10/31/2009 Bequai to St. Barts

10/17/2009 Today I worked on getting the boat ready to move. That included fueling up at the local gas station with jerry cans. Fuel prices are up about 25% since I was here in June. It is good to be back in Bequai. I do really enjoy it here and I have fond memories of my last trip here.
This evening I went ashore as I saw that Tommy’s Cantina was open for business. When I was here in June, Pam thought she would have the restaurant closed until the beginning of November. They had their fish special going again tonight as always. The catch of the day was yellow-fin tuna or barracuda. I went for the barracuda. It was delicious. Pam was there working the bar so I sat on talked with her until about 9:00. There was a group of younger people sitting around a table having a good time. I started to talk with on the people. He is Bob. Bob is from Sweden. I never met anyone named Bob from Sweden. We started talking and I did my best at international diplomacy and introduced him to the Tequila Shooter. After that we became fast friends. A little bit later I was invited over to the table. They were on a short break from an institute they are attending in St. Vincents. There was Bob from Sweden, two from Mexico, one American, and four from Brazil. They are part of a small group that will train for six months at the institute on St. Vincents and then spend six months in Africa doing different types of mission work, depending on their background.
After we closed the restaurant we headed over to meet the rest of the group at another bar. That group had a couple of Korean woman, a woman from Liberia and more from Brazil. We started sharing about our adventures, which in the end is what I believe tied us together. Some suggested that I could take them out for sail on Sunday, and I obliged as I always do if someone wants to go for a sail.

10/18/2009 Today came around real early after hanging out with the group until the early hours of Sunday morning. A small group of them met me at the dock as I indicated at 10:00 this morning. Bob showed up with Sara, Monica, and Miran.
The winds were blowing real good today. I took them out for about a three hour sail out of the bay and they had a great time as the waves were crashing through the nets and they loved having the water splash around them. Sara was the only one that had been sailing before. So this was all pretty new for most of them.
After that we sailed back into the bay and anchored off of Lower Bay Beach. There are two reefs on this beach, one at each end. We cooked up some lunch that included kielbasi, fried potatoes and some beans.
Then it got real exciting. Miran had only been in the water once before, only a couple of days earlier. She asked for a life jacket and I provided an inflatable type used for snorkeling and diving. She was still very hesitant. We took the dinghy into the beach and got into the water. Everyone had snorkels and masks and we set off for the first reef. Sara took off as she has diving experience and Bob took off. I was helping Miran and Monica. Miran did not take to it, and Monica had never done any snorkeling before.
Monica had a great time swimming along and seeing the different smaller fish. I saw my first sea snake. (After looking through my reef book, it may have been a Tiger Tail Se Cucumber.) The fish we did see were of the smaller type, but there were plenty of different colors. When we made it back to the beach, Miran was having a ball feeling much more comfortable with the life jacket. She would not get out of the water. She was really enjoying herself. These are the kinds of experiences that live with you forever. I was able to share a little bit of my adventure with four other people that never experienced anything like it.
Later in the evening I made it back to Tommy’s for more barracuda and Pam introduced me to her husband Tom. We sat and chatted for quite some time and had a good time together. I still highly recommend that if you make it to Bequai, make sure you stop in Tommy’s for dinner and drinks.

10/19-20/2009 This morning I cleared out with Customs and Immigration. I then stopped to pick up a couple of provisions and sailed away. I had another great time in Bequai and The Grenadines and look forward to my next visit there in the future.
The winds were good, and checking with the weather service the winds would start to die the next few days. I was planning on stopping at a bay on the north end of St. Vincents, but decided against it for three reasons. One being that I was traveling faster tan I expected and I was there in the early afternoon, too early to stop. The second was that the shore was very steep and not good holding according to the cruising guide and the third was that the cruising guide talked about possible theft in the area. This seemed to be a common story that I heard from several people about St. Vincents.
I decided that I would sail through the night and try to make it to Guadeloupe. During the evening I sailed past St Lucia towards Martinique. I had a clear night as the moon was waning and the winds were good until about 2:00AM. Then the winds died and I was in the lee of Martinique. I fired up the motors and took off for what would be two more days of motoring.
I did not want to stop in Dominica. I still have bad memories of being boarded there and the attempted robbery. I was not going to be able to make any decent anchorages on Guadeloupe before sunset so I decided to shoot for the Les Saintes. They are a small group of islands just south of Guadeloupe. As the morning went on I knew I would not be able to make it to even Les Saintes before sunset. With reluctance I headed for Portsmouth on the north end of Dominica. I did not have problems there, but I had read in a cruisers newspaper about a couple that had been boarded there and robbed. They did catch the thieves and were in the process of arraigning them. This does not make me feel any more secure. I motored into the bay at 2:30PM. If I thought the bay was empty when I came through at the end of May, it was deserted now. There were three other boats in this huge bay. The locals must have had it real hard this off-season.

