2013-01-01 (Tuesday)Plenty of rain at dawn, then sunny.
I did the cruiser's net this morning. Very short; the weather forecast is simple, and not much other traffic.
Online, read some comments about boats at various islands firing off aerial distress flares last night to celebrate the New Year. One of them landed and started a fire on Carriacou, others reportedly came close to landing on anchored boats in Bequia and St Martin. Stupidity.
Loafed most of the day. Fixed the leak in the water system. Added water to the batteries. Gave myself a haircut.
Salad and leftover cold chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-01-02 (Wednesday)Took the fuel filter and fuel pump off the outboard. Filter turns out to be one-piece and disposable, but looks okay. Pump diaphragm is a bit cracked and one layer of vinyl peeling on one side, but not cracked through. Pics. Took a while to figure out the trick to re-assemble the pump.
Went ashore. Outboard quit quickly, but got it restarted and then found that by holding a joint at the fuel tank a certain way, the motor ran all the way in. So maybe the problem is there, not in the motor.
Bought gasoline. Went for a walk to get some exercise. Stopped to chat with a vacationing Irishman for a while. Got rained on.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Plenty of rain several times during the night.
2013-01-03 (Thursday)Dinghied ashore at 8:30. Yoga class, then went for a walk. On way back to the boat, outboard quit 100 feet from boat, so I paddled the rest of the way.
Looked up Tohatsu outboard parts online. Typical: just a new diaphragm costs about $33, while a complete new pump costs about $70.
Around 4, gave myself a second haircut, then under the boat to scrape the hull. Lots of barnacles on the starboard side and tons of growth on the prop. Spent more than an hour at it, still plenty of work left to do on hull and rudder.
Salad and tuna sandwiches for dinner.
Sudden very strong squall at 7 PM. Wind blasting sideways and from various directions as I scrambled to get things off the lifelines, stow stuff in cockpit, get below.
2013-01-04 (Friday)Forecast for Sat thru Tues is wind 20-25 knots and seas in the 7-10 foot range, so pretty strong and high. The wind-generator will be generating lots of power.
At 9:15, gathered up all my stuff, locked up the boat, into the dinghy to go catch the 9:30 shopping van. Outboard won't start. Not getting gasoline up through the fuel line and squeeze-bulb. Tried and tried, drifted downwind from boat. Decided to try to paddle ashore. Soon clear I didn't have a chance of getting there in time. Saw a guy nearby getting into his dinghy, called to him for a tow, and he laughed and said his motor didn't work either, he was waiting for someone to come take it away to be repaired. Eventually I paddled to his boat and tied off while I tried the motor some more. Randy on "Aditi", I think. He's a bit discouraged: his boat has been on the hard for 2.5 years and lots of stuff is broken.
At one point I was able to get the fuel line filled with gasoline, and the motor ran for several minutes, but the squeeze-bulb was empty the whole time, no new gasoline coming up no matter what I tried, and eventually the motor quit. Couldn't get more gas up, then a skiff showed up to pick up Randy's motor, and I shoved off and paddled back to my boat. Back aboard by 9:50.
Plenty of rain starting at 2:45.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Rain during the night.
2013-01-05 (Saturday)Launched the dinghy and the outboard started up just fine. On the way ashore, swung by "Aditi" and asked Randy if he wanted to go on the 8:30 shopping van. He was delighted to get a lift, and get off the boat, and get some fresh food. He's a bit stranded, outboard not working, on a boat that's in rough shape right now.
Got ashore and picked up by the van. Off to some extra stops: bank, ACE Hardware, Budget Marine. Even though Budget is the Tohatsu outlet here, they didn't have the fuel pump diaphragm I want.
To a bakery, where stuff was cheap and wonderful. Bought a big cheese-garlic bread for EC$8 (about US$3). To downtown. Hit a couple of hardware stores, bought a water jar and an airhorn. Hit an ATM. Into a store and bought a mattress pad. To the main veggie-market, bought cucumber and tomatoes. To a supermarket for a bunch of things. Dumped everything in the van, back out for more. Into a second supermarket, bought more stuff, dumped it in the van. Back into the veggie-market, bought grapefruit.
Everyone into the van, stopped at CK's, back to one marina then to my marina. Confusion as the bags are piled high and have been re-arranged a couple of times. Got my 8 or so bags, Randy and I loaded into the dinghy, out to his boat then to mine by 12:45. But soon the driver was on the radio saying he'd ended up with extra bags on the van, and sure enough I'm missing some stuff. Back in to the marina at 1:15, he arrived, two big bags of my stuff and one small bag of Randy's stuff. Delivered the little bag to Randy, back to my boat. Whew !
Salad and leftover chili for dinner.
Quiet night; where's the forecast 20-25-knot wind ? Finally some wind (with rain) started around 5 AM.
2013-01-06 (Sunday)Grey morning until 9 or so, with frequent heavy rain from 5 AM to 8 or so.
Dinghied ashore at 11, stopping by to see if Randy had his outboard working (saw that he had it back yesterday afternoon). He says it works, he's a little hazy on what they fixed. The guy brought it back yesterday, said it was running. Guy started it, then Randy tried to start it, and the pull-cord came right out of the motor. Took them over an hour to get it back in and working !
Went ashore. Stopped in at the boat jumble-sale, which is not as crowded as the ones months ago. Went for a walk. Back to the sale, chatted with a couple of people, back out to the boat.
Ashore again at 2, to play dominoes. Nine players over two tables. Around 3, huge squalls/storms started coming through the harbor, mainly from the S, but later smaller ones from the N. Some rain blowing through the restaurant. Afternoon turned fairly solidly grey. Mirie won the dominoes game and took away the flag.
Bailed out the dinghy and headed back to the boat. Stopped at "Compass Rose" to give Eric a net controller T-shirt, and they gave me a star fruit (pic). I've never had one; will have to figure out how to eat it.
Batteries a bit low, and then I found one of the bilge pumps was running continuously. Probably some rainwater got into the bilge, pump turned on, ran dry, kept running.
Salad and grapefruit and PB-banana sandwich and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-01-07 (Monday)Fairly grey morning.
I was net controller again this morning.
Primary bilge pump seems not to be pumping water; switch works and motor spins, but water level doesn't go down.
Ashore for yoga at 8:30, then went for a walk. Went into PB Marina and dropped off a bag of net controller T-shirts to be given to people. Back to SH Marina, and chatted with Ernie from "Stonecutter". He's been away for 4 or 5 months, in Canada getting a knee and both corneas replaced. He's so pale it's almost funny-looking; he needs to get his tan back.
Ate the star fruit I was given, using instructions from internet to slice it up. Tasted okay, nothing great, mostly like an apple.
Cornbread-sausage-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-01-08 (Tuesday)Very grey morning; occasional horizontal light rain.
No cruiser's net this morning; we need volunteers.
Added water to the batteries; they needed a lot.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Several very powerful squalls/storms from about 4 AM to 6 AM; wind-generator sounding like a jet engine.
2013-01-09 (Wednesday)Weather still partly grey and rainy.
Ashore at 11 through sunny and windy conditions. Took a walk to get some exercise, then back to the boat.
Brought up the primary bilge pump (pic), cleaned it off, didn't find anything wrong with it. Put it back down into the bilge. It seemed to draw water for the first 15 seconds or so, then seemed to spin without pumping.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-01-10 (Thursday)Ashore for yoga at 8:30, then took a walk. Got rained on in the last 1/4 of the walk. Marina has no water today; a pipe has broken.
Tried the bilge pump again; maybe the through-hull outlet is a bit plugged ?
Later, into the dinghy and ran a screwdriver up into the through-hulls, but didn't find anything plugged.
Salad and leftover cold spaghetti for dinner.
2013-01-11 (Friday)Ashore at 9:30 to catch the shopping van. To veggie store, then book-exchange at resort. Bought twice as much as usual at the supermarket. Van to CK's. Back to marina, out to boat by noon.
Ran the primary bilge pump, and it struggled a little, but worked. Fiddled with the vent at the top of the loop, and it might have been gunked up, but that shouldn't have affected it.
Cornbread-sausage-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-01-12 (Saturday)Headachey.
Lots of boats saying good-bye on the cruiser's net this morning. The wind and seas are down slightly, after a couple of weeks of being high. I'm hoping to leave here maybe Wednesday, when the NE swells go away. Will head up to the Tobago Cays.
Skype-called Mom and chatted with her.
Didn't do laundry because the weather forecast said 70% chance of rain, but then it stayed sunny all day.
Started putting the sails up, for first time in 18 months or so. Got the jib hoisted; will do the sheets later. Main halyard was left crossing over the spreaders when I did the rigging; may have to climb to fix it. It's through the uppermost triangle in the rigging, too high to throw a line through.
Checked the tuning of the standing rigging, and put cotter pins in the turnbuckles.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-01-13 (Sunday)Did a bucket of laundry.
At 11, trying to throw a messenger line through triangle in the upper rigging, to pull halyard through. Dark cloud coming over; had to take in laundry. But the cloud just hovered nearby. Threw the line a dozen times, no luck. Gave up on the line. Cloud stayed away, so put laundry out again and it finished drying.
Climbed the mainmast and pulled the halyard clear.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. Twelve people at two tables, and I was this week's winner !
Back on the boat, hoisted the mainsail. Will do the out-haul tomorrow.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-01-14 (Monday)I was net controller again this morning.
Dinghy-tube pump's hose has a leak in it.
Ashore for yoga at 8:30, then went for a walk. Bought 1 gallon and 4 gallons of diesel (EC$77, about US$30) and left my propane tank to be refilled.
In midafternoon, unfurled the jib and furled it. The usual awkwardness with crossed sheets (after storage), and sticky furling drum (really need to upgrade to a modern furler).
Went snorkeling under the boat and scraped the hull. Got it to about the 4/5-done level. Water full of lots of fine particles; fairly cloudy.
Attached out-haul to mainsail.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-01-15 (Tuesday)Up at 5:45, launched the dinghy, loaded up with garbage, and off to Woburn. Listening to my MP3 player on the way there and back. Got rid of the garbage.
Weather forecast has changed slightly, with largish N swell continuing for an additional day. So I won't try to leave here tomorrow; might go on Thursday.
Ashore at 9:30 to catch the shopping van. Paid George EC$100 for the propane refill. Walked to Scotiabank, used ATM, then to IGA. Long wait for the van back; George is running only one trip today. Crammed into the van, stopped at Marketing Board and then CK's. Back to marina, picked up my propane tank, out to boat by 12:45 through fairly windy conditions.
Salad and tuna sandwiches for dinner.
2013-01-16 (Wednesday)Loafed most of the day. Windy and sunny weather. Wi-Fi stopped working in mid-morning.
Pulled in 10 feet of anchor chain, waited for the grass and barnacles on it to dry out and die, and cleaned it off. Pulled in another 10 feet.
Added water to the batteries, then tied them down. Going around the boat stowing or lashing down stuff that might crash around when the boat rolls. It's been a while since the boat moved.
Chicken-onion-carrot-cabbage-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Scraped anchor chain some more.
2013-01-17 (Thursday)Scraped the last overgrown section of the anchor chain, put it back out.
Ashore for yoga at 8:30, then took a walk.
Back to the boat by 10:30. Hoisted dinghy, stowed things, set switches. Engine start at 10:50, and it runs okay. Anchor up by 11:05, and started moving. Got out to the harbor mouth, circled upwind, and tried to unfurl the mainsail. Forgot to take off a bungee cord; had to reach up with a boat-hook to get that off. And the furling drum is frozen; can't get the sail out. Not good; I'll be in tough shape if the engine quits. Decide to keep going anyway.
Out the channel, keeping a close eye on the reefs. Happy when I'm out into open water and not on a lee shore. Motor downwind along S shore of the island. Big seas from astern; any time I step away from the helm for 30 seconds or so, the boat starts slewing to one side or the other.
Connected and turned on the GPS, and there's a big mostly-dead area in the middle of the LCD. Guess it died while in storage the last 6 months or so. Can heat do that ? Pic (with GPS off).
A bit of oil dripping from the new spin-on oil filter.
Forgot to put up the flag; doesn't matter much with no sails to trim.
Engine running a few degrees warmer than it should, but not too bad.
Down to the SW corner of the island, at the end of the airport runway. Turn the corner, and now swells on the nose or port side; fairly rolly.
Finally got up to the anchorage. Anchor down by 1:15 at Ross Point, St George's, Grenada.
Quite rolly here; somehow swell is coming in from NW. Bummer.
Lots of boats coming past carrying tourists between the big cruise ship and Grand Anse beach. Actually, there are two fairly big cruise ships at dock today. Pic.
Got some free Wi-Fi for a while.
Worked on the mainsail's furler drum, and finally squirting a lot of WD-40 down into it from above made it work.
This rolling is intolerable; I'm leaving here tomorrow. Wind will be low but from best direction, East. Wind will be stronger on Saturday, but a little more NE, and anyway I can't wait to get out of here.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a light rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Pretty rolly all night; hardly slept at all.
2013-01-18 (Friday)Up at 5 AM. Cleaned engine intake strainer. Tried to tighten engine oil filter but I don't think I did much. Started to get ready to go, but still pretty dark. Back into bed at 5:30.
Some light at 6 AM. Engine start at 6:05, anchor up by 6:20. Motored N out of the anchorage and mooring field, unfurled the mainsail easily, and motored N. Sunrise over the hills around 6:40. Saw two cruise ships heading for the dock. Pic.
Listened to the cruiser's net from 7:30 to 8 or so. Odd to listen as I'm leaving.
Uneventful trip up the W side of Grenada. Engine running several degrees cooler than yesterday; about 182 F. Oil filter still dripping a little oil. Swells and wind just about on the nose. Making a little more than 4 knots on a moderate throttle setting. As I got pretty far N, saw a small ship coming S. Thought it was a ferry, but then a helicopter landed on the stern deck. Pic.
Even with N end of Grenada around 9:15; making pretty good time.
A little rougher in more open water, speed down to 3.6 knots or so. Wind still almost on the nose, just enough E in it to keep the mainsail full. Passed on one side by a freighter, on other side in distance by a ferry. Pic.
Around 11, up next to Isle de Ronde. Wind starting to slacken a little.
Saw 6 or 8 other sailboats out today. Some heading S to Grenada, some N to Union Island, some further N to Bequia or somewhere.
Primary bilge pump ran, pumped water, then didn't shut off. Turned it off at the panel.
Saw a small freighter going N pretty far W of me. It's pouring out so much smoke that someone on the cruiser's net reported it as possibly in distress this morning, when it was down near Prickly Bay. Pic.
Chugged on and on, and finally neared the destination. Into harbor mouth, a bit of trouble furling the mainsail. Snaked in through lots of anchored boats, all the way to shallow water in the front. Anchor down, didn't like it, anchor up, then down again. Done at 2:30 at Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou. I've anchored in exactly this spot before. Nice: 10 feet deep, boat steady as a rock.
Got some free Wi-Fi !
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Got slightly rolly after dark, when the wind got very light and went NNE. But not bad at all. Slept well.
2013-01-19 (Saturday)Totally grey and rainy morning. A little sunshine by noon, but stayed mostly grey all day.
Dinghied ashore in the afternoon and took a walk. The place hasn't changed since I was here 20 months or so ago, except that the boatyard has changed management and been upgraded. Chatted with Richard from "Odyssey" in the boatyard cafe; he was anchored near me in Mt Hartman Bay. He's been here a couple of months, mostly because he really likes it here, but also because of some problem with his propellor shaft.
Nice chat with a visiting guy who's doing some work for the boatyard.
Did some more walking. Found the place to catch a bus into town. Back to the boat.
Engine oil down a bit; added a pint or so. Captured the oil that dripped out of the filter housing during yesterday's trip; much less than a pint. I'm guessing the dipstick read a little high in that rolly anchorage at St Georges, and the oil was slightly low at the beginning of the big hop. Checked the transmission fluid; it's fine. So is engine intake strainer.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
A little worried that my anchor might be dragging on the grass here. NE wind has me with a boat directly behind me, and we're supposed to get some NE to E 15-20 at times on Monday and Tuesday, I think. Up several times during the night to make sure I'm not dragging, even though wind is fairly light tonight.
Up at 11:15 to run engine for 20 minutes, to charge batteries.
2013-01-20 (Sunday)Pretty grey morning, but not as solidly grey as yesterday. And moderately strong N wind spinning the wind-generator. Anchor seems to be holding fine.
Weather getting darker around 10. Rain at 10:10. More at noon. Quite grey for the rest of the day, with a couple of sunny intervals.
Salad and chicken-onion-carrot-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Up at midnight-45 to run engine for 20 minutes, to charge batteries.
2013-01-21 (Monday)Sunny until 8:30, then grey clouds. By 10, fairly sunny and enough wind to run the wind-generator.
No cruiser's net from Grenada this morning; they haven't filled the controller vacancy I left.
Boat close behind me (when wind from NE) raised anchor after 9 and left. That's a good thing.
In early afternoon, dinghied ashore to the ferry dock. Found the dumpster and disposed of 3 bags of garbage. To the laundromat and exchanged 6 or 8 books at the bookshelf. Dropped the books in the dinghy and went for a walk inland. Back down to the waterfront, bought veggies at a stand, and back out to the boat. Charter catamaran "Alize" has anchored next to me, and it looks like a captain is giving them a "start of charter" checkout.
Found a leak in the dinghy's bow tube and put a patch on it. Found it by pumping up the tube extra-hard, then spritzing soapy water. Later, when the tube was dry and under-inflated, sanded a little on the tube and a patch, then put the patch on with one-part glue.
Finished a pretty good book: "How the Scots Invented the Modern World" by Arthur Herman. It makes a pretty good case. The Scots started universal public education for the common people, political power for the common people, modern medical education, medicine as a diagnostic/scientific activity. Long line of Scottish intellectuals, authors, inventors: David Hume, Adam Smith, James Watt, Charles Lyell, many more. Scots held many key positions in Britain's empire, greatly affecting development of Canada, Australia, USA, India, etc. Scottish ports dominated much of the shipping to/from the American colonies. In early and mid 1700's, several colonial governors were Scots. Some of the first major universities in USA (Princeton, Penn) were headed by Scots. About 1/3 of the signers of the Declaration of Independence were Scots or of Scottish descent. Scots and Scotch-Irish were a big part of the Continental Army in the Revolution. Andrew Carnegie invented much of modern corporate industrial style. American mountain and western lingo such as "whar" and "thar" and "critter" traces back to Scotland and Ireland.
Another big charter-catamaran came in and took the mooring on my port side. More charter activity here than I remember from 2 years ago.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Heavy rain from 2:45 AM to 3. More rain again at 4:15 or so.
2013-01-22 (Tuesday)Pretty good rain and wind at 6:30, then sunny and a bit windy.
Did a bucket of laundry.
On Facebook, heard that the body of a 69-year-old yachtie was found floating in Prickly Bay (next bay over from where I was anchored at S end of Grenada) on Sunday morning. I don't recognize the name.
In the afternoon, launched the kayak and went for a paddle. Stopped to chat with Fred on "Dream", a guy I recognized from S end of Grenada. Then over to the oyster bed area at the N end of the bay, partly to see what it would be like as a hurricane hole. Nice mangrove lagoons, but not much else to see. Back to the boat, getting a bit of a workout as I was going somewhat upwind. Hoisted kayak back onto deck.
Soon dinghied ashore. Walked on the beach a little, then on the road to a store. Bought a loaf of bread and a bag of rice, then back out to the boat. But saw Tony on deck on "Cariad" nearby, another guy I know from S end of Grenada, so went over to chat with him for a minute. He came up from Grenada on Sunday, and is complaining about the long mostly-motoring trip with wind mostly on the nose. He seems to hop up and down between here and Mt Hartman Bay pretty often, sometimes every 2 or 3 weeks.
Later, while reading on the foredeck, a couple came past in the dinghy and said "hi, Bill !" as they went past. I didn't recognize them at all. I'm bad at remembering faces and names, and a lot of people know my name because I was a net controller. Embarrassing at times.
Cornbread-sausage-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
No one anchored or moored close to me tonight, which is nice.
Fairly windy most of the night. I love it when the wind-generator keeps the batteries fully charged all night.
2013-01-23 (Wednesday)Dinghied ashore in late afternoon. Chatted briefly with Tony, and saw Richard. Apparently Tony has bought land here, and the two of them are about to help some other cruisers who are interested in buying land.
Went for a walk, S past the boatyard and a bit out toward the point. Views down into the bay: pics (second pic has red arrow pointing to my boat).
Back and down to the boatyard. Always fun to look around in a boatyard: Pics.
Along the beach, and there's a dominoes game on in Slipways restaurant ! I don't know any of the players. Pic.
Back into "town", chatted with a local guy. Wanted to buy fruit, but both of the fruit/veg stands are closed. Laundry with bookshelf is closed, too; 3-4 PM must be a bad time to come ashore. Ferry came in. More pics. Back to the boat.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
2013-01-24 (Thursday)Wind suddenly turned on at 7:45, after a calm night.
Spent much of the day doing research for my trip to Barcelona next year. Wi-Fi has been pretty bad the last couple of days, which is frustrating.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-01-25 (Friday)Engine start at 6:30, anchor up by 6:40, motored out of the anchorage. Rounded up, unfurled the mainsail, and headed out. Wind just about on the nose the whole way, as usual. Around the corner, past Sandy Island, and up to Hillsborough. Listened to the cruiser's net from S end of Grenada. Tall ship / cruise ship "Mandalay" is here: pic.
Anchor down by 7:55 at Hillsborough, Carriacou. As usual, very rolly here even in these mild E conditions.
No free Wi-Fi here.
Ashore at 9 or so, having a little trouble getting the outboard fuel line pumped. Landed at a nasty dinghy dock I really hate: one enormous cleat, no rails, concrete slab, usually rough conditions, often crowded. Not too bad today, but still a bit rough.
Disposed of two bags of garbage. A line in Immigration, so I went to grocery store first. Bought bread, cheese, juice, onions. Into Immigration, and it took 20 minutes or so, about twice what it should have. Paid EC$1 departure tax (about US 40 cents). Across to Customs, and paid the last 3 months of my cruising permit (EC$225, about US$87).
Into dinghy, and someone has retied it; maybe it was bashing into the concrete. Out to the boat, which is rolling pretty badly. Got everything aboard and hoisted the dinghy, and got ready to leave.
Engine start at 9:45, and struggled to raise the anchor in windy, gusty conditions with the boat rolling and the bow slewing from side to side. Fortunately it's only 12 feet deep here, which makes it easier. Anchor up by 10:00.
Motored NNE, wind and swells right on the nose. No point in unfurling the mainsail. Stayed tight along the W coast of the island. Alternator is going funny: drops to zero RPM and stays there for a while, then back up to normal, then back to zero. [Later figured out: does this when batteries are fully, FULLY charged.]
Out into open water at the N tip of Carriacou, and hitting some fairly big swells right on the nose, wind still on the nose. I'm heading NE, wind forecast was for E-ENE 11-12, but I'm getting NE 15-16. Just have to slog into it.
Halfway across, the swells eased a little, but soon they were coming more from E and I was heading a little more N, so boat is rolling a lot.
Finally up and into Clifton harbor. Always tricky to anchor here: it's deep in the middle, small and crowded. Local guy in a skiff zoomed over to help me (for a price) or put me on a mooring, but I waved him away. With my shallow draft, I nosed way up to the edge of the coral. Put anchor down, ended up too close to a boat behind. Raised anchor, wind blew bow off and I couldn't recover, had to loop downwind behind boats and come in again. Went further E this time, anchor down, and position seems acceptable. Done by 12:35 at Clifton, Union Island, St Vincent and Grenadines.
Watching the boat for a while, eating lunch, making sure I'm not dragging. I'm a little close to one boat behind me, but only when he swings to starboard and I swing to port. And even then we're probably more than a boat-length apart. I have about 90 feet of chain down in 8 feet of water, and it seems to be holding fine.
Still losing some oil from the oil filter housing when I run the engine. I'm catching most of it in plastic bags and will pour it back into the engine later.
Wind-generator humming away; it's going to be producing a lot of power here. Totally exposed to the E across the reef, and wind should be E to NE 15-20 a lot over next few days.
Ashore after 1, landing at AYC dinghy dock. 100 yards down the road to the airport, where I do Customs (EC$35.90) and Immigration. Have to go back each month to extend my visa; that's a bit of a pain.
Into town, and exchange 4 books at the shelf in Erika's. Across the street to a couple of fruit/veg stands. I buy tomatoes, grapefruit, bananas, cucumber. The tomatoes are nice but overpriced, the bananas are lovely and a tremendous bargain. So I call it even.
Back to the boat, swinging by a dinghy with outboard problems to see if they need help. Boat hasn't moved, and in the dinghy looks further from the neighbor than it looks from deck.
Got some free Wi-Fi.
Chicken-onion-cabbage-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
As sun goes down, I'm still a bit nervous about how close I am to that boat behind me and to port. If there's a big squall during the night and my anchor drags, it could be bad. But it's been blowing pretty hard all afternoon and the anchor hasn't budged. And as it gets dark, I'm committed now. At least there's a near-full moon tonight; that will help if things go wrong.
At 9:15, the wind kicked up a bit. At 10, a pretty good squall. By watching lights and boats out to the side, and the boat behind me, I can see my anchor is holding.
At 3 AM, strong squall or front with maybe 25 knots of wind. At 4:15, wind with rain. At 4:35, a lot of wind. Starting at 4:50, half an hour of the strongest wind yet; kept the engine ready to start if the anchor slipped. Wind-generator's thermal breakers tripped.
2013-01-26 (Saturday)Strong squall at 6:25, but now it's light, so I can see that my boat hasn't moved at all during the night. Anchor held very well.
Weather forecast says wind's supposed to blow hard all week, then even harder on Friday (sustained 24 knots then). I'd like to move to a better anchoring spot; will have to see if any boats leave today, so I can grab their spot. If no one moves out of a better spot, I guess I'll stay here and put out a second anchor.
Did some Wi-Fi, but connection is very flaky.
Around 10:15, catamaran on my starboard-aft side raised anchor and left ! Started to think about moving that way, but within 60 seconds flat, a charter monohull was heading into that spot. Bummer.
But they anchored well back, much farther back than they needed to. So I started launching the dinghy, to put out a second anchor.
Then I saw a boat leaving several slots to the N. Maybe I should move to there ? Thought about it, didn't really see any more shelter over there, decided to keep my one anchor that seems to be dug in very firmly. Putting down a second anchor means a lot of work if I want to leave, but looks like the weather will be keeping me right here all week. So the decision is made. Pulled the secondary anchor rode up out of the chain locker onto the bow, some rope rode after it, and dangled the anchor over the side.
Then into the dinghy and into 19-knot wind and chop. Up to the bow, stood in the dinghy, and pulled anchor and chain down into the dinghy. Lots and lots of pulling, dinghy bobbing up and down and trying to drift aft. Finally got the chain and 20+ feet of rope, and headed upwind. Forward and to starboard, laid out rope and then chain and finally the anchor, getting a bit wet in the process. Back to the boat, up to the bow, and started hauling in the rope rode. Boat pulling nicely to starboard side, away from that too-close boat on my port-aft corner. Got half the rope in, took a break, got the rest of the rope in. Now on two anchors, chain on both, I'm well set for the week's weather.
