June 25

I spent the better part of the day on the computer.  I got caught up with writing the logs and then went up to Scuttlebutt's to get a good connection and published it.  While I had the good connection I also had to take care of a banking problem.  I have a VISA debit card, a VISA credit card, and an American Express card.  Whenever I purchase something, I prefer to use my Amex.  Unfortunately, down here many places don't take Amex.  In those cases I use the VISA credit card, which also earns miles, and I pay the full bill every month just like I would Amex.  The only time I use the debit card is to get cash from an ATM.  I used it three weeks ago in St. Maarten, and then Friday I used it here at a Royal Bank of Canada branch ATM.  Sunday morning, I received an e-mail from Bank of America that my debit card had been put on hold due to suspicious activity.  I assumed that the foreign ATM usage had triggered something and wasn't too worried about it.  We were out and about Sunday, so I didn't look at it until today.  I logged into my account and sure enough, there were a dozen small transactions totaling about $200 dated Saturday and Sunday.  I called the bank and told them that indeed these were fraudulent transactions.  They said they would take care of it, but of course they have to replace my card.  This will take five to seven days and they will mail it to my box in TX, so then I'll need to have it forwarded.  I explained our circumstances and asked if there was a way to expedite the process and send it to my brother.  Then he could carry it to St. Maarten next week and give it to me when we visit.  They would be more then happy to send it to a different address, but there is no way to expedite it even if I pay the shipping.  Sure makes me appreciate the service you get from American Express more.  They'll get you a new card anywhere in the world in twenty-four hours.  Fortunately, Barb and I have separate accounts, so we were able to get cash (from a different bank) from her card.  I went to the RBC branch and asked to speak to the manager to let them know that their ATM may be compromised.  She assured me that that wasn't possible and somebody must have gotten my card number some other way.  Yeah right.  It wouldn't be the first time a bad person inside the bank was skimming numbers from an ATM, but they would never admit to that possibility.  Scams everywhere!

As lunch time came, I heard the wait staff telling people they still had no burgers.  Guess they really were out the other night.  Eventually I went back to the boat.  Sol Y Mar still has not had electricity to run their a/c, since all of our buddy boats decided to stay longer than originally planned, thus no transformers freed up.  I turned off our big air conditioner, which is one of our two circuits and gave Pat that cord so he could charge his batteries and run their small a/c.  We turned on a fan to circulate the cool air from the aft cabin forward and it was tolerable, especially after dark.

We learned from Lili that we are TV stars.  When Steve went to return the rental car, the lady at the counter said we were on TV Saturday night at the calypso place.  Apparently we were seating right in front of the Prime Minister, and the camera kept picking him up in the crowd as he enjoyed the music.  I'm sure being the only white people in tie-dyed shirts in the building helped us stand out too.

Pat & Dori joined us at Scuttlebutt's for happy hour, and then we went next door to the Bosun's Bistro again for dinner.  I had the same chicken spaghetti alfredo I had a couple nights ago, because it had been so good.  It wasn't quite as good tonight, but still ok.

GPS N 14-32.761 W 061-02.506  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 9390.

June 26

Most of the boats we have been traveling with for the last couple of weeks left today.  They are just going down the coast of St. Lucia to either Soufriere or The Pitons for the night, and then on to Bequia tomorrow.  We plan to leap frog them and leave tomorrow morning and go overnight to Grenada.  The seas are supposed to be a little more settled tomorrow through Thursday.  Sol Y Mar probably will not leave ST. Lucia with us, because both of them have sore backs.  They will catch up with us in Grenada in a week or two.  Since several transformers are now available, they got there own and we turned our big a/c back on.

Mid morning, a rain shower came through.  After it was done, the deck of the boat was red.  It has been quite hazy here the past week, and the haze is caused by dust from the Sahara Dessert.  When it rains during a period like this, the locals call it a red rain.  Barb got out and hosed the boat off after the shower before it dried on it.