10/21/2009 I took off real early this morning around 3:30AM. I was motoring again as the wind did not pick up at all during the evening, except when one rain storm came through. It was an uneventful day as I motored past Guadeloupe towards Antigua. I set for Jolly Harbor on the northwest coast of Antigua. I spent a couple of days there when I came through. It is very protected, with fuel, water and groceries. It would be just after sunset when I arrived, but I had been in here before and knew that the channel was well marked.
When I was half way between Guadeloupe and Antigua, I was buzzed by another private airplane. This is the second time on three days after never having this happen in the past. I made it safely into Jolly Harbor on schedule and set the anchor. I would stay here for about 36 hours getting ready for my week in St Barts.

10/23/2009 I readied for an early morning sail for St Barts. When I motored into the bay on the 21st in the dark I noticed glows in the water. It was the fish swimming away from the boat and the bioluminescence glowing. The next evening when I went ashore for dinner I saw the same thing. The bioluminescence was the brightest I had seen since I was in Viequez. When I went to raise the anchor, it glowed as deep as I could see into the water. I would have to say this is the brightest I ever saw. I was kind of surprised when I talked with the locals that nobody knew anything about it. It might have been a rare occurrence. There was a whole business built around it at Viequez.
I got a little later start than anticipated when I left at 5:00AM. I had some winds, except it was dead down wind. It is probably the slowest point of sail on the boat and the hardest for the autopilot to keep up with. For the first time since the BVIs I sailed the spinnaker. I tried it for a while, but the course I would need to set was so far off that it just wasn’t worth it. I motored again to St Barts as I did not want to come into the harbor at night again. I mad einto the harbor just as the sun set. That was 334 nautical miles in four days. It gives me an idea of how fast (or slow) I can travel if I need to hide for cover from a hurricane.

10/16/2009 The Grenadines

10/13/2009 After clearing out of Immigration and Customs at Hillsborough I had a wonderful sail up to Union Island. I had to put in a couple of tacks to make Clifton. Clifton is an entry point in St Vincent and the Grenadines.

