1 December 2011 Mount Hartman Bay, Grenada
I continued to bleed refrigerant out of the system. I found a guide on the Internet about how to recharge a small Danfoss fridge – it says that the low side pressure should be 3-7 psi when the fridge is cold. By the end of last night I’d managed to get the pressure down to 30 psi, so I still had a long way to go. It’s a bit tedious because I don’t want to let too much and have to start again, but on the positive side at least I’m learning more about how the system works.
We went for a dive, on the west side of the entrance into Mount Hartman, but it was far too shallow, murky and mostly sand with a few rocks - nothing much to see. We had a look at the east side of the harbour entrance which looks more promising. A local boat was fishing there and couldn’t get their anchor up, so I snorkelled down to 10 metres and freed it from the rock & coral for them.
We chilled out in the afternoon, interrupted by my 15 minutes cycles venting refrigerant from the system. I read a book on boat refrigeration, which I borrowed from Ken on “Silver Heels 3”.
Jeff and Pam from “Foggy Mountain” came for sun-downers.
2 December 2011 Mount Hartman Bay, Grenada
I another day venting refrigerant from the damn fridge. I had it down to 25 psi in the morning, but it was still at 18 psi before I went to bed. It’s frustrating, but “Slowly, Slowly Catchee Monkey”.
I filled our dive tanks and we went for a dive on the east side of the harbour entrance. The wind was quite strong with 2 foot waves as we tied onto a green navigation buoy about 50m upwind of a breaking reef. The dive site was good, but only 12 metres deep – there’s lots of rock and reef formations. We saw quite a few lobster and caught two - 3lb and 1 lb.
When we arrived back at the surface, the wind and waves had picked up as a squall approached. We climbed into the dinghy and sat in the pouring rain for five minutes until I decided that we might as well slowly head back. I started the engine, jumped into the 2-3 foot waves and untied us from the buoy. When I climbed back on board, I discovered that the outboard had stopped. By this time we were being quickly blown back onto the breaking reef behind us. Don’t panic Mr Mannering!
Glenys frantically threw the anchor over board while I tried to start the engine. The engine wouldn’t start and the anchor didn’t seem to be holding, so I dived overboard and swam down to jam the anchor beneath a rock. We stopped only ten metres from the breaking reef – phew!
I fiddled with the outboard and managed to get it going a couple of times, but then it would stall after 20 seconds. We dug out the paddles, but we were not able to row to windward against the 25 knot wind. It was a pretty hopeless position. The weather was miserable, so I was unlikely that any one would be passing within hailing distance for hours. We sat and sulked for 5 minutes.
I continued fiddling with the engine and then magically it started and continued to run. We dragged up the anchor and bolted back to the boat to recover.
After lunch, Glenys cooked the lobsters while I looked at the outboard. I couldn’t see anything major wrong, so I guess that we had water on the electrical system – I sprayed the electrics with WD40 and I hope that the engine will be OK.
The lobster tasted great with a nice, chilled bottle of red wine.
3 December 2011 Mount Hartman Bay, Grenada
I carried on venting the fridge. Just before lunch, I decided that it was good enough when the pressure came down to 10 psi rather than 3-7 psi on the basis that I’ve got a leak, so it will self-vent over time. I ordered a set of refrigerant charging gauges from the UK - they will be delivered to Brett who can bring them out with him in a few weeks’ time.
Glenys made a marvellous Lobster Bisque for lunch. I did a few small jobs in the afternoon including going up the mast to change the anchor light bulb for an LED lamp that uses a tenth of the power. I went for a run in the dinghy and the outboard seems to be behaving itself.
We had lobster curry and rice for dinner.
4 December 2011 Mount Hartman Bay to Hog Island, Grenada
We went to a boat jumble in Secret Harbour Marina. Amazingly, we got rid of a few things and didn’t buy anything else – this is the first time that Glenys hasn’t been tempted to buy more stuff than she sells...
The outboard kept cutting out on the way back, so I cleaned the fuel filter and hopefully that will sort out the problem. The last thing that we need is an unreliable outboard motor because it’s almost impossible to row the dinghy even in gentle winds.
After lunch, we motored around to Hog Island and chilled out for the rest of the afternoon. Around four o’clock, we went to the Roger’s Sunday Barbeque on the beach. There were a lot of people there, locals, tourists and yachties. One of the British cruisers was playing blues on an electric guitar, so we had a pleasant time chatting to other cruisers.
