Nov 15
It continues to rain and blow here. A few days ago we commented that since we left the marina we had not had much rain, and none overnight requiring us to close up the hatches. Next time I think something like that I’ll keep my mouth shut. The good news is that even through the squalls when the wind is picking up to thirty knots, we have not had any problems with the anchor dragging, and we still haven’t heard of any other boats having trouble either. There’s usually somebody, but not yet.
About 13:00, the rain stopped, and there was nothing threatening on the immediate horizon. Needing a break from the boat, we jumped in the dinghy and went to shore. The dinghy is still not running right. It won’t idle, so getting across the bay is no problem, but docking is a little touchy when you have to keep feathering the throttle, finessing the choke, and not ram the dock full speed. I stalled it about five feet shy of where Barb could grab another dinghy and pull us in, but got it re-fired quickly and got us in. The dinghy dock we landed at is actually the Tyrrel Bay Yacht Haulout, which is right next to the Carriacou Yacht Club. TBYH is a small boatyard, with a decent Travelift and room for maybe a dozen boats in the yard. The yard itself is dirt, which meant that given all the rain, it was gooey mud. We didn’t see an obvious way to get to the Yacht Club without walking up through the whole boatyard in the mud. At the end of the yard where the boat storage ended, it went up a pretty steep hill, which again was this very sticky, slimy mud. I stepped in one place where my foot sank down in the mud several inches and filled my Croc with mud. At one point, Barb had trouble getting her foot to come up and not leave her sandal in the mud. When we got to the top of the driveway, there was a small stream of water running down the hill that we did our best to rinse off in before walking down the path to the Yacht Club. Just to remind folks back in places like New England, they use the term “yacht club” very loosely here. The Carriacou Yacht Club is an old house that has been converted into a bar, restaurant, and hotel. It’s built on a hill, so as you approach from the land you see the front door of the original house, and that goes into the hotel part. If you walk around the building and downhill more, you get to the water side of the building and there on the lower level you find a small store where you can get some basic provisions. Upstairs on the water side is the bar and restaurant. We went upstairs and met Tracy, the nice young lady who would be taking care of us. There was one other couple there just finishing their lunch. They were at an inside table, as it had been raining, but we took our chances on a table on the patio. We can always move if it pours again. The lunch menu was limited to Creole lambi (conch) or fish with veges, or fish or chicken with chips, or a couple of sandwiches. I opted for fish and chips, and Barb went for the chicken and chips. Of course we got a couple of cold beers right away. Tracy was very nice, and even though she had a problem with stammering, she went out of her way to ask our names, and where we were from. Another cruiser who had just returned to his boat from Canada came in for a couple of beers and joined us to chat while we waited for the food. Since there is not a lot of business, each meal is prepared from scratch, so it takes a while. We learned this when we first started cruising, and would get irritated with other cruisers who expected quick service like you would get in a busy restaurant back home. The way I look at it, is why would I complain about waiting for my food while drinking a cold beer overlooking the water on a Caribbean island? It probably took forty-five minutes for the food to come, and it was mediocre. The slaw was ok, and the large servings of fries were nice and crispy, but both the fish and the chicken were overdone. But hey, it was still good to get off the boat for a couple of hours. When we were done, Tracy gave us our bill, and we had to go downstairs to the store to pay it. As we came outside from paying, it started to rain for the first time since we got to shore. We stepped underneath the staircase for shelter and put our rain jackets on. After just a minute, the rain stopped again and we headed to the dinghy. While we were eating, we had taken note of the other couple leaving, and found that you didn’t have to go all the way through the boatyard and the mud after all. You could walk through the nice grassy backyard of the yacht club, out a little gate, and then make your way across some debris to the boatyard dock. It was not elegant but much better than the muddy path. We got back to the boat just before it started to rain in earnest again.
The rest of the afternoon and evening was spent reading and watching the weather. The usual parade of charter boats came and went during the day. So far we have had a different charter catamaran anchor near us each day. Barb gets more nervous than I do watching them anchor, worrying if they are too close, or if their chain is over ours. So far we have not had any problems.
GPS N 12-27.391 W 061-29.283 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9596.
Nov 16
Rain, rain go away, come again some – oh just don’t come again. The crummy weather continues. The wind overnight was not too bad. It blew enough to keep the wind generator running all night, but not violently like some earlier squalls. The rain was moderate, but seemed to be tapering off by morning. The forecast yesterday was for things to start to clear up today. About 09:30, we were sitting in the cockpit and there was a well defined line of clear skies coming over the hill from the east. It looked like it was finally going to be over. The heavy cloud layer moved out, leaving scattered clouds and even enough sun to turn the solar panels out. Unfortunately, Mother Nature was only teasing us. Within the hour, it clouded back up and started to rain again. We didn’t have any heavy squalls, just a constant wind and off and on light rain.
Since we are confined to the boat, I might as well fix something. Without any solar power for several days, we need to run the motor to charge the batteries today. We’ll see how the system works today. I started the motor and got nothing out of the big alternator. I used the wire that I left in place after doing my testing to tickle the alternator field, and it started charging. I let it run for only about forty-five minutes until I needed to use the SSB for the Coconut Telegraph. Besides it just being noisy in the cabin when the engine is running, the alternator interferes with the radio, so I shut it down. I disconnected my cheater wire, since I’m not sure if it would hurt anything being connected all the time. After the net, we fired the motor up again, and this time the alternator started charging without the cheater wire. I looked at the display on the regulator, and it looked normal. Hmm. I ran the motor for several hours, checking the monitor frequently to see if the regulator acted right in the three phases of charging. It didn’t, and just kept bulk charging forever. So, I guess I’ll have to just keep monitoring things closely until I can replace the regulator.
While the batteries were charging, I tackled another issue. I know that all that can be wrong with the outboard is dirt in the carburetor. Even though I took it apart and blew through things the other day, I must not have gotten it. Perhaps bringing the carburetor onboard and going through it again on a dry table instead of in a bouncing dinghy will be better. There was a large rain shower coming, but I jumped it the dinghy with the needed tools and had the carburetor off in about three minutes. When you do something enough times, you get fast at it. I was back in the cockpit with carburetor in hand just as it started to rain hard. I disassembled the carburetor again and had a look through the skinny little tube that is the idle circuit. Sure enough, I couldn’t see through it. The other day I was unable to remove it entirely and had just stuck a tiny wire up in it, but not all the way through. This time, I got the wire up in there, but the hole in one end is too small for even this fine wire I’m using to get through. I looked through the tube, and now I could see daylight, but the tiny light at the end of the tube wasn’t round, so I knew there still was some crud up in there. What could I use to get through the tiny, tiny hole? Have you ever found a cat whisker that has fallen out? They are remarkably stiff for a hair. Hmm. Where’s that cat? Armed with a small pair of scissors I sat down next to the sleeping cat and before he knew what happened, he had donated a carburetor cleaning tool. The whisker was stiff enough and thin enough to go through the hole and did the job. During the next break in the rain, I put the carburetor back on the outboard and it started and idled just fine. Bimmy’s our hero.
Fresh out of things to work on, I went back to reading to pass the rainy time. We were both in the cockpit reading, when we heard an air horn blow. We looked in the direction it came from and saw the little old man on the boat to our port standing in his cockpit with his air horn. He blew it a second time, and we wondered what was up. Then I noticed his dinghy was not behind the boat where it had been, but rather it was several hundred feet astern, and on it was to Central America. I jumped in my newly reliable dinghy and sped off towards the errant inflatable. As I approached, a dinghy from another boat got there first and snagged it. I turned around and went back to MoonSail, and the neighbor gave me a thank you wave. Apparently he had been pulling the dinghy around to the side of his boat so he and his wife could board it, and he must have dropped the line. At least he didn’t jump in after it and try to catch it. We’ve heard tales of that happening, and then you not only lose your dinghy, but someone has to rescue you too.