It is really off-season down here. The customs office did not even have $3.50EC in change for me when I paid my fees. The good news was one of my favorite fruit stands was open and she had local pineapples. We talked for about thirty minutes. She was a happy lady. She had traveled to Canada for about two years and we were talking about the weather. I told her I was Colorado and that it had snowed there already this season. She was very against cold weather.
I usually don’t go swimming in working ports as the water is not the cleanest, but where I am anchored, there is a beautiful reef that protests the whole harbor. I went swimming on the reef and was amazed at the amount of fish. There weren’t many big fish, but plenty of small fish. It was like swimming in an aquarium. On the way back to the boat I spooked a spotted ray. It had about a four foot wing span. It was a pleasant surprise to see it there.
10/14/2009 Today I went for a swim again and took my camera with me. Here are some pictures of the reef. This time I spotted a small group of young squid on the reef. Later in the afternoon I toiok No Rush into the dock and topped off the water tank. I then sailed up to Tobago Cays. This may well be my favorite anchorage of all time. The anchorage is not too busy here. Again this is really off-season for the area. I talked with one of the other cruisers that has a boat in a charter program and they were told that one of the major charter programs on has 4 scheduled charters this month and only six next month. I sat and watched another great sunset.
10/15/2009 This morning I woke to an issue with the electrical system. I knew there was an issue coming up as the batteries were not getting topped up from the generator. This is an issue I have seen in the past. I just had to take all of the cables apart from the batteries and clean all of the connections. After that all is well again.
I went for a couple of snorkels and hikes today. First I went back to the turtle area to see if there were any turtles around. I was afraid they may not be in the area because of the time of season. No problem. They were there. I know I saw at least four, but I am sure there were more there.
I then took the dinghy over to one of the remote islands. I walked around a bit there. They must use this area for parties and gatherings as there was an area with tables on the other side of the island on the protected beach.
Later that afternoon I made it out to the reef and started to do some snorkeling. I tried a couple of different areas. There was plenty of current out there today. I don’t remember that from the last time I was here. It could be caused by all of the weather we have been having here just pushing the water. I leave you with these pictures. For Father’s Day I was given a digital underwater camera. I thank Carolyn and the kids for the gift.
10/16/2009 We are having plenty of stormy weather here. We had thunderstorms all evening and night last night. It did clear enough to go out for one more snorkel this morning. I decided not to sit here through all of the weather and I would move north. I did get some more pictures to go with the ones from yesterday. Unfortunately no pictures of any sharks. I did see a shark here when I was here in June.
I sailed off the anchor this morning. With the weather the winds shifted a little more to the south that made for good conditions heading north. I was watching as the squalls were rolling in. The first one was south of me and I knew it would not be a problem, but there was a good one coming in ahead of me. I was hoping it would pass before I arrived, but not this time. Just as the wind started to hit, I decided to reef the main. It is the first time I have reefed since being back on the boat. I put in the second reef and we kept sailing along with no problems. Conditions were great. I was sailing 7.5 to 8.5 knots and no problems.
A second squall blew in and as before I did not see any winds above 25 knots. With the reef in No Rush just galloped along in all her glory. I had seen a sailboat on the horizon. Of course No Rush had to go after her. We ended passing the other boat within the hour and put another 45 minutes between us by the time we turned the corner to head into the bay at Bequai.
I am going to spend the weekend here and the plan is to take off Monday morning after clearing out with Customs and Immigration first thing in the morning. From there we will head north to St Barts, moving quickly. I do expect to night stop along the way.

10/12/2009 Grenada

10/04/2009 I took No Rush into the Grenada Yacht Club for the night. After she sat in Trinidad for three months her water tank was fouled. I put her in a slip for the night so that I could flush the tank several times and a slip is lot easier than hauling ten gallons of water at a time. I probably also spent less for a slip than all the fuel I would have used running back and forth.
10/05/2009 Today we moved over to Prickly Bay. I plan on bouncing around the south coast for the week. I want to see the Classic Cricket Match being held this Saturday. I been looking forward to seeing a match since last summer when my buddy Greg was talking about the game.
10/06/2009 There is plenty of social activities that are announced every morning on the cruisers net broad casted over the VHF radio every morning Monday through Saturday. This evening there is happy hour at D Big Fish. It is a fun bar that mixes great drinks. For entertainment tonight there was a three member band that played jazzy blues from one of the boats anchored in the bay. They were very good and it was fun to hang and listen to the music. Most of the rest of the time is cleaning or maintaining the boat. There is also time to read or watch movies.
10/07/2009 Today I took No Rush over to Clark Court Bay. I had spent an afternoon here the when I circumnavigated the island. There are four or five reefs with snorkeling available. When I was here I snorkeled the two inner reefs. The water was a little murky and wasn’t much better this time. Today I went out to the edge of the bay and went on three other reefs. The first was had a lot of wash from the waves and was murky, but I did see my first barracuda since being back on the boat. The second reef was on the opposite side of the bay and was clearer. This picture here is live white corals growing. It was like a field of them everywhere.
After I went back to the boat, there is what I thought was a sunken island. It was actually a reef also. It rose straight out of the depths of the bay to about three feet below the surface. This was not even marked on my cruising guide as a place to snorkel. It turned out to be the best snorkel in the bay. There were three large schools of fish and plenty of corals. Unfortunately I did not take my camera with me on this dive.
The other reason for coming over to Clarks Court was the happy hour scheduled there. It was hamburger night. That was ok, but it was the live music I was there for. They had a local playing the tin pan. He had a little computer that provided the background music and he played the tin pan. It was very good and what you expect of the Caribbean life.