5 December 2011 Hog Island to Prickly Bay, Grenada
Hog Island is a lovely peaceful anchorage. It is almost completely landlocked and flat calm but still gets a breeze. No wonder that we stayed for months when we were here on Glencora fifteen years ago.
We went over for a chat with a yacht called “Lily Maid” wondering if it was the same people that we had met in Trinidad back in 1995. Amazingly it was – Mick, Alison with their children have been living on their yacht in the islands for over twenty years. Brett and Craig used to play with their son Ian who is now working on racing yachts in the Caribbean. These are the only people that we have seen from our cruising on Glencora many years ago.
We motored around to Prickly Bay, primarily to get rid of three big bags of rubbish that have accumulated over the past week. There’s nowhere to dispose of rubbish in Mount Hartman or Hog Island, which is a nuisance.
It was a very hot afternoon, so we lounged about. We went to happy hour at the bar with “Celebration”, “Mr Mac” and “Blackthorn Lady” and had pizza for dinner. It was great to catch up with them.
6 December 2011 Prickly Bay to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
The weather forecast for today was 10-15 knot SSE winds so we decided to take advantage of the wind direction and go to Carriacou for a bit of a break.
We had a great sail until we passed St Georges and then went into the wind shadow of the mountains of Grenada, so we motored for a couple of hours. I put out all three fishing lures and the birds. Near to the north end of Grenada, I hooked a big fish making the line scream out. I tried to be more careful, but again I put too much pressure on the reel clutch and the tension broke the 100lb test leader and it got away. It took my best lure which was a pity, but within 15 minutes, I’d hooked two nice 2lb Barracuda.
Once past the end of Grenada, we were able to sail again and went between the sisters and the Ile de Ronde where I caught another fish, this time a small bonito. The wind dropped off between Ile de Ronde and Tyrell Bay so we had to motor the last hour.
Tyrell Bay is already fairly crowded and we ended up anchoring quite a way from the beach next to an old ferry which is on a mooring, not the best place to be.
7 December 2011 Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
Glenys wanted to post a parcel to her Mum containing some bits and pieces for Christmas, so we went into Hillsborough. It’s a quaint little town with lots of small shops and supermarkets selling an eclectic mixture of things. We found out that Immigration is open on Christmas Day and New Year’s Day, but customs don’t know if they will be open or not. When Brett and Craig come over for Christmas, we’ll have to clear out and back into Carriacou, so we’ll have to avoid Christmas Day and New Year’s Day.
We chilled out for the afternoon, reading, clarinet, swimming, etc. Rod and Mary from “Sheer Tenacity” came over for sun-downers and we caught up on the last few months. It sounds like they are planning to go up to the States next summer, so we spent a fair bit of time discussing each other’s plans.
8 December 2011 Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
We dropped off our laundry went for a walk up Chapeau Carre. This is a pleasant two hour walk up to the top of the highest hill overlooking the bay. There is a fabulous view from up there. We have some hiking notes in the Caribbean Hikes section of this web site.
After lunch we went snorkelling on the headland to the south of the bay. There are some impressive sea cliffs which made me wish that I’d brought my rock climbing gear. The snorkelling was good with lots of boulders covered with coral and sponges, but there is a strong current which made it challenging.
We were invited by Derek to have dinner on “Buzzard”, which was very pleasant.
9 December 2011 Tyrell Bay to Sandy Island, Carriacou
It was a lovely morning with blue skies, fluffy clouds and light winds, so we decided to go to Saline Island on the east coast of Carriacou. We motored around the corner and anchored of the deserted island. It’s a lovely spot, but the current rips through the cut between the island and a long reef which is 50 metres away. The sea bed in the small bay shoals rapidly from twelve to two metres, but we managed to anchor in five metres. I wouldn’t feel comfortable spending the night unless it’s very calm.
We did some snorkelling, which was pleasant – we spotted a large octopus hiding in a small coral outcrop. The current really picked up after lunch, so we forgo any further swimming and decided to go around to Sandy Island for the night.
We had an enjoyable sail in the light winds and, for once, took the trouble to tack up wind rather than turning on the engine. Normally, we are just trying to get somewhere, but today felt more like a holiday, so we didn’t mind going slowly.
