A wet, windy and wild passage

Clearing out from Grenada (in Hillsborough, Carriacou) our plan was to head to Union Island, a short trip across with the whole day to do it.

As we left the relative comfort of the anchorage and headed west of Jack a Dan (a large rock jutting out of the water, home to pelicans), we immediately caught the wind. Unlike Grenada, Carriacou was very windy on the leeward side that morning. We had already put in 2 reefs prior to leaving and with the wind gusting 30 knots we brought in the jib as well. A difficult sail, we continued to beat up the coast until we cleared the north headland. As we started our crossing to Union Island, not only did we have the gusts to contend with but also the swells. By this point I am starting to feel ill so gladly helmed to keep focused as we pummelled the waves. As Dylan went down below to check that nothing was flying around in the saloon, another gust took us and we broached. Having never broached before I was terrified. Clutching onto the wheel I squealed as the boat heels right over and the steering becomes too tough to fight against, wind loud in my ears, I see Dylan's startled face from below. Ever the protector, Dylan starts to sing a silly song, diverting the attention away from the situation. Stubborn mule that I am, although petrified I continued to fight the wheel until after what seems like an age, our rudder pops back in the water and we continue sailing as if nothing happened. In hindsight the whole scenario lasted a couple of seconds but it was enough for me to hand the helm over to Dylan and disappear below to study the charts instead!! During that ordeal the boat made a 'twang', when Dylan went on deck to investigate further he found that the starboard aft stay had completely sheared from the deck and was swinging in the wind. A bungee cord and several twines later we secure it to the other stay and start to discuss our next steps.

Shaken from the experience I proposed we head for the nearest anchorage and survey the damage, wanting to quickly get out of the wind and swell. We were nearest to Union Island but to get into the anchorage would have involved numerous tacks and we didn't fancy worsening the situation! Managing to demast 3 weeks into our adventure was not a story I wanted to tell our grandkids in years to come. Why not use the engine? We are hardly like the Pardys but with the large swell running and 30 knot wind right on the nose we were doing almost 2000 revs, reaching almost 180 degrees and only going 1.8 knots! Petit St Vincent although a little further away could be reached on a port tack, was an easy anchorage to access and required little engine use so that was a winner! Of course we hadn't been there before so we were just trusting my navigational skills and our newly acquired seamanship. Luckily the trust we put in ourselves paid off and we sailed a further 4 nm with no problems and dropped anchor with plenty of daylight left (feeling quite chuffed with ourselves for overcoming our first dilemma at sea!).

After a stiff rum and coke (always fruit juice for me as Grenadians don't seem to stock diet anything!) we investigated the severed chain plate and found it was heavily corroded and the last load it had endured when we broached just tipped it over the edge shearing the plate. We plugged up the hole to make it water tight and started to relax, surveying our surroundings.

Petit St Vincent (PSV) is the most beautiful place I have been to, to date. It is exactly what you think of when you picture the Caribbean. A very small private island, it is surrounded by bright blue waters and white coral sand with no inhabitants other than the hotel guests and when we arrived...no charterers!! The island is a resort for the rich and famous where one goes for utter seclusion, staying in stone cottages with a flagpole that needs to be raised if you wish to have room service. With privacy in mind, as yachties we are unable to explore the island but we are free to walk on the beach as long as we are discreet with hotel guests. On one walk we found a hoard of black coral that had been washed ashore which we quickly put in our bags, keen to make the most of this find as normally you need to dive between 300 and 3000 ft to get it!

Looking over the side of Orion we could see 6 metres down to a whole family of conch. Keen to capture our own conch, prepare and cook it we went on our first snorkel which in itself was a daunting experience. According to our Garmin, the current was running at 1.5 knots which made jumping in the water a little scary, unsure whether we would be swept out to sea! Thankfully we could swim against it and started to dive seeing puffer fish, lion fish, arrow crab and a huge starfish. Finding the biggest conch in the area for our dinner we brought him onboard to start the dinner preparation. Dylan was appointed chief preparer whilst I volunteered to be the photographer. We started by knocking a hole in the shell between the 2^nd and 3^rd ridge and to loosen the claw, this allowed us to pull him out of his shell. Next step was to remove his stomach, eyes, snout and skin. Finding a conch basher in the galley, Dylan then began pounding the meat until translucent. We wanted to be able to taste the flavour so we just dipped the prepared conch in breadcrumbs and fried it. Although a lot of effort to catch and prepare the conch, he tasted lovely – like a non rubbery version of calamari. Shall definitely be helping ourselves to more of those off the ocean floor!

After a weekend near this paradise island, we figured it was time to face the music and get our rigging fixed. The wind had been gusting up to 36 knots but on Sunday they were a casual 25 so we made a dash for it. The islands further up the chain would become more remote with very little technical yacht services so we made the decision to backtrack and sail back to Carriacou. Not what we really wanted to do as our plan was to work our way North but as we are quickly realising, all plans need to remain fluid!

A couple of hours of motoring but this time with the swells, we surfed our way into Hillsborough, Carriacou. Unfortunately the swells only got worst and we spent the night feeling like we were on a ride in Alton Towers!! 8am comes and we make our way back to customs and immigration that we had only left some 4 days earlier. A little perplexed to see us back so soon and having no country stamps in our passport to account for the last 4 days (PSV is part of St Vincent so we never cleared in) we turned on the charm and got welcomed back into Grenada.

A further 2 hours of motoring and we arrived back in Tyrell Bay. Having read Doyle's cruising guide he states that there is a great French guy here that specialises in stainless steel fabrication, now all we need to do is hunt down his trimaraft workshop!

You have nothing to fear...

but fear itself...

And never has this been more true. There were a lot of things that I was very anxious about when I first convinced Sally to come sailing.

Sure I had sailed a boat before, I had taken watches and manned the helm on a few night passages while both racing and for pleasure. I had crewed countless times on racers and cruisers, with friends family and competitive skippers. What I had never done before, was everything else...sailing is the easy part!