Added water to the batteries. Only one cell significantly low. But in the forward battery bank, all cells (not low) were bubbling away merrily, and the batteries were pretty warm. The solar and wind-gen are pushing the batteries hard, and system voltage is up to 15.4 V or so. Decided to turn off the wind-gen for a few hours.
Went ashore in midafternoon. Walked through town and then up the hills at the W end. Goats are everywhere around here: pics.
Found a very quiet hospital (next to the morgue) at top of S hill; stood on their balcony and talked to one of the ladies while taking pictures.
Then across and up the much taller hill on the N side. Pics. Some good views from 2/3 of the way up, but at the top trees blocked the views in all directions.
Back down, through town, back out to the boat through windy and wet conditions. Saw 8 or 10 boats in the Ashton anchorage; I guess it's a good place to shelter from E wind, but there's nothing there, and a 2-knot current makes it a chore to get from there up to Clifton, only 2-3 miles away. [Kept seeing those masts there all week; maybe it's a mooring field now. They look too far out to be part of the marina that had been half-built and abandoned.]
Salad and cornbread-sausage-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Pretty quiet night. Wind stronger for a while at 11:45, but no squalls.
2013-01-27 (Sunday)Headache. Took a Tonopan and stayed in bed until 10.
The weather forecast has eased a little. Wind 17 knots today, 15 on Monday, 17 Tuesday, strengthening to 22 on Friday instead of the 24 it said before. I still think I'll stay put.
Saw the big Club Med tall ship go by, but it was pretty far away in the grey; couldn't get a decent picture of it. I've been unable to get a decent pictures of the board-sailers here, too; they zip across just in front of the boats, and some of them are quite good at it, getting air.
Somewhat grey day; very grey in afternoon. Rain at 11:15, 1:15, 1:45. Pretty big squall at 2. Then the afternoon turned sunny.
Charter monohull came in around 3:30, tried to anchor several times, circled for a while, gave up and left, to go anchor at Palm Island. The secret to anchoring here: nose way up toward the reef, even though the water looks too shallow, and dark grassy patches look like coral heads. Keep going until you're just about aground, drop the anchor, and fall back.
Local guy came around in a skiff to try to drum up business for his floating bar. His sales pitch was helped by a pretty local woman who was filling out a bikini top quite nicely.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice for dinner.
A board-sailer came by, well after total dark, probably from the waters out near Palm Island. He seemed to go pretty close to my bow, although it was hard to tell. Crazy !
2013-01-28 (Monday)Still headachey. Took some acetaminophen.
No cruiser's net from Grenada this morning; they still haven't filled the controller vacancy I left. Guess I'm irreplaceable.
Big Dutch catamaran tried to anchor too close on my port side, and too close to the guy who used to be too close behind me. I went out on the bow to show my concern. They realized it wasn't good, and moved elsewhere.
Still had headache after noon. Took a Tonopan.
I've never seen a hammock slung there on a catamaran: pic.
Fuel level 5.5 inches at engine hour 4839.
Cleaned engine intake strainer. Tried to tighten oil filter, but it's on there pretty tightly (and still dripping slightly).
Added water to the batteries; they didn't need much.
That Dutch catamaran left just before sunset, heading over towards Mayreau, I think. I never can understand why people move just before dark, unless they're starting an overnight trip. Even on a short move, if something goes wrong, or there's a current against you, all of a sudden you're operating after dark, which is dangerous.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner. Headache gone.
Wind blew fairly hard all night, harder than forecast.
2013-01-29 (Tuesday)Did a few tweaks on the outboard: checked oil, cleaned out exhaust port.
Ashore around 11. Went for a walk over to the N or NE side of the island. Rough shore over there, exposed to N and NE weather. Could see Mayreau, and the Tobago Cays. Big cruise ship anchored at the Tobago Cays; I didn't know they went there. Quiet over here: saw a dog sleeping right in the middle of the road. Pics.
Back into town. Bought some sausage at a market, a couple of grapefruit at a veggie stand. Back out to the boat.
Headachey in late afternoon; took a Tonopan.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-01-30 (Wednesday)Wind starting to blow harder, as forecast.
Loafed all day, doing Wi-Fi and reading a book. Lazy.
Leftover cold spaghetti and PBJ sandwich for dinner.
2013-01-31 (Thursday)Wind blowing a little harder yet, as forecast. Around a steady 19-20 knots, I think. By mid-morning, probably 20-21 knots.
Went ashore around 11, through rough conditions. Disposed of a bag of garbage. Walked through town and down the road toward Ashton. Stopped to chat with a nice lady for a little while. Back into town, stopped at several places and bought tomatoes, cucumber, bananas, butter, bread. Back out to the boat, with outboard at high throttle to make much progress against the wind and chop; pretty rough.
Headachey in late afternoon; took a Tonopan. Felt better within half an hour.
At sunset, guy anchored next to me was whooping at things the board-sailers were doing; I didn't see anything special, just the same stuff they do every day. As it got dark, I turned on my cockpit light so I could read and cook dinner, and he started yelling and cursing at me to turn it off so he could watch the board-sailers, which were over past my boat, from his point of view. He's crazy: it's dark, the one guy left out there has moved away to the S, there's nothing to see. Finally after I turned off the light for a minute or two a couple of times, he could see it was dark, and he gave up and went below.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Strong squall came through at 9. Forecast to be some pretty strong wind after midnight tonight. Maybe this is the start of it.
2013-02-01 (Friday)Wind still blowing hard, but no harder than yesterday.
Loafed all day, doing Wi-Fi and computer stuff. Lazy.
Grapefruit and leftover chili for dinner.
Quiet night; just enough wind to keep the wind-generator turning, mostly.
2013-02-02 (Saturday)Wind light in early morning, but then strong again by 8:30.
Headache; took a Tonopan.
Grey and some horizontal rain starting around 9:15. At 10:30, wind howling and heavy horizontal rain. Several boats came in and tried to anchor right in the middle of it; I would have waited 5 minutes outside until the rain died down a bit. When I looked out later, none of them were there; they must have gone elsewhere to anchor or moor.
Bummer: my Wi-Fi signal went away around noon yesterday, and it's still gone. No internet access.
By noon, wind still blowing pretty hard. After lunch, went ashore. Disposed of a small bag of garbage, and waited a few minutes for a rain-sprinkle to stop. Walked through town, up hill at other end, and up a road I haven't walked before. Back down, into town, bought bread, cheese, bananas, grapefruit. After I left the dinghy-dock, I passed a moored tiny sloop with no dinghy, and the two guys aboard were swimming ashore, floating plastic bags holding their clothes and other stuff; one guy was naked. Back to the boat through windy conditions. Headache is gone.
Wind picked up again around 4, and howling pretty well at 4:30. Still windy through the evening.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner. Feeling a little headachey again.
Wind blew quite hard all night.
2013-02-03 (Sunday)Wind still blowing quite hard. I'm waiting for it to ease, but the forecast has slid out a bit, and now with no internet access, I can't get forecasts. Just have to wait.
I don't know, maybe I'm a wimp, but I don't feel the need to be out there and heading upwind when it's blowing a steady 20 knots. If I had a long passage to make downwind or on the beam, maybe. But I want to get to a couple of anchorages I've never been to, upwind from here, and do some snorkeling and wandering. I'm not going to do that in this weather.
Plenty of boats are moving in this weather, but a lot of them are charter boats. They have a schedule to keep to.
After noon, wind eased and blew right about 15 the rest of the day, and all night.
Added water to the batteries; forward bank needed a lot.
Salad and grapefruit and half-PBJ sandwich for dinner.
2013-02-04 (Monday)Wind still about 15 knots. Still no internet, but heard NOAA weather forecast from Grenada cruiser's net. Sound like wind is going to be right about NE to E 15 all week, mostly 10-15, a few spots of NE to E 15-20.
Around 8:30, eased the secondary anchor rode, launched the dinghy, followed the chain out to the secondary anchor, raised it to the dinghy, and hauled it back to dump it off the bow. Back on deck, and pulled up the rope and chain and anchor and stowed everything. Then took a rest for a while.
Hoisted the dinghy and stowed it. Finished getting the boat ready to move. Rested some more. Lots of boats leaving this morning.
Engine start around 9:25, waited a minute as a catamaran nearby raised anchor and left, then raise my anchor by 9:30. Motored out, headed up, unfurled mainsail, started motor-sailing SSE. Went across SW of Palm Island. Chart says it's a tricky area, so I was alert, but no problems.
Across the gap to Petit St Vincent and Petite Martinique. Didn't realize the entrance was a little tricky: had to look for gap between sandbars, and consult the GPS. Gap turned out to be pretty wide. Sailboat sailing down from N was slowly converging with me, and we hit the gap at the same time, which was a little awkward. They went on down to PM, so I slowed and turned behind them and headed for PSV.
Rain sprinkling as I furled the mainsail and started hunting through the anchorage. As usual, boats in all the shallower water, and a mooring field in the really good spot. Finally settled for water about 22 feet deep; I'd much rather be in far shallower water. But not a bad spot. Anchor down by 10:55 at S end of Petit St Vincent, St Vincent and Grenadines.
Oil filter mounting has been leaking more than before; guess my attempt to tighten it was counterproductive. I'm trying to catch the dripping oil in plastic bags, but that's not working too well.
Got some free Wi-Fi. WindGuru forecast for here, more specific than what I heard on VHF, is encouraging. A little 19-knot wind on Wednesday night, but otherwise 15-17 through Friday, then 13-15 through Monday. But the forecast often isn't reliable beyond 2-3 days.
A little rolly here, but not too bad.
Skype-called Mom and wished her a Happy Birthday, about a week late.
Headache; took a Tonopan.
Chicken-onion-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Boat stayed rocky and lurching all night; not very restful.
2013-02-05 (Tuesday)Weather grey all morning. Boat still rocking and lurching, but it doesn't look like boats anchored closer in are doing any better, so I think I'll stay put.
By midafternoon, weather sunnier. Launched the dinghy and went upwind, to the E, to do a little snorkeling. Windy and rough out there, and no good coral, but it felt great to be in the water, and visibility in water was 60 feet or more even in these conditions. Got some exercise, and the water was nice.
Weather grey again by 5 or so.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
I have an ant problem in the galley cabinets. At first, I thought I had an infested jar of peanut butter, and I threw it away. But now I realize the ants are in the cabinets, and trying to get into food.
Starting a little before 9:45, wind started blowing harder and harder, and then a huge front or something came through. The forecast had said something like 19 knots with gusts to 22, but we're getting 25 with gusts to 30, I think. And it blew and blew and kept blowing. At first I was worried about a big catamaran mostly upwind of me, but they seem to be holding fine. After a while, they turned out all their cockpit lights, making them a lot harder to see; I guess they went to bed.
A little after 10, a stronger burst came through, and suddenly my bow was moving off to the W: anchor is dragging. No problem, I'm SW of everybody. But I went below and threw switches, then to helm and started the engine. By then, I wasn't dragging any more. Hard to tell, but I've dragged at least 100 feet, probably more. Idled the engine for 15 minutes or so in case of more dragging. But it's kind of pointless, and I don't want to try to motor forward to take the strain off the anchor; that would just put shock loads on it when I don't get the position right. Finally shut off the engine and just watched.
This is why I hate anchoring in deepish water. If I was in 10 feet of water, my anchor would have held fine. But I had to anchor in about 22 feet of water, and now the anchor probably is in 28 feet of water, and it's going to be exhausting to raise it. And it will hold even less well until I do raise it and move forward again.
Wind blew hard until 10:30, then eased. Went back to bed. At 10:40, wind was right back up again, and blew hard until 11:10 or so. Finally eased again, and stayed in the 15-20 range the rest of the night.
2013-02-06 (Wednesday)Grey and windy morning. Boat dragged about 150 feet last night. Pretty rolly, now that I'm a little further out and the wind has increased the chop.
Weather forecast has strengthened several knots from Monday to today: now going to have 17-18 knots through mid-Friday, then lighter for a couple of days.
Can't find the bottle of boric acid powder I thought I had somewhere. I want to use it kill the ants.
Around 1:50, started the engine. Got a good workout hand-hauling 120 feet of 3/8" chain and a 45-pound anchor up from 30-foot-deep water in reasonably rolly and breezey conditions. Got it up, moved forward, considered a couple of spots, but everything had a boat in it, or a mooring in it, or looked too shallow or close to shore. Put the anchor down a bit forward and in from where I first anchored two days ago. Done by 2:15. Anchor in 13-14 feet of water, boat in 18 feet or so.
Around 5, a couple of guys came buy soliciting donations for a food-processing charity. Gave them EC$20.
Salad and grapefruit and PB-banana sandwich for dinner.
At 7:15, well after dark, a catamaran with no lights on whatsoever motored in past me. Madness ! There's a patch of reef no more than 100 feet from me on that side, and a couple of boats up ahead with no lights except a top-of-the-mast light. I guess they knew exactly where they were and what they were doing, and were keeping the lights off so they had good night-vision, because all seemed to go well (no yelling or collisions up ahead).
Still a little rolly during the night, but less than the previous two nights. Slept pretty well.
2013-02-07 (Thursday)Planning to dinghy over to PM this morning, but the cruiser's net says today is Grenadian Independence Day, so maybe everything will be closed. I think I'll go anyway. It's only about 300 yards away.
The weather forecast has changed again. Now says light wind through Monday, then stronger.
Around 10:45, looked out, and most boats have left, so maybe I'll grab a better anchoring spot.
Started engine around 11, anchor up, moved forward, anchor down, swinging too close to a mooring, anchor up again, anchor down again, finally done around 11:20. Now solidly in the middle of the 12-foot-deep water.
In midafternoon, launched dinghy. Made a long trip, more than a mile, downwind to a couple of sandbar islands (Mopion and another) WNW of PSV. A little risky, through rough and open water, and if the outboard quits I'll be stuck downwind. But there are 4 or 5 catamarans anchored down there, it's a high-traffic area, lots of daylight left.
Got down there, had a little trouble finding a way in through the reefs, but got the dinghy anchored inside. Went for a snorkel. Coral on the inside is grey and dead and shallow, not many fish. Wriggled through shallow areas in the outer coral, and got to the dropoff to water 50 or 70 feet deep. Coral is brown/green and dead here, but a lot more fish, some of them pretty nice. But not great snorkeling, and the water is a bit rough. Got some good exercise, nice water, fun. Back through the shallow bits, into the dinghy, and threaded my way back out into open water. Long trip back upwind, no problems, back to the boat.
Anchorage pretty rolly today (and it stayed rolly all night).
Chili and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
Someone is anchored a little close behind me, but it's supposed to be a calm night, so we shouldn't have any problems.
2013-02-08 (Friday)Sunny morning. Weather forecast says 14 knots through Sunday, then 18-19 knots Monday through Friday.
In early afternoon, launched the dinghy and went across the channel to Petite Martinique. The anchorage here is full of fishing boats, and there is a 2-foot chop even in these mild ENE conditions. Town is a sleepy one-road place in the hot afternoon. Lots of flags and bunting and stuff up; I guess they had an Independence Day celebration yesterday. Disposed of a couple of bags of garbage. Walked a bit to get some exercise. Took a couple of pictures back toward PSV where my boat is anchored: pics.
And a picture of a big motoryacht anchored at the W end of the anchorage, with some kind of strange plaything tethered behind it: pic. I've seen that thing, or one like it, before. Maybe it's some kind of "swim in the ocean without letting the fish nibble you" enclosure ?
[A reader gave the answer: it's an "inflatable iceberg water toy", sort of combination water-slide and climbing wall: pic.]
Found the three one-room "supermarkets", but only one had much good stock, and there's no loaf of bread to be had on the island for love or money. "Come back tomorrow after 1 when the ferry has come in." Bought cabbage, baking powder, juice, eggs, tomatoes. Soda is sold by the can and fairly expensive. Prices really not much different than in Clifton or Hillsborough, I think.
Back across the rough channel to my boat.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
2013-02-09 (Saturday)Sunny morning. Wind stronger than forecast. But by 10 or so, it lightened and swirled, and boats were pointing all different directions. Wind soon picked up again.
After 1, launched the dinghy and went across the channel to PM. To the "supermarket" and bought chicken, carrots, bread. To veggie lady and bought bananas, grapefruit, cucumber. Back across the channel to the boat.
In late afternoon, went ashore on PSV, just ahead of some rainclouds. Nice walk on the beach. The whole island is an upscale resort, but business seems to be very bad: hardly anyone here. Back to the dinghy and got rained on as I went back out to the boat.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-02-10 (Sunday)Loafed all day, mostly using the computer.
I've been reading a hilarious (but non-fiction) book, John O'Farrell's "An Utterly Impartial History of Britain, or, 2000 Years of Upper Class Idiots in Charge", and ran across an interesting thing related to my cruising. Apparently, at the end of the Seven Years War (Wikipedia's "Treaty of Paris (1763)"), Britain had a choice to make between taking possession of Guadeloupe or Canada. Seems ludicrous to equate them today: Guadeloupe is a moderate-sized island in E Caribbean, Canada is an enormous continent-spanning country with vast resources. But at the time it was a tough choice, because the sugar trade out of Guadeloupe was extremely lucrative. They chose Canada.
Salad and cornbread-sausage-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner. Catamaran upwind of me was having trouble lighting their grill, and used so much lighter-fluid that I probably could have cooked my dinner off the fumes.
2013-02-11 (Monday)Headache; took an ibuprofen. Didn't work; took a Tonopan and went back to bed.
Still headachey in mid-afternoon, but dinghied ashore and went for a walk on the beach. Pleasant.
Added water to the batteries; forward bank needed a lot.
Grapefruit and leftover cornbread concoction for dinner.
Took another Tonopan before bed.
2013-02-12 (Tuesday)Still slightly headachey.
In late afternoon, went snorkeling on the nearby reef. As I expected, the coral is terrible, and there's a very stiff current. But some nice fish. Back to the boat and scraped the hull for a while. Stiff current under the boat, too; had to hold onto the stern platform while resting between scrapings.
Catamaran "Astral Wind" came in and anchored near me. I knew the previous owners.
Chicken-onion-carrot-cabbage-rice and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-02-13 (Wednesday)Headache; took an ibuprofen, and it seemed to work.
Finally bought tickets for Grenada-to-Philly legs of my Barcelona trip in May/June. Price dropped about $150 from what it had been showing for last month or two, to about $635 round-trip.
Skype-called Mom and chatted with her.
A lot of boats here in the afternoon, staying for the night. And a pleasantly high bikini-quotient.
Dinghied ashore around 4. Had a nice chat with a beach security guy for a while, talking about boats and how the resort is run and such things. Took a walk on the beach. Back out to the boat just ahead of the rain.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice for dinner.
2013-02-14 (Thursday)Grey morning. Horizontal rain at 7:15.
Loafed all day, doing Wi-Fi. Lazy.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Pretty strong wind during the night, and I was keeping an eye on a catamaran anchored close off my starboard bow.
2013-02-15 (Friday)Sunny and windy, and going to be that way for the next week or so.
That catamaran dragged maybe 20-30 feet overnight; now they're too close. But they loaded up passengers around 9 and left.
Dinghied ashore in midafternoon for a walk on the beach.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Fairly windy night, and pretty rolly at times. Fortunately no one is anchored upwind of me, and my anchor is holding fine.
2013-02-16 (Saturday)Windy morning. Pretty good rain around 7:30 or so, then sunny and a nice rainbow.
Bummer: the nice Wi-Fi connection I've had has been down for the last 18 hours or so. Eventually switched to another signal and got some connectivity, but it soon stopped.
In early afternoon, launched the dinghy and went across the channel to Petite Martinique. Disposed of three bags of garbage. Bought EC$50 of groceries. Bought EC$15 of stuff from the veggie lady. Bought EC$20 of gasoline. Back across to the boat.
Went ashore for a walk on the beach.
Cornbread-sausage-onion-mushroom-cheese concoction and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Slept very well; no boats close to me, wind strong but steady.
2013-02-17 (Sunday)Windy and sunny, as usual. Got a little Wi-Fi: weather forecast says wind building to sustain 24 knots with gusts to 26 on Tuesday early AM. Also says we should be having 15 knots right now; I think we have closer to 18-19. Wi-Fi still very flaky, but soon a good signal was back.
After noon, wind eased to 15 knots or so.
Went ashore for a walk on the beach.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Wind building again during the night.
2013-02-18 (Monday)Weather forecast mostly unchanged: supposed to get sustained 23 knots wind after midnight tonight.
Added water to the batteries; forward bank needed a fair amount.
Weather getting hazier and humid.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Wind very strong around 11; eased a bit by 1 AM or so, but very gusty all night.
Developed a headache in the early AM; took an ibuprofen.
2013-02-19 (Tuesday)A grey and blustery day.
By mid-morning, a fairly big swell coming in from the S or SW. Can't figure out how that's happening.
Went ashore for a walk on the beach.
Guy who runs a blue sloop for the resort here stopped by. He hadn't seen any activity on my boat for a couple of days, just wanted to check that I wasn't sick or dead or something.
Grey skies, strong wind, a little rain shortly after 5.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Lots of noise from PM this evening; today was Election Day in Grenada, and one side is celebrating. Someone set off a couple of distress parachute-flares, too.
2013-02-20 (Wednesday)Boat quite rolly at times; I think I've had enough of this place.
Went ashore for a walk on the beach.
Chicken-onion-mushroom-cabbage-rice and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Around 10 or so, was startled when one of the boat-hooks came crashing down on deck. The seizing-wire holding its mounting-ring on had failed.
2013-02-21 (Thursday)Engine start at 9:30. Anchor up by 9:37 without much problem in windy and rolly conditions. Motored through the anchorage, rounded up and unfurled the mainsail. Motor-sailed out past Mopion.
As I expected, windy and rough and rolly in the channel between islands. Some stuff crashing around in the cockpit. But no problem, dodged a few fishing skiffs anchored out in the middle, and eventually got into shelter of Palm Island. Across to Clifton, a bit of trouble furling the main, then anchored by 10:50 at Clifton, Union Island, St Vincent and Grenadines.
Nice and calm here. But no free Wi-Fi. Sometimes I'm swinging over the anchor of the boat off my starboard stern quarter, but that's common here. Lots of kite-sailers here today.
Around 12:15, started eating lunch, and boat behind me started raising anchor. For a moment, I thought I'd have to start the engine and move forward, but they got their anchor up with about 5 feet to spare.
30 seconds later, a catamaran was coming in to anchor where they'd been. Put anchor down, it didn't hold. Brought it up, and there's a basketball-sized lump of coral right in the hook of the anchor. Took them a while to get it off. No problem on second try.
Kite-sailer lost control and ended up drifting down the side of my boat, until an instructor in a dinghy came over and retrieved him and his gear.
Earphones for my MP3 player have an intermittent fault in the wire; these things are only about 6 months old.
Dinghied ashore. Disposed of a couple of bags of garbage. Exchanged 4 books at Erica's. Walked up a hill and down a road a bit to get some exercise; I'm totally out of shape. Saw only about 5 masts in the Ashton anchorage, so I guess it's still an anchorage, not a mooring field or marina. Back into town, bought bananas and grapefruit and a loaf of bread. Back out to the boat.
Later, watched the kite-surfers for a while. Some of them are pretty good, but also a fair number of spills.
Fairly strong squall/front came through around 6:30
Slept very solidly; I think all of the rolling at PSV left me a bit sleep-deprived.
2013-02-22 (Friday)Got a tiny bit of Wi-Fi.
Went ashore around 8:45. Walked down the road to the airport. Checked out of the country, no problems, no charge. Back to the boat.
Engine needs almost a quart of oil; added it.
Engine start at 9:40, anchor up by 9:45. Unfurled mainsail, gentle motor-sail S or SW to Carriacou. Wind not helping much; it's lighter than I expected, and dead on the stern.
Nearing destination, I'm disappointed to see almost a quart of oil in the bags and bucket I've arranged under the oil filter. Not good.
Anchor down by 11:30 at Hillsborough, Carriacou. As usual, rolly here. Confirm that lots of oil has leaked from the oil filter; not good.
Go to launch the dinghy, and find a fairly big crack in an upper corner of the gas fuel tank. Great ! Everything's breaking.
Get to shore, landing at my least favorite dinghy-dock, only to find I've managed to arrive right at lunchtime and Immigration and Customs are closed. Back to the dinghy-dock, where the stern anchor line has wrapped around the prop. Free that, back out to the boat.
Eat some lunch. Engine oil is down about a quart. Recover the leaked oil, it looks pretty clean, pour it back into the engine. Now the engine is slightly overfilled.
Back ashore after 1, and of course the Immigration guys doesn't actually show up until almost 1:30. I get done with him, charge of EC$20 (no receipt), and then he tells me Customs is closed for the rest of the day, I'll have to taxi back from Tyrrel Bay tomorrow. Not a big deal.
Outside, and it suddenly occurs to me that I'm an idiot. Election Day was Tuesday, and I heard someone mention on the cruiser's net that the election winners usually declare the following Friday a national holiday, to celebrate their victory. Sure enough, the grocery store is closed, and a guy scrounging around the dinghy-dock confirms it's a holiday after the election.
Anyway, back into the dinghy. Stern line has wrapped the prop again. Free that, out to the boat. On the way, see a charter-captain getting into a dinghy take a spill and almost fall in the water. It's rolly here, even in light E conditions.
Back to the boat, hoist dinghy in rolly conditions, get ready to go. As I'm raising the anchor, a political convoy comes by ashore, with a bullhorn thanking everyone for voting for the guy. So loud that at first I'm startled into thinking there's someone in the water next to my boat, as I have it in gear.
Anchor up by 2:15. Motor-sail past Sandy Island and around to Tyrrel Bay, keeping an eye on the oil leak. At first, not much leak. Then all of a sudden there's half a quart or so in the bag. Bummer.
Up into the bay, do one short loop near the beach, and anchor down by 3:25 at Tyrrel Bay, Carriacou.
I'm a bit disgruntled and hot and tired; took me all day to go about 10 NM, and I have to do a van-ride tomorrow to do Customs. But I got here okay. Nice and calm here, and free Wi-Fi !
Around 3:35, that political convoy with a bullhorn came past. At least I traveled faster than they did.
Here's what that oil filter situation looks like: pic. I tied bags over the filter and put bucket underneath.
Chili and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Have to get used to rationing my electrical power again. For the last month, I've been in almost constant 15-20 wind, so any time I wanted electric power at night, I just turned on the wind-generator. Now I'm in a more sheltered place; not enough wind to spin the generator.
2013-02-23 (Saturday)After 10, dinghied ashore to the ferry dock. Walked down the road to the bus stop, waited 5 minutes. Saw a bus pointed in the wrong direction, walked down to it, asked if they were going to Hillsborough, got on. Should have known I was being stupid: got a 15-minute tour of the back end of the island before we came back and passed the point where I got on. Eventually we started getting into Hillsborough. But when I tried to get off in the middle, the driver wouldn't stop; she can stop only at bus stops. Despite the fact that 30 seconds earlier she'd dropped someone off in front of their house. Got carried 3 or 4 blocks past the center, got out at the bus terminal in a bad mood.
To the ferry dock, and no problem at Customs, other than being relieved of EC$75 for the first month's cruising permit. To the grocery store and got 4 out of 5 items on my list; not bad. To a bus stop, waited 15 minutes or so for a bus to appear. Back to the dock, back out to the boat through rain, arriving before noon.