By late in the afternoon, the rain seemed to have stopped and looked like it might actually stay stopped for a while. A plan was hatched over the VHF for several boats to meet at Lambi Queen for happy hour. Apparently they have a rum punch happy hour, and the punch is good. So, at 17:00 we met, Peter & Wendy and their guests from Keejse II, the guys from Blue Sky, Tim & Patty from Tevai, Rick & Suz from Allergic To Cities, and Jake & Carol from Offline at Lambi Queen. The first bad news was they were out of rum punch. The second bad news was they didn’t have the proper juices to make more. Bummer. Alternative orders were placed and we all started chatting. Not everybody knew each other, so much of the conversation was about where we have cruised, how long we’ve been out, etc. After a while, people started to get hungry so the party started to break up. The woman who had been waiting on us, got quite flustered when we started coming to the bar and wanting to pay our shares of the tab. She had assumed she could just give us the total bill and we would figure out how to split it up. That would have been ok if we knew any of the prices, but since all she had was the list of what we drank, we were going to need her help. After quite a bit of frustration, we got it sorted out, I think. I don’t think any of us left thinking we had been overcharged, but I’m not sure she was convinced everything was paid for. Lesson learned – pay as you go at the bar when in a large group. We had learned that lesson before, but had forgotten it while sitting in Grenada.
People were going different directions for dinner, and Barb and I decided to go to the Lazy Turtle for a pizza. We had heard they had very good pizza there. It’s just a short walk down the road, so we considered leaving our dinghy beached here and walking, but changed our minds when somebody said they actually had a dock at the Lazy Turtle. So, we pulled the dinghy in the water, fired it up and slowly made our way down the shore to the Lazy Turtle. The “dock” was interesting. There was a partially submerged concrete slab going out into the water about fifteen feet, and then there was a five by fifteen wooden floating section attached at the end. The floating section bobbed around quite a bit in the swell and already had five dinghies tied to it. We landed at the far end of the floating section and got out. There were only three cleats on the dock, and the other five dinghies were sharing two of them. At the end closer to shore there was an empty cleat, so I decided to move there. Barb stayed on the dock as I back out and moved to the other end. As I was approaching she pointed out a large rock underwater that I couldn’t see. (It was dark out.) I put the engine in neutral and drifted to the dock, so if I hit the rock, the prop wouldn’t be turning. I did bump it but there was no problem. I tilted the engine up when I got out so if it moved around over the rock, it wouldn’t keep hitting it. There was a fair crowd at the place. There were several tables of diners, as well as a number of folks in the bar area. We sat at a table overlooking the water and were promptly greeted by DeeDee, our waitress. She left a menu and took our drink order. When she returned with our drinks, she, like the waitress yesterday, was very specific about asking our names and where we were from. We ordered the lobster and garlic pizza. We have been told about lobster pizza here and up in Bequia, and we’ve been waiting to try one. The pizza didn’t take too long to prepare, and while we were waiting we were entertained by the house cat. It was quite friendly and talkative. When the pizza came, DeeDee also brought a bottle of spiced up olive oil. I have never seen olive oil served to sprinkle on your pizza, but it added a nice flavor because of the spices in the oil. The pizza was quite tasty, although I’m getting a bit tired of the Caribbean style of crispy thin crust pizza. I’ve never seen crispy thin crust pizza in the States except in north Texas. I guess it just depends where you grew up, but I’ll take a New York style crust any day. And despite what places advertise, you don’t get New York style crusts outside New York either.
We headed back to the boat about 21:00. To avoid the submerged rock, I got in the dinghy and got it started, while Barb held the line on the cleat. As the dinghy swung away from the rock, she tossed off the line and I quickly backed away. I drove around to the other side and picked Barb up and we went back to the boat. Again, our timing was right, because it started to rain again after we were aboard. We had another drink in the cockpit before retiring for the night.
GPS N 12-27.391 W 061-29.283 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9596.
Nov 17
The night was calm by recent standards. It rained off and on all night, but most of it was relatively light and the wind was so light that the wind generator didn’t run much at all. I was up at 07:00 to listen to the weather on the SSB, and found out that today was going to be another crummy day. The wave that came through with the bad squalls drew the Intra Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) north into our area. The ITCZ is frequently rainy. Several of the boats we were with last night had been planning to leave today and go to Union Island where some other friends are sitting. We decided last night to stay here one more day in the hopes the rain would stop and we could look around town a little more. Well, with the weather still crummy, we changed our logic, but not our plans. We, and most of the other boats, are going to stay here another day in hopes the weather will be nicer tomorrow.
When we got up this morning, we saw there was a new guest in the bay. A good sized tanker had come in sometime and docked at the main dock to deliver fuel. It's hard to imagine that we never heard it and there was no radio chatter on the VHF as it came in. It was only in the harbor a few hours and it left. Again, we didn't hear anything and only happened to look up and see it leaving. It only went out to just outside the harbor and dropped anchor. I'm not sure I understand that. You would think they would be on to their next stop.
Tim & Patty on Tevai are hauling out here today at TBYH. They have a crack in their skeg (the thing the rudder mounts to on some boats) and they need to check it out. Tim asked me to give him a hand by taking his dinghy over to the dock and then being there to catch his lines when they got there. I did that and we got them tied to the haulout dock. Patty gave me a ride back to MoonSail while Tim discussed the haulout with the lift operator. TBYH has water available on the dock, so I decided now was as good a time as any to refill our tanks. We switched to our third and last tank yesterday. We could just bring the big boat to the dock, but that would require hauling the anchor, and I don't haul the anchor unless I'm leaving. So instead, w broke out the two water jugs we carry for this purpose. Each tank holds twenty eight gallons, and we conveniently have two seven gallon jugs. So, four jugs per tank works out perfectly. I went to the office and paid for fifty-six gallons of water, at $.50 EC (about $.19 US) per gallon. I would have to make four trips back and forth to get what I needed. I left the jugs in the dinghy and turned on the hose. The water ran very slowly, and I figured at that rate it was going to take me a couple of hours to fill the tanks. After about ten minutes and still not filling the first seven gallon jug, one of the workers asked me if I turned on the pump. Well, nobody told me there was a pump. The pump switch was conveniently all the way at the head of the dock, and the hosed was at the end, but it just meant I got my exercise walking back and forth each trip.
After the water tanks were full, we loaded up the computer and went to Arawak Divers to use the internet. TBYH has free wi-fi, but we have been unable to connect. More specifically, we connect fine, but can't get to the internet once we're connected. Sounds like a problem with their service. So to the dive shop we go where we plug in to a LAN cable directly. I got the latest update to the website published, got all our mail, did a little banking, etc.
The weather today had actually not turned out too bad. It stayed overcast all day, but the rain just came in short showers, allowing us to do things in between.
GPS N 12-27.391 W 061-29.283 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9596.
Nov 18
In the morning, we found the tanker that had been anchored out was gone. In it's place was a large tug and ocean going barge. The barge was basically empty except for a couple of large shipping containers and a tractor. We watched it all day waiting to see how they maneuvered it to the dock in the high winds, but they never did. It sat there all day and then a little before dusk, it headed south. I guess I don't understand island shipping. I would have thought keeping the equipment moving would be the way to run the business.
We planned to leave today and go to Union Island along with several other boats, but given the continued crummy forecast, we elected to stay in Tyrrel Bay another day. About ten boats left, including several we know, but we stuck to our plan (or lack of one). Everybody else seems to be in a hurry to get somewhere. We vowed we were going to poke along through this part that we haven't seen before, so that's what we're doing. We did hear on the Coconut Telegraph that another boat we know, Voyageur C with Bill & Leona , is on the way here from Grenada, so we'll look forward to seeing them.
It rained again most of the day. During a short break around mid-day, we shared a ride with John & Annette from Anjo's Jest over to Hillsborough to check out. When we leave tomorrow, we will officially be leaving Grenadian waters. We got to the Immigration office and filled out the form. Five copies of the exact same form we filled out when we got here, except this time we checked the "departure" box instead of "arrival". Oddly, I thought, nobody even commented on the fact that we had been here over a year. Nor did they notice that I checked in with one passport number and out with another. I had my passport renewed while we have been in Grenada, and you get a new number on a renewal. There was a charge of $1 EC each to depart. When we got back to the boats, Anjo's Jest left pretty much immediately. They have guests coming in to St. Lucia and have been held up here with a repair, so they are going to go overnight to St. Lucia. We spent the rest of the day reading. I have run out of magazines to read, so I finally picked up my first book in a year. My problem with reading books is that I don't want to stop once I get into one. The book I chose to read was The Kite Runner, which I have wanted to read for several years now, but never got to. Well, true to form, once I started I didn't want to put it down. I read two-thirds of it today, and only stopped because it got dark outside, and with the rain making us keep the hatches closed it was too hot to sit inside where there were lights.
