On the Hard
Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
12.27.165N
61.29.246W

Today, I had to make up for my laziness of yesterday, so I stripped the bed and sorted the laundry to be taken in (there are very few self-serve laundromats the farther south we travel).

After I dropped off the laundry, I climbed back up to the Palace and tore the remaining two winches apart to clean and re-grease them. I can now tear a Lewmark winch down to parade rest and put it back together without the aid of the maintenance manual but the process hasn’t gotten any cleaner. Thank heavens it doesn’t need to be done all that often. In the past, I’ve done it once a year (hence the cheat sheet). However, now that we’re sailing full time, I think I might check them again in 6 months.

When I completed my task, I collected all of my implements of destruction and wiped them down before returning them to Dale’s tool box and properly marked containers. I put all of the manuals back and closed the doors. Already the boat was starting to look better. After a second liberal dose of Lysol, it started to smell better too.

Outside and below, Edwin and his crew applied themselves to cleaning and polishing the sides of the boat. We were beginning to look really good.

Later Dale and I sat in the shade of a patio on the second story of the of the Yacht Club/restaurant next door to escape the heat with a couple of iced sodas and watched the boats coming in. From our perch, we saw that we’d have to find a new place to anchor tomorrow since a huge sailboat took our original spot. We picked up the laundry and then took the dinghy exploring.

We followed the mangroves to its end and then back the way we had come, stopping only to get a good look at the 3 boats that hadn’t survived Hurricane Emily. Two had obviously broken loose, but the third appeared to have been abandoned and then looted or the other way around since it was still floating and well tied to the mangrove trees.

Next, we headed across the bay to the point where we’d been directed for some interesting snorkeling. We checked out the two locations and made plans to visit them soon.

Tomorrow, the Palace will be splashed and big girl will back in her element again. We have been pleased with how well she has been performing and have no doubt that she will continue to be a great home on the water in which the islands of the Caribbean lie just beyond her hull. I have been particularly pleased with how well we were able to convert her to a home on the hard, limited only by the capacity of her holding tanks. Of course, the fact that we were positioned with greatest exposure to the wind and sun helped too.

Dale and I will probably spend a couple of more days here before making our way to Grenada and then to our final stop in Trinidad.