So sad.....

Date: 26th August 2020

Location: Barbados Airport

.....to be leaving Grenada.

We're finally on our way back to the UK. Last night I stood on our balcony and listened to the Tropics. A beautiful, balmy night with the ocean lapping on the shore and the tree frogs singing their hearts out.

After an emotional final meal with Lea and Roland from Victoria's Ghost it was back to True Blue, a final pack and bed. This morning the taxi arrived on time to take us to the airport to check in. And then a classic bit of Caribbean. Our flight did not even exist! No problem, we'll put you on another one. So here we are in almost empty Grantley Adams Airport waiting for our BA flight to Gatwick.

An almost empty plane.

Prepare for Covid!

Baggage reclaim at Barbados - spooky.

The last three weeks have seen us working ridiculously hard, usually 10 hour days, in ridiculously hot temperatures. One day last week it was 51.2°C in the cockpit. Still we got all the things done that had to be done even if many of the nice to dos didn't get finished.

Nice clean prop shaft.

Ties down with huricane straps. In with the big boats.

Dinghy cover. Third option.

Ropes protected from the sun.

The new cockpit cover. Great job Gilly.

The saving grace was True Blue Apartments where we were almost the only people staying, bar the quarantined guests recently arrived in Grenada - but we didn't see them of course. We got a great rate and this was our go to location as soon as we got back from the boatyard each evening. It was a hard three weeks. VERY hard.

Our very own swimming pool.

BA were good. All masks were worn. It was a full flight and we had rubbish seats. No hot food of course, no getting up to stretch legs. We watched "Maiden" though, the Tracey Edwards all girl Round the World sailing team. Excellent stuff.

As if to compete with Caribbean Airlines inefficiency, Enterprise cars in the UK decided we had to return their hire car to Cirencester 12 miles away from home rather than our local office 300 metres away from where we live. Some conversations later they agreed we could leave at Ebley after all which was after all where our booking said we would leave it!

Date: 31st August 2020

Location: Ebley, UK

And here we are back in the UK. Despite Grenada and Barbados being "green" countries which means self isolation is not mandatory we have decided to play things carefully as the only reason we are back here is to see my mum. We do go out though early in the morning to walk along the canal right outside our flat. We are the only people wearing masks. In Grenada you felt vaguely uncomfortable if you did not wear a mask when out and about. Here you barely see a mask. People turn away from us as we pass them as if we are infected pariahs. And yet Grenada has had 24 cases, no deaths, all recovered whilst the UK has had 334,467 cases and 41,499 deaths. Yes, I know the UK is much bigger but it just feels different here.

So until January we think we will be here in Ebley, a place where we don't want to be, where we are more exposed to the virus, where the weather is cold and getting colder, where visiting friends is problematic and from where we might not be able to get back to Mehalah. At least there are fewer mosquitoes and cockroaches here and you can do a job without sweat dripping on your work. Am I happy to be here? Nope.

So that's it for now folks.

Lift Out, Jungle and flight to the UK

Date: 9th August 2020

Location: True Blue Apartments, Grenada

After the southerly swell had abated we set about removing sails, preparing fenders and lines and generally preparing to lift out.

But before that we met up with land based friends Jenny and Paul.

We also joined a dozen other cruisers led by Peter from "Milly" to climb Mount Moritz. It was a hot day, very hot, and I found it hard, but 15 kilometres later we were back on the boat.

Liftout itself was the easiest ever. No wind, easy dock, experienced handlers, experienced us. All went to plan except for leaving the main hatch open as a storm passed through!

After two days of hot, hard work in the boatyard when we scraped the hull of a small amount of vegetation and congratulated ourselves on the condition of the copper coat antifouling it was time for another "Milly" walk. This time a bus took us up into the tropical rain forest from where we set off for Mount Qua Qua and thence through thick jungle to Concord Falls. Now this was described as a Very Difficult trail. I found it a lot easier than Monday's walk but it was higher and therefore cooler. It did turn into a bit of an epic though as we lost the trail for a while and bashed our way through the thick foliage tumbling through rotten bamboo stands and razor grass. Finally a rope down a cliff appeared and all was good again. A tired but happy group swam in the falls at the end of a great day's walk.

One casualty of the day was my poor left boot. A small price to pay.

All in all a very jungly day.

Here we are at the top of Mount Qua Qua.

More boat jobs followed interspersed with time at our lovely accommodation, True Blue resort.

