Sunday. We were hoping to get our new prop for the trip up, but due to it all being a bit of a mess, we will only be getting it much later.

Route plan

Comments [3]

Hugh
22/02/09, St George's, Grenada

Early morning start for Carriacou. We had heard that the 30 miles could be difficult depending on wind and current on the day, so just as we had lifted anchor, we noticed a Passenger Liner....lining up for the dock, and we had to cross its path, so we had to hang about and wait for it to come in, so it wasted about an hour of our early start. We had to motor/sail along the coast, as not much wind, until we reached the north end, we tried to keep as east as we could, but the wind direction was as per normal......coming from exactly where we were headed. So we had to still motor/sail as the east to west current was pushing us westward, at one stage we were heading 20-30 degrees east of the island and the GPS said we were headed straight for the island, so we were going sideways to where we wanted to go. So from a 8:00am start, we anchored in Tyrrel Bay at 5:30pm....

Route plan

Comments [0]

Hugh
26/01/09, Clarkes Court Bay Marina, Grenada

So time to go and see what paradise is all about again.......yes it is time for me to return home again. I leave camp on Thursday 29th January at 6:00am by bus to Cabinda, then fly to Luanda and onto Joburg at 6:30pm. My flight to London leaves at 9:30pm and arrive in London at about 6:30am Friday morning, then about 10:00 I fly BA to Grenada, arriving there at 5:20pm local time, there is 6 hours difference between SA & Grenada.

Our plan from here is we have a car for 3 days and want to see as much of Grenada as possible in the 3 days. On Tuesday/Wednesday we are planning on leaving the mooring and then take a slow cruise up to Carriacou, stopping off for one or two nights on anchor along the way. Once in Carriacou, we hope to visit our friends up there for a few days before moving on to the Grenadines. Unfortunately I only have 3 weeks this time so will then slowly return on the same course and eventually back on the mooring by about the 14/15th Feb.

I return to Angola on the 17th Feb and back in the office on the 20th Feb.

Glyn will be staying on the boat again and her sister, Diane, will be joining her just over 2 weeks later, and will be staying with us for about 2 months, so we are looking forward to her visit, and she is all booked and eager to get going, so Glyn will have company for a lot of the time I am away.

The photo was taken from the beach on Carriacou Island on our last visit in 2005.

So then, until an update from paradise.......

Route plan

Comments [2]

Hugh
02/12/08, Jacare, Brazil

Well the time has come for us to go and chase some more rainbows, today is my last day of work for another 35 days. I fly to Joburg tomorrow and because we will be missing Christmas in South Africa, we will be having our Christmas on Thursday evening. We fly out to Brazil on Friday morning, arriving on the boat after midnight on Friday night.
We have quite a bit to organise before we can take off, the main thing being checking out with Immigration & Customs, which because we arrive Friday night, we can only check out on Monday. So we hope to be gone by Tuesday but hopefully latest Wednesday.
So depending on the weather and all things going well, we hope do make this trip in between 2-3 weeks. Our destination will depend on the time we take, as if we do it in good time, we want to stop off in Tobago, but if we takes the 3 weeks, then we will be going straight up to Carriacou, where our dear friends, Dave & Barbara, from Kasheter, are expecting us. Then we will have to leave them after New Year to take up our mooring in Grenada, before I return on the 6th January.
So as we prepare for our dream leg, we would like to wish everybody a Merry Christmas, as our next blog should hopefully be from the Caribbean..........

Route plan

Comments [1]

Hugh
16/04/08, Simonstown - Cape Town

Well the time has come for us to start thinking of leaving, I am on my last day of work 16th April, for the next 12 weeks and looking forward to getting out of here and onto Pizzazz in Cape Town. We should be back on Pizzazz on Saturday, to do our last bit of preparation for our departure for Brazil. We have hired a car for a few days to speed up the process. We hope to complete everything that is required and then leave before next weekend, 26th April.
Our planned route from here is still to sail up the coast towards Luderitz, Namibia, stay there for a few days to rest and do last diesel, water and provisions for the crossing to St Helena.
We will hopefully do a last entry before we leave Simonstown, next week some time, so until then......

Route plan

Comments [1]