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!
