Nov 1 - 8
The week after our trip to the States was consumed with getting ready to cruise again. There aren't any huge issues with the boat to be dealt with, but there is always a list. First off, it felt odd to be at the marina and not be working. I didn't have to be up at 07:00 each day, and didn't have to keep a constant eye on what was going on, even when I was on the boat. I could check in on the Coconut Telegraph in the morning and be sitting down instead of standing so I could see out the window in case anybody came to the marina.
Dave & Sue on Pirate's Hideout had a car rented that we agreed to share the expense of for a few days, so I had until Wednesday to do any projects that might require me to go to the parts stores. In the first few days back, I did a bunch of tasks on the boat. I re-installed the stereo and the Sirius receiver which I had taken to the States. The reactivation of the Sirius box seemed to be all it needed, because it works now. We are so far south that we don't get a constant Sirius signal, but we get it enough to know it works, and look forward to getting it again as we move north. I rebuilt the pump on the head. This wasn't as bad as usual, because the rebuild was not preceded by a clogged head as it often is. This was just because the pump leaked clean water when you pumped it. I finally fashioned a small gutter over the aft hatch. When we aren't air conditioned, this hatch, which is right at the head of the bed, is always open. If it only rains lightly, we would like to be able to leave it open, but water runs down the face that the hatch is mounted on and drips onto the sill, causing a little splash onto the bed. I installed a half inch channel over the top edge of the hatch, which hopefully will divert the water and stop that dripping. Sounds good on paper, and looks good installed. We'll see if it really works. There were probably a dozen other little tasks that I did, but since I deleted them from my to-do list as I completed them, I can't go back and remember them now.
I spent a whole day setting up my new computer. I got all of the data copied from the old one, and installed some of the software. I ran into a problem though with my navigation software and electronic charts. The software I use is The Capn. And my charts were all from Softcharts. Well, a few years ago, The Capn was purchased by a company called Maptech. Softcharts was also purchased by Maptech. In both cases, the purchases were simply to shelve the products which competed with other Maptech products. Well, Maptech has gone out of business now, and it's assets are being sold off in pieces to various other companies. That's good and bad. The Capn has been sold to a new company, but they are still trying to get their act together, so there is nobody there yet to give me a new key that will work on the new computer. By the same token, the company that purchased the chart portion of Maptech is not in place yet. So, I have the program installed and the charts installed, but can't use either on the new computer until I get new keys. Fortunately I can still use the old computer, I just have to resize the windows to fit the working portion of the screen. I also did not get the stuff to use the satellite phone for e-mail installed on the new machine. That was mostly my fault for not just working harder at it. However, I should have resolved that before leaving the nice fast internet connection at the marina. So, I'm using the old computer to get our mail until we get a good connection again too.
On Wednesday of our week back, we attended burger night as customers instead of working. That was a different feel. The attendance was quite small, because the whole area is slow right now. Lots of boats headed west this year instead of north, and they left a month or more ago. The boats that will be coming north from Trinidad and ones launched here for the season haven't started coming in yet, so there just aren't as many people around.
On Thursday, we joined Steve & Ann from Fine Line, and Craig & Liz from Salida for dinner across the bay at Island Breeze Restaurant. Island Breeze has been here the whole time we have, but they keep going through reincarnations to try and pick up business. This week they have been advertising a lasagna night. We have gotten so used to having to be at the bar until 19:00 at least, that we didn't really pay attention to the ad. When Steve & Ann asked if we wanted to join them, it occurred to us that we could, so we did. The meal was very good, with a large piece of lasagna, potato salad, garlic bread, and slaw.
On Friday, Dave & Sue left to go back to the States. They were planning on leaving Grenada cruising with us, but some business stuff has come up that they have to deal with in person, so we won't be seeing them for a couple of months. We said goodbye to them Friday morning when they left for the airport.
GPS N 12-00.639 W 061-44.360 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9539.