10/08/2009 I motored over to Westerhaven Bay. I was looking for the owners of the same make of mine, Seawind 1000. I did not find there. They must have been off with customers for a day charter. I decided to head back t Prickly Bay. I was getting ready to cook a chicken dinner I had been planning for the last few days. But the best laid plans…. A couple of local fishermen came by with fresh caught lobster. I couldn’t turn that down. I had not had lobster since my second night in the Bahamas. I cooked him up on the grill along with a potato and corn. It was a meal fit for a king.
10/10/2009 Today is the day for the Cricket Match. I caught the bus to St George’s on Saturday morning. The streets are starting fill up for the weekend and I finally found out where the fruit market is located. It is just north of town, along the street by the main bus terminal and fish market. Still no pineapples to be found and I was told they are in season. I walked from the bus station to the national stadium. It is a three level stadium I believe built specifically for Cricket. I purchased my ticket, a whole $10.00EC or $4.00US. Not bad for a double header including the Old Timers game between The West Indies and The World. I will have to say I was expecting a bigger turn out for the match. It was probably only 10% of capacity.
The first game was the Old Timers and The West Indies Team won quite handily.
They are playing a version of Cricket known as 20/20. After watching two matches I believe I have the basics down.
There is a batter and a bowler, along with 9 other fielders. A batter is the player swinging at the ball and the bowler throws the ball, sort of like a pitcher in baseball. A big difference is that the bowler runs towards the batter to throw the ball.
The field is pretty much a circle and the ball can be hit anywhere including behind the batter. There is no foul ball in cricket. The batter is trying to protect his wicket. A wicket is three little sticks behind the batter. If the bowler can hit the wicket, then the batter is out. The batter can also be put out by a fielder catching a hit ball on the fly, our baseball term of a fly out. The third way is to be caught running between the wickets. If a fielder throws the ball to another fielder who can tang the wicket before the runner can make it safely to the wicket, then he is out.
An Over is a collection of six thrown balls. So the 20/20 is 20 Overs per team. That means there will be up to 120 thrown balls per side. The team that can score the most amount of points within the 120 throws or 20 Overs wins the match. The way to score is to hit the ball and run between the two wickets or there is a perimeter around the field. If the ball bounces or rolls to the perimeter and then goes over it, that is four points. If the ball clears the perimeter on a fly, then it is six points. One side plays offense for the whole 20 Overs then the opposing team plays it’s 20 Overs or scores more than the first team. That is Cricket in a nutshell. I am sure there is more to the game, but Cricket for Beginners. By the way, if you have a few beers, you can fall asleep watching cricket just like baseball.
The second match was between Grenada and Barbados. Barbados won quite handily using only 12 Overs to win the match. It was a more competitive match vs. the Old Timers. That was more like an All Star game in the US where it is high scoring and little defense.
I did have for lunch the national dish of Oil-down. It is a mixture of vegetables and meat with a heavy dose of saffron. That is where the yellow coloring comes from and it has stained the end of my fingers.
10/11/2009 Today is probably one of those days I should have stayed in bed or at least in-port. The good news is I am safe and there is no harm to No Rush. I started early this morning to sail to Carricaou on my way leaving Grenada and heading north. It had appeared the wind did shift a little to the north while I was on anchor.
I set my course on the chartplotter and took off. After I left harbor I was sailing along and had to do some work on the boat somewhere. All of the sudden I look up and I am within 50 feet of two rocks about a quarter of a mile off-shore. I was also in 12 feet of water. This is one of those nightmares that sailor dread, running aground on some rocks. I luckily missed the rocks and kept on sailing. You may say, “why did you not check your course of obstacles”. When I set my course, I walked through the whole course that was plotted and there are no obstacles. I stayed far enough offshore to avoid any shallows and other sorts. The problem lies in that I was sailing head to wind, which meant I was tacking and not staying to the projected course. In this type of navigating, I need to keep an eye on the surrounding and the chartplotter at all times.
The next issue for the day was that the wind did shift towards ENE to about 70 degrees. This meant that I was not going to be able to reach up the eastern shore of the island like the last time I sailed there. I had to tack across the southern part of the island then tack also up the eastern shore. This added many more miles of sailing. I ended up that day sailing and motoring a total of 64 miles when my projected course was on 38 miles.
The third issue was since I had all this extra sailing to do that I was not going to be able to make my destination by sunset. So I decided to stop at a small island on the north end of Grenada known as Sandy Island. I was there with 40 minutes of day light left. I tried to set the anchor and the bottom was so hard that I could not get the anchor to set. I tried several times and could not get it to set. The anchorage was not going to be comfortable either since the wind was out of the ENE.
The next issue started after that failed attempt. I decided to motor on to Carricaou. The problem with this is moving at night. I don’t have an issue with sailing at night time in open water, but it is dreadful to sail or motor at night near land. That is when most problems can happen. There could be other boats, rocks that can’t be seen, fishnets, fish traps, garbage, etc. I did make it to Carricaou, but I was going into an unfamiliar port that had many boats in it and many of them did not have any lights on. I stayed on the outer edge of the bay and was able to set my anchor after the second try.
The upside to the trip was that I was safe and sound and so was No Rush. I also made a pot of chili earlier in the afternoon and that sat well in my stomach on the three hour motoring through the evening.
10/12/2009 This morning I got up early and left Tyrell Bay and motored over to Sandy Island. This is a different Sandy Island from the day before. I spent the night here when I circumnavigated Grenada a week before. I just enjoyed being here. I now understand how a sailor can become locked into a location for a long period of time. Grenada has been that for me and it is a bit of a struggle to move on. I met a sailor in the bar one night and he was talking about his trip from the US to Grenada. It took him also three years to do the same thing I did in six months. He pulled into Luperon, DR and did leave for a year and a half.
Later that day I motored over to Hillsborough. This is the town that has a Customs office so I can clear out of Grenada on my way to The Grenadines. I can see Union Island from here and tomorrow’s journey should be an easy one to enter the Grenadines. I sat and watched my last sunset from Grenada and had a Carricaou Sunset. I know I have talked about that drink. It was a drink made up due to the need to finish off some mangos. When you buy mangos here, you usually get a bag of them. Then you need to figure out what to do with them. I have had mango pancakes, mango oatmeal and the Carricaou Sunsets. They are a mixture of rum (of course), tonic water or ginger ale, mashed up mango and a twist of lime. I good tasting drink that is good for you also with plenty of fresh fruit.

