Well, it's now Sunday(October 9th) night and we are rocking and rolling at anchor here in Prickly Bay, Grenada. The winds haven't let up and with them come swells right into the bay making poor Zephyr heave up and down by the bow and sometimes from side to side. It's down right nasty.

We spent this morning trying to straighten out the mess inside since the trip up pretty well unseated just about everything on the starboard side. With up tilted to the left for the entire trip and rocking from side to side, even items we tied down with rope came loose especially in the folksail area(just in front of the main salon. We had water jugs, ditch bags, suitcases and more dropping off the starboard side berth where they are normally kept. The "ditch" bag landed in the cat pan making it hard on the kids. Today, it was time to put things back together.

We pulled up the mattress on the stern berth to put our new air conditioner down the bilge under it. The last one we had(gave to Lobster in Trinidad) was much heavier and bigger. This one fit the space under the berth just fine leaving us plenty of room for more things. In went the water jugs, two five gallon full size jugs as well as four collapsable jugs. Add in some other things and the area is nice and packed. We even stuck in 2-42 pound bags of kitty litter. Now we have some clear space in the cabin for other things. We still have lots of cans of paint as well as varnish for out side to find places for. Not sure where all of it is going to end up.

This being Sunday, it was time for Grenada Train dominoes again. If it hadn't been for that, there was no way we would have left the boat with the swells coming into the bay at over two to three feet throwing Zephyr all over the place. It wasn't easy getting Puff in the water let alone getting the outboard off the stern and down and latched to our dinghy. We managed to make it to the dock with only a bit of water soaking our clothes. It was nice to see our friends once again. We were back at Zephyr about 1730 and had a real tough time even getting back on board. It took quite some time for Tracy to get on board as she had to hold onto the stern ladder as well as the rope to our dinghy all with Puff going up and down in the water crashing into the stern ladder as well as our Hydrovane. Salt water had coated much of the stern making it quite slippery. In the end, she finally made it and after getting the engine off(no easy feat), we hoisted Puff back on board resting her on fenders on the deck. Unlike most of the other sailboats here in Prickly Bay(as well as most other bays we have seen)we hoist the outboard off the dinghy and then hoist the dinghy back on deck. Should a storm come up, we don't want to have to have to worry about Puff getting away from us in the wind and waves. We try and take good care of her as well as her outboard motor. With out them, it would be much harder out here.

The forecast is for more winds for the next couple of days but we plan on bringing up the anchor tomorrow and seeing if we can find a better place farther inside the bay where the winds and swells will be a bit less. The only thing I can say about this windy weather is it's doing a fair job putting a charge back into the batteries when the wind spins our wind generator.

I'll let you know how tomorrow works out.

It's now Monday afternoon and we are in a new spot in Prickly Bay. We pulled up the anchor and started touring the bay. With over 150 boats in here, it's a very busy and full anchorage. We finally found a spot with a catamaran behind us and in front of us and monohull on either side. With the continued wind, we kept swinging closer to the starboard side monohull so we pulled up the anchor and slowly motored around till we found a space(011 59.596N 61 45.756W)closer to the east side of the bay and far more sheltered from the winds and swells coming in from down south. We do have boats around us but none too close and that's just fine. None are on mooring buoys so we will all swing the same in the wind making hitting each other darn near impossible. It's still cloudy and winds are about 15 knots so the DuoGen us still spinning on the stern and with us motoring around, we have enough amps in the batteries to last through the night. Tomorrow, we will be off for a shopping trip to town plus I need to stop in at Courts where supposedly they fix sewing machines. Our Sailrite machine has up and died so it needs a good tech to try and fix it. We'll be dropping it off tomorrow or brining it back if they don't work on them Guess we will see. At least it's now a good bit more stable here in our new anchorage. Yesterday, it was darn near nasty and with more bigger winds in the forecast, it was important to find a better place to stay.

The Sun has gone down and the wind has continued. That's fine as it keep letting us get some amps shoved into the batteries and they always like them. The DuoGen goes spinning on the stern as the wind comes through the anchorage. We have boats all around us now as more came in this afternoon. One bit cat came in from elsewhere in the bay. We've already seen them in at least three different places including one on a mooring buoy. Now they are back on anchor and went in to have dinner at one of the resorts along the bay. Can't imagine how much that cost them.

