Category Archives: Caribbean

Islands of the Caribbean including both windward and leeward islands

Sailors delight

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On our last sail day we had an early call with the hopes of making it all the way to Hog Island at the south side of Grenada. It was probably a 40+ mile sail, as the crow flies. We had great weather, perfect wind and were able to cut the motors and sail at nice pace of 6+ knots with some winds picking up and a little help from the sea we would hit 8-9 knots surfing down the waves. It really was a perfect way to wrap up our trip on the water.

We decided to tack around the island since we had not “tacked” the entire trip and managed to arrive at the precarious gap of what we thought was Hog Island. There are a lot of reefs, some marked and others not, a lot of wind and of course the seas but we managed to anchor in a nice spot only to realize we were in another bay, not Hog Island. Since we were anchored, we decided to stay and once we got settled we decided an exploration trip in the dingy was necessary. Mostly on a hunt to find beers for the boys. We discovered a little bar in our bay, but we wanted to go to Hog island so we were going to go around the reefs. On the first attempt, we made it around, but sort of realized that we were not going to make it across, so Matt got the oars out and paddled us to deeper waters. We headed back to the boat and on our way back saw a boat named “Texas Two Step” so we had to stop by to say “hello”. As it turned out they were from Astoria, Oregon but were nice as can be and informed us of a bar on Hog Island that had a great “pour” for only 5 EC. They said they were heading over there so we asked to follow them after we returned to the boat to turn on our mooring light and grab some flash lights. Unfortunately they saw a storm coming and couldn’t wait for us, we tried a second time to go over there, but with the rain, bad visibility and reefs we turned around again.

Not all a total loss as Matt cooked up Charlie and it was fabulous. Of course he actually cooks mine and blackens it to where you wouldn’t know it was fresh tuna, but I loved it that way 😉

Rolly anchorage, but nice and quiet

Precious

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Most everyone who reads our posts realizes that Matt writes under “Christine”, still not sure why, but this is really Christine. Today was the reason why I fell in love with sailing. A neighboring boat came to greet us. They were from Cali and Lake Tahoe, super nice folks. Mike owns place called Mountain Mike’s and has a Santa Cruz 50. It was fun showing off the Sugar Shack, but I would have loved to have cleaned up a bit! Poor Wayne had to drag himself and his hangover out of bed before our new friends descended on his cabin, but we enjoyed swapping stories and sharing ports.

We had a perfect downwind run from Petite St Vincent (a new island for us) to Carriacou. We could have run the spinnaker, but with a short run we opted for the jib and managed to pull 6-7 knots out of 10-12 knots of wind. It was lovely and I took full advantage by laying out on the deck and watched the flying fish and islands pass by. Loved today, it was perfect sailing. It is all about the journey, not the destination. So different from my land life!

We arrived to the island of Carriaciu and Matt cleared us into the Country of Grenada only to find out it is a holiday today, Witt day (not what we celebrate as Memorial day) I need to look that one up! Anyway, as Matt made lunch I sailed us in to Salt Island with 20 knots of wind. The first mooring ball had no painter or “eye” so we moved to the next one and easily captured it and secured our bridle. Wayne is good with the “hooker”!

Nice lazy project day. Slept a little, drank a little, finished up some projects on board (fixed bow, port lights, cushions, and port rear cabin fan-Matt is so darn handy) and watched the marine services check other mooring balls (nice to know they do this as we saw 2 moorings give way in January). It was interesting that they spent so much time “talking” or working on a holiday, but they were nice enough and collected the 25 EC fee for the mooring ball.

Matt has not been blogging as much as usual as I have been hogging the iPad for email, work, and reading. But he had a shot of me sewing new helm leather covers. The port side went on great, only took about 4+ hours to stick hundreds of stitches around the wheel. The Starboard side sucked! The company sent me two different widths, even though the package said they were for 1″ wheel, it did not fit, after hours of stretching, blisters, and soaked leather we just sewed it on for the time being. It stinks knowing I will have to rip out all,those threads and replace it in December, but what you can you do?

Matt made a great pasta with chicken and veggies as I cleaned up some cabinets. Some how we got the freezer to make ice, it had been on the fritz, and Wayne made me some blended drinks with our left over bananas and raspberries-yum!

Cool breeze flowing thought the boat, no emails to work on, full belly, and lots of stars out! Boys are playing dominoes without me so I need to hop off.

Thank God for this blessed day!