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.