Nov 8
Today is the big day. We are planning to leave the marina right after the morning radio nets. On the local VHF net, one of the things they do everyday is ask for any new arrivals to introduce themselves, and any body leaving to say goodbye. So, when they called for departures, I called in. I'm sure most everybody already knew we were leaving, as it has been the topic of conversation for the past month. On the Coconut Telegraph SSB net, there is a section for vessel underway to check in before general check-ins. Even though we were still a few minutes from leaving, I checked in as underway from Grenada to Carriacou. It felt good to say something other than "MoonSail in Clarke's Court Bay Marina". Right after checking in, I started the motor and we made the final preps for leaving. Doris & Kelton from Isle Escape, and Steve & Ann from fine line were on the dock to see us off. And of course Bob was there. We all hugged and got underway before any tears broke out. The lines actually did come untied without having to cut any, and the boat moved when commanded to. As we left the marina, we waved goodbye to Bill & Debbie on Marika, who have been on one of the marina's moorings for a couple of months. We headed towards the mouth of the bay and open water for the first time in over a year. Barb went about doing her deck duties of stowing dock lines and fenders, as I played with the chart plotter remembering how it all works. As we passed a group of anchored boats near Calvigny Island, we got air horn blasts from John & Annette on Anjo's Jest. We blew ours in return in case they couldn't see us waving. Finally, we cleared the last of the channel markers for Clarke's Court Bay and turned east in the open water. The weather has been extremely calm for the past week, so there was almost no wave action at all, and not much more than a breath of wind. Not perfect sailing weather, but probably a nice calm day for us to get used to the feelings of being on a moving boat instead of a parked one. Since the weather is so calm, we are going up the windward (east) side of Grenada today. Most people travel on the calmer leeward sides of the islands for protection, but today promises to be calm, so we'll see the windward side from the sea for the first time. We put the mainsail up for a little stability, although the two foot swell barely makes the boat rock at all.
Unfortunately, the cat doesn't seem to appreciate just how calm the conditions are. When we traveled south, we had gotten in the habit of locking him in the head with his litter box. This was so he might poop and puke in the box, and if he did it was easier to cleanup. Also, if it was really rough, he wouldn't get thrown around in the small room. Today we thought surely he wouldn't get sick as it was so calm. But no, as soon as we were in the open water and the boat started to gently rock, he gave his feral howl and started pooping right where he stood in the cockpit. The poop was quickly dispatched overboard, and the cat seemed ok, so we left him in the cockpit. What were we thinking? He rode for about half an hour laying right next to me at the helm. Just when we think all is well, he jumps down to the cockpit floor and we have another round of poop and he hurls. Ok, to the head for you. Even though he probably was done, no more chances.
The trip from CCBM to Carriacou was uneventful, except for the fact that being underway at all was a big event. It is only thirty-nine miles from the marina to Sandy Island where we plan to anchor. Since we are motoring, that will take about seven hours. We watched Grenada go by, picking out places where we traveled by car. We marveled at the deep blue water that we haven't seen for a year. Just north of Grenada there are several tiny islands that are uninhabited. One of them is called Natural Bridge. We could see it through our binoculars, and thought it would be cool to sail close by and get a picture of this natural bridge, since we had just been to the one in Arizona. But it would have been a couple of miles out of the way, and you know how I am about straying from the course once it's set. (I need to work on that.) We went through a pretty good rain shower between Grenada and Carriacou. Since the seas had been so calm, there was no salt to wash away yet. We saw a large sea turtle floating on the surface not far from us. He watched us for a minute and then dove out of sight. We passed close by the western end of Carriacou, past Tyrrel Bay where most boats go in Carriacou, and turned east to Sandy Island. Sandy Island is just that. It's a spit of sand, with a reef to the north, and a nice bay about a mile wide to it's south and the shore of Carriacou. It is not a good overnight anchorage unless the seas and winds are settled, so it's perfect now. It reminds us a lot of Redfish Island back in Galveston Bay, except that it has sand and small palm trees on it. Friends Dave & Donna on Magic and Peter & Wendy on Keejse II are already here. The excuse for coming here, besides the perfect conditions is that another boat, Matsu with Tim & Linda aboard, is celebrating Tim's fortieth birthday tonight. While we have not met Matsu before, we were invited to come along. As we entered the anchorage, we passed Matsu first. We yelled Happy Birthday to Tim and continued in. Dave on Magic saw us coming and welcomed us on the VHF, and as we passed Keejse II, Peter gave us a standing ovation for getting underway again.
Ok, now time to see if I remember how to anchor this baby. Dave pointed out a spot in front of him where another boat had recently left. We drove around there, but it was over twenty feet deep. Since I haul the anchor by hand, I prefer to stay under twenty feet when possible. Back behind Magic we had noticed an area of fifteen feet or so. We went to try that first. I dropped the anchor and played out about seventy feet of chain and then had Barb back down to set the anchor. I could feel that the anchor was just dragging along the bottom as if it was scoured coral and not sand. We hauled the anchor back in and tried again with the same results. So, we went up in front of Magic and a little closer to the island than our first look, and we found eighteen feet with what looked like a sand bottom. Down went the anchor and we dug in the first try. We ended up a little closer to Magic than I would have preferred, but Dave said he didn't mind, and I went with our looky bucket to check the anchor. It was set and buried to the hilt, so I guess we're ok. Time for our first "arrival beverage" in a year and a half. Toasting a safe arrival is one of our little traditions.
