08/01 - 06/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Nothing much new to tell you about.

Linda and I swim laps every morning, or as many mornings as we can. She and Gary are returning to California for a few weeks and are putting Rainbow Rider on the hard. We helped them take down their sails one morning. They have been kind enough to offer to take with them mail and lists from various boats for items to bring back. Ours was among them. Dale needed more twizzlers.

Our little neighborhood dinghy watch appears to be working. Unfortunately for the next harbor down, the thieves have moved on to their area as there was an armed robbery of a boat in their anchorage. The boat owner reported on the morning radio net that three men, who appeared to be locals, brandished small hand guns when they boarded their boat. Luckily, they were able to fend them off with “knives and clubs”. The organizer of our neighborhood watch said that he would let them know how we were doing ours. Hopefully, this will work.

07/24 - 31/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

There were more security concerns this week, Wayne & Carol on Take Time were boarded. They are at Crews Inn, the largest, certainly the most expensive, and one of the most “secure” marinas here. Carol heard the intruder rattling their door in the wee hours of the morning and woke Wayne, who ran naked to the door and scared the guy away. (We keep telling Wayne that it was the sight of him running naked that scared him away). Wayne said that the security people were able to apprehend the man but then let him go! Wayne also observed that the guards looked terrified of him. He didn’t have any identification and they didn’t bother to get his name. Later the marina manager apologized to them for their scare and for the fact that this was apparently the second time the same guy was seen on a boat that didn’t belong to him. His explanation was that he’s on the wrong boat. The belief is that the man is homeless and sleeps on boats that are uninhabited. Still, with all of the thefts occurring and the fact that there are a couple of “cowboys” itching for a fight, no one is safe.

There was also a theft from a boat “on the hard” at our marina. That one appeared to be an “inside job” since tools in a locked cupboard were specifically targeted.

We’re all being very careful. Except for Dale jogging in the morning or Wayne riding his motorcycle into town, even the men are going places in pairs. Needless to say, after Wayne & Carol’s scare, we’re all popping up from time to time to flash our lights around. Finally, that 3:00am potty run is useful for something other than relief.

Also this week, we joined the crews of Sea Bird, Take Time, Wasabe, and Jade Explorer for a trip into town to a Japanese restaurant; sushi again. We arranged to be dropped off at the restaurant by the shuttle from the marina (due to last week’s bus scare) and to be picked up 2 hours later; we barely made it. It was a rather small restaurant and I think our large crowd overwhelmed the chef as it took forever to get our dinners.

Don off Jade Explorer, educated us with his newly acquired, yet vast knowledge of marine engineering forensics. His 50 ton, 47’ Nordhaven was dropped 31” when the buckle on one of the straps of the boat lift broke. Luckily, no one was seriously injured. Furthermore, glass boats don’t do well when dropped. Luckily, the yard admitted liability and is apparently doing everything in its power to repair the boat. All of the tests completed thus far indicate that it probably needs a new hull in addition to repair of all of the interior damage. At what point do you write it off a year old boat? Even if all of the damage can be repaired, his boat will always have a history of being severely damaged and most likely will never be sold for its true value of over a million dollars.

07/17-23/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Happy Birthday Veronica!!

Rainbow Rider finally made it! You may recall that we’ve been expecting them to catch up to us since we left Jacksonville. We’ve been introducing them to our boat buddies and they have made a great addition to our little group.

Since we anticipate being here for a couple of months, we’ve settled into a bit of a routine. Dale has returned to jogging in the morning. Linda and I walk over to Crews Inn around the end of the harbor but located directly across from us in the channel to swim laps in their pool, then we return to our own boats for our various projects or goofing off.

To spice things up a bit, there is a local entrepreneur who offers shuttles into town to the larger grocery stores, malls, movie theater, open market or wherever you might like to go (price depending upon how many people want to go with you - the more - the cheaper). Sunday is Mexican Dominos at Crew Inn and potluck night at Coral Cove. Tuesday is the shuttle to the movies, Wednesday is Price Smart day (like Sam’s or Cosco), Friday is the larger supermarket and Saturday is open market day.

This week we went to the open market. Fresh fish, meat and poultry (as in butchered, plucked or filleted in front of you) and rows and rows of stalls selling fruits and vegetables.

