Union Island - Can You Hear Me Now?

No good deed goes unpunished. Kevin caught an ear infection from snorkeling last week. We think it started while we were at the sculpture garden, but Kevin jumping in the water to look at the charter boat's anchor probably didn't help any. So for the past few days he's been in pain and unable to hear out of his left ear. The Tobago Cays doesn't have any town or even any buildings, so for the first few days we just tried giving him some expired and not-quite-expired antibiotics from our medical stash. Not surprisingly, that didn't help much. After four days with little change we decided to head back over to Union Island where we knew there was a pharmacy and hoped there was a doctor.

We managed to find "our" anchor spot (we've been here three times now and this is the only spot in good sand, with decent wifi access and no moorings around to swing into) and drop the hook. Lucky. Not so lucky was the monohull on a mooring two boats away. A charter catamaran had anchored so that there was maybe two boatwidths between the two boats and the cat kept swinging wildly (the sillies didn't have the bridle on) and coming within 2-3 feet of bumping into the monohull. We watched this in amazement for about 15 minutes (there were people on both boats, both aware of the problem) but rather than wait to see how things turned out we decided to seek medical attention for my ailing husband.

For any boating folk reading this, Erika's Marine Services is one of the friendliest and most helpful local businesses we've come across in the Caribbean. Their main mission is to help cruisers, whether it's with internet access, shipping or receiving mail, laundry, or a free book exchange. In our case they were able to give us the mobile number of the local doctor so that we could make a phone call. Sure enough the doctor was in and could see Kevin right away. The clinic is on a hill overlooking the bay and probably has the best views in town (see the photo we posted). We were greeted by a friendly lady and saw the doctor within five minutes. He was a pretty young-looking guy, but knowledgeable, and he took the time to explain what he saw (yep, the ear was infected, no surprise there). He gave Kevin a prescription for some unexpired medication and some antibiotic eardrops. He explained that there was only one pharmacy in town and gave us typical Caribbean directions: "Down de road. Ask anybody, dey show you where it is".

So we walked back into town, inquired at one of the mini-groceries, and were escorted to the pharmacy by a nice-mannered kid. Despite the shelves lined with Nerve Tonic and Heart Elixir (kidding about the Heart Elixir, not kidding about the Nerve Tonic) we found the pharmacy to be first-rate and the lady pharmacist explained the medications to Kevin in hushed tones while I studied the shelves of island souvenirs. So now hopefully Kevin is on the road to recovery! Over lunch in town we decided we'll probably spend New Year's here; the weather forecast doesn't look great for getting to Mustique like we'd hoped, and we've already been invited to a tempting buffet bash at one of the local restaurants. By the time we got back to our boat, the monohull and the poorly anchored charter catamaran were gone, hopefully both were unscathed.

Where we are:
Location=Union Island, SVG
Lat=12 35.777
Lon=61 24.799

Tobago Cays - A Caribbean Christmas

Merry Christmas, everyone! It's been a quiet couple of days on the boat. In the anchorage there have been a few other boats with Christmas lights on at night, so it's been nice to sit outside in the evenings with the full moon and the twinkly lights on. The weather's been great -- hardly any rain and not too hot during the day (low 80's). The so-called "Christmas Winds" have kicked up so there's a good breeze all day long, and we are getting plenty of power from the wind generator, which has been spinning like crazy for three days.

