Leaving Grenada

Well staying in Calvigny cut we had a good routine going, each morning we started with either an hour of water aerobics or took an hour plus walk on the hills behind Le 

Phar Bleu marina. It always got us off to a good start and set up the days while we wait for the hurricane season to pass. 

The dogs that came with us on our walks

We have a lot of cruising friends here and it was no surprise to have a few more birthdays to celebrate. Michael on s/v Nauti Dog and David on s/v Seas the Moment both had birthdays and combined to have a party with friends. It was a great day at the house where David and Becky were care taking and lots of cruising couples showed up for a swim in the pool and the pot luck party. 

Pool  party

Birthday gathering

We also took several lunch time trips to our favorite eateries while we were back in Woburn Bay, the best being rotis made by Bernadette at Nimrods Rum shop.  I think we made it there once every week we were in the bay! We also took return trips to get ice cream at the supermarket and sat on the benches outside to enjoy a tub between us. 

Well not all is relaxing in the sun, we had a problem appear on the stern arch when a crack showed up on inspection. It was on the port davit arm and seemed to be growing. We have a friend who does welding in the bay so he came over to take a look. Silvio agreed it needed re-welding and  reenforcing. So we had to pull the wires from the arch to prep for the job, what a pain that 5 wires went through at the precise point we needed to weld! So we removed them and waited for Silvio to finish his current job. Well a few weeks later he called us and we moved Moosetracks alongside his floating workshop so he could weld the new cross bar and gusset as well as redo the original weld. All went well and in a few hours we were done. We moved back to our old sport and the following day rerouted the wires to connect the GPS, radar etc back up. Other minor tasks were completed including sewing new  sunshade for the rear of the cockpit. 

Silvio's shop

Silio welding

Towards the end of October the VHF net started to get lively with boats announcing there arrival from Trinidad and departure for points north. It was not long before anchorages started thinning out. In our anchorage Morgan was first to leave as he had crew and his cruising permit was up. A few days later on November 4th we left Calvigny cut to go north to Carriacou.

We love Carriacou and Tyrrel bay was a favorite with many as it was very busy. We met Hakan & Anna of s/v Unicorn and had several lovely walks with them and others. 

First walk

Not every walk was dry!

A rural scene on the second walk

Our second walk

We heard of a local film show debut which was called "Vanishing Sails" and is about the boat builders of Carriacou and their dying work. The film won awards at the Canadian film festival. It was a very interesting film and a great night, but boy the local dialect made following some of the sound track difficult.

We are not in a rush this year as we have been to a lot of the islands before so we could afford to stay a little longer and so we did. We managed another great Saturday at Ms Lucky's for BBQ and drinks and had a great night with Ed & Cheryl of s/v Slowdown and a couple of British guys Neil and Bob from s/v Lucy Ellen from Weymouth. The following day we all did a nice hike around the south of the island. 

At Miss Lucky's again

The last walk crew

The southern view from Carriacou

In a few days we will be off to Saint Vincent and the Grenadines to visit some new and old anchorages. 

Trinidad and Grenada

We had a wonderful trip to England and thankfully it was very relaxing as well because on our return to Trinidad we had a lot of work ahead of us. The haul out was primarily for the boat but we had taken the opportunity of the safe haven to leave for 6 weeks as well. But alas it catches up to you and we came back to Moosetracks to do what we needed when she is out of the water. 

The list of jobs included some major work like bottom painting and raising the waterline an inch then replacing the boot stripe which separates the bottom paint from the hull and is a contrasting navy blue. 

Sanding & prep work

A break with Steve for doubles

Prep the new water line

First bottom coat

 As well as this we wanted to refinish all the teak on the hand rails, eyebrows, toe rails and cockpit combing. We added all this up and estimated 4 weeks work if the weather was reasonably quicker if it stayed dry every day.

Prep for varnish

Varnishing

Varnishing in the heat

We had a few other yard maintenance jobs done by the marina as well so they recovered our captains chair, in a nice new ultra leather which came out beautifully, as well as replacing our 17 year old engine mounts that had sagged and lots elasticity. The yard does excellent work and both were to our satisfaction and well priced. 

Out with the old - engine mounts

Recovered nav seat chair

As it turned out it was about perfect for 4 weeks and it did rain several afternoons which gave us a bit of downtime to recover from the 90+ Fahrenheit temperature which had a feels -like of over 100 due to the humidity. We were so glad of the temporary air-conditioning unit we had rented on returning as inside the cabin we had 80F (27C) or less most of the time and it was a huge relief when stopping for lunch or at the end of the day. 

Yes did it rain some days!

Even little Poop got a bottom job

We had a few jobs up the mast so Steve lent a hand to get Devin to the top and fit the new wind instruments.