10/04/2009 Trinidad and Grenada

After being back on the boat for two and a half weeks I am finally sitting down and trying to catch up on my journal and updating the blog. I am amazed at how this is a habit that I enjoyed while on my trip and it does take effort to get the habit started again.

09/09/2009 There are a lot of nines in the date today. I am on my way back to the boat. I have plenty of flying time to get back. I have a 5 hour flight in JFK. I then have a eight hour layover and then catch a 1:00am flight from JFK straight into Trinidad. I was hoping to be able to get some sleep on the way into Trinidad, but the plane seats were tighter than my flight north and no room to stretch out.

09/10/2009 I arrived on schedule and made it through customs and immigration with no problems. My taxi was waiting for me. We arrived just in time for rush hour and the highway was packed. It gave me some time to catch up on my sleep. Me and the taxi driver almost switched positions as he had a late night and an early morning to pick me up. It felt good to be back in the tropics.
I made it back to the marina where No Rush is sitting patiently waiting for me. It was good to see her still on her stands and she was not bothered by anyone. It was time for clean up and getting her ready to float again. The activities included getting a paint job for the bottom, picking up the sails and sail cover, cleaning out the water tank, changing oil in the engines, scrubbing the decks, cleaning out the galley, putting the nets back on up front, mounting all of the canvas, charging the batteries, putting the battens back in the main sail, attaching the sails back up, putting the dinghy back together, running the motors, etc, etc, etc. I had basically five days to get all of this done, all the while getting used to the heat and humidity again. But it all was worth it that first night. It felt so good to sleep back in my bunk again, even if I was still on the hard.

I also fianlly got to the sink project I have been wanting to do. The sink sat on top of the counter and collected water which drained into cabinets below. I countersank the sink in the counter and did a new caulking job.

