We finally got the boat back in the water a week ago. The yard was quite proactive in getting in the replacement shaft seal from Miami and it arrived in Grenada about 8 days after the aborted launch on the 8th November. Typically that was a Friday and so the launch of the boat had to wait until the following Tuesday.
The launch on the 12th was relatively uneventful and once in the water we motored around the coast a distance to a marina called Le Phare Bleu which is not far from the house and moored the boat stern to at the outer jetty. We had visited this marina in July just prior to going into the yard and so were familiar with the layout. Once moored we took stock of what had to be done before we could contemplate leaving. There was a lot of work required even though we had just come out of the yard. The biggest job was to move all our stuff from the house back to the boat and repacking it. You would think that this would be relatively straight forward, after all most of the stuff came off the boat and there is only a limited amount of space however it is amazing how our stuff expands once we get onto dry land. In addition the two week period we had planned on to complete the move had been shortened to a few days. Apart from moving and repacking, there was work on the boat to be completed - the decks needed to be finished, the lazarette emptied, cleaned and repacked, the sails installed and a thorough clean carried out. In addition Scott wanted to clean and polish the boat.
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| Dulcinea back in the water again - at last |
Needless to say and without going into any detail the last week has been a little stressful and absolute chaos however everyone is still on speaking terms. We basically shifted everything out of the house and dumped it on the boat and then found a home for it. Most stuff is away now but at one point there was gear lying everywhere both above and below decks - it reminds us of our initial mobilisation in Newport a year and a half ago. The work on deck and on the boat systems is just about finished with only a couple of tasks still to complete. We have also to put the new upholstery onboard. So all in all we are looking good apart from one major bugbear - the fridge is not holding temperature. We have had people looking at this for the last 6 weeks on and off but they have still not managed to sort out the problems. We are waiting for some other techs to have a look and try and get the system working but that will take a few days and so we will have to delay our departure. Luckily we have a few days in hand and there are plenty of odd jobs to keep us busy.
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| Scott on the boom installing the mainsail |
Whist we have been re mobilising we have also been saying goodbye to the people we have met on the island such as at Calley’s school, at our house, at soccer and just in general. We have met some really wonderful and kind people during our stay and as a result our enduring memory of Grenada will be one of friendliness. Most we will probably never see again but some we will try and stay in contact with. We did a final road trip to the North of the island which we had not seen. Being exposed to the Atlantic Ocean it is a lot more rugged and windswept that the western side which is sheltered from the constant trades and ocean swells.
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| The kids soccer team and coach |
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| North East Grenada Coast |
So everyone is ready to start sailing again even if the boat is not quite there yet. We recieved the next batch of schoolbooks last week so everyone is very excited about getting a start on that - just think only 160 more lessons to go. Current plan, fridge permitting is to sail leisurely up through the Grenadines with a view to getting to St Vincent by 9th Dec where we will pick up Mark and his daughter Rosie for a weeks sailing.
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