Pre flight discussion

Up we go

We did of course take a few evenings to relax with friends for BBQ's and musical nights as well as a birthday party or two.

Liz & Devin relaxing

Birthday party at the Wheelhouse Pub

Prior to our haul out our refrigeration had failed and we had spent a month without it in Tabago so before going back in the water we started up our fridge. Unfortunately the replacement controller wasn't the only problem and we needed to call 'Cold' Keate back again. He found a small leak in the evaporator and made a quick repair with epoxy. After this it did cool but could get down to temperature, after another visit we concluded the keel cooler which is normally under water was too hot and the unit would overheat and stop. So after testing the theory with a hose on the cooler we resigned to no fridge while on the hard in 90F temperatures! Still we managed to buy ice for our cooler and keep some cold drinks when we wanted them.

Well Moosetracks looks fantastic with her new bottom paint and gleaming hull and varnish so it was time to go back in the water. 

All Done

Looking great

We again had an uneventful ride to the dock and returned to the water after a touch up on the areas where she was standing on the ground blocks.

Final touch up

Off we go again

Devin holding his breath

Back in the water

We had hope to stay on the dock overnight to get our fridge running in the cold water but unfortunately an emergency lift was needed for boat taking on water in the harbor so we had to move. We found a mooring in the harbor free and took it for the night. The next day Keate came and did final adjustments on the fridge now it was working with the colder water on the keel cooler and we were set to go. 

Devin & Cold Keate

We said final goodbyes to our dockyards friends and checked out of Trinidad. We had a welcome surprise, new this year, that you can now check out 24 hours ahead so we made use of that and moved to Scotland Bay for a 1am departure.

White Chocolate at the music Jam

Liz, Maureen, Devin and Bill

Our crossing was fabulous, winds on the beam almost all morning and afternoon becoming close hauled towards landfall. I guess we should have kept a little more east than the rhumb line. Well we arrived at 3pm in time to check in but our neighbors told us customs had gone home early so we checked in the following morning with no issues. 

Fresh Mahi Mahi - Crossings don't get much better!

We settled in at Calivigny cut in Woburn Bay with our friends s/v Pipe muh Bligh and s/v Nauti Dog it was great to be among fiends again.
Grenada is very familiar to us having been here for over 4 months last year and before we knew it we were back into the cruising community and activities. We started noodling straight away at Hog Island with friends from last year and started walking with Morgan on s/v Nirvana as well as our other anchorage friends. We soon met s/v Minx with Mike and Cynthia who were good friends of Harry & Melinda of s/v Sea Schell one of our SSCA commodore sponsors.

Calivigny Cut. Woburn Bay

Devin in the dinghy

So here we are enjoying the wonderful spice island of Grenada with lots of our cruising friends and being able to relax, well until we realized we still had a few jobs to finish up the mast. Those done and 2 more popped up as we noticed a crack in the stern arch and a leak in the sea water strainer. Well it is a boat and stuff just wears out or breaks due to the harsh slat environment. We fixed the leak in the strainer easily once we found the parts but the stern arch needs a aluminum weld so our friend Silvio on s/v Blue Breaker will fit us in hopefully while we are here.


We also had the first Full Moon party of our return and boy what a fabulous one with an eclipse of the moon by the earth. A great night on Bengy beach with local bands and cruiser bands.

Nearly half there

Nearly full eclipse

A Blood Moon

So that's back to waiting on the end of hurricane season and the first of November when our insurance allows us to go north. 

Morgan's birthday party

Mike and Devin

We are planning most of the year in the windward islands but we will possibly go to St Martin for the duty free spirits and some replacement spare parts that are much cheaper to ship there or buy there. 

We hope all our family and friends are had a wonderful summer and have exciting plans ahead too.

Asa Wright

We decided it was time for a break from boat chores and along with Bill & Maureen of s/v Kalunamoo we took an overnight trip to the Asa Wright nature reserve.

This is a stunning setting of an old plantation house in the rain forest on the north of Trinidad. It is famous world over and has been visited twice by Prince Charles. 

THe plantation sitting room

The other side.

 The Agouties are very common here as hunting them is not allowed on the reserve. Otherwise these are a local delicacy and hunted by locals.

Agouti

 The specialty of the Nature reserve is birds. Lots of organized birding parties come here because of the abundant topical birds found here.

A lot of birds come to the feeders too

The veranda where we sat and watched hundreds of birds come and go.

On the veranda

The Tucan was only visible through that monocular

 We had a few walks in the vast rain forest too.

A cricket on the night walk.

On a trail with Bill & Maureen

On the trail with our guide Jessie

At the trail waterfall

We had a great relaxing trip and it was such fun to go with Bill & Maureen.

Morning Coffee on the veranda too.

We hope your summer is going well too.