We also went to see the second Pirates of the Caribbean movie. It was great fun to nudge each other saying “we’ve been there, we saw that!” Of course, a lot of the movie was shot on location at St. Vincent, an island we avoided for safety reasons. We met some other cruisers who were boarded there but luckily were able to send the thieves running. We figured the movie crews must have had their own security force.

Speaking of security force, we’ve set up a sort of neighbor hood watch organization here. It has gotten to the point where we have at least one theft per night lately. Usually it’s dinghies, engines or something in the cockpit not locked up that get stolen and generally from boats out in the mooring fields but there have been two separate robberies of people walking along the road and a robbery at gunpoint of the driver and passengers (all but one were cruisers) on a bus that has the marina route. One cruiser on the bus had just gone to the ATM and the pocket in which he placed his money was ripped from his pants. Clearly, he had been watched.

Because of the thefts and robberies, a very well attended meeting was organized at one of the local restaurants to discuss the situation. That’s where some “cowboys” surfaced. Everyone is concerned and wants to do their part but most of us prefer the less radical method of protecting ourselves. The most interesting aspect of the situation is that of jurisdiction. If the theft occurs on land, it’s a police problem; if the theft occurs on water, it’s a coast guard problem; the Chaguaramas area itself seems to pose a dilemma and has its own organization to report to. Our biggest problem was that no one was responding!

The meeting ended with a consensus that those in the mooring fields would divide up the days into segments among themselves, taking turns shining their million watt floodlights periodically around the field checking for intruders from their own boats and hail the coast guard on channel 16 if something is found amiss. Hopefully, this will at least dampen the interest or resolve the situation if the thief or thieves can be apprehended.

In the meantime, we’ve all be encouraged to raise our dinks high, and lock them to the boat. I made a mental note to update our insurance and registration to include the new dinghy which at this point, as no markings whatsoever to designate who it belongs to.

On a happier note, we finished our week with sushi on Take Time. Brian on Wasabe, used to own a shushi bar in California and prepared our meal in Carol & Wayne’s large galley. We reaped the benefits together with the crews from Sea Bird, Rainbow Rider, Take Time, and Wasabe. Although I took a steak, I did scarf up a few of the seaweed wrapped rice pieces in addition to it. The thought of raw fish just doesn’t sit well with me but the taste was pretty good and the seaweed salad was delicious. I’m slow, but I’m learning.

07/10-16/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

We were in luck when it came to our turtle tour. We got to see 5 different turtles!

Carol & Wayne (Take Time), Jim & Freddie (Chez Freddie), Brian, Lisa & Suzanne (Wasabe) took the long bus ride to the far side of the island for the event. We viewed a film about the leatherneck turtles describing the threatened extinction particularly the problem of so many returning females becoming tangled in fishing nets and drowning. Trinidad is making a valiant effort to educate their population regarding the plight of the leathernecks and is definitely making progress with the next generations by providing education in the primary schools.

As we approached the beach, one monstrous sized leatherneck turtle had just finished covering her nest and was on her way back to the sea. A few more yards down the beach, another had just finished digging her nest and we were present when she laid her cache of rubbery eggs. Although we were disappointed that the forestry guide would not allow us to photograph the turtles, we were able to touch her shell, head and flippers while she was in her trance-like state during the egg laying portion.

During our time on the beach, three more turtles lumbered ashore to start the arduous process of digging their 3’ deep nest. One changed her mind twice; she would struggle out of the surf and up the beach then turn around and head back out again. Twice she made the trek before she returned to the surf for good.

On our way back to the bus, we were allowed to touch and photograph the little turtles that had emerged from their nests earlier in the day.

It was quite the experience of sights and smells.

For the rest of the week, Dale tried to repair a slow leak in our dinghy while I re-stitched the chaps where the seams had separated with our scraping against less than perfect dinghy docks. He used the soapy water method of locating the leak and then we hoisted it up to stand it on its nose to get the liquid sealer to the leak area. I had to make a quick side step when the brass shackle broke and the whole thing came crashing down. No harm was done and after a day of being inflated, we thought the leak had been repaired. However, the first time we used it visiting Carol & Wayne across the channel, we returned to find it completely flat. Not just a little flat, but totally flat. I was surprised that the hard bottom had enough buoyancy to keep the motor afloat. In fact, we carefully stepped onto what was left and slowly motored home. As you can see from the photo, I was more than a little concerned that one of the go fast boats zinging through the channel would swamp us. We were in luck and none appeared.

