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.