Santa Claus brought Kevin some flashy fishing lures and Stephen Colbert's book "I Am America (And So Can You!)". I received some cooking DVD's (Iron Chef America, Anthony Bourdain's "No Reservations") and a Sansa ipod-type thing. It is the size of an eraser (the square pink ones that gradeschool kids use) and holds 2GB of music, about 300 songs. In the course of contemplating what to put on it, I've been thinking about what music I'd bring if I were on a deserted island. After all if you ignore all the other sailboats, and the boatboys, and the day-charter tourists, we are kind of all alone on a deserted island (three or four islands, in fact). So if I could only pick, say, ten songs to put on my mp3 player, what would they be? Definitely the Beatles' "We Can Work It Out". Also "Train in Vain" by the Clash, "Dancing in the Moonlight" by King Harvest and "Come Dancing" by the Kinks for sure. Possibly Big Audio Dynamite's "Rush". But from there everything falls into a gray area -- there are too many good songs out there! Would I rather have Stevie Wonder's "Superstition" or "Driver 8" by R.E.M.? Decisions, decisions. This may call for some audience (email) participation: if you were stuck on a desert island and could only pick ten songs to listen to, which ten would you pick?

While we were opening presents, we had "A Christmas Story" on in the background. "You'll shoot your eye out, kid." I was tempted to put the DVD on in repeat mode, a la TBS, but you can only watch Randy eat like a piggy so many times before you get a little grossed out. Speaking of eating, we had a semi-traditional Christmas dinner: stuffing, mashed potatoes, and roast beast. Actually just kidding about that last part. The IGA was fresh out of roast beast when we shopped last week. So we barbecued up some hickory-sauced baby back ribs instead. Mmmmm...Christmas!

Tobago Cays -- It Pays to Be Nice

Motoring into the anchorage at the Tobago Cays, we could see that the spot we'd taken when we were here six months ago was unoccupied. We were surprised that the anchorage was a lot less crowded than we expected, maybe 20-30 boats here -- about 60% charter boats and the rest cruisers, although most of the cruisers we know are in Bequia, or Clarke's Court (Merry Christmas Chris & Barb!), or in Antigua (Merry Christmas Linda, Steve, Paul & Ginette!). So we dropped our hook next to the same derelict trimaran (that has been there so long it shows up on Google Earth) and let out the chain. We were in maybe 10 feet of water, far enough in front of all the other boats that there was nothing within a 300-foot radius of us. Nice. As we prepared to back down, we saw a man on the bow of the Moorings charter catamaran behind us, scowling. (We assumed he was scowling; he was too far away to tell for sure but his body language spoke volumes.) We have occasionally needed to use the old "stink eye" when someone anchors too close, so we recognized it right away, regardless of the distance. We were totally puzzled as to why he'd be upset; although we were anchoring in front of them we really were a pretty good distance away. But soon he was joined by a woman and they both began to make angry gestures and shout about their anchor. We couldn't hear them since we were upwind of them, so we waved our VHF around and asked them to call us on the radio, which they did. The man was very upset and informed us that we had anchored "right on top of his anchor". Kevin eyeballed the distance between our boats again and calmly noted, "hmmm, we are about 300 feet in front of you; I'd be surprised if your boat has that much rode" (charter boats usually have minimal equipment, including minimal anchor rode). But the guy persisted, saying that it looked more like only 150 feet max and that he'd let out a lot of rode because last time they were here the wind really kicked up. So Kevin generously offered, "Tell you what: I'll jump in with the snorkel and take a look, and if we're on top of it, we'll move." (If you can tell, we've been infected with the Christmas spirit. Actually we are hoping to be on Santa's "nice" list this year.) So we finished backing down, put the bridle on, and Kevin jumped in the water and started swimming towards the other boat.

It was a long way away. By the time Kevin finally got over there, I'd stopped paying attention. Besides I couldn't hear anything anyway. But Kevin found their anchor about 60 feet in front of them (meaning 250 feet behind us). He hovered over it and signaled to the guy that that was the location of the anchor. Poor guy was incredibly embarrassed and apologized profusely. Kevin very kindly reassured him that sometimes it's hard to gauge distance when there's nothing between you but water. (Are you getting all this, Santa?) Turns out Ron and his wife are from Connecticut and here on charter for Christmas. They chatted for a while and then Kevin swam back and said how sorry the guy was. It was an honest mistake if you are not used to anchoring (and being anchored in front of) every day. Anyway the couple felt so bad that later in the afternoon they dinghied by with Christmas presents: some snacks and bottles of juice from their provisions. Pretty nice! (Thanks, karmic Santa!)

