Monday, October 26, 2020

St. George’s, Grenada

Port Louis Marina

12.02.608 N

61.44.833 W

Happy Birthday Carolyn! on the 18th

I apologize for not writing sooner but as I told a friend of mine (who gave me a gentle nudge) who wants to read about constant setbacks and awful things happening to us. 

When I last wrote, I had just been released from quarantine and returned to the boat and our regular lives.  We had started playing Mexican Train Dominos with our friends from Opal, Texas Crewed, and new friends Lee and Sharon on Allegro, (a sister ship to Opal) each Tuesday and Thursday afternoons.  On Monday, Wednesday and Friday, I would start my day with 80 lengths of the pool (about ¾ mile as close as I can figure).  All was going well, when at the end of September, I opened our e-mail one morning to learn that Dale’s uncle on his mother’s side had died in Pensacola, Florida.  The e-mail was written by a neighbor and as Dale’s uncle and aunt didn’t have internet, had no way of getting in touch with us.  They included a telephone number which Dale immediately called to get the particulars. 

The long and short was that Aunt Tina was alone (no family of her own), possibly may have had a minor stroke, and the neighbors were desperate to find any family as she wasn’t doing well herself.  Air Canada was still the only airline flying to North American at the time and we tried to get Dale on the next plane out.  Unfortunately, with such short notice, we weren’t able to which meant that it would be another week before we could.  That week Dale showed me how to back flush the water maker, open the vents and turn on the generator, use the inverter, etc. basically showing me how to do all of his jobs. 

He took the same route I did taking Savannah home; flying from Grenada to Toronto, spending the night in the airport, then flying out the next morning to Houston and then to Pensacola.  The neighbors picked him up at the airport and took him to Aunt Tina who thankfully remembered who he was (from the neighbors’ description, we weren’t sure she would.)  We had scheduled 2 weeks for him to get what was needed to be done-completed before returning to Grenada.  As we had already gone through this for my mother and father back in November, he had a pretty good idea as to what had to be accomplished in those 2 weeks. 

In the meantime, we had previously scheduled a haul out for bottom paint and repairs at another marina on the southside of the island for mid-October.  This, and the room we reserved during the time we couldn’t be on the boat, had to be rescheduled to after his return and subsequent quarantine to the first week in November.  Gerry and Nicky did the same as the guys figured they could help each other on their various projects. 

One week into the trip, Air Canada sent word that his return flight had been cancelled.  Apparently, someone who had flown the Toronto to Grenada flight had ended up testing positive on their arrival or after quarantine; or they weren’t filling enough seats to warrant his flight (rumors can run rampant here.)  Both had occurred, so take your pick as to the reason.  We had heard through the cruisers net and social media that American Airlines and Jet Blue were scheduled to begin making flights to Grenada, so I started tracking down a return flight for him.  Unfortunately, Air Canada had instituted CoVid wording in their refund policy and therefore were not offering refunds; only vouchers.  They also offered him a return flight at the end of the month.  Since we could not foresee any time we might use an Air Canada voucher and couldn’t leave that amount of money ‘laying on the table’ so to speak, we took the end of the month return flight.  It gave him more time to get things done and as we had been stationed in Pensacola, Dale could make a couple of quick visits to some of our friends still there.  In Grenada, I was back to pushing out the dates on the haul out and hotel room.  Gerry and Nicky elected to keep their time slot on Monday, knowing that I was in the process of sliding ours to Friday.

Just after we knew that Dale would not be returning until the end of the month, disaster struck in Grenada.  There was a power surge through “J” dock.  Guess which dock we were on.  I was on the boat at the time and at first thought that we had sucked up plastic into the AC water cooling, so I turned off the AC.  However, we have a large electrical panel in the main salon that runs the whole boat that was popping and snapping like crazy, so I turned everything off on that.  I store salad oils and vinegar in the same space so I opened it to see if there was any arcing.  I didn’t see anything but I snagged my bottles and shut the door—just in case! 

There were more than a dozen boats on “J” dock and more than half had electrical damage.  We had a surge protector strip which we kept our computers, iPads, phones, etc. plugged into.  It died a valiant death as it did its job and nothing connected to it was damaged, that we know of.  I texted Gerry to come over and help me figure out what was going on.  Bless his heart, he already had the skinny on what had happened on the dock by the time he arrived.  He turned off anything I hadn’t and we went outside and compared notes with everyone else.  Although my surge protector smelled terrible, I had no fire.  Two boats down from me had its fire alarm go off although no fire was found.  As everyone was fine and only property damage had occurred, the marina shut down all electrical to the dock and those of us who were equipped to do so,  reverted to using solar and wind generated power or a generator just like we do at anchor. 

Gerry checked all the connections and determined that a master board that ran the AC pump, compressor and both AC units had been fried.  He rewired the circulating pump directly to power to see if it was damaged; it wasn’t.  Next he wired the pump directly to each AC unit.  The main unit that cooled the salon (and generally the whole boat) wasn’t cooling although air would come through it.  The lower AC unit still worked, so the theory was that I could run the smaller lower unit with the generator if I needed to.  As our boat was pointed into the wind most times, I elected not to and went back to opening the hatches, using the sun shades and sweating a lot.  The next day, the marina sent down some refrigeration men to assess the damage.  Gerry was summoned; they go over what has been done and agree that the AC master board needs to be replaced. 