We relaxed for about an hour and then it was time to gather on the beach for the party. Dave & Tim had gathered a bunch of driftwood to make a fire to cook burgers on. Everybody brought their own drinks, and we all chatted while the sun went down and the coals in the fire pit built up. Once the coals were hot, Dave grilled us each a burger. And it's not even Burger Night! We stayed for a few hours, visiting and drinking. It was a great start to cruising again.
GPS N 12-29.040 W 061-28.884 Nautical miles traveled today 39. Total miles 9578.
Nov 9
We slept very well last night. I was concerned that I wouldn't sleep well because I would be worried about being at anchor for the first time in a long time. But, it was so calm overnight, that we hardly rocked. I woke once or twice, glanced out the window and saw Magic still right behind us, and went back to sleep.
It is one of my days to host the Coconut Telegraph this morning. I turned the radio on a bit early, curious to see how much better it was going to sound outside the noisy interference of the marina. I was pleased to clearly hear Tom from Sojourn, who is down in Puerto La Cruz, Venezuela. Unfortunately, Tom was also on early because he had some tragic news to report. He is in a large marina and has trouble hearing there, so he wanted to relay this news to me so I could announce it on the net. The news was of another violent attack on cruisers in Venezuela. This time it happened at Isla Boracha, which is just seven miles from Puerto La Cruz (PLC). PLC is not known as a dangerous part of Venezuela, and that's why there are several large marinas there where many cruisers spend hurricane season. Two boats, one that we know, left PLC headed to Isla Tortuga. Their plan was to leave PLC in the daytime, anchor at Isla Boracha to clean their bottoms and then make an early morning departure for Tortuga. The two boats were I'Lean, whom we don't know, and Chill who we have met. Chill is from Kemah also, but they left cruising a couple of years before us. We met Chill in the Exuma Land & Sea Park back in 2005/2006. They were also good friends with our good friends Dan & Jaime on Nereia, who are also in PLC. While anchored, Ken & Cathy from Chill went to I'Lean to visit. While there, they saw a panga approach Chill and try to board it. They yelled over that there was nobody aboard. So, the panga, with three men in it, came alongside I'Lean. They asked for water, and were given a bottle of water. They then asked for food, and before anybody responded, they pulled out a gun and shot Ken from Chill twice in the chest, killing him instantly. Steve from I'Lean started to go below for his shotgun and was shot in the leg as he ran. His wife got the gun and the guys in the panga left before they got shot. They immediately called a Mayday on the VHF and being so close to PLC, they got a quick (by non-US standards) response. The Venezuelan Coast Guard was on scene in about an hour. With the two wives driving Chill, and Steve and the Coast Guard driving I'Lean, they proceeded back to PLC. Several cruisers were waiting in dinghies as they approached and boarded Chill to help them dock. Steve was taken to the hospital to treat his wound, which was not life threatening. Tom related all this to me, and then I had to get my wits about me and host the net. I made the announcement and continued with the rest of the net. It was the second time I've been hosting when the announcement of a death has been made.
We spent a lazy day aboard. At some point in the afternoon, we dinghied ashore and looked around the island. The north side of the island has a five or six foot high pile of coral rubble it's entire length. I'm not sure if this is just a natural occurrence because this shore is downstream from a reef, or if something like a hurricane devastated the reef. It seemed like an awful lot of rubble to just build up slowly. We walked the entire length of the island, which is probably less than half a mile, looking for beach treasures, but not finding any. We also spent a little time in the nice warm water before going back to the boat. The rest of the day was spent reading and napping.
Another boat we all know, Daniel Storey with Dave & Michelle, came into the anchorage today, and Keejse II left to go back to Grenada and pick up guests. Since Daniel Storey had missed the birthday party, and as it turns out Tim's birthday really is today, it was decided to meet on the beach again this evening. Most folks were going to bring something to grill for themselves on a fire again, but we decided to eat on the boat and then join them for drinks. I went to make sure our barbeque grill worked and promptly broke the handle off the gas valve. The handle broke because the valve was hopelessly stuck. I got pliers out and still couldn't turn the valve, so the kingfish steaks got cooked in a pan instead of grilled. No worries. They were very good and we joined the gang on the beach just about sunset. Again we drank and told lies for a few hours, enjoying each other's company while remembering how fragile life is given this morning's news.
GPS N 12-29.040 W 061-28.884 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9578.