Rest of day was grey and fairly still and rainy. Light rain most of the time, heavier rain at 1:30 and 3:15. Some sunshine from 4 to 5, then grey again.
A lot more oil has drained into the bucket under the filter; maybe some kind of siphon action going on ? Ended up with about a gallon of oil out of the engine. Poured most of it back in. Filter is on too tight to get it off; I don't have the right kind of wrench. Tried improvising, didn't work, will have to try something else tomorrow.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
Some wind from 2:30 to 6 AM, enough to get the wind-generator going.
2013-02-24 (Sunday)Grey morning. But fairly sunny and breezy by 9:30; did a bucket of laundry.
I notice slight hints of rust on the main shrouds. Those are about 17 months old.
Did internet all day; I have to stop doing that.
Cornbread-hotdog-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-02-25 (Monday)Headache at 5 AM; took an ibuprofen.
Had email from a couple of readers about my engine oil leak. One says it is very dangerous to run the engine with that leak happening; he thinks replacement of crankshaft on one of his engines was necessitated by running with oil briefly very low. Several readers have asked if I accidentally got two gaskets installed between filter and housing. But I changed to a new spin-on filter, with the gasket molded right onto the filter, so that can't happen. Someone else says I may have the filter on too tightly; that could well be the problem.
Into the dinghy around 11. Stopped by at "Compass Rose" to say hi to Eric and Jackie; ended up chatting with Eric for a long time while we watched a ferry go out, pull up some big anchor that was buoyed off, and leave, then a gravel barge start to come in. Eric doesn't have a strap wrench that would work on my filter. Turns out there is a weekly dominoes game here, Wed at 2 at Slipways, all welcome.
In to the dock. Walked down the road to the dumpster and disposed of a couple of bags of garbage. Walked further to a junction, and to a view of Sandy Island and Hillsborough. MP3 player is pretty worthless with failing headphones. Chatted a little with a guy at a bus stop. Back down to "town". Bought meat at store, and found they will accept US dollars; I'm running low on EC$ and using the ATM here would cost me a big fee. Bought tomatoes at a veggie stand. Back to the boat by 12:45.
Caulked the base of the mainmast. A joint there lets the rain in if I don't renew the caulk every 6 months or so.
Got the engine oil filter off. I tied a rope around it, stuck a screwdriver through the knot, and twisted the knot until the rope was super-tight around the filter. Then used it to unscrew the filter. It was on there incredibly tightly; had to try a couple of times, and twist very hard to get it started off. I'm sure I didn't screw it on that hard when I installed it, but maybe after it started leaking I tightened it a little more, then a little more, too much. Made sure the O-ring was in place correctly, screwed the filter back on without making it too tight.
Added oil to the outboard.
Fixed one of the rain-catchers, not that we'll get any rain for the next week or more.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
Up at 11:15 or so to run engine for 15 minutes, to test oil filter and charge batteries a little. No leak at all from the oil filter. Will have to test a few more times.
2013-02-26 (Tuesday)In the afternoon, tried to dinghy ashore to go for a walk. But the surge was so strong at the dinghy-dock that after I tied up and put out a stern anchor, I sat and looked at it and decided this was a bad idea. Surge seemed to be breaking heavily at other docks too. Went back to the boat. Saw someone else approach that dock and then give it up as a bad idea.
Later, went ashore elsewhere and pulled my dinghy up onto the beach. Walked up to the school, tried to find a trail Eric had mentioned, gave up. Back down, took a side-street, eventually back to the dinghy and back out to the boat.
Added water to the batteries; they didn't need much.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
Some wind during the night, enough to turn the wind-generator a fair bit.
2013-02-27 (Wednesday)Did a bucket of laundry.
Went ashore before 2 at Slipways restaurant. Saw a couple of cruisers I recognized, and then Eric and Jackie joined us. At 2, we had ten people to play dominoes, at two tables. Eric and Jackie from "Compass Rose", Bob and Debby, Harm and Lizzie (Dutch; their real names are something more complicated), me, Jonathan, and I think Judy and Gordon are a couple (not sure). Rules a little different than we played down at S end of Grenada. Nice to play dominoes again, and have some nice conversation with other cruisers. Eric won, and I ended up right about in the middle of the pack.
Bob and Debby have been here since July, with only a few short trips elsewhere for shopping or paperwork purposes, I think. Seven months or so in this quiet place ? Not something I'd want to do.
Went for a short but steep walk after dominoes, to get a little exercise.
Chicken-onion-corn-cabbage-rice and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
Half a dozen heavy rainshowers from about 2:45 AM to 6:30 AM.
2013-02-28 (Thursday)Grey, damp morning. Little wind until about 9.
Now that I want to go further S, the slight N component in the wind has been replaced by a slight S component. The annual weather pattern in E Caribbean has always seemed inconvenient to me: in December/January, when everyone in Grenada and Trinidad wants to head N, there's a strong N component in the wind. In May/June, when everyone wants to head S to Grenada and Trinidad for hurricane season, the SE tradewind will be strong. Backwards.
Did internet most of the day.
In late afternoon, went ashore and had a nice, fairly long walk to get some exercise.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a light rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-01 (Friday)Went ashore in early afternoon. Took a walk, then bought a few groceries.
Around 5, a sailboat with three young guys came in and started anchored too close, putting their anchor down off my port bow. I couldn't figure out what they were doing; if they fall back behind me, they're going to end up swinging into the small moored skiff just behind me. And if the wind turns light N at night, as it often does here, they'll swing into me. And there is plenty of other space to anchor; they don't have to be so close to me. But I hate to yell at people while they're anchoring. Sure enough, 5 minutes after they were done, they were swinging into the moored skiff. So they they raised anchor and moved forward. When they showed signs of putting their anchor down right on top of my anchor, I did go up onto the bow and point out my anchor. So they moved quite a ways away and anchored in a good spot.
Chicken-onion-noodle and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-02 (Saturday)Around 11, went ashore at the ferry dock. Disposed of a couple of bags of garbage. Walked over the hill to Paradise Beach, to see a junior sailing club event. A dozen or more cruisers there, including Bob and Debby and Gordon and Judy and Lizzie. Kids having fun sailing Optimist prams and racing kayaks and surfboards and stuff. Pics. I got some good exercise walking there and back. Bought fruit and veggies at the ferry dock, and back to the boat by 1:45.
Grapefruit and salad and leftover chicken-noodle and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-03 (Sunday)Did internet all day. Ashore in later afternoon for a walk on the beach.
Chili and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-04 (Monday)I want to head S to Grenada, but the weather forecast isn't cooperating. Tomorrow will have ENE wind (good), but it's too light: 11-13 knots. Next forecast stronger wind isn't until next Monday, E 17-18 knots.
In afternoon, went ashore for a walk on the streets and a bit on the beach. Hot.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
Warm, still night.
2013-03-05 (Tuesday)In afternoon, went ashore for a walk. Disposed of a bag of garbage. Bought some groceries. Hot.
Put new batteries in the motion-detector in the cockpit.
Cornbread-hotdog-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
Warm, still night.
2013-03-06 (Wednesday)Went ashore around 11. Exchanged 6 books for 3 at the laundry. Went for a walk. Checked several stands and stores, but no bananas. Back to the boat. Hot.
Went ashore before 2 at Slipways restaurant. At first only three of us there, but by 2:15 or so we had six people to play dominoes (and another person showed up later, too late). Harm and Lizzie from "Horta", me, Jonathan, and Judy and Gordon. I was the winner today. At one point I played two doubles and a normal tile, then on my next turn I played three doubles and a normal tile.
Grapefruit and salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
Warm, fairly still night.
2013-03-07 (Thursday)Dinghied ashore before noon. Went for a walk to get some exercise. Bought veggies at a stand, and chatted with Jonathan from "Hedoness" for a while. Bought groceries at a store. Back to the boat. Hot.
Later, took some parts-ordering information over to Jonathan. He bought the boat fairly recently in Bequia, worked his way down to here, and then got stuck here for a while because he lost his passport. But I guess he has a new passport now, and he's flying out for a while. I told him he should get down to S coast of Grenada, where there are more cruisers, stores, and agents for bringing in parts.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-08 (Friday)Wind-generator has been sounding bad when barely turning, as it does occasionally in the light wind we've been having. I hope the front bearing is not failing again.
Dang, forecast is weakening for the wind I need to go south on Tuesday. Used to say 18-19 knots, now more like 16-17 knots.
Went ashore in late afternoon to dispose of a couple of bags of garbage and take a walk.
Grapefruit and salad for dinner.
2013-03-09 (Saturday)Fuel tanker came in; the fuel tanks for the island are at the base of the ferry dock here. Tanker is riding pretty high in the water; must not have much fuel in it. Pic.
As I feared, the weather forecast is sliding out further. Now says ENE 14-15 wind on Tuesday; won't have nice ENE 17-18 until next Saturday. And we're supposed to have strong NNE swells starting this afternoon and going all week, so it's going to get a bit rolly in here.
Around 2, went ashore for a walk. Bought veggues and fruit from a couple of ladies at the base of the ferry dock. Several boats docked today, lots of activity, a jam of trucks and cars and people, a forklift with a pallet of cinderblocks, etc.
Back on the boat, gave myself a haircut, then went for a snorkel under the boat. Lots of grass growing on everything; scraped the prop a bit.
Headachey in late afternoon; took a Tonopan.
Chili and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
Tried third set of headphones with my MP3 player, and have determined the intermittent problem is in the player, not the headphones.
Got up at 3:15 AM to run the engine for 15 minutes, to test it and charge batteries. Oil filter doesn't seem to be leaking any more.
2013-03-10 (Sunday)Now weather forecast says Tuesday may be as good as it gets for a while for going S. Not very good: ENE 13-16 with gusts to 18; I wanted stronger wind. I'll probably end up motor-sailing; wanted to sail. But who knows, forecast might change again tomorrow.
Went ashore in late afternoon. Took a walk, then watched a cricket game for a little while. Swell getting larger; getting the dinghy off the beach was a bit exciting.
Grapefruit and leftover chili and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-11 (Monday)Weather forecast says wind ENE 13-15 on Tuesday, NE 14-16 on Wednesday. So maybe I'll go south on Wednesday.
Went ashore in late afternoon for a walk.
Salad and hotdog-onion-cheese-bread and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
I've been trying to see the Pan-Starrs comet each evening just after sunset, but clouds have been in the way.
Quite rolly at times during the night; strong NNE swell outside is bouncing into here. Wind starting to pick up a bit, which is good.
2013-03-12 (Tuesday)Up at 5:15 to do a little Wi-Fi to get the weather forecast. Wind is slightly stronger tomorrow, so I'll go then. Not much of a difference, ENE 14-15 today and ENE 15-17 tomorrow. And spending another rolly night here is not attractive. But a little more wind to sail with would be nice.
After the cruiser's net, stayed on 66 and heard some interesting traffic. A couple of cruising boats I sort of know are up in Clifton or Tobago Cays and fighting tricky engine problems. Another boat talking about someone who dragged into them last night.
Anchor dragging a bit. Hope I can let it be until leaving tomorrow morning.
Ashore in late afternoon. Bought groceries and took a short walk.
Added water to the batteries and tied them down.
Lots of boats coming in before sunset.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwich and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-13 (Wednesday)Up at 6. Engine start at 6:20, and the oil filter looks okay. Anchor up by 6:25 and motored out through the anchorage. Rounded up and unfurled mainsail and jib. Motor-sailed out and south.
Conditions about as I expected: wind about 15-16 and seas lumpy and confused with a strong NNE swell component. The usual rough transit between Carriacou and Grenada, across channel with strong currents. Swells coming from several directions; I didn't expect a big E swell. Currents changing in several spots. Very lumpy, rough swells near a couple of the islands. Lots of stuff down below being thrown off shelves and onto the floor, even though I did my usual "stow stuff before rough passage" things.
But the good news is that I'm making great time ! Motor-sailing at 5 to 6 knots.
Tried cycling the bilge pumps, and neither seems to be working (at least: the red lights for them on the helm don't come on).
Finally got down to the N tip of Grenada, by 9:30 or so. Now the seas start to get a little more manageable. But the wind and swells are on the stern, with a pretty big swell from the E too, making steering hard. The boat veers off quickly, seas lift and push the stern or bow, and sometimes there's not much water-flow over the rudder so steering is sluggish.
I've been checking the engine oil filter every 10 to 15 minutes or so. And as I expected, at 9:50, suddenly a half-gallon of oil has leaked out. I shut off the engine and start sailing. Want to let the engine cool a bit before I work on it.
And the sailing is good ! Making 4.5 knots most of the time. Steering still is very difficult. And any time I go below for something for more than 15 seconds or so, the boat rounds up or jibes. But I'm happy: wind and seas are pushing me in exactly the direction I want to go, and I'm getting there at a fair speed (for my boat).
But all of the motion has really taken a lot out of me: I'm tired, hot, a bit queasy.
Around 11:15, I start dealing with the engine. Capture oil from bags into bucket. Dump bucket into jug. Back into cockpit to deal with boat, which is sailing off in the wrong direction, and to get some cool air and settle my stomach.
Later, tied new bags around oil filter, and poured oil back into the engine. Boat is rolling and pitching so wildly that the dipstick reading is meaningless. I keep sailing.
Sailed SW down the windward side of the island, slowly turning and bringing wind more and more dead astern (bad). Steering is a nightmare, I'm tired and queasy and want this to be over.
Around 1:15, I get within half a mile of the harbor entrance. Start the engine, dash down below, no oil leaking out. Motor-sail up into the harbor, round up, check engine again, still okay.
Furl the sails, and start looking for a spot to anchor. Harbor is much smaller than I expected, very quiet, and generally deep. I don't want to anchor in 30 feet of water. Finally put the anchor down in 14 feet of water and run the chain back into 25 feet or so. Done by 1:30 at St David's Harbour, Grenada.
Some free Wi-Fi here ! A slight roll here, but nowhere near as bad as Tyrrel Bay the last couple of days.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner. Bad batch of spaghetti noodles; had to pick the bugs out before boiling the noodles.
Fairly rolly at times during the night. And of course the wind has moved to an odd direction (NW) and is pressing me backwards into shallow water and toward a rocky shore. But it's very light wind, the weight of the anchor chain is keeping me in place, and it would take quite strong wind to put me on shore.
2013-03-14 (Thursday)Went ashore around 10. Boatyard is bigger and more active than I expected. Chatted with some guy about to head north to Antigua; going to be a rough trip against the NNE swells out there. Dogs taking it easy: pic.
Produce guy was there, so bought half a dozen eggs. Exchanged several books at the bookshelf in the bar. Stashed the eggs there and went for a walk, through the yard and then out onto the street. Always fun to look through a boatyard: pics.
Nearby "plantation" resort has shut down. Had to walk a ways to get out to a couple of houses. Dinghy hanging behind a boat looked funny, until I realized it's a RIb with the tube removed: pic. Truck being absorbed by nature: pic. Turned around, went back.
Chatted briefly with a couple of guys I knew, Ron and Darren. Travelift just lifted out a biggish sloop, got it on blocks, and found the pole-mounted RADAR on the stern is sticking up too high to left the lift back out; they're going to put boards or something under the tires to raise the lift a few inches: pic. Back out to the boat.
Added water to the batteries; they didn't need much. Engine needed a fair amount of oil; yesterday I didn't dump enough back in after it leaked out.
Engine start around 12:55, anchor up by about 1:05. Unfurled the mainsail and motored out. Just as rough and squirrelly outside as it was yesterday; motor-sailing straight downwind with big swells on the stern, so steering very tricky.
Had been thinking of going into (Old) Calvigny Harbour, but the entrance is unmarked and far too dangerous in these conditions (I'd be entering with strong following seas and wind). So around Point Fort Jeudy and up into Egmont Harbour. Wind still strong in here, and quite variable, but I'm out of the seas. Another quick look at the engine oil filter, and about a pint has leaked.
Up and up and up into the bay, and it's kind of magical in here, tall sides, lots of nice houses, a few nice boats. Hard to find really shallow water, but finally anchored in 22 feet or so. Done by 2:15 at Port Egmont, Grenada. Quite nice in here, wind often strong but water quite calm.
Free Wi-Fi !
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
Totally quiet night. Slept very solidly.
2013-03-15 (Friday)Some nice houses or hotels in here, and several boats: pics.
Went ashore before 2, landing at a dock I'd seen the other two boats here using. Out to the road through some house's side yard, and it looks like someone is home; hope they don't mind. Over the bridge and up a steep hill to the main road. Could catch a bus into "town" from here, but I just want to get some exercise and look around. No good place to take a picture down into the bays; every view obstructed by houses or wires or trees.
Back down the hill, past a pickup truck that lost some of its load of lumber coming up the steep hill. Back across the bridge, up a long slow hill. Passed a house being built that has metal gates with thick tubing, front fence with thick tubing with sharp points, razor wire on the fence down the sides and on the roof edge of part of the house. Up over a hill and can see down to Le Phare Bleu marina. Still no good place to take a picture; trees and wires everywhere.
Down to the marina, looked around a little, bought a few groceries in the mini-mart. Up the hill, a tough steep climb from this side. Down the long hill, through the side yard of the house, into the dinghy, back to the boat. Got a lot of good exercise.
Salad and cornbread-bacon-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner. Had to pick bugs out of the cornmeal before using it.
Another very quiet night. Very still here.
2013-03-16 (Saturday)Picture I took yesterday, of the anchorage: pic.
Started doing my income taxes.
Windy day, from 10 to after 3. Not in the forecast. And the wind took away my Wi-Fi connection, mostly. Wi-Fi very flaky after noon.
Another cruising sailboat arrived in late afternoon, so there are four of us here now.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-17 (Sunday)Free Wi-Fi is gone.
Boat that arrived yesterday left today.
Cleaned up the oil filter again, put leaked oil back into engine. Again, the filter was on there very tightly; do these things self-tighten as the engine runs ?
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner. Had to pick bugs out before boiling the noodles. Threw away the rest of the noodles.
2013-03-18 (Monday)Free Wi-Fi is back ! But I need to leave here today.
Engine start at 11:55; forgot to set the switch that will recharge the starting battery from the alternator, but that's okay, I'll recharge it later from solar/wind. A lot of effort to get the anchor up out of 20 feet of water over sticky mud, but anchor up by 12:05. Unfurled the mainsail and motored out.
Passed two sailboats coming in to Egmont as I went out; this place is more popular than I thought. As I expected, windy and rough outside, and I'm heading straight downwind and down-swells, so steering and keeping the sail from jibing is tricky. Keeping a keen eye out for the reefs sticking out from the headlands here. Checking the engine for oil leak.
No problem, jibed and swung around and headed in to Clarke's Court Bay. Motor-sailed the length of the bay, rounded up and furled the sail. On my turn downwind afterward, was going to get bow-to-bow with a boat, so had to duck around behind them, and there's a shoal back there somewhere. But no problem, got past and headed down to anchor in 10 feet of water right off the marina.
Done by 1:10 at Clarke's Court Bay, Grenada. A little over an hour to go almost exactly 1 NM, but there's a long peninsula between the two spots.
As I expected, no free Wi-Fi over here. But I'm back in the mainstream area of cruisers here, access to facilities I need, etc.
Engine leaked a little oil, maybe a pint or less, in that 1:15 of running.
Around 3, dinghied in to the marina. Exchanged 10 or 12 books at the bookshelf. Chatted with a couple of cruisers. Went for a walk up to the main road and back.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-19 (Tuesday)Up at 6, launched the dinghy, and took 5 bags of garbage over to the pickup near Woburn town dock.
Ashore to catch the shopping van at 10. As I expected, Janet from "Ventoso" was there; nice to see her again. A bit of a small group today, only about 7 of us.
I got out at the bank, walked to ACE Hardware, then to Scotiabank for the ATM. To the resort to exchange half a dozen books at their bookshelf. To another hardware store, then bought a big load of groceries at the supermarket. Chatted with several cruisers while waiting for the van. Stopped at CK's, back to the marina, back to the boat by 1. Went ashore again to say hi to John as he was picking up Janet.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwich and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-20 (Wednesday)At 2, dinghied over to Whisper Cove Marina. We're having a charity event in memorial of Marita. Eleven people playing dominoes, and several people playing Scrabble, and donating money to charity. A fun time, seeing some cruisers I haven't seen in a while. But the wind died down and it got pretty hot. I didn't too well at the dominoes: won the first two hands and the last hand, but had some pretty bad hands inbetween. Meriele from "Umido" was the winner, and her husband Pierre-Yves came in last. Done by about 5, and I gave Janet a ride out to "Ventoso".
Cornbread-bacon-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner. Had to pick bugs out of the cornmeal before using it.
Plenty of wind during the night; had been expecting a still and hot night.
2013-03-21 (Thursday)Headache. Took a Tonopan.
Around 11:30, dinghied over to the Woburn side, to an old rickety floating wooden dock behind a carwash. The dock is even more rickety than it used to be; I tied up at the end, started to walk in, and found a pretty good section of planking missing that I had to cross very carefully. Another part had a float only in the middle, so every step made it tilt alarmingly from one side to the other. Got ashore without getting wet.
Up and out to the street, and met John and Janet (I'd seen them going in to the town dock). We went to Nimrod's, and had a nice lunch. The roti's here are wll-known, big and cheap, so I wanted to try one. Very filling, but could have used more meat. A nice conversation over lunch. Several more cruisers stopped in to pick up food.
Afterward, I walked down the street a little and watched kids flying kites. More kids are doing that on the other side of the bay, above the marina, and Janet thinks it has something to do with Easter. Back to Nimrod's, and chatted for a while with Randy and another cruiser. Back down the dock and out to the boat.
Later, went back to Nimrod's and used their tiny book-exchange, but found only one book I liked. Across to CCBM and exchanged 4 or 5 books there. Then went for a walk out to the main road and back.
Salad for dinner.
Fairly windy all night.
2013-03-22 (Friday)Loafed all morning; should have gotten going.
Added some oil to the engine; forgot to recover the oil that leaked from last trip, but it's a small amount.
Engine start at 1:15, anchor up a bit before 1:30 in strong wind. Motored up to the SE end of the bay, wind right in my teeth. Got near the entrance, and "Umido" called to ask me about dominoes on Sunday ! Unfurled the mainsail and headed out the cut, and there's a sailboat sailing in at the same time, forcing me to the downwind side, closest to the reefs. If the engine quits I'm in big trouble. But I made it out okay.
Motor-sailed downwind a little, then found the markers outside Hog Island and went in. Left turn and right turn and I'm into Secret Harbor, and safe.
Rounded up and furled the mainsail without too much difficulty. Then did a loop around the anchorage looking for a spot. Looks like the local guys have been busy putting a couple more moorings. Must be 8 or 10 unused mooring balls in here, taking up some of the best anchoring spots. Considered anchoring in a shallow corner very close to the marina, but I'd have to put down two anchors, which I don't want to do. Finally back out and anchored at my old spot. Wind light and circling, making anchoring a little strange. Done by 2:35 at Mount Hartman Bay, Grenada.
Got some Wi-Fi. Nice.
As usual, it's pretty still and warm here, especially in my usual anchoring spot up against a hill. Not as nice as the wind in CCB was. Oh, well, the Wi-Fi makes up for that. No place is perfect.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Headache at 3 AM; took a Tonopan.
2013-03-23 (Saturday)Did Wi-Fi. Skype-called Mom and chatted with her.
I'd like to get a 2-gallon or even 1-gallon external gas tank for my outboard, but apparently no one makes a tank smaller than 3 gallons. One gallon lasts me a month or more with my 4-stroke Tohatsu 6 HP outboard and the amount of travelling I do.
[A reader found this, which is interesting: go-kart tank]
In later afternoon, dinghied ashore and took a walk. Nice chat at the dock with June and husband from "Sounds of Silence".
Headache: took a Tonopan.
Spaghetti and blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-24 (Sunday)Headachey. Took an ibuprofen at 12:30.
Found the leak in the dinghy's bow tube: under the patch I put on a couple of months ago. Maybe the glue I'm using isn't strong enough, or I screwed up the repair.
Ashore at 1:30 to play dominoes. Only Pierre-Yves and Mirielle showed up. Then a local guy came in and needed a dinghy-ride out to an anchored boat, so he could get someone to go out and rescue a boat whose engine had quit out in open water. So I took him out to the anchored boat he wanted to go to, "Nanook II". I don't want to be going offshore in my dinghy with 6 HP motor, and trying to tow some boat. Back to the marina.
Played dominoes with P and M, and it was a lively, fast-playing game. Guy from Norway watched us, to learn how to play. I came in a distant third in the standings. Headache fairly bad by the end of the game.
Went for a walk to get some exercise. Down to the dinghy dock a little before 5, and there's Daniel from "Nanook II" towing in a fishing skiff. It took him a solid 3 hours ? I thought there was a bigger boat involved somewhere.
Headache; took a Tonopan as soon as I got back to the boat.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner. Still headachey. To bed early.
2013-03-25 (Monday)Net controller had very faint signal today; later found out he's in Carriacou. Explains why I didn't hear his pre-announcement on 68 either. Probably shouldn't have controllers broadcasting from Carriacou.
Ashore for yoga at 8:30, which was a bit of a struggle after 2 months off from class. Then took a walk to get more exercise.
Took the patch off the dinghy tube and glued it back on. I'm not optimistic.
Added a little caulk to base of mainmast to try to stop a leak.
Online, ordered two pairs of sandals, an MP3 player, a micro SD card, two 12V computer fans, to be delivered to NJ. I ordered (another) one of those cheap Chinese MP3 players; half of the reviews say it's great, half say it has problems, but for $4.50 and free shipping, it's worth a shot. My current MP3 player still works if I don't move while wearing it, but the headphone jack cuts out if I move, so I can't use it while walking.
Checked outboard oil, and rodded out the exhaust port.
Took down the jib and mainsail and stored them in the main cabin.
Chili and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-26 (Tuesday)Ashore at 9:30 to catch the shopping van. Usually there are two of them, but today there's only one, and some talk that the two van drivers are feuding. Waited 10 minutes and the second van showed up. And the driver, usually a pretty safe driver, is angry today, passing someone he didn't have to, yelling at a cruiser who left for the other van with paying this driver, later flooring it when someone else was passing him and then yelling at them, etc. Not a good scene.
Someone says the new Grenada govt has changed rules for cruisers: can't stay in country more than 12 months at a stretch. Have to leave for 24 hours, can come back for another 12 months. Not sure if flying out/in is good enough to start another 12 months ticking. [Later, someone said this has always been the case here. I've never heard of it. And my boat was here from May 2011 to Feb 2013 with no problem.]
Into ACE hardware, looked at an oil filter wrench, and some bearings for the wind-gen, didn't buy anything. To Budget Marine, bought a 3-gallon fuel tank for EC$140 (US$54). Filled out a cruising survey, and they gave me a nice baseball cap and a thumb-drive as rewards for doing the survey ! Exchanged books at the bookshelf in De Big Fish.
To IGA mall. Hardware store there has no oil-filter wrenches of any kind. Bought groceries, got a smoothie, read a book, watched cricket. Not many cruisers around today; no one to chat with. Back into the bus at 12, back to boat before 12:30.