09/15/2009 Into the water she goes today. She is looking real sharp with her new bottom job. I believe I learned what my problem was when I painted her. I only used two gallons and she took four gallons of paint to get a good cover. When they power washed her it blew all of the paint off that I put on, but it did clean up nice. I anchored in the bay right off of the marina. Chaguramas is a major seaside port with plenty of ship repair and building. I saw three floating dry docks that had boats in and out all of the time along with personal yachts being built or refurbished. They also build oil derricks there. The down side is that the water is very polluted and the harbor is well protected from the trade winds and makes it a hot place without winds, especially during the night.

09/17/2009 After two days, I decided that I had seen enough of Trinidad and decided to sail on to Grenada. I checked out of Customs and Immigration and then pulled the anchor and went around to Scotland Bay to ready myself for a night trip to Grenada. I readied the dinghy by taking the motor off, put away the oars and packed everything in the cockpit as I do for any passages. I made a good dinner and around 8:00pm pulled the anchor and set the sails.
There was some risk in this little adventure as I had not even set the sails yet. I made an assumption that all of the electronics were in good working conditions and the rigging was still holding all in place. As the famous philosopher Captain Ron said “If anything is going to happen, it is going to happen out there boss”.
With those words I took off for a twelve hour sail across 80 miles of open water. The sail could not have been better. I had a steady 15-18 knots of wind and 8 knots of boat speed. It was a moonless and cloudless night and the stars were just incredible. The Southern Cross was in full bloom as was the Milky Way. As the night wore on, around 4:00am in the morning seems to be the darkest and the sky filled with even more stars. There were so many that I could not make out the Milky Way. It was like the heavens blotted out the dark with the stars.

09/18/2009 I had a wonderful sunrise. I don’t believe I even have seen a sunrise on the water when you could make out the sun on the horizon. Usually there is a sea haze that keeps the sun hidden until it raises above the clouds. My plans were to sail into Prickly Bay and check in at the remote Customs and Immigration station, but as I was sailing there I picked up the local cruisers net and was informed that the station was closed due to the concern with the influenza and I needed to go to the capital, St George’s to clear in at the office at the Grenada Yacht Club. That added an extra couple of hours sailing, but it was worth it. As I started to come towards the western shore, the water is so clear that I could see down 40 feet. Also I sailed past beautiful white beaches. I felt like I was home again on the boat. I can’t really describe the feeling.
On my way I passed the Grenada International Airport. You may remember this as the runway that President Reagan wrestled from the Cubans in 1983 or for you Clint Eastwood fans, Heartbreak Ridge. I anchored off of the point from the main harbor and got the dinghy already to go ashore. That took most to the morning as I needed a good nap after the all night sail. I really enjoy those night crossings.
I went ashore and went on the lookout for an ATM machine. You always need cash to get in and usually out of a country. After a half hour hike into town and back I found the Customs agent and the paper work was a breeze to get through.
While I was on my hike into town, I must have went past a school as all of the kids from different schools were walking into town or waiting to catch a public bus. Everywhere I have been since leaving the US, the students all wear uniforms. Each school has its own colors and styles. It is so neat to see the students in the uniforms and they are all well taken care of. There seems to be a pride in them, or maybe they just don’t know any different, but it really is cool to see.

09/22/2009 After a weekend of walking around town and getting a layout of the harbor, I went for the public transportation again. I am not sure why I waited so long because it is one of my favorite things to do on the adventure. There are buses that one regularly from St George’s to Tru Blue Bay. The cost is only EC$2.50 or US$1.00 each way. I was in search of a replacement motor for my dinghy. I have held it together with bailing wire and electrical tape for the last year.
I decided to break down and spend the money for a new motor because foreign boats do not have to pay any duty here. I found a 9.8 hp to replace my 6 hp with. I believe I might have only been getting 3 hp from it the way it has been running and I always had to pray before I pulled the starter that it would start. Sometimes it would and others it didn’t. I was would not go to far from No Rush in case I needed to row back.

