11 July 1995 Tyrell Bay to Sandy Island
The strong wave is now at about 52°W, but I couldn’t pick up David on “Mistine” so I don’t know where the low is. “Rose of Wight” received a satellite shot which shows the low as a separate entity moving NW, so it shouldn’t bother us.
School work in the morning. Glenys rang Carol to get her to send mail to Trinidad. In the afternoon, Glenys spotted “Dabulamanzi” sailing past the bay, so she sent me out in the dinghy to see where they were going. I caught up with them just off the Sisters. Gareth and his guests were suitably amazed to be boarded while sailing along. I found out that they were going to stay at Sandy Island, so we went round to visit them.
The weather was very settled, so we stayed the night. It was a full moon so after dinner we went to the island for a moonlight play. We then went for a night snorkel and saw a stingray, a lobster, a spotted sea hare and loads of red night shrimp. I really enjoyed seeing the different creatures.
Gareth and his cook, Charlie, came over to the beach with a bottle of wine and some ice cream for the boys. We retired to Glencora for more wine and rum. Probably the last time we’ll see Gareth for a couple of years!
12 July 1995 Sandy Island to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
The wave is at 57°W and will be here tonight. The low is now at 16°N 57°W, so is well out of our way. We’ll probably have unsettled weather for the next couple of days. I went to clear in at Hillsborough because we’ll probably stay here for a few days.
School work in the morning. Brett continues to be a pain about writing anything, so I wrote the start of a short story called “The Adventures of Ballistic Brett”, which we will get him to copy write to make a nice book like Craig’s “Fred the Frog”. Craig shows his book to everyone who comes on board and they are suitably impressed, so we hope this will be an incentive for Brett.
“Rose of Wight” came around for a day out, so we stayed at Sandy Island until late afternoon so that the boys could play with Harry and Laurel. We all went back to Tyrell Bay. “Rose of Wight” and “Colleen” came for a pot luck dinner, which was nice.
13 July 1995 Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
I was wrong about the weather. It appears that the low has sucked up all the unsettled weather - today was lovely. School work in the morning. Brett loves his story, but whinged and whined about writing in science– we can’t win!
After lunch, Glenys and I did the first four practical sessions of her Rescue Diver. I filled 4 tanks, had a quick chat with a few boats, an hour of clarinet practice and the day was gone.
14 July 1995 Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
School work in the morning. Clarinet practice, a visit to the Mangroves – another quiet day.
15 July 1995 Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
Lots of squalls around during the night and today – apparently the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ICTZ) is up to 13°N. I spent three hours trying to make a rotating earth/moon model from Lego Technic, but failed abysmally. School work, clarinet, time to move on!
16 July 1995 Tyrell Bay to St Georges Lagoon, Grenada
Up early, there’s a strong tropical wave at 47°W which will be here on Tuesday pm. The low that I was concerned about a couple of days ago is now tropical storm Chantelle and is at 25°N 68°W which is east of the Bahamas.
We had a pleasant sail to Ile De Ronde, where, as normal, it was too rolly to stay for the night. Glenys and I went for a dive and I made a judgement error deciding to circumnavigate the Sisters. We eventually surfaced on the opposite side of the rocks and I had to “frog march” Glenys back – I only had 20 bar left. (I think I’m getting too blasé and taking risks).
After the dive, we went back to the boat and were surprised to see a dive boat anchored next to us with Bob from Scuba World on board. We had a quick chat and said we would see each other in Grenada. We then motored to St Georges and anchored in the lagoon (even though “Moby Dick” got burgled about a week ago). We anchored behind Dave and Joyce of “Mood Indigo”. There are about 25 boats in the lagoon, which is a lot more than we expected.
17 July 1995 St Georges Lagoon to Prickly Bay, Grenada
An airless, humid night. Glenys and I rushed around in the morning getting cash, food and petrol. We then motored around to Prickly Bay which is very empty with only about 15 boats. I cleared in and then went to see Gary and Donna, but their flat was all locked up. I rang the La Source hotel and found out that he still works for them, so I’ll ring tomorrow.
Glenys went out at half past five to post a letter with the boys and came back very merry about two hours later – she’d bumped into “Night Music” in the bar…
The saga of Hog Island is still continuing. I asked the Customs and Immigration if we could go to Port Egmont, Mount Hartman and Hog Island and they said “Yes”. However, the coast guard keep moving people out of there and no-one knows why. Ian of “Manx Cat”, who has been spending hurricane season in Hog Island for 8 years, had some reporters around from the local newspaper, but even they couldn’t find out why yachts can’t stay in Hog Island overnight. It’s very frustrating because Hog Island is such a beautiful, protected anchorage, which is more than you can say for Prickly Bay and Mount Hartman which are both rolly.
18 July 1995 Prickly Bay to Mount Harman Bay, Grenada
School work in the morning. We motored around to Mount Hartman Bay, and anchored close to our old friends “Marina Em”. “Moby Dick” is here, so are “Manx Cat”. I managed to get through to Gary and he’s coming around tomorrow afternoon. The kids and Glenys went to the pool, but some guests complained because the hotel is supposed to be childless and they were asked to leave. We went to “Marina Em” for a beer or two to catch up on the last year. There are about 50 boats in Mount Hartman Bay.
19 July 1995 Mount Harman Bay, Grenada
Miserable weather last night and all day today – thunder storms and rain, rain, rain. I went into Woburn to catch a bus into St Georges to pick up the Grade 2 and Grade 4 school work. It was all there waiting for me which was good. Glenys did school work with both of the boys.
Gary came around in the afternoon and we caught up on gossip. He’s working full time at “La Source” doing 15 dives a week and enjoying it. He’s just moved into a new flat with a new girlfriend, Ros (Rosalind) who is Aussie and also works at “La Source”. Sounds like he’s doing better now that he’s escaped from Mad Bob. Our evening meal was spoiled by the squalls and heavy rain – I hate this weather. Gary was suitable impressed by “Fred the Frog.”
20 July 1995 Mount Harman Bay, Grenada
Another miserable night. We’re starting to get cranky with each other because the heat and the humidity are oppressive. I now know what they mean when they talk about the suicidal moods in India when the monsoon season is approaching!
Schoolwork in the morning, then Glenys and I went for a dive with Tony from “Marina Em”. What an animal he is, ripping lobsters out of their holes by hand. I tried and partly dismembered mine before I got it out. I filled 2 tanks.
“Marina Em” has a cute little cat which is a bit of a wild one. It scratched Marina on the nose yesterday and they are thinking of getting rid of it – do we want it? We thought about it for 24 hours and decided that it was too much hassle – litter tray, cat food, quarantine back in the UK – I don’t think so, we’ll get one back in the UK!
We were meant to meet Gary for a beer, but he didn’t show up. I walked up to his flat and found out that he was in bed with flu. Glenys and I had a few beers at the bar and went back to the boat. We didn’t get the boys into bed until quarter past ten. One of the consequences of this is that they stay awake for ½ hour, which has a detrimental effect on our sex life because they are only 8 metres away from our bed...