GPS N 12-27.391 W 061-29.283 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9596.
Nov 19
Since we checked out yesterday, we're committed to leave today. After all the radio nets, we were about ready but a rain shower was obviously about to get us. It looked like a pretty small shower, so we waited until it passed to weigh anchor. As soon as the rain stopped, we weighed anchor and took off. It was not blowing very hard, so we put the main up for stability and motored north and east along the coast of Carriacou. North of us it looks like it is raining harder, so we went a little out of our way and hugged the Carriacou coast all the way around past Hillsborough and then north. My logic was we would be giving the storm time to get west of us and we'd stay out of it. Unfortunately, by the time we got north enough to where we were getting into the rain, the end coming from the east was not in sight. We proceeded anyway, and it really wasn't too bad. It was pouring rain, so visibility was only about half a mile, but the wind stayed under twenty knots, and the seas were not bad at all, so we just plodded along motor sailing into it. We did encounter a strong current once we were clear of the north tip of Carriacou. At one point we were only making two knots instead of normal motoring speed of about five, and we were not pointing anywhere near the direction we were really moving. Our GPS course-over-ground was about 20 degrees, but the bow was actually pointing about 70 degrees. The closer we got to Union Island, the more the current abated and we arrived in Clifton Harbor about 11:30.
From the charts and the cruising guide, we know that Clifton Harbor is pretty deep, with limited amount of space in less than twenty feet to anchor. We plan to stay in Clifton for about five days since it will be protected from the north-west swell that is forecast over the weekend. As we are approaching, I tell myself that I would love to see a local guy come out and meet us and offer us a mooring. My wishes were answered. Just as we were entering the protected waters of the bay, a small boat with a cold, wet, nearly naked local guy pulled alongside and asked if we wanted a mooring. I didn't even ask him how much, I just said yes. We followed him through the moored and anchored boats to a spot just off the end of the dock that is the Anchorage Yacht Club (AYC). He snagged the pennant from the mooring and handed it to Barb as I slowly approached. He introduced himself as Massey and said if we needed anything to let him know. I asked the price of the mooring, and it is $60 EC/night. A little steep, but at this point I like the security and the location right off the marina.
Just before we left the boat, we had a call on the VHF from Voyageur C. They had decided to come here today too, but were a few hours behind us. About noon, they were dropping the hook in Hillsborough to check out, so we should see them in a couple of hours. We sat aboard a little while letting the batteries finish charging, and then went to check in. The small airport is just behind the trees along the shore here, and you can walk there to check in. It was still raining hard, so we put on our rain jackets and headed out. At the airport, I took off my wet jacket and dried my hands on my shirt before going in the Customs area to fill out forms. I got my form filled out just a second to late to be checked in before three guys who came off a small plane. None of them spoke English, and the Customs lady did not speak French, so it took a while to get them cleared. I waited patiently and finally she motioned to me. Union Island is the southernmost island in what is known as St. Vincent and the Grenadines (SVG). There are about seventy islands that make up this country. The fees for visiting here are $5 EC per person per day up to a maximum of $35 EC per person. Since we will be in SVG for a couple of months, the fee was $72EC. I didn't ask where the extra $2 came from. Once clear of Customs, I then went to the Immigration office and they stamped our passports. We're legal! It was still raining, so we got our jackets back on and walked back to the AYC bar. The cruising guide said they make great pizza here from noon to 17:00, so we inquired about pizza for lunch. Bash, the bartender said they didn't do pizza here anymore. All they do is tapas, and usually they only do them around dinner time. What it amounts to is new ownership of the place has changed things since our 2006 cruising guide. He told us the next place down the beach did pizza, but it was pouring, so we just had beer for lunch. I had my handheld VHF with me so we would know when Voyageur C got here, so I called them. I told them we got a mooring and they asked if there were more. I found Massey on the dock and he said yes there were. I asked him to keep one available and told him Voyageur C's name. It took longer for them to get here than we thought it would, but as soon as they were in sight, Massey stripped down to his underwear again, hopped in his boat and went out to greet them. Once he got them settled he came back dried off and put his dry clothes back on. It was chilly by island standards (high 70's maybe) and he was shivering when he was wet. We spoke to Voyageur C on the radio, and since it was close to 16:00 when they got here, they decided to wait until morning to check in. So they will just be staying on the boat until then. We went back to the boat and had dinner aboard.
GPS N 12-35.837 W 061-24.891 Nautical miles traveled today 10. Total miles 9606.
Nov 20
The evening was pretty quiet. The rain and wind let up during the night, but showers started again in the morning. This makes the eighth day in a row of rain. It was supposed to stop this morning though, and it did by 10:00. The wind picked up as the morning went on, and it was from the southeast, instead of east like forecast, making for a very choppy anchorage. The bay is protected on the east side by a big reef, but it's open to the southeast. Since the rain had stopped, we went to shore and explored the town. Voyageur C had gotten checked in and planned to join us in town a little later.
We found town to be pretty neat. There are numerous little groceries to choose from. Once again exploring a new island includes checking out all the grocery stores to compare prices and goods. Frequently you can't get everything you need in one place. We don't really need much, since we provisioned well before leaving Grenada, but we'll come back and pick up a few things before we leave. We also checked out a few gift shops and boutiques. There are a number of small bakeries that make fresh bread each day, so we'll be looking forward to some of that.
The neatest place we found I'll call Castello Alley. Near the west end of the main drag, there is an alley that has several stalls full of clothing for sale. It turns out all the stalls are part of one big business. Most of the clothing has hand-painted designs on it. The artist's name is Castello. At the end of the stalls, there is a little bar. There are a few stools at the bar, and a few other little seats and tables across the walkway. Past this bar you turn left and find another small building with more goods in it. It is also at this first bar that you start to encounter large bird cages with many very colorful parakeets in them. Past the next building the path turns right again and you have more birds and then a larger building which houses the art gallery. The building has a large porch where the artists desk and work area is set up. The whole area is in much disarray, so it's hard to tell what's what. Inside the gallery there are numerous paintings, most done on old sail cloth, and most with some nautical theme. At the other end of the porch is the next bar. There are a few tables and chair. If you didn't see the sign indicating it was a bar, you might mistake it for the private dining area of the artists. At this point the merchandise and birds end. There is a sign that points to a wall and mentions bad pigs. If you pass this sign, you climb about thirty stone steps to the last bar (which isn't currently open). When you climb these steps you can see over the wall that the pig sign pointed at, and indeed there is a bunch of pig pens on the other side of the wall. We didn't see any pigs, but from the aroma, I think they were there somewhere.
We were getting hungry, so we walked back to the Bougainville to have a pizza. I don't know if the person who used to make pizza at AYC moved here or if it's unrelated, but it was good. They also offer a lobster pizza here, so we gave it a try. It made the one from Tyrrel Bay look like crap. This one was great with large chunks of lobster meat and lots of cheese. We may have to have another one of these before we leave. Walking back from lunch we ran into other friends of Bill & Leona's. Jay and Jen are on Rum Runner, and they were with another couple who live aboard and crew a large sailboat. They asked us to join them for a drink, as they were beginning a Clifton pub crawl. Well, the crawl never went anywhere. We spent the rest of the afternoon visiting with them at AYC. Late in the afternoon, the owner was setting up the little kitchen to start making tapas. Patrick Chavailler is a French guy who lives on Palm Island which is a stone's throw east of Union Island. He was trained to be an MD, but never got into it. Instead he became a chef and artist. He has been on Palm Island with his family for some time painting, and now apparently owns AYC. He comes over in the evenings and cook the tapas. There is a list of tapas, but it seems he pretty much just makes stuff up as he goes instead of sticking to a set menu. While we were sitting there, he gave us a couple of samples of his work. He also showed us a catalog of his paintings. He paints watercolors of underwater scenes primarily. He uses very vivid colors, and most of the work could be mistaken for photographs because they have such great detail.
We finally left the party about 18:00 and went home. The weather settled down nicely in the late afternoon and we enjoyed a nice quiet evening aboard.
GPS N 12-35.837 W 061-24.891 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9606.