We picked up a mooring at Sandy Island – yachts aren’t allowed to anchor here anymore. There’s supposed to be an overnight charge for the use of the mooring, but I’ve heard that the Marine Park Authority doesn’t have a boat, so can’t collect the fees. We went snorkelling again – it’s much better to the north east end of the beach. I dived down to look at a coral head and spotted a sea horse, which was very exciting. They’re really hard to see. This one had algae growing on it and was covered in sand. I tried to get a good photograph of it, but it played coy and kept turning away from me.
Fish for dinner again – tonight it was Moroccan Barracuda Tagine – I’m looking forward to some meat tomorrow.
10 December 2011 Sandy Island to Petite St Vincent
We woke to another lovely morning with a 10-15 knot wind from the east, so we sailed to Petite Martinique. It was a cracking sail, tacking upwind in flat water. I took the opportunity to sort out the calibration of our wind gauge to give us consistent wind direction readings. At first, when we were hard on the wind, the gauge was showing 50° on one tack and 35° on the other tack. We found that the best angle for upwind without losing boat speed is just under 45°.
After lunch, we went ashore looking for cheap booze. Petite Martinique used to be a haven for smuggling with good prices on beer, wine and liquor, but it would seem that the customs and excise people have finally clamped down because the prices were the same as anywhere else in Grenada. We did manage to find a shop selling cheap Myers dark rum, so we bought a couple of bottles for Christmas.
The anchorage was a little rolly, so we motored over to Petite St Vincent (PSV), which is a small private island with a high-class holiday resort. It has beautiful beach with overhanging palm trees and the resort has an exclusive bar, so lots of charter boats come here.
This is the first time for months that we’ve encountered charter boats, who tend to be a little blasé about anchoring. They are fascinating to watch. We always carefully look for an open space, then pay our anchor chain out as we drift backwards in the wind making sure that the anchor is well dug in by reversing with the engine. Not charter boats, they roar in, dump their anchor & chain into a huge ball on the sea bed and crack open the beers, often ending up too close to other boats.
The big catamarans are the worst – these huge vessels arrive with a group of ten or more on board and tend to have loud parties in the evening. I got really annoyed with one catamaran that came and anchored close to the side of us blocking our view of the beach – I must relax more…
11 December 2011 Petite St Vincent to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
We sailed around the windward side of Carriacou. The navigation is a little more complicated than normal, with reefs and shoal patches, but the wind is more consistent. There’s a four mile long reef that stretches along the eastern shoreline forming a very large lagoon. It has two or three entrances, but they look pretty scary in the crashing waves and the lagoon is very shallow, so we gave that a miss.
We anchored off Saline Island for lunch - again we were the only boat there. It’s a lovely spot, but the current is wicked. We tried to snorkel off the long reef, but the current was sweeping us away – it’s mostly broken coral and wasn’t very good anyway.
Later in the afternoon, we sailed to Tyrell Bay. Once again we had trouble finding a place to anchor because the anchorage is so crowded. We ended up anchored close to the ferry. In fact, we were too near and as the sun went down, we were veering too close for comfort – I hope that we don’t hit it during the night.
12 December 2011 Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
The ferry didn’t hit us during the night, which was a relief, but we moved further in towards the shore when some other yachts left the anchorage.
I had a very lazy day - reading and mooching about, while Glenys decided to clean out the aft lazarette.
We went to “Sheer Tenacity” for sun downers with Jeremy and Yvonne from “Jervon”. They are all from South Africa and we had some good discussions on the best way to sail around Cape Good Hope and Madagascar. Neither of them are looking forward to crossing the Indian Ocean because of the pirates who are operating 2000 miles out of Somalia. We don’t expect to be there for another five years, so hopefully the piracy situation will have improved by then.
13 December 2011 Tyrell Bay to St David’s Harbour, Grenada
Glenys had a Skype conversation with Craig first thing in the morning, while I got the boat ready to sail down to Grenada. It’s amazing to be able to talk to our sons in the UK for free over the Internet.
We sailed down the windward side of Grenada – it’s the first time that we’ve done this and it’s well worth the small additional effort. The scenery passing the rocky islands between Carriacou and Grenada is spectacular, the wind is consistent and the fishing is great – I caught three tuna and one barracuda on the trip. I lost one fish when two of my three lures were hit at the same time. I had to make a decision which one to pull in – nice to have the choice. One of the smaller tuna that we caught had been attacked by another bigger fish by the time that I landed it. The tail was completely missing and there were large, six inch diameter teeth marks in the middle of its body – I wish that fish had been hooked…
The wind stayed with us until the last five miles, when reluctantly we had to turn on the engine and motor for an hour into St David’s Harbour.
