Sept 1 - 30

Again, I'm going to just ramble about the month's activities instead of running a daily diary.

We had quite a bit (by our standards) of small boat hauling activity this month.  And actually it all happened within a few days.  Bernardo, the owner of the thirty-foot Chris Craft runabout that we have launched and hauled many times, called and asked about launching the boat.  It had been on it's trailer for several months while Bernardo was in Italy.  High tide was about 17:00, so we told Bernardo to met us here then.  Before Bernardo got here, I got the tractor started and hooked up to the trailer.  The trailer had a flat tire and a soft tire, so I gently pulled it across the parking lot to our air compressor and filed up the tires.  I then backed it to the ramp so when Bernardo got here at 17:00, we were ready to go.  Launching the boat is always easier than pulling it out, and it slid right off the trailer just like it should.  The wind pushed it over to the dock where Barb was waiting to tie it up.  Of course since it had been sitting several months, it's batteries were dead.  Bernardo had brought a portable jump starter, and it cranked the engines over but neither would start.  After much trying, he gave up and called his mechanic.  The next day, Mike from Palm Tree Marine called to see if he could haul his large inflatable out.  He and his wife have to fly back to the UK due to a death in the family, and being in the middle of hurricane season he wants it out of the water.  Later that day, the guy who builds local wooden speedboats came and asked if he could haul one out.  It was a brand new boat without an engine that they needed to take to wherever they install the engines.  They slid it in the water down the shore where they build them, towed it to our slip, and then six guys physically manhandled it onto the trailer.  The next day, Howard from Grenada Seafaris came back from his family trip to the UK and wanted to relaunch his large inflatable.  His inflatable is a thirty footer that he uses to take tourists on water tours with.  Again, launching is usually smooth, and this was no exception.  There was another large dinghy hauled a few days later.  This one was about a fifteen foot dinghy that we used the backhoe to pluck out and set it on an old dock float.  Unfortunately, we didn't position it so the bow was higher than the stern, so the first heavy rain we had made the bow fill with water and the whole thing fell off the float.  Nothing was damaged, and after I used my hand pump to get the water out, Barb and I muscled it back onto the float, and put a second float under the bow, which is now much higher so it will drain properly.  After a week in the water, and several visits from the mechanic, it was deemed that the Chris Craft had to come back out so the mechanic could work on the motors.  Being a fairly heavy boat, it has always been a production to pull this boat out.  It usually involves Bernardo's truck and the tractor to do the job.  This time, it was a very high tide, which helps, and I was able to pull it out with just the truck.  Bob had the tractor at the ready, but to our surprise the truck did the job.

Related to dealing with Bernardo's boat, was a wonderful evening we had.  Bernardo owns a small resort and restaurant on the island, called Laluna.  Many months ago, Bernardo invited us to come over and have dinner there as a thank you for the help we give him with the boat.  We never got around to it, but when he was here this time he restated the invitation.  So, we finally went.  We went on a Thursday evening, since we are usually able to close the bar by 19:00 on Thursdays.  The road to Laluna is a narrow, pot hole ridden half paved road.  If it wasn't for the signs every so far, you would think you had made a wrong turn.  The resort is at the end of the road.  The security guard directed us to go a little further down the driveway and park on the left, and then walk down the steep drive to the bottom.  We were dressed up by our standards, meaning I had on dressier shorts than I normally wear and a Hawaiian shirt, and Barb wore what I think is the only dress she has.  I also wore my boat shoes instead of my bright orange Crocs.  As we entered the open-air restaurant and bar area, we were greeted by Davin, the food and beverage manager.  Bernardo had told him to expect us.  We went to the bar and had a couple of glasses of wine and chatted with Davin.  This is the slow season here, so there were only a few other diners.  Davin brought us menus and told us about the specials.  We both had a soup starter that was excellent.  The menu is Italian, and the selection was more like what you would get in Italy than what you would get in an Italian restaurant in the States.  Barb had Pappardelle Laluna, which is pasta with nutmeg cream & porcini mushroom sauce with sausage & parmesan.  I had raviolini, which was small, square ravioli-like things, also in a delicious cream sauce.  The food was superb, and the wine kept flowing.  Davin opened a bottle that comes from a small winery in Bernardo's hometown in Italy.  We asked how they get their supplies that come from Italy.  Twice a year they bring a refrigerated container from Italy.  Talk about having to plan your shopping list carefully.  After we finished eating, we were joined at the bar by a young couple who were staying at the resort and were on their honeymoon.  We visited with them and Davin for quite awhile, and didn't actually leave until almost 23:00.  When we were ready to leave, one of the waiters took my car keys and brought the car down the path all the way to the restaurant.  It was a wonderful evening.