Nov 21
We had just one brief light shower overnight and the wind stayed moderate. In the morning though, the wind shifted southeast again and picked up to about twenty knots. As was the case yesterday, this made the bay quite choppy. We spent the morning aboard and I finished my book. It was a very good book, but I was a little let down by the ending. We had a sandwich onboard for lunch and then went ashore. We went to the bar with the Skype phone to make a few calls. Barb had gotten an e-mail from her son to please call as soon as she could. He doesn't call routinely, so she was concerned that something was wrong. It turned out that he and his girlfriend were going their separate ways and he would be moving. I called my daughter to check up on the grandkids, and I called ex-Barb to see if she survived her trip to Machu Pichu after the wedding. My son didn't get a call because he has gotten a new phone and neglected to send me the number yet. Bill & Leona joined us after a while and we had a few beers.
While we were sitting in the bar, I saw Massey on the dock looking towards the bar as if he were looking for somebody. He saw me and waved for me to come over. I went and found that they had docked a boat stern-to on the end of the dock, and when MoonSail swung back and forth on the mooring, it was going to hit the bow of the docked boat. Massey said he wanted to go out and get my dock lines, tie two of them together and bring a line from my stern to the dock so we wouldn't swing. I said that would be fine, and watched as he and two other guys did it. I knew the mooring we are on was too close to the marina. I'm not sure if the mooring really belongs to the marina or to Massey. He obviously has some working arrangement with the marina, as he and three other guys take care of everything on the dock.
We went back to our boats for a while but then met up with Bill & Leona again for a tapas dinner. We had seen Patrick arrive from Palm Island a little earlier and he was in the kitchen setting up. We got a table right by the kitchen area and ordered drinks from Bash. When Patrick appeared to be ready to start cooking, we let him know we wanted some of his tapas. He had a printed menu, but he said some things he didn't have today, and there were other thing he had that weren't on the menu. So, we just told him to surprise us. So, over then next hour or so, little dishes kept showing up. They were all excellent, and Patrick kept popping out from behind the kitchen bar to see how we enjoying things. I think the whole concept of tapas is to make dinner drag on forever so you keep buying drinks. We did our duty. The whole thing was a little pricey, but it was fun.
GPS N 12-35.837 W 061-24.891 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9606.
Nov 22
This morning we were sitting in the cockpit watching the world go by. The weather has improved significantly, and we may have a second day in a row without any significant rain. Unlike the last couple of days, the wind did not pick up from the southeast as the morning wore on. It stayed north of east and fairly light. While we were in the cockpit, a large ugly boat started maneuvering as if he were going to back up to the AYC dock. This boat looked like an old steel ocean-going fishing boat, except it didn't have any fishing gear on it. Sure enough, it slowly backed up to the dock and tied up stern-to. It turned out to be a fuel delivery. This is at least the second old fishing boat we have seen that has converted it's holds to tanks and runs fuel from Venezuela to other islands. We had noticed the day we got here that the marina apparently runs off it's own generator and not the island's power supply. Knowing how expense electricity is in the islands, I suppose it might be cost effective to run your own generator instead when you can get the fuel delivered at Venezuelan prices. We watched the operation as they took a long clear plastic 1 1/2" hose from the boat and attached it to a PVC pipe that ran the length of the dock. They used a plain old hose clamp to attach it and then started pumping. The tanks are out behind the buildings by the road and probably hold at least five thousand gallons. They pumped for over an hour with a high tech way of knowing when to stop. Three guys stood along the way where they could see each other to give the signal to stop pumping to the boat. I had been eyeing this whole arrangement and speculating how they were going to unhook the hose from the PVC without dumping a bunch of diesel into the water. I came up with a couple of scenarios, depending on whether the boat was pushing the fuel or the tank end was sucking it. In the end, they just unhooked the hose and dumped several gallons of fuel in the water. There is no cap for the PVC pipe either, so it dripped diesel all afternoon. So much for protecting the environment. As soon as the fueling was done, the boat left and went to the main town dock. There is another similar boat anchored in the harbor. We had heard about this one through the grapevine. It makes the run to Venezuela and then parks here and sells fuel to boats. You pull alongside and raft up to it and they fill you up. We aren't even twenty gallons from full, so I'm not going to mess with it, but we have seen several boats fill up, including several large power boats. It would be worth it to them.
Early in the afternoon, we met Bill & Leona ashore and went for a hike. Fort Murray is on top of the hill that overlooks the harbor. Bash, the bartender, gave us exact directions how to get there. It's not all that long of a hike, but it is kind of steep for us old out of shape cruisers. There was no shade anywhere along the way, but we each brought a water bottle with us. About half the walk was on a concrete road, rising up the hill. At the point where the concrete road started down the other side of the hill, a dirt road continued upwards. The road was quite washed out due to all the recent rain, so the walking wasn't too easy since none of us wore proper hiking shoes. Crocs don't cut it for hiking, and I knew that but I forgot to wear my sneakers instead. About halfway up the dirt part, Barb gave it up. She was obviously overheated. She made it to a part where there was an excellent view of the harbor, so at least she got to see that. The three of us continued to the top, and I thought Barb was going to sit and wait for us in one little place where there was a bit of shade under a tree. When we got to the top, we found the fort to be a little underwhelming, but the view was spectacular. You could see islands to the north that we will be visiting soon, and PSV, Petite Martinique, and Carriacou to the south. Although it was sunny, we watched as a little rain shower approached, hoping to get a sprinkle to cool us off. All we got was a few drops. After enjoying the breeze at the top and the view, we headed down. We got to where we left Barb, but she wasn't there. We figured she must have started down and we'd catch up to her. We got all the way back to the main road and still hadn't found her. At the main road, Bill & Leona went to town to get some things and I went back to AYC. There I found Barb in the shade at a table watching the harbor with a large glass of ice water. She had walked to the end of the dirt road and then gotten a ride down with a friendly local. When Bill & Leona joined us a short time later, we had a few beers and went back to the boats.
Traffic in and out of the marina tends to center around early morning and late afternoon. The marina only holds about eight or nine boats. There is one private boat that has been at the dock longer than we have been here, and the rest are all charter boats. The charter boats come in mostly in the last hour before dark. Today, there was going to be a full house. Earlier in the day, Massey had untied our line to the dock and I had just pulled it in and coiled it on deck. I suspected we weren't done with it. Late in the afternoon, Patrick showed up from Palm Island, and had to dock his boat on the t-head since the side where he usually puts it had four boats already. He kept looking at where we were laying at the moment and talking with the guys on the dock. Massey wasn't around then, but I could tell Patrick was not happy with the fact that we pretty much blocked them from putting any boats on our side of the dock. Since the wind has changed from yesterday, I suggested to one of the dock guys that we take the line across again, but this time put it on the end of the t-head, thus allowing them to get two or three more boats on our side of the dock. He agreed and we got the line across and secured us. A little later a big catamaran came in and docked on our side. This left room for one more cat or maybe two monohulls. I was relaxing in the cockpit, when next thing I know, I hear Patrick yelling to me from the dock. He is gesturing wildly and yelling that I can't stay here because I'm blocking his dock. I yelled back that Massey put me on the mooring, not me, so if there is a problem then he needs to take it up with Massey. Massey is still not around at this point, and the other three dock guys are trying to tell him everything is alright. He leaves and I'm not sure what our status is. I'd be happy to move to another mooring before dark, but I'm not going to do it without Massey picking the mooring, since he knows who's are who's, and I've already paid Massey. Everything seems to calm down, although the more I think about it, the more I'm pissed that Patrick was yelling at me. The problem is between him and Massey. I'm especially peeved because between us and our friends, we've easily spent over $1000 EC in his bar and restaurant in the past three days. I resisted the urge to go ashore and have a talk with Patrick, and just before dark he came out to move his boat off the t-head and over where the small ferries come during the day. As he pulled away from the dock, he gave me a wave that may have been a bit of an apology.
GPS N 12-35.837 W 061-24.891 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9606.
Nov 23
This morning, we went ashore in search of breakfast. We were hoping to maybe just find a croissant or pain au chocolat, but the gourmet shop where we got pain au chocolat the other day was closed since it's Sunday. The Lambi restaurant had their sign out front indicating they were open and serving breakfast. We had walked through there the other day, and it's not much to look at, but it's on the water so we gave it a try. A nice young girl sat us and asked what we would like. There was no printed menu, she just recited a few things, starting with bacon and eggs. We said bacon and eggs would be fine, and that was that. There were no questions about how to cook the eggs, or toast, or drinks or anything. We just decided to go with the flow. We both wanted some orange juice, and without asking, the girl brought out two glasses of juice. It was orange, or it was a blend, but it was very tasty. When the meals came, the eggs were scrambled, the bacon was maple cured, there was some fried banana, and toast with butter and jam. It was all excellent. It was one of those few times in the islands where they exceeded our expectations.