I had never owned a boat before. Short of a Day Skipper course to teach some of the basics around mooring, anchoring, navigation and seamanship, all of this was new to me.

I had a list of 'things that made me anxious', that I tried really hard to research in order to become more confident with knowledge (theory) prior to actually doing them. These included, anchoring in a crowded bay (how to pick the right spot, how to set an anchor, how not to drag, how not to look like a novice / idiot doing it), clearing in and out of a port (what documents are required and what is the process?), yacht maintenance (what anti-fouling to use, when to use a primer, engine basics), etc.

Our first 'dropping of the anchor', I made sure we had a experienced friend with us to help guide us and ensure we did not arrive in some one else's lap later that evening when the wind picked up.

We had to anchor a number of times since then just Sally and I. I must admit we are getting pretty good at it. I guide us in while Sally does her bit on the bow. I still have yet to convince Sal to dive on the anchor and bed it in, she much prefers to sit on the bow and offer guidance. As it turns out, anchoring is not a big deal after you have done it a few times and we are no longer daunted by it.

However we had never cleared in or out of customs before. We dressed up, yachtie style – meaning I wore shoes, socks, longs and a button up shirt...I wouldn't usually, way too hot. Nerves were on edge...do we in fact have the right paperwork and documents...what is the procedure...who do we see first?

Earlier that week friends had shown us where we had to go and who to see first. We strolled in acting like pro's. “Hi, We would like to clear out” I said to the immigration officer. To which he responded. “Coom bak 1pm, cus we is on lunch at 12.”. I looked at the clock...it was 11:45.

We took the paperwork with us and filled it out over a nice fruit smoothie. Sure we had to wait an hour (and a bit) but hey, we are in the Caribbean. Everything runs on GMT here we are told. “Grenada Maybe Time”. So one of the biggest lessons we learnt was patience.

Sure, in fact we did not have all the right paperwork as we did not have a form to clear us in. The previous owner had it. But... as with all things in the Caribbean, nothing is insurmountable and they waved us through after we explained we had just bought the boat. (We did show our Bill of Sale to prove it).

In short, the documents you will need to clear out appear to be...

1. Passports for you and your crew
2. Previous document clearing you in / out of your previous port

As for your ships registration, it will probably be required when we check in some where (but it was not required to clear out).

The process is probably going to be different in each port, but all in all by asking a few people, they will be able to tell you what to do.

Clearing out (and in) is no longer as daunting as it used to be.

Anchoring and more to the point dragging, is still a bit of a concern. When a big gust comes through I tend to shoot up to the cockpit and eyeball all the other yachts to check that we are not dragging and they are not dragging into our pride and joy! The night likes to play little tricks with the mind though. Shapes always appear closer at night and swinging around in the dark leads one to think that you are moving towards other shapes. However, I left the Nav Instruments on the other day during a good blow to see what we peaked at. 36 knots! While probably not a massive blow by some standards, it is not what we were expecting in the “calm” Caribbean. I anxiously sat in the cockpit for 30 minutes listening to the wind, watching the swing and the other boats. I ran all the scenarios. If we drag, then I will wake Sally and we will up anchor and get out of the anchorage and re-anchor somewhere or hove to just out side the bay. If they drag, I will try get their attention. Dinghy over and bang on their hull or something. (note to self: get a fog horn).

Needless to say, our little 35lbs CQR held us firm. I dived on the anchor the next day and we had not dragged a foot. Our regime of: anchor, leave it for 10 minutes to settle, put the snubber on, reverse on it at 2000 revs for 20 seconds and then dive on it and bed it in even further, seems to be paying off.

As a note, chain does you no good sitting in a chain locker...as a result, we pay out all our chain regardless of the depth of water. As I write this we are in 20ft of water and I have 140ft of chain out. As I have mentioned before, about 40 feet of chain is not even touching the bottom due to the arc of the chain. This extends to 50 / 60 ft when a solid gust pulls the snubber out the water at what looks like parallel to the sea bed. If I lived by the 5:1 ratio, sometimes as little as 40ft of chain would be on the sea bed. I have 150ft on board and wish I had 300...

I had my best sleep the other night. I only woke up 3 times to check our situation (using two of those as opportunities to have a covert pee over the side while it was still night).

The more we live on board at anchor, the more we are relaxing. We trust the holding power of our bedded-in anchor and confident about the terrain we are anchored in. Sure we have manually moved an anchor just so I could bed it in sand (as opposed to weeds) but hey, I needed the exercise and the lung training.

All in all, clearing out was not a big deal. We look forward to clearing in and seeing how that process works. Off to Union Island to find that out!

Carriacou and the Iguanas

Carriacou and the Iguanas

After a sleepless night at a rolly St George we upped anchor at 7am and made for Carriacou.

The previous night we had done a passage plan, ensuring that we were both comfortable with the trip, a total of 34 nautical miles. Leaving first thing in the morning gave us the privilege of sailing with no other boats around; you could smell and see Grenada waking up. The cockerels were squawking and smoke was coming from the hills as the locals fired up their stoves.

The reason for noticing such detail was that we were hardly moving. With typically no wind early mornings in Grenada, Dylan was sulking as we motored in the lee of the island unable to put up any sails and doing between 2 to 4 knots. The engine ruining the ambience of the setting.

After 3 hours having just passed Gouyave, we finally found the wind and boy did it blow!! By then other yachts and cats were beside us and they headed inshore close to the island. Not Dylan, as the skipper he opted to head offshore to get the sails up, beating into the wind and battling the swells. Having got over the initial fear of the toe rails in the water, I started to relax and enjoy the sail – Dylan was beaming away happily at the helm whilst I clung to the bimini.