So despite it being 82 degrees and sunny, we are trying to make the most of Christmas. Last night we watched the "Rudolph" tv special (My favorite line: "Eat, Papa, eat!") and played Christmas music while I baked some oatmeal cranberry chocolate chip cookies. "Eat, Kevin, eat!"

Where we are:
Location=Tobago Cays, SVG
Lat=12 37.771
Lon=61 21.362

Petit St. Vincent - SVG

On Friday we motorsailed up the coast of Grenada to check out the new rigging before leaving the country (it was a successful test, meaning that the mast is still standing so the new rigging must be doing it's job, right?) We anchored in Grand Mal Bay which is just south of the Moliniere Bay underwater sculpture park. We took the dinghy to the park and there was already a dive boat there. We saw two moorings, a big white one and a small red one. We headed for the smaller one and as we got close we realized it was moving and was attached to a group of divers below. Oops. With a sheepish look at the guy captaining the dive boat, we tied onto the white mooring. Anyway, the sculpture park: a few years ago an artist came to Grenada and made a bunch of sculptures to be installed underwater. Over time the sculptures change as different varieties of coral and other sea organisms grow on them. They were pretty interesting, the most impressive was a huge circle of people standing and holding hands. We also saw an enormous stingray "guarding" one of the sculptures and eyeing us warily. Anyway, it was nice to do one last bit of sightseeing before we left the country.

Saturday was a long day. We were up at six and made it to Union Island (part of St. Vincent and the Grenadines) just after lunch. While I stayed with the boat in the crowded anchorage, Kevin went ashore to pick up our mail and clear us into the country. There was a wifi hotspot so I also uploaded a few photos and a video of our snorkel adventures from Friday. Then we upped anchor and motorsailed over to Petite Martinique to top up on fuel and load up on duty-free liquor (Kevin even picked up a bottle of champagne for New Year's). Finally, we motored over to Petit St. Vincent and anchored off the resort beach (the whole island is owned by the resort). Kevin fixed pina coladas and we watched the sun go down. As we fell into the bunk, exhausted, we could hear the strains of steel pan music coming from the outdoor restaurant at the beach. Not a bad way to end the day.

Where we are:
Location=Petit St. Vincent, SVG
Lat=12 32.076
Lon=61 23.125

Grenada - Moliniere Bay

On the way out of Grenada, we stopped at the underwater sculpture garden at Moliniere Bay. It was very cool and worth a stop. There are bettery photos at the artist's website: http://www.underwatersculpture.com

Grenada Farewell

If all goes well today will be our last full day in Grenada. The quick haulout for the survey went well yesterday -- we were in the slings at 9am, Bob the surveyor was able to do his thing, Kevin scraped the unwanted barnacles off the hull, paid the bill for hauling (yay -- cheaper than expected!), and we were back in the water and anchored again by 10:30 am. A half-hour later the owner of the rigging shop came by to quality-check the work Wayne had done. He made a few small adjustments and said to come by the shop for the bill after lunch. Which we did, and were again given a bill that was cheaper than quoted -- score! Although maybe it was compensation to Kevin, who spent two days working almost as hard as Wayne, hoisting him up and down the mast. (Usually the rigging guys work in teams of two but since we wanted the job done as fast as possible, Kevin had to pitch in!)

Today the plan is to clear out of customs and immigration. Then tomorrow we will leave early and head up to Union Island to clear into St. Vincent and the Grenadines in time for the holidays. We're looking forward to being on the move again.

