A Short UK Post

Current Location: Boat - Curacao Marine Boatyard. Us - Ebley UK.

Date: 11th December 2021

Just a quick catchup today.

We're back in the UK. The trip back via Amsterdam was fine but we arrived 7 hours after the "Day 2" Lateral Flow Test became a Day 2 PCR test. Total confusion meant we weren't officially out of quarantine until Day 10. Still, that's what you have to plan for nowadays I'm afraid.

Anyway we continued with the jobs list in the water. Gill's big task was to make a cover or "chaps" for the dinghy. In the tropics, even with the more rot proof hypalon dinghies, the tubes are affected by the ultraviolet light and can become useless after a few years. Dinghy chaps can help to slow this process and generally protect the dinghy.

A big, difficult job but it looks great now it is all finished.

Before long it was time to haul out. We have had a worn cutlass bearing (a sleeve the prop shaft run through) since we bought Mehalah and we wanted to fix it. This entailed a trip along the coast, through the world famous heritage site Queen Emma Bridge and then a couple of miles upriver to the boatyard. Crazy Swiss friends Zoltan and Sabine together with Uli and Gabbi thought they would film our arrival at the bridge. Here is the result. It does incorporate a few in jokes I'm afraid but I still thought it was worth posting.

And so to lift out. This time on a trailer rather than the usual sling. All went smoothly though the yard did then try to blast off our nice permanent antifoul with their super strong water jets! Instead we just scraped off the slime.

Now it was time to fix that cutlass bearing.

The propeller needs to come off, then the rope cutter and then the bearing needs to come out. Usually the prop shaft is pulled out and the bearing cut out. But on Mehalah the rudder gets in the way so it has to be done with the prop shaft in place. So we got help with it from the excellent CMS team. They used this special tool.

And here it is at work.

So there we are. Back in the UK for Christmas. It'll be great to see our daughters and to help brother Phil and Jane care for our ageing mother. Back to Curacao on 20th January, Boris and omicron willing.

Our next decision will be what to do when we do get back. We're off to Bonaire to start with (the "B" of the ABCs) where Cumbrian friends Dave and Vera will visit us. After that it's north to the Dominican Republic (no), back to the Eastern Caribbean (no), through the Panama Canal and across the Pacific (no), to Colombia, Panama and the San Blas Islands (probably) or through the Panama Canal and turn right to Mexico (probably not). Watch this space!

Happy Christmas to one and all.

More Goodbyes

Date: 5th November 2021

Current Location: Spaanse Water Anchorage, Curaçao

I've talked about this before but with another hurricane season rapidly closing out, the friends we have made over the past few months both here in Curaçao and previously in Carriacou are starting to plan the next phases of their adventures.

The social scene here in Curaçao is not the same as in the Eastern Caribbean islands but Thursday night in Caracasbaai is Captain's Dinner or Cruisers' Night at "The Pier" restaurant next to Anchorage A dinghy dock. We just got back from there and the conversations were wide ranging and VERY boaty.

First up we met friends Zoltan and Sabine, German Swiss on iCat. Over the past week we've installed two long range radios with them, learned about the Swiss pension and union systems and reorganised our third cabin. They plan to sail north to the Dominican Republic and up the eastern US seaboard. They then hope to complete The Great Loop to Nova Scotia, Hudson River and down through the USA ending up at the mouth of the Mississippi. They asked us to introduce them to James and Shelley, themselves from Nova Scotia who had lots of good tips for their plan northwards. Beware the tides in the Bay of Fundi, don't miss the inland lake, it is -25° in winter so take warm clothes etc.

James and Shelley of Carina, who we bought the kayak from in Grenada, are planning also to go north (though they might go west to Panama instead after visiting Santa Marta in Colombia), up to Greenland, Iceland and the Azores, then maybe back to S America and the Beagle Channel. They leave the anchorage here on Sunday when the winds round the nasty Cape on the way to Colombia are supposed to be less fierce.

Then it was time to say goodbye to Harry and Ann on Whisper from the US. Relatively inexperienced they just want any information from anyone about anything. They will go north too, leaving tomorrow to Puerto Rico via Bonaire where they will haul out for some boat jobs. Like us on our first year of cruising they are amazed at how they are included as equals by the rest of the cruising community.

A lively discussion then developed about the pluses and minuses of sailing our own boats to the Galapagos Islands before moving on to talk about the Las Perlas islands the other side of the Panama Canal and whether the Pacific Islands and New Zealand might open up again.