We had a few beers in the bar and invited Neils and Ruth from “Baracca” for a fish dinner on board Alba.
14 December 2011 St David’s to Prickly Bay, Grenada
Our crate from the UK should arrive by banana boat at the end of this week, so I spent the morning printing out documentation and invoices for the items being shipped. Tomorrow, I’m going into St Georges to try to arrange a customs clearance agent and some transport back to the boat. I’m expecting that we’ll spend Monday getting the crate and sorting out the customs formalities.
When my administration was complete, we motored downwind to Prickly Bay and chilled out for the afternoon. Just as we thought that it was safe, a French boat came in and anchored directly in front of us. I realise that the French are gregarious (and thick skinned), but there’s acres and acres of empty water in this bay and the stupid idiots have to come and drop their anchor on top of ours – God give me strength.
We tried to ignore the French boat and had a quiet night in. Only seven more sleeps until our sons and their girlfriends arrive for Christmas.
15 December 2011 Prickly Bay to Calvigny Island, Grenada
We went into St Georges and talked to Hubbards, the shipping agents - the ship will be unloading on Sunday, so we’ll pick up the crate on Monday or Tuesday. There’s some confusion about whether Geest-line will release the crate because they haven’t sent me an invoice yet and I haven’t paid.
I went to see a customs clearance agent called Leslie Associates. It was a struggle getting information out of them, but eventually they said that it would cost about 50-100EC for the clearance and 75-100 EC for the transport which is a lot less than I paid last time. I’ll use them.
We did some shopping while in town – a couple of new fishing lures, small presents for Christmas and a Christmas Reggae CD. On the way back, we called in Spiceland Mall and did a big food shop.
Back on boat, I sent an email to Geest-line – asking for invoice and confirmation that they would release my shipment.
The bloody French boat anchored in front of us were very close when we came back and there was no sign of them moving, so we decided to move. Our anchor was in front of their boat, so they had to motor forwards to allow us to pull it up. The nasty streak in me was very pleased that the wife had to go and wake up the husband who was having an afternoon nap…
We started to motor around to Mount Hartman Bay for a bit of peace and quiet, but on the way changed our mind and went on to Clarkes Court Bay – what a life of whimsy we lead. We anchored off Calvigny Island. There were only four other boats the nearest one was 100 metres away, no French in sight – bliss.
16 December 2011 Calvigny Island, Grenada
This is a really nice anchorage, but I’m not able to get an Internet connection, so I went over to Coral Cove marina to use their wireless internet and buy a crate of beer. I’ve not had a reply from Geest-line, so I’ve paid £95 into their bank account and sent them another email asking them to clear my shipment.
We went for a dive off Adam Island. It wasn’t a very good dive site being mostly sand with spread out rocky outcrops. The visibility was rubbish, but we caught two 3lb lobster. The outboard stalled on us again, but again I managed to get it going after checking the fuel filter. I think that it's dirt in the fuel.
We had a quiet afternoon. Glenys froze the lobster tails for Brett & Craig and then boiled up the rest of the carcases to make stock for lobster bisque.
17 December 2011 Calvigny Island to Mount Hartman Bay, Grenada
I felt dodgy this morning, with an upset stomach and flu symptoms, so I took some Immodium and a couple of Paracetemol tablets. We motored around to Mount Hartman Bay and chilled out for the rest of the morning.
At two o’clock, I was still feeling a little dodgy, but we caught a group taxi to go to the Christmas Hash. (A Hash is an organised group hike/run through the country side following a paper trail. It is said that Hashers are drinkers with a running problem.)
I intended to walk around the Hash course, but after I saw Glenys start to jog, I just had to give it a go. The route went up a very steep hill for ten minutes, which was slow plodding and then down the other side which was jogging. After 25 minutes, I had a red mist in front of my eyes, so we stopped in a clearing for a drink of water. I decided to walk back to the start and Glenys carried on without me.
After walking down a few false trails under the dense trees, it was obvious that I was lost, so I continued along the Hash route. I soon caught up with Glenys because she was standing with another hundred people drinking beer at a refreshment station! Unfortunately, I was feeling so rough that I couldn’t partake.
We staggered to the finish and chilled out – everyone else drinking copious amounts of alcohol while I sipped a Coke… I wanted to leave so that I could die quietly, but I had to wait for the group taxi to take us back. As it was the last Hash of the year there were interminable speeches and prize giving and carol singing – bah, humbug.