Tracy dragged out the Sailrite sewing machine to see if we could find out what it's problem was. It stopped working the last time she tried to use it. Under the top lid, we found a big broken piece that looks like it was made from cheap pot metal, far from the quality parts the company claims to have in it's machine. We now will have to order the part and get it shipped in but it's going to have to be at a different island as import duty here is way off the charts. The tear we got in the mainsail on the way up here will just have to be hand stitched by me and that's no big deal. Tomorrow, we will be visiting the local sail loft to get another batten for Zephyr. When we took off the sail in Trinidad, we found one was almost snapped so to avoid it tearing the sail, we left it out. We also found we'd already lost the top batten and have no clue when it went flying. We at least have a replacement for it stowed below from an earlier batten that broke long ago. That's where the leach rope let go on the mainsail. So now it's time for another batten and some stitching. All we have to do is wait for the winds to die down a bit. Fifteen knot winds is a bit much to stitch up a loose sail on deck. Since we are still waiting on our replacement ATM cards, we have some time to get things done.
It's now Wednesday and I went in and got all five of our gasoline tanks filled. We carry four 5 gallon tanks strapped to the port side attached to a big piece of rosewood we bought back in Madagascar. The original 2 X 6 snapped in half during our trip south from the Seychelles. This wood is much stronger and denser than the original. The fifth tank is strapped to the stern and used for day to day filling of the generator or the fuel tank for the outboard. It's much easier to pour and since it holds 6 gallons, when we pour in the 5 gallons from the other tanks, it leave lots of room for tilting it so it will pour better we we need to.

This afternoon was Grenada Train Dominoes again. Every Sunday and Wednesday afternoon, we spend a few hours playing and getting to better know our fellow cruisers here in Grenada. Most have just cruised up and down the Windward Island chain of islands here in the Caribbean. We filled them in on our travels to get here and what we went through. We were back on board by 1730 and Puff was stowed nicely on deck.

We picked up from Secret Harbor Marina our new debit cards and got them activated. Tomorrow, after re epoxying one of our slightly split battens and going up the mast to again check our our masthead anchor/nav/flashing light, I'll be taking Puff to shore and hiking over to the bank to see if these work. I'll let you know how it goes.

It's now Saturday the 14th and we are progression slowly. Tracy came down with something(no clue as to what) and it left her quite listless. We stopped working on projects for a day or so so she could get some rest. No sleep at night will make you not feel too well. Thursday, we sat and read and slept. Friday was another day for going to the store and seeing if our new ATM cards work. I've made lots of calls to our bank trying to get things resolved. I used one of the new card(now have three of them for each of us) and I finally found one that would work. We managed to get some more money out of the ATM. Off the the grocery store for a few more supplies and back to Zephyr. The rest of the day was spent reading and resting. Tracy still wasn't back to normal.

Today, Saturday, I went up the mast to check the anchor/nav/flashing light. I took off the connector wire and screwed it back in. All seems fine. No chafed wires or connections for anything we have up there. I put some lubricant on all the assorted blocks we have up there and had Tracy move the block for the spinnaker line back and forth so the lube coated all the bearings. I checked all the shrouds and connections as well as the different steps, lights, and spreaders. All looked just fine. I've now turned on the anchor light and we will see if it comes on when the sun goes down. It's on a photoelectric cell that makes it come on after the sun goes down and it get dark. Sure hope it works as a new one runs about $400US! Right now, we have a flashing strobe we bought in Thailand at the bow that flashes white and blue. Add on some of the solar powered yard lights around the lifelines and we are quite well lit at night. Just nothing at the top of the mast.

We thought about epoxying and fiberglassing the split batten but decided not to. If it broke, it could tear a hole in the sail and that's not a good thing. I'll be asking on Monday net to see if anyone has a spare out there and if not, head in to the sail loft and get a spare. We've got a busy day for Monday since Snoeshoe has an appointment with the vet. We are down to our last bag of his special diet of high fiber food. It's done a great job at keeping him "regular" for the last two years. Sure don't want him to go back to the way he was. Really no clue as to why we can only purchase cat food with a prescription from a vet instead of simply walking into a pet store and getting it there. Better profit margin for the vet? It's not like it's a drug, it's just food! We'll be getting another 12 bags if we can find it. Sure hope they don't have to order it. We'd like to get out of here. Hurricane season is just about over.

It's now Saturday night and when Tracy walked forward on deck, she looked up and the anchor light was ON!! No real clue as to why as the last time it failed, I unscrewed the screws on the switch in the main cabin for it and it worked just fine(for a while). This time, when I did the same thing, nothing happened but when I went up the mast and screwed and rescrewed the connection there, it now works just fine. Absolutely no clue as to what the heck is going in but if it fails again, I can go up the mast and maybe fix it. Lots cheaper than a new one for $350US. Guess we will see how long this "fix" works. I'll let you know. Right now, I'm just glad it working though we do look light a light beacon with an anchor light at the top of the mast, a blue and white flashing light at the bow and two solar powered yard lights woven into the stern netting. Look high or look low, you'll see us.

It's now Sunday(October 17th) afternoon and we just finished Grenada Trains for today. Have some social time and will be heading back to Zephyr by 1800. Tomorrow, off we go with Snowshoe to see the vet at the University to get more "high fiber" food for both kids. Only Snowshoe needs it but Blue gets to suffer along with him. I'll let you know how that goes.
Sorry about being so long between posts but we have to go to shore to get internet and sometimes that's just not possible