And yet tonight was a relatively quiet night. Tony and Rosemary on Celtic Rose left for Bonaire this morning and Duncan on Czarina Blue is off tomorrow too. The anchorage is emptying and tearful goodbyes are the order of the day. This is an incredibly tight knit community of like minded, independent, self reliant, mutually supportive sailors. There always seems to be someone around to answer any question, be it medical, mechanical, navigational or meteorological. The knowledge base is huge.

As for us we will stay behind here in Spaanse Water, Curaçao for another couple of  weeks before lifting out in the somewhat dubious Curaçao Marine boatyard (who never reply to emails) to do some long overdue work on Mehalah's prop shaft. Once complete we'll book flights back to the UK to see daughters Jenny and Emma and provide some temporary respite to my brother and his wife supporting our ever more dependent mother. With Covid rates rising again in Europe we are very uneasy about flying but feel on balance it is something we need to do...and it will be great to see the girls for Christmas. We just hope we don't get stuck back in the UK again, that Boris lets Christmas happen this year and that Curacao doesn't ban UK visitors.

We've been in this anchorage in Spaanse Water for most of our time here but we did spend three days in Klein Curaçao, a small island 15 miles back upwind. Unlike most boats we decided to sail rather than motor so we actually got to do a full day of tacking in lumpy seas, against the wind and against the current. A long day but a stunning location. 

During the day several big tripper boats with names like Rastamaran, Cool Runnings and Mermaid make their disco fuelled trips there but in the late afternoon they all leave and peace descends again. For two nights we were the only boat there. Iddylic but slightly unnerving with poor holding in the loose coral and being only 40 miles or so away from lawless Venezuela with lightening flashing all around. Each morning we ran along the beach and counted the new turtle nests as it was full moon, the time they come ashore to lay their eggs.

Klein Curacao

Other random events that allow me to post at least a few photos included:

Gilly having her hair cut....

Dismantling and rebuilding the seaweed clogged toilet filter ...

Fixing our first dinghy puncture using the magic "Final Fix"....

Putting on those incredibly uncomfortable sticky climbing boots for the first time in many years.....

Knitting poppies for ex tank driver Tony and wife Rosemary using kebab sticks as knitting needles....

Growing two sourdough cultures (and killing one) and baking our first sourdough loaves....

Trying and failing to refill our UK cooking gas bottles so went to a remote beach to illegally decant from a standard US bottle...

Beginning the mammoth task of redesigning the 'spare' cabin with Zoltan and Sabine...

Spending an extremely hot 5 hours in an extremely cramped lazarette fitting the new SSB tuner.

So that's it for the time being. Hope to see some of you back in the UK.

John and Gill

Goodbye Grenada, Goodbye Carriacou

Leave Date: 19th September 2021

Current Location: 100 miles west of Carriacou, sailing west towards Curaçao.

Three weeks ago Grenada had no cases of Covid. Life went on in its happy way with few masks, plenty of hugs and spliff sharing in the local community. Now it has in excess of 2,000 cases. The hospitals are full and there are only 17 ventilators in the country. There are more deaths every day. Cases are growing exponentially. The Health Minister reckons that in two weeks time 50% of the population will be infected! And it will take two months to vaccinate just half the population at current rates.

For us it has meant another virtual shutdown. All social activities stopped, beaches only open from 5am to 10am and on Saturday and Sunday no movement allowed at all. Rumour had it that Alexis, the supermarket used by the cruising community, was going to close until further notice. It didn't, but it might have. We could see another total lockdown being announced which we were keen to avoid if we possibly could. So we looked for alternatives.

It's always difficult to break the links you have built up both with fellow cruisers and local people we have met when it is time to move on. Grenada is particularly hard to leave as it has been our home now for well over a year. There's always a reason to stay. We have taken shares in the local Keep Carriacou Green recycling project, planned to work on a Ram pump with Paul our Stroudian Grenadian friend and become firm friends with Jenny, she of the market garden in the hills. We've loved it here but weighing up all the pros and cons we've decided to move on again. Westwards, ever westwards. This time, we hope, to Curaçao one of the Dutch Antilles, the ABCs. Aruba, Bonaire and Curaçao.

A and B and C each have their own entry rules. We THINK that Curaçao will let us in without a leaving PCR test from Grenada but no one is absolutely sure. Anyway we can't get one because Carriacou has no testing facility and there is a moratorium on travel to Grenada the big Island. The Curaçao government websites are contradictory to say the least but Derek and his mate on Zenos did the trip successfully a couple of weeks ago and were granted entry. Since then though Grenada has gone from Green to Red in the WHO's list of risky Covid countries. Anyway we're giving it a go.

