So Apparently You Need Locking Bolts in the Propellor Blades

Just a quick update before we set off again.  

Got back to the warmth of St Lucia at the start of the week which was a welcome change.  Had a great time in New York but we were all ready to get back onto the boat.  Calley in particular had a nasty cold which started to clear up immediately when we got back.  We managed a quick trip up to Mystic Seaport in the week before we left which was really pretty although the Maritime Museum we wanted to visit was shut.  A huge thank you to Lars, Diana and family for putting up with us for the extended period and best of luck with the remaining winter months.

Mystic Seaport

The boat went back into the water Tuesday and we have been trying to get things squared away.  Looks like we will be moving on again on Friday.  

So it seems the mystery surrounding the propellor blades was solved.  The locking bolts securing the blade hinge pins had not been installed.  It was lucky we did not loose all four blades!  Scott is suitably humbled at the moment.  A good few years ago in Fremantle he managed to half fill a diesel tank with water by mistake.  That caused a promised beautiful long weekend sailing to be turned into a long weekend cleaning diesel tanks.  He thought it was impossible to eclipse that incident but apparently not.  Anyway we live and learn........hopefully.

Boat has come together well.  (Always a bit nervous saying that as it seems to be testing fate).  All the systems came back online as they were supposed to including the watermaker which we had to decommission before we left.  Even the fridge and freezer seem to be working better than ever, so much so that we are running on a single compressor on the freezer for most of the time.  Had been having nightmares about the yard power failing and us coming back to a boat filled with defrosted rotting food and the whole boat stinking.

Everyone onboard is well and the kids are sporting new haircuts.  Calley opted for a short haircut so she looks more like a boy and does not have to comb it as much.  Now we have to get back down to school as we are about a couple of weeks behind after our extended stay in NY.  No oneis really looking forward to that.  We were hoping that we may come across a teacher treading the quayside looking for a crewing position for a couple of months.  Ideally they would have a partner who was a chef.  So far no luck though.

Last piece of news is that Dulcinea is on the market through a broker based out of the UK.  We have begun to accept the inevitable and that the end of the journey is in sight.  We have about 11 months left onboard and the target is to be back in Australia for x-mas 2014.  So anyone looking for a marvelous boat feel free to give us a call!

Trapped in New York

The blog title is probably a bit misleading as it was our own decision to stay in New York for another two weeks due to a delay in the delivery of the propellor blades to St Lucia.  Latest news is that the prop parts will arrive probably tomorrow at the shipyard if they can clear customs .  Amazingly it was dispatched from Ipswich on Jan 9th one day ahead of schedule.  It then went to Heathrow, and was in Barbados the very next day, only 80miles from St Lucia.  However from there things went a little awry.  The package went onward to Venezuela (approx 500miles from St Lucia), then further away to Panama (over 1000 miles from St Lucia), before coming back to Venezuela then onto Trinidad and finally arriving in St Lucia.  Am sure there are some good reasons for the circuitous route to do with transport efficiency and central distribution hubs etc but it is very frustrating when you are trying to track your shipment and it seems to be following a tourist route rather than a direct course.

Anyway there are certainly much worse places to be stuck than New York.  

Red Mill at Clinton NJ, near Lars and Diana's house.

The big dump of snow which they had forecast did eventuate later in the week and we had around 8 inches overnight to wake to a fantastic sight the next morning.  It really is a beautiful scene with the landscape covered in thick snow and a clear blue sky.  Unlike in the UK, the US authorities had done a superb job on the roads and there was very little disruption around our area. I guess its great as long as you are not the person who has to clear the driveway.  Lars was out for nearly an hour at 0700 with a mechanical snow blower trying to clear his driveway before managing to get the car out and get off to work!

The Morning After

Man vs Snow

It was however bitterly cold but that did not stop the kids from going sledging on the first morning with us all rugged up as if undertaking an expedition to the South Pole.  

Calley sledging 

Under those clothes is Sam

We had decided against the drive to Canada and instead took ourselves into the city and stayed there for the following week.  It was a great choice as even though we have been to New York many times we have never stayed in Manhattan and there were lots of things the kids had not seen.  Nic found a nice hotel in Midtown between the Empire State and the Chrysler Building close to Central Station.  The next few days were spent walking the city, visiting various museums, buildings, toy stores and eateries and all the time trying to stay warm.  

