Whit Monday

May 28, 2007  Monday

Memorial Day in the USA today.  Whit Monday here in Carriacou.  I had to look up what Whit Monday means.  It is a religious holiday, 50 days from Easter; so the date changes each year.  It is a rainy day here.  Little squalls blowing through off and on all day.  A good day to read books or watch DVDs.  Maybe route out a few of our future passages on Maxsea.  Bill discovered this morning that Kick ‘em Jenny is not shown on any of our charts.  So he placed a marker for the volcano on both of our electronic charts and added the exclusions zones, making sure to route us west of Kick ‘em Jenny.  Wish our bimini was finished because we both are ready to move on.  And weather forecasts indicate higher winds for Friday and Saturday.  Oh, well.  As the delivery captain from South Africa said last year about the weather:  it is what it is.

This afternoon between squalls we were sitting in the cockpit cooling off.  I looked up and saw a boat named WATERMARK entering the bay and anchoring near us.  I mentioned it to Bill and he immediately started waving and calling to Cliff, who was on the bow setting the anchor.  Of course, now I remember.  It is Cliff and Deb, a Canadian couple who were at Coral Cove Marina in Trinidad last summer at the same time we were there.  We invited them over for sundowners and had a rather late evening catching up on what each of us has been doing since last September.  It was great running into them again.  We very much enjoy their company and their senses of humor.

This afternoon Sanford and Son came to our neighborhood.  This trawler type boat arrived and anchored right next to us.  There is so much junk piled all over that boat that Bill immediately thought of that old TV sitcom called Sanford and Son (at least we think that was the name of it).  Bill wanted to pull anchor and move away from this thing because their engine or generator was really loud and they ran it for hours.  But we preserved and remained in place. 

May 29, 2007  Tuesday

Turned out to be good that we didn't bother to move.  This afternoon that junky boat started dragging their anchor.  No one was aboard.  Everyone had gone ashore for a wedding.  But someone finally noticed that the boat was headed out to sea unattended, and they came zooming back to catch it.  They then pulled their anchor and moved to another location in the bay.  Goodbye and good riddance!  We did not like having that noisy, stinking, ugly boat next to us.

Today we went ashore to Scraper’s for a hamburger lunch, and ran into Cliff and Deb.  They had walked about looking for fresh vegetables and were then recuperating from their exertions with a cold libation.  Could have saved them the effort of the walk if we had known they were in search of fresh vegetables – there aren’t any on this island.  And there are very few canned vegetables either.  Don’t know what the locals do for vegetables because we haven’t seen any.  We know that if there are any fresh vegetables to be had that you go to the hardware store in Hillsborough.  Strange, but true.  The hardware store sells most of the fresh vegetables on this island, when any are available at all. 

Our hamburger lunch was okay.  We had lowered our expectations because we know how limited everything is here.  So our expectations were met perfectly.   It has been such a long time since we have eaten hamburgers that neither of us can even remember where or when that was.  So, even a mediocre burger was welcome.

This afternoon Petra and Andy from In Stitches delivered the first 2 side screen shade panels for our bimini.  Petra did a good job making these.  She and Andy measured and installed the grommets to fit the latches already on the boat that secure our solid clear foul-weather panels.   So now we have either solid clear panels for sailing in bad weather or if we ever are in cold weather, and we have the screen-type panels for shade and keeping out flies and mosquitos for use in hot weather.  I think we are really going to like having the entire cockpit “screened in.”  And I know we will like having the side and rear shade.

BTW, we also have a solid clear enclosure that zips onto our bimini for use in cold weather.  Supposedly keeps the cockpit nice and snug.  We plan to avoid cold weather as much as possible, but that will really nice to have when and if we finally make it to New Zealand or the Red Sea or the Med.  Assuming that our bimini remains in good shape that long!  Who knows how long it will take us to make it that far.  If we keep up with replacing UV damaged stitching, then the bimini hopefully will last several more years.  It is four years old now but it is still in very good condition.  Our bimini is made from a vinyl rather than from Sunbrella fabric.  It is holding up very well.