Switch fuel hose from old outboard tank to new tank. Poured gas from old tank to new, spilling a bit, and managing to avoid transferring most of the horrible gunk at the bottom of the old tank.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-03-27 (Wednesday)I was net controller this morning, filling in for Hope. So I had to go online at 7, get the weather forecasts, give forecast for fishermen at 7:25, announce on 68 at 7:29, do the net on 66 from 7:30 to almost 8.
Not sure if we're having yoga this morning. Went ashore at 8:30, found no yoga, went for a walk. Used the book-exchange in marina office. Found out that yoga is on Thursday. Chatted with Steve on the dinghy-dock.
Fairly grey morning. A little sunshine after 10:15 or so.
Salad and later a PB-sandwich for dinner.
At 6, dinghied up to the N end of the bay to join a "new-moon dinghy-drift". We'll just drift around, drinking and snacking and chatting, as the new moon comes up. Soon other people arrived, and there was a fair amount of wind so we tied to a mooring and stayed there. Eventually we counted 11 dinghies with 28 people. I thought the munchies were going to be simple, and I brought a can of nuts. But the womenfolk had whipped up deviled eggs, Key Lime pie, chips and dip, cheese bread from a bakery, mini-quesadillas, etc. So it was quite a feast.
I chatted mainly with three Canadians from a boat anchored near mine, John on "Katarina" and two ladies. They've been cruising for about 3 years now, I think, and are on a "5 months on boat, 7 months back in Canada" schedule. Originally, they had planned going through the Canal and maybe even circumnavigating, but changed their idea of what they wanted to do.
Back to my boat by 8 or so.
2013-03-28 (Thursday)Ashore for yoga at 8:30. Then walked to Prickly Bay with Pierre-Yves and Mirielle, and back, to get more exercise.
Hot afternoon. Recovered oil that leaked from the engine oil filter, and changed the filter to a new one. Old filter looks like the gasket got compressed down so that it was level with the metal rim around it.
Added a little oil to the outboard.
Batter-bacon-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-03-29 (Friday)Asked on the net this morning about painting the Hypalon tubes on my dinghy. Paint specifically for this is about US$114/liter in the marine store here. Cheaper stuff online is available only from UK, it looks like. After the net, someone recommended latex roofing paint. Someone else called later and recommended: 2-part polyurethane paint, mix it up, add about 25% of 7-day-cure 5200, apply to dinghy, add coat or two of dinghy paint on top to get rid of slipperiness, can take up to 2 weeks (!) to dry. And after noon, someone stopped by to show me their dinghy which had been painted a year ago with semi-gloss acrylic latex, and still looked great.
Climbed the mizzenmast and spun the wind-generator by hand. It's a little subtle, but there seems to be a "crunch" at one point in the rotation. Took off the blade assembly and brought it down. Will have to climb again to bring down the generator body and bracket as a unit, and that's a chore.
Flipped the bilge-pump switches. Secondary bilge pump does work, but doesn't light the LED on the helm, and I can't see a problem in the wiring. Will have to clean the bilge before testing the primary pump, since the real way to test it is to flood the bilge.
Added water to the batteries, and the forward bank took a lot.
Salad and leftover bacon-bread concoction and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-03-30 (Saturday)Online, ordered three books and a keychain-GPS, to be delivered to NJ. The GPS I ordered is $30, recharges from USB, all I want from it is to display latitude and longitude. I don't know if it's good enough to serve as my primary GPS on the boat, but it should be good enough as a backup, at least.
Headed ashore at 1:30, and walked over to Prickly Bay Marina to play dominoes at 2. The marina has been doing a lot of construction, and has a new bandstand and paved dance area and concrete booths and an arch, and is still building. After a short wait, we had five for dominoes: myself, Pierre-Yves and Mirielle, Jan and Larry. Jan told us they had been looking for someone to help them with the volume on their cell-phone, but while getting out of the dinghy just now, it fell into the water and sank out of sight, so problem solved !
A spirited game, with lots of good play. I started out badly, making some disastrous mistakes in one hand, and getting several bad hands as well. Then I went out four hands in a row. After that I had mixed luck, and ended up in 2nd place.
Walked back to Secret Harbour. There's a hash going on, walkers on the roads and all around the shore of the harbor, clambering over rocks and through mangroves. Chatted briefly with one white guy who's 85 years old, born on the island, had a career as a harbor pilot. Later saw lost-looking hashers in the mangroves behind my boat.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-03-31 (Sunday)Online, had some good news. I'd heard that the American Airlines / United merger might affect already-booked flights, and I have one coming up on April 24. Got email saying one flight number had changed; no changes to times or places or anything else. So that's a relief.
And also got a message from the apartment owner in Barcelona, who I'd been unable to contact for the last 4 weeks or so. I'd started getting worried that my reservation might go away. But he's there, my reservation is good. Another relief. I'm looking forward to my trip to Barcelona.
In late afternoon, climbed the mizzenmast and took down the wind-generator body and bracket as a unit, which was a chore. Boat rocking from time to time, and the generator is somewhat heavy and an awkward weight at the end of a lever-arm. And I almost got stuck at the point where all of the weight was hanging sideways on one end of one bolt, and I needed to slide that bolt out of the mast. But got it down successfully.
Went ashore and took a walk to get some exercise.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-01 (Monday)Ashore for yoga at 8:30, then took a walk.
Salad and tuna-salad for dinner.
After a bit of a struggle, got the faceplate off the wind-generator. Looks like water got into the front bearing again. It still spins, but it's gunky and a bit rusty-looking, and probably isn't spinning properly. Pic. The faceplate was sealed fine; the water must be getting in through the oil-seal.
2013-04-02 (Tuesday)Up at 6, loaded garbage and old fuel tank into dinghy, and off to Woburn. Disposed of garbage at the pickup point near the town down. Back downwind to the boat. Saw a sunken sailboat, I think the one that hit the reef entering Le Phare Bleu after a dinghy-concert: pic.
Online, ordered seven more books for delivery to NJ.
Ashore at 9:30 to catch the shopping van. Got onto the first van as soon as it arrived, which was a good move: several people had to wait for a second van. Got out at the bank, walked to hardware store. No oil-filter wrench, no bearing-puller. Looking for rubberized latex paint to use on the dinghy; they had some roofing paint that looked fine, except it was black. Walked to Scotiabank, stopping at veg/fruit stand and a sort-of-hardware store. One of my sandals is coming apart. To a resort, exchanged 5 or 6 books. To another hardware store, no luck on wrench or puller or paint.
Into IGA supermarket. They haven't had butter at all for a couple of weeks now, and a manager told me their local supplier has somehow failed, and they get only small shipments of imported butter, which sell out immediately. No butter ! Chatted briefly with some cruisers, then into the van. Stopped at Marketing Board for fruit, then back to boat by 11:45.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-03 (Wednesday)Sometime in 5 to 10 PM last night, a boat near Calvigny Island was burglarized. Fairly rare occurrence here.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Online, worked on my income taxes.
Dinghied ashore and took a walk. New sandals chafing my feet.
Glued old sandal back together.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-04 (Thursday)A little headachey.
Ashore for yoga at 8:30. Wasn't doing too well, and halfway through started feeling pretty bad, so had to slow down. After class, skipped the walk and went back to the boat. Took a Tonopan and a nap.
Online, filed my income taxes.
Salad and tuna-salad for dinner.
2013-04-05 (Friday)Did a small bucket of laundry.
Looks like the local guys are making some more moorings: pic. Let's see, assume 55-gallon drum, a gallon of concrete weighs about 18 pounds, can't find the weight of a gallon of cement but I assume it would be less. So each of those drums might weigh 1000 pounds; I wonder how they're going to get one into a skiff ?
Went ashore in late afternoon and went for a walk.
Bread-sausage-onion-mushroom-cheese concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-06 (Saturday)I was net controller this morning.
Online, my tax returns have been accepted by the govts.
In late afternoon, went to "Salacia" next to me and borrowed a bearing-puller from Lee. He had two small ones, a prop-puller which I borrowed, and later found another one he had aboard. The prop-puller worked fine; got the bearing off fairly easily. My cheapo puller is on the left; the prop-puller I borrowed is on the right: pic.
Went ashore for a walk.
Salad and leftover bread-sausage concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-07 (Sunday)Went ashore at 11 for the "jumble sale" (flea market, garage sale, etc) at the marina. Plenty of people, but not much stuff for sale. Went for a walk.
Dinghied ashore at 2 to play dominoes. A good crowd, with Pierre-Yves and Mirielle from "Umido", Ann and Peter, Carolyn, myself, Ron. I started out like a house afire, sagged in the middle, traded the lead several times with Carolyn, and ended up winning ! Took the dominoes flag to my boat and flew it.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-08 (Monday)On the net this morning, someone on W side of Prickly Bay said a thief came on board their boat in early AM of Sunday. Not good.
Ashore for yoga at 8:30, which went okay, but just about everyone in the class is better than I am. Then took a walk to get more exercise.
Coming back to the boat, saw a cruiser at those mooring-barrels nearby, so I stopped to chat with him. He says he and helpers are going to just drag those drums along the bottom to move them into position. A few fenders at the front/top of each drum to tilt it up a little, and it should slide okay. I guess it's fine unless you snag something on the bottom; then you have a situation. He's done this before in here, although he thinks the rocks he used this time are heavier than he's used before. He's not going to put an anchor or screw into the bottom, just use the weight of the two drums chained together to hold the boat. He says that's better: if there's a hurricane, the drums may slide a bit, slowly, but that's better than having the boat jerk against an anchor or screw. I suppose I would use a screw in the bottom, then chain to a weight, then chain to a buoy, and then rope to boat.
Within half an hour, they were putting down bamboo poles, rolling a drum down into the water, and attaching fenders. I heard some discussion about 4-stroke outboards, but then they came around with a big boat, and had no problem dragging the first drum out. I think the fenders were on the end of the chain leading down to the drum, so the drum was 20 feet below, on the bottom. Pics. Of course, if it's so easy to slide those drums along the bottom, how well are they going to hold the boat ?
On the Grenada Cruisers Group on Facebook, read that the island of Carriacou has run out of drinking water; none available for sale. My tanks are starting to get low, too; we haven't had a decent rain in a while.
In late afternoon, climbed the mizzenmast and re-installed the wind-generator bracket.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-09 (Tuesday)Ashore at 9:30 to catch the shopping van. To the bank, walked to ACE Hardware, bought caulk and oil-filter wrench (pic) and bearing for the wind-generator. Walked down to a paint factory, but they had nothing appropriate for painting my Hypalon dinghy. Long walk back up to the Marketing Board, where I bought a lot of fruit and veggies. Walked down toward the beach, and saw a dozen or so sailboats sailing; later someone said there's an Oyster regatta going on, based in Le Phare Bleu marina. To the resort and exchanged half a dozen books. To IGA for groceries.
Longish wait for the late van. Had a smoothie, watched some cricket, chatted a little. Into the van, stopped at Marketing Board and CK's, back to the marina. Back to the boat by 12:30. Just before 1, saw those regatta boats sailing or motor-sailing E toward Le Phare Bleu marina.
Hot and tired this afternoon, and the wind seems to have gone light, making everything hotter.
Batter-sausage-onion-cheese concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-10 (Wednesday)Just finished a really good book, about Turkey: "Crescent & Star: Turkey - Between Two Worlds" by Stephen Kinzer. Fascinating history and culture. Only problem is that it was published in 2001; lots of new developments since then.
Slight headache, getting worse by noon. Took a Tonopan.
Caulked stb-aft corner of pilothouse roof.
Went ashore for a walk.
I've had some urinary discomfort lately, and I think I'm starting to have prostate trouble, as I'm about to turn 55 years old. Bummer.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwich and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-11 (Thursday)Online, read that there's a new "longest yacht in the world", Azzam, longer than the old record-holder which I saw in Bequia a couple of years ago.
Ashore for yoga at 8:30, then took a walk.
Online, out of curiosity, checked availability of the apartment I'm renting in Barcelona. No one has booked it for at least several weeks before and after I'm there; guess I didn't have to bother booking it so far in advance.
I read some information about enlarged prostate, and soon afterward I felt faint and quickly had to go lie down for a minute. I've done that before; reading about a medical condition I have can make me woozy.
Oops ! Reading up on my Barcelona trip, I found out I really rented only one bed in a 3-bedroom / 6-bed apartment. I doubt anyone else will be there, but I thought I was renting the entire place for myself.
Salad and leftover sausage-bread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-12 (Friday)Headachey in early AM; took a Tonopan.
Did some caulking on the pilothouse roof.
Installed new bearing onto the wind-generator. I'll put the generator back together but not put it up on the mast until I get back in July.
Went ashore for a walk.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-13 (Saturday)I was net controller again this morning.
In late afternoon, went ashore for a walk.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-14 (Sunday)Grey and rainy from 8 to 9, then sunny.
Ashore at 12:30 to play dominoes. Same players as last week. I came in a distant third; Carolyn was the winner. I went for a walk afterward.
Bread-sausage-onion-mushroom-cheese concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-15 (Monday)Rainy from 8:15 to 9, then sunny.
Ashore for yoga at 8:30, then took a walk.
Put the body of the wind-generator together, with bolts and caulk.
Added water to the batteries, and they took a lot.
Tomato-cheese sandwich and leftover bread-sausage concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-16 (Tuesday)Ashore at 9:30 to catch the shopping van. Got out at the bank, walked to CK's (still no butter on the island). Tried a couple of stores, but they weren't open yet. Looked in Marketing Board, but not much on offer today. To the computer store and bought new headphones for my MP3 player. To Coyaba resort, exchanged 3 or 4 books. Groceries at IGA supermarket. Bought a mango smoothie and chatted with Ron and Mirelle. Some annoying political speech on the TV; usually they have cricket. Into van at 11, straight home.
There was a woman on the van this morning wearing a neck-brace. As everyone was leaving, in passing, I heard her say something about a local skiff that hit their dinghy and injured her. Sounded like it happened at night. Didn't get any other info.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-17 (Wednesday)Ashore in late afternoon for a walk.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-04-18 (Thursday)Ashore for yoga at 8:30, then took a walk.
A bit of a panic as I don't seem to have my Barcelona ticket details saved anywhere. Which travel service, which airline did I buy them through ? Finally managed to trace them back from my credit card and retrieve details from the airline web site, and all is well.
Skype-called Mom, but the connection was bad.
Around 1:15, started the engine. Oil filter seems okay. Raised anchor from 22 feet of water, with wind swirling crazily and making the boat move strangely. Moved further out into the middle of the bay and anchor down in 28 feet of water by 1:40 at Mount Hartman Bay, Grenada.
I was tired from all of the exercise this morning, tired and sweaty from the anchoring, and so got careless and bashed my little toe into something. Ouch.
Feels weird to be out in the middle of the bay. But I'm flying out next week for 3 months, and in my previous spot I was swinging very close to a tiny beach ashore where a trail comes out. Since we've had a few boat burglaries on this coast lately, I wanted to leave my boat further out. The downside is deeper water (anchor doesn't hold as well), and it's rollier out here.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Somewhat rolly all night, even though conditions are mild. Boat lying directly abeam to the slight swell most of the time.
2013-04-19 (Friday)Headache. Took a Tonopan.
Big ketch "Cyrano" came in just before noon.
Couldn't get rid of the headache.
In midafternoon, launched the dinghy. US embassy is looking for a person whose first name and boat name matches someone in this bay, so I went over to his boat. But he says that's not his full name. He's a conspiracy-theory nut, so I don't know if he's telling me the truth. [Later, I found out he was lying to me, and I sent email to the embassy telling them he was there.] [When I got back in mid-July, he's still there, so the issue must not have been serious.]
Chatted with Carolyn and Robert on "Moondance" for a little while, then went ashore and took a walk.
A yogurt and leftover spaghetti and a light rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-04-20 (Saturday)I was net controller this morning.
Headachey by noon. Took a Tonopan. It worked pretty well.
Went ashore in late afternoon and took a walk.
Salad and bacon-onion-noodle-cheese concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-04-21 (Sunday)Ashore at 1:30 to play dominoes. Nine people at the table, a fun game, and I was in second most of the time. But there was no catching Ginny from "Wind Shepherd", and she won by a lot. So many people leaving this coming week, most by plane but a few by boat, so there was some confusion about who should take the dominoes flag with them.
Went for a walk to get some exercise.
Salad and leftover bacon concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantjuicedrink for dinner.
2013-04-22 (Monday)Ashore for yoga at 8:30, then took a walk.
Gave myself a bit of a haircut.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-04-23 (Tuesday)Rain at 5. Up at 6:15, launched the dinghy, pumped up the tubes, and took 2 big bags of garbage over to the pickup near Woburn town dock. Ferry was loading to take workers out to the Calvigny Island resort: pics.
Very grey, lots of threatening clouds, but didn't get rained on. Took pictures of interesting boats along the way. Most interesting might be "Dracar": pics.
The usual boats snugged into "storage row", including that sunken sailboat: pics. Roger's Beach Bar isn't much to look at, I guess: pic. Fun to look at the various cruising sailboats, seeing how they do sun-awnings and rigging and other things: pics.
Went ashore at 9:15 to ask George to take me to the airport tomorrow morning. Fifteen minutes later, guy from boat next to me came over and we found out we're both going to airport at same time, but with different drivers, and now it's too late to share a ride and save a little money.
Went ashore in mid-afternoon and took a walk.
Started getting ready to leave the boat tomorrow. Took the outboard off the dinghy transom and hauled it up onto deck, a bit of a struggle with the boat rolling somewhat. Then got it into the cockpit: pic. Hoisted the dinghy and lashed it. Added another layer of covering to the anchor windlass hole in the bow. Added water to the batteries and set the solar controller and battery combiner switches.
Started packing. Geez, packing up my pills, I feel like an old man. Three bottles of vitamins (C, multi, lutein). Kidney-stone pain pills, just in case. Migraine pills and normal headache pills.
Gave myself a bit more of a haircut.
Leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Boat rolly most of the night, little wind. Got a headache; took a Tonopan around 4 AM.
2013-04-24 (Wednesday)Up at 5. Refrigerator off and cleaned it out. Moved outboard down into main cabin. Locked up stuff on deck. Cleaned toilet, closed through-hulls, etc.
Picked up by George at 6:45, and to airport by 7. Slow lines through ticketing and officials, but to gate by 7:50. Free Wi-Fi in the gate area. Pierre-Yves and Mirelle are on same flight, 3 rows in front of me.
Uneventful flight to Miami. But the latest headphones for my MP3 player let too much noise through; very hard to hear the MP3 audio while in a plane.
Huge line at Immigration in Miami, but it didn't take too long. Through to the next gate with half an hour to spare. But no free Wi-Fi here.
Had a window seat on the way up to Philly, so I could see the ICW I travelled in my boat back in 2002. Plane made landfall at Cape Hatteras, wonderful views up through Norfolk, freighters in Cheaspeake, up E shore of MD, saw Cape May ferry crossing the mouth of the Delaware, then up the east side of NJ, too far inland to see the ocean coast. Turned W and started to land at Philly airport, but then we got waved around into a big 15-minute loop back over central NJ. Finally landed. My brother picked me up, and to his place by 7 or so.
2013-04-25 to 2013-07-12Lots of packages and mail waiting for me: pic. All but one piece of mail went into the trash. Stupid Amazon credit-card rejected my application because my credit history is too simple and debt-free. All of the books and gadgets look good; nothing missing.
I'm doing a little bit of yoga each morning, but I really miss the yoga classes in Grenada. cartoon
Out of the blue, received email from a Norwegian newspaper, asking if they
could use a picture I took a while ago, of the Norwegian sailboat "Lady Domina".
I said okay, but wondered why. It's not even a very good picture:
pic.
Then I received a second request, from a Danish newspaper. I found another picture which includes that boat in the distance (pic), and sent both.
Soon I found out from a newspaper that the boat is overdue in the Azores, and the family is worried. So I posted on a couple of cruising groups on Facebook, asking if any cruisers had information about the whereabouts of the boat.
And over the next couple of days, I received email from a couple more newspapers, one Norwegian and one Swedish, asking for the pictures.
(Turns out if you type "sailboat lady domina" into Google Search, 3 of the first 5 results are links to my web site. If you search for just "lady domina", you get ... other sorts of results.)
Later, I saw my picture on the front page of a Norwegian newspaper web site, but you have to log in or pay to read the article. Found an article about the boat on a Danish newspaper web site (article1962460) but they didn't use my pictures.
The newspapers think the boat left from St Martin. A cruiser says last on-land Facebook posting by a crew member was March 31. So maybe they departed about April 1.
More and more being written online about this missing boat, such as Tim Paynter article. Some details from various places; I'm not sure they're all true: "She is flying a South African flag in the stbd mainstay but is not registered in S. Africa. She is also said to be registered in Norway, but the main register NOR/NIS does not have her listed as registered." Maybe has only a single foresail, not a full sail complement, on board. Reportedly has no EPIRB or HF radio or satellite phone or SPOT or liferaft. Five people on board. And there is some speculation that the boat did not head anywhere near the Azores.
[Update: boat still missing as of 6/6.]
[Later update: boat still missing as of 9/24.]
Then I received a second request, from a Danish newspaper. I found another picture which includes that boat in the distance (pic), and sent both.
Soon I found out from a newspaper that the boat is overdue in the Azores, and the family is worried. So I posted on a couple of cruising groups on Facebook, asking if any cruisers had information about the whereabouts of the boat.
And over the next couple of days, I received email from a couple more newspapers, one Norwegian and one Swedish, asking for the pictures.
(Turns out if you type "sailboat lady domina" into Google Search, 3 of the first 5 results are links to my web site. If you search for just "lady domina", you get ... other sorts of results.)
Later, I saw my picture on the front page of a Norwegian newspaper web site, but you have to log in or pay to read the article. Found an article about the boat on a Danish newspaper web site (article1962460) but they didn't use my pictures.
The newspapers think the boat left from St Martin. A cruiser says last on-land Facebook posting by a crew member was March 31. So maybe they departed about April 1.
More and more being written online about this missing boat, such as Tim Paynter article. Some details from various places; I'm not sure they're all true: "She is flying a South African flag in the stbd mainstay but is not registered in S. Africa. She is also said to be registered in Norway, but the main register NOR/NIS does not have her listed as registered." Maybe has only a single foresail, not a full sail complement, on board. Reportedly has no EPIRB or HF radio or satellite phone or SPOT or liferaft. Five people on board. And there is some speculation that the boat did not head anywhere near the Azores.
[Update: boat still missing as of 6/6.]
[Later update: boat still missing as of 9/24.]
Heading off to Barcelona; I'll be keeping a daily log of my vacation on my Barcelona Trip page.
6/6: First tropical storm of the season. TS Andrea off W coast of Florida.
6/8: Invest 92L has popped up E of the E Caribbean, but it will head to NE Caribbean and fade away.
My friends cruising in the Med and nearing Barcelona, who had to replace an engine in Turkey, now have a major oil-loss problem with the other engine. Bad. [Update: they had a new engine installed, in Menorca.]
6/14: Yacht "Uisge Beatha" anchored in Prickly Bay (next one over from Mt Hartman Bay) caught fire (maybe electrical), burned all day despite rain, and was totally gutted. No one injured.
6/30: I flew back from Barcelona to New Jersey.
7/4: Went to my sister's new apartment in Asbury Park. Hurricane Sandy mostly spared Asbury Park, because it's part of the mainland, not a barrier island. The building has a lot of Spanish styling that reminds me of Barcelona. Pics.
Got back home on the 4th, turned on the TV, and "Househunter's International" on HGTV is showing a couple looking at houses for rent in Grenada ! And the houses are in the Mt Hartman Bay area, where I'm anchored. Rent for 3-bedroom houses from US$1500/month to US$2400/month.
7/6: Storm Invest 95L has popped into existence, projected to strengthen to 60-knot winds and go to the NE Caribbean. One computer model has it going only 100 or 150 miles N of Grenada.
7/8: Invest 95L has become TS Chantal. Probably will go 150-200 miles N of Grenada with 50-knot winds. Too close for comfort. Looks like St Lucia and Martinique are in the center of the path. [By evening of 7/8, it's pretty clear storm will not bring any heavy weather to Grenada. But now it may arrive at Miami on Friday as I'm connecting through there on my way back to Grenada ! 7/10: it's weakening and heading further W. 7/11: it no longer shows up in forecasts.]
7/11: Caught a train at West Trenton a little after 10, connected through 30th Street, to Philadelphia airport ticket area a little before midnight. Free Wi-Fi here ! Ticketing/baggage opened a little before 4 AM, Security at 4:30. Through to gate by 5:15. Boarded around 5:45, uneventful flight, into the terminal at Miami around 8:45. Flight out is at 4:50. No free Wi-Fi here. Cuban sandwich for lunch. By 1 PM, feeling headachey; took some acetaminophen.
And of course the flight to Grenada left about 45 minutes late. Off at 5:30 or so. But the plane is only about 60% full (so why did they have a standby list with four names on it ?), so I promoted myself into an aisle seat on an exit row, with an empty seat next to me. Lots of room.
Nice conversation with the guy sitting in the same row. He's 60ish, retired, doing lots of flying around playing golf and vacationing. He's going to Grenada to spend a week on a windjammer (maybe "Mandalay"), and then a few more days on the island.
Landed at Grenada. Airline gave us the wrong Immigration/Customs forms (not the first time this has happened), so everyone in line had to get new forms and fill them out again. And the officer's scanner wouldn't scan my passport, with me standing there anxiously as he tried again and again. Finally he typed it in, I think, and all was well. Through to baggage, through Customs, taxi driver George was right there. On the way home, he gave me a dose of his world-view: the Rosicrucian Order runs the world, he's a member of the Order, Bin Laden is still alive and a member of the Order but was told to disappear.
To the marina, into George's skiff, out to the boat by 10 or so. Calm night, lots of stars. Only the bow anchor-light on my boat is working.
Used the anchor light as a flashlight so I could do the combination lock on the hatch. Unlocked the inner padlock. Inside of boat looks good, bilge is okay, no water anywhere unusual. Outside, a shackle has fallen to deck from the main roller furler. I open the hatches and ports and start getting things sorted out.
The forward toilet is mucky, but I clean it out and get it mostly working. Needs a rebuild.
Turned on the water system. I'll replace the filter tomorrow.
My bottom sheet and pillowcase have mildewed; threw them away.
As expected, the batteries are a disaster. They seem to be charged, but much of the water is gone. Looking from aft, the first battery has all three cells dry (water slightly below tops of grids), second battery has one cell dry, one very low, one full (maybe that means the full cell is shorted ?). Third and fourth batteries have all cells very low. Added a ton of water to them.
To bed by 11. Slept well.
2013-07-13 (Saturday)Up at 6:30. Lowered dinghy and pumped up the tubes. Hauled the outboard out of the main cabin, to the stern deck, and down into the dinghy. Greased the clamp-bolts, and put the outboard onto the dinghy-transom. Let it sit for a while.
Started up the refrigerator.
Put the solar controller onto bypass mode.
Bummer: main VHF radio doesn't seem to transmit (to the repeaters). Receives okay, and backup VHF works. [But later, it worked to transmit to a nearby boat.]
Listened to the cruiser's net at 7:30. The usual people are still here.
Some trouble getting Wi-Fi. May be a problem with my Ubiquiti adapter. [Got it working later.]