As we were finishing breakfast we saw a large fishing boat towing another good sized fishing boat towards the harbor. They came in very slowly and then stopped out in the middle of the harbor. Slowly, they maneuvered the towed boat up alongside the big boat and then spun it around and tied it alongside at the main dock. Then they untied the two and moved the larger boat to the other side of the dock.
We noticed the big sailing cruise ship, Royal Clipper, slowly going by south of us. This must be a "day at sea" where they just drift around and you play on the boat. In the afternoon, a tender from the Royal Clipper came in and tied up at the marina. They waited for about an hour and finally a couple came in on a plane and got aboard. I don't know if it's typical to join the cruise mid-way, or maybe they got left behind at a previous port of call.
Mid-morning, I saw Massey on the dock and asked him if he wanted to move us to a different mooring so Patrick wouldn't be upset. He said we were fine where we were and not to worry about Patrick. He apologized that he wasn't here when Patrick yelled at me, and said he had spoken to Patrick and everything was ok.
In the afternoon, we decided to dinghy across the anchorage and check out Happy Island. As we got in the dinghy we noticed Bill & Leona getting in their dinghy. They had exactly the same idea. Happy Island is a man-made island on the reef at the edge of the Clifton anchorage. Janti, the owner, owned a bar in Ashton, the other town on Union Island, but it wasn't very successful. He also had a job with the tourism office, and one of his tasks was to clean up the waterfront to make it more tourist friendly. There was a huge pile of old conch shells on the waterfront that was unsightly, so he decided to remove it. He moved it himself, boat load by boat load out to this spot on the reef, where he built his own island. Once he had the base in place with the conch shells and concrete, he built a building which is now the bar. He does barbeques as well as running the bar. When we got there, he was in the process of doing a small barbeque for four French charterers. We ordered rum punches and sat enjoying the view. The one thing he could use more of is shaded seating, but it was no problem to just wade in the water just off the bar, and then come back and enjoy the cooling feeling as you dried. The primary view from Happy Island is back towards the Clifton anchorage, but behind the bar you can see Palm Island, an exclusive resort, and to the north you can see Mayreau. There was a cruise ship docked off Mayreau and we could see the top of it over the airport runway.
After several rounds of Janti's rum punch, we headed back and decided to stop at Voyageur C for a beverage. We spent a couple hours there visiting and taking dips off the boat, then back home.
GPS N 12-35.837 W 061-24.891 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9606.
Nov 24
Our plan today is to go to Mayreau. It's the next island north of Union Island, and it's about five miles to Saline Bay, where the only town on the island is. Before leaving, we headed into town to pick up a few things at the grocery store. We went to the gourmet store first, where we had scored the pain au chocolat a couple of days ago, in hopes of getting more. No luck, they were sold out already. We looked at what they had in the refrigerator so we could compare it to what we find at the larger store. After comparing some prices the other day, we found that Grand Union seemed to be cheapest. Now if you are from the New York area, don't get all excited. This Grand Union has no relationship to the grocery chain up there by the same name. I suspect the name here means it's a grand store and it's on Union Island. We got some juice, cereal, cheese, and a couple of onions. Then we went back to the gourmet shop and bought some yogurt for breakfasts. They had a few of the brand that I routinely got in Grenada, and they had some homemade. We got some of each. As we were checking out, we noticed the cases of beer right at the cash register and decided to get another case of Carib, since we will be away from stores for several days. In hindsight, we should have gotten the beer at the Grand Union, because here it was $100 EC for a case. That's almost bar prices.
The next thing to do before leaving was fill our one empty water tank and dispose of a bag of garbage. There is a catamaran at the marina t-head that came in for water early in the morning. They were supposed to just be there for water, but next thing you know seven of the eight people aboard have walked to town. I wasn't in a hurry so we waited. Besides, they had used the extra length of my line that was tied to the dock to tie their boat up. After almost an hour, I got impatient and decided I would use the jugs to fill the tanks instead of wait. I tossed them in the dinghy and went to the hose and filled them. As I was dumping them into the tank, I noticed it was getting quite dark to the east of us. Just as I finished dumping the second jug, it started to rain, so I waited in the cockpit before making my second trip. The rain stopped after about ten minutes, although it looks like more is coming. I changed from my shorts to my bathing suit and decided to just go for it. As I was at the dock filling the jugs, it started to rain again. I was getting soaked, but once you get past the natural idea that we are supposed to stay dry, it really doesn't matter. I filled the jugs and went and emptied them into the boat. By the time I was done, the rain appeared to also be done, so I went back to the dock and paid the guys for the water. They also took my trash and took care of it. I'm not sure if these guys are paid by the marina or if they expect tips, but they were all very helpful and never implied they expected tips. We were going to fill up the gas can for the dinghy, but the gas station is on the other side of the town so it will take too long. We should be ok with what we have.
With the sky turning blue, we cast off our mooring and headed for Mayreau. It is only five miles to Saline Bay, so with the wind blowing about eighteen knots, we just put up a reefed main and motored. Voyageur C had left before us, and just as we were getting underway they hailed us on the VHF. They said they had poked their nose into Saline Bay and found it quite rolley, so they continued up to Salt Whistle Bay and were anchored there. We took that under advisement and said we would probably see them in a little while. As we approached Saline Bay, we could see only one boat anchored there, and it did appear to be rolling some. The anchorage is pretty open, so we elected to continue north. Salt Whistle Bay is only another mile or so north and is the northwest corner of Mayreau. I have heard it is a must stop place, with a nice beach and a small resort that welcomes cruisers. What we found was a very small anchorage, with room for maybe six to eight boats in good conditions. The conditions were anything but good, with the north swell coming way into the anchorage making it very rolley. There were already ten boats anchored, and a large charter cat literally raced us to the bay and took what I would have considered my only option to anchor. I hailed Voyageur C on the VHF and told them we were going to continue around to the Tobago Cays, which is another two miles east of Mayreau. The Cays are well protected behind a huge horseshoe reef and have mooring balls as well as anchoring space. Even though these rough conditions will make snorkeling in the Cays unfavorable because the sand will be churned up, the protection should be ok. We got to the Cays and found lots of room to anchor and lots of open moorings. We elected to take a mooring since it is supposed to blow twenty knots for another day or two and be quite bouncy. Voyageur C called to see what we had found and they decided to come around also.
Since it was quite choppy, even with the protection of the reef and islands, we stayed aboard for the afternoon and evening relaxing. My back tightened up unusually tight, so I hit the Advil and rum early.
GPS N 12-38.023 W 061-21.409 Nautical miles traveled today 11. Total miles 9617.
Nov 25
We relaxed in the morning, doing the normal radio stuff. We had cereal for breakfast, which we haven't had in probably a year, and the cat remembered right away what white bowls in the morning means. He sat meowing at our feet while we ate, waiting to get to lick whatever milk we left him from our bowls. From our mooring, we can see east to Africa, north to Canouan, but to the west we are looking at two of the four islands that make up the Tobago Cays. This morning though, there is an addition to the view that way. Five tall masts are clearly visible just on the other side of the island. It must be Royal Clipper's day at the Cays.
Late in the morning, we joined Bill & Leona for a bit of beach exploration. We first dinghied in to the island right in front of called Baradel. There is a large roped off area for snorkelers to use, and this is where you supposedly will always see sea turtles. We went ashore and walked the little beach. The point of land which is the beach gets surf from both the east and west sides, making for big splashes at the end. We climbed up a little trail from the beach to where we had a nice view of the north side of the area inside the large horseshoe reef and north to Canouan. Then we dinghied across to Petit Bateau. From the boat we could see lots of people over here, but no dinghies, so we assumed they were from the cruise ship and that there was a trail across the small island. We beached the dinghies and secured them to trees and then walked in search of the path. We found it and walked west to the other side. It's probably less than a thousand feet across the island, and as we approached we smelled food cooking and heard and saw lots of people. It turned out not only was Royal Clipper there, but there was another small cruise ship as well. The two cruise ships had their lunch areas set up on opposite ends of the beach with people laying about in the middle. We eyed the people and saw no evidence of wrist bands or anything to identify them as belonging to one group or the other, but I'm just not bold enough to try and just get in line and scam a meal. It sure smelled good though, and the guys walking around refilling everybody's wine glasses was sure tempting. There were numerous local vendors set upon the beach selling t-shirts and jewelry. Once again, we were slightly jealous watching people being pampered, but they have to go home at the end of the week. We walked back to our dinghies and crossed to a third beach on Jamesby. Here we hiked up a short but steep trail to the top where we had a great view of the whole anchorage. It was a scramble, but the view was worth it.