As we cleared Grenada and started the open passage towards Carriacou, the swells subsided and we started to relax at the helm. Just as well as constantly checking wind direction and sailing straight into it is tiring work! Sailing along, wind in our hair (well mine at least) we spotted lots of flying fish and even a turtle popped up to say hello.

As I took the helm, Dylan went down below to check the bilges and found that that the engine water pump was leaking, having filled our bilge. As the wind dropped off again, we had no choice but to turn on the engine again and it was my job to keep my head in the bilge clearing it every so often and that may be why at that point I came up into the cockpit looking slightly green....and proceeded to feed the fish over the side. Reluctant to turn on the engine, when we had Tyrell Bay (the anchorage) in sight, we started to tack trying to hold off pushing the starter button (turns out it was just a broken seal). We hear a drumming sound and Dylan panics thinking something else is wrong below...turns out 7 miles offshore we were hearing the carnival celebrations!!

7 tacks later, we made it into the bay and found a nice sandy /slightly weedy spot to drop anchor at 5pm. As we approached our spot we were almost deafened with the sound of reggae music. I reckoned it was a dodgy looking party boat so we moved away from them and realised the music wasn't any quieter. With the sun starting to go down, Dylan quickly grabbed his snorkelling equipment and dived on the anchor, ending up manually re-bedding it so we could get a decent's night sleep without worrying. Meanwhile I was on the lookout for the hooligans playing unsociably loud music. As we looked around the bay, we saw many boats we had got friendly with in Grenada; our neighbours were Patrick and Miriam off Skye so we jumped in and swam over to say hello. These guys filled us in on the source of the music. Unknowingly we had arrived for the start of carnival which was starting on the Sunday and continuing to Tuesday...that night the music didn't finish until 3am.

Carriacou is a quaint place. A small (ish) island where most of the locals rely on fishing and the occasional yachtie to make ends meet. As we awake the next morning, we go into the cockpit and hear a 'skip skip'. As we look over the side, there is a traditional fishing boat with a a guy pedalling his wares. This time he was flogging lobster, mangrove oysters and wine. We politely declined as I remembered Donald Street mentioned the oysters have been traced back to the source of a hepatitis outbreak in 2000.

Keen to get involved in the local festivities, we headed ashore with Patrick and Miriam off Skye and Jim, Stephen and Deanna off My Deere. Fastening our dinghy to the main jetty, we caught a bus into Hillsborough (the capital), 21 people rammed into a 16 seater in addition to 3 kids on laps. We arrived at 3pm when we thought the festival was starting...and ended up spending 3 hours milling around or sitting on the pavement waiting for the locals to get things moving. We should have learnt by now, add at least 2 hours to any start time and we may be closer to island time!

The Carriacouan ladies wore traditional carnival dress, glitzy skimpy bikinis with fabulous headresses, of all shapes and sizes and covered in glitter. As the music got going, the ladies jumped onto a truck carrying massive speakers and started shaking their booty. A line of ladies followed all in groups dressed in the same colours as well as men at the end dressed in multi coloured smocks and head dresses. The music was addictive and you couldn't help but dance along with them at the side of the road. We found a lovely little smoothie shack on the beach where you can sit on their pastel coloured stools and watch the ocean whilst sipping on a soursop smoothie. Gabriel the owner was very friendly and we promised him we would come back for some more.

At around 8pm, the carnival died down so we caught a bus back to Tyrell Bay with Marcy and Keith who had got to Carriacou that day and joined us at the festivities.

Although we didn't see it (as it commences at 5am!) I must mention the Shakespeare Mas. It is tradition every year for locals from Carriacou to dress up in costume and recite lines to each other from his plays. If the local gets the lines wrong, they hit each other with a stick and start jousting!! Sounds a 'hoot' as Dylan would say, but unfortunately the kick off time put us off. So we were in our beds fast asleep when at 5am...the music starts blasting marking the start of this tradition...we might as well have been in the action rather than trying to ram our ear plugs further down our ear canals to block out the commotion!!

The next day we went wandering the town and came across a huge iguana. Having not seen them before in the wild, I was amazed to find this green monster staring back at me and kicked myself for not bringing my camera. As we continued walking down the beach, we stopped to buy fresh fruit from a multi coloured shack and came across some locals cooking iguana! Just getting over my surprise at seeing these things in the wild, I was horrified to see these pretty animals in a state of rigormortis over a barrel, about to be BBQ'ed. Apparently they are a local delicacy and we were invited back to try them once ready...needless to say we didn't make a return trip but I did take photos to show my friends and family back home.

The snorkelling round Tyrell Bay is quite good and a short dinghy ride away we found a great reef teaming with wildlife. A big ray was chilling out on the bottom and the reef walls had a whole community of crayfish. Having heard the tales of his Dad pulling these out by hand, Dylan tried to entice these creatures out of their hidey holes and ended up holding a broken off antennae. We had lentil curry that night...

Having spent 3 days anchored here, we decided to set sail for Union Island via Hillsborough to clear out of Grenada. Our first contact with Customs and Immigration and a topic close to Dylan's heart so I shall leave it to him to fill you in on the next chapter of our story!

Our first Sail...

was AMAZING!

We had our instruments installed, we now knew how deep we were. Time to test everything out.
We went out in about 10 - 15 knots of breeze to have a proper sail.

It was a "trip to nowhere", an out and back experience. A Texan friend of our (Myles) came with us as he is currently waiting for his boat to be repaired in the nearby yard.

We left late in the afternoon as we had some chores to do in the AM. We raised anchor, sailed out past Twizzle (a 183 ft super yacht owned by what must be a very wealthy family).

We raised the main. Thanks to the Antal Cars and the size of the sail, it could be pulled up by hand and then only needed tensioning with the winch.

Out came the headsail next. The centre board was lowered and away we went. As I was busy at the mast prepping the sails, Sally was at the helm. We both found her very well balanced and easy to steer.