Sports on TV has been getting more active.  The US Open tennis tournament was early in the month, and we watched that almost everyday for two weeks.  US football has started, so we watch that on Sundays.  The baseball season is wrapping up, so we are already getting inquiries about watching the playoffs.  Figuring out which games we get can be challenging.  When something is on the regular US networks, like CBS or ABC, I have to look at the websites for the Puerto Rico/USVI affiliates to see which teams they will be showing.  When an event is on ESPN, I can see if we will get it from the onscreen DirecTV guide, but I can't tell until game time if the commentary will be in English or Spanish.  And sometimes, just because something is on ESPN in the States, doesn't mean it will be on ESPN Latin America, which is what we get.  It can be a challenge.

Burger nights have been a little slower than they were last month.  Last month we had four weeks in a row where we sold over sixty burgers.  This month we have been in the low forties each week.  A number of boats moved on to Venezuela and other points west over the past month, so that may be part of the reason.  Of course, if you asked me a year ago if I would think cooking forty burger in less than an hour was a slow night I would have laughed.  In addition to our regular burger nights, we did a private party that included burgers.  The party was on a Thursday, so we had to shop for double everything on Monday and Tuesday.  A former cruising couple, Peter and Ursula, started and completed their circumnavigation of the world in Grenada.  Once they got back, they decided they wanted to build a house in Grenada and stay here.  Their house is being built now, and they wanted to have an appreciation party for the workers.  So, we made a deal with Peter & Ursula for a per-person rate that included a burger, fries, and three drinks.  We passed out tickets as the people arrived so we could manage the whole thing.  There were about fort-five attendees and it all went very smoothly.  I didn't do the custom cooking I usually do, because locals always want well-done anyway.  We found interesting demographics between cooking for forty locals vs. forty cruisers.  As I said they all want well done meat, which kills me to do.  Probably a third of them did not want cheese which surprised me.  At least twenty asked for vege burgers instead of beef.  We had been aware that might happen and had stocked up.  I should have known, but forgot, that they would drink a lot of Guinness instead of Carib.  As soon as the first ten people arrived and all ordered Guinness, I got what we had left in the storeroom and put it in the cooler.  Unfortunately that still wasn't enough, so we ran out, but nobody complained and they switched to Carib.  Many of the people had ridden together as many don't have their own cars.  So, once everybody ate and had their beers, most left.  By 19:00 we were closing up like we would on a normal Thursday.

Of course I'm sure everybody wants to know about the puppies.  They are doing great.  As of the end of the month, they are five weeks old.  Seven of the nine are still with us.  As I mentioned in the last update, one pup died in the first couple of days, and then another disappeared a couple weeks later.  During the month Mom moved them several times, trying to hide them from prying eyes and little kids who refused to leave them alone.  They ended up under a wooden platform that is about ten feet square and has about six inches of space under it.  This was a good place because it was shaded and even the kids couldn't reach under to get the pups.  By their third week, we could go over and the pups would come out and let us handle them.  Mom didn't seem to mind but eventually she would go back under the platform and they would all follow her to nurse.  On the Monday that they were four weeks old, Beth from Gypsy Wind noticed that Mom would not go to the pups.  The pups were out from under the platform, and when they tried to catch her to nurse, she ran away.  We suspect she is sore from their sharp little teeth and claws.  So, we got some puppy chow and started feeding them.  We let the dry food soak in water for several minutes before feeding them.  It took several days for them to get the hang of eating out of a bowl and not climbing right in and spilling everything, but they're getting it.  The one black puppy had a problem.  There was some kind of wound on his side.  On his four-week birthday, Beth and I took him to the Small Animal Clinic at the vet school.  After almost three hours, they didn't really know what the problem was, but I left with amoxicillin, some topical ointment, and instructions on how to clean the wound three times a day.  The vet said the wound looked like a chemical burn to her, but there is nothing around the place they have been living.  I think he got stuck between boards and scraped his way past a rusty nail or something.  At any rate, in an effort to keep the wound clean, we put the injured pup in a cage so he wouldn't be in the dirt under the platform.  Of course he cried and cried, being alone, so we went and snatched one of his brothers to keep him company.  Now three times a day we have to clean and redress the wound, and feed the two pups in the cage and the five under the platform.  Even at five weeks, the five by the platform haven't wandered from the immediate area yet.  I'm sure that will change soon.