Wise words from the Guggenheim

The temperature at the beginning of the week during the day was down to -15deg C at one point due to what the weathermen were calling a “Polar Vortex”.  Not sure exactly what a “polar Vortex” is but it is certainly very, very cold.  Any exposed skin as dangerously cold after only a few minutes of exposure.  We were lucky that Lars and Diana had plenty of ski gear which they had loaned us for the trip to boost our flimsy bits and pieces we had brought from the boat.  The high point of the visit was a walk around the Guggenheim Museum and taking the kids ice skating on Wollman Rink in Central Park on a glorious sunny day at the end of the week when the temperature had risen to a balmy 0degC.

Skating at the Wollman Rink in Central Park

So into our final week in New York.  We are again based at Lars and Diana’s house and will do a couple of day trips out and about the adjoining states.  We are scheduled to fly to St Lucia on Monday 20th Jan and hope to be in the water again the following day.  We need to get back soon because apart from the cold, our bodies recognising the onset of winter have begun storing up the fat at an alarming rate in preparation for the anticipated bleak months ahead.  I think we will be twice as heavy getting back on the boat compared to when we left.  Luckily while we are here the layers of clothing mask the effects but the first few weeks in the Caribbean are not going to be pretty.

Happy New Year

Quick update just to say Happy New Year to all our friends and family.

We have been in New York for the past 10 day or so and have spent the time with Scott’s brother Lars and his family, and Scott’s mother who is over from Denmark.  Its been really great and everyone (well Scott anyway) is glad all the X-mas/New Year celebrations are over for another 12 months.

We left St Lucia in a bit of a hurry as there was a mix up with the boat lifting times.  As we did not have a functioning prop Scott was pretty anxious about manouvering into the lift out berth and wanted assistance from the yard.  Eventually we managed to organise escort tenders and got into the travel lift about three hours before we were due to leave for the airport for our flights to NY.  After sorting the boat out, getting power on, cleaning up etc we were an hour late leaving in the taxi from the North of the island.  The airport is in the South of the island.  Luckily Baptiste, our taxi driver, had some Le Mans experience and managed to get us to the airport only 5 mins after the checkin closed and with a bit of persuasion we were allowed to board the flight.

Whats left of our four bladed prop

Touched down in the evening in NY’s JFK airport to snow on the ground and a temperature hovering around freezing.  Kids were thrilled to see the snow and managed to get some sledging in at Lars’s place the next day before it all started melting.  The snow was gone in a few days but there have been some really cold days.

Calley out sledging

Christmas and New Year were family events and it was good to have everyone on the Anderson side together again.  One year we may manage to get both Australian and American families together.  We even managed to have snow on X-Mas and New Years Eve although it wasn’t a tremendous amount.  It’s pretty cold but the cold is a nice change for us after being in the islands for the last year.  We just have to put on all our available clothing to keep warm.  The snow is especially magical especially since we do not have to try and get on with everyday life around it.  Am sure it gets a bit old pretty quickly for the residents.

Choosing our tree

Having been in the Caribbean for the last year its amazing coming to the States and to see the range of shops and what is available in the shops.  In one supermarket isle we counted 47 different kinds of peanut butter!  And that’s replicated across all the food available.  There is so much choice , it’s astounding. It’s also very cheap compared to the islands. In addition, there are people and cars everywhere and most of them seem to be in a rush, not in a bad way but just busy and pre-occupied with their own lives.

So its now New Years Day and we are off into New York tonight for dinner at one of our favourite restaurants -  Tribeca Grill.  The weather is supposed to turn tomorrow with up to 8 inches of snow forecast and temperatures dropping to -17 degC.  We are due to return to St Lucia on the 5th Jan however we may delay as we are waiting for the spare propellor blades to be dispatched from the UK.  In the interim we will probably take a road trip to Montreal which is only about 7 hrs drive.

Hope everyone had a great New Year and are ready for a fantastic 2014.  We will be in the Mediterranean for most of the year so hopefully we will get to see some of you.  Have put together some thoughts on a year of cruising below.

Reflections on a year afloat

When we first joined Dulcinea a year and a half ago Skip (our friend from Newport) warned us that it would take us a year to get to know the boat and he was not far off.  Its not only the boat we had to get to know but also the routine.  Although life onboard has now become normal for us, it seems like an eternity since we started and it is hard to envisage “normal” life at the moment.  