Tonight we had sundowners with Jaime and Dan on S/V NEREIA.  Jaime is a very good cook and he served us dolmades and Texas-style hummus (had black beans, garbanzo beans and jalapenos mashed in with the tahini).  Both were delicious.  Jaime and Dan are from Houston.  Well, actually, Jaime originates from Ecuador; but they lived in Houston before setting out to cruise in their 35-ft Baba.  Their boat is gorgeous!  Has a lot of wood that requires a tremendous amount of work to keep looking so beautiful.  And they do keep it looking beautiful.  We met Jaime and Dan at Coral Cove Marina in Trinidad last summer.  Great seeing them again.

Papa can fix anything

May 27, 2007 Sunday

Gosh, I had a hard time this morning even remembering what day of the week it is!  And I had long since forgotten the date.  Thank you Bill Gates for putting it in the lower right hand corner of this computer screen.  Our days sort of flow from one to another without any distinction for weekends.  Tomorrow is Memorial Day in the USA, and it is Whit Monday here in these formerly British islands.  I have no idea what Whit Monday means, but it is a holiday in Carriacou and Grenada as well as St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Trinidad and Tobago have another name for it, but they also take the day as a holiday. 

There is a sailing regatta in Petit Martinique this holiday weekend.  The small sail loft here in Tyrrel Bay was busy working on sails for the past 2 weeks in preparation for this annual regatta.  We are thinking of sailing over to PM this morning to check it out.  It is always fun to watch the local islanders sail their handmade boats.  They are all so good at it.  And each island has its own style of local boat.

The boatyard here in Tyrrel Bay is very small.  It only employs 4 regular employees, all local islanders.  One day this past week Bill watched them working on 3 wooden boats in the boatyard.  They are replacing various worn or rotted pieces of these boats, and doing a darn good job of it.  Their work on one boat in particular really impressed Bill.  They had a tree trunk on the ground; looked like white cedar, which is supposed to be the very best wood for boats and is normally only used in the most critical areas because it is expensive and hard to find.  This log appeared to be well dried.  The workers would stand back and look at the stern of that boat to discern what shape piece of wood was needed next in their rebuilding process.  Then they would take a small chain saw and zip, zip, zip---instantly they had the perfect shape needed to fit the space.  These pieces were curved and angled to fit on the sloping stern.  Every piece fit perfectly.  It was a joy to watch them work.  If anyone has a wooden boat needing any type of repair, Carriacou is the place to have this work done right.

Another unusual thing here in Tyrrel Bay is the welding barge.  I had read about this a couple of years ago.  Unfortunately for us, the man who operates this barge, Dominic, left for a 5-week holiday the day before we arrived here.  We had hoped to have him do the small stainless steel job that we needed for the bimini modification.  Dominic no longer brings his barge to your boat at anchor.  Now he has placed tires and fenders along the port side of his barge and you bring your boat to him.  Just moor alongside and he fabricates whatever SS is needed.  The only time he moves his barge is if there is a boat at the boatyard docks that needs his work while it is still in the water.  He will take his barge to the boatyard docks and fabricate that job, then the barge goes back to its permanent mooring out in the bay.  He does good work and at far lower prices than you would find in St. Martin, Bequia or Trinidad.  Not as cheap as in Venezuela, but they use poor quality stainless in VZ (probably only 304) and you wouldn’t want that lower quality on your boat because it will not hold up half as long in the marine environment as the quality 316 or 319 stainless.

We did receive our two 6-foot pieces of 316 SS tubing on the ferry from Grenada on Wednesday.  The boatyard picked it up from the ferry; Bill picked it up from the boatyard and delivered it to the machinist shop up the hill that is owned by 2 German brothers.  They are excellent mechanics for diesel engines and they have a fabrication shop and can make just about anything.  They normally do not do SS work and leave that to Dominic.  But since Dominic is away on holiday, Uwe and Goerk bent the SS tubing as per Bill’s specifications.  Petra at In Stitches should have the bimini extension and side/rear shade panels completed in plenty of time for us to sail down to Grenada next weekend so we can haul-out for our bottom job next Monday.

