Season 5

 And so season 5 has begun

We left Canada on October 15th, going via New York. Almost to the date in 2019 we were at the beginning of our adventure going through New York with our boat, petrified as we motored the Hudson River, passing by the statue of Liberty. The boat traffic was heavy, motor taxis everywhere. What a journey it’s been and still is. 

We arrived in Carriacou with 2 full suitcases of boat parts and other assorted luggage (i.e a lot of clothes, mostly mine 😁) after 8 months in Canada. Luckily for us, the airline didn’t lose our luggage and Customs didn’t give us a hard time with all our stuff.

Opening up the boat after such a long time can be a little stressful , you never know what to expect and in what condition it  will be in  while sitting on the stands, baking in the sun all those months. Will there be small creatures scurrying around, mold, water seeping  through thatches, dead and cooked batteries (oh so expensive to replace) or a multiple of other horrors.

We were pleasantly surprised to see how well the boat had faired. So now we needed to put the things back together, clean up, sand and paint the bottom with unbelievably expensive anti fouling paint before splashing. Piece of cake. A week or 2 at most to get ready.

Well in reality, it doesn’t work that way.

We splashed on November 1st.  While the boat was still in the slings, Mike boarded to make sure there were no leaks, then he’d start the motor and off we’d go to the anchorage. Motor wouldn’t start….and so it began…..

Eventually we got it started and off we went to anchor in the bay not far away.

Having promised our Danish friend, Kurt, that we would sail to Grenada and give him a ride so that he could pick up a friend at the airport, we now had a schedule which is a big no no if you’re a sailor.

Then the troubles begins ; The motor won’t even turn over, (Mike and Kurt tried everything under the sun) the head (also known as the toilet) won’t flush anymore, the navigation lights, which are crucial to night sailing are so dimmed that you can’t see them, the fridge doesn’t work anymore and the winds picked up so that we couldn’t put the sails back on….just to name a few woes.

Finally on the Saturday of our departure, the winds died down and at 6h30 in the morning we were able to put the last sail on, tried a new battery for the motor with no luck. 

We’ve never sailed in and out of an anchorage with sails only. Our friend was desperate to get to Grenada and had no more options, having missed the 5 am ferry and none on Sundays.Our friend  is an absolutely awesome, hardcore sailor, so with his guidance, we left under sails alone. It was a great day, great winds and speeds, we learned how to anchor without our motor. To say that I was stressed would be an understatement but I did have confidence in our friend. Do we want to do this again? Rather have a motor for this but doable if no other option.

Without a working motor, it makes things a little more worrisome. We dragged with our anchor on the second day and got a little close to our neighbor. All we could do is hope for the best that we stay put, not hit them in the night, and fingers crossed that they’ll leave soon. They did leave on the 3rd day but our boat was over their anchor…shit….pulled up about 50 feet of chain, Mike pulled the dinghy out of the way and we came to about 2 feet from them. Ouf!!! That could have been a bad day.

So here we are, in St George’s Grenada, trying to fix our mechanical /plumbing/electrical problems. 😳

We managed to pull out all the toilet hose (I will spare you the details), and install new ones. What a job!!. Whoever said it was a flexible hose lied 😂 you literally have to be a contortionist to thread all that hose behind seats, cabinets, walls. We got it done!

One ✔️ on a long list of things to do.

Welcome to paradise 🏝️⛵️🧉🍹

Cheers,

Mike and Pierrette

Arriving in New York City

New York City

Empire State Building 

View from our hotel in Grenada- ferry for Carriacou the next day

Anchorage Tyrell Bay, Carriacou

Best chicken in town - Ryan’s

Had been looking forward to this meal for months 

Sunset in the anchorage

Main Street, Tyrell Bay

Beautiful evening colors

Stayed at the  Coconut Inn for a few days in Tyrrel Bay

Heading away from the rain

Beautiful banana tree

Honah Lee heading back in the water 

Finally back in the water

Arrived in St George, Grenada 🇬🇩 with our friend Kurt 

St George’s harbor 

Colorful market, St George’s 

St George

Great sunset 

Mike’s rain catcher

St George’s