18 December 2011 Mount Hartman Bay to Prickly Bay, Grenada
I had a very quiet day, recovering and resting – I still feel a little dodgy, but managed to force down two bowls of Gleny’s marvellous Lobster Bisque.
Glenys got on with small jobs preparing for our visitors arriving in a few days’ time.
19 December 2011 Prickly Bay, Grenada
I felt much better this morning and ready for a day of running about. At half past eight, I rang the shipping agent, but disappointingly, the ship was only unloaded late yesterday and we won’t be able to pick up the crate today - bummer. I sent another email to Geest-line and finally received a reply back at lunchtime that my shipment has now been released.
We went out for a walk to the hardware store and I bought some spares for the outboard. Glenys carried on to Spiceland Mall to do some Christmas shopping, while I went back to the customs in Prickly Bay to get a “Permit for Ships Stores”. This document proves that I’m on a “Yacht in Transit” and will reduce the duty down from over 30% to 2.5%, which is well worth having.
20 December 2011 Prickly Bay, Grenada
We went into St Georges to pick up our crate. The mini bus that we picked up was a nightmare because he took us all over the place trying to fill up his bus before going into St Georges. Normally, I wouldn’t have minded but I was keen to get the crate.
After our 45 minute journey, we went to Hubbards Shipping and obtained the first set of paperwork without any problem. We then walked to Leslie Associates who told us to meet a guy called Hudson at the port gates, who was to help us through the process.
Hudson wasn’t at the gate to meet us, so we paid $2EC to gain entry to the port at a kiosk window and then queued for 15 minutes to go through the security check. Hudson met us inside the gate, took us to the warehouse and soon found the crate. We opened it up with the tools that I’d brought and a customs officer came over to value the shipment. I gave him a detailed manifest and invoices totalling £1540, but for some strange reason he gave us the customs form with a valuation of £1650 – bastard.
Hudson took us back to Leslies because we had to fill in a special “Customs Declaration” form because of the reduced duty with my “Permit for Ships Stores”. Clutching our growing number of forms, we then went to the Customs office to get them to approve the “Customs Declaration” form. They were really rude and made us wait for 30 minutes while they messed about. We paid our 2.5% duty which was £45.
We went back to the Port to pay the port fees and get the crate, but Hudson had managed to lose the “Bill of Lading” form. Glenys and I then had to walk all the way back to Hubbards Shipping to get an authenticated copy. Just after noon, we returned to the Port and bought a sandwich and a coke before going into the Port to continue battle. We found Hudson, who in the meantime had found the missing “Bill of Lading” tucked away in some other papers – Ye Gods!
We had to hang around for 20 minutes waiting for Hudson to get us put onto the Port computer and then I had to walk back to the gate and pay $7EC port fees, while Glenys stood in a queue for 30 minutes, before we finally had the paperwork to leave the port with our shipment. Hudson arranged a pickup truck for $60EC and we paid him $70EC. We managed to escape from the port at half past one after 4½ hours of dealing with the crazy bureaucracy.
We managed to fit everything into the dinghy for a single trip, dumped it all in the cockpit and collapsed with another sandwich and a coke.
It was like an early Christmas with all of the stuff – Series Storm Drogue and chain plates, various tools, dc to dc converters, hubs, gizmos for the computer and an underwater camera strobe (my Christmas present which I wasn't allowed to look at). It only took us an hour to stash it all away after which we collapsed and had a nice cold beer.
We had a nice quiet evening in – the boys and girls arrive tomorrow, so this will be our last chance to chill out for a couple of weeks…
21 December 2011 Prickly Bay, Grenada
It was windy last night with a couple of very strong gusts. The forecast is for over twenty knot winds on Friday which is when we plan to sail up to Carriacou, so it will be a bouncy trip six hour trip. This made me think about man overboard drills, so I dashed out after breakfast and bought a “Life Sling”. This consists of a U shaped floating sling with a long floating rope which is attached to the boat. The idea is that if someone falls overboard, we will throw the sling to them, circle around the victim allowing them to grab the floating rope. Once they get inside the sling, they have some buoyancy and are attached to the boat. We can then pull them alongside and use a halyard to winch them on board if the seas are rough. I feel happier now.
We picked up our sons and their girlfriends in the afternoon and had a cold rum punch waiting for them after their long flight from the UK. We went to the bar for happy hour and had a pizza.