When we returned and took off the chaps, we found that one of the pontoon seams had come completely unglued. We knew that it could be repaired but Dale felt that since one seam failed, it was a matter of time before the rest would fail and it would be better to get a new one here where they are available rather than be caught some place where we wouldn’t be able to replace it. Once again, my budget is obliterated. Our new dinghy should be here by the end of the week. Of course, the chaps I made for our original dinghy won’t fit the new one, so we’ll splurge and have a pair made here (with leather chafe guards).

NOTE to GG & Nicky: Put leather on the bow and along the rub rail of your dinghy chaps if you can.

07/3-9/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

Happy Birthday Robbie!!

This week we walked around getting the lay of the land and visited with our new neighbors. Our marina has a laundromat and a small supermarket is just a short dinghy ride across the channel. We checked the dry storage nearby to make sure that DocNoMore, Foreclosure and Exit Strategy were looking well cared for and that the air conditioning units were dripping indicating that mildew was being held at bay.

We discovered that Trinidad is now in its rainy season which lasts approximately 6 months and we arrived just in time for this year‘s season! It rains just about every day and we’ve been promised that this is just the beginning. So when it rains. . . we play Mexican Dominos with Wayne & Carol who are across the channel in Crews Inn.

On Tuesday, we joined Wayne & Carol on Take Time when they invited a few of us over for a barbeque of hamburgers and hotdogs with homemade buns. They were disappointed on Friday when the turtle tour they went on failed to be the night when the leatherneck turtles laid their eggs on the beach.

We’ve signed up for the turtle tour for next week. It’s a 3 hour drive to the northeast side of the island where the turtles lay their eggs, so we’ve chosen the tour with the larger, more comfortable bus.

One bit of drama this week, Dale and I dined at one of the local restaurants where I ordered the chicken Lorraine. Unfortunately, the spinach came with more protein than I wanted in the form of a beetle. Thank heavens it was a whole bug and not just part.

07/1-2/2006
Chaguaramas, Trinidad
10.40.822N
61.37.899W

OK, so I took the month of July off. Let me see if I can bring you up to date.

We hoisted our main sail and lifted anchor at 4:30pm from True Blue, Grenada and waived good-bye to Wayfinder and Indigo Moon as we headed south to Trinidad and they southwest for Venezuela. Take Time would follow us later in the evening as they estimated less time in crossing for their trawler. That night 6 boats made the crossing from Grenada to Trinidad in two groups of three. We in the first group and Take Time in the second.

As soon as we cleared the harbor, we unfurled the jib and turned off the engine. As luck would have it, we had a 12-18 kt wind on our beam all the way to Trinidad which made for a quick trip in spite of the westward currents that often slow cruisers down. However, due to the currents, we would often encounter areas of choppy seas. So, there was no problem in staying awake on watch.

As is our custom on overnight passages, I took the 8pm -11pm watch. However, since it had been a long time since our last overnighter, Dale elected to snooze in the cockpit during my watch which I elongated until 1am. With the radio constantly being used among all of the cruisers, I knew he wasn’t getting much rest. When it came time to dodge the uncharted oil rigs half way between the two islands, I woke him up discussing our options with the other boaters. You wouldn’t believe the lights on these things. They are so bright, you start trying to dodge them miles before you get anywhere near them. When it became clear that I’d be closer to Venezuela than I would be to Trinidad if I continued to follow the leader of our little group, I decided to just go through the middle and try not to hit anything. As it turned out, that’s what we all ended up doing and we still didn‘t get anywhere near them.

There were even ships among the rigs that you couldn’t see because all of the lights merged together. Thank heavens I was beyond the one I was closest to when I first saw it. As it is, I’m still not sure he didn’t have to avoid me when I changed course to bring us back to our original heading. By this time, Dale was up and took over. The rest of the night was uneventful.

