Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou
12.27.355N
61.29.317W

This morning we all rendezvoused at Orpailleur. Last night during our dinnertime discussion, we had asked Gerry & Nicky what plans they had to scrub because Gerry was tied up doing his own work in the yard. One of the items mentioned was that they had wanted to take their main sail off to have some extra chaffing guards sewn onto it. They had already spoken with the sail loft when we first arrived and knew that it could be done, they just hadn’t had the time to take the sail off. So, we decided that we would help them out.

At 8am, Dale, Mike & Nicky disengaged the lazy jack system they have in place and took the main sail off the boom. Terri and I were on the ground and as they lowered the sail to the ground, we flaked it so that it could be rolled up and put into a sail bag. Then Mike volunteered to help Nicky and I take it to the sail loft. Gerry had been painting since 7:30am, so that they could keep to their schedule of being splashed tomorrow.

Dale & Mike put the sail bag into the duck and Nicky and I ferried it across the bay to the sail loft with Mike & Terri following in their dink behind us. We beached the dinks in front of the sail loft and Mike carried the bag up to the door. As luck would have it, they weren’t open. However, we did see the proprietor dropping his anchor just behind where we had landed and could see that he was on the way. I’m not sure anyone asked where he had sailed in from.

On our way back, we took a side trip through the mangrove bays that act as hurricane holes in case of emergency. When they’re not being used for hurricane holes, they are oyster beds. Besides oysters, there were hundreds of upside down jellyfish in the bays. We worked our way all the way back as far as it went, then turned around and came out again. It was remarkably quiet and if we had gone later in the morning when the sun was higher, we might have seen more.

We waved our good-bys to Terri & Mike at the end of our little excursion. They plan to continue their exploration of the smaller Grenadine islands before finally making their way back to Trini where they'll leave MTNest for hurricane season. We’ll miss them but plan on keeping up with them with perhaps a visit down the road.

In spite of the lack of workers, rain for almost an entire day, Orpailleur is on schedule to be splashed tomorrow. Gerry has to be commended that he stuck it out and kept everything on schedule doing the work himself (with a little help from his friends). However, he’s paying the price. He was troubled with tennis elbow before he started and now is in quite a bit of pain. Dale’s offered to take care of it for him but Gerry’s declined. Apparently, he’s more than a bit squeamish about needles.

We finished our day once again in the chateau. Nicky had offered their shower if we wanted to use it, so tonight I took advantage of the offer and headed up with my “girl soap” and shampoo. It was luxurious to take a long hot shower instead of being careful not to waste a single drop. After that, Nicky and I whipped up dinner with what was left in our refrigerators. We have to do some fresh food provisioning before we head off to more remote islands. At the moment, Nicky has a couple of onions and I have a couple of tomatoes and potatoes. Otherwise, there’s not a fresh vegetable between us.