It’s fairly cramped having an extra four people on board. We’ve put Brett & Tash in our cabin, Craig & Kristen in the front cabin, so Glenys and I are sleeping on the floor and the berth in saloon.
The plan is to stay in Prickly Bay for another day and then sail up to Carriacou the following day.
22 December 2011 Prickly Bay to Mount Hartman, Grenada
It blew a hooley last night. The forecast is for strong 20-25 knot winds tomorrow with 9-12 ft seas. This means that the passage between Grenada and Carriacou will be a very hard 4 or 5 hours of slogging into head winds and big waves. We’ve decided to delay the sail up to the Grenadines for a few days and go to Hog Island for Christmas Day.
We all went into St Georges. I had to do two trips in the dinghy to get everyone ashore and it was so windy that I was soaked by the end of it. We walked to the fort above the town and then wandered around the market while Glenys bought some vegetables. Everyone really liked drinking coconut water directly from a coconut hacked open with a machete.
Our plan was to go to the Nutmeg restaurant for lunch, but they had no fish, no chicken, no beef and could only make shrimp rotis – they were waiting for a delivery of food. Why on earth they didn’t pop down to the supermarket next door is beyond me. We didn’t stay.
Plan B was to go to Grand Anse where we bought lunch from a local food stall who do excellent pork and rice and ate it in the park by the beach. Craig, Tash, Kristen and I went for a walk along Grand Anse beach while Glenys and Brett went to Spice Island Mall to do some food shopping.
As I was transporting Glenys and Tash and the shopping back to Alba, the outboard quit on me again. Neil from “Lucy Ellen” came and rescued us and then kindly went and picked up the others from the shore. I eventually managed to get the outboard started, but don’t know why it is cutting out – it only seems to be when we’re in bouncy waves, so I’m back to a fuel problem - I think. I tried to get the local Mariner Agent (Anro) to look at it but they’re really busy and can’t do anything for a week. I ran the small 2.5hp outboard for a few minutes and it seems OK, so as long as we don’t have to go very far, we’ll be able to cope if the 15hp engine packs in completely.
There was a very big swell coming into the anchorage and the wind was gusting 25+ knots making Alba rock & roll. Tash was feeling seasick, so we decided to motor around to Mount Hartman Bay. It was a very bouncy ½ hour ride around the headland in big 9 foot seas, but they seemed to enjoy this short, sharp introduction to sailing. Mount Hartman is a wonderful anchorage – almost flat calm.
After dinner, Brett decided that he wanted to do some fishing and, after he caught a small snapper, Tash wanted to join in. Between them they caught four reasonable fish – one’s a nice 3lb horse eye jack.
They enjoyed the whole day having seen the colourful market, been crammed onto the noisy local buses, eaten local food, done a little bit of sailing and caught some fish – not bad for a first day.
23 December 2011 Mount Hartman to Hog Island, Grenada
Brett was up before the rest of us, chilling out and watching a turtle bob its head up every ten minutes. I gave him a quick lesson in filleting fish and he had our lunch cleaned before breakfast was served.
We had mango and cereal for breakfast and then motored around to Hog Island. I thought that the anchorage would be very crowded because of Christmas and the strong winds that we’ve been having, but there was plenty of room.
After our fish sandwich lunch, Brett and Tash went for a walk on Hog Island while I took Craig and Kristen to do a bit of snorkelling – it was rubbish. There were big breaking waves on the reefs, so we ended up on the edge of the anchorage in very, very murky conditions. The damn outboard stalled again and then, to make matters worse, the starter cord jammed, so I spent a few hours messing about with it. I managed to get it going again, but I’m not very confident that it will keep going.
Everyone chilled out for the rest of the afternoon reading and napping. We went to Roger’s bar for sundowners. There was a Christmas party for one of the local guys and most people were pretty drunk by the time we got there. Brett and Craig were pinned into a corner by one of the local guys for half an hour of incoherent babble.
We had to paddle back because the outboard stalled, but I noticed that the electrical wiring leading to the stop switch on the throttle arm is sparking in the dark – could that be the problem?
We had dinner on board.
24 December 2011 Hog Island, Grenada
It was Christmas Eve today, but no rest for the wicked. After breakfast, I managed to fix the outboard. The wire from the stop switch was worn though exposing bare wires and when they touched, the outboard was cut off. I was really pleased to find this intermittent fault.