Goodbye Carriacou

We checked out on Friday along with Rosemary and Tony on Celtic Rose who we are buddy boating with and weighed anchor quietly early on Saturday morning for the 440 mile passage to Curaçao. And that's where we are now, motoring 85 miles off the Venezuelan coastal islands with 340 miles still to go.

Day 1: 2-5 knots of wind. Hard work. 80 miles covered.

Day 2: Much the same. Engines on as we hit a big NW going current which helps us along at 6.1 knots for the afternoon.

At Ease

Day 3 (Today): Quite eventful today. Celtic Rose started their starboard engine and it started smoking. Tony had a spare water pump and once fitted this was sorted. Meanwhile both rods screamed at the same time. Result? 1 x 4lb mahi mahi and a large floating branch??!!

Gutted and filleted we dropped half overboard in a bag beneath a fender for Celtic Rose to pick up. Fish supper tonight guys.

The wind filled in a bit - at least to 6-7 knots on the beam, blowing out of Venezuela. After a lot of messing around with Paul the wind steering we resorted to the autopilot as the batteries are fully charged from all the motoring. A perfect sail is the result. Swell, half a metre, classic trades sky, warm and soporific with Chris Rea playing in the cockpit (thanks Andy!). And just to put the icing on the cake a tern came and sat on the port davit. And then another one. Yes, Dick...."one good tern deserves another".

So we're now over half way. A slow technical crossing so far. We get weather updates from Jenny each day. CR provide the AIS information. We catch the fish. They keep us cheerful with their Geordie and N Irish accents across the radio on Ch68.

Mehalah at sea.

Gill talked to the captain of a very large ship last night who was headed fairly close to us both. "Good evening madam. Have a safe passage".

Lots of birds around. Terns, swallows which are also landing on the boats (in CR case even venturing inside with both of us recording a sad swallow death on deck), gannets and even a pelican who circled us a couple of times. No dolphins though and no whales either. That's a shame.

Day 4 (Today again): At last better wind as we gybe our way west roughly along latitude 12°20'. A few tricky gybes. Shaft Lock on Shaft Lock off. Try to keep close to Celtic Rose with our different boat characteristics. A bit of time to read or catch up with the blog. Make sure the preventers are tight. Have lunch. Plan for arrival! Which side of Bonaire to go? How fast? Sail or motor which parts of the last 100 miles? Try to arrive around midday then early or late it's still light. Discuss and agree with Tony and Rosemary. And on and on goes the ocean. Odd boats, a big crash as we hit something (tree trunk, no damage evident). Wait for the stronger winds again predicted by Jenny via the smart little InReach machine.

The navigation lights of Celtic Rose behind us all night.

Day 4 (2.40am): Running down the eastern side of Bonaire, the B of the ABCs. During my previous watch conditions were wonderful and it was a joy to finally be sailing slight off dead downwind with all that entails.

Early morning.

It's another bright, light night as full moon was yesterday but conditions feel different today. The air is fresher and and there are strong currents and overfalls here. Even though the ABCs lie in the Caribbean Sea it feels as though we have reached the area influenced more by South America. Another significant step, albeit maybe a psychological one.

The ABCs are known as the Dutch Antilles being former Dutch colonies. I had assumed therefore that the currency would be euros. We think though that Europe haven't reached here. Guilders then? Probably not. Tony thinks the currency is florins. Needless to say we don't have a big store of florins stached away.

[You may be able to tell I am writing this part of the blog primarily to stay awake].

So what lies ahead for the next few days? Well, we should approach Spaanse Water around lunchtime today.

*** Ah, there's the lighthouse of Boca Spelonk flashing. The first land for five days. ***

***Oh, and now my phone has pinged. I'm back in the world of mass communication ***

We rounded the southern tip of Bonaire and caught the west going current. Amazingly we were able to set our course for Curaçao as the wind swung round, for once in our favour. 25 miles surfing down the waves towards our destination. Under one reef as we only just dodged a thunderstorm on the way. A lovely sail, that we thought we would have to motor, to set us up for the entrance to Spaanse Water.

Here is a taste of the arrival info sent to us by Derek on Zenos. Zenos was anchored behind us in Tyrell Bay and made this same trip a couple of weeks ago. Carriacou Cruisers Facebook page told us they had arrived so we contacted them and they provided us with this really useful information. Beers for them once we are out of quarantine.

