"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