Prickly Bay, Grenada - We're outta here

[Kevin's Post]Before we leave Grenada we thought we'd squeeze in one more haulout (that's #6 for those of you keeping track). And let's replace all the rigging too. Actually neither of these were by choice. Our insurance company informed us when we renewed that we needed to have an out of water survey before 2/28/08 (the 3rd anniversary of our last survey). I knew they required a survey less than 3 years old to renew, but I figured since ours was less than 3 years old at renewal time we were good until the next renewal. I was wrong. oops. Sure would have been nice to take care of this a couple months ago while we were out of the water for 3 weeks. I had a surveyor come out last week and begin the survey, tomorrow we haul (at the other Grenada boatyard - take that Grenada Marine!) so he can inspect the bottom. He said our rigging was too old (the wires that hold up the mast) and that he couldn't sign off on it. So he suggested I have an independent rigging inspection. I had some rigging guys come out and the rigging guys agreed with the surveyor that it should all be replaced. Oh good, everyone agrees I should spend more money. Replacing the rigging on a boat is one of the most expensive things you can do short of replacing an engine, but fortunately it is a heck of a lot cheaper to do down here than in the US. So when I got the estimate, my only question was "How fast can you do it". We moved the boat from the marina to Prickly Bay this morning so we could anchor right off the rigging shop and Wayne the rigger has already been up the mast 5 times today (more times than I have in the past 3 years). Replacing the rigging while in the water is an exciting process. Basically they remove one shroud at a time supporting the mast with halyards. Then the riggers dinghy the wire back to the shop to reproduce it. They bring the new one to the boat and install it. They've already replaced the headstay and shrouds (3 of the 5 wires), tomorrow they will replace the diamond (the other 2) and then it's done and we can get outta here. The cost of 5 wires: $2850.

Where we are:
Location=Prickly Bay, Grenada
Lat=12 00.035
Lon=61 45.837

Grenada -- Drive on the LEFT!

In preparation for leaving Grenada (yeah, I know it seems like we never will but Kevin tells me we are leaving and he's the captain, so...) we rented a car so that we could stock up here at the great IGA supermarket. We wanted to pick up things that we aren't likely to find in any of the mom & pop shops on some of the smaller islands -- things like Frank's Red Hot (mmm...chicken wings), and fancy stuff like hearts of palm, capers, and dried shiitake mushrooms (I have no idea what I'm going to do with them, but what the heck -- put them in the cart anyway!) After taking the bus everywhere, driving a car here was a bit of a shock. As we left the marina and started to turn onto the main road, Kevin hit what he thought was the turn signal. The windshield wipers went berserk (turn signal is on the RIGHT side of the steering wheel in Grenada!) and we sat there on the wrong side of the road with a jeep bearing down on us while I gestured frantically to the left shouting "That side, THAT side!". No harm done, Kevin got the wily wipers under control and fortunately that was our only mishap while driving despite the multitude of obstacles that Grenadian roadways present. It could be a video game -- "Mario Kart" meets "Frogger". Two things to keep in mind while playing the game: 1. Always drive on the left, and 2. Be prepared to slam on the brakes at any moment. You drive along narrow, curvy roads avoiding small elderly women, wandering goats, men with machetes, and every once in a while the car in front of you will hit the brakes and slam it into reverse to pick up a passenger, say hi to a friend, or just to mess with the carload of tourists behind them. (This happened no less than four times today). It's a fun game, really.