The wind died as the sun rose and we were forced to turn on the engine to pass through the opening between Trinidad and Venezuela before entering into Chaguramas Bay, Trinidad. The guides say that Chaguramas was a U.S. Naval base during WWII, however, at this point, you certainly can’t tell. Now it’s a commercial harbor with several small marinas surrounding it’s perimeter.

My first impression upon entering between the small islands leading to Chaguramas was reminiscent of our entry into the Dominican Republic. Lush green tropical foliage on sheer mountain sides with rushing water squeezing between the islands heading out to sea. The early morning hour brought the incredible noise of thousands of green parrots moving in pairs from their nesting site on one side of the harbor to the other side of the harbor for whatever reason. We learned later that the parrots move from one side to the other every morning at dawn and every evening at dusk.

We rounded again between a couple more small islands into Chaguramas Bay about 7:30am. Unfortunately, the beauty from a distance gave way to the reality up close. The harbor is clearly commercial with diesel spills practically a daily occurrence. The water, surprisingly clear at times, has trash and the fishermen’s leftover chum being pulled back and forth with the tides.

The anchorage is deep with hundreds of boats; large commercial vessels, small fishing boats, private yachts and the occasional oil derrick towed in for repairs. Dale noted that there appeared to be more masts “on the hard” than there were in the mooring fields and marinas. Although I hadn’t envisioned anything in particular with regard to Trinidad, this certainly wasn’t what I pictured when people spoke of it.

After clearing customs, we immediately pulled into our slip in a marina named Coral Cove which was just across from the customs dock. We plugged into air conditioning and, as you can tell from my lack of punctual posts, vegetated.

We slept the remainder of that Sunday, waking only to eat dinner at a very nice local restaurant and catch up with the rest of the world on CNN before heading back to the rack.

True Blue Bay,
Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

What a day! It took 4 dinghies and another line to finally raise our stern anchor. If we ever set that anchor in a storm we’ll chafe through our lines before it drags.

It started off with Dale in the dinghy trying to lift the stern line until he was straight above it; that didn’t work. So we tried pulling in the line as much as we could by having me push the Palace with our dinghy on the opposite side of our stern anchor so that Dale could try to hoist the anchor straight up over the side; then I‘d scamper back on board and let out our primary anchor to bring us closer. We were making progress but slowly. While Dale was holding the boat with brute strength, I was running back and forth between the anchor windless on the bow and the dinghy at the stern when others saw us struggling and came to help. We ended up having one dinghy pushing on the starboard bow, another pushing on the starboard stern, another looped a line on our stern anchor line and pulled in the opposite direction to finally break the anchor loose from the bottom, while Dale heaved in the anchor line at the same time and me on the bow lengthening the primary anchor chain. They eventually brought up the anchor suspended between the dinghy with the looped line and the Palace because each time it dropped back into the water, it set itself again.

Mind you , all of this was between two boats anchored close to us. Once we began to swing free, I switched directions and brought the primary anchor chain in as fast as its little motor would go and then held my breath until it was evident we weren’t going to hit anyone.

And what a mess! After 3 weeks of setting in warm salt water, the line had developed its own eco system which came off in a muddy, smelly mess all over the back of our boat. What wasn’t on the boat was on Dale. We dumped the line in a bucket of Clorox and rinsed off the back end.

Then Dale crawled back into our dinghy, eased himself along the side to the bow and went to work on the primary anchor chain with a scrub brush. He’d scrub a few inches of sea growth off the chain while I rinsed and then raised it a few more inches. Miraculously, after about 15 feet, it was clean.

With that chore done, we lifted the dinghy back into the davits, raised the primary anchor the rest of the way and headed to the next bay to refuel.

As we approached the fuel dock, Dale told me to bring her in port side to while he ran around putting out the various lines to secure us to the dock. It wasn’t until we saw the concrete wall that either one of us remembered and both screamed FENDERS in unison!

Folks, you would have been proud of me. I stopped that big girl in her tracks and hovered parallel about 2 1/2 feet off that concrete dock until Dale had several semi-inflated fenders in place. Wind, current and an angel sitting on my shoulder certainly helped. Can you tell we haven’t pulled into a dock in a while?