Brett had nearly run out of cigarettes and had a panicky quiver in his voice when he found out that we wouldn’t be near a shop for four days, so we zipped over to Whisper Cove Marina where we bought the healthy combination of beer and fags. They had no bread left, so we went to Hoburn and found a small grocery store open where I bought bread and on a whim, two coconuts.
Everyone chilled out for the rest of the day, swimming to the beach and reading. In the evening, I made a Pina Colada from the coconuts – what a lot of effort.
25 December 2011 Hog Island, Grenada
Christmas Day. Glenys prepared a fine breakfast of blinis and gravlax with scrambled eggs, all swilled down with a glass of buck’s fizz.
After opening our presents, Brett, Craig and I went snorkelling on the reef where we had a good time even though the visibility was poor. When we arrived back, we found that Glenys had started to prepare the Christmas dinner, but the damn oven was cutting out again. This is a repetitive problem which I don’t seem to be able to fix – all I have to do is bend the gas cut-out sensor so that it’s in a slightly different position over the burner, but it keeps moving when it gets hot. It’s very annoying because it’s a $1000US oven and only six months old.
After our big roast pork Christmas lunch and a few bottles of wine, we all went for a pleasant walk around Hog Island and then called in at Rogers Bar for a sun downer.
We had a buffet dinner and into bed exhausted – nice Christmas Day.
26 December 2011 Hog Island to Tyrell Bay, Carriacou
I dragged everyone out of bed at seven o’clock and we left the anchorage half an hour later. There wasn’t much wind, so we motor-sailed along the south coast of Grenada and up the leeward side. It was fairly calm, but the motion made Tash feel queasy, so she slept most of the way.
The wind picked up as we past the north end of Grenada, but it was straight on the nose, so I decided to continue to motor in order to get to Ile de Ronde as quickly as possible, because Tash was still suffering.
We anchored in Ile de Ronde, but we were rolling more than at sea because the swell was hooking around the corner. The youngsters all jumped overboard and went snorkelling for half an hour, while Glenys and I sorted out lunch and tidied up – six people make a lot of mess. They came back raving how clear the water was and that they had seen lots of fish. We had a quick lunch and then set sail for Tyrell Bay.
I attempted to sail for a hour, but we were being pushed east by the current and the motion was worse for Tash, so I put the engine back on and motored for the anchorage.
I'd put out my normal three fishing lines and everyone had drawn lots to “own” one of the lines. Brett had the rod, Craig had the hand line and Tash had the birds. The only bite that we had was a few miles out of Carriacou when a big Wahoo took Tash’s lure. She hauled it in and I managed to drag the four foot thrashing fish onto the back deck, but before I could whack it with the billy, it did a huge flail, bit through the steel trace and squirmed over board – I was gutted. Craig managed to get it all on video (see video section) and they all though that my rage was funny.
Tyrell Bay wasn't too crowded and the water was calm, so Tash soon recovered. We went out for a meal. Most of the restaurants were closed, but we managed to get a meal in the Lambi Queen. They'd already shut, but a Scandinavian group also wanted a meal so they reopened. A young girl came and took our order from a limited choice of chicken or fish with rice or chips. I ordered fish with rice and the everyone else ordered chicken and chips. Theirs arrived an hour later and then the chef came over and said that they had no fish and no rice, so I had chicken and chips - typical Caribbean efficiency.
27 December 2011 Tyrell Bay to Tobago Cays
We had another early start, aiming to get to the Tobago Cays and just as we were leaving Tyrell Bay, Tash caught a nice small Jack. We motored around to Hillsborough, where I checked out us out of Grenada. The anchorage was incredibly rolly and it was a real mission getting everyone on shore. The town was closed for a holiday, but Glenys and the others managed to find an open supermarket to get essentials - soft drinks and bread.
We motor-sailed upwind towards Union Island. The wind was gusting 25 knots and had kicked up very nasty steep waves, so it was a real bash. Tash was now under the influence of Sturgeron and slept most of the way, waking every so often to ask us to kill her. However, half way across to Union, she managed to pull in a nice little barracuda and just outside Clifton harbour, Craig hauled in a nice 3lb barracuda. Brett is still waiting.
We anchored off the man-made bar and, while the others went snorkelling, I zipped off to clear into St Vincent and the Grenadines. They charged me $275EC (£70) at the customs and then the immigration wanted $50 EC for overtime – I only had $280EC in my wallet. I was told that the only cash machine on the island was out of money, so I had to go back to the boat for some cash and then walk out to the airport again to pick up our passports. Just to make it all perfect, I got drenched in a rain squall.