Nov 10
We exceeded the lazy quotient today. We never got off the boat at all. We read and napped and read some more. We did a wee bit of planning regarding where we were going to go next, but when the distances between destinations is usually single digits, there isn't a lot of planning required. We decided that tomorrow we were going to move along, even though our friends aren't. We haven't seen any of this area, and they have, so we're taking our time.
GPS N 12-29.040 W 061-28.884 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9578.
Nov 11
Our destination today is either Petite Martinique or Petite St. Vincent (PSV), or both. Since they are separated by only half a mile, there are options. Petite Martinique is part of Grenada. PSV is part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines. While they are different countries, people pass back and forth between them without worrying about Customs and Immigration, and boats are allowed to anchor at either island regardless of which courtesy flag you are flying. We are still checked into Grenada, so I thought about being technically legal and anchoring off Petite Martinique. However, when we dropped the hook there, it wouldn't grab again. I hauled it back up and found it had a big old fishing line and rope attached, along with all the crap the line had snagged over who knows how many years. I had to get the boat hook to pull the crap off the anchor, and we headed over to PSV. PSV is a resort. There is a nice sized anchorage just off the resort that has a sand bottom. We dropped the hook in about thirteen feet of clear water and held immediately. The resort allows cruisers to walk their beaches away from the guests villas, and they welcome a limited number each evening for dinner in their restaurant. The cruising guide says it's very pricey, so we won't try it.
We lowered the dinghy and headed over to Petite Martinique for lunch. We found the Palm Beach Restaurant, right on the beach looking west. There were tables under thatched roofs that would accommodate about two dozen people. There was another party of four at one table and an American couple at another. As we sat down, they were having a conversation about the only recorded white Christmas ever. I joined in and asked them if they were from Texas. They were from South Padre Island, and were not cruisers, but here on a vacation. We started visiting and they were intrigued by our lifestyle. They had spent a week in Grenada, then four days in Mayreau, and were now heading back to Grenada for a few more days before returning home. They had moved between islands on ferries, and were waiting for the one from here to leave for Grenada. We had a nice chat with them as we both ate a nice lunch. Barb and I both had a fish snack. Snack is a term used to describe a lunch sized meal. The fish was sautéed in a lemon butter sauce and served with slaw and fries. The fries were excellent, especially by island standards. Too often the fries are soggy. These were nice and crisp. After we ate, we walked around the main part of town, which isn't much. We stopped at the "new shopping center", which includes a small grocery store, a gift shop, a boutique, and an internet cafe. I was geared up for an after-lunch ice cream, but the ice cream freezer was being used for other things these days. We stuck our heads in the gift shop and the boutique, but didn't have to buy anything. We did overhear a conversation between the guy running the place and his internet provider. From what we gathered he wasn't going to have any service for several days at least. Bummer.
We went back to the boat and took a dip off the back. There is a strong current where we are anchored, so we had to hold on to the boat or we would be swimming hard to get back. Being old and out of shape, I held on. After our dip, we were relaxing on the shady side of the boat, when we saw a catamaran approaching. It was our friends Mike & Cynthia on Minx. They waved as they passed and anchored near us. Later, they stopped by in their dinghy on the way back from walking their dog. We made plans to go checkout a tiny island by dinghy tomorrow with them.
Late in the afternoon, the wind died down and the current reversed with the tidal flow. We all started turning around at odd positions, since cats and monohulls don't respond to wind or current the same. We paid close attention but everybody was far enough apart that it wasn't a problem. At one point we were actually pointed west even though what wind there was, was coming from the east. Since we had a big lunch, we just had a cheese and cracker snack for dinner. By the time I went to bed, the current had switched again and we were all laying "normally". During the night, I kept being awakened by an unfamiliar noise. It turned out that I had left the swim ladder down, which isn't unusual, but the current was so strong that it was pulling the ladder away from the boat, and then it would fall back and bang on the hull. After trying to put up with it for a while, I finally got up and pulled the ladder out of the water.
GPS N 12-32.054 W 061-23.090 Nautical miles traveled today 8. Total miles 9586.