Papa can fix anything.  That is what Bill always told our grandson, Zachary.  Well, apparently it is still true.  Our microwave oven quit working the other night.  So yesterday Bill managed to tamper with the tamper-proof screws (using a small vise grip) and got the microwave taken apart.  He checked out various components and they all tested good ---- also managed to blow up his voltmeter in the process.  He thought that all the female quick connects seemed loose so he tightened all of them.  And the darn thing started working again.  Thank goodness!  Trying to find a replacement 220v microwave now that we are back in the land of 110v electricity would have been impossible.  Not to mention trying to find a microwave with the exact same dimensions and with the feet in the same spot so that it would fit in the pre-built space above our stove.  The current microwave is locked into place by stainless steel bars.  Would be a hassle to modify everything to fit a different sized microwave, assuming we could ever find a 220v one.  Thanks to Bill, we don’t have to worry with that now.

I also came up with a new recipe this week.   I have named it Desperation Chili.  It sounds awful, but really isn’t bad.  It’s a boat thing.  Things that you would never consider on land where you have large well-stocked supermarkets easily at hand are looked at in a different light when you live on a boat.  All my Texas relatives and friends should stop reading now.  You really don’t want to hear this food idea.

I made chili using canned corned beef.  Now, doesn’t that sound utterly disgusting!  I posted the recipe on the Captains and Admirals group on Yahoo! In the Files/Galley section.  We were glad to find that this works because ground beef is often not available.  This is something that we can cook anywhere because it only requires canned ingredients; only fresh ingredient is onion and that is available anywhere.  To make this even more palatable for Bill, I also made corn muffins and brownies that day.  Maybe today I will bake beer bread to eat with the leftover chili.  I have a great recipe for beer bread.  Since I am hung up on food right now, it must be time for breakfast. 

Kick ‘em Jenny

May 23, 2007  Wednesday

Kick ‘em Jenny

Last year we when we sailed from Carriacou to Grenada we went down the windward (eastward) side of Grenada.  It was a rough day and was the first time that Bill ever felt seasick.  So this year when we sail down to Grenada in a week or so we intend to go down the leeward side and see how it is.  The high mountains will probably block the wind and we will wish that we had opted for the windward side again.  Anyway, when we sail down the leeward (westward) side of Grenada we will pass closely by Kick 'em Jenny.

Kick 'em Jenny is an active underwater volcano.  There are two exclusion zone bands around Kick 'em Jenny.  The innermost circle covers directly over the volcano and boats are never supposed to go directly over it.  Boats are supposed to avoid the outer exclusion circle on days that the volcano is showing more activity than usual.  The reason for this exclusion is because of the gases emitted from the volcano.  The air bubbles in the water make boats susceptible to sinking because the aerated water is obviously less bouyant for the boats.

So that got me to thinking.  What percentage of normal seawater must be replaced by air bubbles in order to become dangerous for floating objects such as sailboats?   To further complicate the thinking process, one must remember that a boat also contains air spaces that increase bouyancy, and each model boat is different.  Our boat is 27 gross tons (24 net tons), with a deplacement of only 16 tons when fully loaded.

This sounds like a wonderful problem for our math genius friend, Terry.  So, here is a challenge to Terry:  When you have nothing better to do, please see if you can calculate the air percentage required to make sea water unable to support our boat.  That should be fun for you.

Tyrrel Bay captivates and boats have a hard time leaving

May 22, 2007 Tuesday

Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou

Gosh, hard to believe we have been here in Tyrrel Bay for 5 days already!  This is one of those places where it is easy to “bury your anchor” as the saying goes – meaning to put down one’s anchor and not move again.  We have been visiting with other cruisers, either on their boats or ours, playing dominoes and eating pizza and thoroughly enjoying this area.