Added oil to the outboard. Then tried to start it, but the fuel line is losing most of the gasoline through the quick-disconnect fitting at the tank end. Gave up, and called the boat next to me for a ride ashore to the shopping bus. Doug on "Mahanni River" picked me up.
Onto the bus, and to bank, bakery, Island Water World, then downtown. Got EC$700 at Scotiabank ATM. Checked a couple of hardware stores and a boat store, but no luck with fuel-line fitting. Bought fruit and vegs, then into two supermarkets for more stuff. Into a Subway for a soda. Onto the bus at 11:30, stop at CK's, back on the boat at 12:10. Tired and sweaty and the heat has sucked the energy out of me.
Added more water to the batteries. I didn't quite fill them yesterday.
Changed galley water filter, even though it didn't look too bad.
Found part I needed for the outboard fuel line; never throw anything away. Pic.
In later afternoon, worked on the outboard fuel line. Found that the "new" part is too big for the existing hose. Then found that the existing bulb and motor-end connector also are too big for the existing hose; I forced them to fit. And found that I had a nice length of brand-new 3/8" hose, which is the right size. So I took the old bulb and motor-end connector off and put them on the new hose, and put the new tank-end fitting on.
Put the new fuel line onto the outboard, and it pumps up nicely; now fuel is getting into the motor. But motor still won't start. Took the spark plug out and cleaned it, but still won't start. Gave up for today. Hoisted the dinghy.
Fighting a big infestation of ants in the galley.
Chili and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-07-14 (Sunday)Launched the dinghy, and after 6 or 8 pulls, the outboard started ! Ran it for several minutes to exercise it. That's a relief.
Checked coolant and intake on the main engine, added oil, turned the key, and it started immediately ! Ran it for several minutes.
Turned off the solar controller bypass switch.
Ashore at 1:30. Walked over to Prickly Bay Marina to play dominoes. Nice to see Pierre-Yves and Mirielle again, and lots of other cruisers. 18 of us playing at 3 tables. A bit hot. Pic. I ended up winning at our table, but both of the other tables had better scores than I did, so I probably came in 3rd or 4th overall. I had fun telling the others about my vacation in Barcelona, and we chatted about happenings here and various other things. But we can't remember who ended up holding the dominoes flag from the last time I played, three months ago. Lots of fun. Back to the boat by 5:30 or so.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwich for dinner.
Quite rolly most of the night; very uncomfortable.
2013-07-15 (Monday)Listened to the cruiser's net from 7:30 to 8:15. Ashore before 8:30, to yoga class.
About 15 minutes into the class, I saw a 2-foot snake slither across the floor from the bar and go under someone's pile of stuff. Soon the cat was trying to dig it out. I watched, wondering if I should interrupt the class to warn people, since the pile was pretty close behind two people. But soon the cat gave up, and I figured the snake would stay there. Later, the cat was chasing a lizard at the base of the bar, closely watched by a dog someone had brought to class. I did okay in the class, after 3 months with no yoga.
At the end of the class, I pointed to the pile of stuff and said I'd seen a snake go in there, and people shied away. Soon the guy who owned the stuff whisked it away, and sure enough, there was the snake, curled up and head up and looking menacing. Lots of gasps and squeaks from people, but several people agreed it was a harmless type, and it went away while we were putting the furniture back in place after class.
Off for a walk to get more exercise, then back to the boat.
In midafternoon, gave myself a haircut, then a shave, then more haircut, then more trimming with scissors. Quite a project.
I want to move the boat to a calmer spot, but the bay is pretty full, and I don't have the energy to move today.
Salad and leftover chili and a PB-sandwich and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
A bit rolly during the night, but not as bad as last night. Batteries getting very low. I think the bad (or worse) bank is draining the other bank. And later I found I left a small fan plugged in (but not turning) all night.
2013-07-16 (Tuesday)Some bursts of heavy rain from 6:15 to 6:30 or so.
Ashore at 9:15 for the 9:30 shopping van. Nice chat with the driver, "Big G", about government budget problems (which Grenada is having). To the bank, got out and started walking. To the store next to ACE Hardware for a couple of groceries, then to the Marketing Board, then to the IGA supermarket. Nice chat with Daniel and his wife about Barcelona and other things. Back onto the van at 11, to CK's, back to the marina. Back to the boat by 11:45.
Turned off the solar power, took the battery switch off "Both", and bank 1 seems to be keeping a reasonable voltage under load, while bank 2 goes to 9.6V or so. So I put the switch on 1 and turned the solar back on.
Skype-called Mom, but the connection was very bad, so didn't say much.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-DrPepper for dinner.
Didn't get much power from the batteries during the night. I guess bank 1 is toast too.
2013-07-17 (Wednesday)Looong cruiser's net this morning; the controller yakked and yakked, and it was about 3/4 done when I turned it off at 8:15.
Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. But it was a different leader, who I could hardly understand, and so I just did my own thing, mostly. And went back to the boat early.
Just before noon, started the engine and started to raise anchor. Of course, 3 boats have come in and anchored in the last half hour, one finishing as I started. I was hoping none of them would take the spot I have my eye on, and none did.
Took some energy to get the anchor up out of 32 feet of water, with a bit of wind. But got it up, and circled around, and pulled in more chain. Propellor must be dirty; not getting as much forward boat motion as I should. But enough. Over to my old spot near the tiny beach, between "Purrfect" and "Full Moon", and anchor down by 12:25 at Mount Hartman Bay, Grenada. Slightly closer to "Purrfect" than is comfortable, but not too bad. Water about 23 feet deep. I moved only 75 yards or so, but it should be a lot calmer over here.
Old Garmin GPS 128's display is almost unreadable now; time to open up the new one and try it. It's a PG03 Mini GPS. But first I have to charge it via USB for 4 hours, so I won't be getting data out of it today.
Dumped water from buckets into tank, and straightened out the rain-catching system. We're supposed to get a lot of rain tomorrow morning.
Four big jet-skis roaring through the anchorage a couple of times; rare here.
Confirmed that the leak in the dinghy bow-tube is from the usual place, under a patch I've applied several times. I think I need stronger glue.
Gave myself a bit more of a haircut.
Salad and leftover spaghetti for dinner.
Batteries held up slightly better tonight. I'm still running the refrigerator only about 20% of the time at night; should be running 50%.
2013-07-18 (Thursday)Rain at 4:15 AM, but then clear. Yesterday's forecast said we might have half an inch of rain this morning. But this morning's cruiser's net says the rain has all moved off to the N, so we're not going to get it. Bummer; I need to catch some water.
Finished charging the new GPS, put it on top of pilothouse roof, turned it on. Within a couple of minutes, it acquired 6 or more satellites and showed position as 12°00'01.67"N 61°44'56.78"S. (The letter on the longitude is wrong; other users have mentioned that.) My Garmin gave 12°00.043'N 61°44.938'E yesterday, but the boat may have moved somewhat after then. The two positions look fairly close to agreeing.
Fired up both GPS's simultaneously, about 10 feet apart, and got this:
old: 12°00.037'N 61°44.953'E
new: 12°00'02.23"N 61°44'57.17"S
Last couple of digits change fairly fast as boat swings.
.037 * 60 == 2.22, and .953 * 60 == 57.18; good agreement.
Set the new GPS on the table in my main cabin, powered it up, and it STILL acquired 6 or more satellites and showed position, and updated it as the boat moved. Nice ! Manual and other users warned you can't have it near buildings, needs a clear view of sky, etc.
Just before 11, suddenly the wind went NE and strong, and rain set in. Boat swung around and dragged back on the anchor, and I hustled to get the engine ready to start in case I ended up too close to "Purrfect", which now was directly behind me. But I ended up one boat-length in front of them, and holding. Now have to make sure we don't slowly drift into each other when the wind stops and changes.
Heavier rain and stronger wind at 12:40.
Around 1:30, "Purrfect" is fixing their anchor-snubber, and pulling forward to do it. Eventually we're very close, so I go forward and pull in 15 feet of my chain. Then they fall back to their normal place, and we're okay.
Salad for dinner. Then I tried to make "Morada pudding" ("Preparado Deshidratado para Mazamorra Morada", Peruvian purple corn pudding), using a packet Dora gave me in Barcelona, and a can of mixed fruit. But I used a pot that was just barely big enough, and had to watch it carefully as the boat rocked from wakes. And the instructions were very simple (basically, boil some water and add the packet), but I think they left off the last instruction: put result in refrigerator for 3 hours so it can gell. It was just sugar-soup, and I ate half of it and put the rest in the fridge to see if it's solid tomorrow.
By dark, I was realizing I have a problem with this anchoring situation. Fairly strong NE wind keeps holding me right near "Purrfect", which is fine until the wind changes. Then, if they move faster than I do, we could collide. Doesn't help that "Purrfect" is almost invisible in the dark, just a fairly dim anchor light at the top of the mast and nothing at deck level.
Sure enough, at 8:15, exactly that happens. The wind stalls and then flips to SW, and soon I look up to find "Purrfect" sideways across my stern and getting closer every second. I jump up and start the engine, and motor away with maybe 15 feet to spare.
Soon the wind flips back to NE, we go back to the same position, and I shut off the engine. I decide I have to raise anchor and move, but the wind is fairly strong again, and I have to figure out how to move so I don't end up on top of "Full Moon" on the other side when the wind flips again. Fortunately, there's a pretty good moon tonight, which will help.
At 10:30, wind is lighter, so I turn off the cockpit light, let my eyes adjust, then start the engine. Not too much trouble getting the anchor up out of 23 feet of water, then I move forward and closer to shore, moving maybe 75 or 90 feet, then put the anchor down. Back in toward shore. I might be a little close to shore or to "Full Moon", depending on the wind. But I'm definitely quite far from "Purrfect". I stay up for another 45 minutes or so, reading my book and monitoring the situation, then go to bed.
At 4 AM, short heavy rain. Boat position still good.
At 7:15 AM, wind flips to S, and I pull in 15 feet of chain to make sure I don't go too close to "Full Moon". But it looks good, and even with the 15 feet out, we'd probably have to go stern-to-stern to be at risk of touching.
2013-07-19 (Friday)On the cruiser's net, people are saying we're having 28 to 32 knot wind right now. I'm not seeing it, but I'm partly sheltered by a hill. At 8 AM a very strong squall comes through, and I can believe it when people say it was 40 knots. Clear afterward.
Looked at the "pudding" I put in the refrigerator last night, and it's still liquid. [But by email, Dora says it's not really pudding, although it says so on the package. It's more like a dessert syrup, she seems to be saying.]
Wind very gusty and bursty starting around 10. Boats pointing all directions.
Ashore before noon for a walk.
Removed patch on dinghy bow-tube, sanded both surfaces, glued it on again.
Headachey; took a sumatriptan, and it worked pretty well.
Chili and a rum-and-DrPepper for dinner.
Nice, quiet night.
2013-07-20 (Saturday)Guy from "It's Perfect" stopped by to say hello and see what kind of boat I have. Not to be confused with catamaran "Purrfect" next to me.
Worked on the toilet in the forward head. Always an icky job, and I haven't used the aft toilet for a while, so this is my only toilet right now. As usual, one of the main bolts is very hard to access; can hardly see it, much less have room to swing a wrench. But got the bolts off and the bowl off, then the top gasket and then the round plate with a flapper valve on it. The valve is the problem, or at least one of the problems. The spring is missing. The valve ripped a bit as I took it off the metal; it's quite worn out.
Of course, turns out I have 5 spares for every other part of the toilet, but no spare for that valve. So I carved a new valve out of sheet rubber. Pics. Will skip the weight that goes in the middle of it. Mounted a new spring onto it, and put it onto the base. Slight struggle getting the main bolts back on, but finally done. Toilet doesn't leak, and also works no better or worse than before. I guess I'll use it for a few days before maybe taking apart a different section of it.
Skype-called Mom and chatted with her. The connection was flawless.
Chili and a rum-and-DrPepper for dinner.
2013-07-21 (Sunday)Ashore at 1:30. Walked over to Prickly Bay Marina to play dominoes. 25 people playing at 5 tables. A bit hot, as usual. Pics. I won at my table, but came in about 5th overall.
Rice-bacon-carrot-celery-cabbage-mushroom stir-fry and a rum-and-DrPepper for dinner.
2013-07-22 (Monday)Ashore at 8:15 for yoga, getting some rainsprinkles as I went in. A tough yoga session; the leader pushed us hard, and I did only about 3/4 of it. Then for a walk, almost hit by a garbage truck, which then U-turned and came back and kept just ahead of me picking up garbage. So I stopped for a few minutes so it could get away from me. A lot of irritating traffic this morning, cars and construction trucks and stuff. Did my walk and got back out to the boat, tired and sweaty.
Salad and leftover stir-fry and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-07-23 (Tuesday)Ashore at 9:15 for the 9:30 shopping van. To the bank, got out and started walking. To the Marketing Board, then to Coyaba Resort for the book-exchange, then to the IGA supermarket. Back onto the van at 11, to CK's, back to the marina. Back to the boat by 11:30.
Chicken-onion-mushroom-couscous and a rum-and-DrPepper for dinner.
2013-07-24 (Wednesday)Loafed all day, went ashore for a walk in late afternoon.
Salad and leftover chicken-couscous and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-07-25 (Thursday)Keeping an eye on TS Dorian, but it's forecast to go N of the NE Caribbean, nowhere near here.
Ashore at 8:15 for yoga. A tough yoga session, and I forgot to put on bug repellent so bugs nibbled me. Went for a walk and then back out to the boat.
Put a new fan on the computer power-cable.
Celery and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
At 6:30, dinghied ashore and walked over the hill to Prickly Bay Marina. They were showing a home video made by "Te Natura", when they were here on Grenada through Hurricane Ivan in 2004. Tons of people attending. Still warm and humid after dark. I made the mistake of ordering a rum-and-coke instead of a beer, and it cost EC$12 (US$5). I can buy a whole bottle of rum for EC$20 in the supermarket. This is why I don't spend much time in bars and restaurants.
The hurricane video was interesting, mostly for the views of Grenada and some of the damage back then. Would have been nice if they gave us a little more info about other boats and the island and some numbers and such, but it was a home video. Ivan was a strong category-3 hurricane when it hit here. Lots of the boats were unprepared, staying in marinas exposed to big bays, or staying at anchor in big open bays, which is crazy. Saw some boats that had left the roller-furling jibs up, others with dinghy behind on just a single painter, etc.
The damage to boats actually wasn't as bad I expected to see (but the video didn't cover a lot of areas), mainly boats washed up against shores, or fallen over in the boatyards, although plenty of boats were total losses, I'm sure. The damage to the island was pretty severe, vegetation and houses torn down everywhere, 39 people killed. Wikipedia article
I think a couple of segments of the video can be seen at Eye of the Storm.
I left before the end of the video, and walked back across the hill in the dark, barked at by dogs, using my flashlight as I went through the shortcut near the marina. Unlocked the dinghy, out through the dark anchorage, back to the boat by 9 or so. Around 9:30 or 9:45, we had some pretty good rain.
2013-07-26 (Friday)Loafed all day. Then in late afternoon / early evening, climbed the mizzen-mast and put the wind-generator body back up. Went pretty smoothly, except for the boat rocking a lot at certain times. Then went ashore for a walk, to get some exercise.
Chili and a rum-and-DrPepper for dinner.
2013-07-27 (Saturday)Confirmed that my cockpit radio is not operating on 66I properly; backup radio in the cabin works okay on 66I. Later, tried to do some radio-checks. Got responses on US 68 low power, but not on 74 low power and none on 66I high power.
Ashore for dominoes at noon, at Secret Harbor Marina. Eleven people at two tables. A couple of beginners, and a couple of people had to leave early for the hash. Pic. A nice time, and I won at each table but came in second or third overall. Then I went for a walk to get some exercise.
Added water to the batteries.
In late afternoon, climbed the mizzen-mast and put the blades onto the wind-generator. Then climbed to the top and found the problem with the cockpit VHF radio: the antenna wire has sheared off the antenna. Got the wire-end off, but I need different tools to get the antenna down; will have to climb again tomorrow.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-07-28 (Sunday)Ashore at 10:30 and walked over the hill to PB marina to play dominoes. Eight people at two tables, and I got clobbered. Did okay in the first few hands, then had a horrible run of hands and came last on our table.
Walked back over the hill by 1:30 or so, and found a couple of tables of dominoes going at Secret Harbor marina ! Out to the boat by 1:40.
Up the mizzen-mast again in late afternoon, and took down the VHF antenna. The bolts holding it on were tough to get out, but I got them out with a big screwdriver and a wrench to turn its shaft. Pic.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-07-29 (Monday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Then went for a walk.
Getting hotter. The breeze is going to get very light for the next couple of days, so it will be hot and muggy.
As I assumed, the VHF antenna is not repairable. The cable snapped very close to the coil, and there's no way to get the case open, either. And the antenna is old, heavy, and shedding fiberglass.
Skype-called Mom and chatted with her.
Salad and leftover chili-and-spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-07-30 (Tuesday)Before 6, launched the dinghy, pumped up the tubes, cleaned out the exhaust port on the outboard, and off to dispose of garbage at Woburn. Listened to MP3s all the way over and back. Got rained on a bit on the way over.
Ashore at 9:15 for the 9:30 shopping van. Out at the bank, walked to food store next to Ace, then into Ace. Then to Budget, where the antenna I want is US$73 versus US$43 online. But I'd have to pay tax and shipping and wait a couple of months if I buy it online. Didn't buy it. Exchanged books in De Big Fish. To IGA supermarket for groceries. Then got a chocolate-banana smoothie and chatted with various people. Into van at noon, stop at CK's, back to boat before 12:30.
Online, ordered a couple of pairs of cheap sandals, for delivery to NJ. I go through about four pairs of Ozark Trail $13 sandals from Walmart each year.
Salad and chicken-onion-rice-mushroom-carrot and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-07-31 (Wednesday)A bit tired and headachey. Loafed most of the day.
In late afternoon, lowered the dinghy and went snorkeling under the boat to scrape the hull. Water very warm. Clumps of big barnacles all over the hull. Scraped and scraped and made a lot of progress. The big chunks dropped down to the bottom, but the little particles and beasties I scraped off clouded up the water and kept getting all over me. Was getting tired and ready to stop, when I made an awkward motion, the putty-knife twisted out of my hand, and it dropped to the bottom, 23 feet or so down through murky water. Gone. Oh, well.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-01 (Thursday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga, but halfway through the class I just ran out of energy, kaput. Afterward, went for a walk.
Glued a sandal that is on its last legs anyway.
Added some water to the batteries.
Connected the wind-generator wires and caulked up the junction-box.
Salad and tuna-salad and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-02 (Friday)Heavy bursts of rain from 5 AM to 6 AM.
Did a bucket of laundry. Went out in the afternoon to find that my bedsheet had disappeared; must have blown off the lifeline and into the water, despite six clothespins on it. But eventually found it on the other side of the boat, almost off into the water. Put it back on the lifeline with four additional clothespins. The wind here is gusty and coming from all directions. And then at 2:30 some rain caught me with everything still on the lifelines. Took in the sheet, and the rest of it should dry again quickly.
Went ashore and took a walk to get some exercise.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
During the night, a few bursts of wind strong enough to spin the wind-generator for a few seconds.
2013-08-03 (Saturday)Wind-generator spinning some more this morning.
Went ashore, bought 1.2 gallons of gasoline for EC$19.25, and took a walk to get some exercise.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-04 (Sunday)Ashore after 11 for the jumble sale. Chatted with Ken and Keith and Lynn. Went for a walk to get some exercise.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. Eleven people at two tables, and again I had a rough time and came in about 8th. But it was fun.
Back to the boat, and found that "Windstar" had moved out and a trawler "Audacious" had come in and anchored too close to me. I told the guy he was too close, but he said he'd only be here one day, and he'd put out fenders. Not too comforting.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Very calm night, and "Audacious" stayed close but we never got too close. And of course "Audacious" is not showing an anchor light or any light at all; very hard to see.
2013-08-05 (Monday)Fairly heavy rain at 8. Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. More heavy rain around 9:15.
Talked to the guy on "Audacious" a couple of times. He was going to check email and then move, but when he got back to the boat, some other boat had come in and taken the spot he'd planned to move to. Then at 1:50 he raised anchor, and his anchor had to be down about 75 feet from my anchor, far too close for 45-foot-boats with 100 feet of chain out. He ended up moving back and putting his anchor maybe 150-160 feet behind mine, sort of. Reasonable.
Went ashore in late afternoon and went for a walk to get exercise.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-06 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Out at the bank, walked to Ace and bought a putty knife to scrape the hull (about US$5). Price rang differently at register than on shelf, and I stood there for more than 5 minutes while they tried to figure out the price.
Walked up and over to Scotiabank, stopping at a veggie stand along the way for some nice avocados. Into supermarket for some bug-repellent. Into a doctor's office, where I had to wait 20 minutes before the receptionist showed up and I could get prices for various vaccinations.
To Coyaba resort to use the book-exchange. To IGA supermarket for groceries. Got a mango-orange smoothie and chatted with a cruiser. Into van at noon, stop at Marketing Board for fruit and veg, then an interminable stop at CK's (one woman and child took 45 minutes or more and didn't seem to get much). Didn't get back to boat until 1:30 !
Skype-called Mom and chatted with her a little.
Not feeling so good in late afternoon; took a Tonopan.
Salad and PBJ sandwich for dinner.
2013-08-07 (Wednesday)Loafed all day. Went for a walk in the late afternoon.
Chicken-onion-rice-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Felt headachey much of the night. Took a Tonopan at about 3 AM.
Rain from 2 AM to after 8 AM.
2013-08-08 (Thursday)Still raining at 8:15, and I felt a little weak and very slightly headachey, but I still went ashore for the 8:30 yoga class. Rested more than usual during the class. Still felt a bit weak afterward; skipped my usual walk.
Ashore at 2 to play cards. Had seven people at one table. Played a game of "Oh Hell", then a similar game "Wizard". Then a poker-type game called "Liar's Dice" (didn't like that one so much). Watched a little soccer on TV, went for a walk, watched a little more soccer.
Salad and leftover chili and a PB-sandwich and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Fair amount of rain during the night.
2013-08-09 (Friday)A couple of big bursts of rain during the day.
In late afternoon, went ashore for a walk.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Fair amount of rain during the night.
2013-08-10 (Saturday)Ashore at noon for dominoes. Good game with Harry, John, Mike, Brenda and Daniel. I won ! Went for a walk afterward, with lots of rainsprinkles. Got rained on more as I went out to the boat, and then it rained and blew a fair amount for another hour or two.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-11 (Sunday)At 1:30, walked across the hill to Prickly Bay marina to play dominoes at 2. About 11 people at two tables. Pic. I had an up-and-down game, and came in next to last, I think. Heavy rain a couple of times.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-12 (Monday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Then went for a walk.
Making salad for dinner, while opening a can, I did a very stupid thing and slashed my thumb open pretty badly. Fortunately, pressure and elevating my hand stopped the bleeding fairly quickly. But I'm right-handed and the cut is on the ball of my right thumb; this is going to be inconvenient for a while.
Managed to hoist the dinghy despite my cut thumb, but the cut opened up again.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwich and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Awkward sleeping: the cut on my thumb kept sticking to my index finger and tearing open again.
2013-08-13 (Tuesday)Cut on my thumb still is oozing a bit: pic.
Ashore at 9:30 for the 9:45 shopping van. Showed everyone my cut thumb. It's Carnival week, so only the IGA supermarket is open. A bit of a zoo in there; looks like all of the students have arrived for the start of the school year. And the produce section is half-empty. Got lots of stuff and back to the boat by 11:15 or so.
Not feeling so good in midafternoon; took a Tonopan.
Ashore in late afternoon for a walk.
Salad and chicken-onion-rice-carrot and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-14 (Wednesday)Did a bucket of laundry.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. Only 5 of us. Pleasant game, and I came in second. Went for a walk to get some exercise.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-15 (Thursday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. But soon I felt like crap: kidney pain, no energy, slight headache. After 20 minutes, gave up on yoga and went for a walk.
Added water to the batteries.
Salad and chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-16 (Friday)Sawed up the old VHF antenna. At first I was trying to open it up to see if it could be fixed (although it is dying of old age, as well as the cable break). But it wouldn't budge until I sawed right through the base of the fiberglass wand.
Ashore in late afternoon for a walk.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-17 (Saturday)Ashore at noon to play dominoes. Only three of us: Mike, Brenda and me. Shane joined later. I won, but it was a messy game. Went for a walk afterward.
Thought of swimming, but the cut on my thumb isn't quite in shape to allow that.
Salad and tuna-salad for dinner.
Lots of light rain during the night.
2013-08-18 (Sunday)Very grey morning, thick low clouds and no breeze, everything drenched, warm and humid. Very uncomfortable. Lots of rain around 9.
Some sunshine from noon to 1:30 or so, then grey again.
Walked, under an umbrella, over to Prickly Bay Marina for dominoes at 2. About 20 people spread over 4 tables. The people at the table next to us were very loud, yelling and whooping and screaming a lot; annoying. I had a tough game, never really getting a handle on it. I think I came in fourth out of five at our table. Heavy rain a couple of times as we played, and water welled up out of a drain and almost got my bag of stuff.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Around 4 AM, the motion-detector in the cockpit started going off. I jumped up, thinking there might be an intruder aboard, but I think it was just the batteries going low.
2013-08-19 (Monday)Strong wind from S or SSW starting around 7:30. Wind-generator is spinning, which is good.
I've been having a fair amount of back and right kidney pain for the last week or more, and I'm still having it. I think the back pain might be due to too much computer use, and the kidney pain due to a stone.
Ashore for 8:30 yoga class. Felt slightly weak, and plenty of back and kidney pain, but I made it through the class, doing about half as much as usual. Then went for a walk.
Back to boat. Wind still strong, wind-generator still spinning. Nice.
Still blowing fairly hard from S by 1:45. And I notice this is at odds with the WindGuru weather forecast, which called for 13-16 knots of wind today. Had been sunny in the morning, but after 2 it became grey and rainy. Then around 4:30 the wind died down.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-20 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. To bank, then Ace, then Budget Marine, where I planned to buy a VHF antenna, even though it is far more expensive here than in USA. But instead of the catalog price of US$73, it is US$81 in the store. I can buy it in USA for US$43, maybe plus shipping. I would have paid the US$73, but not the US$81.
Exchanged three books in De Big Fish. To IGA mall, and got lots of groceries. Came out just in time to catch the 11 AM van back. Stopped at Marketing Board for lots of veggies, then CK's, then home.
Fairly bad headache in the late afternoon; took a Tonopan, but it was slow to help. Drinking more water and then eating dinner finally ended the headache.
Chicken-onion-rice-cabbage-carrot and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-21 (Wednesday)Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. But only two of us, Mike from "Moonshine" and me, showed up. So we played a 2-person game. Quite even until about halfway through the game, then I started getting lucky, and wiped him out.
Heard a fragment of radio traffic about a daylight theft from a boat in the Hog Island anchorage.
Chatted with Mike and Kevin for a while, then went for a walk. Interesting conversation with Mike: he was a wildfire firefighter in Colorado and points west, years ago.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Headachey during the night; took a Tonopan.
2013-08-22 (Thursday)Did a bucket of laundry.
Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did okay, still some kidney and lower back pain, but none of the weakness I had the last couple of times. Then went for a walk.
Salad and sausage-onion-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-23 (Friday)Ashore in late afternoon for a walk.
Salad and leftover sausage-cornbread and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Plenty of rain during the night.
2013-08-24 (Saturday)Skype-called Mom, but the connection was a little rough, and we didn't have much to say (I haven't been doing much of interest).
Went ashore to a nearby tiny mangrove beach and cut a couple of pieces of Hypalon off a long-abandoned inflatable dinghy. It was easier to cut than I expected.
Did a bit of cutting and soldering to replace a DC power connector.
Went ashore for a walk. Surprised to find that the hash is reaching all the way over here today, from Grand Anse, I think. Chatted with a guy sitting by the side of the road, then with Lynn (she was in the hash), then later with Pierre-Yves (who was out for a walk, like me).
Salad and a cheese-avocado sandwich and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-25 (Sunday)At 1:30, walked across the hill to Prickly Bay marina to play dominoes at 2. About 16 people at three tables. I came in first or second in each round at my tables, but probably 4th or 5th overall.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-26 (Monday)Ashore for 8:30 yoga class. Soon had kidney pain. Got a bit bored and tired and sweaty, and ducked out halfway through class, and went for a walk.
Cut some scrap Hypalon and put a two-layer patch on the dinghy's bow tube.
Cut on my thumb is healing nicely, two weeks after it happened: pic.
Salad and leftover cold spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Lots of rain during the night.
2013-08-27 (Tuesday)Everything still and damp and grey and drenched this morning.
Up at 6:15, dumped rainwater from buckets to jugs and tank. Then loaded up the dinghy with garbage and off to Woburn to dispose of it. Uneventful trip there and back, listening to MP3s.
Ashore at 9:15 for the 9:30 shopping van. A long, slow trip. To bank, to ACE, to Budget. Bought a new VHF antenna there; surprise 10% discount at the end made the price EC$197 (about US$75). To mall, and got groceries at IGA. Mango-goldenapple smoothie. Grey and rainy. To Marketing Board, then CK's. I went across the street to find out vaccine prices from a doctor's office. Home to the marina, out to the boat through rainsprinkles. Back to boat a little before 1. Grey and still and trying to sprinkle rain.
Added oil to the outboard motor.
Put new batteries in the motion-detector.
By midafternoon, weather totally grey, very little solar power getting through.
Chicken-onion-rice-mushroom-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Ran engine for 30 minutes to exercise it and charge batteries.
2013-08-28 (Wednesday)Fairly sunny day; nice.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. John, Angelica, Harry, Dennis and myself. A fun game, and I came in second. Bit of a chat afterward, then went for a walk.
Added water to the batteries. Realized I changed the battery wiring a while ago, and even though the battery switch is on "1", I'm still using both banks. Will ave to investigate tomorrow.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-29 (Thursday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. A different leader today, and crowded. And a beautiful woman in front of me, which was very distracting. Did my own routine, mostly, and ducked out halfway through to go for a walk.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Sausage-onion-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-30 (Friday)Feeling a bit headachey.
Around 10, internet suddenly stopped working; seems to be some problem ashore.
Headache won't go away. At 11:30, took a Tonopan, then napped for an hour.
In early evening, went ashore and took a walk.
Leftover sausage-cornbread and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-08-31 (Saturday)Sunny, hot, still morning. And I think the weather is supposed to be the same for the next several days.
Still no internet access.
Around 10, low dark clouds came over and hovered, cutting off much of the solar power. Rained a couple of times in the early afternoon, then some sunshine after 2.
Investigated the battery wiring with a voltmeter. Found that putting the battery switch on "1" had disabled charging of the starting battery; not good. So put the switch back on "All".
Messed with the old antenna mount and the new antenna, and I see how to put it together easily, but I need a U-bolt.
In early evening, went ashore and took a walk.
Salad for dinner.
2013-09-01 (Sunday)Still no internet access. Trying some other networks ... Got some access.
Ashore at 11. Stopped in at the jumble sale and chatted with a couple of people. Went for a walk to get some exercise.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. Nice game with John, Harry, Donna, Mike, Shane, Janice. I was the winner. Hot afternoon, despite more breeze than forecast. I had just about no EC$ left, so I changed a US$20 bill at the bar, bought gasoline, and a soda.
Glued a broken sandal.
Salad and chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-02 (Monday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. So hot and so little breeze that halfway through, I was drenched and dripping sweat and couldn't bear to hold positions any more. Went for a walk.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-03 (Tuesday)Light wind from S today; unusual.
Ashore at 9:15 for the 9:30 shopping van. Sailboat "Oceana" is aground at the stern, about a foot of rudder showing. They say they've been anchored there for about 6 months, but overnight the perfect set of conditions put them onto the edge of the shoal. No problem.
Both vans full; had to squeeze into middle of front seat. Out at the bank, walked to Ace, looked for U-bolt. Walked to Scotiabank, stopping at veggie stand and Hubbard's along the way. Got cash at ATM. Walked to resort, exchanged three books. Into hardware store next to IGA, no U-bolt that would work for me. Groceries in IGA, out and soon into 11 AM van. Crammed in again, four across in back seat. Stopped at Marketing Board, then CK's, then back to marina. Now blowing S 16-20. Back to boat before noon.
Went ashore at 2 to do Wi-Fi in the bar. Wind moderating, but still from S.
Chicken-onion-rice-cabbage-carrot and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-04 (Wednesday)News on the cruising net this morning: skipper of a cruising boat in Margarita Venezuela was shot to death by a criminal who boarded the boat.
Added water to the batteries. Solar and wind-gen has been pushing them pretty hard the last couple of days, and one cell (which I think is shorted, or next to a shorted cell) was just about totally dry. Took TONS of water.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. Nice game with 9 people. But I really struggled; nothing went right for me until the last two hands. Managed to come in about third-last. Went for a walk afterward to get some exercise.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-05 (Thursday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. As usual, did about half of the stuff the leader was doing, did my own thing the rest of the time. Halfway through, got an eyelash stuck under my eyelid; very distracting. Ducked out of yoga about 2/3 of the way through and went for a walk. Back to marina, looked in mirror in restroom to try to get that eyelash sorted out, couldn't do it. Back out to the boat, eye really hurting, tearing and making my nose running, while I was sweaty and tired from exercise. Nasty.
Back on the boat, STILL couldn't fix that eyelash. Got a bit washed off and cooled down, laid back and closed my eyes and listened to MP3s for a while, and felt better. Tried later to fix the eyelash again, still no go.
Sanded and painted wood pieces for VHF antenna and forward and aft hatches.
Around 1:15, finally got that eyelash fixed. Eye still is pretty irritated.
More painting of the wood.
Rain at 7, with several big lightning strikes within a mile or two.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-06 (Friday)Lots of grey and rain starting around 12:30. Sunny later.
More painting of the wood.
Ashore in late afternoon to go for a walk.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-07 (Saturday)More painting of the wood.
Skype-called Mom and chatted with her a little.
Ashore in late afternoon to go for a walk.
Salad and sausage-onion-cheese-mushroom-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-08 (Sunday)Around 10, into the dinghy and started on a long trip to Le Phare Bleu marina, to see some Hobie-cat races. A long, slow slog into stiff wind and chop. Wasn't sure of the channel between CCB and LPB, but felt my way through successfully.
Nice crowd for the races. Chatted with a few people, looked through the marina a bit. Onto the lightship (big steel boat from Sweden, has a bit of a museum aboard, and a restaurant). Bought a Sprite, sat in the shade and relaxed, exchanged 3 books at their bookshelf. Back onto the dock and watched a couple of races while chatting with people. Pics. Got tired of the wind and sun, and back into the dinghy. Out through the dinghy-channel properly, and down the bay to CCB marina. Exchanged 8 or 9 books there. Back up and around and back home to the boat by 12:30. Tired from all of the wind and sun.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. Only Steve and Janice showed up, so after some chatting we played. Started out with Steve destroying us, then I started catching up. I had the lead briefly, then lost on the last hand.
Went for a walk to get some exercise. Watched a heat of the America's Cup on TV.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-09 (Monday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. As usual, did about half of the stuff the leader was doing, did my own thing the rest of the time. A good-looking young woman just about in front of me; very distracting. Ducked out of yoga about 2/3 of the way through and went for a walk.
Four weeks after I cut it, my thumb is pretty well healed: pic. Still a little tenderness if I press into it deeply.
Drilled holes in the wood I painted, and put together the new VHF antenna and mounting. Had to use seizing-wire where I'd like to use a U-bolt; I hope it will be durable enough. Used three lengths of SS seizing wire in parallel. Pic.
Added water to the batteries. The cell that was dry is dry again. Dumped in a whole lot of water, and it came out and filled up the battery-box. So the case is cracked, and I'd better take that battery out. Tomorrow.
At sunset, climbed the mizzen-mast and put up the new radio antenna. A bit tricky because the old one was mounted very close to one of the mizzen-shrouds, so close that the mounting tube and shroud rub each other, and I'm re-using the old antenna mounting. But I got the bolts in and the antenna up and then the cabling on.
Tuna-salad sandwiches and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-10 (Tuesday)Pretty good rain starting at 8:25.
Ashore at 9:15 for the 9:30 shopping van. Nothing fancy today: stop at the bank, off at IGA, got lots of groceries. Chatted a bit, back on the van, stopped at Marketing Board and then CK's. Someone bought 200 feet of 5/16 HT chain at IWW for US$900; I thought that was a pretty good price. Back on the boat a little before noon.
Un-cabled the bad battery, so now using just two golf-cart batteries as house batteries.
Did a radio-check with Ken, who has all kinds of Q-meters and S-meters. He says my cockpit VHF and the new antenna are working fine.
In late afternoon, went ashore for a walk.
Chicken-onion-rice-mushroom-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-11 (Wednesday)Heavy rain starting at 7. More rain off and on, then heavy again at 8:30. Grey and drenched all morning, then heavy rain again starting at 11:40.
In late afternoon, went ashore for a walk.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Four different kinds of bugs swarming around the cockpit light; it's a very still evening, and still humid and warm.
Felt a little headachey in the evening, but not too bad.
2013-09-12 (Thursday)Still and humid morning, but sunny.
Ashore at 8:15 for yoga. Got very hot and sweaty, so did my own thing and then ducked out 2/3 of the way through. Went for a walk and then back out to the boat.
Did a bucket of laundry. But by the time I got it onto the lifelines to start drying, there were plenty of dark clouds threatening.
Rain starting at 12:45, then heavy rain and grey weather. Headachey; took a Tonopan. After 2, weather started getting breezey and then sunny, and the laundry was dry after 4.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Lovely strong wind kept going until 9 or so, spinning the wind-generator. Would have been nice if it kept going all night.
2013-09-13 (Friday)Grey and still and humid morning.
Rain at 1:15, 2:45, 3:45.
Never did get the initiative to launch the dinghy and go ashore for a walk.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
At 11:45, suddenly the motion-detector in the cockpit started going off. Jumped up there, but no intruder. My best guess was that the bright half-moon was reflecting off the still water and right at the motion-detector, setting it off (it detects rapid changes in infrared). An hour later, the moon was down and I turned the motion-detector back on.
2013-09-14 (Saturday)Some lightning at 4:35.
Strong wind and rain from the S or SSE starting at 5:55. I looked over to see the newly-arrived catamaran "Onda boa" dragging down onto "Troubadour". I figured, no problem, there's a guy in the cockpit of "Onda boa". Then I realized the guy was just futzing with some canvas, not realizing what was happening. I was muttering under my breath "What the heck are you doing, get the engine started !". At the last second, he saw what was happening, jumped to the helm, and soon motored away after the boats came within 20 feet or so of colliding. Then it took a while for them to get the bridle off and the anchor up. They motored a bit close to me a couple of times, but off to the side or behind, so no problem. I watched as they anchored again, eventually, fortunately not too close to me.
Another big storm from the S starting at 6:45.
Weather windy after the storm, and sunny by 10.
After lunch, went ashore for a walk.
Grey and rain at 3:20.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Headachey during the night; took a Tonopan around midnight.
2013-09-15 (Sunday)Feeling tired and headachey.
Rain at 6:15, sunny later. Strong storm from S starting at 10:45. A little more rain starting at 12:45.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. Six of us playing, very competitive, fast game, and I came in about 4th. Watched a heat of the America's Cup racing. Went for a walk to get some exercise.
Salad and sausage-onion-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-16 (Monday)Feeling tired and headachey.
Ashore at 8:15 for yoga. Headachey, did my own thing and then ducked out halfway through. Went for a walk and then back out to the boat. Took a Tonopan.
Occasional brief rain several times during the day, then serious rain starting at 3:30. Another big rain starting at 6:10.
Salad and leftover sausage-cornbread and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-17 (Tuesday)Grey, rainy, windy morning. Then just grey.
Ashore at 9:15 for the 9:30 shopping van. Off at ACE, stopped at Marketing Board on way to IGA, got lots of groceries. Chatted a bit, back on the van, stopped at Marketing Board and then CK's. Back on the boat a little before noon.
Weather still grey and rainy, and I'm swinging pretty close to a boat near me; took in a little anchor chain.
Salad and chicken-onion-rice-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-18 (Wednesday)Ken stopped by and we chatted for a while.
Ashore at 4. Watched a heat of the America's Cup racing. Went for a walk to get some exercise.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-19 (Thursday)Ashore at 8:15 for yoga. Different leader today, mostly did my own thing and then ducked out halfway through. Went for a walk and then back out to the boat.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Half a dozen locals camping in the mangroves nearby, hacking out and burning brush, but here mostly to fish under the full moon.
2013-09-20 (Friday)Cleaning up the boat a little, one small area at a time.
Ashore in late afternoon to take a walk.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-21 (Saturday)Pretty good rain starting at 11.
Ashore in late afternoon to take a walk. Watched a heat of the America's Cup race in the marina restaurant.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-22 (Sunday)Ashore at 1:30. Walked over the hill to PBM and played dominoes at 2. Nine people at two tables. I had a very haphazard game, strange hands, but managed to come in second.
Back to Secret Harbour marina. No America's Cup on the big screen, but someone was streaming it on a laptop, with a dozen people watching it. So I watched the end of one heat.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-23 (Monday)Ashore at 8:15 for yoga. Did much of it, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
Gave myself a bit of a haircut.
Ashore again at 4 to watch America's Cup on the TV. I never used to be interested in sailboat racing, but I've watched about half of this series, and gotten more and more interested. I don't really care who wins, I just find it fascinating. And part of the fun is that this race is in San Francisco Bay, and I used to live out there.
Then went for a walk.
Salad and sausage-onion-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-24 (Tuesday)Up at 6, launched the dinghy, pumped up the tubes, and took 2 big bags of garbage over to the pickup near Woburn town dock.
Ashore at 9:15 for the 9:30 shopping van. Off at the bank, walked to Scotiabank and got cash. Stopped in at Eagle's Sight Eye Care, but they won't do an exam and give me a prescription, they require you buy the glasses there. Into FoodFair, then to book-exchange at resort, then to IGA. Onto the van, stopped at Marketing Board and then CK's. Back on the boat a little before noon.
Ashore again at 4 to watch America's Cup on the TV. And today's races were just thrilling ! Right away, just before the start of the first race, I could see that Oracle was suddenly getting the advantage, and sure enough they pinched them off and the boats collided lightly ! Protest, penalty, New Zealand behind, and they stayed behind through the whole race.
Went for a walk. Back just in time to see the start of the second heat of the America's Cup. Dead even start, New Zealand pulled ahead a little. Then at some point, somehow USA found another gear, and started sailing 10% faster than New Zealand, consistently. I couldn't figure out what had changed. Anyway, USA caught up, did a nice job of squeezing New Zealand against a boundary, then turned away and just ran away with the race ! Opened a gap of more than 1000 meters, where usually the gap has been 100 to 200 meters. Won by 55 seconds or so. Unbelievable !
Salad and leftover sausage-cornbread and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-25 (Wednesday)Ashore at 4 to watch the final heat of the America's Cup on the TV. USA won, in a race that was pretty close for the first half, with a couple of close crossings at high speed. In the second half, the US boat just started pulling away steadily, and won by 40 seconds or so, a pretty huge margin. Lots of cheering in the restaurant here.
Went for a walk to get exercise.
Chicken-onion-rice-mushroom-carrot and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-26 (Thursday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
Turns out they just had a four-day-long Tall Ships Regatta in Barcelona. Wish I'd been there to see it.
Gave myself a bit more of a haircut.
Local people camping ashore near me again. Cutting down some vegetation, big smoky fire in the evening.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-27 (Friday)Skype-called Mom and chatted with her.
Cleaned up the cockpit a bit and washed it out with buckets of seawater. I really need to straighten up and clean the boat, and I'm nibbling away at it one area at a time.
Ashore in the evening to take a walk, much later than I usually go. It was fairly dark by the time I got finished. Started the outboard, and it sputtered and wouldn't throttle up. Then it quit, and I couldn't get it started again. Had to get a tow from the guys on "Moonshine". Calm evening, I could have paddled all the way out, but it would have been a pain. And with no light, I couldn't work easily on the outboard at the dock. Nice of them to give me a tow.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Some pretty good rain during the night.
2013-09-28 (Saturday)A lot of alarming security news on the cruiser's net this morning. An armed boarding and robbery with shots fired, in Bloody Bay Tobago, about 80 miles south of here. A dinghy stolen out of Port Louis Marina on W side of Grenada. And an attempt to steal a dinghy right here in Mt Hartman Bay last night; I didn't hear a thing.
Launched the dinghy. Opened up the outboard, cleaned the spark plug (it was okay), checked the oil. Pulled the cord and it started right away and ran fine.
Heard on VHF: stolen dinghy recovered at WCM. I guess it was the one reported stolen on this morning's net.
Ashore in late afternoon for a walk. Quickly stopped by a fire engine and half a dozen firefighters working on a brushfire on a hillside vacant lot. Probably a guy was burning brush and it got out of control. After 5 minutes, they had it mostly under control, and I edged through the scene and continued my walk.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-29 (Sunday)Plenty of rain from about 3 AM to 6 AM.
Cut and drilled and sanded wood to fit over the hole on the foredeck where the anchor windlass used to be.
Ashore at 1:45 and hustled over to Prickly Bay to play dominoes. Got there with about a minute to spare. Eleven people at two tables. I had some tough hands (five hands with no starters), hung around second place for a while, but ended up coming in 4th or 5th.
Put a coat of paint on the wood I shaped earlier.
Sausage-onion-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-09-30 (Monday)Did a bucket of laundry.
Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
On the way back to the boat, saw a couple of local guys go onto boat "Mary Jean" and look for something in the cockpit. I wonder if they have permission to do that ? A minute later, they came to my boat and asked to borrow a snorkel to go fishing; I said no.
Getting greyer and windier; put the laundry out on the lifelines anyway. An hour or two later, sunnier.
Wind has been very fluky and gusty the last week or so, and today it's stronger. At 12:30, as I was eating lunch, suddenly a very strong blast came along and blew a T-shirt off the lifeline, despite five clothespins. I headed for the dinghy to retrieve it, but in just the 10 seconds it took me to get to the stern of the boat, not even down into the dinghy, the T-shirt had sunk. Not one of my nicer T-shirts, but it had plenty of wear left in it.
Put a coat of paint on the wood for the foredeck.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-01 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Daniel and Brenda on "Nanook II" are back, after about a month hauled out, with various frustrating things happening. Talked to them about the locals I saw on "Mary Jean" yesterday, and they said those guys are looking after that boat and a couple of others, but still probably have no business trying to find stuff to use on it.
A bit of an irritating crowd on the bus today; several people talking non-stop in very loud voices. Off at the bank, walked to store next to ACE but they're closed today. To Marketing Board, then to IGA. Onto the van, stopped at Marketing Board, then back on the boat before 11:30.
Chicken-onion-rice-mushroom-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-02 (Wednesday)Totally grey, raining, drenched morning. Hardly any solar power getting through until about 11, and even then no real sunshine, just more of a glow. And stayed that way the rest of the day.
Wi-Fi very bad today, and I don't have the electric power to use it anyway.
Ashore in late afternoon to take a walk.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Started engine at 8 and ran it for 30 minutes to charge batteries.
Up again at 3 AM, added oil to engine, and ran engine for 30 minutes to charge batteries.
2013-10-03 (Thursday)Sunny, clear morning. Nice.
Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-04 (Friday)Bad news on the cruiser's net: a boat boarded at Frigate Island (Union Island) in the Grenadines last night, two attackers with machetes wounded the cruising couple aboard, and the woman received a severe wound to the face. Boat went to Carriacou for help.
Put another coat of paint on the wood for the foredeck.
Around 2, someone announced on VHF that three suspects are in custody in last night's machete attack.
Ashore in late afternoon to take a walk. Bought EC$20 of gasoline.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-05 (Saturday)Wi-Fi worked for half an hour, stopped working for a couple of hours, suddenly started working again.
Ashore in late afternoon to take a walk.
Glued three sandals to repair them.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-06 (Sunday)Ashore after 11 for the jumble sale. Crowded and noisy. Dropped off three bags of books for the new Grenada library. Went for a walk to get some exercise.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. Only 3 of us, myself, Cathy from "Oceana", Wendy. Wendy blew us away, going out the first 6 hands in a row, then twice more later.
Watched a little football on TV afterward. As we were sitting there, news came that a boat had been broken into and burglarized in Prickly Bay sometime in the early afternoon. Someone smashed a big lock on a hatch in broad daylight, and took lots of computers, cameras and other valuables (and lots of financial data, and two almost-finished novels were on two computers, and apparently not backed up elsewhere). And people were on other boats very close by while this was happening. Crime against cruisers down here is increasing, and in places formerly thought of as safe.
Headache; took a Tonopan.
Salad and chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-07 (Monday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Felt weak. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out 1/3 of the way through and went for a long walk.
Wi-Fi up and down again this morning. Sometimes great, sometimes dead.
Strong wind from SW starting around 1:30.
Around 2:30, went ashore and walked over to Customs/Immigration at PBM. Brought my cruising permit up to date by paying EC$600 (US$230) for 8 months.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Headache in middle of night; took a Tonopan.
2013-10-08 (Tuesday)Headachey.
Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Out at the bank, walked up and over to Scotiabank ATM, stopping at a veggie stand along the way. To Coyaba resort to use the book-exchange. To IGA supermarket for groceries. Stopped at CK's on the way back. Windy in the anchorage. Back aboard by 11:45. Still headachey; took a Tonopan.
Online, read that this morning there was an attempted mugging of a couple of students on the bird-sanctuary trail here, somewhere between this bay and Hog Island. [Later, someone said it actually occurred August 7.] I stopped walking that trail after a cruiser was attacked there by a guy with a machete a couple of years ago.
Chicken-onion-rice-mushroom-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-09 (Wednesday)Struggling to create an account on the new govt health-insurance exchange. Keeps telling me to try again, or giving me misleading error messages, then sending email saying "it worked, click this link", but then link says "you didn't respond to the email quickly enough". And of course I have to type in all of the data all over again each time I try to create the account. Even if it just says "sorry, that account name is already taken, choose another name", it loses all of your data and you have to type it ALL in again. Stupid ! I have a browser add-on that specifically saves form data so I don't have to re-type it if something goes wrong, but that add-on doesn't seem to work on the govt site. Argh !
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes, but only one other person showed up, so we skipped it. Chatted with a couple of guys, and was surprised to find the security guard at the marina hasn't heard about any of the crimes we cruisers have all been talking about. Okay, none of them have happened right here in this marina or this bay.
Went for a walk to get some exercise.
In late afternoon, snorkeled under the boat to scrape hull and prop. Very little new growth on the areas I scraped over 2 months ago, but the parts I didn't scrape have grown quite big and thick barnacles and muck. And the barnacles on the prop were very hard to get off; I had to pound and pry at them again and again. But I got the prop fairly clean, so now if I put the engine in gear, the boat actually should move.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-10 (Thursday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Place was totally jammed; we've outgrown the marina bar/restaurant area. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
Internet not working all morning, then suddenly after 11 it started working.
Salad and sausage-onion-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Getting ready to go to bed, when my right kidney started hurting, and quickly got worse and worse. Popped a couple of Spasfon pills and laid down, and within 10 minutes the pills kicked in and I was fine for the rest of the night.
2013-10-11 (Friday)Ashore for the 9:30 bus, and found so many people that the first bus had left already, and four people were left to wait when I left on the second bus. Got off at the bank, caught a bus at CK's, out at the Botanical Gardens. Up to the Immigration office to get a visa extension. An easy time today: only took about 25 minutes. EC$75 for another 3 months.
Walked down to Foodland and got some groceries (Christmas decorations are up, and all the cashiers wearing Santa-hats: pic). A bus back to Wall Street roundabout, walked to IGA mall. Chatted with people, bought a cherry-guava smoothie. There was a big cruiser-meeting about security at PLM yesterday evening, but it sounds like nothing really interesting came out of it. Stopped at CK's on the way back. Out to the boat through light rain, by 12:30.
Tried again to create a healthcare account at the new government site, failed again.
Around 5, "Full Moon" came back in and got onto that mooring just behind me again. I always was swinging a little too close to that, and I guess these squalls from the S have been making my anchor drag a bit, because now I'm definitely too close to the mooring. And rainclouds are gathering, so we may have another squall soon.
So I hoist the dinghy, pull in some anchor chain and clean barnacles off it. Light rain starting as I start the engine at 5:15 (bulb snaps off the throttle lever; need to replace the throttle assembly), and I can see heavier rain off to the S of us. I pull in more chain, cleaning lots of barnacles off. We don't get any strong wind, but the light rain continues, which cools me off as I pull in chain. Eventually I have the anchor free, and I struggle to find the right spot to put it down. I want to stay close to shore, but "Troubadour" is a little close to me in the direction I want to move. Eventually I put the anchor down, back up to shore as hard as I can, and will have to see how the boats move. Engine off around 5:35, I think.
Small salad and leftover cornbread concoction for dinner.
No problem with the boat position during the night; pretty calm night.
2013-10-12 (Saturday)And of course this morning "Full Moon" is gone from that mooring. So maybe my effort in moving was wasted. [But later in the day, I saw the boat on the fuel dock, and by 5 it was back on the mooring.]
Some kidney pain this morning; not bad enough to take pills.
Ashore in late afternoon to take a walk.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-13 (Sunday)Saw "Full Moon" moving from mooring back to fuel dock again around 6:30 AM; strange. [Later, saw a couple of local guys buffing the fiberglass on "Full Moon", so I guess he's at the dock each day to get the electric power and easy access. Back on the mooring again by 5 or so.]
Did a bucket of laundry. And of course by 9:30 or so thick grey clouds came over, and from 9:45 to 10:45 or so light rain, and then still grey clouds. Sunshine around noon, then more grey and rain by 1 or so.
Some kidney-stone pain just before lunch.
Ashore at 2 to play dominoes. Started with Brenda, Mike, Ann, Daniel. But at 3 Mike left to play volleyball, so we started a new half-game, which I won. Went for a walk to get some exercise.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Fair amount of rain during the night.
2013-10-14 (Monday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
Boat very rolly today: wind often holding boat exactly sideways to light swell coming in.