She should handle a wind vane very well if this is any indication of things to come. Engine off, a nice reach, full sails. Man, it was nice to be on the water again.
It felt so long since we sat in near silence only to hear the swish of water under the hull.

As we turned in towards Prickly Bay, the sun starting to set on the horizon, I gave a thought to how nice it would be to just stay out there and sail through the night. There is something terrific about sailing at night sitting on watch, thinking, philosophising. This is the boat to do that on!

Our maiden voyage

13:00 – Orion is bursting at the seams with provisions we had bought the previous day. Tins, rice, pasta, coke, rum, treats etc – all stowed away in our copious amounts of storage space in the saloon. We prepare her for sail by taking the mainsail cover off, stowing all loose items in lockers, doing the engine checks, closing the sea cocks, turning on the new navigation instruments. By this time Dylan is like an excitable puppy, anxious to get away and start our maiden voyage. We had done a test sail the previous day but that was with another friend Myles. We had yet to sail just the two of us on a boat...ever. I seem to have fallen into the role of anchor lady, great responsibility as I get to choose the location whilst Dylan follows my hand signals. Not so great when the anchor chain fouls and I have a minor panic thinking we are about to be pushed onto the rocks!! We pull up our anchor and head for the marina.

13:15 – We radio ahead to Prickly Bay marina office and inform them that we want to come in to refuel and get water. Heading over to the fuel dock in Prickly Bay, Dylan steered us through the marked channel, turned us around and brought us alongside. I chuck the bow and stern lines onto the dock for the guy to catch and secure. Killing the engine we breathe a sigh of relief whilst our hearts start to go back to their normal speed. At the dock we are met by Keith and David, part of two sailing couples, they reward us with 2 beers for making it and present us with a bottle of rum for our maiden voyage. All water tanks, fuel, gasoline and jerry cans full, we slip the lines and head off to Grand Anse where we are planning on anchoring for the night.

15:00 – After sailing for well over an hour we have already slipped into a routine. I helm whilst Dylan sees to the mainsail and gib on the foredeck and then Dylan helms whilst I do the navigation. Always wanting to know where we are on the map I happily slip into this role, calling out the course to steer and keeping track of our path on the GPS. The sailing conditions are great, no clouds in the sky, 10-15 knots of wind and a slight swell. We reach our maximum speed so far of 8.8 knots as Dylan continues to tweak the sails, eager to make Orion happy and easier for me to helm. We round Point Saline looking out for the shallow shoals and head for a place to anchor for the night.

16:00 – We spot a place between a German catamaran and a Canadian yacht that doesn't look too rolly and is a decent depth for us to anchor. Sun still strong in the sky for now but we are keen to drop the pick whilst we still have daylight hours to play with. We anchor first time and I send Dylan over the side with his snorkelling gear to check the anchor. Turns out the bottom is coral which really isn't the best but as we plan on leaving at sun rise and there is little wind, we figure it will do.

17:30 – Rum and coke all round as we sit in the cockpit and prepare to watch the sun go down. Chris Doyle's cruising guide to hand (thanks Gem and Dave) we start to plot our course for tomorrow where we intend to leave Grenada and head up to Carriacou on the west coast, avoiding Kick Em Jenny which is an active volcano – should make things interesting and put my day skipper navigation to the test!!

The 'Hash'

Dylan and our new friend Myles convinced me that Saturday afternoon's were best spent doing a hash. I had no inclining what this was other than it was a form of exercise and people seemed to love it. Not one to miss out on these opportunities I found myself on the bus, destination Westerhall Rum Factory with my hiking shoes in tow.

When arriving at the factory, Dylan and I were ushered into the 'virgins' group. This team was set up for all the new people to hashing. I still didn't really have a clue what I was getting myself into and listened in anticipation whilst the main guy explained how to follow a paper trail with such commands as 'are you?' and 'on on'. Slightly clueless we decided that we were going to laugh off the running trail and stick with the walkers.

We started up the hill with around a hundred other people, all dressed in red to mark valentines day. There were people of all shapes and sizes ranging from the American student energizer bunny with chihuahua accessory to an obese local lady with a kid strapped to her back. We kept up the pace and continued to look out for the mounds of shredded paper. The trail took us up and down steep inclines and at one point had no choice but to slide down on our bums. We crossed a river with no stepping stones as an aid, I admit that I fell in once and have the bruises now to show for it! Whilst we were progressing with the walker's trail, at times the runners would cross our path, a slight rustle of leaves and a runner would come careering down beside you, knocking you out of the way with no prior signal. Certainly made for an interesting river crossing!

The hash gave us a great opportunity to network with other foreigners and gave us a glimpse of the Grenadian countryside, far away from the tourist spots and cruise ship passengers. The end of the trail was marked with a big drinks hut, stocked to the brim with beers and local rum. They say that 'hashers' are drinkers with a running problem. I tend to agree after seeing the drinking games enforced on certain individuals after the hash in front of all participants. Us 'virgins' had to go and hug each other whilst getting sprayed with beer and then a certificate presented to each of us for 'loosing our virginity'.

A fantastic day out but don't think I will be doing it again, I value my ankles too much!!

Grenada Independence Day

Somewhat delayed post as Independence Day was on 7^th February. Internet signal out in the bay is getting more and more unpredictable with the average log in time of 30 minutes.

We anchored on the Monday and the next day we left the boat for the first time to go and see the independence day celebrations. As we motored away from Orion, we made a mental note of where she was, hoping that we would come back to find her in the same place and not dragged onto another boat!

The bus left Prickly Bay at 2pm and most of the yachties had made an effort, dressing in the colours of Grenada. There were funny hats, multi coloured t shirts, shorts, flags. Dylan and I clearly didn't get the memo as I rocked up in a blue dress and dylan in his grey shirt.