We rented the car for two days and got all the errands out of the way yesterday so today we had planned to explore the Grand Etang National Forest and do a little hiking. Unfortunately about 1000 other people (it was a cruise ship day) also had the same plan so we arrived at Grand Etang and were surrounded by aging British tourists standing around sipping $10 cups of juice and being hustled by 30 spice merchants all trying to sell them the same necklace made of nutmeg. We explained to the lady at the admission gate that we'd been living in the country for five months and happened to pick the wrong day to come enjoy the scenery. She just laughed. But we hopped back in the car and headed up the road a ways to Seven Sisters Falls where we had a much more secluded (and strenuous) hike down into a gorge with two good-sized falls (the other five were a longer and even more strenuous hike away, so we just saw the first two). We had the waterfalls all to ourselves. Well, pretty much to ourselves. A local kid and professional "jumper" (see our Annadale Falls post) was there to give us some information about the falls (but primarily to jump from the heights for a small "donation", which we gladly gave). Cliffon the Cliffjumper seemed to scale the sheer face of the rock before jumping the 35 foot first fall, and then he took a running jump off the second fall (take a look at the videos, but don't try this at home. If you have a waterfall at home, that is.). Kevin swam in the pool (too cold for me) and the hike back was grueling -- it's always easier to hike down to the waterfalls than to hike back up to the car. Anyway, it was nice to get out and see something of Grenada other than the marina bar and the grocery store. Although after our hike we did stop at the grocery store for a few last-minute items. Oh, and we did hang out at the marina bar for karaoke night.

Grenada - Back on Board

I've been back in Grenada for two days now. Meanwhile my baggage has been on a bender in San Juan Puerto Rico -- doing tequila shots, dancing to salsa, and downing way too many margaritas. For me the trip back to the boat was uneventful but long. I was originally scheduled to fly through O'Hare on Tuesday morning but Ice Storm 2007 put the kibosh on that, so I was rerouted through Dallas where I spent the night. In San Juan the next day I arrived at the gate only to hear that the flight was "overweight" and they were asking passengers to voluntarily give up their seats for a $350 credit and a seat on the next Grenada flight. There's only one flight to Grenada each day so they didn't get too many takers and the next step was to bump people. I was fortunate to already have a seat assignment, because out of 60 or so people booked on the flight, only the 43 with seat assignments were allowed to board. After the plane landed, I filled out a missing baggage form and headed to the marina, where Chris, Barb & Kevin were hanging out waiting for me and watching "Deal or No Deal" on satellite. It's now 9am on Friday morning and my baggage just arrived in a taxi, looking bedraggled and hung over but none the worse for the wear. I'm gonna let it sleep it off before unpacking.

Grenada - It's beginning to look a lot like . . .

[Kevin's Post] This will be our first Christmas on the boat, so I wanted to do it right. I bought a bunch of lights while I was in Phoenix and carted them all the way to Grenada. These are LED lights and draw almost no power, its great. We have 3 strings of lights up and all of them combined are 12 watts. That's less power than our anchor light consumes. So we'll be able to run them at anchor which will be fun.

Kazakhstan

[Kevin's Post]I was enjoying my last night in a real bed back in phoenix when I got woken by a call from the Citibank credit card fraud department. It's not unusual for me to have charges from several countries at the same time on my credit card so I get these calls all the time. The recording asks you to verify your last 5 charges, and they have always been my own. But this time one of the charges was for $950 at a bakery? I think I would have remembered that one. So I punch the button that takes me through to customer service. The nice lady with customer service asks me if I have been traveling. I tell her that I have. Then she says that there were two charges of about $950 each from a bakery in Kazakhstan. I tell her I buy my bread locally. She suggests that the charges might be fraudulent. I tell her that I think she's probably right. So she cancels my card and now the people of Kazakhstan need to find a new way to fund their sandwich supplies.

I'm back in Grenada now after 24 hours of travel and 4 plane rides. My flight from Dallas to Puerto Rico was diverted to Atlanta due to a medical emergency, but miraculously I still made my connection in San Juan with about 10 minutes to spare. Even more amazing, is that my bags made it too. I still don't know how they managed that. It took about an hour for me go through customs in Grenada and they actually looked through my bags this time. They charged me 5% of the value of the items as best they could figure out ("No, sorry I don't have a receipt for that either. I think it was about $10."). This was the "duty free" rate since I had boat paperwork to show I was bound for a yacht in transit. Back at the marina I was pleasantly surprised to find that the bar was still open and decked out with Christmas lights. I enjoyed a frosty Carib with Chris & Barb (Moonsail) before lugging my bags back to the boat and collapsing in bed.