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!!