On other pet news, Tammy gave us a scare one evening.  While I was cooking the burgers for the private party, some of the cruiser kids came running to tell me Tammy was choking.  I could see Tammy, and she didn't appear to be choking in the not-breathing sense, but she seemed to have something stuck in her throat.  Since Barb and I both had our hands full with cooking, I told the kids to run down to Pirates Hideout and get Dave or Sue.  They are very friendly with the dogs so I hoped they could help.  While one kid ran ahead to get them, another kid literally picked Tammy up and carried her down the dock.  It turned out she had a chicken bone stuck into the roof of her mouth.  I remember being taught as a kid that dogs shouldn't have poultry bones because they splinter, but island dogs live on chicken bones.  Obviously problems can happen, but this time it turned out ok.  Sue got the bone out and Tammy is no worse for the wear.  The kids who have been in the marina for quite a while now have been trying to teach Tammy to fetch.  They started with a stick but she didn't seem to get the concept.  Then they tried throwing the stick to her instead of away from her.  At that point she at least picked the stick up and held it until you came to her to get it back.  They have continued to try a ball and a Frisbee, but she still doesn't seem to interested.  Lou, the cat, spends most days laying around the bar.  The kids love to hold her, or chase her, or play with her chasing things.  The problem is the kids don't get it when the cat gets tired of playing.  So eventually, you hear the cat meow in a not friendly way.  I'm really surprised nobody has gotten bitten or scratched yet.  I learned my lesson about messing with other people's pets again.  Last month a guy had his dog here and it bit me when I tried to pet it.  This month, Rick from Sophisticated Lady had Lucky, his parrot in the bar.  This is the bird I birdie sat for two weeks last month, but I never took it out of the cage then.  I have handled Lucky before when Rick was around, and she has always been very docile.  This time she bit me though.  So I'll be staying away from pets I don't know well for a while.  While we were at the vet school with the puppy, we met the lady who adopted a couple of neighborhood puppies several months ago.  One of those pups had gotten stuck between the office wall and the generator and got rescued by Ian and Natalie who were here on their boat.  When they left, they had given the puppy to this lady.  Apparently now the dog is having seizures.

We had two supplier stories this month.  One was Coke.  I think I have ranted before about dealing with the local Coke distributor.  They have always been unreliable about delivering to us on any regular schedule, and more often than not I have to call several times before the truck will come by.  Since they stopped bottling the soda here in glass bottles, they are importing it from St. Kitts.  They can't seem to get their inventory right though, because they run out.  I called early in the month to ask for a delivery and was told there was no soda to be sold.  I was told to call back next week.  The next week I called again and they said they would have the truck stop by.  Two days later, I was passing the warehouse anyway, so I stopped in to get the soda myself.  They had Coke, but were sold out of Sprite already.  If the damn truck had come two days ago like it was supposed to it would have still had Sprite.  On our way back to the marina, we stopped at CK's and they had two cases of Sprite left, which I bought.  It costs a few bucks a case more there, but at least we have it.  The other supplier story was with Carib.  Last week when they delivered, the Carib bottles had special caps on them for a contest.  The deal is, inside the cap it will say ONE FREE BEER, or $5, or $10, $20, up to $500.  The radio and TV ads that have come along with this promotion say that you win instantly.  Unfortunately, nobody from Carib ever came out to explain to us how the program is to be administered.  Bob made some phone calls and a guy came out with a poster and a letter explaining how we get reimbursed.  I think I understand.  We'll see next time the truck comes if it works like I think it does. We have had a couple of free beer winners and Barb won the first money prize which was $10.