Bill’s sister, Helene, was supposed to fly to Grenada today to visit us for a week or so; but she is starting a new job instead.  So hopefully we will see her another time and place.  As it turns out, it is good that her visit got canceled; because we want to remain here in Carriacou in hopes of getting our bimini changes completed.  Nothing is ever easy.

As I think we mentioned earlier, the guy who does stainless steel work departed for a 5-week holiday the day before we arrived here.   Petra, the worman who does bimini sewing, will not make the bimini changes and shade panels until we have the new stainless steel support bars in place at the rear of the cockpit.  Catch 22.

Well, looks like we might have things worked out.

We talked to Tim, who manages the little boat yard here in Carriacou.  Tim helped us locate two 6-foot pieces of 3/4-inch 316 stainless steel tubing in Grenada and arranged for these to be delivered on the ferry tomorrow.  Tim isn’t sure how we will pay for these.  We might have to find the seller and pay him when we get to Grenada.  Then we talked with Goerk, (pronounced like York) a local machinist, who said he can fabricate these SS tubing pieces into what we need.  It should only take Goerk a few hours to complete this little job.  As soon as the bars are in place then Petra will come back to our boat and obtain exact measurements.  She has all the materials in stock (thank goodness our bimini is white because that is the only color she stocks) and should be able to complete the job next week, giving us time to spare before we must be in Grenada on June 3.  We have a haul-out scheduled at Spice Island Boatyard at 8:00 a.m. on June 4 for our annual bottom job, so we must be in Prickly Bay by afternoon June 3.

This week saw our first physical injury on the boat.  Bill dropped a floor locker lid on his toe.  His toe was at the short end of the lid near the rear edge hinge, so the full weight of the 4-foot long lid fell squarely on top of his big toe.  It looks nasty and he definitely will lose that nail.  He wouldn’t let me get near it.  So much for medical training.  Useless if the patient refuses to let you see the wound.  By the third day it was causing shooting pains so he finally relented and agreed that a needle should be inserted to relieve the pressure.  But he insisted on doing it himself.  Wasn’t going to let me touch that painful toe.  So I burned a needle and had the hydrogen peroxide ready.  He inserted the needle in several places and released a lot of blood and cleaned the injury well.  Then we put on a bandage and wrapped in tape so that the loose nail won’t get knocked off quite yet.  The pain subsided noticeably and he can walk again.  Still looks nasty and will probably take more than a year to grow a new toenail.  Bet he never lets his foot get near a raised floor locker or deck locker again.  Lessons learned by pain are usually learned well.

One day I heard a siren, which is a strange sound on a small Caribbean island.  I told Bill that it sounded like a police siren – but they don’t have police cars on this island.  He suggested that it might be an ambulance – but they don’t have ambulances on this island.  Then he suggested that it might be a fire truck.  Well, never saw a fire truck; but it was a fire siren.  It has been so dry on a lot of the Caribbean islands this year that they are having problems with brush fires.  Carriacou had a brush fire.  It was soon brought under control.  Our boat is covered in brown dust.  And the islands need the rain so each family can grow their own vegetables.  Hope it rains soon. 

Tabogo Cays again, then south to Carriacou

May 15, 2007  Tuesday

Tobago Cays

We motored over here from Salt Whistle Bay yesterday morning.  Linda and Bob on S/V VILLOMEE followed us since this was their first visit to the Cays.  It is nice to be able to follow another boat so you are sure that you won’t hit any of the reefs or rocks or shallow spots.  You really cannot rely on your electronic charts in the Tobago Cays.  The C-Map charts are definitely wrong as they show that we sail over land.  Later we both took our dinghies out to one of the balls on Horseshoe Reef to snorkel.  The current was so strong that I did not enjoy that at all.  So we soon abandoned that area for snorkeling and moved over to the lee of one of Baradel island.  The current was still pretty strong even in the lee of that small island.  We saw several sea stars (the things we always called starfish) but they were all the small orange-red color so they all looked alike.  Linda and Bob snorkeled to a different area and found turtles.  Linda said one of them was about 5-feet across.  The turtles were feeding and Linda was able to swim directly above one for a good bit of time.  A turtle cannot see directly above.  When the turtle finally did turn so that he could see Linda, he was startled as if “Where did you come from?”  Then he wanted to swim away from her.