Nov 12
This morning we are going to go to Mopion by dinghy with Minx. Before we go though, we decide to wait for an approaching squall to pass over. As we are watching the squall that is threatening us, we see another one, further away and a little to the south. This one clearly has a waterspout dropping down from it. We watched carefully to make sure it wasn't coming our way, and after watching for fifteen minutes it went out of sight south of Petite Martinique. We've been water spouted once and don't care to repeat the event. Once the weather had passed, we started off. Right off the boat, our outboard sputtered and died. It took several pulls, but it finally started. It didn't seem to want to idle, but it ran ok at speed, so off we went. Mopion is nothing more than a spit of sand about fifty feet around. Somebody has built a thatched palapa in the middle, but it is very deteriorated. There are reefs all around this little island, which is why it exists, and even in the dinghy, which only draws about eighteen inches, you have to be careful how you approach so as not to touch the coral. We beached the dinghies and looked around. There were four couples from a French charter boat here before us, and two of the women were topless. They didn't care in the least that we joined them and went about their snorkeling and picture taking. We took some pictures (not of them) and then got in the water. Mike & Cynthia have a large Australian Shepard who loves the water, so Mike played fetch with her for a while, throwing a piece of bamboo in the water for her to fetch. We spent about an hour and a half out there just hanging in the water and watching other boats go by.
Back at the boat, we have lunch and relax. Barb read while I caught up writing. Another squall came through, this one not but a few minutes long. It was just long enough that you have to close all the hatches and ports and the boat gets hot inside before you can reopen them.
I have probably mentioned what I am going to say before, but it's been a while, so I'll rant about it anyway. Cruisers have strong feelings about bareboat charterers. A bareboat charter is where a company rents you a boat to take out by yourself. The majority of bareboat charterers don't have much if any offshore boating experience, and the largest few charter companies (Moorings & Sunsail) will give a boat to anybody with a pulse and a credit card. Of course there are some folks who do bareboat charters that know what they are doing. They may have their own boat and sail all the time. But they are the minority, since the charter companies make it so easy. The most common thing that charterers don't have a clue how to do is anchor. They may have never anchored before, or they only anchor for lunch in their own boats and not overnight in deep water around islands with strong currents in play. Of course, some long-time cruisers don't know how to anchor properly either, and they're always telling stories about dragging as if that's just part of cruising. In my opinion, if you drag anchor, you either didn't anchor right, or you don't have adequate equipment. Plain and simple. You should never drag anchor. We've drug twice in three years and those were both my mistake in choice of places to anchor. Now charterers do provide a valuable service to the rest of the cruising world. And that is the entertainment value of watching them anchor or pick up a mooring. But, it's only entertaining if the person they anchor too close to isn't you. Today was our turn to be "it". During the small squall we had mid-afternoon, a Moorings charter boat came into the anchorage and dropped the hook just off our port side, between us and a catamaran. They put out maybe fifty feet of chain and jumped in the water to celebrate their arrival. Now, this guy has done at least three things wrong. He has way too little chain out. He's in thirteen feet of water, and his bow is about four feet off the water, so he should have a minimum of five times seventeen, or eighty-five feet of chain out. He'd be better off with a hundred or a hundred and twenty. But if he has fifty I'm being generous. Next, he is too close to us. He didn't ask how much chain I have out, so he has no idea that I have about ninety feet out and can swing further than him. He also obviously has no clue about the reversing current through this anchorage. Yesterday, when we all swung funny, I was about fifty feet from the catamaran that's now on the other side of him, and he is now between us. It will be an interesting night if they stay overnight.
For dinner, Barb made chicken enchiladas. I love her chicken enchiladas, especially when we have sour cream and pickled jalapenos onboard. We ate and relaxed with adult beverages. After dark, we heard the sound of a large boat, but didn't see any lights on the water. After looking for a minute, and with the aid of the full moon, I saw a large tugboat style boat coming towards us. It came right by us and through the anchorage to the dock at the resort. It had no lights whatsoever on it. I don't know if this is because it's such a raggedy-ass boat that the lights don't work, or if there is some surreptitious purpose to the trip. After about thirty minutes it left as it came, still with no lights. If I'd had the ambition to get up and get it, I would have lit them up with my million candlepower light, but that would have required going below and finding it. Sometime not too long after the mystery boat, Barb gave it up and went to bed, but I stayed in the cockpit to keep an eye on our proximity to the charter boat, as the wind is picking up and we may have a squall.
GPS N 12-32.054 W 061-23.090 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9586.