Tom & Jordan off St. Christopher (we last saw them in Puerto Rico) dropped by the fuel dock to say hi, while Dale (in all of his muddied glory) hurried to the customs office to check us out of the country. Unfortunately, while there he received a stern lecture about not getting an extension on our passports. Carriacou, one island back, is part of Grenada. We checked into Carriacou back in mid-May. With all of the hubbub waiting for the inverter and then waiting for a good weather window, we had passed our one month mark a couple of weeks back. Dale being your normal boater covered in smelly mud, pleaded insanity, begged forgiveness and was begrudgingly given pardon.

After a few more pleasantries with Tom & Jordan, we eased on back to True Blue Bay, circled a few times among the boats and mooring balls, then elected to snag a mooring instead of tempting fate with an anchor.

We were settling in when we saw Buddy (Indigo Moon) heading over to customs in his dinghy. His faded pink Foxy’s hat was on backwards, his red & black napsack slung low on his back, he was standing in his dinghy with the throttle wide open in one hand,while the other held the painter for balance (Georgetown style). A smile was plastered from ear to ear. This was a man in his element or a kid out for a joy ride.

It wasn’t too long after that that I heard Dale talking to someone. It was Buddy.

We all got together for Mexican Night at the resort restaurant for our last dinner together. Buddy kept asking everyone if they had seen him. He told us how he had seen the mooring ball and remembered that it had a long line attached to it, so he had given it a wide berth when he came back from his customs run. Apparently, not wide enough. He said that one minute all was right with the world and the next he was flying through the air, arms outstretched like Superman!

We were all amazed. First, that he hadn’t broken his neck. Next, that he hadn’t lost his flip flops. He credited his survival to the fact that as an attorney he had litigated enough boating cases to know that you always wear the kill switch attached to your wrist ("they always come back to getcha" he told us). Dale had gone out in time to see him retrieving his hat and climbing back into his dinghy. Buddy, on the other hand, seemed truly disappointed that no one saw him fly like Superman.

We’re going to miss these guys.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Today was rainy and windy; then ended with dead calm. We were all scrambling for a look a the grib sheets to see if we can sneak out a day early. It’s a definite maybe.

Dale managed to run up a new flag halyard and rearranged the cleat it’s attached to between the showers. I tried cleaning the isinglass to get out all of the red sand they’ve been collecting by being rolled up.

Then we both sat back down dripping wet from sweat. The humidity is amazing here. The sheer act of moving causes you to bead up. You’d think with all of the sweating we’re doing here, we’d lose a few pounds. Dale looks like a bean pole because he hasn’t been able to keep up his exercise routine. I look like the Stay-Puff Marshmallow Man.

We got together with Carol & Wayne and Mike & Sara on Wayfinder for our last social hour together for a while. Even if we don’t leave for Trinidad tomorrow, we’ll hoist anchor and head over to Prickly Bay for fuel and check out of customs. Then we’ll probably short anchor in Hog Island until we’re ready to leave.

The big problem is going to be hoisting our stern anchor, a/k/a our storm anchor. With the squalls that have passed by here, we’re pretty well dug in. Yesterday, the local charter company sent out a diver to pull up several moorings that, until they attached a float to them, were unknown to us. Then they moved one of their boats to a mooring that suddenly appeared very close to us. Once we lift the stern anchor, I think we’ll come way too close to that boat. Dale said he was more worried that we would swing too close to Wayfinder. Again, they anchored close to us but with our stern anchor holding us in place, it wasn‘t a problem. Tomorrow should be a very interesting day.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Bad day for Wayfinder today. We all learned that the motor they had ordered doesn’t fit. Apparently the manufacturer changed the design of the motor. However ,Nordhaven specifically designed a space for the motor to fit into and now the newly designed motor doesn’t fit into it. Distraught is probably too strong a word to use to describe their situation, so let’s just say they are frustrated to the max over the whole thing.

They do have a good mechanic who, after speaking with the design manufacturer, can jury-rig the whole thing. He doesn’t like the idea and now it’s turned into a ‘who’s going to stand behind the product once it’s installed’ dilemma. We really feel bad for them.

Carol and I reminded the guys that it was a very quiet night and we probably could have made the trip to Trinidad yesterday. The guys reminded us that there were squalls around Trinidad and if we had run into them, it would have been us screaming bloody murder. Stalemate!
Saturday is looking like the day we’ll have to go, come hell or high water. The next wave is supposed to be bigger and longer before the waves die back down.

