This title has a double meaning. Yesterday was our 7th wedding anniversary, and today is the 6th anniversary of us leaving our dock at Queen City Yacht Club . It also refers to the long time without a new blog telling what we were up to. We have kept reasonably busy in the last 2 months since we got back to the boat from our Toronto visit. This blog will try to bring you a little up to speed.
We spent the time up to last week on the dock at Port Louis Marina. We had a used mainsail that we bought in Canada altered for us, ordered and received new anchor chain, did the final touches on our home made lazy jacks (we think), did maintenance on the diesel and outboard (the outboard fresh water impeller was down to one vane - no wonder there wasn't much water flowing!), did a refit on the anchor locker to better facilitate having two anchor rodes and not requiring Ken to "knock it down" every time we hail anchor, and some other odds and ends. Many of these jobs were much easier done while on the dock, such as anything to do with the anchor and the diesel and outboard.

Of course, there was Carnival in between. We were on the dock in the middle of party central, which was useful. Ken had a migraine, but I wandered out for J'Ouvert on the Monday morning at a civilised 5:30 or so, just in time to meet up with the "band" I wanted to "play" with. Normally I am more free range for J'Ouvert, but this time I wanted to join the Chocolate band. Instead of paint, or god forbid, used motor oil, this group was using real Grenadian chocolate. It was great, except the nibs worked their ways into awkward spots. I was lucky that Ken felt good enough to help me scrub the remnants off in the shower, after I used the hose the marina provided to get the worst of it off. The little chocolate bits were flushed down the drain.
For the afternoon, we just chilled, and had friends by for a visit. Mike and Jackie ended up staying for dinner, which was just as easy since I cheated and got pizza from the marina restaurant. We chose not to do the Monday Night Mas as usually it is terribly slow and runs awfully late... this time the first band hit the Lagoon by 10:00pm, and the last group was gone by around midnight! This was the year I should have played!
Tuesday we waited to hear signs of life for the Pretty Mas parade, then slowly meandered over. We watched a bit, then meandered back. Frankly, it was too hot to want to stand there for an indeterminate amount of time. We did find out that the "Shorty Knees" are from the slave days; based on French jester costumes, the slaves wore the costumes with masks covering their faces. With this anonymity, they would use their inside knowledge of their Master's happenings to bring the skeletons out of the closets.

I set a hash trail with my friend Jamar, just a kilometer from the marina. It was nice to hear the positive comments about the trail, including long time residents of that area who didn't know some of those trails existed! I love a successful hash.

We attended a few cruiser get-togethers at the marina, but didn't wander to the other cruiser hangouts. We didn't feel like it.

A week ago we left the dock and went a little north of St. George to Halifax Harbour. While the mooring balls are gone, the base of the moorings are still very viable, so I snorkelled down, got the rope and we used that for the night. The next day we sailed up to Ile a Ronde, about 6 miles north of the main island and about 10 miles south of Carriacou. It started out a little rolly, and then got worse. It was not a good night. We were happy to bail for Tyrell Bay on Carriacou the next morning. It was nice just to take our time, as Customs and Immigration were not a necessary visit.

Now we are anchored by Petite Martinique, the third sister island of Grenada. Across the way is Petite St. Vincent, a privately owned island with a resort on it... but the beach isn't too bad for an early morning run.
This area is nice to visit in the summer, as the trade winds are much less strong, there tend to be fewer big swells to rock you out of the bunk, and there are not so many charter boats and cruisers around.
We've snorkelled, swam, and basically limed for the last two days. We also visited the lump of sand called Mopion (read the previous blog about that one). We also explored Petite Martinique (upcoming blog). It's nice here without the hoards that usually are around during the high season. We will eventually go back to Carriacou, check out of Grenada, check into St. Vincent and the Grenadines and check out the Tobago Cays; we didn't give them a fair shake the first time we were there. Then back to Carriacou to attend the hash weekend there from September 26-28.
There, all caught up!