We all went to lunch at Scuttlebutt's today, because we could smell hamburgers being cooked.  Sure enough, the burgers were back and they were very good.  Their burgers are handmade, quite large, and seasoned with something that is very nice.

After lunch Barb & I hopped one of the local buses to the mall.  We are going to the grocery store to stock up before leaving.  We got a bus immediately when we got to the street and took the two mile ride.  We made quick work of getting most everything we needed, although we did notice the shelves were noticeably sparser than the other day when we just walked through.  I guess even here, the store stock varies during the week between delivery days.  We loaded our bags into several canvas bags we brought and walked back to the bus stop.  We had to wait a few minutes this time.  The first van that came by was full.  The next one had room for us, but we made it full and our bags had to be in our laps.  We made several stops between the mall and the marina, and of course each time it was somebody in back who needed to get out, so several people had to move.  Back at the marina, we stowed the groceries, got a bag of ice, and hit the marina liquor store for beer and rum.  We should be good to go in the morning.

When we checked in here, I told them we were only staying three days.  If you are staying three days or less, you clear in and out at the same time.  But since we have been here seven days, I had to fill the same form out again, with new dates.  The guy stamped it and that was that.  There was no new fee, just more paper.

We joined Pat & Dori for a departure happy hour.  This will be the first time we haven't been together since we were in the Bahamas in January.  They will catch up to us in a couple weeks though in Grenada. 

GPS N 14-32.761 W 061-02.506  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 9390.

June 27 & 28

We were up to listen to the weather just to be sure nothing had changed in the forecast before departing.  In the marina I have been unable to hear the SSB weather at all due to electrical interference, so I asked Steve on Liward, who is anchored out in the bay, if he would please call in to Chris Parker on my behalf and get the forecast.  He did, and the reply was that today was the best day to go.  Squalls will be moving into the area tomorrow night, and a tropical wave will be passing through Saturday/Sunday, so today is our only chance to make Grenada before Monday.  I checked out of the marina as soon as the office opened at 08:00, and by 08:30 we were backing out of the slip.  It was odd to be waving goodbye to Pat on the dock, and not have them following right behind us.

Our trip was the best passage we've had in months.  As we traveled down the coast of St. Lucia for the first three hours, we had almost no seas and the wind was ten to twelve knots.  This is because we were in the lee of the island.  When we got to the southern end of St. Lucia, the waves picked up from the south as did the wind.  This is the cape effect of the wind and waves bending around the end of an island.  After a few miles, the wind came back around to right off our port beam, the wind speed moderated to about fifteen knots, and there was almost no swell, just a couple foot wave chop.  The ride was pleasant although since the waves were a wind chop instead of a swell, there was a little jerky motion to it, but not bad at all.  Given the large variations in wind speed that we have experienced over the last couple of weeks, I was reluctant to put all the sail out.  Instead, we had the main and foresail reefed some, and kept the motor running, but not at full cruising rpm.  We were cooking along at over six knots most of the time, and even hit just shy of eight for a brief time.  We don't want to average more than six knots for the trip, else we will arrive before first light in the morning.

By mid afternoon, we were getting into the lee of St. Vincent.  We were about five miles offshore, but still felt the cape effect, but this time since it was the north end of the island, the wind and waves switched to more behind us.  We rode some fairly large swells from almost dead aft for a few miles, and then things moderated again as you would expect in the lee of an island.  By nightfall, we were passing the southern tip of St. Vincent and could see Bequia a little further south and east.  The rest of the gang that we had been traveling with left a day before us, stopped in St. Vincent, and we have heard them on the VHF today moving to Bequia.  I think they plan to move to Carriacou tomorrow, but will have to hole up there through the weekend because of the weather.  We pressed on as night fell.