Back on the boat, Barb made us some lunch, since the smell of the steaks grilling had whetted our appetites. After lunch, I thought I had better check the engine oil before we have to run it again to charge batteries. I was dismayed to find too much oil on the dipstick. Last time I checked it a few days ago, it was down half a quart. I expected to finding it needing a quart, but instead it is overfull. This can't be good. My first thought is that the raw water pump, which is leaking more and more, is now also leaking water into the oil. Normally if you get water in the oil it turns the oil milky gray, which ours is not. Maybe since it has been shut off for twenty-four hours, it has separated leaving the water on the bottom of the oil pan and oil on top. I'll have to explore this more.
Our friends on Magic and Matsu, who had already made it up to Bequia, called on the VHF and said they were heading back south to here. They went fast to Bequia last week to avoid the north swell and missed the Cays. It'll be good to see them again, as Magic at least, is heading north faster than us and we didn't think we would see them again. Late in the afternoon, Voyageur C called to invite us over to join them and Matsu for drinks and appetizers. We went and took our own rum and coke and ice, and Barb made a tuna salad/dip that we put on Wasabi rice crackers. The only faux pas of the evening was when the boat got rocked by a larger-than-most swell, and my drink, which was sitting on the cockpit cushion, tipped over. The full drink spilled under the cushion and ran harmlessly down the cockpit drain, but I apologized and reminded Bill that he may want to rinse that out after we leave to get rid of the sticky soda.
GPS N 12-38.023 W 061-21.409 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9617.
Nov 26
This morning we saw tall masts on the other side of the island again, but the masts were a different color than Royal Clipper's. It turned out to be Wind Star, owned by Windstar Cruises who I had not heard of before. They didn't do the elaborate spread on the beach like the others, but they ferried passengers to and from the snorkel sites all day. We also heard from our friends Mike & Cynthia on Mynx on the VHF this morning. They are in Canouan, the next island north and they can see that there is a large cruise ship anchored off Mayreau, so those people will be on the day boats coming here also.
We decided to snorkel in the area near the boat where there are supposed to always be turtles. Instead of taking the dinghy we thought we'd just snorkel from the boat. We started off and didn't get too far before I went back. I never have enjoyed snorkeling much, as I find it hard to breathe through the snorkel. SCUBA breathing doesn't bother me, but snorkeling does. Also, since I hurt my back, I've found that the kicking with fins on hurts my back. At any rate, Barb kept going, and I went back to the boat and got the looky bucket and the dinghy. I dinghied into the snorkel area, which apparently is ok as long as you are mindful of any swimmers. I didn't see much even with the bucket, since with the current high winds it was quite bouncy to hang over the side of the dinghy with the bucket. Barb did see a couple of turtles, but not much more.
After we were back on the boat, we ran the motor to charge the batteries some. The raw water pump is leaking even worse, and after we were charged, I checked the oil, and the crankcase is so full that the oil runs out the dipstick hole when I pull the stick out. This isn't good. Our original plan from here was to hit Canouan and Mustique, but I think tomorrow we will join a couple other boats and go straight to Bequia where there are mechanic resources in case I need help with the pump.
GPS N 12-38.023 W 061-21.409 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9617.
Nov 27
One of our boats friends, Voyaguer C, is leaving for Bequia this morning. The others aren't sure yet. I decided to change the oil in the engine, so that running it to get to Bequia would be starting over with fresh oil and a not-full crankcase. When I tried to pump out the old oil though, it came out very, very slowly. I use a little pump driven by an electric drill to pump the old oil out, and it usually is quite fast. Apparently the oil/water mixture is more like sludge than a liquid. Obviously, my plan of just changing the oil and running it another few hours won't fly. I'll have to change the pump here. My two concerns with changing the pump are getting the old rusty bolts off without breaking something, and, if I don't get it fixed in one day, we are going to be so low on power that our refrigeration will go off and we'll lose food. Our friends on Magic and Matsu decided to stay here, and Magic has a Honda generator I can borrow to charge the batteries if things go south. We weighed a lot of options in deciding what to do, including trying to sail to Bequia without the motor at all, or trying to sail south back to Grenada where we know we could get a dock with electricity and a mechanic if needed. In the end, having the option of using Magic's generator tipped the scales, and I started working.
I started trying to remove the pump. Lucky for me, access to the pump is quite good. The pump is held on by four nuts on studs from the bock. The first thing I did was soak all four nuts with PB Blaster, that Dave on Magic gave me. It's like WD40 but better for breaking rusty things lose. The nuts are all very rusty and I'm afraid they will just round off or snap the studs. First problem was figuring out what size they were since they were so deteriorated. The first one I tried was smaller than a 13mm, but a 12mm wrench wouldn't go on. I tapped the 12mm wrench on and gently started to turn. To my delight, it broke loose. Sort of. What really happened was the stud unscrewed from the block, instead of the nut coming off, but that doesn't matter. When I bought the spare pump, I foresaw this and bought spare studs and nuts. On to nut number two. This one took the 12mm wrench without tapping, and again, the stud unscrewed from the block. I'm on a roll. Number three was probably the least accessible, but also the least rusty. The 13mm wrench fit and it didn't hardly give a fight. It also turned out not to be a nut on a stud, but rather a bolt into the block. I have no idea why it's different, but it doesn't matter. You know what they say about saving the best for last? Well, I didn't plan it this way, but number four put up a good fight. First off, the nut was too gone for the 12mm to bite at all. I found that a 7/16 wrench would go on, but it started to round off as soon as I put any torque on it at all. I tried to hammer a 7/16 deep socket on it, but the pump itself is in the way so I can't get a socket on straight. Time for the Vice Grips. I only have a large sized pair of Vice Grips, and once I got them clamped on the nut, there was no room to turn them. The only thing I could think of next was to try and crack the nut with a chisel. However, I don't have a chisel. I've meant to get one for years now, but never remembered. I called Dave and he did indeed have a small chisel as well as smaller Vice Grips. He brought them over and I went back at it. I tried the Vice Grips first, but no luck. Then I started chiseling. I was about halfway through the nut when on one hit, the nut turned about a quarter turn. I guess the PB Blaster and the shock from the chiseling finally made it give up it's grip. I was then able to use the Vice Grips to unscrew it the rest of the way. The pump was now off! I was a happy camper. I cleaned the remains of the gasket off the block, and got the new studs to screw in. Uh-oh. The new studs are not as long as the old ones. Somewhere in Virginia, there is a parts man I would like to strangle about now. I will have to try and salvage the old studs. The one bolt is fine, and the one stud that I chiseled the nut off is fine, but the other two still have the rusty nuts on them. With Vice Grips on the stud, and another pair on the nut, I was able to get one off. As was the case before though, the last one put up a good fight. I had to have Barb hold the stud with Vice Grips on the edge of a piece of wood and use the chisel to break it loose. As with the other one, before I actually cut all the way through the nut, the shock broke it loose to a point where I could get it off with the Vice Grips. I then cleaned up the threads on the studs, which fortunately were not in bad shape. In a little bit the shiny new pump was on the engine. Now to get that oil and water out. I ran my pump, watching the little blobs of goop come out the end of the hose. It took about an hour to get the sludge out, and then finally the sludge was gone and another gallon of clear water pumped out rather quickly. I changed the oil filter and filled her up with new oil. I started it up and checked for leaks and all was well. It was five hours after I started, but it was fixed and I felt much better about our situation. We ran the motor for a few hours to charge up the batteries and celebrated with a few cocktails. The rum was strictly for medicinal purposes because once I was done, I was one sore, tight backed puppy. When I'm working on something like this, the stress keeps me going. But once it's done the muscles tighten up, especially my back, and I could barely move for a while. But I was still happy.