This morning Linda and Bob went back out to Horseshoe Reef and said the snorkeling was wonderful.  We now realize our error yesterday – we went out on the reef to snorkel at high tide.  No wonder the current was so strong.  This morning Linda and Bob were out there during low tide and said that it was perfectly calm.   But we screwed up.  We decided to go after lunch and by then it was high tide again.  Then is got cloudy during the afternoon so we never made it back out to the reef for the good snorkeling.  Instead the four of us played dominoes again in the comfort of our saloon.  Tomorrow we plan to go over to Union Island and clear out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  Next stop is Carriacou.

May 16, 2007  Wednesday

Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou

12.27.363N; 061.29.324W           Sailed 19 NM  Average speed almost 8 knots!

Love reaching and going with the current!

We half-motored and half-sailed through the southern passage, finding our way through the reefs  between the Tobago Cays and Clifton on Union Island.  S/V VILLOMEE followed us out through the reefs and then they headed over to Palm Island and we turned into the bay at Clifton.  Several people had told us that Clifton is very crowded with permanent moorings and the few places where you can anchor has poor holding, and they had advised us to go to Ashton and take a taxi/bus to Clifton to clear out of St. Vincent and the Grenadines.  We decided to try the bay at Clifton and see for ourselves.  Turned out to be a wise choice. 

We paid a water taxi guy 40EC (about $15 USD) to put us on a mooring and take me ashore so that I could clear out (since I am on the paperwork as the captain).   He first asked for 60EC and we refused so he quickly dropped his price to 40EC.  That seemed like a reasonable fee and kept us from having to take the dinghy off the davits.  Bill stayed onboard to monitor the boat since we obviously did not trust the mooring.   I cleared out with Customs in the main town of Clifton and then walked to the airport to clear us out with Immigration; walked back to town and found a bank to get more Eastern Caribbean currency; found a grocery store for fresh bread and something called canned chicken salami (the photo on the can shows it sliced on sandwiches; this should be interesting); and the water taxi guy brought me back to the boat.  Simple and fast clearing out.

Then we had an absolutely fantastic sail downwind to Hillsborough, where we cleared into Carriacou.  The island of Carriacou is part of Grenada so that means we won’t have to bother with clearing in when we arrive at the main island of Grenada in a couple of weeks.  The very pleasant young man working in the Immigration office at Hillsborough told us that he was from a very large family – his grandfather had 36 children!  I asked if his grandfather had more than one wife and learned that he did indeed have only one wife.  But he also had 2 “ladies.”  I didn’t ask how many children were delivered from each of these 3 women.  Heck, that averages to a dozen for each woman anyway!

After a quick lunch of yet more homegrown tomatoes on fresh baguette (Bill wasn’t brave enough to try the Halal canned chicken salami yet), we again enjoyed another short downwind sail to Tyrrel Bay.  The sailing was simply superb today.  Wind was 22-30 knots off our port stern.  There were large rolling waves from the same direction, but they were spaced far apart and the ride was very comfortable.  Bill had the sails double reefed and the boat was balanced perfectly.  It was a lot of fun.  Wish all sailing could be like that.

Here in Tyrrel Bay we found a number of our cruising friends already at anchor.  Tonight 9 of us cruisers got together at a pizza place.  Pizza was great and it was a fun evening.  Someone in the group gave us the code to log into the WiFi here in Tyrrel Bay.  So finally we can update this website.