Tomorrow our now firm friends, Peter and Sally leave for Toronto and in 15 days time we too should finally be departing Grenada. We have a flight booked back to the UK via Barbados. There's confusion over whether a Covid test is required for Barbados and whether any test that is done here is valid. However we think we have a way through.

We have a massive list of boat jobs to complete before we leave but I'm sure we'll get them all done. It'll be VERY odd to be back in Covid ridden England after our easy life here. Hopefully we can avoid it, avoid passing it to my mum, and enjoy our time back. We shall see!!

Hurricane Survived and Goodbye Carriacou

Date: 28th July 2020
Location: 2 miles off Les Tantes between Carriacou and Grenada

After four and a half months we've finally left Carriacou and are sailing south 30 miles to the main island of Grenada. 10 knots of following wind and a cross sea mean it's not all that comfy but that's what you get when you choose to come down the windward side of the island to avoid motoring.

Anyway, back to the hurricane. Or not as the case may be. Having made our decision to skulk in the mangroves we made our way in through the narrow entrance and tied up next to a pretty 40' Passport 40, one of the boat types we has considered buying. We motored hard nose in until the mangroves stopped any further progress and anyway by then we were sitting on the muddy bottom. On the other side of us Tony and Rosemary came in on English Rose. They have seen hurricanes previously further north in the Dominican Republic. Between us we cut lengths of chain to tie into the mangroves and prevent chaffing. We slipped hoses onto all the lines that could rub. Removed safety gear. Tied down the mainsail (we had already removed the foresails before entering the mangroves). Dinghied out a stern anchor (our half price eBay Fortress FX23 making its first appearance). In short everything we could do to keep Mehalah safe if the predicted strong winds arrived.

Good things included feeling we were in a safe place. The camaraderie. Bad thing. A LOT of boats, big and small. Great potential for crashes if one broke free.

We went to bed expecting to have most of Saturday to finalise preparations. At 5am the heavens opened and we were up doing the final few jobs - getting soaked at the same time. Winds gusting to 30 knots but only at the top of the mast - and that was that. All over by lunchtime. Gonzalo had decided for the first time in 40 years not to turn north. Instead it was Trinidad and mainland Venezuela that saw the worst of things.

With another storm forecast we decided it was time to head south to Grenada to haul out. So after finally managing to extract our new anchor from the sucky mud of the mangroves we returned briefly to a rolly Tyrell Bay for the final time.

A great goodbye meal at Tante Mavis' with English Rose and Victoria's Ghost and we were ready to depart.

At 7.30 this morning we upped anchor, motored to English Rose for a teary farewell and we were on our way with very mixed feelings.


So now here we are. Tied up to a mooring ball 200m from our lift out location. Down the eastern side of Grenada we had a big squall (cracking sail, maybe we should have reefed but 7.3knots was great fun if rather wet). Then it got very sloppy with swell and <5knots. More squalls and then continuous rain. Motoring and motor sailing. We eventually arrived at 3ish. Enjoyable? Perhaps. But definitely good to be here.

Wet, wet, wet.

And here we are sitting in the cockpit after a job well done. Further north the sky is red and angry, the edge of the next storm, Invest 92.

Ominous looking sky to the north.

Finally a quick shout out to all of you who sent your best wishes as Gonzalo approached and especially to John Almberg, Petronella's new owner, for the detailed forecasts from Chris Parker. Thank you all.

Hurricane Warning

Date: 22nd July 2020
Location: Tyrell Bay, Carriacou

Well here it comes. The reason Caribbean cruising yachts are normally lifted out by now is that it is hurricane season. The reason they head south to Trinidad or Grenada is because most storms and hurricanes pass further north. However, at present there is a named tropical storm rapidly approaching us. Storm Gonzalo is two days away and we are directly on its track. This is what it looks like tonight.

These things start off as minor depressions off Africa. They move west across the Atlantic over the warm seas picking up more and more energy. Every year a dozen or so make it across to the Caribbean island chain and up the east coast of the US. This is the first major one of the year and it's heading our way.

So what can we do?

1. Lift out and get tied down in a boatyard. We have a booking down in Grenada for 1st August. There we will be in a welded one piece cradle and covered by our insurance. Here in Carriacou the main boatyard has no cradles so hence no insurance. We consider this fairly exposed yard too much of a risk.