The moon was just a couple days shy of full and had risen late in the afternoon.  We will have it for most of the night, which always makes night passages a little less stressful.  We are also sailing straight towards the Southern Cross which is pretty cool.  The night was uneventful.  The conditions stayed consistent, with fifteen to eighteen knot of wind and just a few feet of wind chop most of the way.  We only saw a couple of other ships during the night, and with one exception, they were several miles from us.  The exception was as we were approaching the north end of Grenada about 03:00.  Barb had been on watch for a few hours and had just woken me to take over.  She pointed out lights behind us that she said had been there a while, so she thought perhaps it was another sailboat traveling our way at about the same speed.  I kept an eye on the lights and they were slowly gaining on us, so I paid more attention and got them on the radar.  I looked through the binoculars and couldn't tell what kind of boat it was, because the moon was gone now and it was pitch dark.  We were about two miles offshore, and this boat was halfway between us and the shore going a knot or so faster than us.  As it got abeam of us, it turned on a large spotlight and lit us up.  I was about to hail them in the VHF and ask what was up, when the light went off.  I wondered if perhaps it was some kind of coastal patrol boat.  As dawn started to break I looked through the binoculars again, and could make out that it was just a small (50 or 60 foot) freighter with a ramp on the back.

We continued down the Grenada coast as the sun rose in a clear sky.  We were originally planning to stop in the main city of St. Georges to check in with Customs, but friends told us to go to Prickly Bay instead.  Being smaller and more attuned to cruisers instead of ferries and commercial traffic, the check in is more friendly and the anchoring is better.  There is a marina with a fuel dock in Prickly Bay, so my hope is that perhaps we can tie to the fuel dock, fill up, and check in with Customs while there and not have to anchor.  We rounded Point Saline, the southwestern tip of Grenada, and headed east towards the entrance to Prickly Bay.  The waves and wind here were bigger than we had in any other part of the trip, but not too bad.  We got into the protection of Prickly Bay after going a few miles east and found lots of boats anchored.  We found the marina and unfortunately, there was a large catamaran already at the fuel dock.  I tried hailing the marina on the VHF, but got no answer.  We circled around the anchorage a few times, and it looks like all the shallow (less than 20 feet) water is taken.  There are a number of empty mooring balls however.  I have no idea if they are private, or in good shape, or rentals, but we decided to pick one up just long enough to check in.  We got the mooring with no problem other than the pennant was quite slimy so Barb got her hands slimed when she attached it to the boat.  We immediately lowered the dinghy and I headed to the dock to check in.  Just as I left the boat, a local looking guy was approaching in a dinghy and flagged me down.  He explained that he rented the moorings in the bay and that if we wanted to stay overnight it was $12 US/night.  I explained that we were just checking in and asked if that was ok.  He said sure and gave me his card in case we needed any services while we were in the area.

I tied up to the dinghy dock and found Customs just up the hill.  There was one guy there in civilian clothes.  He gave me a five-part form to fill out with all the usual stuff about the boat and crew.  Since we will be flying out of Grenada, I also had to fill out an immigration form for both of us that we will need at the airport.  The guy then had to hand write two different receipts - one for the cruising permit for the boat, and one for immigration.  I joked that they needed to get him a computer so he didn't have to hand write everything.  He seemed to miss my point, but replied that the computer was only for scanning passports.  At that point, he opened a briefcase and started to boot a laptop.  The briefcase contained the laptop, a wireless antennae, and a scanner for passports.  So they are sorta high-tech except they still use a little receipt book with real carbon paper.  Total cost of the entry, $66.20 EC, or about $25 US.  I had $70 EC, but the guy said he didn't have any change.  So I had to go across the lawn to the mini-mart where I bought a bottle of orange juice to break my $20 bill.  I went back and paid the fee and was on my way.

