Date: 17th June 2021
Location: True Blue Resort, Prickly Bay, Grenada
We've spent the last few days prepping Mehalah for launch. As expected things have deteriorated during our nine month absence. The engine battery was down to 4.6v and getting it out required first moving the four heavy house batteries. Today's job is to try to source a replacement.
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| Some tidying required here. |
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| Painting the battery box. |
Meanwhile Gilly has been fighting the cockroach invasion. Almost inevitable I guess but not a nice job. Thanks to Celtic Rose for smoke bombs to blast them into oblivion. But it's still a nasty clean up job, now probably half done.
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| One of many. |
But I'm jumping ahead of myself. First off thanks to the many of you who replied to our previous post. It seems that with lockdown continuing in the UK especially, our return provides a welcome reminder of what life used to be like.
So, after a carefully coordinated journey to Heathrow (thanks to Rachel, Hugh and Linda) we checked in for the best TransAtlantic flight ever. Virgin staff were fantastic and Heathrow was almost empty. Only sixty odd people aboard a big 787, everyone masked up to Barbados. Even the transfer to Caribbean Airways was smooth and soon we stepped off the plane to that gorgeous velvety warmth that is the tropics. Next we produced our PureSafe Grenada documentation (all present and correct), a quick Covid up the nose test, through immigration and customs without a problem and into a government organised taxi to our quarantine resort until our test results came through. This wasn't quarantine UK style though. Here we could move around the 'new arrivals to the island' zone appropriately masked up, laze in the sun chairs or swim in the pool. And within 24 hours of arrival our test results were through and our blue wrist bands were swapped for yellow ones.We were 'free to roam!'
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| Yellow freedom band. |
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| View from True Blue. |
The whole atmosphere here is so different from the UK. Masks are worn on busy streets, in cars and restaurants but there is a general feeling of relaxation. Grenada main island where we are currently has no active cases and the smaller island of Carriacou where we did last year's three months of quarantine has still not recorded a single case.
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| Liming (chillin' out). |
We bought out a lot of stuff for friends, both cruisers and locals who needed items ranging from birth certificates to loose fitting shorts. These have now been delivered with oohs and aahs all round. The social life is vibrant with more establishments open than when we left. This southern part of the island is also home to a large American medical university. The students are still mostly not back yet but the restaurants and bars are open. Just down the road is the famous "Container Park" where from a series of converted containers you eat good cheap fare from all over the world. Our favourite? Indian Summer. Delicious dahl, biryani and Goan fish curry made from great lumps of freshly caught local tuna. Great to eat and great to catch up too with the molki crew again from Victoria's Ghost and now, Celtic Rose. Local organic farmer Jenny from up in the hills and her friend Paul (he of the barrel collection service) also welcomed us with lunch overlooking the ocean.
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| Friends reunited |
But it's not all fun and jolity. There's serious work to do on Mehalah too. In addition to the cockroach and battery sagas everything has to be unpacked. Remember we left M for an unknown amount of time in August with everything packed in sealable plastic bags and nothing left on deck in case of hurricanes. For those of you who are fellow sailors you' recognise that period of total devastation where EVERYTHING seems to be out of its cupboard.
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| Chaos! |
Talking of hurricanes we have arrived just at the start of this year's season. Still early but there are already tropical depressions beginning to form. Grenada lies south of the main track but still close enough for significant insurance implications. Most boats are hauling out. We are preparing to launch. Foolish? Maybe, but with a potentially small travel window from the UK and now double jabbed we felt the time was right. We shall see.
Wildlife you asked. Sitting at our waterside table on day one of freedom Gilly spotted a single dolphin in the bay. There's turtles and banaquits and grackles too.
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| Wildlife spotting whilst looking the other way! Breakfast with the university in the background. |
In summary we're making good progress through the jobs but there are one or two larger ones that we have decided to tackle before relaunching. But more about those next time....
And finally, thanks to brother Phil and sister-in-law Jane for taking over the caring role with our mum. Only the four of us really appreciate just how much work that entails. Thank you both.