2. Put out more anchors and hold tight here in the bay. There is much uncertainty over how strong the winds might be and where they might come from so there risk associated with this too. Other boats might drag onto us.

3. Run south. This is the usual choice as winds are less strong to the south. But this one is tracking well south anyway so running south might take us into its path and anyway you soon reach South America and Venezuela which has its own issues.

4. Head into the mangroves here in Carriacou. This is our chosen option.

Mangroves are masses of bushy things with their strong roots in the salt water. The wind whistles over them or is dissipated to a large extent as it hits them.  They look like this.

And here is a picture of the mangroves here.

Our anchorage is off to the left so we don't have far to go. The boatyard is in the foreground. We'll stick our nose deep into the roots, drop a stern anchor and tie into the mangroves. Thing is, lots of other boats will be doing the same thing including our friends on English Rose and Victoria's Ghost. We'll end up tied together rafted to our neighbours. We'll take off anything that provides windage and hope for the best. You can follow the storm here.

In other news we've just celebrated our 40th (fortieth) wedding anniversary with a romantic luncheon at Paradise Beach Club. 40 years. Amazing! What adventures we've had.

G4J. Early morning on uninhabited Sandy Island.

What a great choice I made.

Paradise Beach Club.

Oh yes. And Gilly "I hate sewing" has finally completed the hurricane cover. Well done indeed!

The mega cover. Five winches, a bolt rope and 36 tie downs. Amazing.

So, that's it for now as we move our thoughts to the impending storm. Big winds with loads of rain or will it all prove to be much ado about nothing? Hopefully you'll get another blog telling how we fared.

"Loud and clear in Tyrell Bay"

Date: 30th June 2020
Location: Sandy Island, Carriacou

Yes, still in Carriacou and it looks like here or Grenada main island for the foreseeable future. Friends on Milly and Deuces were due to fly back to Canada this week but that last flight has now been cancelled. It might be December(!) before their next flight out though they are working on a charter flight to come in empty and fly out full. BA say no flights til Aug at the earliest and Virgin September.

We are now entering the main part of the hurricane season so every morning we check the NOAA site (https://www.nhc.noaa.gov/gtwo.php) to see what awaits us. So far so good. If we stay in Carriacou we can go into the mangroves here where shelter is better but we are not insured. If we go down to Grenada we might get lifted out and hence insured but many other boats will want to do the same thing. Also once lifted we can't live on the boat so would need to find accommodation until we can get a flight home.

However the good news is that there have been zero cases of the nasty virus here on Carriacou and only 23 on Grenada which have now all recovered. No wonder they don't want to open the airport.

So mostly things carry on as before. A bit more relaxed and a few social events. Carefully we go on each others boats now and leaving parties are OK at a few of the beachside bars. We were sad to say goodbye to Milly last week - Peter and Sally have become good friends.

Goodbyes to Deuces and Milly.

Jobs continue. My sewing resulted in a nice skirt for the mast base and Gilly's mega cockpit cover becomes ever more complex. It will be fantastic once it's complete but the sewing machine is seriously annoying her as it is not really up to the job. 

Mast skirt modelled by an attractive sailor!

The cockpit cover coming together..

Another view.

Litter picking 1.

Litter picking 2.

I thought we'd try a change of format this month. The sailors amongst you will know what a Net is but it might be new to non sailors. Three times a week at 7.30 in the morning the cruising community hold a meeting via our VHF radio sets. There is a fixed agenda and a strict protocol on who can talk when. We cover safety and security, weather, arrivals and departures, treasures of the bilge, businesses, social events and general information. I recorded last Friday's net and you can listen to it below (I hope!). It's 20 minutes long so settle down if you want to listen. The first recording is broadcast on Channel 16, the universal listening channel and Ch 68 the calling channel here in Grenada. When we hear that we switch to Channel 69 and await the net run by different cruisers or businesses each time.

Advance Notice



Net Recording




We're still walking several times a week. The island has gone green as we are now in the rainy season. Plenty of wildlife from mega millipedes to iguana.

Iguana.

Starfish.

Not much else to report from here.  Our friends Tim and Gayle on Wildbird have finally made it back to Ireland via the Azores after a long voyage only to be told they have to go straight to the UK. Spanish lessons for Gill and maths lessons from John continue with Pontea. And we are again anchored off beautiful Sandy Island just round the corner from Tyrell Bay.

Playing Molkii on Sandy Island

View from Mehalah.

It's great to hear that all of our friends have so far avoided the virus. Long may it continue.