From the bay we headed for the stadium where we were in for a couple of hours of local entertainment before we headed off to watch a pan band. As we approached the stadium, hundreds of locals were swarming into the stands, each one dressed in red, green and yellow. There were stalls set up by the side of the road selling everything from corn on the cob to overproof rum. We were ushered into a reserved area with a prime viewing spot of the stage and proceeded to stare at the same space for an hour with nothing happening. The event as well as the locals were on island time and we appeared to be extremely early. After what seemed an eternity a big guy with a thick gold chain around his neck (Nuish – proper stair grinder) was introduced to us as the minister of tourism. He was treated like a celebrity and after a big applause he welcomed us to the island and thanked us for contributing to their GDP (of which 25% is tourism). He seemed to have been brought all the way into the stands for our benefit and after some hand shaking in the front row he was ushered away. How bizarre, I have no idea who the minister of tourism is in the UK and even if I did, he certainly wouldn't be treated as a celebrity!

The next 2 hours were spent watching paint dry....I mean observing the army, navy, brownies, guides and cadets marching up and down the field. Very talented to all keep in time but after a couple of hours of it, Dylan and I were falling asleep having not slept much the previous night for fear we were drifting off our anchor (we didn't).

Just as we were about to be leaving, the fun started. Ten members of the parachute regiment jumped from a plane and started floating towards the ground aiming to land on a marked square patch of grass in the centre of the stadium – none of them were successful. Just as they jumped, the wind picked up and it started to pour with rain bringing visibility to almost zero. The guys started hitting the ground, sending the swarms of army and naval regiments running for cover. No casualties luckily but one guy did severely overshoot the mark and ended up in the stands (photo below).

Fun over we were shooed back into the bus and chaperoned to St Pauls where we found ourselves in a deserted basketball court. No words of explanation, a group of around 30 cruisers stood around, scratching our heads, looking for some signs of life whilst the torrential rain continued. We eventually were greeted by a guy who was the community centre warden. Dylan (ever the South African) asked on behalf of the group whether there were beers for us whilst we were waiting for the pan band to start up. Cheers of encouragement forced the warden to pick a lock so we were presented with a few crates of Carib and rum punch to keep us quiet.

After a further 2 hours 'liming' – a popular island past time, the pan band started playing and we were entertained with fantastic traditional Caribbean music as well as learning about the history of the drums. For food we were served the dish of Grenada – oil down. Complete with breadfruit, salted pork, tons of saffron and callaloo, its and amazing dish that can only really be made on a big scale.

We eventually got taken home around 11pm (way past cruiser's midnight) but not before I was followed by a local guy wanting to do some 'sexy dancing'. Dylan, ever the opportunist, encouraged this guy to taunt me but I was having none of it. I didn't really fancy such intrusion into my personal space!

Lights went out at midnight with the ring of the pan drums still in our ears.

My new instrument...

What a lovely valentines day for me. I had my instruments installed and boy am I chuffed with them.

Having used Garmin before, I knew full well what they looked like and how they worked, however, I had not played around with one to see the full extent of its functionality.

All our instruments were in pretty dire condition. The depth sounder display was no longer readable , the cups on the mast head wind instruments had long since become brittle in the tropic sun and one of the cups had vanished meaning no wind speed. Wind direction still worked fine, however the display was starting to look a bit tired like the depth and speed display.

Rather than replace each one individually, I bit the bullet and replaced them all. We got a Tri-ducer (depth, speed and temp) – why have 2 holes in the hull when one will do...and the mast head wind direction and speed. As finances were a bit of an issue considering our recent acquisition (of the boat) we only got one display.

The main reason I went for this system was that it is a NMEA 2000 system. The latest marine protocol and therefore probably stay more current than a NMEA 0183 system that is being phased out. Being a bit of a computer guy, I could see all the benefits of the standardised links, protocols etc. It reminded me of the old token ring / coaxial networks we used to have in school, with T pieces that plugged in the network cards (before the days of ethernet and TCP/IP).

The nice thing about it was that the Airmar Triducer (Garmin range) was that it fitted exactly into the existing Airmar through hull. It even came with an instruction guide on how to retro fit it in the old style of through hull (AKA, the “one that does not have the quasi non return value that still leaks water but is better than nothing”). We fitted this in the yard to avoid messing around with getting a new triducer into a little hole while an ocean tries to make its acquaintance with the inside of your boat.

So, our first issue was replacing the wind instruments on the mast. We hired a guy to come and do the electronics as I am not very familiar with marine electronics and I wanted this done properly.

We sent him up the mast to remove the old instruments, set up the new one and chase the new cable down the mast by pulling it through on the old cable.

Old off, new on, cable in mast being pulled through and...

The splice came apart and I pulled all the old cable through minus the new one. SHIT!

Each minute this guy spends on the boat is costing me a hell of a lot of money!

Plan B – send a mouse down (not a real one...too hard to train).

Dangling a lead sinker and line from the mast head, I am trying to hook it with a coat hanger (ALWAYS have a wire coat hanger on a boat...Always!).

I hook it, and we pull it all through.

The lovely thing about the way Garmin has done this (other might have this too, but I will speak of their instruments), is that the wind instrument connects to the cable by way of a connector. If the wind instrument needs to be replaced one day, I can just disconnect the mast cable and put it on a new instrument. No need to replace the cable (or have a nasty splice at the top of the mast).

Not Orion's actual network (or devices)

Using the old power cable, we connect up the power straight into the network. No connecting power to each unit anymore! You connect one 12v power cable to the backbone of the network and all the instruments feed off it. The backbone in Orion consists of 3 T pieces connected together.

At the one end is the wind instruments cable connector where the female termination piece would usually go (this is the only one not connected as a T). The first T has the Triducer (with the end connected to the wind instruments cable and the other end connected to the next T piece).

The next T is the power and connected to that is the display T with a male terminator at the end to tell the system that those are all the devices in the network.