We spent a fair amount of time worrying about weather this month.  Fortunately for us, none if it was here.  Unfortunately for many of our friends back in Texas, Hurricane Ike blasted the Texas Gulf Coast.  We were able to get live streaming video from one of the Houston TV stations via the internet, so all we watched for four or five days was the coverage of Ike.  Between that live coverage and many pictures and e-mails we have gotten since, we know that all our friends are ok.  However a number of them lost everything.  The boaters in the area fared pretty well.  The marinas with floating docks (about 70% of the area's marinas) were fine.  The docks stayed intact and the boats were for the most part undamaged.  The marinas with fixed docks were pretty much destroyed.  The pictures you may have seen of boats in the roads etc are from those marinas or private docks.  Several of our friends had serious flooding in their homes, loosing most of their possessions and possibly the whole structures in a couple of cases.  It's going to take a long time to put the area back together again, and our hearts go out to all those affected.

Last year, when we were just customers, a couple of bus trips to the Aquarium Restaurant and beach were organized from the marina.  Ernie, on Joat Mon, organized another one this month.  We made sure Bob would be around the marina Sunday afternoon, and went with the group.  We didn't actually go on the bus with the group, since we have the car, that way in case we had to come back early we could.  Being in our own car also meant we left the marina a few minutes before the bus.  That meant we were already in our beach chairs with our first pina coladas when the rest of the group arrived.  We enjoyed a couple of hours on the beach and then joined the group for food.  Barb got lobster and I got tuna.  Both were excellent and we shared with each other.

A number of boats have left the marina earlier this year than last year.  Part of this is because this year a number of boats are going west instead of north.  West of here means the out islands of Venezuela and the ABCs - Aruba, Bonaire, and Curacao.  Those areas generally don't worry about hurricanes, so the boats headed that way have more flexibility.  Some boats have already headed north.  While hurricane season doesn't "officially" end until at least November 1st, there are steering patterns through the season.  The patterns have changed earlier than usual this year, and the weather gurus are suggesting that it is very unlikely that another storm will affect the southern Caribbean this year.

On the boat front, we are starting to think about what we need to do before we start cruising again.  We have updated the to-do list, and I've started working on a few things.  A couple of months ago, when I replaced the water heater, I started the motor to see if the new water heater worked when heating from the engine.  At that time, the motor turned over very sluggishly, and I had to switch to the house battery bank to get it to start.  This indicates that either the starting battery is shot, or there is a bad connection.  I checked all the connections, and it still wouldn't start on the starting battery, so I took it out and had it tested.  It was bad, so I bought a new one for about twice what you would expect to pay in the States for a battery.  To replace the battery, I had to remove the main floor board of the main saloon.  While I had that out, I decided to clean the bilge.  This boat has a very shallow bilge, no more than ten inches at any point.  Over the past couple of years, there has been some growth of slimy stuff in the bilge.  I brought the hose inside and started blasting the bilge.  I spent half an hour or more with the hose running full blast and the two bilge pumps cycling to pump out the dirty water.  There is always water in our bilge, but now it is mostly clear, and the accumulated crap is gone.  The third task I accomplished was replacing the drain hose from the galley sink.  A couple of months ago, when fixing something else, I noticed that this hose, which is heavy duty wire reinforced exhaust hose, had a large gooey soft spot in it.  I have no idea what caused this, but since it is mostly below the waterline, it should be replaced.  My inventory showed that I had three feet of spare hose onboard, but I couldn't find it.  So, I went to Island Water World and bought ten feet of replacement hose.  I figured I could always use some spare.  I quickly replaced the three feet of drain, and asked Barb to stow the remaining seven feet.  Of course, when she did, she found the three feet that my inventory said I already had.  So now we have two pieces in the spares.  Can't hurt.

Late this month, the founder of one of the two TV and radio outlets in Grenada died.  He owned the Voice of Grenada radio station, and the MTV television station, in addition to many other businesses.  The primary reason I mention this is that we finally found out what MTV means here.  Of course on cable or DirecTV, we get the American MTV, but here the local MTV stood for Meaningful TeleVision.  And, I must say, there programming was usually more meaningful than the US MTV.

I can't promise what next months format will be.  We will be leaving Grenada for two weeks in the States on October 18th.  When we return on November 1st, we will resume being cruisers.  While on one hand that means I will resume writing a daily diary format, it also means we will never know for sure when we will have a good enough connection to upload the website updates.  For those of you who have stuck with us for the past year, listening to the same old stuff month after month, I hope you will enjoy resuming cruising as much as we think we will.

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