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.
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. 
No comments:
Post a Comment