Nov 13
Well, the night was good and bad. I didn't sleep well at all. That was the bad part. The good part was that we never made contact with the charter boat. He was saved by the fact that the wind blew hard all night long. We never did get any rain, but it blew about twenty knots all night so it was strong enough that the current didn't override the wind and swing us around. We did come close a time or two, but it was ok. I know this all because I stayed in the cockpit until 04:00. I was as comfortable as I can be sleeping in the cockpit, but I still woke up every thirty minutes or so and looked around. At one point the wind was really honking. We had noticed that the charter people had put a bunch of beach towels and bathing suits out on their lifelines to dry, and they didn't have any apparent clothespins on them to keep them secure. When the wind was blowing hardest, I did see a figure out on deck on the charter boat gathering up the hanging stuff. I don't know if they lost anything or not. Conveniently with the full moon keeping track of things in the dark wasn't too hard. I finally was getting too uncomfortable to sleep, and I figured if we hadn't hit yet so we probably wouldn't, so I went below. When I got in bed, Barb rolled over and asked if everything was ok. I said it was but that I wasn't sleeping well. She said I was asleep a few minutes earlier when she looked in the cockpit to check on me. I'd never heard her, so I guess I was getting some sleep. We went back to sleep until 07:00 when I got up to listen to the weather on the SSB.
Speaking of the weather on the SSB, when we were in the marina, we could not hear Chris Parker, the SSB weather guy, at all. There is so much electrical interference in a marina that hearing in the SSB is often a problem, and on the 8meg frequency, I was not getting anything. Just before we left CCBM, we renewed all of our subscriptions to the weather guy, the internet weather service I use, and the satellite phone e-mail service. Of course, we had just renewed all that stuff last year just before Bob asked us to stay at the marina too, so it's nice to be really using it all again. I am still working on getting everything migrated over to my new computer, and am kicking myself daily for not allowing more time while we still had the good internet at the marina to get it all resolved.
Our original plan today was to go ashore on PSV and take a walk on their beach. Once we were done with the radio nets though, we saw that a squall line was headed our way. It didn't look like an isolated squall, but rather like it might stay ugly for a while. So, instead of walking, we decided to go ahead and head over to our next stop. We started getting things ready to go, decided to tow the dinghy instead of hoisting it, since we weren't going far and it was with the waves, and got the motor running. Our neighbors were also leaving and they weighed anchor a few minutes before us. Ironically, just a few minutes before they left, we had swung closer than we had since they got there. Just as we were ready to weigh anchor, the wind really picked up and the temperature dropped a degree or two. We quickly debated should we wait and let it pass, or go for it so I would be back in the cockpit before the rain started. We decided to go for it. I started pulling in the chain as Barb drove us forward. Even with as hard as the wind had been blowing, we were not riding hard on the anchor, so the chain snaked around on the bottom. I got it all in and we were underway before any rain started. The wind was blowing about twenty-five knots as we headed west back towards Carriacou. We put everything that shouldn't get wet below, since the rain was going to hit us from behind and our dodger wouldn't offer any protection. After being underway about ten minutes, it looked like we weren't going to get rain. The squall had split and there was big rain within a mile of either side of us, but none where we were. The wind was blowing hard and kicking up the seas, but they were going our way, so it wasn't too bad. It was about three miles to where we turned around the northeast corner of Carriacou and the seas were then much smaller because the island blocked them. The charter boat that left before us was on about the same course, and by the time we made the turn, we had just passed them. They must be going to Hillsborough to check into Grenada, since they had been flying the SVG flag. We continued west, along the north side of Sandy Island where we were a few days ago, and then made the turn around the northwest corner of Carriacou and went into Tyrrel Bay.
Tyrrel Bay is the primary place that cruisers go in Carriacou. We skipped it on our way north from Grenada, because of the weather. You can always be in Tyrrel Bay, but you need very settled weather to stay in Sandy Island or PSV. So we have now come ten miles "backwards" in our cruise to see Tyrrel Bay, but what's ten miles when you don't have a schedule? As we entered the bay, we scoped out where to anchor. Even after three plus years of this, I still have trouble envisioning the anchorage from the charts. Usually, I get worried that there isn't enough shallow (under twenty feet) water for me to anchor. Usually once I'm in, we see there is plenty of room. That was the case this time. We anchored near the back of the pack, in about fifteen feet of water, but there is another quarter mile of less-than-twenty foot water behind us. We are next to Tim & Patty on Tevai, whom we met in Grenada, and just a couple of boats from John & Annette on Anjo's Jest, who were in the marina several times over the past year. We dropped the hook and set the first time! OK, maybe I really haven't forgotten how to do this anchoring thing.