We played Mexican Dominos with Carol and Wayne again last night. This time Dale won. Once again, I came in last. I’ve become rather adept at having the most points with the least amount of bones in my hand.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Dale was one happy camper today. It was the first morning in almost a month that he was able to have his morning cup of coffee. I really didn’t realize that he had given it up until I had to clean the grounds out of the sink today and it suddenly dawned on me that he had changed his morning routine during our power shortage.

On the other hand, I was happy that I didn’t have to choose between washing my hair or washing the dishes with hot water. I have actually grown accustomed to taking tepid showers. They’re refreshing in this hot, humid climate. Still, I prefer to have hot water for my hair.

With our departure time delayed, we immediately fell back into our routine of getting our chores done in the morning, reading or playing on the computer mid-day and heading up to the pool during the afternoons.

After discussing the relative ease of this blog site, both Carol (TakeTime48) and Sara (WayfinderTravels) have decided to open their own blog sites. Carol is uploading mostly pictures at this point. I think Sara is doing the same thing.

Indigo Moon is out of the yard and anchored right behind us. Now it’s Free Spirit’s turn on the hard. We bump into them every once in a while. They were here in True Blue with us for a short time about a week ago before checking out some of the other anchorages. While their boat is in the yard (waiting for parts from South Africa) they’ll be staying at the resort.

Carol and I both commented that the weather was much nicer today but the guys said there was another wave coming through and we’d most likely get caught out in it. So here we sit. Not too bad a life on the whole.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

What’s that saying about the “best laid plans of mice and men?”

This morning came with blustery weather and a swell we have never seen the likes of in this harbor. Still, Dale went to check on the status of the inverter with the idea that we were leaving by 5pm. It wouldn’t be delivered to the store until noon.

When he came back, we discussed the merits of crossing in weather such as this. With wave heights of 7-9 feet on the beam and wind speeds of 20-25kts, it was at the border of our comfort level. The wind never did shift around. We were already leaning toward the “no go” side of the equation when our buddy boat Take Time radioed and said that it was a definitely a no go for them (they’re a power boat.) That pushed us over the edge and the anxiety levels dropped off immediately.

Later, when Dale went back to get the inverter and was told that it couldn’t be delivered to us until after 2, it wasn’t a problem. He had laid hands on the box, checked that it was the right part and was whistling Dixie on the way back to the boat. When it was delivered at 2:30, he had it installed by 3, the batteries were charged by 4 and a whoop of satisfaction could be heard throughout the harbor. We were up at the pool by 4:15.

We joined the crews of Wayfinder, Indigo Moon, and Take Time standing at the railing watching about half of the boats that had wanted to leave, take off. The rest of us decided to wait for the next window. We radioed Moon Goddess when she was about 3 miles out for a weather report. They were taking water over the decks on a regular basis and were traveling with a double reefed main and several rolls in the jib. When we saw lightening on the horizon later in the evening, we said a quick prayer that everyone made it without incident.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Since it looks very promising that tomorrow we’ll have an inverter, I’m trying to get all of my posts uploaded before I lose my internet connection. The previous sentence doesn’t make a whole lot of sense, but here’s my train of thought.

Once the inverter is installed, we’ll stow all of the loose gear, say our good byes to everyone we leave behind here, head over to Prickly Bay to fuel up, check out of customs and then leave for Trinidad about 5 pm. So the more things, I can get done today, the less I have to do tomorrow when Dale installs the inverter, stands up with arms in the air like a cowboy in a calf roping contest shouting time! and it’s a mad dash to secure the boat (after a month of sitting) for an open water transit.

I guess you can tell that another weather window has opened up. The only problem is that we have to wait to get the much awaited part until tomorrow, to leave. Today was the better of the two day window for wind speed but tomorrow is better for wind direction and lower wave heights. The next window is not expected until the end of the week leaving no room for error and a weekend arrival. (We try to always enter and leave a country during the week to avoid the overtime charges.)

Diane & Joe off Moon Goddess made it in late this afternoon. They found us up at the pool with Mike & Sara, Carol & Wayne, Buddy & Melissa, Brian & Lisa and Susan (their guest on Wasabe). Diane & Joe want to catch the window to Trinidad tomorrow, too. From what we can gather, there will be quite a few of us leaving. One boater said that it was going to be a parade all the way down; once you get in line, don’t slow down or you’ll get run over. In other words, “it’s a convoy!”