The absolute beauty of the system is that if I wanted to add GPS, another display, engine gauges etc etc to the system, it is as easy as removing the male terminator at the end and adding another T piece (no power cables, nothing!)

What was even better, and testimony to the electrician who was doing the work was that it all worked beautifully when we flicked the switch. Sure it cost me 6 hours of labour, but it is a good job, will last me a while and I know I can personally add further devices if I wish at a later date without having to hire a “sparky” to run power cables etc. 

So now you must be thinking...”only one display, how will you ever see all your data from only one measly display?”

“Simples!”, says I. Garmin systems use a series of pages that you can scroll through. We set our to have Apparent Wind (direction and strength), Depth and Speed pages.

“But sometimes you need to see all the data!” you cry.

So I set a custom page which consists of 4 mini screens. On it we have Depth, Speed, Wind Direction and Wind Speed (apparent).

It was so incredibly simple to set up and configure, it is like using many of the other Garmin products (car SatNav etc).

This is the first major purchase we have made for the boat (read upgrade) and boy are we happy with it. Time will tell if it lasts us, does not break and customer support etc, but for now I am one satisfied customer!

Garmin, I love you!

PS: There is loads of other data that we have on the system too. Barometer, Sea Temp, Air Temp, etc all additional useful stuff!

A Typical Day at Anchor...

Despite going to bed at 8pm I am still not a morning person, 12 hours sleep is typical for me now and I love the fact that I feel no guilt for doing this. Dylan rises early and potters about the boat trying to make minimal noise until I rise from my slumber. The cruiser's net goes on every morning at 7:30am apart from Sunday. The net tells us the weather forecast and we listen out for any activities that we may want to get involved in.

After the net has finished we get up and do a couple of hours of chores whilst the sun is still low in the sky. There is never a set routine for chores but there is always something to do on the boat. For example this morning we battened the mainsail and put in the reefing lines – having put the mainsail on whilst in the yard we realised after flaking that we had left out the reefing lines and the first batten. Other chores this morning included resetting the leather anti chafe device on anchor snubber, fixing outboard davit as it had a faulty block, cleaned the head and washed the dishes.

Washing the dishes is a major chore in itself. Watching our fresh water consumption onboard is one of Dylan's favourite pastimes. To fill the tanks we need to dinghy ashore with jerry cans and fill them up one by one as well as pay for the pleasure. With that being a pain in the a** we try and use sea water when possible. To wash the dishes we put a bucket over the side and collect the sea water. Next step is to soak the dishes and wash them in the sea water in the cockpit prior to placing them all in the sink in the galley. I then fill the sink with an inch of fresh water and rinse them off, putting them one by one on top of a tea towel. We have no drying rack so I can only rinse a couple of dishes at a time before I need to put them away making room for more dishes to come out of the sink.

Chores completed we usually reward ourselves with a couple of hours of sunshine reading the kindle, using the laptop, reading the local newspaper or reading the cruising guide to work on our upcoming passage plan.

When the midday sun arrives, we escape to indoors and make our breakfast /lunch. With the climate so hot and humid here, we eat very little as our appetite has almost vanished. This meal usually consists of fruit (oranges or mangoes) and a sandwich or pasta. Throughout the day we have dinghies visiting from other boats to say hi or invite us to drinks that evening or the next. It really is a social lifestyle and a knock on the hull indicates a fellow cruiser wanting to have a chat.

Around 2ish we usually take the dinghy ashore and catch a bus into either Grand Anse (beach and grocery shopping) or St George (market and sightseeing). A hardy big bag accompanies us as it is a lot easier to haul our groceries into the dinghy with a strong Samsonite bag than it is carrier bags!(courtesy of Doug And Sarah – we would not have bought a Samsonite bag for groceries!) Being so used to walking around in bare feet, we have forgotten our shoes on a couple of occasions and got no further than de Big Fish bar, enjoying a cold beer in the heat with our bare feet on their exposed floorboards looking like true 'yachties'.

One of the best parts of the trip ashore for me is the dinghy ride. Two people being powered by a 10HP outboard makes for an exciting ride where we plane, hair streaming away from my face with no splash to soak my clothes. Dylan insisted that I learnt how to use it the other day. In his usual fashion we were at a busy dinghy dock with people mulling around and he told me we weren't going anywhere unless I moved the dinghy. Being an independent woman, I certainly wasn't going to back down so I figured out how to put the wrist strap on the kill switch and set about trying to start it up. Well Dylan certainly makes it look easy, I had to use both hands and stand up in order to kick start the engine! Pride still intact I then tried to get my head around the steering rod / throttle which behaves the same as a tiller, this is where I went a little wrong....ramming the dock by mistaking reverse for forward. Giggles all round I managed to navigate us out of the dock and we zig zagged our way back to the boat. Although fun to do, I much prefer being the passenger!

Back to our typical day...once returning from our trip ashore hot and sweaty, we usually go for a snorkel. The spots around here aren't the best as the water is murky but we do see coral, sea urchins and colourful fish. Taking advantage of being in the water with our snorkelling gear we often clean any growth on the hull of our boat too.

Out of the water we then start the process of showering. We do have 2 showers on board – one in the head and one in the cockpit. However as mentioned earlier, we are tight on our fresh water usage so try not to use them. The process starts by hauling out a bucket of sea water from over the side. Already wet from the snorkel, we lather up as best we can with soap and shampoo then rinse off with the bucket of sea water. This is done naked, sitting in the cockpit. As we have weather cloths in the cockpit (canvas that blocks the view from chest down) we have relatively good privacy from other yachts, however any swells that come by would probably provide our neighbours with a good eyeful! Once rinsed off, we treat ourselves to some fresh water out of the solar shower (thanks Nicholas) that we tie to the bimini, this gets the salt out of my hair that left in turns my hair to straw.