Oh, by the way, today is Thanksgiving. While we didn't start the day well, by early afternoon we were very thankful. We had been invited to a pot-luck dinner aboard Matsu, with Magic, and Allergic To Cities. We had told them earlier that our ability to cook would hinge on the success of the repair, and they said to come even if we couldn't bring anything. Well, since I was done by about 14:30, that gave Barb time to cook our little five pound Butterball turkey breast that's been in the freezer since last Christmas, and warm up the frozen Mooney family recipe stuffing that was also left over from last Christmas. The turkey came with a packet of gravy mix, so she whipped it all up in about two hours and we went to Matsu. The eight of us had a wonderful dinner and enjoyed each other's company. Not to put down family gatherings, but we have had some great Thanksgivings with cruisers over the past few years. It was funny too that of the eight of us, four were from the US, Dave & Donna from Magic are Brits who have lived in the US for years, and the hosts, Tim & Linda are French Canadian and British, both by way of Australia. As was the case last year at the marina, half the people at the gathering for a strictly US holiday weren't originally from the US. No matter.
When we got back to the boat, I checked on another problem that has been around for who knows how long. Dave from Magic had said something at dinner that gave me a clue. The problem is that even with everything on the boat turned off, including the main 12v master switch, there is still a five amp draw on the batteries. Nothing is wired directly to the batteries bypassing the master switch, so this is a mystery. I am not very good at electrical diagnosis, but I have to figure this out as loosing five amps all the time is part of why we have to keep charging the batteries so often. What Dave had mentioned was "can it be feeding back through your alternator"? Well, after I thought about it, that was exactly the problem. To bypass our broken voltage regulator, I put a hot wire from the battery to the field terminal of the alternator. This makes the alternator work when the engine is running. But, if I don't disconnect it when I turn the motor off, it's keeping the alternator energized and wasting power. I disconnect the wire, shut off the master switch and the monitor read zero. Yeah! Another problem solved. I owe Dave big time today.
GPS N 12-38.023 W 061-21.409 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9617.
Nov 28
Now that we don't have to rush to Bequia, we are going back to plan A of seeing everything. We bypassed Salt Whistle Bay, which is supposed to be neat, since it was very rough and crowded the day we tried to stop there. So we are going to give it another try. The Tobago Cays have been nice, but unfortunately very choppy because of the weather, so no need to stay here longer. We weighed anchor about 09:30 for the long two-mile passage back to Salt Whistle Bay, which is on Mayreau. As we entered, it still looked a little on the rolley side, but not as crowded as the other day. We were looking for a spot when a guy on deck of an anchored boat yelled that they were just leaving. That would be a perfect spot. We circled around while they got their anchor up and we took their spot. It still is rollier than we would like, but the forecast is for the north swell which causes the rolliness, to dissipate today. We got the boat secure and went ashore. There is a small resort here with a bar and restaurant, but to look from the water you would hardly know it. The beach is lined with palm trees and all the buildings are set back behind the palms and sea grapes. We dinghied to the small dock and walked the beach to the bar. We were the only people there and we ordered beers. We had a look at the dinner menu and decided we needed a treat of a nice dinner out, so we made reservations. As is the case in some small restaurants, we preordered our food. We would have the lobster dinners, with callaloo soup to start.
After our beers we took a walk along the windward beach. Salt Whistle Bay is on the west side of a point of land making the northwest tip of Mayreau. At the north end of the Salt Whistle Bay beach, you walk about fifty feet through some grass and you are on the northern coast beach which gets much more sea action, especially today when the swell is from the north. This beach is over a mile long, and we walked the whole length. After we had started, it occurred to us to leave our shoes instead of carrying them. We set them up on the edge of the dune where the water wouldn't get them and walked on. We were beach combing for the typical stuff, sea glass, sea beans, neat shells, etc. Lots of people collect these things with the thought that someday you could make neat jewelry out of them and support yourself to continue cruising. Barb found a way to shortcut the whole process. Find cash on the beach. I was ahead of her when she started calling to me. She was holding up something she had found, but I couldn't hear her or tell what it was. I walked back and met her and she proudly displayed the $50 EC bill she found. Well, we scoured that area for a while hoping maybe there was more, but to no avail. But hey, it'll help pay for dinner. We got to the end of the beach and turned around. The walk had been fun, but walking that far in sand is tiring. When we got back near the other end, I started watching for our shoes. I was thinking of a story I recently read in Lat's & Att's about a couple who had their shoes stolen from outside a church on a small island in the South Pacific. As we got closer, I didn't see my bright orange Crocs anywhere and started to think the magazine story wasn't so funny now. We were sure about where we had left them, but they were gone. I searched the water for them, thinking how hard should it be to spot floating orange Crocs, but saw nothing. Instead of continuing on the beach, we walked inland through the resort where non-guests aren't supposed to be. The first little building we came to had two maintenance guys sitting eating lunch. After eying their feet, we asked if anyone had turned in a couple of pairs of shoes. One guy said to check at the bar. He also used the word orange, so we were hopeful. Sure enough our shoes were at the bar. Why anybody picked them up and brought them in as if they were forgotten is a mystery to me, but at least we had them back.
We spent the rest of the afternoon on the boat reading. The roll seems to have diminished a bit, but it's still uncomfortable. Rick & Suz from Allergic To Cities came around but they thought it was too rough and they went to join Magic and Matsu in the Windward anchorage on the other side of the island. Normally that would not be a good place to anchor, but with the wind and wave direction today, it's ideal. Later we would wish we joined them, but we already made the dinner reservation.
Dinner was very nice. Each table stands by itself with a little thatched roof. The table and benches are made from stone, with a wooded pole in the middle supporting the thatched roof. Each one is illuminated by two dime lights on the pole and decorated with a conch shell filled with fresh flowers. We had drinks before dinner, then they brought the callaloo soup. It was different from others we have had, but very good. Then came the lobster. They way lobster is commonly done here, is that the whole critter is split down the middle head to tail. It is then grilled on a barbeque to prepare. It was served with some local vegetables and a baked potato. The lobster was so big, that neither of us finished our side dishes, and Barb brought a large hunk of the lobster home with us. There was a dog patiently laying near our table through the whole meal, but he isn't getting our lobster.
Back on the boat, conditions had worsened instead of getting better. The wind held us sideways to the waves that were curling around the point of the bay. There were six other boats there, and all but two were catamarans which don't feel as bad in a roll, but even they were moving a lot. We couldn't do anything about it now. We had another drink and retired early for what would be a very fitful night.
GPS N 12-38.825 W 061-23.446 Nautical miles traveled today 2. Total miles 9619.
Nov 29
As feared, it was an ugly night. The boat rolled back and forth so much that is was like we were underway in very rough seas. It's a good thing Barb made the nets we secure over the bookshelves or things would have been everywhere. Not only were we bothered by the movement, but the noises as well. Things were moving inside cabinets, and the water in the tanks and the bilges sloshing back and forth was quite audible. I slept in the cockpit. Or at least I tried. I dosed off and on trying to stay comfortable. At one point when I had fallen asleep, I was awakened by voices. My first I thought was it was just an odd combination of my tiredness and the strange noises of the boat, but then I heard them again. Sure enough, a sailboat was entering the anchorage in the dark. Most people never come into an anchorage in the dark, especially a nearly full one in rough conditions. But remember what I have said about charterers? The boat hesitated behind us for a minute, and I thought they would anchor there away from the pack, which would have been fine. But then after much yelling on deck, in German I think, they came towards us. They pulled up between us and an anchored local dive boat, and dropped the hook. As soon as the anchor was in the water, the guy was full throttle reversing, which simply makes most mono-hulls turn sideways, as he did towards us. At one point his bow was against the dive boat, and his stern was about ten feet from ours. At this point I was standing on deck naked yelling at him that he was too close. All I got in return was "Yeah, yeah, yeah". I went below to get my 1,000,000 candle power spot light to light them up. When I returned, they had backed off some more, and were probably far enough away even though it still looked awfully close in the dark. I refrained from further action and sat in the cockpit watching. The rest of the night was no better with the roll, and now I also kept looking over to make sure the new boat was far enough away.
In the morning, after the radio nets, we went ashore to take a walk before leaving. The resort is at the end of the road, and town is on the other side of the hill from here. We really didn't care to see town, but there is supposed to be a neat church at the top of the hill, and I want to see if we can see the nice quiet bay where all our friends stayed last night. The walk was steep, but we made it huffing and puffing. The small Catholic church was neat and we got some pictures. Behind the church was an overlook where we could see our friends as they were weighing anchor to leave. I forgot to take our handheld VHF with us, so we couldn't say goodbye to them from there.