We caught up with Diane & Joe over dinner at Bananas and learned that they have reservations at the same marina as we do in Trinidad.

Now the only thing we need is that dang inverter!

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Mike & Sara joined us on our daily walk to Budget Marine; today was definitely exercise rather than a needed trip. We stopped to say hi to Nicholas in the store, now out of habit rather than anything else.

There was supposed to be a truck bringing fresh fruits and veggies to the marina at 11:00 but by 12:00 when he hadn’t arrived, we figured it was 11:00 GMT (Grenada Maybe Time) so, we turned around and hiked back.

Again we stopped by Indigo Moon to give Buddy a hard time. He had a gallon of paint that he was going to thin down to paint the entire bottom of this boat.

Later, when we were all sitting around the pool, we saw him come trudging back to his room. It looked like he had been through a war. He had cuts and scrapes from a zinc that had jumped out and attacked him and more paint on him than on the boat.

We heard from Moon Goddess. They finally arrived in Grenada. They anticipate meeting up with us tomorrow.

Photo: Cocoa Nut.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Dale is practically dancing a jig; the inverter left Puerto Rico for Grenada this morning. Once it gets out of the customs office, it should be here first thing on Monday morning.

We did our customary walk to Budget Marine, more out of exercise than anything, and told Nicholas the good news. Of course, he’s been following it just as anxiously as Dale has.

We walked by Indigo Moon in the yard and gave Buddy a hard time about all of the holes he’s punching in the keel of his catamaran. His boat was set up in a fashion where bilge water could spill into a void below it. So he drilled holes in the lowest section draining the water out and is filling the void with epoxy. Hopefully alleviating the problem of blisters which alerted him to the situation in the first place.

Mike & Sara had people on their boat completely disassembling their water maker motor; although they did find a frayed wire, they still came up with the same diagnosis; it needs a new motor.

By the end of the day, we were all sitting around the pool relaxing until we remembered that Friday was Mexican night at the resort restaurant. So we all jumped up, ran to change our clothes and met back up at the restaurant for Mexican food with a island twist. It’s not bad when it’s the only Mexican food in town.

Photo: Buddy & Meslissa off Indigo Moon.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Dale was delighted with the tracking number he was provided. He was able to see that the inverter left California this morning. Later in the afternoon, he saw where it had reached Memphis. By evening, it appeared to be in Puerto Rico. He seems to be comforted with what appears to be positive progress. I’m worried that if an inverter doesn’t appear as promised, he’ll snap and I’ll need a couple of men in white coats with a big net to control the situation.

Mike on Wayfinder seems to be on an even narrower ledge. The consensus is that he needs a new motor for his water maker. So now he’s waiting for parts. Of course, he’s been told that it’ll be here next week. Since he’s watched us for the past 3 weeks, you can hear the defeat in his voice. We have our fingers crossed for him.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Buddy & Melissa are back in town. They had taken a quick trip home while their boat was on the hard.

Dale & I made our daily trek over to the Budget Marine. The manager wasn’t in when we got there, so we killed some time having lunch at De Big Fish, a little bar & grill next door where we met Brian & Lisa off Wasabe. They’ve been sailing for 6 years; starting off from southern California and crossing through the Panama Canal. Of course, we had to swap our California stories; Dale was born and raised there and that’s where we met.

We convinced them that it was a lot less rolly in True Blue than it was over in Prickly so they joined out little group later in the afternoon.

We said our farewells to Mike & Sara on Wayfinder and they pulled out shortly after I washed my knickers and hung them out to dry. When they went by, Dale & I stood and saluted telling them that we were giving them the 21 panty salute.

A couple of hours later, they radioed that they were returning. They had spent a considerable amount of money having their water maker repaired at the local marina. They got out a ways, turned it on, and by golly, it had the same problem. They are not happy. We welcomed them back with open arms and rum punches. They certainly needed to relax.