By this time it is about 4pm and we start to plan what we are doing in the evening. Most days we finds ourselves at drinks on other people's boats in the bay. 'Sundowner' parties start around 5:30pm and involve a lot of rum and snacks. Being out on the anchor, the gusts of wind keep mosquitos at bay so we can enjoy watching the sun set with a glass in our hand and not be eaten alive. Getting back into the dinghy after copious amounts of drinks is always fun and so far neither of us have fallen in....

Getting back to our boat about 8pm we go to the loo and then to bed. Going to the loo is exercise in itself. Once you have done your 'business' the pump needs to be pumped about 30 times. Being an old boat, the pump is quite stiff and by the end of this trip I am going to have biceps the size of Popeye's!

We sleep up forward in the v berth with the hatch open (unless it is raining) and look straight up at the stars. With the gentle swell rocking us back and forth we are over looked by The Hunter and other constellations and fall into a peaceful slumber.

Peaceful sleep...

Not the bug spray, but ode to anchoring.

Prickly Bay is a pretty crowded anchorage. There is a fair sized swell from the South attacking the bay making it very rolly. Especially for our little shallow drafted Tartan.
The wind has been pretty stiff too these last few days resulting in good gusts of up to 25+ knots across the bay. (estimated as we don't have wind instruments)

After 3 nights of restless sleep, we decided to move (yet again - 4th time). This time closer in shore (towards the windward shore, not the leeward) in order to tuck in behind the reef for greater protection from the swell.

In doing so, we also came into the lee slightly and hence the wind lessened.

One of our concerns when we were moored in the middle of the bay, it is a deep bowl, with 15 or so metres under the keel. Being a little out of shape, getting my blubbery little, seal-like body down to that depth proved rather tricky. Sally's suggestion of tying some chain to my feet and plopping me over the side was met with scepticism.

Hauling myself down on the chain, I could see that most of the chain was hanging free in a large curve from surface to bottom. Most of it was not actually on the bottom so was not doing its job of increased resistance against dragging. Sure, I could have shackled the rope to the end and dropped all the chain overboard, but I could not go back any further for fear of hitting another yacht parked behind us.

Decisions, decisions!

Uncomfortable with the anchor, our position and uncertainty, we decided to move.
We first scouted out a good position nestled between some other yachts with our dinghy and then went in with the boat.
We took our time anchoring. Put her hard astern and pulled the chain tight.
Just as an extra precaution, I dived on the anchor. The water is still murky so could not see the anchor from the surface. I pulled myself along 140ft of chain to get to the anchor. However, once found, I had to pop to the surface. Diving down again it was difficult to find and a lot of energy (aka breath) expended trying to search for it.

So! Plan B - Tying a buoy to a length of rope, I made a loop around the chain and then chased the loop all the way to the anchor. This allowed me to pop up, catch my breath and then chase the line straight down to the anchor where i then bedded it.
This is not the process of tucking it in and reading it a bed time story, but rather working it into the sand to  ensure that it does not drag.

Where you going...NOWHERE!

Interestingly, although i had put her hard astern to try set the anchor, the anchor was on her side and I had to set her upright properly by hand. This goes to show that the only sure way to know that your anchor is properly set is to dive on it!

That night was a lovely peaceful sleep for the first time since we plopped in the water. Safe in the knowledge that my anchor is set well and there is sufficient chain on the floor. But I did still get up a number of times (and no, not due to bladder problems!) this is par for the course to check on things. Sweet dreams...

A proposed route...

With sailing, plans change with the wind, literally!
We have encountered so many cruisers that have made plans to meet friends and family in certain locations but have been unable to get there in time due to engine / repair issues or just for lack of a weather window.

As such, the best we can do is tell people where we think we will be going to and when and let them decide if they want to be there at a similar time. Fix a firm caveat on that though...we might not ever get there!

The issues with sailing in the Caribbean like many other places in the world is the weather systems. In the Caribbean, we have a good weather window from 1st December to 1st July. Then it becomes hurricane season and not so much fun being in your floating home that moves like a tortoise (relative to a hurricane).
So people tend to 'winter' their boats for hurricane season by pulling them out the water and going back to the US or Europe etc. The Caribbean gets a little quieter during the off season.

As such, our plan, now that we have splashed (yachtie talk for getting the boat into the water), will be to go up the windward islands, then as high up the leeward islands as possible in a 2 month period before turning around and coming south again. It would be good to get to the British Virgin Islands, but it is fairly tight considering we still have a lot of learning to do on the boat and would then need to get her back down to Grenada (ish) by July.

But it is not a race! Sally and I were thinking about going up there quickly and coming down slowly.

Without having given it too much thought, our proposed route is as follows:

Leave Grenada at the end of February
Carriacou for a few days
Union Island
Tobago Cays
Canouan
Mustique
Bequia
St Vincent
St Lucia
Martinique
Dominica
Guadeloupe
Montserrat
St Kitts and Nevis
Anguilla
British Virgin Islands in about end of April (although looking at the above list, we will probably never get there as we are in no rush and want to enjoy all the places we look to sail to)

Whatever we don't see on the way up, we will try see on the way down.

But as with all sailing, this is very weather dependent. If the wind decides to blow in the wrong direction for 2 weeks, we could spend 2 weeks there.

On the way back down, we would like to go to Barbados. I reckon that this will be in about July.

After that...who knows!

Afloat at last...

We are floating...my version of our launch.

My first taste of living aboard a yacht full time was in a dusty, hot, mosquito infested yard – only onwards and upwards from that situation!!

We had been waiting for our triducer to be shipped from America and paid priority shipping with fedex to get it to Grenada quicker. Unfortunately the parts we wanted were not in stock so we waited a week for them to get to the warehouse and then the fabulous fedex service got it from Las Vegas to Grenada in 36 hours!! Now THAT is first rate service. With the transducer now plugging the hole in our thruhull, we were good to launch. With this being Friday, we booked to launch on the Monday figuring all the wiring of the depth and wind instruments could be done on the water.