Worked on the throttle control. Can't see how to get it apart, without taking apart some parts I can't see how to get back together. But I did manage to get the setscrew out of the heel of the lever (must have been put on with anti-seize, thank you someone) and get the lever off without destroying it. And then I realized most of the throttle control is fine, all that's needed is a new lever. Still no part-number or manufacturer's name visible anywhere. Put it back together.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwich and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-15 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Out at the bank, walked to ACE, then store next to ACE, then Marketing Board. To IGA supermarket for groceries. Stopped at CK's on the way back. Back aboard by 11:45.
Online, some searching revealed that my throttle control is an old Teleflex MV2, and a new lever (part num 306494) is hard to find but obtainable at $50 plus shipping (!).
Feeling hot and tired and headachey in the afternoon. Took a Tonopan.
Salad and chicken-onion-rice-mushroom-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Still feeling headachey at bedtime. Took another Tonopan.
2013-10-16 (Wednesday)Still a bit headachey.
Did a bucket of laundry. Weather was sunny and windy much of the day.
Felt tired all day, and more headachey toward end of the day. Took some paracetamol. Didn't go ashore for a walk.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice for dinner.
Around 10:30, headache worse, took a sumatriptan.
2013-10-17 (Thursday)Head feeling better this morning.
Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
Still feeling a little headachey.
Online, still trying to create a govt healthcare account. Latest error message seems to say an account has been created, so I can't create another one. Never got a message that any of my creation attempts succeeded. So now I have to figure out what the username might be. Tried the chat-help feature, and all they do is try to give you a phone number to call, which seems like a dodge. I might end up having to call, but I'm going to try online some more first.
Still headachey in the afternoon. Took a sumatriptan around 2 PM.
Salad and chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-18 (Friday)Skype-called Mom, but the connection was poor, and we didn't have much to say to each other.
Tried to put the mainsail up, and realized "buy new main halyard" is an item that's been on my to-do list for a while (I've been lazy). Now I have to end-to-end the halyard to put an undamaged section over the sheave, and that means climbing the mainmast.
Went ashore at 1:30 to watch Hal from "Mane Bris" open up an old liferaft, and maybe have people try to get into it, and maybe a couple of other people bring liferafts. In the event, it was just the one liferaft, plus a small one-person raft/MOB device.
Just after I got ashore, a big charter-cat nosed in briefly to pick up a box of supplies from the dock. Very nice-looking woman in a bikini on the bow. Pics.
The liferaft was a very old Winslow 6-person (I think) that had last been certified in 1984 (29 years old). So it wasn't much of a surprise when it was opened to find some water inside, and most of the associated hardware and gear slimy and rusty. The fabric of the raft was surprisingly good-looking. Only one of the two inflation canisters fired, and inflated one of the two ring-tubes about halfway. Then Hal fired up a portable generator and tried to inflate the tubes with an electric pump. He tried for a while, and I left and went to use the book-exchange in the marina office. Came back to find no progress; raft won't inflate. Then he showed us a 1-person raft and hoist-MOB-back-into-the-boat thing; he has two of them aboard. Pics.
Went for a walk to get some exercise. Came back, chatted a little with Hal and another guy, and learned that the glue had failed on all of the seams of the liferaft, so there was no chance of inflating it. Hal dumped the whole thing into the garbage.
I'm not sure what we learned from this, other than things I knew already: liferafts are expensive, you have to re-certify them every couple of years for a lot of money, you never really know what shape they're in and what will happen if you need to use them. Would be nice if manufacturers packed them in clear containers so you could see what shape they're in, without having to open the container and thus void the certification. I don't have a raft; my RIB dinghy and kayak and snorkeling gear will have to serve if needed.
Back to the boat, feeling headachey. I guess I'll take a paracetamol. And somehow I just tweaked my lower back, so that's aching a little.
Salad and leftover chili for dinner.
Full-moon dinghy-drift was supposed to start at 6; don't know if it did. But a big storm came through around 6:30.
Supposed to be a penumbral eclipse of the moon at 7:51 tonight, but I didn't see any change.
Still headachey; took a sumatriptan.
2013-10-19 (Saturday)Still feeling slightly headachey.
Big storm came up from S aruond 12:30, plenty of rain and wind. Tapering off by 1.
Wanted to go to a barbeque and open-boat over at CCBM this afternoon, but my head feels pretty bad, the weather is grey and rainy, and it's a long dinghy-ride away. Decide to skip it.
Salad and PB-sandwich for dinner.
Took a paracetamol before dinner, and a sumatriptan at bedtime. They were slow to work.
2013-10-20 (Sunday)I think yesterday's storm stretched "Troubadour" closer to me on their chain, and this morning "Lady Sybil" moved over to my other side, so I'm feeling a little hemmed-in. Wish I had more room to swing.
Wi-Fi very flaky, as it has been all week.
Still a bit headachey; took a Tonopan at lunchtime.
Ashore at 1 to play dominoes. Started out with Dennis, April, Angelica and myself. Played for an hour, then April left and Daniel and Brenda joined, so we started a new game. Then at 3 Dennis and Anglelica left to play volleyball, so we quit for the day. Chatted for a while with Daniel and Brenda, then with Ken and Lynn, then went for a walk to get some exercise.
Salad and spaghetti (pic) and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner. Took a sumatriptan with dinner.
Several bursts of heavy rain during the night.
2013-10-21 (Monday)Boat very rolly this morning, and Wi-Fi not working. But my head feels pretty good.
Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
Big storm howled up from the SE and S starting around 10:30; mostly over by 10:45. But stayed very grey and breezey through 11:45 at least.
Still can't get Wi-Fi.
Ashore at 1:30 to do Wi-Fi in the marina bar/restaurant.
Still can't log in or create an account with the new govt healthcare exchange web site. Can't log in using any of the usernames I tried to create with previously, and if I try to create a new account, it says "Your account couldn't be created at this time. The combination of the first name, last name, and email address aren't unique.", which tells me that it thinks I already have an account.
So, I Skype-called the phone support for healthcare.gov, and to my surprise, I was connected to a real agent after only about 30 seconds. She said "yes, millions of people are having the exact same problem you are, we can't promise when it will be fixed, maybe try again in 5-7 days". Which I thought was honest and probably accurate, and I'm amazed I didn't have to wait 30 minutes on the phone to hear it.
Huge storm came up from SE starting around 4. Rain coming horizontally through the restaurant; few places where you could stand to avoid it completely. Couldn't see to the other side of the anchorage, where my boat is.
Back to the boat around 4:30. Next big squall came through around 5, not nearly as strong as the last one, but fairly strong. A little more around 6, another before 8.
Salad (pic) and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Huge storm from the S starting around 11:15, and lasting until after midnight, with big chop coming through the bay. The only boat near me is "Troubadour", and they're sailing around wildly at anchor. 98% of the time we're fine, but occasionally they swing far to port and I swing to starboard, and they're off my starboard bow about 1.5 boat-lengths, which is too close. But both of our anchors held, and eventually the storm ended.
2013-10-22 (Tuesday)Rain at 5 AM or so. Later, dumped more rainwater into my water tanks, and I think they're nearly full.
Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Out at the bank, walked to store next to ACE, then Scotiabank ATM, then resort book-exchange. To IGA supermarket for groceries. Right onto the van, then interminable stop at Marketing Board (new cashier). Stopped at CK's on the way back, then crammed in for the ride back to the marina. Back aboard by noon.
Ashore in late afternoon to take a walk. No power in the marina; trucks have been replacing an electrical line in the neighborhood all day.
Chicken-onion-rice-cabbage-carrot and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-23 (Wednesday)Around 9:45, the guy from "Troubadour" came by. He said they were going to the fuel dock for a little while, and would leave their dinghy on their anchor. And also he's uncomfortable with how close our boats have been swinging at times.
So, after they left, I started the engine and raised anchor. Wind swirling and changing directions, complicating things. Moved only 25 feet or so, since I have a mooring and another boat on the other side, to N of me. Ended up about where I wanted to be, maybe 15 feet further from shore than I wanted. Engine off at 10:15, and now to see how the boat moves in the new spot.
And sure enough, the wind patterns are completely different here, and suddenly I'm swinging far out from shore, a bit near a third boat to the W, not "Troubadour" to the S or "Lady Sybil" to the N. Typical for this harbor. And have to guess what will happen if we have a huge storm from N or S. At 11:25, "Troubadour" came back onto their anchor, so another boat to watch.
No Wi-Fi today. I can connect to signals ashore, but no internet behind them.
Went ashore around 2. Disposed of a big bag of garbage for EC$7. Went for a walk to get some exercise. Saw "Lady Sybil" raising anchor and moving to a different spot in the harbor.
In late afternoon, went snorkeling under the boat to scrape the hull. Worked on tough clumps of big barnacles down near the keel. Every now and then, had to dodge swarms of 1-inch and 2-inch transparent jellyfish, but I didn't get stung.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-24 (Thursday)Slightly headachey this morning, but felt better later.
Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did my own thing for a while, ducked out and went for a walk.
Ashore at 1 to do Wi-Fi in the marina bar/restaurant. At 2, a poker game started at a nearby table. Around 3, two dominoes games at other tables (but I wanted to keep doing internet). Around 3:30, power went out for 45 minutes or so.
Back to the boat around 5:30, beating rain by 10 minutes or so. Trawler "Motivator" is on that mooring to N of me. As usual, light breeze has me pinned as close as possible to "Troubadour", and they're riding forward on their anchor somehow. Boat very rolly, too.
Sausage-onion-mushroom-corn-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Around 8 or so, sudden strong storm. Started to go up into the pilothouse, and was met by a facefull of rain. Boat kept slewing around, rain spinning it around in a half-circle. Ended up near shore, which is the best direction for me.
2013-10-25 (Friday)Headachey, took a paracetamol, boat rolling like crazy, rain at 9, then sunny.
More rain a couple of times, then plenty of rain at noon. More starting at 12:25. A bit more around 2:15. Kept going like that all afternoon and evening.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Quite rolly at times during the night.
2013-10-26 (Saturday)Grey, threatening rain, still quite rolly at times.
Went ashore around 11 and went for a walk to get some exercise.
Went ashore again around 3 and went for another walk. Weather getting sunnier.
Put a different fitting on the outboard's fuel line; old one is leaking when not connected (spring must have worn out).
Salad and chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-27 (Sunday)Went ashore around 10 and went for a walk to get some exercise. Outboard fuel line fitting is leaking while connected, as opposed to the previous one which leaked when not connected.
Switched to a different fuel-line connector. I have four aboard; I think two are for a different manufacturer's line of motors (so leak when connected) and two are for this manufacturer (but old, so leak when not connected).
Went ashore at 12:45. Did a little Wi-Fi. From 1 to 3, played dominoes with Dennis, Angelica, Christine, Mike. Dennis went out 6 times in a row, 7 overall, and blew us away. Did more Wi-Fi afterward. Tried the govt healthcare site, and it said "sorry, we're down".
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
2013-10-28 (Monday)A lot of boats are planning to leave this week, figuring hurricane season is over. I don't know if they're right, but it has been an extraordinarily quiet hurricane season this year.
Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
Starting at 12:30, low grey clouds and rain from the NE. Grey and still the rest of the day, a little sunnier starting around 4.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-10-29 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Packed. Out at the bank, walked to hardware store, then veggie-store, then drugstore, then veggie-stand, then IGA supermarket. Out and right onto the van. To veggie store again, then CK's, then home. Back on the boat by 11:45.
Went ashore at 12:45 to do Wi-Fi. Big rain and grey moved in around 3:30, mostly from S. Then much stronger starting around 4, much of harbor greyed out.
Back to the boat around 5.
Chicken-onion-rice-celery-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner. Boat rolling and spinning a lot, wind gusting from various directions.
2013-10-30 (Wednesday)Sunny at first, then grey and plenty of rain at 8:30. Starting again at 10:10, kept going, very heavy starting at 10:25, started tailing off around 11:20. Very grey. Raining again before 1:30. Grey and fairly still the rest of the day.
Went ashore around 4 and went for a walk to get some exercise. Very light rain the whole time.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
At 8:10, started engine and ran it for half an hour to charge batteries.
2013-10-31 (Thursday)Headache. Eventually took a Tonopan, and off to yoga class. Did my own thing for a while, then ducked out and went for a walk. Headache gone by the time I went back to the boat, but I'm feeling tired.
Half a dozen boats left this morning, mostly heading north. I guess they feel hurricane season has ended, or is about to end.
Glued 3 sandals to repair them.
Grey and raining at 1:15.
At 5:30, three dinghy-loads of kids came around, trick-or-treating. I quickly gave them cookies, as it started to rain. One of the kids was wearing a very elaborate C3PO costume, with an accompanying R2D2 model. The rain didn't get heavy or last long. Pics.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner. As I sat down in the cockpit to eat at 7:15, a huge rainstorm blew up and drove me inside. The storm kept going strong for half an hour, then lighter rain and wind until 9:45.
2013-11-01 (Friday)By 7:30, wind blowing hard from the S, and is supposed to do so most of today and tomorrow. So I guess the people heading N yesterday picked a good weather window.
Went ashore around 11 and went for a walk to get some exercise.
Went ashore at 1 to do Wi-Fi. Skype-called Mom and chatted with her and my sister. Hmm, weather forecast online doesn't match what I heard on the cruiser's net; has the wind being lighter.
Richard on "Odyssey" is at the seawall, having a crane-truck lift the mizzen-mast out. Base is rotted, or shoe it sits on is corroded.
Still trying to log into new govt healthcare web site. Did a "forgot my username", got an email response, and it says my very first attempt to create an account, weeks ago, did succeed. But when I try to log in using that info, I get 'Access Denied - You don't have permission to access "http://eidm.cms.gov/successffmeng.html" on this server.'
Back to the boat by 5, and it's rolling heavily.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-02 (Saturday)Added oil to the outboard.
Went ashore at 10:30 or so. Bought EC$20 of gasoline. Went for a walk.
Around 12:30, started heading around to Clarkes Court Bay to see a youth sailing regatta. Wind blowing hard now; I guess the cruiser's net weather forecast wasn't too bad. Interesting boat in Hog's Island anchorage: pic.
Into CCBM, said hi to a few people, bought a raffle ticket, exchanged 8 or 10 books at the bookshelf. Watched the kids launching boats for next round of the regatta: pics.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-03 (Sunday)Did a bucket of laundry.
Pulled the refrigerator out and replaced the fan I added behind it.
Ashore after 11, to look briefly into the jumble sale, then go for a walk.
Ashore again before 1, just ahead of some good rain. Looking to play dominoes, and do some Wi-Fi. Had a nice game with Angelica, April, Dennis, Dan, Penny.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-04 (Monday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Feeling a bit weak this morning. Did some of it, did my own thing for a while, ducked out halfway through and went for a walk.
Salad and PBJ sandwich for dinner.
2013-11-05 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Out at the bank, walked to hardware store and bought engine oil and sandal-glue. Walked to resort and exchanged 4 or 5 books, then IGA supermarket. Out and soon onto the van. To veggie store again, then CK's, then home. Back on the boat by noon.
Somehow I got a broken bloody blister on the back of my left heel; not sure when it happened.
Ashore at 1 to do Wi-Fi. Disposed of a big bag of garbage for EC$7.
Finally got logged into the new govt healthcare web site. Verified my identity (they knew my previous address's city, which they must have fetched from an income tax or Social Security database). Had to give a phone number; they have no provision for people who don't have a phone of any kind. Had to answer lots of income-tax-return type questions. Plus some others such as: am I incarcerated, immigration status. Got to end and tried to submit application, and I'm not sure what "electronic signature" means. Submitting seemed to fail, I did it again, and it succeeded. Looks like I'm eligible for "New Jersey FamilyCare", whatever that is, maybe a subsidy (later found: Medicaid). But the "success" page doesn't tell me what to do next. Logged out and back in, it gives button to go to New Jersey FamilyCare web site, clicking on the button does nothing. Enough for today.
Chicken-onion-rice-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-06 (Wednesday)Feeling a bit headachey.
Several bouts of rain during the day and evening. I felt okay but tired, and never went ashore for a walk.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-07 (Thursday)Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did my own thing for a while, ducked out and went for a walk.
Strong storm/wind from the S starting around 3.
Added water to the batteries.
In late afternoon, fixed the main halyard, which is a wire halyard. A bit of a tricky job, since it's already short enough that I had to unfasten the bitter end and tie a line to it and let it go up the mast a bit, to get the sail-end down low enough to work on. Cut open the swaged loop abnd reclaimed the thimble. Cut off 2 feet to remove the broken portion. Swaged on the thimble again, using a new sleeve.
Hotdog-onion-mushroom-corn-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner. Rainstorm drove me inside for a while.
2013-11-08 (Friday)Sunny morning, then around 8:55 lots of low dark clouds and strong wind from the S. Around 9:05, torrential rain started, and soon it was horizontal, with sustained wind probably in 30 knot range, gusts maybe to 50. Halfway through, I got on the radio and made a joke weather forecast announcement, "Today, wind SE 10-15 knots, chance of rain". Got lots of power from my wind-generator, then it started sounding bad (maybe one thermal breaker had gone, but not the others ?). Turned it off, back on, and it didn't start up. Wind started easing around 9:25. Mostly done by 9:35. Everything grey and drenched.
Went ashore around 10:30 to take a walk. Just as the storm approached, I'd seen the guy on "Windstar" nearby raising anchor and slowly meandering over to the fuel dock, as the Apocalypse was approaching from behind him. I think the strong wind swept in just before he arrived at the dock. So, when I went ashore, I found him in the bar and said I'd been watching him. He said yeah, as he was moving he was thinking "man, maybe this isn't such a smart thing to do". The wind pushed him against the dock so hard that two of his fenders deflated, and he scratched some fiberglass.
Ashore at 12:45 to do Wi-Fi. Tried the new govt healthcare web site again. Had to get onto chat-help, first agent never really got on the line, and the second agent typed maddeningly slowly. Eventually figured out that the federal site has done all it will for me, and I have to go to the NJ medicaid web site (and probably none of the info I entered into the federal site will carry across). Gave up for today.
As I was finishing up around 5, another huge storm set in and greyed out much of the harbor with sheets of rain. Had to wait more than half an hour for it to end.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-09 (Saturday)Ashore in late afternoon for a walk.
Salad and PB-banana sandwich and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-10 (Sunday)Did a bucket of laundry.
Ashore around 10:45 for a walk. Back to the boat just ahead of a brief, very heavy rain; got the laundry off the lifelines just in time.
Ashore at 12:45 to do Wi-Fi and play dominoes. Nice game with Angelica, Dennis, Dan, Penny. Hard-fought, and I came in second to Dan.
Looked at NJ Medicaid web site. But articles on the web say NJ Medicaid has extremely low reimbursement rates, so many providers won't accept it, and maybe it's not a good value. So am I better off paying for my own insurance through healthcare.gov, or doing NJ Medicaid ? And how does living outside the country most of the time affect this ? Will I be paying providers outside USA in cash anyway, then getting (partially) reimbursed by my Medicaid insurance ? Sent email to one of the NJ Medicaid insurance companies, asking.
Cruisers having an acoustic jam session in the marina bar/restaurant. About 3 guitars, a couple of dozen people listening. Nice.
Back to boat after 5, about 15 minutes ahead of a big rainstorm.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Several more sharp, heavy rainstorms during the night.
2013-11-11 (Monday)Grey, wet morning.
Ashore at 8:30 for yoga. Did my own thing for a while, ducked out and went for a walk. Sweaty, and it's very humid and fairly still.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-12 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. A bit of confusion as I tied up at the dinghy-dock and some resort boat-guy started yelling at me that I couldn't dock on that side. We've been using that side of the dock for 3 years, despite the signs, and 4 other dinghies are tied up on that side already. But he wants us to move, so we had to move.
Into the van. Out at the bank, walked to food store next to Ace, then to Scotiabank to use the ATM, then IGA supermarket. Out and soon onto the van. To veggie store, then CK's, then home. Back on the boat by 11:45.
Ashore at 12:45 to do Wi-Fi. Little progress on the health-insurance front. Back to the boat after 5.
Chicken-onion-rice-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-13 (Wednesday)Rolly again this morning. It's been mostly-rolly here for several weeks; annoying.
Ashore in early afternoon for a walk.
In late afternoon, snorkeled under the boat to scrape hull. Worked on thick growth down by bottom of keel. Got starboard side and underneath clean, did a little on the port side.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-11-14 (Thursday)Lots of boats heading north today; more and more people concluding hurricane season is over.
At 8, was starting to think about going ashore for yoga, when a storm blew up from the S. So I stayed aboard and skipped yoga. Storm never did get as strong as I expected, but it rained for a while.
At 10, lots of rain.
Went ashore in early afternoon. Did some yoga by myself on the terrace of the marina restaurant. Went for a walk.
Salad and chili and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Still, humid evening; had to swat a lot of mosquitoes in the cockpit.
2013-11-15 (Friday)Ashore at 11 to take a walk.
Ashore at 12:50 to do some Wi-Fi.
On the government healthcare front, finally got a response from the health insurance company I sent email to: call one of our representatives (thanks a lot), and "If you live outside of NJ for more than 30 days you will lose your Medicaid eligibility. I would suggest you call Medicaid to see what they suggest." Perhaps they mean "if you move your legal residence out of NJ, you lose your coverage after 30 days"; not my situation. Guess I'll have to make phone calls; this isn't working over the internet.
Richard on "Odyssey" was at the seawall again this afternoon, having his wooden mizzen-mast put back on (the base of it had been rotted, and later Richard told me he's found termite damage in his bowsprit, too). Later at the bar, I overheard Richard teasing one of the barmaids by saying she should come see his "erection", and I said "but there was a lot of rot on it".
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Fighting mosquitoes again tonight after dinner.
2013-11-16 (Saturday)Ashore at 11. Did some yoga on the marina restaurant terrace, then went for a walk.
Back to boat, then went to take pictures of an anchored boat for its owner, who is off-island and wants to know if his boat is okay.
Hotdog-onion-corn-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Another very still evening; mosquitoes again.
2013-11-17 (Sunday)Heard on VHF that a dinghy was stolen last night from a boat anchored near Calvigny Island. [A few days later, found out the dinghy wasn't properly secured, drifted away, and a fisherman offshore found it and eventually the owner got it back.]
Went ashore at 10:30 and went for a walk. Hot, sunny, fairly still morning.
Ashore at 12:30 to do Wi-Fi and play dominoes. Played with Angelica and Dennis, and Anders from "Ellinor". Angelica clobbered us. Had Dennis take a couple of pictures of me; here's one: pic. Acoustic jam session later, as I did Wi-Fi, and bugs nibbled me.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Another very still evening; mosquitoes again.
2013-11-18 (Monday)Lots of people arriving for the cruising season, up from Trinidad, or flying in to get back onto their boats.
Ashore at 10:45. Did some yoga on the marina restaurant terrace, then went for a walk.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
2013-11-19 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. To resort to exchange books, to IGA, chatted a bit, to Marketing Board, to CK's. Lent EC$40 to Richard. Back to boat by noon.
Ashore at 12:30 to do some Wi-Fi. Skype-called Mom and chatted with her, but the connection wasn't good.
Skype-called the healthcare.gov people to ask them: 1- can I decline Medicaid coverage and pay for a higher-priced plan myself, 2- living overseas, would I pay out-of-pocket to doctors and then the Medicaid plan would reimburse me later ? And basically they were clueless. Recited a lot of things I'd already read from their web site, and ended up giving me the phone number for NJ state healthcare office, which I had already.
Called the NJ FamilyCare people, and they said "as long as you're a legal resident, you're eligible for Medicaid, you don't have to be physically resident". Then I asked them about reimbursement, and after holding for a while ... the answer changed to "you have to be physically resident, you have to use a doctor in NJ, we don't reimburse for any services you pay for overseas".
So, I guess I'm back to contacting some ex-pat insurance companies directly. ACA doesn't help me or hurt me.
Chicken-onion-rice-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
A few mosquitoes tonight, then the wind picked up slightly, and it was nice.
2013-11-20 (Wednesday)Ashore in midafternoon to do some yoga and take a walk.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-11-21 (Thursday)Rain at 1:45, then ashore to take a walk. Feeling headachey. Took a Tonopan and laid down.
Rain from 5:15 to 6. As it started around 5:15, I saw a dinghy with mom and two kids heading out toward the Hog Island anchorage, already getting wet and about to get totally drenched as a big curtain of rain moved in.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Still headachey; took a sumatriptan.
2013-11-22 (Friday)Ashore at 10:45 to do some yoga and take a walk.
Ashore at 12:45 to do Wi-Fi.
Did some searching for international health insurance, for people living outside USA most of each year. Seven Corners: a cheap plan with $1K deductible costs about $800/year. Biggest limitation seems to be that it only covers about $5K of surgery costs per incident. Cigna: a plan with full coverage of surgery etc and $750 deductible costs about $2100/year.
My refrigerator seems to be dying; runs but doesn't get very cold. I hope it just needs a recharge of coolant. It's 13 years old, a Nova Kool 45704. Looked online to see what a new fridge would cost, and I'm shocked to see it's about $1000 (plus tax and shipping). For a 4-cubic-foot 12VDC air-cooled fridge/freezer. Crazy !
Did a bucket of laundry.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-11-23 (Saturday)Went on deck at 5 AM to look for Comet ISON, but the sky is greyed out. And there's a hill to my E and SE anyway.
Ashore at 8:30 for the shopping bus to "downtown". Nice that it wasn't crowded; only about 8 of us aboard. Stopped at CCBM (no additional passengers), then bakery, then IWW (pic of me), then downtown. Looks like they have a tourist-train now: pic.
I bought a bunch of jewelry and trinkets as Christmas presents. Bought a few vegetables, got cash at an ATM, wandered through various stores and stands, then got a soda. Another picture of me: pic.
Back into the van at 11:45, then stopped at CK's and Budget and a bank on the way back. Never before noticed the quotes on the Customs/Immigration sign at Prickly Bay marina: pic. Back to the boat by 1:15, a lot later than I wished. My usual shopping trip is 9:30 to 11:45; this one was 8:30 to 1:15.
Salad and chili and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-11-24 (Sunday)On deck at 4:30 AM or so to look for Comet ISON. About 50% cloud cover this morning, no sign of comet, hill still obstructing much of the view.
Big toe on my right foot still hurting; a couple of days ago, I was walking on deck, and it cracked and started hurting. I broke that toe 25+ years ago, and it still acts up occasionally. When it's hurting, it will ache for a while, feel okay for a few hours, ache again, back and forth until finally it heals.
Rain at 8:45.
Ashore at 10:30 to take a walk.
Ashore at 12:30 to do Wi-Fi and play dominoes. Only Dennis and Angelica showed up to play. I had a couple of disastrous hands (181 points in first hand), and a couple of just bad hands, and was far in last place. Near the end, Kitty and Emma and Emma's grandmother joined us for two hands. Final score wasn't too horrible: Dennis won with 249 and I had 403. Then I gave Kitty a ride out to her boat; her dinghy is being repaired.
At one point during the game, we looked out to see a boat aground at the harbor entrance. They weren't in much trouble: inside the reefs, light conditions, boat spinning a bit as a dinghy or skiff tried to work it loose. They were right at the start of the dinghy-channel over to Hog Island; we weren't sure if they tried to anchor there, or tried to go up that channel (which has a limiting depth of about 2 feet).
