This photo with the lovely island anchorage in the background echos the oft heard sentiment, "Cruising is just boat maintenance in exotic locations."

The last you read was an overheating diesel on 'Silverheels III' so I will address that first of all. While I went to Hillsborough to clear in (more later on that) Ken spent some quality time with the diesel to see what was going on. Further inspection of the impeller on the raw water pump showed three of the six vanes were damaged. Two were cracked over half way through, and one was about a quarter of the way through... We were surprised to see that since the impeller was changed back in November before we took off for the cruising season. However, rubber and other such materials do lose their properties with time, and the impeller had been with us for almost five years now. Even in the box, there is degradation. There was some crud (what a wonderful catch-all word that is!) in the water filter, so that got a very good cleaning out, and for some reason my toothbrush tasted funny later that day. Ken accessed the heat exchanger and took a good eyeball at it. It looked clean, which is more than could be said for the hoses that had "crusties" from the salt water, think atherosclerosis of the water hoses. They weren't particularly bad, but there was a little narrowing in the space. One hose was changed, just to be safe. When the diesel was fired up, it looked like the water flow was better. It's nice to have someone handy on the boat - and he does dishes!

While Ken was in the beginning of his diesel investigations, I had to go into town to get us cleared in. This had the potential to be a small problem, as it was a public holiday in Grenada. I seem to recall we arrived on the same holiday (Corpus Christi) another time, and Immigration was open but Customs wasn't available. And as a holiday, there was the potential for now buses, but I could handle a mere 3.5 mile walk (one way)! Besides, I have a thumb and I know how to use it.

I ended up catching a bus after all. Dunstan was very friendly and we had a lovely chat on the way. He commented that he had seen me running that morning, and it came up that I was a "Hasher". Well, don't you love coincidences, as he had the Hash banner that was left behind from last September!! That banner is now on board and will come down to Grenada with us when we head farther south.

I arrived at the Police Station, and Immigration was open for business. A $20 EC overtime fee, and we were legally in the country. According to the officer, the Customs officer was going to be in as well. I crossed the road to the Port, and the Port official called her to confirm that she was coming in. How nice was that? We chatted, and killed time; he was waiting for the ferry to come up from St. Georges, I was waiting for the Customs officer. My wait was shorter. 5 minutes later, 'Silverheels III' was as legally in the country as her crew. I ended up waiting about 45 minutes more before Dunstan headed back to Tyrell Bay, as he was picking up someone from the ferry. That was okay, as there were other people waiting to chat with. There was nothing else to do in town anyway, as there was one small supermarket and a little snack stop open, and nothing else going on. There was actually a little more happening in the Tyrell Bay area (two stores were open).

Ken and I went for a little walk at the end of the day to stretch the legs, and to get Ken off the boat. We ended up at the Tyrell Bay boat yard and met up with Dan and Sue on 'Triumph', who are currently dealing with "life on the hard". They enlightened us as to the affordability of the yard for haul outs. We are seriously due for a haul out, and have been contemplating going down to Trinidad to get things done. Now we aren't so sure about that. So we have some thinking and discussion on the matter in the near future. Cost-wise, it doesn't look like it will be much cheaper to go south to Trinidad, especially when ancillary costs are added in. More thinking things through... We could still go down to Trinidad as tourists if we want to. You'll probably know about our decision shortly after we do!

Today, Ken and I went into Hillsborough by bus and wandered around. It was much more lively today! It was nice to find an affordable lunch again; $12 EC for lunch is far better than $60 EC in our opinion. So we are here for a bit, with so many things to consider!