We dropped the mooring buoy at 0850 and headed towards the P&O cruise ship, Arvia, to raise the mainsail, before turning to motor around the headland by the underwater sculpture park. After the torrential rain and storms, there was a lot of debris in the water, ranging from small twigs to large branches. At 0920 we both heard and felt a sudden catch from the engine, as if something had caught the propeller, or been sucked into the engine cooling pipe. There was steam coming from the exhaust but the engine overheat alarm didn't go off. We diverted to one of the buoys by the sculpture park, dropping the mainsail on the way. Pete went over the side, with mask and snorkel, to investigate and found a long, thick piece of weed wrapped around the prop. He cleared it and we were on our way again 10 minutes later. The steam had stopped, so we raised the mainsail again to help our progress, under engine, up the west coast of Grenada. So far, it was cloudy but there had been no more rain and the sun was trying to break through. At 1100 hours, we were nearing the top of Grenada and could clearly see Ile de Ronde, at 10 miles and Carriacou, some 24 miles away, in the distance. Paul and Tracey, on Magic Pelagic had departed at 10am. Would they catch us, having a greater waterline length? Our boat speed was between 6.1 and 6.4 mph, with speed over the ground averaging at 6.9mph, motor-sailing. We were now getting a better angle on the wind, so we turned the engine off and put out the foresail. Boat speed gradually increased to 9 mph and SOG was approaching 10; we were flying! We slowed with the wind shadow as we passed Ile de Ronde, passing through the area of sea at risk from volcanic activity (no alerts today) and then sped up again in the open sea between there and Carriacou. There was a strong adverse current now, about 2.5 mph. As we passed Tyrell Bay, we rolled away the foresail, then went head to wind and dropped the main, before motoring north to Paradise Beach, arriving at 1515 hours. It had been a good sail. It took a couple of attempts to pick up the mooring buoy, as the current was stronger than the wind and the mooring line went under the boat the first time. Magic Pelagic arrived at 4.20pm and invited us on board for sundowners. We didn't have an beer on board, to take with us, after Fast Manicou forgot our order, in Port Louis, so Pete went ashore to buy some from the nearest beach bar, 'Off the Hook'. Curtis had only just opened, post Hurricane Beryl and was out of beer, so he drove Pete to the shop and bought some himself while he was there, as he was now expecting his first customers. In the early hours of the morning, we had heavy rain and strong winds but there were no worries on the buoys.
Wednesday morning, we were awake at 6.30am but lazed in our bunks for a while, before having breakfast and changing the bedding and towels. Hot and sweaty, it was time for a refreshing 15 minute swim. We set the watermaker going and relaxed in the cockpit before taking the dinghy to the beach and having a couple of beers with Curtis. Paul and Tracey arrived soon after. We strolled down the beach to Paradise Beach Club, hoping to paint pieces of wood with our boat names, a Wednesday afternoon tradition but having only opened the previous week, they weren't set up for it yet. Hopefully the one we created last season survived the hurricane. Paradise Beach Club had been completely rebuilt, following a Go Fund Me exercise, which raised US$60,000. Only the toilets, from the original building, had survived. Sandy Island, across the bay, had suffered too, with all the palm trees bent and broken and a hole through the middle of it. The boys had beer and the girls had Sangria, we chatted to Allison and then walked back to 'Off the Hook'. Curtis made me and Tracey a G&T, bringing his best glasses from his kitchen and we all got bitten to death by sand flies. It turned out that Allison was Curtis's ex-wife and they get on much better now they are divorced! We were back on board for supper. It had been a lovely day in Paradise. Overnight, there was more rain and it was a bit rolly at times.
Next morning, we were up at 0620 hours and it was time to open a message from Terry, which included an invoice for the additional work on the watermaker. He was charging us a 20% mark-up on the cost of the new (and probably unnecessary) pump and US$290 for the 3 way valve, which we knew to be second hand. On top of that were 5 hours labour at US$90 per hour and a 4% charge for paying by credit card. I drafted a letter setting out our position and offering to pay the sum of US$670, being the cost for the parts only, less the 20% mark-up and that we would only pay by bank transfer. It wasn't long before Terry called us to put his own view across but he accepted the amount and mostly wanted to save his reputation. We made the international payment through Revolut, so Terry didn't have access to our card details.
I did some handwashing and managed to get everything dry, on the rails, in just 2 hours, as it was so hot. That also meant a lot of swimming to cool down. Pete went to see Curtis for a couple of beers, while I finished my book, Irena's Gift, a harrowing account of the lives of a woman's mother and grandparents, in Poland, during the second world war. We had sundowners on board, waving to Paul and Tracey, who were doing the same on MP. The swell rolled the boat for half of the night and then we had a screaming mosquito on board. We were tired in the morning and slept until 7.40am. At 0910 hours, we released the mooring buoy and motored around to Tyrell Bay, waving to Paul and Tracey as we passed Magic Pelagic.