About 2 days after this, the marina informs me that as the power was turned off, the security cameras and lighting were too, and for safety reasons, I would need to move the boat to another slip.  Not a problem really; except that it would be a temporary slip until they could put me on an “American” dock (remember the 110v and 220v at the hotel? well there’s 50 and 60 hz too that need to be taken in consideration at the marina.)  I knew that Gerry would help me but I wasn’t going to ask him to do everything.  So, I set about taking down the sun shades, removing the isinglass covers, singling up all the lines, digging out buckets to drop nasty lines into, turning everything on and doing everything I could to get ready to move.  All Gerry would have to do would be Dale’s job of picking up and dropping the remaining lines, adjusting the fenders and making sure I don’t run into anything or anyone else.  I had the engines running by the time he arrived and within minutes we were making our way to “F” dock.  The very end of “F” dock.  And as usual, all the workerbees and those on boats nearby had to stop what they were doing to watch the “girl” bring in the big boat.  Thankfully, I hadn’t forgotten how to do it and we were soon snugged into my new temporary digs.  Again, I was facing primarily into the wind and elected not to connect to shore power or water while waiting for my more permanent slip which, I was informed, was Texas Crewed’s spot when they left. 

Gerry headed back to his boat and I started getting the Palace put back together after the move when I noticed what appeared to be fuel in the water.  It had rained that morning and the usual flotsam and jetsam (and yuckiness) was making its way into the harbor.  I kept watching and periodically would see blobs of white stuff coming from underneath us.  I had seen nasty looking water coming out of the exhaust when I started the engines but had passed it off as sitting for a long period.  I don’t think he made it to the end of the dock when I called Gerry back for his assessment.  Basically, it was that it wasn’t fuel, it was oil.  Most likely coming from our sail drive.  Which means that the seals have been damaged.  The only way to repair those is to haul out the boat and drop the sail drive (the bottom part that holds the propeller.)  Good thing we have a haul out scheduled. 

My next observation was that—while on “J” dock, trotting down to the potty, showers and pool was no big deal, on “F” dock, I was told that it was approximately ¼ mile.  This posed 2 problems.  1^st- no waiting to the last minute to go potty.  2^nd – if I use the potty on the boat, it empties into the holding tank—located beneath the pantry.  I have a problem with this location.  Potty and pantry should not be used in the same sentence.   Suffice it to say, I’m getting my required steps in.  Also, more definitively, Dale had better make it back here soon, as there’s one of his jobs I’m not willing to learn!

A few days later, Gene and Rene on Texas Crewed, invited many of us to join them on their boat for fajitas and margaritas.  I took chips and a huge bowl of guacamole and I’m proud to say that not once, did I mention that I was waiting for their slip.  We had fun and complimented them on their new flooring, recently installed.  A couple of days after that, Gerry let me know that they had left and I contact the marina to move into their spot.  Once again, Gerry came over and we moved the Palace to “E” dock.  This time I was ready to plug in.  Only this time, not only did the boat’s electrical system “trip,” the power on the dock “tripped;” more problems.  Regardless of which electrical cord we used, regardless of which shore power we plugged into.  I was back to open hatches and sweat; and about the same length to the potty as “F” dock. 

The next day, the marina sent down their electrician.  Gerry is now located 2 boats down and right behind me, so he was called again.  The marina’s electrician told us that the dock was brand new, there was no way there was a problem with them.  It had to be a “leak to ground” on my boat.  Later that day, an independent electrician was sent down to again assess what the problem was.  Once again Gerry was summoned to explain what had been done and where we stood. 

As the problems on my boat stemmed from the power surge taking out the AC, the electrician started there.  He also started with the fact that my AC is 14 years old and the condensation pan was rusty/corroded.  I reminded him that it was working at the time of the power surge.  Poor Gerry is in the middle of it trying to play mediator.  All I can see is that the electrician is trying to mediate the marina’s liability.  He calls the AC men to put a gauge on the AC to measure the coolant in it.  There is none.  Apparently, the coolant system and the electrical system are very separate systems and according to the electrician, there is no way the surge could cause the coolant to leak from its system.  I stick to my guns that it was running and cooling prior to the surge, so they have to be connected somehow.  The electrician says its possible that the surge caused the compressor to over work causing some type of blow out but highly unlikely. This is when I could feel I was losing control of my emotions.  I was not about to cry in front of all of those men, so I left Gerry, the electrician and the AC guy on the Palace and made my way to Nicky.  By the time I got to her, I was a basket case.  I’d like to think I’m not a wuss but it seems the older I get, the less it takes to overwhelm me. 

I’m not certain at this point how long it was, but I’m pretty sure it took 3-4 hours before Gerry came back and said that they had searched every fuse, socket, appliance, and electrical line on the Palace before they found where the ground leak was coming from.  I wish I could tell you about it, but the truth of the matter is, that when he told me, I really didn’t care.   What I can tell you is:  right now, I am connected to shore power with the lower AC running.  I spend most of my days sitting on my bunk, reading, writing, watching Netflix on the computer, coloring, or surfing Pinterest.  I trek up to the shower area 4-5 times a day for exercise.  I’m not really hungry but Gerry/Nicky invite me over every couple of days and I try to either return the favor or invite them to the marina restaurant (the salon really is still too hot, particularly when I cook.)

Of course, the CoVid rules have changed again but in some respects for the better for Dale’s return.  He only has to do 4 days in quarantine.  However, now he has to be able to prove he has a paid facility for quarantine, so on Friday when we did our grocery shopping, I made a stop at the hotel and prepaid his stay, taking a photo of the receipt and forwarding it to him so that he has his “proof.”  Dale and Gerry text back and forth (probably daily) and as I understand it, an AC has been or will be ordered very soon.  Dale has been able to take care of everything he needed to for Aunt Tina and he texted me today saying that he had just finished his PCR test for his return, so we’re almost there.    

So whether we’re snake bit (as Dale calls it) or someone has a voodoo doll and box of pins (as Nicky calls it), we’re still here and taking each day as it comes