Prickly Bay, Grenada
11.59.991N
61.45.778W

Today’s agenda consisted of checking into Customs, finding a bank to withdraw EC’s (East Caribbean Dollars), tuck away our TT’s (Trinidad & Tobago Dollars), make a quick run to the grocery store so Gary could get his cookie fix, and then finish the day with a burger from Bananas, although Dale preferred lobster for his dinner.

Along the way, we noted some changes in Grenada since our last visit. The Coast Guard station had cleaned up their grounds considerably, ‘de Big Fish’ restaurant added a new drink bar in the middle of their restaurant and changed their décor, and the goats (lawn mowers) were tethered at this time of the year.

Other than that, our big excitement was via the radio. We heard Chardeaux trying to hail any boat in St. Georges’. We really don’t know the people on Chardeaux but Lorraine used to give the daily weather reports when we were in Trinidad and we were familiar with her voice. Mia tried to respond but apparently Chardeaux couldn’t hear them. Dale was in the back getting ready for us to leave the boat but encouraged me to act as relay for them. The next thing I know, I’m in the middle of a distress call trying to relay information from all of the anchorages on the south side of Grenada to Chardeaux.

You see, Chardeaux had lost their engine and wanted to alert those anchored in St. Georges’ to the fact that they would be coming in under sail and that those in the anchorage might need to assist or fend off when they approached. I relayed that information to Mia and back to Chardeaux that Mia was the outer most boat and would be keeping a lookout for them.

Then Chardeaux described that they had sheered off the bolts that hold the strut mount in place and that she had tied the shaft to the boat so that no further damage would occur. She asked if we could recommend a mechanic for her type of engine but that they specifically did not want to use a certain service. When I radioed that we were not familiar with the mechanics in Grenada, everyone and their brother wanted to break into our conversation and offer a suggestion, including the service that she had already said she did not want to use. However, no one thought to put their radios on high power and I continued to relay the information back and forth. An hour or so later, I signed off by getting the coordinates to her location and promised to answer if she should call later on as they got closer. As they were still almost 30 miles away, they wouldn’t be arriving for a few more hours.

A couple of hours later, Chardeaux radioed saying that the wind had died and that they were floundering. They weren’t in trouble, just that they weren’t going anywhere. She also asked that I confirm the depth of her present location as her chart plotter said one thing and her depth sounder indicated another. I suspected that since it was obvious that they wouldn’t make it in before night fall, she was starting to get nervous. Dale checked with our chart plotter and confirmed that she was in over 5000 feet and that the 10’ reading on her depth gauge was probably a big fish beneath them. (We’d had the same thing when we crossed and it can be really disconcerting.) She told us that she had started to prepare the anchor for deployment but that the pin holding the anchor in place was bent and that they were readying their secondary anchor to use when they finally did make it in. Mia was also listening and said that he could see their lights from his boat and that he would wait up for them until they arrived. Again, I made note of her position.

By 9pm, she sounded frustrated and said that although they had some wind, there was no way they were going to be able to make it to St. Georges’ and that they were going to continue north until they got to the next island. Once again, I made note of her position.

At 11pm, I tried to radio her for an update. She didn’t respond. Neither did anyone else. Since I know she’s made it past us and is heading farther north, I pray that she is simply out of radio contact. I’ll check around tomorrow, to see if anyone knows for certain where they are.