Obviously the last year and a bit has been amazing for the whole family.  There is the tangible side of the trip which we talk about mostly in the blogs; the places we visit, the people we meet, the friends we have onboard and the experiences we have.  We are extremely lucky to be able to have experienced this but even more lucky to have done it as a family. There is also the intangible stuff which does not get mentioned that much.

One of the reasons for doing the trip initially was always to do something as a family before the kids got too old and it was impractical to get away.  I think there is no doubt that this has been a huge success.  We have been together 24/7 for the past year and at times we each in turn drive each other crazy and get driven crazy but generally we have all learned how to cope and are still learning.  The kids especially have just grown in confidence.  At the start of the trip Scott and Sam had a few run ins primarily due to Scott trying to adapt rather than any fault of Sam’s but now they seem to understand each other better.  Sam is growing up quickly and he is indispensable when it comes to helping around the boat.  He still has a lot to learn with the sailing but he is getting there. Main issue is that if he keeps growing at the rate he has done we will need a bigger boat by about April.  Calley probably wants to be a boy more now than when we started.  She is super confident and most of the time a real pleasure to be around.  Even if we had to end the trip tomorrow we have achieved the family goal.  Its hard to know exactly how much of this the kids will remember or be influenced by but I think they must have benefitted from it.

Both Nic and I are amazed to think that we have traveled close to 5000 miles in the last year and are past our midway point.  It was not that long ago we were sitting at anchor in Newport contemplating setting out alone for the first time.  In fact, it was not that long ago that we were sitting in Singapore wondering if this was really doable.  At that point the Caribbean seemed a very distant goal but here we are now.  I think we have had our fair share of luck during the trip and hope this continues for us next year.

So some of the highs and lows.  One of the highlights has been hosting friends and family onboard at various times during the trip - Dan “The-Man-Meggitan” Meggit; Nina and Walt; our other daughter, Beth; the New Jersey Andersons; Atlantic crew member Steve; Mark and Rosie; Gayle and Cameron; and, of course, Peter and Claire (official crew). Although its great with just the family onboard, being able to share this with others is pretty special and we hope that we will see more people next year.  We have the Atlantic crossing coming up and thankfully have a full complement for that.

Also the other cruisers we have met along the way and continue to meet have been great fun and really special people - Windchaser, Magic, Veritas, Bliss, Aeeshah, Talitha Koum, Whistling Cay, Celise Spirit, Rafiki, Troskala, Innamorata.  Because the people we meet are all “in the same boat” so to speak there is an immediate common bond and a camaraderie springs up straight away.  There are very few cruisers who we have met who we did not take a liking to (Beth, you know who we’re talking about!).  The friendships are kind of tenuous as inevitably you part ways pretty soon after meeting and thereafter rely on e-mail contact.  Then there are all our friends we made in Grenada.

The boat has been wonderful.  Dulcinea is a superb vessel both in terms of a living space and as a sailing boat.  We have had some rough weather and seas but she has handled it all and no doubt could take more if required.  She is extremely strong and robust and handles beautifully.  Obviously, as has been commented on, things do break down but this is only to be expected.  Luckily there have been no really critical system failures which we could not get around and this is due in no small part to Heather in Newport who nailed the work which had to be carried out prior to the trip starting.  One thing about the boat being a custom build is that every part needs to be sourced individually which is a real pain in the ass especially when we are floating around the Caribbean.  On a production boat you can get any part number straight from the manufacturer.  But the plus side is that Dulcinea is pretty special and we continuously get complimented on her where ever we go.  The lay up in Grenada was good for us to get some outstanding bits and pieces fixed and to tart the boat up a bit ready for the next year.

The biggest challenge about life onboard for us has undoubtedly been the schooling which takes up an enormous part of our daily routine.  We were very glad to get the first year under our belt but starting at lesson 01 again this year is a bit depressing.  Still we know the system now and are confident we can get through this slightly easier than last year.  

So its onwards to 2014 and our last year of cruising.  Big event this year will be the crossing of the Atlantic.  As mentioned we have a crew of seven to complete the voyage and we are really grateful for their help.