We raised the dinghy for the short trip two more bays east to Clarke's Court Bay.  I considered towing the dinghy, but since it was a little rough, I decided not to.  When we raise the dinghy to travel, we put two wide nylon straps around it so it doesn't bounce around.  They are cumbersome to put on, so I elected to skip that step.  We dropped the mooring and headed out of Prickly Bay.  The water between Prickly Bay and Clarke's Court Bay is all less than thirty feet deep, with several marked reefs to avoid.  Once clear of Prickly Point, we turned east into five to six foot waves that were stacked very close.  In hindsight, I should have gone straight south, about a mile offshore, into deeper water where the chop would have been less.  Because the waves were piling up into the shallow area, they were much worse than further offshore.  But, once committed, we pressed on.  It's less than three miles to the entrance to Clarke's Court, so I figured we could endure it.  My decision to not strap the dinghy down though was the wrong one.  The dinghy was swinging wildly from side to side, and I was afraid it was going to flip over enough to dump out all the stuff we carry in it, like it's anchors, life jackets, it's battery, it's seat, etc.  I also was concerned that the way it was swinging, it could chafe through the line that attaches to the hoisting pulley.  One of those lines is already chafing and is one the list of things to fix while we are here.  After about twenty minutes of slamming through the waves, we turned north into Clarke's Court Bay.  Within a quarter mile of turning north, we were in the lee of a point of land and back in calm waters.  The entrance to the bay is clearly marked to avoid a large reef on each side.  This part of the trip was rougher than anything we have done in months.  Good thing it was short lived.  The marina we are going to, Clarke's Court Bay Marina, is at the northern end of the bay.  We hailed the marina and announced our arrival.  Our reservation is not until the 1st, but I'm assuming an early arrival is no problem.  The marina guy answered right away and said to come on in and he would meet us on the dock.  As were approaching, Barb was getting the dock lines ready and I was watching her, when I suddenly noticed a brown spot in the water ahead of us.  I looked down at the chart plotter, and sure enough, it showed a five foot spot.  I pulled back the throttle and turned hard to starboard just as the keel crunched over the edge of the shallow spot.  We went from twenty feet to kissing off the bottom in less than a boat length.  It was the first time we have touched the bottom and it sounded like rock or reef instead of soft sand or mud.  Since we just kissed it, we didn't come to a stop and no harm was done, except to my nerves.  As we approached the docks, we saw the guy waving to us.  We pulled in the slip and tied to the floating dock with no problem.

The dock guy turned out to be Bob, the owner.  We introduced ourselves and got the lay of the land.  The electric here is 220v 50hz, like it was in St. Lucia, but they have transformers available.  The transformers, while still quite heavy are not as big or heavy as the ones in St. Lucia were.  Bob asked that we put the transformer in the cockpit instead of on the dock, to protect it somewhat from the weather.  We got it hooked up and everything works fine, and the air conditioners sound more consistent than they did in St. Lucia.  We relaxed and opened a beer to celebrate our arrival.

If I haven't made it clear before, this is going to be our home port for the next four months.  Our insurance defines hurricane season as July 1st to November 1st.  It also defines the latitude that we should be south of to be theoretically out of the hurricane zone.  Since hurricane Ivan devastated Grenada in 2004, the insurance companies have all moved the imaginary line of coverage south ninety miles to Trinidad.  Most boaters are going to Trinidad or Venezuela for hurricane season now because of this change.  This is even though Trinidad and Venezuela both have a higher risk of crime and other problems to deal with.  We are constantly hearing stories, both good and bad, about the past year in both countries, and Venezuela is a larger unknown since the political climate there is so volatile.  We decided to stay in Grenada, insurance company be damned.  Our insurance is not void here, it just won't cover damage from a named storm.  Since Ivan was the only hurricane to ever hit Grenada, we are going to take the risk.  Of course we will keep a close eye on the weather, and if a storm does threaten, we can decide then whether to batten down the hatches or run the ninety miles to Trinidad.  A lot of boaters use hurricane season as a time to leave their boats and fly back home to visit family.  So, they have to be more concerned about the boat being unattended in a safe place.  We don't have that concern, since we will be here all except next week, so we can be more flexible.