Stay safe.

Watch out Grenada, they're on their way.

Date: 1st June 2020
Location: Tyrell Bay, Carriacou

More than a month since the last post. So what's changed? Everything and nothing. Grenada's main island has had 22 virus cases, 4 still active; but none here on Carriacou. We can now shop every day, swim, use the beaches in the morning and catch the minibuses into Hillsborough, the capital. We can't eat in at restaurants, we must wear masks ashore, we are not supposed to visit the other yachts in the bay. But, all in all things feel much more normal now.

We have decided to stay here in the Caribbean for now. If flights have recommenced in September we will probably fly back for Christmas. By the time we return here in January we will hopefully be able to continue our journey westwards to Colombia, Panama and the western Caribbean.

One of the reasons we can be a little more definite is the result of my recent PSA prostate cancer test. We did think this might not be possible to complete in Grenada but even better I managed to have the blood sample taken on island. From here it went by ferry to Grenada main island (along with our empty gas bottle). Next day the result was back - <0.1 or "undetectable". A great result which means there is no need to be back in the UK for health reasons for the next six months or so even though the UK government is finally sending rescue flights for "Brits Stranded in Grenada".


With the hurricane season now rapidly approaching, MAYAG (the Marine And Yachting Association of Grenada) have been working with the government to allow boats from further north where the hurricane risk is greater, to be allowed down here to lift out. Finally they have reached agreement and the first 50 of almost 1,000 boats have arrived in their designated quarantine anchorage.

Mehalah with quarantine boats in the background.

The Grenadian government has done a great job in keeping borders tightly controlled but we cruisers provide a large slice of the income at hurricane time. This is especially true this year when no international tourists will be arriving by plane as the international airport is still closed.

That's the big stuff dealt with. What about those little daily stories that make for such an interesting life?

With the beach now open in the morning the fishermen are sitting out and chilling (liming it's called here) in their open shack. Did we want tuna? You bet. 5lbs (no kg here) for 30 Eastern Caribbean Dollars (about £8). Delicious.

Tasty tuna.

Restaurants are open too for "takeaways" only. But you can take away to the tables outside (which is where you always eat anyhow). Here's our first fish taco lunch out with friends Jim and Caz from Canadian Deuces.

That's not like it. Sandy Bay in the distance.

Gilly's been busy building a complex hurricane cover to protect the cockpit.

Snipping the forward section.

Forward section - test fitting.

Marking out. In the wind!

And I've tried my hand at sewing too trying to make a boot to prevent the last bit of water entering the hole the mast goes through.

Zig zag or button stitch?

We're still running the family art competition via Messenger and considering none of us have drawn anything since we left school (except my square dog) I think we've done pretty well. This week's subject? Symbiotic relationships. Here's a few of the entries.

But the real news is we can now move between anchorages on Carriacou. So on Wednesday we upped anchor for gorgeous Sandy Island 2 miles distant. Well we started to up anchor but the solenoid started sparking and the windlass gave up. For once this turned out to be fairly simple. One of the HT lead connections was not fully tightened. Track down problem, tighten, raise anchor, congratulate ourselves. Continue.

Motor sailing round to Sandy Island we were soon head to wind and just motoring. Let's take her up to 2,000 revs to check all is OK. BEEP. BEEP. BEEP. SCREECH. SCREECH. SCREECH. Every alarm on the boat seemed to be going off. Down below a raw water hose has blown off and water is rapidly filling the boat. Not good! Of course the mainsail bag was still zipped up, the wind got up and bilge alarms were still screaming. Anyway we sailed back into the bay, anchored and had a cup of tea as good Brits do. But not before I had cut my leg in the mayhem. First time anchoring under sail and no panic. So all was good.

So, for the last three days we've been tied up against the dock in Tyrell Bay Marina working our way through the heat exchanger, exhaust elbow etc. Nothing obvious has come to light so maybe that hose had always been loose and just needed that boost to 2,000 revs to shake it off.

The dismantled heat exchanger.

However we have also found a leak in the dry exhaust so today I've taken that off too for welding or brazing.

Finally. Removed and ready  for brazing.

Today is Corpus Christie Planting Day as well as the first day of the rainy season so it's a holiday so everyone can plant their seeds! Hopefully by this time tomorrow the repairs will be a thing of the past and we can get back out to the anchorage.

That's it for today folks.

Stay safe.

    JnG