Monday morning we rose early and went on a hunt for outboard parts. We had yet to get our motor working and it required at least a new impeller and gasket. We were feeling rather anxious at this point thinking that we may have to result in rowing the large dinghy ashore considering the likelihood of this auto-parts firm stocking our Mercury specific items being very slim. Luckily, Prestige motors came up with the goods and with a little help from Desmond in the yard, we had her purring again and ready to go.

Fenders out, dock lines tied on the bow and stern we awaited for the travel lift to come and get us. We took this opportunity to run through our anchoring process, hand signals we would use to each other and who would do what role. As I was newer to this than Dylan, we decided that I would be on the anchor (we have an electric windlass) and Dylan on the helm. I practiced a good few times on the hard to build my confidence in locking and unlocking the windlass.

Tipping the yard boys, we managed to buy some time to drop the centreboard and give it a slick of antifoul whilst the boat was in the slings. Our hearts were in our mouths as the lift took the weight of our boat that represents all of our life's earnings and all our worldly possessions. Sure these guys do this activity every single day but it doesn't stop you from worrying and grimacing as the machine creaks and groans under the boat's weight.

Paint applied, we raised the centreboard and lowered her into the water. Myles, a guy we met at drinks nights earlier, agreed to come and help us anchor on our first time. We piled on board and slipped the dock lines whilst the engine started first time. We were finally motoring with no leaks and no hiccups so far!

Wind in our hair we navigated away from the shore and through the channel markers, I was on lookout for any oncoming traffic whilst Dylan headed for a possible anchoring spot – beaming smiles on our faces.

Puttering through the anchored boats we waved at familiar faces and were cheered on by fellow cruisers that had heard our story and were genuinely happy to see us finally out on the water.

Having eyed up a nice big space in the boats to attempt our first anchoring, Dylan put her into neutral whilst I lowered the chain and counted the markers (white paint every 20 ft). On our second attempt we were happy with our position relative to other yachts and cracked open the beers to observe the bite of the anchor.

Next step was to haul the dinghy over the side and put on the outboard. It worked first time – woop! Myles, Dylan and I piled into the dinghy and headed to shore, planing along in our big dinghy with a 10HP engine. No splashes, no wet shorts, no grumbles from me. Finding a tin flag of Grenada we hoisted up the flag and breathed a sigh of contentment. 

This evening we have enjoyed our spacious cockpit with no mozzies in sight, watching the sunset under a full moon. An activity we couldn't have done in the yard for fear of being eaten alive. As I write this it is close to bedtime (8pm!) and we are gently being rocked to sleep by the swell....heaven.

Splash day...

The big day of the launch.
We can't wait. Having spent 2 weeks on the hard, we can't wait to be on the water and bobbing on an anchor.

We have learnt something new every day that we have been on land, but now it marks a new set of things to learn. How to not block the head, how to conserve fresh water, how to not drag anchor, how to sleep in a rolly anchorage etc.

Getting her prepped for launch is an entire process in itself. Everyone has their own processes. We have seen a bunch of people come and go in the yard over the last few weeks and noticed a few things and learnt a few tricks. Lesson 1 - make sure your dinghy and outboard work as it is a long row into shore.

1. We pumped up the dinghy and made sure there were no leaks.
2. We prepped and tested the outboard engine. (it seemed to have a water pump issue which required spares to be bought)
3. Bought gasoline for the outboard
4. Mixed in the 2 stroke oil (at the right ratio!)
5. Put on all the sails (as you would need them if we had an engine failure)
6. Put on all the sheets
7. Made sure the anchor chain was marked (we did ours every 20 feet)
8. Filled the water tanks and solar showers
9. Do all the washing (sheets, towels, bedding etc)
10. Stocked up on large / heavy items (as heaving heavy stores in and out of a dinghy is not the best)
11. Toilet roll! (we did not have any as we used the yard facilities for ablutions) 
12. Charged up all our electronics as we will be 100% green once on the water (solar and wind)

The Kindness of Cruisers...

Dedicated to Vernon and Donna on Endless Love Too, Sarah and Doug on Mindemoya, Keith and Marcey on Mimi - fair winds.

Where to start.

It has been quite an eye opener for us London folk. We lived in one of the biggest cities in the world and did not even know our next door neighbours. We do not speak to people on the transport system and we most certainly do not go around asking random people's advice. Keeping our anonyminity was what we were used to.

But cruising is different. It is a community where every one knows what it is like to be novices and some
profess to still be learning after 20 years on the water (yes and on the flip side, a few do profess to know it all).

There is always common ground and a story that can be shared. Generally these are the frustrating ones of parts that once ordered, have never arrived or the hairy ones of being stuck in hurricanes or the usual story of charterers (or the French) dragging anchor into you.

We have met some wonderful people whilst getting the boat ready in the yard. They have taught us a lot and asked nothing in return. Most are cruisers that take a few months off every year to sail the Caribbean, some are just starting their adventures and some ending theirs, selling up and moving back to dry land.

To aid in our networking with salty folk, there is a daily VHF session every morning for cruisers to listen in and find out all sorts of info, ranging from weather to stuff for sale to when the next get-together / event will be. Cruisers ask questions and for help regarding all sorts of matters and the forum of listeners all too often has a useful phone number or post session call to discuss.

Regardless of the radio to hide behind, yachties are a social bunch. We have had drinks with a few people now despite being the 'new kids on the block' (figuratively and literally as we are most people's children's age...or younger). It is great to sit in another boats cockpit, admire their home and take note of the little tips and tricks they use. How to keep your head from blocking, best way to store fruit and veg in the heat, etc. Their stories are also inspirational as they tell tales of other beautiful anchorages and islands just begging to be explored.

We have received a few gifts from cruisers who are returning home and no longer had need for a few items. All that they ask in return is that we pay it forward. What a wonderful attitude to have to life...