Mark, Rosie Mick and the Propellor

We have had a pretty busy last week to 10 days.  

We moved on from beautiful Chatham Bay after a couple of days there although we could have easily stayed longer as it was such a calm and quiet spot.  We sailed North intending to anchor at one of the other bays on either Mayreau or Canuan islands but ended up sailing all the way to Bequia as the anchorages looked a bit rolly.  Bequia was an island which we had called at on the way down when Steve was onboard but we only stayed a couple nights then as we were en-route to Grenada.

Bequia (pronounced Beqway) is a lovely small island with a very protected anchorage in Admiralty Bay which has the main town of Port Elizabeth.  It is a bit of a favourite stop for cruisers and a very friendly island.  We anchored off a beach on the southern side of the bay which was fairly protected although in the evenings the swell could wrap around the northern headland and produce a bit of a roll.  Most of the time was spent schooling and tidying up the boat in readiness for the arrival of our next guests, Mark Bradley and his daughter Rosie.  We looked around town again, had a meal out and managed to buy a painted calabash shell which was remarkably good considering the clouds of marijuana smoke surrounding the artist when we picked it up.

After a couple of days we sailed across the Bequia Channel and and picked up a mooring located in the lee of Youngs Island on the southern side of St Vincent.  The weather was not looking good for Mark and Rosie - windy and heavy rain squalls coming through on a regular basis.  Mark and Rosie arrived the next evening (9th Dec).  After delays with their internal island flight from Barbados to St Vincent they eventually got onboard near midnight looking suprisingly alert.

Mark and Rosie were only scheduled to be with us for a brief 5 days.  They had not sailed before and so we wanted to make sure they enjoyed the experience.  The weather forecast however for the whole coming week was for fairly blustery conditions with easterly winds around 20 to 25kts.  In Grenada we were told that the winds can pick up around Christmas time and this is probably what we are seeing.  The wind is not such an issue but the increase in swell which accompanies it can make many anchorages rather uncomfortable.  On Tuesday afternoon after waiting for a slight decrease in the wind we departed and sailed 16 miles to Mustique anchoring in Britannia Bay.  The sail was great although the seas were a bit on the rough side and the bay proved a bit rolly.

Britannia Bay - Mustique

Mustique is a private island and has homes for the rich and famous including Mick Jagger, Bryan Adams and Shania Twain, to name but a few.  You are allowed onshore and there are a few shops, restaurants, hotels to wander around and look at.  The island was originally bought by an English aristocrat called Tennent (I think).  He developed the island and encouraged his well heeled friends to invest.  From what little we know, Princess Margaret was a frequent visitor in the early years.  There is a famous bar called Basil's Bar on the waterfront and it has a blues festival every year at which Mick Jagger has been known to put in an appearance.  The island was not too busy while we were there.  

Just after we arrived we were relaxing in the cockpit when Calley spotted a couple of people on stand up paddle boards out past the yachts in the bay and  being steadily pushed seaward by the strong winds.  They were not waving to attract attention but looked anything but competent on the boards and were rapidly getting harder and harder to spot in the water.  Scott and Sam jumped into the dingy and went to investigate.  There was a man and woman and they were both pretty tired and had found that once out of the sheltered waters of the bay they could not turn the boards and paddle against the seas and so were getting taken rapidly towards Panama.  Scott and Sam took them in tow and deposited them just off the beach with neither of them apparently realising the possible danger they had been in.

This must be where Mick buys his veggies

That night we went ashore and had dinner at Basil's - its kind of a must if you visit Mustique.  The next day we had a look around the island  and then decided to push on to Friendship Bay on the southern side of Bequia to try and get out of the roll.  Friendship Bay was slightly better but still rolly.  We settled in for the night and cooked up some lobster we had bought of a local.

Rosie and dinner

The next day we pushed on back to Port Elizabeth.  As we were coming off the anchor the engine started to vibrate badly.  Scott went over the side and discovered that the propellor had thrown two of the four blades.  How this happened we have no idea at this stage but liklehood is that the locking pins were not secured correctly by Scott during the Grenada refit.  What ever happened, it is a major.  It is really disappointing as the boat has been working well.  We sailed to Bequia and picked up a mooring.  After due deliberation it was decided that we would sail the next day straight to Rodney Bay in St Lucia (78NM) where there is a travel lift big enough to lift Dulcinea out of the water.  Mark and Rosie were leaving us in St Lucia on Saturday anyway but it just meant that we could not show them the Pitons from the water which we had wanted to do.