Within minutes of anchoring, Tim from Tevai came by in his dinghy to give us the lowdown on the place. He told us the password for the wi-fi, where to unload garbage, and invited us over for sundowners this evening. Once we had everything secure, we turned on the computers to connect to the wi-fi. We both found that we could see two networks, and connect to them with the password Tim gave us, but we couldn't get to the internet once we were connected. I installed the driver for one of our external antennas on the new computer, but still had the same result. Tim also told us that there was a dive shop that offers direct-connect LAN internet service, so we headed ashore. Unfortunately, our "heading ashore" didn't last long. Just after letting go of the boat, the outboard died. I pulled and pulled, but I couldn't get it to start, even choking it. We were slowly drifting out to sea, next stop Mexico. Before we got that far, I started yelling to get Tim's attention. I don't know why I yelled instead of using the handheld VHF in my pocket, but yelling came to mind first. Tim got in his dinghy and came to our rescue and towed us back to MoonSail. We got the tool bag out and started to diagnose. There are very few things that keep an outboard from running. Since I recently brought back several spare spark plugs, and the engine still has it's originals, I thought I'd start there. I swapped both plugs and pulled the rope and it started right up. However, it still didn't want to idle. So I took the carburetor off to clean and inspect as I have done at least half a dozen times before. I didn't see any crap in the carburetor bowl, and I ran a fine wire through the idle tube and put it all back together. It started, but it still has trouble running at idle. May have to seek professional help (for the outboard) or just try to rebuild the carb again on a table in the boat when I have time instead of bouncing around in the dinghy and in a hurry.
Since I now knew how keep the outboard running with a little throttle and choke finesse, we headed to the dive shop Tim recommended where they had an internet connection. We have only gotten mail through the sat phone since leaving CCBM, so we want to get it for real on the new computer. We also wanted to get a bite of lunch, but we learned that most of the restaurants here only do dinner. So, we went to the little market next door and got a couple of beers and some Pringles for lunch. We got our computing done in about half and hour and packed up to go back to the boat. We had and early dinner of left-over enchiladas and then went over to Tevai for sundowners at 17:30. The sun took a long time to go down, because we didn't get back home until after 20:00.
GPS N 12-27.391 W 061-29.283 Nautical miles traveled today 10. Total miles 9596.
Nov 14
Today is going to be a fix-it day on the boat. Just yesterday I had bragged that the only thing that had broken since we left was the barbeque valve, but things are going downhill. I'm going to blame Tim on Tevai for passing along his bad luck, since he was talking yesterday about how much had broken since they started cruising again this season. My first project is to investigate the engine charging system. It just doesn't seem to be charging like it should. At first I thought I just had forgotten how things behaved, but after thinking it over, I'm convinced there is a problem. I did some testing first of the voltage regulator. I have an expensive hi-tech voltage regulator that is programmable and is supposed to be very smart. I started playing with the programming mode to verify that it was set to the proper AGM type of batteries we have. Initially, it responded perfectly but it looked like it was set to it's default program, not the AGM one. I tried to reset it to the correct program, and that's when it started acting very strange. The way you tell what's going on with it is through eight LED's that light in different combinations. It started coming up with combinations that weren't in the directions. Finally, it just displayed all but one of the lights, which isn't valid, and did nothing more. So, I think it may be toast. It was replaced twice before under warrantee, but since we sat for the year, the warrantee on this one will be expired. The company that makes it has a good reputation, and I've never heard anybody complain about them, so I have to wonder if something else in my system is hurting the regulator. I have spares of just about everything on the boat, but not a spare regulator. I then double checked all the battery connections and they were all tight and clean, and all the batteries have exactly the same voltage, so that should all be ok. The next step was to test the alternator itself. Unfortunately, I have to re-learn the electrical system and how to diagnose it every time I have a problem, and I performed the alternator test incorrectly, leading me to believe the alternator was not putting out any power. I have a spare alternator, so I'll just slap that on and see what happens. With a lot of help from Barb, we got the spare alternator on and new belts as long as I was messing with them. We fired her up and to my dismay, it seemed the new (rebuilt) alternator wasn't putting out either. So Barb went back to reading and I pondered. I finally remembered that last time I went through this exercise, I printed some diagnosing instructions off the internet. So I dug those out (why didn't I do this first you ask) and read them. It turns out I wasn't performing the alternator test correctly. I just left out one little step. Lo and behold the alternator is putting out the amps when I perform the test that takes the regulator out of the picture. Of course this means the old alternator probably works fine too, and I wasted all that time and knuckle scraping replacing it. I decide that I can bypass the regulator and jury rig a wire from the battery to the alternator which will make it work until I can replace the regulator. As I am messing with installing this wire, I press on the original wire where it goes into the alternator, and I can tell from the sound of the engine that the alternator started putting out power. I messed with the wire over and over and realized there was a bad connection here. This may have been the whole problem. I cut the original connector off the two wires in question, put new ends on them, and hooked them up. We've got power! I still think the regulator may be crazy, but at least it's telling the alternator to produce power, so I'll just monitor it closely over the next few charging cycles.
