Location: Tyrrell Bay, Carriacou
Before I get into the sob story of how we are locked down unable to leave the boat you need to appreciate just what a beautiful place this is. There are now around a hundred boats left anchored in Tyrrell Bay on the small island of Carriacou near the southern end of the Eastern Caribbean island chain.
Carriacou is the second largest island of the country of Grenada. The largest is Grenada itself and the third largest is Petit Martinique even though it is a day's sail from the former French island of Martinique.
Grenada is green. It is friendly. And it is a gorgeous place to while away a month or two.
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| This is our current location. |
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| And this is the view as the sun goes down each evening. |
And it looks as though that is what we will be doing! Over a period of several days more and more government 'Advisories' have been announced. First boats that had been to Martinique (us!) were banned from entering. Luckily by then we were already checked into the country and our yellow quarantine flag replaced by the colourful Grenadian flag. For years we have religiously flown our yellow flag as we entered a new country advising that we were free from disease and requesting 'free pratique'. This is the first time that it really feels as though it is anything more than a formality. Then it was announced that we could not go ashore. Then that the ferry to Grenada would only carry provisions not passengers any longer. And yesterday the country was put under curfew from 7pm to 5am each day which means we are unable to meet up with Wild Bird any longer.
So what is life like under lockdown in Tyrrell Bay? We wake up around 6.15am and get up soon after as the sun comes up. Tea and a quick check on the mobile to see which country is worst hit today. Fortunately we made a trip into Hillsborough the capital the day after we arrived to buy a local FLOW SIM card. Each of the 24 island countries seems to have a different mobile provider. If you are lucky Digicel will work across countries assuming they remember to add data to your package. Our trusty UK service from giffgaff expires once you are out of the country for two months and anyway once you are out of Europe (Martinique counts as Europe!) it cost £1 to call or receive phone calls. So the 100 Eastern Caribbean dollar (about £30) card with 10Gb of data 1200 minutes of local calls and 1200 texts for 30 days is a great deal. We make local calls using our Flow allowance and calls to the UK either via Facebook Messenger or Skype. Messenger uses the least bandwidth but can't be used to call UK landlines whereas Skype costs a bit but it has a deal where you can ring any UK landlines as often as you like for £2.40 a month. Bargain! The SIM card is our lifeline and without it we could not keep in touch with friends and family or the world at large.
First thing is ring my mum in Dursley at 0700 to check she is OK. We ring her at least twice a day as this is the only thing we can do to support my brother Phil and wife Jane who are now her main carers. At 91 she lives alone and requires a lot of help. We feel a long way away at present.
Then at 0730 on Mondays, Wednesdays and Fridays there is a 'net' on the VHF radio on Ch69. The owner of the local dive school, Lumbadive, runs the net with a standard order of items. Safety and security, weather, arrivals and departures (none at present), treasures of the bilge (swap and sell), local businesses (none at present), social (none at present) and finally a general discussion. If you want to contribute you say your boat name and Diane from Lumbadive asks you to make your point. It works really well and happens around the world in much the same format. This is also the medium by which you contact other boats in the anchorage as well as the way that the government advisories are announced.
Then it's jobs before it gets too hot.
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| Cleaning the bottom of the dinghy. |
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| Cleaning the wind steering framework before putting away. |
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| Preparing for an epoxy lesson from Tim and Gayle. |
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| Vinegaring the paintwork. Smells like fish and chips.This is a HARD job. |
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| Burglar bar installation. |
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| Stainless steel cleaning - just like the Forth Bridge. |
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| Wash Day. |
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| Hiding away some valuables - just in case. |
Next up is trips ashore in the dinghy which we keep chained to the boat at night. Topped up with petrol we use it to take our water containers and fuel cans for refilling at the dock. We are not allowed on the dock itself but have the hoses passed to us by staff wearing masks made out of converted 5 litre water containers.
Provisioning is done by taking a list, your bags labelled with your boat name and some money to another concrete landing stage. Today police were on hand to ensure we stayed in our dinghies. One by one we are beckoned to the dock where we leave our bags. Later in the day we are called by radio on Ch16 to come and collect our goodies. It's always a surprise to see what we have today.
The provisions arrive by ferry from Grenada every Wednesday and Saturday. The day they don't arrive is the day we start to worry. At the moment our gas bottle with valuable adapter has been taken by the ferry for refilling. That's another thing that we need to continue. No gas refills means no gas means no cooking facility.
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| Grocery List - Call up on Ch16 and collect at the dock. |
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| Another trip to the dock. This time for water. |
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| Dick and Mary doing the 20 second wash after restrictions were enforced. |
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| Pensive Gilly |
And finally after a swim to cool down the jobs are done. It's time for a bit of R&R.
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| Keeping fit on Wild Bird. |
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| Pip (I think) on guard on board Wild Thing (Wild Bird's dinghy) |
Until the latest announcements we spent every other evening with Tim and Gayle on Wild Bird but that of course has now ceased and we are pretty much on our own. We'll swim to each others boats or pass close by as we hopelessly trail a fishing lure behind the dinghy but other than than it's just the two of us.
There are still no virus cases on Carriacou though there are seven now on Grenada itself and the country is doing everything it can to keep it this way. But surely it is only a matter of time even though all airports and ports are closed and the curfew is in place. There are no more flights out of Grenada unless BA or Virgin put on some mercy flights for people stuck here like us.
So. What are our options now?
1. Sit it out here. A definite option if things stay as they are at present. Hurricane season starts in July though and although we are pretty far south there is still a risk of hurricane.
2. Move down to Grenada. It is still possible to get Mehalah lifted out in Spice Island boatyard and we have provisionally booked a space. Flying back to the UK if a flight became available would then be an option.
3. Sail back to the UK. It's a long sail from here non stop. All the other islands including the Azores are closed to yachts but it would get us away from the hurricanes. But we only arrived this side of the Atlantic 22 days ago and it took us a year to get here downwind from Plymouth!!
For now we'll be staying here and watching all developments closely. It does feel like one of the better places to be at present.
Finally we would like to thank everyone who has been in contact with us. It's great to know that there are so many people around the world wishing us safe and virus free. We wish the same for you all in this mad, sad world in which we are currently living. We're back in normal email circulation now so do let us know how things are going.
J and G