On a happier note, we got word today that our insurance doesn’t require us to be in Trinidad for hurricane season; Grenada is still OK. It’s good to know we have an option. A lot of people don’t and with the rumors of increased violence coming out of Venezuela, it’s forcing more and more people into Trinidad. In my humble opinion, setting the entire marine insurance business at risk for catastrophic damages should a hurricane ever strike Trinidad.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Dale walked over to Budget Marine first thing this morning to confirm that the inverter had been ordered from this end. Now it is a question of waiting until tomorrow to confirm that it has been shipped. He swears that if he doesn’t get a tracking order immediately, we’re getting our money back and ordering the part through another company. I’m staying out of his way.

Sara & Mike radioed over inviting us to join them for lunch at Bananas. We ran into Wayne and Carol while there. A bunch of boats are catching the window on Wednesday night to Trinidad or Venezuela. Mike & Sara will be one of them. We’ll miss them but hopefully will catch up with them again someday on down the line.

Photo: Mike & Sara on Wayfinder

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

You are not going to believe this! It happened again! Our inverter still has not been sent.

As you may recall, when we last left our most unhappy camper, he was told that since St. Martin did not have the inverters they said they had, one had to be ordered from the manufacturer. As the Grenada store is a branch of the St. Martin store, St. Martin still had to do the ordering. We started becoming concerned when we couldn’t get a tracking number for the part shipped and sure enough, there was no tracking number because no part had been shipped. The cost of the part had not met the minimum required to ship to this area. The Grenada store manager was just as frustrated as Dale was, saying that if St. Martin had simply told him this when they first encountered the problem, he would have ordered two.

This means another week here. The manufacturer ships on Wednesday, it takes 2 days to get here, another day to clear customs, which, of course, brings us to the weekend and everything stops until Monday. Only this time, we’re shut out of a very nice weather window we’ve been watching for the past couple of days in which to transit to Trinidad.

Dale’s fried! Instead of having 4-5 days of time toodling around Trinidad until our reservation date on the 1st, we are now are up against a 4-5 day crunch of hoping a weather window opens for us to make the 20 hour passage. It can happen but we might have to do it alone. We’ve been more inclined to travel in groups the closer we get to Venezuela, just to be on the safe side. Who knows, Rainbow Rider may catch up to us yet.

We finished the day by playing 15 rounds of Mexican Dominos with Carol & Wayne on Take Time. (They have a really big set of Dominos). It was fun and a great way to get Dale’s mind off the inverter. We finished about midnight.

Photo: Carol on Take Time; Wayne's underneath cleaning the bottom.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Happy Father’s Day to all of you Dads!

As mentioned before, nothing happens on Sunday, so all was quiet today, particularly with the on and off showers. Dale has been making steady progress through his Patrick O’Brian series of books, taking the opportunity to lay in the hammock and soak in all of the brownie points due a Dad on Father’s Day.

Jim & Freddie off Chez Freddie dropped by for a quick visit before heading into town to look for a restaurant to celebrate Father’s Day.

I tried my hand at making a pizza for dinner again. I broke out the bread maker to make the dough this time. Still not quite there. Too much bread in the crust. I told Dale that at the rate I’m going, I should have this down by the time we get back.

True Blue Bay, Grenada
11.59.955N
61.46.170W

Today Dale & I rented a car to run our errands and invited Mike & Sara to join us as they had turned in their car last week. We checked at Budget Marine, still no inverter. We dropped by the pharmacy and tried to pick up some medicine but they were out of what we needed until Monday afternoon. We were able to do some grocery shopping and pick up fresh veggies. We stopped at a restaurant too far for us to walk to from the marina and enjoyed a tasty meal surrounded by beautiful flower gardens.

When we returned, I spent some time repackaging and vacuum sealing everything before heading over to Take Time. Wayne & Carol had invited us to return to their boat for the nickel tour. They have a 48’ Kadey-Krogen Whaleback trawler. Very nice. Wayne and Dale talked forever about their various improvements to our respective boats. Wayne is just as handy as Dale is and apparently grateful to have someone who speaks the same electrical language as he does. Carol and I talked recipes. The four of us joined Mike & Sara and Freddie & Jim at the pool later in the afternoon.

Wayne and I and a couple from Ireland took advantage of the slide at the pool. It’s the size where you can’t tell if it’s for children or for everyone. Since there were only adults at the pool we figured what the heck! We had a blast.