When we arrive in a new country we have to fly a yellow 'quatantine' flag until we are cleared to enter when we can, and should, drop the yellow and hoist the country courtesy flag. When I was back on the UK I had printed two big sheets of flags. One of the Caribbean countries, one of S America. At the price of just two made up flags we can go anywhere just by cutting and sewing these new courtesy flags.

First impressions as we approach? This is not one of your beautiful green, colourful houses, typical Caribbean islands. In the distance it reminds us more of the harsh Canary Islands. Oh, and it looks as though they use guilders not florins after all. We don't have any of those either!

......The entrance to Spaanse Water, a large multi lobed anchorage, is along a narrow and shallow cut. After calling the Coastguard we were allowed into the quarantine part of the anchorage. Our depth finder chose this exact time to stop working so we crept in behind Celtic Rose, turned left and found the anchorage. Within an hour the very smart coastguard boat, together with masked doctor appeared. A quick PCR test, more forms to fill in and looks like we can stay. Yay!! They took our passports and boat registration document so we can't nip off during the night. Tomorrow they will bring out results back in a little bag which they will pass to us. Then we need to go into Willemstad the capital to sort out immigration, customs, SIM card, anchoring permit etc etc.

PCR test. Coastguard doctor comes to Celtic Rose.

2 Days Later: We are in! Negative PCR results confirmed via VHF radio and we were off in to Willemstad for all the arrival admin. Immigration was shut. Then it opened. Wrong immigration. Need to be other side of river where liners check in. Taxi there. HMS Tamar docked there. White ensign, jolly British. Immigration done. Harbour Master next. Pay for anchorage. Back across the river to Customs. All very polite and friendly. Amused to hear Gill was the 'Master'. And that was that. We have three months stay confirmed in Curaçao (pronounce cure-a-sow). Then it was SIM cards, vital veggie shopping and back to the boat. A busy, busy day but very successful.

Willemstad, and Curaçao, are nothing like the Eastern Caribbean. Spanish, Dutch, American, Venezuelan? I'm not sure. But the middle of the city is a fabulous mix of cultures. It feels much more western than Grenada, and things do seem to work better too. We'll be happy here for a while.

Eating together in Willemstad. It's a while since weve been able to do that.

And then our friends James and Shelley (who sold us the kayak back in Grenada) turned up.

An emotional welcome to Carina.

Well, it was very different sailing in company or 'buddy sailing' as it is called. It feels less adventurous, as if you have a bit of a comfort blanket should anything go wrong. That's both good and bad. I would probably do it again on a shortish passage like this. But for me there are too many compromises on both sides to want to do the same over a longer passage. But it was great to be able to chat on VHF to Rosemary and Tony and after all we were transitting a known pirate area. Perhaps we shouldn't have kept our AIS switched on?!

I've just reread this and realised you might not even know where Curacao is! Here's a map.

Life at Anchor

Date: 22nd July 2021

Location: Secret Harbour, Grenada

What do you do all day? What is day to day life like on the boat?

Actually, now that we have sorted most of the 'Category A' tasks life in many ways is the same as it is back in the UK. We get into some sort of a routine, if a different one from when we are land based.

This is where we are at present.

The south coast of Grenada consists of several bays open to the south. With the winds generally from the east, and hurricanes rarer the further south you are, these bays provide shelter for several hundred boats each year.  Many are lifted out with their owners returning to their home countries for the northern hemisphere summer which is hurricane season here.

But there are lots of boats that stay, some for one season and others that seem to become almost permanent fixtures. There are still some boats here that were here when we first arrived on Petronella in 2015!

And those that stay build their own little world supported by a myriad of small local businesses. If you thought most of our lives were spent sailing from place to place you are wrong, certainly at this time of year.

We wake up around 6am. Gilly gets up, switches off the anchor light and reports on the state of the batteries. Remember we have to produce our own power. We have 320 watts of solar panels and recently I've set up the towed generator, aka "The Toad" as a wind generator hanging in the rigging. The toad gives us a nominal current throughout the night cancelling out to some extent the power used by the fridge. On a normal day the batteries will be fully charged just after lunch. Now's the time to charge everything as we will now be utilising electricity that would otherwise be wasted.

Breakfast is fresh fruit. Pineapple, guava, pears and a cereal mix.

Then it's a mix of jobs and socialising.

[This section became a bit tedious so I stopped writing a bout a 'typical' day here].

Date: 13th August 2021

Location: Tyrell Bay, Carriacou

Yes, we're back in Carriacou where we spent lockdown last year. It's like coming home.