Mark helming Dulcinea

We had a great sail to Rodney Bay although Nic is still uncomfortable with the boat heeling and so for her it was a bit anxious.  The boat has been sailing really well and seems to be going faster and pointing higher than ever.  Not sure if that is due to the clean hull, the clean log impellar or just us getting better at sailing.  We were doing a constant 10kts coming out of Bequia and averaged around 7kts for the whole trip which included us being becalmed in the lee of St Vincent for a while.  Sam and Rosie helped Scott helm as it was a 12hr sail - Rosie did a fantastic job given it was her first time.

Rosie on the helm

So here we now back in Rodney Bay.  Mark and Rosie left us on Saturday after a final kneeboarding session.  We are all looking forward to Christmas in New York where we were told there is now 6 inches of snow.  The kids are so excited.  We fly out on the 19th for a couple of weeks.  Before that the boat will be lifted out of the water and new propellor blades will be ordered and hopefully arrive by the time we return.  Rodney Bay is alive with boats as the ARC (Atlantic Rally for Cruisers) fleet is just arriving.  There are boats everywhere and the marina is packed - a good time to leave for New York.

Union Island

Moved from Petit St Vincent after only one night and made the short uneventful crossing to Clifton Harbour on Union Island.  The crossing may have been uneventful but the anchoring certainly wasn’t.  We had touched by Union Island on the way south a few months earlier but had not stopped other than to clear out with immigration and customs.  This time after clearing in we planned to stay a couple of days for a look around.

The small harbour is interesting in that it has a significant reef right in the middle forming two distinct anchoring areas either side which meet just off the town.  i.e. the clear water forms a horseshoe shape.  On one side the harbour is enclosed by fringing reef and on the other side the by the island and the town of Clifton.

We came in to anchor on the inner side of the reef, set down the anchor and laid back on it.  Once we had snugged up it felt like we were lying too far into the channel so we upped that anchor and tried a different spot in between a couple of moored boats a bit closer in which was shown to us by one of the local boat boys.  We set the anchor but were still not happy and when we went to recover anchor the windlass froze.  Later it appeared that the anchor had snagged on the seabed and this had tripped the windlass breaker.  Anyway there we were tethered to the seabed with the wind pushing us around on the surface.

Everything then seemed to happen at once.  The wind started gusting and pushing us sideways towards another anchored boat. Scott was down below working on getting the windlass power restored, we had a local diving on the anchor trying to free it and another local onboard assisting.  Nic, Sam and Calley manned the starboard rail with fenders and we settled alongside the other boat.  Luckily the impact was very soft and we had fenders well positioned so no damage was sustained to either vessel.

Happy Island from our anchorage

The diver freed the anchor and we motored across to a free nearby mooring and secured Dulcinea.  Scott fixed the anchor windlass which was, we think, just the breaker tripping.  Meanwhile the owner of the boat we had touched came out in a dingy and made a big show of looking for damage on his hull and then tried to tell us that a scatch in his bow was caused by us.  This was complete BS and Nic very nicely informed him of this.  Luckily the local guys were our witnesses and they confirmed we had not damaged his boat.  That did not stop him circling our hull looking for a matching scratch.  In the end he had to admit there was no damage.

After calming down, Scott and Calley walked to the airport to clear the boat and passengers in through customs and immigration.  We then slipped the mooring and anchored in some clear water nearer the entrance to the harbour across from a little island on the reef called Happy Island.  There is only a dingy dock and a bar on the island.  Hence the name I guess.

Clifton is a really nice town.  We were ashore the next day after school and had a look around.  It is quite busy as it services a small upmarket island/resort called Palm Island which lies just offshore, the Tobago Cays and probably Petit St Vincent.  They had some colourful stalls with even more colourful fresh fruit and vegetables for sale.  We also found a kind of goumet deli run by an interesting French lady.

Clifton Main Street

Stalls in Clifton

The weather changed for the worst over the next two days.  On the first day and night we had thunderstorms with very heavy rain falling in squalls with winds to 40kts.  Luckily we were in a pretty secure anchorage and although open to the wind the reef broke the seas.  Even so there was a bit of movement on the boat.  