09/23/2009 They delivered my motor to me at the yacht club and I took it out to the boat to set it all up. I mounted it and followed the directions completely. The motor started on the second pull. I needed to let it run in idle for 10 minutes as part of the break in period. Two minutes into the break in, the motor stopped. What’s with that? My old motor ran better than that. I pulled and pulled and it would not start. I then proceeded to take off the cover. I was hoping I wouldn’t have to do that until it was time to replace the spark plugs. I found that fuel was leaking from the fuel pump. Not a good sign. This was after the marina was suppose to do a thorough test and release of the motor before giving it to the customer. The upside was that I got to ride the buses again to go back to the marine store and discuss alternative plans with the manager. He offered to get me a new motor the next day.

09/24/2009 Nicolas showed up on time with the new motor. This time I decided to try the new motor while I was tied to the docks at the yacht club and run through the break in period. It started on the first pull and has run like a champ ever since. I had to do another hour of low speeds so I shuttled between the boat and yacht club hauling water at 10 gallons a time.
The local security guard asked me what my plans were with the old outboard. I had not thought it through as I expected to carry it with me as a back–up, but I don’t have much room and I would really be hard pressed to want to rely on it as a back-up. I ended up trading it to him for a bottle of Mount Gay Rum. He was happy and has since told me he has it running and I have a bottle of rum. Win-win deal for all.

09/26/2009 Today I pulled anchor at St George’s after landing there over a week ago. I sailed over to Mt Hartman Bay. It was a wonderful sail even beating against the wind. No Rush was in all her glory as I made it around the southwest point and headed east along the south shore. There was a chili dinghy raft up scheduled that day. I met Hal and Inga. They were hosting the chili party. There were about 10 dinghies tied together having a great time. It was real casual with people eating, drinking, chatting and swimming in no particular order.

09/27/2009 After a great evening anchored in Mt Hartman Bay, I pulled anchor and motored to Clark’s Court Bay. I was told there was very good snorkeling there. I tried a couple of the reefs and it was ok, but the water was churned up. I talked with another snorkeler and he said that the water was perfectly clear the last three days and the weather must have churned it all up. From there I motored over to St. David’s Harbour. I spent a night here on my way south to Trinidad. It is a nice quiet anchorage and I went ashore to the bar for a 2:1 happy hour and some really good onion rings.

09/28/2009 Today I sailed up the coast towards Carriacou. It is an island part of Grenada. It was another great sail. It took a couple of tacks, but it was just fantastic. I anchored Sandy Island. I made it in just before sunset, but in time for a sundowner. There was good wind there all night which kept it cool for sleeping.

09/29/2009 I went for a good snorkel first thing in the morning. There were some good fish, mostly small, but I did get to see a turtle swimming. I went towards it to get a picture and it shot away. That is the first time I have had a turtle scoot away. Usually they don’t mind if you swim along with them. I wasn’t able to get a picture, but here are some of the fish. My family got an underwater digital camera for me for Father’s Day and this is the first time I had been in clear enough water to get any pictures.

09/30/2009 Today I took a taxi from St George’s and got a tour of the island with a stop at Seven Falls to do some hiking in the rain forest. I hike towards the falls and came across a tour guide, Cliffon. I was only going to get to see the bottom two falls, but he took me to Honeymoon Falls also. I would not have been able to do it without him. He then dropped me off at the lower falls I swam around for awhile. He told me the other falls to see them, you had to hike to the very top falls and then jump down each of the falls as there was too much growth near the river. Being that I was wearing flip flops, he said there was no way to do that.
I also had another friend, Bruce. I petted this dog on the way in and he ended staying with me the whole way in and out. When I swam, he just hung out on the rocks waiting for me to leave. He earned an Oreo cookie for all his duties. On my way back from the falls it started to rain. Now this usually wouldn’t be a big deal, imagine rain in a rain forest. But this was the first time in my trips into any rain forest that it actually rained.
Afterwards the taxi driver took me through plantation country and saw, bananas, nutmeg, coffee, vanilla and cinnamon. Grenada exports a third of all the nutmeg in the world.

10/03/2009 This morning I went into town to do a little hiking around. I had not made it to the fort overlooking the harbor yet. This is Ft George, built in 1709. From up there I was able to get some great shots of the town. It was real quiet being a Sunday morning and totally relaxing walking through town not dodging any cars. Also pictured here are old style telephone booths and part of the local fishing fleet.