We had a great sail up a couple of weeks ago. Several boats had been forced to turn back by a strong west going current but we found that Windy, the weather app, has a Currents screen hidden away. Using this we were able to choose a day when the wind was slightly in the south and the current was relatively slack. Mehalah bounded north easily making the entrance to Tyrell Bay without the need for the usual tack/s. Nice work navigator.

We wanted to be in Carriacou for the Annual Regatta. John blagged a place on Tango and Gill became official photographer on Oyster Thief, the Committee Boat. Tango didn't win any line honours but did win the price for the most improved boat. 9th out of 9 on Day 1 (Round the Island), 7th out of 7 on Day 2 and 6th out of 6 on Day 3! Gilly got some great photos of some lovely boats.

After a week or so in Tyrell Bay we nipped around the headland to gorgeous Sandy Island. Not so gorgeous this time though as the only mooring ball available was the outside one. Very rolly and noisy and glad we had two mooring ropes on, one on port and one starboard. Boats that ran their ropes from one side to the other found them chafed through in the morning.

Across the water from Sandy is Paradise Beach Club.

Here we went for Sip and Paint as Mehalah was without her painted boat sign, now a mandatory task at the Beach Club. Next time we go there Mehalah will be pinned up with all the others. We spent a great afternoon there painting our sign, followed by delicious pizzas with Tony and Rosemary (who ate half our second one).

Carriacou Cruisers have a weekly hike in the island on each Tuesday. Hot and hard we made it up to the point with the ruins of Jack Iron looking out to the west. Typical days are around 29°C with high humidity so end of walk refreshments were eagerly quaffed.

I (John) have started as Wednesday's net controller, the three times weekly radio get together for the island. Yoga on Tuesday and Thursday is one of the items so we've started going to that on the beach early in the morning. Today, the "plank" muscles are bearing witness to yesterday's session.

We've also said goodbye to our friends on Victoria's Ghost who have returned to the US for a few months.

And then there's the jobs.

A new control lever entailed fabricating a 2mm aluminium sheet and replacing the control cables 

Gilly has resealed a leaking hatch.

We've retightened, cleaned and serviced the main mast winch which was loose on its bracket.

Saturday

Today we went to Windward on the other, eastern, windy side of Carriacou. We met up with Jenny from Grenada and Frank of SV Samadih. Windward is known for its wooden boatbuilders and years ago Frank had a beautiful old local sloop, Tradition, rebuilt over there. So he knew everyone.

You'll have gathered life in Grenada is slower than the UK and Carriacou is slower then mainland Grenada. But Windward is slowest of all. We took the number 10 bus across the island, via the capital, Hillsborough. The buses here are minibuses with no strict timetable. In fact no timetable at all really. We took a circuitous route as Robert our driver and his son had to pick up an old lady, deviate to a hotel with a local couple and take another lady 50 yards because it was a bit hot. As we approached the little village of Windward, strung out along a reef fringed beach, we passed the local primary school with its whimsical school motto of "Beware of Mental Slovenliness". Robert asked us if we wanted dropping off at the fish market (a small wooden shack) but Frank said no, we'll get off at Bertram's Rum Shack. At the boatyard, a small area cleared of scrub, we met more of Frank's old acquaintances and watched donated dinghies being restored for the local kids to learn to sail in the sheltered waters looking out towards Petit Martinique, Petit St Vincent and distant Union Island. A world away from the European/American sailing world of Tyrell Bay we met Dutch professional racing sailor Pim, his French wife Camille and their two adorable little daughters, Anna and Paula who live quietly on this side of the island on a steel ketch not dissimilar to our old Petronella. They of course knew Pontea who had taught Gill Spanish in lockdown last year.

We all repaired to the best and only pizza restaurant in Windward. We arrived at 2.30pm having booked for a late lunch. Pizzas arrived shortly after 4pm but conversation flowed as Windward gave us a great example of 'island time'. At 5pm Robert was back to return us to Tyrell. We went via his house to change buses and then to fill his new vehicle with gas at 6.57pm before the station closed at 7.00pm. Very proud of his island we listened to the sounds of The Country Boys, Carriacou's most famous local band on his smart bus radio. A great afternoon out.

Bad news today. Carriacou records a case of Covid, we find another cockroach on board, the main diesel tank is leaking and poor Haiti is hit by another big earthquake.

This month's fauna seen include a spotted ray, pelicans, frigate birds and brown boobies and cane toads, mostly squashed!