We went back to the boat and prepared to leave. As I was securing the dinghy on the davits, I somehow hit my sunglasses and knocked them off my face and into the water. I had the boat hook in my hand and tried to snag them, getting close twice but loosing them. I probably could have jumped in a caught them before they got out of sight, but I didn't. They cost $20 two years ago, so I guess I can't complain. I have two spare pairs. We also had to put fuel in the boat. The gauge is near E, although it still has a fair amount when it gets to E. I dumped all five jerry cans in, because I want to get rid of all the fuel we have had onboard for a year. Even with the roll, I was able to pour the fuel without any spillage, which pleased me.
We were underway about 10:00 headed for Bequia. Our plans changed again, because of the forecast. We would like to stop at Canouan and Mustique, which are between here and Bequia, but the forecast is that after today wind and seas are going to pick up for a week, so we want to be in the nice large quiet bay in Bequia instead of the little, more prone to roll anchorages of the other islands. Magic, Matsu, and Allergic To Cities all left the bay they were in and went back to Clifton to check out of the country. They plan to continue past Bequia and on to St. Lucia. We headed north, motor sailing with the main up as usual, almost directly into the wind. The forecast was for wind about sixteen knots, but we found twenty to twenty-two. The seas weren't all that big, but they were very confused. The remaining north swell was not playing nicely with the wind driven, so the ride was very bouncy. I've said this before, we've had worse rides, but it wasn't very fun. Once we were north of Canouan, the seas smoothed out a little bit and we were motoring along, when we both thought we detected a change in the pitch of the engine. I forgot to mention that yesterday the tachometer decided to quit working, so I can't be sure that the rpm's changed, but we both thought so. A few minutes later, the engine definitely slowed down. Since the fuel tank had been nearly empty, perhaps we have picked up enough crap off the bottom to clog another fuel filter. A little later, the engine slowed way down and then stopped. Expecting this to happen, Barb had already gotten a new fuel filter out for me. I went below and in about two minutes had replaced the Racor filter. The element I took out was black, but didn't look any worse than when I change them preventatively. I yelled to Barb to start it back up, and it started and ran fine. About an hour later, the motor slowed again. I wasn't pushing it hard in the first place, so I gave it more throttle and the rpm's came back up. Something is definitely not right though. After a little more time, the engine died again. I went below prepared to change the filter again, but found the filter I just put in wasn't dirty at all. I put the same filter back and wondered. There are only three reasons a diesel doesn't run. Fuel, fuel, and fuel. So why weren't we getting fuel. There is another small fuel filter on the engine itself, but it isn't as easily changed underway, and given that I use the finest Racor filters, the downstream one should never get dirty. I told Barb to try to start the engine and it started. We put it back in gear and off we went. I forgot to mention that we had the mainsail up all the time, so when the engine died, we just turned off course a little to a better sailing angle and slowly sailed while I worked on the engine. We made the turn to the east to enter Admiralty Bay, Bequia, keeping our fingers crossed that the engine would keep running. There was another boat, also motor sailing just a little ways behind us, going just slightly faster, but taking forever to overtake us. The engine slowed again, and I pushed the throttle to full throttle. It came back, but not at full throttle, but at least it was running. Several times, it bogged down and almost stalled, but then regained it's rpm's. Finally, just as the other boat was overtaking us, the engine died. We had just enough wind angle to keep sailing, but of course as we slowed down, he blew by us. He probably wondered what we were doing. If there ever was a bay you had to sail into without aid of an engine, Admiralty Bay would be it. The water is deep all around the entrance. It's a wide bay with lots of anchoring options, so even sailing to anchor would be doable for a fairly adequate sailor. As an aside, there are lots of sailors who would do so on and off anchor just for the fun of it. Some even sail on and off docks. Not me. I'm out here doing this thanks to modern electronics and easy to handle boats, not because of good sailing skills. I admit it. But, I could sail onto an anchor in a wide open anchorage such as this if I had to. Back to the story, after the other boat passed us, we restarted the engine and continued. We kept our fingers crossed as we finally got to the shallow and calm waters of the bay. I had planned to anchor, as we will be spending a month here, but if the engine dies in mid-anchoring mode, we could have trouble. So when a boat boy approached us and asked if we wanted a mooring, I said yes. I told him that when I idled down to approach the mooring the engine may quit. He said don't worry, he would have the line ready to snag us. As it turned out, the engine acted perfectly as we approached. It didn't die and we got the mooring with no drama. We're here. The extra stress of the last couple of hours demanded that arrival beverages be prepared, and they should be strong.
We just relaxed for the evening. As it turned out, Magic, Matsu, and Allergic To Cities all came in to Admiralty Bay for the night also. None of them were really prepared to do an overnighter, and the conditions had slowed them more than they expected. As it was, they all got in after dark. Matsu came in first and anchored across the bay from us. Magic came in second and anchored near them. Allergic To Cities came in last and they opted to let a boat boy show them to a mooring, rather than anchor in the dark. A move I would have made also. They ended up on the mooring right behind us. After a poor night's sleep last night, and a stressful day on the water, we took showers and went to bed pretty early, in a nice calm anchorage.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 23. Total miles 9642.
Nov 30
A good night's sleep. Being Sunday, I didn't even have to be out of bed at 07:00 to listen to Chris Parker, the weather guy. But, right at 07:00, one of the big local ferries blew it's horn as it departed and made sure everybody in the anchorage was awake. Magic, Matsu, and Allergic To Cities all departed this morning, hoping to get to St. Lucia today. The weather is supposed to go downhill from today for about a week, and they want to be north faster than us. There wasn't rain forecast for today, but it ended up raining most of the day. I think it's Mother Nature's way of keeping me fit. Open the hatches when the rain stops, ten minutes later jump up to close them when it starts again. Repeat.
We found that we can get a free internet connection from where we are parked, so we got caught up on getting mail the right way instead of through the sat phone. When I get it through the sat phone and the mail involves any links to pictures or is too big, I can't see it. We now have the last two weeks worth of mail and have responded to things that needed responses. Mid-morning, I tried to see what I could do about the engine. I found conflicting documentation about whether there was one or two fuel filters on the engine itself. I think in the end, the Racor which is optional, replaces one of the filters mentioned in the engine manufacturer's manual. I check my inventory spreadsheet and confirmed where the spare engine filter element was and went to dig it out. Unfortunately, I didn't find it. I don't recall ever replacing that filter except years ago before we went cruising, and I'm sure I had a spare, so I'm puzzled. I took the old filter element out and while it looks black, It's hard to tell if it's clogged. I'm not so certain that explains the behavior, since if the filter was clogged, I wouldn't expect the engine to restart and run for a while. In desperation, I sent an e-mail to Mike from Palm Tree Marine in Grenada to ask his advice. We'll see what he says. Meantime, I did replace another broken hose clamp that I noticed, and I replaced the engine zinc. I ran the motor for two hours after I did this both to confirm nothing leaked after I messed with it, and charge batteries even though they didn't really need it yet, but mostly just to see if it would keep running. During that time it never died, but it did noticeably slow down at one point.
We paid the boat boy for a second night on the mooring, just because I don't want to get wet in the rain to go anchor. I think there is a suitable spot right near where we are moored that we can anchor and still get the free Wi-Fi signal we have here. We were going to venture out for dinner, but again, due to the rain we are staying home. Barb made us quesadillas using the leftover lobster. Can't beat that.
We did hear an usual radio transmission this evening. A man with a French accent said "Help Help Help" and gave his GPS position. He said he was being hijacked. I noted the GPS coordinates and started my charting software. The coordinates were about ten miles south of here. I was surprised that the St. Vincent Signal Station, who controls commercial traffic around here, did not respond. A cruiser did respond but got no answer. Two cruise ships responded and one finally got a woman from the boat to say everything was ok. Later one of the cruise ships got a French speaking guy to talk to the lady again, and I think they said everything was alright. It's disconcerting to hear these types of things and be unable to render any assistance, and even more frustrating when there is a language barrier.
GPS N 13000.049 W 061-14.372 Nautical miles traveled today 0. Total miles 9642.