Clarke's Court Bay is the most undeveloped of the several southern bays.  There is a small town, Woburn, across the bay.  We can dinghy there to get a cheap bus (mini-van) to St. Georges when we need to.  The marina itself is pretty basic.  It was destroyed by Ivan, so what is here has all been built in the past couple of years.  There are three floating docks, which can each hold fifteen to twenty boats.  There is power and water on the docks.  There is no cable TV, although there is satellite TV up in the bar.  There is a small bar with the TV and a pool table, and I think they have food some of the time, although it is brought in, not prepared there.  The radio station they play must also come from the satellite, because it was a Toronto station.  Bob, the owner, is from Canada, so I guess he likes to keep in touch.  There are bathrooms and showers, and washing machines, but at this time no dryer, so you have to hang the clothes to dry.  There is free wireless internet, so I'll be connected for a while.  On our side of the bay, there are no other buildings.  There is a large area that has been kept mowed and trimmed nice.  I don't know if this is part of Bob's land or not.  While the facilities are basic, I'm looking forward to some quiet relaxation.

Remarkably, we both stayed up all day, even though neither of us slept much overnight.  A boat we have met on the radio but not in person, Adventure Bound, came in and docked next to us.  They will be flying out for three weeks and then going to the boatyard to do some major work for a couple of months.  Jim and Amanda are a young couple form Canada.  It seems a lot more common to meet younger cruisers from Canada.  They must have a better idea about getting away and doing an adventure while you can instead of working all your life until retirement to do it.

Barb, Amanda, and Jeanette all did some laundry this afternoon, and now all three boats have clothes hanging from the lifelines.  Gives a nice trashy look to the place.  Many marinas, usually the ones that think they are high class, have rules about not hanging laundry outside the boat.  Here it is obviously expected.  Bob explained that the dryer is not hooked up because most boaters are cheap and would rather hang their clothes.  I think all three of the women today would dispute that, but for now that's what we've got.  The clothes hung on the lifelines for several hours and were still not dry.  While there is a good breeze blowing, and the sun is out, it's pretty humid, so it's a slow process.  When rain threatened later in the afternoon, Barb brought everything in.  She strung a line around several points in the main saloon to hang things from.  With the air conditioning on, they will probably dry faster inside anyway.

Bed came early for us.  After a few cocktails, Barb made it until 19:00 and I made it until 20:30.  We both slept soundly to make up for missing sleep last night.

GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360  Nautical miles traveled today 149.  Total miles 9539.

June 29

We had a lazy day today.  The weather is as predicted - off and on rain all day.  Barb did another load of laundry, since we really need some stuff clean to take on our trip next week.  Since it is raining, we strung a line around the inside of the boat and hung the clothes inside.  So temporarily, it is an obstacle course to move through the boat.  With the air conditioning running, hopefully the stuff will dry pretty fast.

At 17:00, Bob the marina owner, had invited us all to a pot luck in the bar.  He provided some barbequed chicken and the plates and utensils.  There were five boats represented there, MoonSail, Adventure Bound, Sol Magique, Seaman's Elixir, and Joat Mon.  We enjoyed getting to know everybody a little.  I think we all are staying here for the season, so we'll get to know them better.  We ate and drank and played pool and visited until about 21:00. 

GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 9539.

June 30

Is it illegal to have several days in a row where you do pretty much nothing?  I did make a list of things to do on the boat over the next few months.  But, I don't want to run out of things to do too soon, so I didn't actually do any of them.  We arranged for a taxi Monday morning to take us to the airport.  We are flying to St. Maarten to join my brother and his family at their timeshare.  It's funny that we are permanently on vacation, but it feels like we will be taking a vacation, since it's different from our everyday vacation.  The rest of the day was spent surfing the net and reading.  There was still off and on rain all day and the wind was blowing hard as predicted.  This is a weak tropical wave that's here to get us in the mood for hurricane season.

We spoke to Sol Y Mar using Skype and they are both feeling much better and will be departing St. Lucia soon.  They may be here before we get back from St Maarten. 

GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360  Nautical miles traveled today 0.  Total miles 9539.