Leaving Grenada

Written at: Prickly Bay, Grenada

Aug. 29, 2006

We have a weather window indicating easterly winds with a bit of north in them for tomorrow, ideal for heading southeast to Tobago. So our current plans are to check out with Customs and Immigration in the morning, and depart mid afternoon for the 75 mile passage. We have been in Grenada, including Hillsborough and Tyrrel Bay on Cariacou (part of Grenada), since April 24, and I have been getting the wanderlust again. This is the longest we have ever stayed in a place just because we liked it. This is more the cruising style of most people, and now that we are back in the Caribbean we will probably slow our pace of travel as well.

Our plans are uncertain, but tentatively we are looking at Tobago and Trinidad for a month or two, then I would like to go to Venezuela, possibly into the Orinoco River delta (in company with a few other boats for security), then up to Margarita Island, and start back up the islands in the end of November, possibly getting up to Antigua for mid December and the Christmas period. After that we would make our way up to Puerto Rico, the Dominican Republic, Cuba and the Bahamas. It is a pain staying out of the hurricane zone from June to November, and our thinking so far is that we will come back down the islands in the late spring and spend the hurricane season south again.

We like Grenada. The climate is warm all year round, the scenery lush, the people friendly, and there are good facilities and chandleries, By far our favourite anchorage is Hog Island. We had an enjoyable barbecue at Roger’s beach bar there last Sunday, our last until we return to Grenada. I organized a GAM of Seven Seas Cruising Association members that afternoon and we had eight boats who were members and several others interested in the SSCA. Also that afternoon, Roger had a small band playing in a beach hut with a generator operated sound system. It was most pleasant seeing the locals and boaters just enjoying the music and dancing to the Calypso and Soca rhythms on the sandy beach.

We had our starter motor checked and serviced, hoping that the intermittent starting problems will be eliminated. We also got new hardware from Dinghy-Tow to replace the ten year old parts, some of which had been worn, or jury-rigged to keep the system operational. The company also sent attachments for heavy -weather cross lines which we have installed on the lifting arms. We greatly appreciated this equipment and some of the suggestions made for more efficient operation of this system. While replacing the parts I also cleaned the lifting arms and the attachment points. They cleaned up quite well, and must be made of high quality stainless steel, as any rust cleaned off easily, and we had to use a drill press to drill holes for the cross line attachments, as our hand drill would not even scratch the surface. Thanks Dwight and Enza Marine for that task. Thanks Dinghy-Tow! Our system is virtually brand new again, ready for another ten years of service.

We have to scrape the hull, shaft, and propeller every few days to prevent the growth of barnacles. Our sun awnings work well, especially the forward one which Judy designed as a rain catcher. However, we do have to remove them in windy conditions as they create considerable windage, putting pressure on our anchor. I removed them last Friday as a tropical wave came through while our starter motor was in being checked. If the anchor had dragged, I would have had no engine to get Veleda out of trouble. That tropical wave developed farther up the chain of islands into Tropical Storm Ernesto, and is now threatening Cuba. We were OK down here, other than a day or so of 25 to 30 knot winds.

I may not be able to send pictures for a while as my camera has developed a lock on the card chip, and it cannot be removed. I don’t want to damage the camera by forcing it out with pliers, and there is no camera shop on Grenada able to check it. So, I will wait until Trinidad to see if I can get it repaired, or sent off for repairs to Fugi.

We have had a few small world encounters with boaters met in various parts of the world. I think I mentioned that we met Owen, who helped us set up our short wave antenna when we were in Mindelo in the Cape Verdes. He is here in around Hog Island buying one of the hurricane damaged boats to replace his which was lost at sea on his way across. Another boat recently met, FLYING CLOUD, have been in contact with Barb and Charlie on SAYONARA, friends we met in Europe and who are now concluding their ten plus years of live-aboard life, having just arrived in Detroit (with their boat). Another Brit hailed us as we were dinghying around Hog Island, and asked if we were in Holyhead in Wales a few years ago. Sure enough, it was a chap who was in charge of the club’s tender at the Holyhead Yacht Club when we were there for their sailpast on Anglesey in 2000.

There are several used sailboats available for sale, salvaged from the two hurricanes that came through last year. It is a bit disconcerting to see wrecked abandoned boats still on the rocks near every bay down here. The Lagoon in St. George’s is still littered with a dozen or more boats and ships destroyed in those storms. The pilings from the devastated marina are still sticking up through the surface, a hazard occupying about a quarter of the Lagoon. I have heard that there are grandiose plans for a new marina and yacht centre, with no free anchoring to be left inside the Lagoon.

All is well with us, Veleda, and Wave Dancer as we prepare to leave Grenada. Next log hopefully will be from Trinidad or Tobago. .

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