We had lunch and set off for the Tobago Cays, actually managing to sail for an hour across to Mayreau. Then it was engine on again to motor upwind into the Cays. It wasn't too crowded and we managed to get a nice spot in three metres of water, close to the roped off area for the turtles.
Everyone was excited when a turtle popped its head up and we all quickly jumped into the water to go snorkelling, except Glenys who stayed on board to run the water maker and tidy up. We saw Green Turtles and Southern Sting Rays and Brett even saw a Spotted Eagle Ray.
We had barracuda for dinner.
28 December 2011 Tobago Cays
It was very windy night last night and the anchorage was bouncy in the morning, but everyone seemed to cope alright and ate a hearty breakfast.
We went snorkelling on the reef for an hour and a half. The water was very clear and everyone saw lots of fish – Craig and Kristen saw a nurse shark which was exciting for them.
The rest of the day was spent chilling out, reading and snorkelling in this idyllic place.
29 December 2011 Tobago Cays to Saline Bay, Mayreau
After breakfast, we sailed downwind to Saline Bay, which is a lovely anchorage with a beach fringed with coconut pam trees – very Caribbean.
I persuaded everyone to go for a walk. We walked to the windward side of the island where there is a lovely beach and great views of the reefs stretching out to the Tobago Cays. It was very pleasant strolling along the beach, but then we had to walk through trees following a faint path around the island. At times the path was overgrown and we had to push our way through thorny bushes. Everyone picked up a few scratches from the nasty spikes.
Eventually, we came out to the beach at Salt Whistle Bay and then had to grind up the steep road to the top of the hill where there is a pretty little church and a great view of the Tobago Cays. From there it was a quick walk down the hill and into a small restaurant overlooking Saline Bay. I thought that it was a pleasant little walk, but the others were exhausted. The cold drinks and lobster sandwiches went down well.
Everyone chilled out in the afternoon.
30 December 2011 Saline Bay to Chatham Bay, Union Island
It was very rolly in the morning, so we left after breakfast. We sailed to Clifton and anchored off the outer reef by the bar. The wind was blowing 25 knots from the east, so we all got soaked going into town. We picked up some more cash out from the hole in the wall and did some shopping – fresh vegetables and essentials from the supermarket – beer & bread of course.
Back on the boat, we dried off and sailed downwind to Chatham Bay. It took us three attempts to anchor. The first place that we tried - under the cliffs at the east of the beach, seemed to be broken coral because the anchor just dragged. We then tried again in the middle of the bay, but the boats were swirling around so much in the huge gusts, that we ended up too close to another yacht. Third time was better.
After lunch, I took Brett on a scuba dive. It was his first dive for 12 years and he did very well. He was extremely confident and had good buoyancy control. We had a good dive and spotted some nice fish and a good sized lobster - unfortunately I'd left my lobster snare behind.
I filled the scuba tanks and read a book while the others played Uno, hiding down below away from the shrieking gusts of wind that plague this anchorage. When Glenys went shopping in Clifton, the only meat that she found was frozen “chicken backs”. Unfortunately, these turned out to be chopped up carcases with no meat and only suitable for making soup stock, so we had chunky vegetable soup for dinner with a mountain of bread. Glenys has become very adept at producing a meal from dubious ingredients so it was tasty and filling.
31 December 2011 Chatham Bay, Union Island
We decided to re-anchor closer to the shore, so that everyone could more easily go snorkelling. It took us three attempts again –the anchor dragged in broken coral and rocks the first time and the second time we trapped the anchor under a huge rock, but the third time we managed to hit a lovely big patch of sand.
Today was a diving day. I took Craig, Kristen and Tash to the beach and gave them a short lesson in scuba diving before their first dive. I then took them out to the headland and did a 30 minute dive with each of them, inter-spaced with filling the tanks. They all really enjoyed the experience. This is the first time that I’ve done three dives in a day for years and I was knackered by the end of it.
We went to a New Year’s Eve party at a small beach bar, where we had goat stew and barbequed chicken with plantains and breadfruit salad – very nice. The rum punches that we were drinking seemed to get stronger as the night went on and we all became very “happy”. The people running the bar kept the party going with conga, limbo dancing and other games. We managed to pour ourselves into the dinghy and miraculously made it back to the boat without drowning anyone before midnight.
We celebrated the New Year on Alba and, in a drunken haze, I decided to set off an emergency parachute flare which was very impressive, if highly illegal.