Resting my back while staying on board.
08 November 2016 | Carriacou Island, Grenada
Bill/cloudy
With my back still bothering me, we stayed on board for another day not wanting to push our luck having to lift Puff and the outboard so we could get ashore. Tracy repeatedly worked on my back trying to find the area that is pinching the nerves into my right leg. It feels like it's just waking from that nasty feeling when your nerves go to sleep. Not that pleasant a feeling. Back when we were in Micronesia four years ago, I was hit by a bout of Sciatica that lasted for months. It got better in time but didn't really go away till we got the the Philippines and I could get to a chiropractor. Several visits to him and I was just fine. I still took it easy for a while but I've been better for a while though I watch where I sit, making sure I have good support. Sometimes, age really sucks.
We've been watching boats come and go for the last two days. Big cats and small cats. All the monohulls are about the same size--about 45 feet, more or less. Old ones and new ones of every type. The ferry to Grenada comes and goes several time each day and boy does it make a huge wake when it comes in here. We were rocked quite violently this afternoon. Glad there were no dishes sitting out like the last time we got hit by a big swell down in Prickly Bay. The weather up here has been fine though this morning it was just about totally overcast and we'd had some rain over the night. It cleared up during the day and there is alway a nice breeze coming through taking some of the heat out of the day. Nights are fine though we started locking up the boat at night. There have been some break ins down in Grenada proper and we don't want to take a chance. We've seen at least one boat having bars made to cover their big hatches on deck and have seen several boats in our travels that have had them for years. Reports have come in of dinghy thefts all through the Caribbean even when hoisted out of the water and left off the side of the boat. We always have our up on deck at night with the outboard taken off and locked on the stern rail. We even put a steel cable on it when it's on the deck for the night and lock it to one of the granny bars by the mast. Sometimes paranoia can be a good thing. We've hoisted Puff on deck just about every night since we moved on board back in 2008. People have asked us why and we always tell them that A:we want to make sure she's there in the morning and B:If a storm comes up while we are at anchor and we drag of another boat drags it's anchor, we don't have to worry about where Puff is. We always know.
Tomorrow, we're off to explore Carriacou Island.
Oh, today we got the final plans for our new mainsail and sent back the go ahead to Far East Sailmakers. Production time is about 3 weeks plus shipping. They will let us know when it's ready to go for final payment and shipping instructions. We just have to be in St. Maartin when it arrives but it's only about 300 miles from here and we can do that in less than three days so no big deal.