We get bad weather here also

In the middle of the second night we heard a “pan pan” call on the radio from a boat which had dragged its anchor not far from Dulcinea.  A “pan pan” is put out for a serious emergency but one in which the vessel or crew is not in immediate danger.  The boat, a 44ft charter vessel called Brio, had dragged its anchor and had drifted onto the reef in the middle of the harbour and was now rocking back and forth on its keel.  Scott heard the call on the radio, got up and spoke with them initially just relaying messages to a St Vincent coastal station which would hopefully be able to get some assistance.  With no immediate help forthcoming Scott and Sam loaded the dingy with rope, chain and a spare anchor and went across to assist.  The idea was to set a second anchor which would allow them to winch themselves off the reef.  

Once at the yacht it was apparent that the second anchor idea was not going to work for one reason or another and instead Scott decided to go into town and try and raise some local help.  In the end he managed to get a local with a boat boat with a big outboard to come and tow them off.  When we saw them in the morning everything was good although Sunsail were negotiating with the locals who were after a US$2000 salvage fee.

We left Clifton yesterday (3rd Dec) and motored around to the leeward side of the island to a bay called Chatham Bay.  This is such a beautiful spot; deep, calm, protected, beautiful beach and hills all around with only a handful of beach bars/restaurants onshore and half a dozen yachts nearby.  The locals are eager to sell us what we need in the way of bread, lobster, fish etc.  It is great to be in a totally protected bay again as we have been rocked about to some degree ever since leaving Grenada.

Chatham Bay

Only issue is one of nudity - not on our part but others.  There are some in the sailing fraternity who espouse a greater obsession with being naked and it is not uncommon in an anchorage to see people getting their gear off.  For some reason or another the French seem particularly fond of this.  Generally, we are of the opinion "each to his own", however yesterday we had a boat anchor just about on top of us and then proceed to get naked and go swimming.  Maybe we are prudes but I think not.  Bottom line is get as much gear off as you like but if this is your intention don’t anchor right on top of someone.   

We will stay here a couple of days doing, yes you guessed it - school, and have a look around onshore.  The calm water will also allow us to take the kids kneeboarding.

Into the Grenadines

We stayed in Carriacou just long enough to get a good jump on the schoolwork and to have a look around.  The wind has been a constant 15 to 20 gusting 25 with a bit of a swell wrapping around into the bay to keep the seas choppy.  Its not been the calmest anchorage but we decided to stay where we were rather than go in amongst all the other boats closer in where it would have been a bit calmer.

Carriacou is part of Grenada and is a smaller island to Grenada with a great feel to it.  Tyrrel bay looks very similar to many islands around this part of the Caribbean.  The bay is pretty open but being on the leeward side of the island is protected from the prevailing weather.  The bay has a long stretch of sand beach and palm trees most of the way around except at the two extremes where tall green hills rise steeply from the water.  There are a couple of reefs in the bay which need to be avoided when arriving on the water and in one corner there is a low lying mangrove swamp.  Behind the beach the land rises to high hills inland which is dotted with small houses.

Shoreline of Tyrrel Bay

A road fringes the beach all around the bay and is studded with hand painted signs advertising this or that business or community announcements.  Small houses and some local businesses are located along the road in a mixture of wooden cottages and concrete houses and most are painted in bright pastel colours but all suffering various degrees of fading.  At one end of the bay there is the government jetty which the ferries dock at and at the other end there is  a small boat yard.  One or two other small rickety wooden or concrete piers jut out every now and then from the beach.  There are supposed to be over 100 rum shops on the island but we did not see them.

Caribbean Signs

Ashore we met some expats running cafe / restaurant establishments.  These guys had only recently relocated to Carriacou and had quit the UK and decided to set up businesses on the island.  It was great talking with them and learning about their sea change.  Certainly relocation to Carriacou would be a big move but it is an idyllic place if you can relax, get into the rhythm and accept the isolation.

Luckily they gave us the name of a good refrigeration mechanic because the fridge had started warming again.  If it was a free standing unit I am sure we would have ripped it out and pitched it overboard by now.  This time there was a small gas leak from the dryer unit which had only recently been replaced.  Got that fixed and regassed the system and fingers crossed again.

