Grenada has declared a drought and many places, on the main island, have no running water available. This could prove problematic for us when we reach there, as we don't have a watermaker. Hopefully Carriacou will have water available.
We departed Frigate Island at 0820 hours and had the foresail out, for a downwind sail, immediately. Pete also had his fishing line out, with his big lure on, as Nigel had said there were usually fish around the headland. Sure enough, within 10 minutes, the reel was screaming; we had hooked something. Pete tightened the reel but it screamed again, so he tightened it some more, before lifting the rod from its bracket. This was a big fish. Pete could barely hold the rod, let alone dip it to reel it in. We were doing 5 knots downwind and before I could depower the sail, the fish had escaped off the hook. Pete wound in the line and there was no damage to the lure, which ruled out barracuda, which have large, sharp teeth. It could have been a tuna, as we couldn't see the fish on the surface and tuna tend to dive to try to escape the hook, where other fish fight and jump on the surface. Pete was gutted not to even bring the fish alongside the boat, to see what it was. I doubt we could have landed it. Although we had a good sail down to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou, Pete was down in the mouth.
By mid-morning, we were anchored close to Freebooter of Poole, in Tyrell Bay. We had a chat to Steve and Annemarie, on our way to clear in by the dock and agreed to beer float at 4.30pm. We were lucky that there was no queue but I got a telling off for entering the office, as only the captain is allowed inside. Clearance was 60 EC. We needed groceries, so took the dinghy to look for the dinghy dock at the other end of the bay but didn't go far enough to find it, beyond the ferry port. Instead, we took the dinghy up the beach, close to the supermarkets. In the Alexis store, we bumped into Maurice and Jackie, from Fiddler's Green, who introduced us to Andy and Irene from Saracen. Jackie invited us to a barbecue on board on Wednesday evening and Andy invited us for sundowners at 5pm that evening. We declined the sundowners, due to the prior invitation to beer float with Steve and Annemarie. Having delivered one load of provisions to the boat, we returned to shore, this time locating the excellent dinghy dock by the boat yard. We walked the length of the bay, stopping at The Gallery Bistro for a cold beer, because the place was the cleanest and prettiest. It turned out to be the restaurant run by an English couple, Ann and John, famed for its Indian food. On the way back, we visited the other supermarket, for more groceries and met Michelle, from Huddersfield, who was visiting her parents and had taken a job while she was here. At 1630, we joined Steve and Annemarie, by the beach, to float on the noodles and drink a beer. The talk was all about watermakers. When we returned, a yacht had tied to the mooring buoy close to us, so we lifted the anchor and moved 10 metres north, to avoid any risk of collision when swinging.
On Wednesday morning, Pete made ginger ale, using a recipe from Nigel and I made coleslaw, having been able to buy carrots, cabbage and red cabbage in the supermarket. The coleslaw was delicious. It would be 24 hours before we could try the ginger ale, which needed to ferment, then chill, to stop fermentation. At 10.30am, we noodled with Steve and Annemarie, Pete's first time actually doing the exercises, although there seemed to be a lot of talking going on there. Back on board, Pete made cheeseburgers for tonight's barbecue, before we went ashore for a spot of lunch and a visit to Budget Marine, to see what they had available. It was really hot, so we had to pause for a beer at the Gallery, before stocking up the beer fridge and the wine rack. Pete bought rotis from a van, 10 EC each, as it was the end of the day and the lady wanted to go home. They went in the fridge for tomorrow. The barbecue on Fiddler's Green was fantastic. Maurice had his guitar out, there was a tambourine and 4 harmonicas, in different keys and we had a great singalong, with the help of the Royal Northumberland Yacht Club singalong song book.
We had intended getting up early, to clean the dinghy before the heat of the day but last night's red wine put paid to that but we did make it out of bed for noodling at nine. After that, Pete did a laundry and trash run, over to the dock. At 1245, we met up with Steve, Annemarie, Maurice, Jackie, Andy and Irene, at The Gallery, for lunch. With only John doing the cooking, the food was a while coming but it was very good when it came and it was plentiful. We spent the afternoon in a carb coma, then roused ourselves for a final beer float, with Steve and Annemarie, at 1630. Leeds United beat Norwich 4 - 0, to make it through to the play-off final at Wembley. Nigel would be hoping that Southampton had similar success tomorrow, to make it an all Westerly Typhoon owners final. There was rain overnight.
Next morning, we did get up early and take the dinghy over to the dock, where we lifted it out and cleaned it thoroughly. Freebooter had already left and we saw Fiddler's Green depart when we returned to our boat. However, Andy and Irene were still here and Nigel and Sara, on Nessa V, were on their way. Next chore was a water run. Rather than up anchor and take the boat to the dock, Pete took fourteen 5 litre water bottles to fill, brought them back, filled the tank and returned again with the empties. We had used less water than we thought. It's a shame the meter on the water tank doesn't work, as we could then allow ourselves the luxury of more regular showers and, for me, hair washing. A busy day, our final stop was the laundry, to collect the washing, which would then need refolding and putting away and the bedding changing. At home, this is easily done but it's a hot and sweaty job on the boat in this heat and humidity, so we had a beer as Las Iguanas to cool down first. At 4pm, Sara joined me for noodling (exercise not beer floating), while Nigel listened to the football. Southampton won, so it would be a Leeds v Southampton match, at Wembley, a week on Sunday.
The following morning, Pete and I caught the local bus to Hillsborough, in the hope of being able to buy better noodles, new beach towels and flipflops. Steve had told us we would find the noodles in Dollarman but being the end of the season, they had sold out. The shops in the town had an eclectic mix of goods but nothing of quality or use to us and the town itself was rather run down. We took the bus back to Tyrell Bay, slightly confused by the direction we were heading. We passed a house called 'Sunrise View', which told us we were on the east side of the island and heading south, although Tyrell Bay is on the west side. Eventually though, we climbed over the hill and arrived in Tyrell Bay. We shared a Chicken Jalfrezi, for lunch at The Gallery and took the dive cyclinders for filling. Nigel, Sara, Andy and Irene came on board for sundowners, a bit of a squeeze with 6 in our little cockpit.
On Sunday morning, Sara and I noodled again while Pete went to book a table at The Original Slipway for Sunday lunch. This we were looking forward to, as they do a proper Sunday roast. Today, it was roast pork, or you could have fish and chips, with mushy peas. We all chose the pork. It was delicious and served with a Yorkshire pudding, roast potatoes, cauliflower cheese, mixed vegetables and lovely thick gravy. We were tempted to stay another whole week, just to have it again. We had a beer float with Andy and Irene at 4pm but Sara didn't join us as she was too tired after the food. There was a lovely sunset and for the first time ever, we saw the green flash. Some people reckon they see it regularly but they must be exaggerating. You need a very clear sky, with no cloud or mist on the horizon. We have watched countless sunsets, in the Caribbean and had never seen the green flash until tonight.
It was Whit Monday, on the 20th May, a public holiday and just as in the UK, it was wet and windy. We stayed on board all morning. When the rain stopped, Pete went ashore to collect the dive cyclinders. We packed away the paddleboard, as it was starting to deteriorate with the UV and then fixed a puncture in the dinghy floor. Nigel and Sara came for drinks and tried the hummus that Pete had made, declaring it to be delicious. I tried it too and it was lovely and garlicky but I really don't like the texture. There was good music coming from a party on shore, so we didn't need uTube or Spotify tonight.