Unfortunately, while fixing one thing, two more popped up. When I first started looking at the alternator, I saw that the raw water engine cooling pump was dripping. This is not good. I have a spare pump, but I am very leery about replacing it for fear that one or more of the four rusty nuts and bolts will strip, break, or otherwise give me grief. As I said, I have a spare pump, gaskets, and even new nuts and bolts, but it could become a time consuming project and once started the engine can't be run, so I need to either be fully charged, or at a dock plugged in, and hopefully where I might obtain professional help if necessary. So, I have elected to just closely monitor the drip and maybe hold out on fixing this until we are in Bequia. The other thing that raised it very ugly head, pardon the pun, was that the head clogged. Just before we left the dock, I rebuilt the pump on the head because it was leaking salt water when you pumped it. Now it won't pump at all, indicating most likely a clog or possibly something jammed in the pump. I found that if I let it sit for a few minutes, I could get a little bit of a pump out of it. My thoughts were to try and slowly get the nasty water pumped out of the bowl and maybe chase that with a little clean salt water before disassembling anything. After an hour of trying this, it was clear that I needed to bite the bullet and start taking things apart to determine where the clog is. Logic tells me it should be in the old original hose that goes between the Y-valve and the holding tank. This logic based on the fact that the hose from the head to the Y-valve was replaced in the past year. I cautiously disassembled the Y-valve expecting there to be pressure there if the clog was downstream from it. But there was no pressure. This could be good. I assume from this clue that the clog is not in the hose that I dread trying to remove from wherever it snakes through the boat, and must be in the newer one. So, I disconnect the bottom of the hose at the head, and between me holding the hose and the bowl, and Barb holding a pan, we manage to empty the very nasty water from the hose with a minimum of spillage. It stinks, but at least there's very little to wipe up. With considerable grunting and groaning I am able to remove the hose from the boat and carry it outside. I bang the hose on the stern of the boat, and got more chunks of calcification out than I would have thought it could build up in a year, but not so much as to convince me that had been the problem. With more grunting and groaning, and the use of Barb's smaller-than-mine arms, we get the hose back in place. Still not convinced, I took the joker valve that I just installed a week ago out. I found that because of the backpressure caused by the clog, it had a piece of calcification jammed through it. While this has nothing to do with the original problem, it needs to be replaced, and guess what? I have a spare. With the new valve in place, I reassemble the whole head and start to pump. The first few pumps go well as the hose fills with water, but then the resistance in pumping returns indicating there is still a clog. There is only one option where that is, and I don't like it. After having just pumped, I gently disassemble the Y-valve again, and there is pressure there. Apparently my first test was too long after having pumped, so the pressure had abated a little. The bad news is replacing this hose will be a real bitch. The good news is I can circumvent the problem by just switching the Y-valve to go directly overboard, and we can at least have a head. I know that sounds disgusting, but it's not that bad. Most boats out here go directly overboard anyway, because there are no pumpout facilities in the Caribbean. We only use the holding tank because I prefer to use the tank and then empty it when we aren't right in an anchorage around other boats. I find that more aesthetically pleasing, but the reality is most boats go directly overboard and in most anchorages it's not a problem. All the pleasure boats in the world could flush at the same time and not have the impact of one municipal waste treatment plant having an overflow, and that happens a lot more than you'd like to know.
So, bottom line for the day, we have three new problems (charging, head, raw water pump), one outstanding problem (outboard carburetor). I might have fixed one problem, circumvented one, and deferred two. Additionally, in hindsight, my problem determination skills sucked. So, the evening was spent licking my wounds, but at least we have electricity to make ice for the drinks, and we can flush.
The weather deserves a mention here too. During all the mechanical exercises of the day, we had several large squalls blow through. This was forecast, and is why we came to Tyrrel Bay when we did. We turned the instruments on during the first big squall and clocked over thirty knots of wind. Of course this was accompanied by sheets of driving rain. Remarkably, I'm not aware of any boats dragging, and we just watched from the cockpit. Late in the afternoon, another large squall came through. This one came just before dark, and blew and rain for about half an hour. Once it was passed, we were enjoying drinks in the cockpit and we could see a lot of lightening to the west. That would be the storm that passed here already developing even more. At least when it was here, there was no lightening. We had smaller squalls blowing through all night, and had to sleep with everything closed up. We had our fans on, so it wasn't too uncomfortable, but not the best. We kept trying to open the hatch at the head of the bed, but every time we did it would start raining again. It made for a restless night, but nobody dragged anchor, so all was well.
GPS N 12-27.391 W 061-29.283 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9596.