Richard paid me the EC$40 he owed me; he'd forgotten about it. Sent off questions to a number of health-insurance companies and sites. Had a nice chat with Daniel and Brenda, but she's been sick for a couple of weeks, and the new generator they had installed at great expense still is not working right (first they had an electrical fire, now it has smoky exhaust).
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-11-25 (Monday)Ashore at 10:15 and walked over to Prickly Bay to exchange money with someone. Chatted a bit with Bernard the taxi driver. Back to Secret Harbor, chatted briefly with Kitty and Ernie.
Pumped up the dinghy tubes, drenched them with soapy water, scrubbed the dirt a bit. Looked for leaks, and found only one, the usual suspect. The big two-layer patch I've put on multiple times, on starboard forward quarter, still has a slow leak from under the top edge.
Pulled the refrigerator out and investigated it. Pics. Tube coming out of compressor and going to condenser tubes is reasonably hot, could be hotter, condenser tubes warm and could be hotter. Cold tube coming out of compressor isn't very cold at all. Fluid noises sound reasonable. My diagnosis: low on coolant. Sucker weighs 67 pounds and is bulky, so getting it up companionway, into dinghy, and ashore to be picked up by a repairman is a two-person job. I don't have good AC power aboard, so bringing repairman to boat is not a good idea. I could pull into marina for a day to get AC power and have someone come aboard. It's a Danfoss compressor with tube-fittings for testing and recharging, so the work should be easy. But it needs to be tested for a leak, and maybe repaired. Maybe it overheated and leaked while turned off for 2.5 months back in May/June ? Maybe it will do that again when I'm gone again in coming May/June ?
Put together a Christmas letter to NJ and a Christmas package to Barcelona.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Blustery evening and night, wind gusting and swirling, brief blasts of light rain.
2013-11-26 (Tuesday)Grey, humid, blustery, slightly rainy day.
Ashore for the 9:30 shopping bus, just after some rain went through. Onto the bus, through a few stops, and to the Post Office. Mailed letter to USA for EC$1, package to Spain for EC$25.60 (about US$10). In the bus again, chatted with Big G and a cruiser about my refrigerator troubles, and they both said "just buy a recharge-can at the hardware store and recharge it yourself". So I'll do that. Looked in hardware store next to IGA, probably should have bought the stuff they had (only about EC$80 for fluid and hose), but I want to check a couple of things back on the boat first. Applied for new discount card at IGA, and got groceries. Out and right onto the bus, and it went home without stopping for veggies. Back to the boat by 11:15.
Ashore at 1 to do Wi-Fi. Skype-called Mom and chatted with her.
Back on the boat, sprayed some soapy water on the refrigerator compressor and tubing to see if I could see a leak. Didn't see anything. Couldn't spray everywhere because the electronics are attached to the compressor. And the leak (if any) probably is very slow anyway.
Chicken-onion-rice-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-11-27 (Wednesday)Headache. Took a sumatriptan and went back to bed. Felt better by 10:30 or so.
Sunny and breezey morning.
Replaced switch on battery system voltmeter.
Ashore in early afternoon. Chatted with George for a while, did some yoga, went for a walk.
Tried to figure out why lights in aft head have stopped working; couldn't find the problem.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-11-28 (Thursday)Took another look at the refrigerator. There is a tube with a cap on the end of it, and I assume a quick-release fitting inside ? But I'm reluctant to unscrew the cap until I have a can of replacement refrigerant nearby.
Clipped off an old, dead fan I installed in the back of the fridge a while ago. Managed to do the clipping stupidly, probably created a very brief short across the wires, and the fridge shut off ! I thought, great, I've killed it, or popped some fuse I don't know about. Checked fuse in the electrical panel; no problem. Cycled the switch, and the fridge started working again. Whew.
Ashore around 11 and did the long walk out to the tire roundabout. Bought bananas at a fruit/veg stand. Down to ACE Hardware, and they have only 12 oz refrigerant cans (I want 3 oz) and are sold out of hoses. To Hubbard's, and they have only technician-sized rigs. To Quality Auto, and they don't carry R134A stuff at all ! Back to boat by 12:45 or so.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Many bursts of rain during the night.
2013-11-29 (Friday)It's been grey and rainy every morning this week, so no more opportunities to look for Comet ISON.
Ashore at 10:30 or so to buy EC$20 of gasoline, do a little yoga, and go for a walk.
Charter-looking sloop is anchored at the very start of the dinghy-passage to Hog Island. I think maybe it's the boat that looked aground last Sunday when we were playing dominoes. I guess they like that anchoring spot. [It was gone by 5. Maybe they snorkel on the reef.]
Ashore at 1 to do Wi-Fi. Couple from "Blue Pearl" (Glen and Pam, I think) stopped by to say hi; I saw them briefly in St Thomas ages ago. Lady in Barcelona has mailed an envelope to me.
Hotdog-onion-corn-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-11-30 (Saturday)Around 10:30, launched the dinghy, pumped up the bow tube, checked the oil, rodded out the exhaust. Long, rough, wet upwind slog over to Clarke's Court Bay Marina. Exchanged 8 or 10 books at the bookshelf. Then up toward Calvigny Island, where they're having catamaran races today. Got up there and took a look, watching two boats round marks right in front of me. But no good vantage point, the race didn't look that exciting, and it's very rough and windy. Turned and went home.
Was using the computer in the cabin, popped my head up at 12:45 to have some lunch in the cockpit, and there's a boat right behind me. They've anchored between me and the mooring ball, and we're too close and getting closer. I call across "you're too close", and they say "if we're too close, we'll move". About 2 minutes later, as I was making a sandwich, they were moving. The wind often is crazy and swirly in this bay; anchoring is a bit tricky.
Ashore in midafternoon to take a walk.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-01 (Sunday)Grey morning, and kept getting darker. Big storm blew up from the S or SSW starting at 9:10. Kept going until after 10 or so.
Ashore at 10:45. Everything grey and drenched. Looked into the jumble sale for about 5 seconds, then went for a walk. Very light rain as I went back out to the boat.
Weather stayed grey and humid all day. Ashore at 1 to do dominoes and Wi-Fi. Restaurant still full of people from the jumble sale, and some people still selling things. Good dominoes game with Dennis and Angelica, Dan and Brenda. Did Wi-Fi.
When I wanted to go back to boat at 5, it started raining fairly heavily. Waited until about 5:30, and went out to the boat through light rain. The rain mostly stopped about 10 minutes later.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-02 (Monday)Sunny morning. Did a bucket of laundry.
Ashore in late afternoon to take a walk. Disposed of a big bag of garbage for EC$10.
Leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-03 (Tuesday)I've been researching more about my refrigerator troubles, and getting confused. But I guess I'm going to try adding refrigerant. I am getting some cooling, so that means compressor and electronics and thermostat are not factors. I think I'm getting no frost on the evaporator (in the freezer compartment), just "cooling". I read that trying to use gauges is a mistake (I guess because it would require puncturing the tubes, probably risking creation of leaks). Adding too much refrigerant would be bad, and the nominal refrigerant load is tiny (2.9 oz), so I think I'll add just a little at a time. But I have to avoid getting air into the system. And I have no idea if there's a moisture problem in the system (although I do hear refrigerant circulating, so maybe that means little moisture). Confusing.
About 20 minutes of very heavy rain starting at 8:15 or so.
Ashore for the 9:30 shopping bus, just after some light rain went through. To IGA mall. Checked auto-parts store; no refrigerant. To hardware store, and bought 3 oz can of R134a (EC$23) and charging hose (EC$57). Got groceries. Chatted with a couple of cruisers about refrigerator-charging, and got some ideas. Instructions say nothing about purging air out of the charging hose. And I was going to dribble in little amounts of fluid until the fridge was working right, but a cruiser said dump it all in, then bleed out extra until the fridge is working.
Stopped at Marketing Board, then CK's. Back to boat by 11:45.
Opened the charging hose package, was going to put some fluid into the refrigerator before going ashore, then thought twice about it. Still some things I need to research about it.
Ashore after 12:30 to do Wi-Fi.
Got email from Ken: "The valve on the Danfoss is a Schrader-type screw-on fitting like a bicycle tire. The usual Freon-refill cans available on the islands may have a different automotive-style fitting which will not fit. If you introduce any air at all into the system, or too much Freon, you're going to kill it. Be careful OK? :-)". Argh !
Sent questions to company that makes the recharge hose I bought. Got some more articles from the web, and one of them does talk about the importance of purging air out of the recarge hose, as I suspected.
Back onto the boat, and the cockpit LED light has failed. Fortunately I have a spare bulb, but that's my last spare.
Headache; took a Tonopan.
Chicken-onion-rice-carrot and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-04 (Wednesday)Reading more refrigeration articles, and getting more confused. I've been compiling everything onto a section of a web page: Recharging.
Ashore before 11, did some yoga, went for a walk.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Had a headache, and slept very badly. Took a Tonopan after midnight, and later a paracetamol.
2013-12-05 (Thursday)Feeling tired and a little headachey. I think I'll skip the exercising today.
Took cap off valve on refrigerator compressor. As near as I can tell, connector on hose ia about 1/2" diameter, connector on compressor is about 3/8" diameter. Connector on hose is quick-connect with 3 balls, connector on compressor has screw-threads. None of the packaging with the hose or the specs on the refrigerator say anything about these connectors.
Head felt better in later afternoon.
Gave myself a bit of a haircut.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-06 (Friday)On the cruiser's net, asked to borrow a recharge-hose from someone, and soon had more offers than I could handle. Most people have gauge sets, which are bigger and more complicated than I want to deal with.
At 9, went to "Falcon" and borrowed a hose that looks like it will work (and a tube of 4000UV to use on a dinghy-tube patch). This hose looks like two hoses spliced together. Then to "Music", where the guy gave me a can of pure refrigerant he wants to get rid of (unused, but old, and far more than I need), and insisted on lending me a hose-and-gauge that looks to me like it probably won't fit. Back to boat. So now I have lots of pieces: pic.
Connector on hose from "Music" is wrong size, seems same as connector on the hose I bought. Used the stop-leak can I bought, and the hose from "Falcon".
After some futzing (had to bend tube from process port a little, and line up connector properly), got hose onto the process port connector okay. Punctured the can, and some leakage where hose connects to can; tightened it several times, but still leaks red foam. Purged hose of air, some leakage at compressor end too, tightened that fitting and leak there stopped.
Started the compressor, opened valve to can, and gave it 15 seconds or so of fluid and gas (varying can between inverted and upright). Still leaking at connector to can. Closed valve and let fridge run for 10 minutes. Evaporator in freezer compartment seems to be getting colder than before. Let it run for a while more; best to go slow.
After running off and on for an hour or more, freezer compartment getting frosted, condenser tubes on back getting hotter than they used to be. All good.
Ashore after 11, did some yoga, went for a walk.
Ashore at 1 to do Wi-Fi; stopped on the way to return gauge-hose to "Music". Skype-called Mom and chatted with her.
Back on the boat, pulled the two-layer patch off the dinghy bow tube and put it back on using the 4000UV I borrowed from "Falcon".
Hotdog-onion-mushroom-cheese-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-07 (Saturday)Refrigerator running pretty well, but I think it should be a little colder. Added some more refrigerant, but I think the can is almost empty. In fact, I may have just let a little gas out of the system, via the leaky connection at the can, rather than adding more.
Refrigerator seems to be running okay. Can seems to be empty. Took hose and can off the system, and took can off hose. It's empty, as far as I can tell. So the system must have been extremely low on refrigerant: emptied a 3 oz can into a system that nominally holds 2.9 oz, and system is running okay now. Maybe in the process of dealing with leaks and purging the hose, I lost half an ounce of the new refrigerant ? Heck, it was such a hit-or-miss operation, maybe I lost 1.5 oz of the new refrigerant.
Ashore after 4, returned tube of 4000UV to "Falcon" on the way, went for a walk.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-08 (Sunday)Did a small bucket of laundry.
Ashore around 10:30 to take a walk.
Trimmed my hair a bit more.
Ashore at 1 to do dominoes and Wi-Fi. Good game with Dennis and Angelica, Ann and Peter, Brenda, Michael.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-09 (Monday)Ashore around 11 to do a little yoga and take a walk. Got rained on a bit during the walk.
Lots of rain starting at 3.
Changed fan I installed in back of refrigerator. I used to have it blowing upwards across condensor pipes, to cool them and aid the natural airflow. Moved the fan to blow at the compressor (which gets quite hot) and the expensive electronics module mounted on it.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Fair amount of wind and rain during the night. We are supposed to get NE-E 20-25 knots, but I don't think we've seen more than 20.
2013-12-10 (Tuesday)Very grey, frequent rain, everything drenched.
Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Out at Dusty Highway, walked to Southern Electric. Bought an LED bulb (EC$60, about US $22). Through the dangerous back-gate shortcut, to ACE Hardware. They don't do hoses as small as my refrigerator charge-hose. Down to L&M Investments, they'd do it but don't have the fitting. To an air-conditioning place, then B&L importers. Bought a charge-hose from them (EC$67, about US$25). Took it to L&M, where they chopped fitting off hose I just bought and put it on hose I bought a week or two ago. But the hose is too thin for their crimper; the crimp-job is marginal. Charged me only EC$9 (about US$3.50). Pic.
Walked to IGA, stopping at veggie-stand. Got groceries, bought a choc-banana smoothie, chatted with cruisers. Large band of tiny kids singing Christmas carols: pic. Onto van at noon, stopped at CK's, then to marina. Gave a couple a tow out to their boat; they have no motor on their dinghy, and there's a stiff headwind. Back to my boat a little before 1.
Ashore at 1:30 to do Wi-Fi.
Chicken-onion-rice-cabbage-carrot-scallions and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-12-11 (Wednesday)Feeling headachey this morning.
Got some Wi-Fi from the boat, but using the laptop built-in antenna, not the Bullet, and the connection is flaky. Is my Bullet not working ? Letter I mailed to NJ on 26th just arrived; took about 2 weeks.
Ashore in late afternoon to do a little yoga and take a walk.
Slid refrigerator back into place under counter. I wish there was a way to keep the fan running for 5 minutes after the compressor stops each time; it can't be good to have the hot compressor sitting under the box with little ventilation after it stops running. I guess I could add a second fan, with a manual switch.
Leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-12-12 (Thursday)Headache; took a Tonopan.
Cruiser's net said a cruiser from this bay is in the hospital with Dengue fever. No name was given. (Heard later: apparently there's an outbreak/epidemic of it in St Lucia, too.)
Used my rigging-swage tool to crimp the refrigeration-recharge hose a little better.
Worked on engine intake strainer, but I need some really thin rubber to make gaskets as thin as possible. Carved a temporary new washer for it. Took some work to get the strainer back together and stop the leaking.
Still headachey at noon; took a paracetamol.
By switching to a third Wi-Fi adapter (I think I have about 4 aboard at this point), got some Wi-Fi from the boat.
Tony from "Cariad" (I think) kayaked by. He's been in Britain, and while there (I think) had a major accident involving a tugboat cable and pretty much ruined a knee, but he's mostly recovered now.
Added oil to the outboard.
Ashore in midafternoon. Exchanged a few books at the marina office bookshelf. Did a little yoga and took a walk. On the way back on the walk, ran into John and Janet from "Ventoso" and had a nice chat with them.
At the marina, ran into Sherri the parts/shipping agent, and she said she'd done the end-of-year paperwork and I owed her about EC$25 of Customs fees for my last order. But she's a year behind; my last order through her was July/August of 2012, and she's just now getting caught up on the fees.
Then John from "Katarina" came in to pick up a filter he ordered through Sherri. We all chatted a little, John signed the paperwork, then Sherri left. A few minutes later, chatting with John on the dinghy dock, he realized he didn't have the filter, she must have taken it back with her ! When he went to sign the papers, he handed the filter back to her for a moment, and she must have stuck it in her purse and they both forgot it. He wasn't happy.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Lots of rain during the night. And I had a headache again during the night; took a Tonopan around midnight, and a paracetamol an hour or two later. They helped but didn't totally work.
2013-12-13 (Friday)Still headachey; maybe I have a bit of a cold.
Did a lot of Wi-Fi. Eyestrain and posture probably isn't doing any good for my headache. Took various pills.
Very grey afternoon.
Felt a little better in early afternoon; went ashore for a walk, but no yoga. Decided to start carrying a stick on my walks; a couple of dogs near Prickly Bay have been coming out into the street towards me every now and then. Chatted with Helma, and she said there are about 280 Dengue fever cases here on Grenada ! [But later I did a web search, and couldn't find any confirmation of that.] Cruiser who went into hospital has returned to his boat now.
Salad and leftover spaghetti for dinner.
Still have headache night; took a sumatriptan.
Up at 1 AM. Checked engine fluids, added water to batteries, ran engine for 30 minutes to charge batteries.
2013-12-14 (Saturday)Still have headache; took some sinus medicine. Felt tired and headachey until about 4, when the headache went away.
Lubricated the sheaves in the davits, since they've been squealing really badly. Now they operate with far less friction, but squeal just as badly as ever.
Around 4:30, went ashore for a walk, but no yoga.
Sausage-onion-cheese-mushroom-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantdrink for dinner.
Fairly windy and rainy all night.
2013-12-15 (Sunday)Breezey, lumpy, grey morning, seas something like 9 feet out in open water. Boat very rolly at times.
Ashore around 11. Forgot to take my yoga mat. Went for a walk, and was glad I was carrying a stick: those two dogs came charging out to the edge of the road to bark at me.
Ashore again at 12:30, between rainsprinkles, to do Wi-Fi and play dominoes. Tough game with Daniel, Brenda, Anders. Brenda edged out Daniel in the last hand.
Daniel and Brenda say there indeed are a couple of hundred Dengue fever cases on Grenada, but the locals are suppressed news of it.
The cruiser who was hospitalized with Dengue fever is here in the restaurant today, less than a week after he was hospitalized. He looks weak and maybe in some pain, and not drinking.
Applied for worldwide health insurance with Seven Corners: $1K/incident deductible, annual premium $772, surgical coverage amounts per incident look low to me, rest of coverage looks okay. Have to stay outside USA at least half of each year.
Wind howling on the W side of the anchorage as I went back to the boat.
Salad and leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-blackcurrantdrink for dinner.
2013-12-16 (Monday)Sore throat this morning; took a (melted) cough drop and it worked.
That tiki-bar catamaran is listing badly this morning, probably due to all of the rain in the last week or two: pic. Not sure who's going to deal with it.
Tried some more to get my Ubiquiti Bullet working again. The Ethernet side is fine, and it sees Wi-Fi signals and says it connects to them, but never gets internet access. My GSky adapter connects okay to the same signals. Tried bypassing the antenna cable on the Bullet, but that didn't fix the problem. This thing is only 16 months old, and it's failed ?
And by 10:30, that catamaran was sinking, with floating debris and oil/fuel coming out of it: pic.
Ashore in early afternoon (returned refrigeration hose to "Falcon" on the way) to do a little yoga and take a walk.
Salad and cheese-tomato sandwiches for dinner.
2013-12-17 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Someone said the owner of that sunken catamaran is going to get divers and raise it. Out at Wall Street roundabout, bought USB cable (EC$15) at the computer store. To Scotiabank and used the ATM. To resort and exchanged several books. Into IGA and bought a lot of groceries.
Chatted for a while, then onto bus. The driver, Big G, says there's no big outbreak of Dengue fever on Grenada; every year there are a few cases, and this year seems to be typical. Stopped at CK's, then back to boat by 11:40. There's a skiff at the sunken catamaran; maybe they're going to raise it.
Received confirmation of my enrollment for health insurance with Seven Corners. Coverage starts 1/1. I haven't had health insurance since 5/2001.
By 12:50, looks like that catamaran is coming up. But then it looked like the ama that was floating went down. Maybe the bow pitched up. Pics.
Very uncomfortable afternoon: boats spinning in fluky wind and going stern-to-stern very close, often sideways to the swell and very rolly, hot sun glaring in from odd angles, occasional rain-sprinkles making me close hatches.
By 3 or so, the divers on the sinking catamaran gave up for the day. It's still floating, but not by much: pic.
Chicken-onion-rice-cabbage-carrot and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
2013-12-18 (Wednesday)Still have a cough and bit of a sore throat.
The sinking catamaran is still floating this morning.
Ashore around 11 to do a little yoga and take a walk.
Starting around 2:45, very grey and lots of light horizontal rain. Kept going like that all afternoon and some of the evening.
Salad and leftover chicken-rice and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-19 (Thursday)Still coughing and sore throat and a bit of a headache. Took cold pills at 5 AM.
Felt worse by noon; took a Tonopan with lunch. Weather has turned grey and rainy and dreary again.
Felt better by midafternoon. Went ashore for a walk.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-20 (Friday)Fairly bad headache; took cold medicine at 5 AM.
Did a bucket of laundry.
Headache still bad by noon. Took a sumatriptan with lunch.
Felt better by midafternoon. Went ashore for a walk. Someone said most of the stores on the island are out of eggs; maybe because of a holiday baking rush. There have been times before when it seemed the whole island was out of eggs, or butter, or flour. Strange for such a big island.
Leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-21 (Saturday)Feel good this morning.
Ashore at 11 to do a little yoga and take a walk.
Headachey again in later afternoon; took a Paracetamol.
Spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-22 (Sunday)Ashore around 11 to do a little yoga and take a walk.
Ashore again at 12:45 to do Wi-Fi and play dominoes. Tough game with Dennis, Angelica, Anders. Angelica won. Six more players at another table, too: Daniel and Brenda, Peter and Ann, Bob and Hella.
Skype-called Mom, but the restaurant is noisy and my speaker volume is very low for some reason. Heard her answer but couldn't talk to her.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-23 (Monday)Got my Bullet Wi-Fi adapter working again, by changing the MAC address. Not sure why that should matter.
Ashore in midafternoon to do a little yoga and take a walk. Some guy flashing a roll of US bills tried to hustle me into giving him EC$70 so he could get a propane refill; never heard that one before.
In late afternoon, snorkeled under the boat to scrape hull and prop. Finally getting the growth mostly under control, after 6 months or so of neglect led to a huge forest down there.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-24 (Tuesday)Big ketch "Atmosphere" left this morning: pic. Megayacht "Sequel P" was at the fuel dock for a couple of days, and I thought someone told me it belonged to the owner of the marina and the Calvigny resort. Then "Atmosphere" was at the fuel dock for a day or so, and someone else said IT belonged to the owner of marina and resort. Why would anyone need two megayachts ? Anyway, "Atmosphere" has 6 sets of spreaders on the mainmast; I've never seen more than 5 before.
Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Someone said neither of the megayachts is owned by the marina/resort owner, they're owned by friends of his. Who knows ?
To IGA mall. Into auto-parts store, bought a spring that might fit my forward toilet. Into supermarket, and it's very busy, and stock of some items is low. No eggs, no bananas, etc. Bought a lot of stuff, including a cheesecake to take to a potluck. Out to a stand across the street, bought bananas, kid running it tried to hustle me to give him the change as a Christmas tip. Chatted with various cruisers. Into van, to Marketing Board, to bank, then home. Onto boat by 11:40.
Hearing some thunder around 2:30, grey clouds N and S of us. Weather soon grey overhead.
Ashore in late afternoon take a walk. Got rained on a fair amount. Saw Margie and Pierre-Yves and Angelica at barbecue in park at Prickly Bay.
Salad and sausage-onion-cheese-mushroom-cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Starting to rain more steadily. At 5:45, a huge lightning strike less than half a mile away.
Lots of rain and a fair amount of lightning all night long. Fortunately, no more very close strikes. Rained and rained. [Heard later: Clifton in Union Island got hit hard, big storm there, boats dragging. And worse in St Vincent and St Lucia: story.]
2013-12-25 (Wednesday)Totally dark grey and drenched morning, still raining most of the time, batteries low, not getting much solar power. A little hint of sun starting around 10:30.
Skype-called Mom and my brother and wished them a Merry Christmas.
Dinghied over to CCBM for a Christmas potluck at 1. First half of trip was fine and dry, then the rain started and I got soaked from the waist down.
Said hi to various people at the potluck; surprised to see that a fair number of people have come over from Prickly Bay, by bus. Took a couple of perfunctory pictures: pics. Exchanged 5 or 6 books at the bookshelf. A bit of confusion when they announced that the food was ready; usually they say "get food by table number", but this time they didn't. So several people, including me, went up and got food. Others waited by table number, but no one got up from table one. Then everyone got up at the same time.
The food was great, as usual. Nice conversation with Dennis and his wife, from Boston, on a Vagabond 47 in the marina here. Chatted briefly with a few other people. The cheesecake I brought went so fast that I didn't even see it go.
Easy, dry trip home. Back to boat after 4. A tiny but of sunshine peeking through in late afternoon, but the batteries have gotten little charging today.
Leftover cornbread concoction and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
Up at 1:40 AM, ran engine for 45 minutes to charge batteries.
2013-12-26 (Thursday)Damp but sunny morning. But getting grey and rainy again by 9:15. Plenty of rain at 9:30.
Ashore in midafternoon to do a little yoga and take a walk. Lent tools to a local guy to try to get his outboard started; no luck, but an hour later I saw him heading out with another local skiff accompanying him.
Hoisted the mainsail. A bit tricky because to cut the wire halyard shorter, I had to take the end out of the winch reel, and getting it back in took some work.
Chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-27 (Friday)Ashore in midafternoon to do a little yoga and take a walk. Bought EC$20 of gasoline. Nice chat with Hal and Inga and another lady.
Salad and leftover chili and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-28 (Saturday)Ashore in midafternoon to do a little yoga and take a walk.
Hoisted the jib.
The last couple of days, I've been smelling fuel fumes from time to time, probably coming from a spill from that sunken catamaran. Fumes quite strong at times this afternoon.
Salad and spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-29 (Sunday)Headachey; took a paracetamol.
Weather grey and rainy by 11.
Ashore at 1 to play dominoes. Two tables with 13 people total. Had a nice game with Elizabeth, Peter, John, Ann, Bob, Georgina, and I won. Big grey squalls with lots of light wind and not very strong wind coming through the anchorage every 20 minutes or so.
Salad and leftover spaghetti and a rum-and-dietcola for dinner.
2013-12-30 (Monday)Reports of 2 or 3 more cases of Dengue fever here in Mt Hartman Bay. One couple that has it thinks they got it while eating at a restaurant in Grenada. Rikky from De Big Fish thinks this year's occurrence of the disease here is not at unusually high levels.
Ashore in midafternoon to do a little yoga and take a walk.
Salad and tuna-salad sandwiches for dinner.
2013-12-31 (Tuesday)Ashore for the 9:30 shopping van. Another cruiser, on the dock at the marina here, has Dengue fever. Out at the bank, walked to Scotiabank ATM, then resort book-exchange. To IGA supermarket for groceries. Watched some soccer on TV. Onto the van, stops at Marketing Board and CK's, back aboard by noon.
Ashore in midafternoon to do a little yoga and take a walk.
Chicken-onion-rice-carrot-cabbage and a rum-and-cranberryjuice for dinner.
Occasional rain at night. Then around midnight I heard a lot of thunder, got up and closed ports, then realized it was fireworks for New Years. Looks like Prickly Bay marina is having a lot of low, loud fireworks; glad I'm not anchored over there.
Starting around 4 AM, frequent rain and strong wind.
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