Sandy Island off Carriacou

On one day we took a local bus over to the main town of Hillsborough.  We always like taking the kids on the local transport so they can get a better feel for the place and the minibuses are always so much fun with friendly pasengers and talkative drivers.  We jumped on one at the government jetty and straightwaway proceeded in the opposite direction we wanted to go.  The island is pretty small so you just go with it.  Turns out they had to drop off an elderly passenger and her shopping at her house and then pick up some kids from the local school before heading to Hillsborough.  As in Grenada the people seem to really take care of the youngsters and the elderly - there is a real community spirit which is not evident in a lot of other places around the world.

Sam and Calley choosing grapefruit in Hillsborough

Hillsborough is another leeward side town on a bigger bay.  It is bigger than Tyrrel Bay but more exposed.  We had a stroll around and bought some provisions before heading back to the boat.

School has been going well this week, probably due to us being old hands at it now.

On Friday (29th Nov) we left Tyrrel Bay and headed to an island called Petite Martinique.  This is a small island just behind Carriacou of about 1000 people and is also part of Grenada.  There are a few small islands around here all within spitting distance of each other, some owned by Grenada and some by St Vincent, the main ones being Petite Martinique and Petit St Vincent.  We ended up anchoring off Petit St Vincent as it was calmer and allowed us to let the kids try out a new kneeboard which they had got from their Uncle Lars and Aunty Lush.  Later we took a dinghy ride over to Petite Martinique to have a look around and to get some dinner at a restaurant on the beach.  The town is similar to that described above only smaller.

Sam trying out the new kneeboard at Petit St Vincent

So here we sit trying to get a jump on the schoolwork and planning on moving up toward St Vincent in the coming week ready to pick up Mark and Rosie.

Just heard the great news that our friend Walt in Glasgow is making an excellent recovery after some major surgery.  Walt, hope you are back to fighting fitness  soon.

Carriacou

We finally left Grenada on Monday 25th November.  

We had a pretty relaxing weekend on the boat and managed a very civilised brunch on Sunday at one of the nearby marinas which kind of knocked us out for the rest of the day.  On Monday morning we settled up all our outstanding bills ashore and then headed out of the marina around midday.  The weather forecast was for squally weather for the rest of the week but we figured it was time to get going.

West Coast Grenada

Given that we had not sailed for almost 4 months things went OK.  The wind was blowing E/ENE 20 to 25kts around the South of the island and we put up a reefed main and the staysail which had us barrelling along at around 8kts.  As we turned to run up the west side of Grenada the wind slackened in the shadow of the island with occasional squalls coming through which kept us on our toes.  We were headed to a place called Tyrell Bay on the next major island to the north called Carriacou which was about 35Nm away.  

Happy to be sailing again

Once off the north end of Grenada we had gusty 20 to 25kt winds for the crossing of the passage which put the boat close hauled and gave both boat and crew a good workout.   Happy to report there were no breakages.  About an hour from Tyrell Bay the weather started to deteriorate and as we were a bit late it was also starting to get dark.  Just as we started our approach to the entrance to the bay a terrific squall came through with torrential rain.  Scott was on the helm and Sam was up forward trying to spot any boats at anchor.  Nic and Calley were in the cockpit also trying to spot any boats.  Everyone was wearing wet weather gear but still got absolutely soaked after a few minutes.  We could not see a thing and knew from the radio that there were a number of yachts anchored in the bay many without lights.  In addition to make it interesting there were a couple of unmarked reefs which we had to avoid.  We made a run in but visibility became so bad we had to abandon and head out again until the rain stopped.  Even then it was pitch black and very difficult to see.  

We motored slowly in until we saw the first boat in front of us and then dropped our anchor.  We were still quite far out but figured this was the safest bet.  We could always move in the morning when things got clearer.  That night was a real welcome back to the boat.  At one point the wind got up to 40kts in the gusts.  Everyone slept well although Scott was up a few times monitoring our position and checking for anchor drag.

Next morning we woke to find a bay full of yachts in front of us and were extremely grateful that we had decided not to proceed further during the night.  A guy called Simon came around in a boat and sold us a couple of 3lb lobsters for dinner.

Simon and our lobsters

We will stay here for a few days until the weather abates and then continue North.  We have started school which everyone is really excited(!) about so will press on with that and maybe have a look around the island.