Ya just never know. Will it float? Will it start? What will it look like? Did the boat yard do all the things they said they would? Are they done? Will the credit card go through?

What a day, without Wayne and Christine working together, we would never make this happen.

As is par for the course, we (er, I) tied one on last night or basically all day. That first class free drinks is a killer! Up before the sun however, and raring to go I was going to hike the trail to the boat yard from the hotel, but got thwarted as Christine wanted to go too, and then Wayne. By the time that they were ready so was are courtesy shuttle, so we took that.

Before noon we were ready to be put in the water, they call it ‘splash’. We dressed the boat, put the main sail up, attached dingy, put the outboard on the dingy, unpacked and settled up with the yard. We took a break, Christine went back to the hotel to grab our bags and they had just caught a fresh tuna, so she brought Wayne and I a delicious tuna sammich for lunch. Not sunkist, a slab of tuna on sammich, yum yum yum! Just what the hang over needed. We sat at the boat yard grill and had a couple cold drinks and waited for our 2pm splash time.

Did I say how much that main sail weights? I can barely lift it without the battens in it. We are getting better at putting it on, only took about 2 hours to get it and the sailbag all situated. As with anything boat, it always takes 3x to get it done correctly.

Martin our canvas guy at Turbulence, LTD, rocked it, we have some nice window shades for storage, and a new dingy cover to keep the sun at bay. The paint guys at Grenada Marine did a wonderful job on the aluminum that we had fixed. There was a small communication break down on the bottom job, they thought we had approved it so they were sanding the bottom this morning. The problem is that if they were to do the bottom job we would not be in the water till friday, just about the time we have to pick up Christine’s sister and family. Its all good they didn’t have Red bottom paint anyway, we will have St Lucia do the bottom job and order the red paint that Christine wants.

Shortly after 2pm we could hear the beeping of the travel lift coming our direction, a couple last minute washes and engine checks and and they picked up the Shack and hauled it down to the waters edge. Its amazing to see the travel lift pick up the boat like its a toy, course that is what it is.

They dropped it in the water and there were no leaks. Yippie. Port side engine didn’t want to start so we jumped it off the house batteries. I’ve known that starting battery is on its last legs, so we’ll replace it soon. All the rest went off so smoothly The wind was at the perfect direction to pull out of the concrete pier, and just like that we are moored out in the bay.

Now that we are in the water, the fridge and freezer can be turned on. They only work when the boat is in the water as the water is what cools the coils on fridge coils. So back to shore with the dingy and it too started without issues, other than the difficult steering. I brought a grease gun and hopefully that will ease that. Christine called out taxi guy, and we were off to the IGA to get some food. Lots of food, this time we are having 7 people on board, so we stocked up. Not nearly enough alcohol, but we’ll find that along the way. It took 2 dingy trips to load all the food on the boat, and at least an hour to put it away.

We went back ashore while the beers chilled and had beer at the bar, and hoped to get dinner there too, but the kitchen was closed. So we just checked email and had a cold beverage or 2 and then back to the boat for a bite to eat.

A quick sammich and sleeve of pringles (our vacatation treat) and just like that we are passed out. Its 10pm and we are worn out. I stayed up to put up the internet antenna and enjoy the nice cool evening on the bow as we just swing gently on the mooring ball.

Tomorrow, we’ll see what we feel like. Maybe up the east coast of Grenada or back around south and up the West coast, no particular place to be till the 23rd.

Cheers ya’ll.

Paradise found!

The day we arrived we were showered with a heavy duty rain/wind storm. It was surprising how windy it was and it made me nervous knowing it would only get worse as the season gets going. We were only at the front of the yard, I had not seen the back part of the yard where the cats were stored so I was a bit nervous. It was a big storm that faded after about an hour, long time for island squalls.

This morning for haul out we had perfect weather, little breeze and calm seas which made it a little less challenging to squeeze our 26′ wide boat into this cement slip in order to get hauled out. Matt drove up to the slip, turned her around and then expertly “walked” her over to port to glide her in effortlessly into the slip backwards. Of course it looked effortless to me as all I had to do was toss the stern line and then the spring line and then hold a fender on the side between the boat and cement. But it went really well, the entire team, of about 6 men at Grenada Marine took great care of our boat! The lift drove our boat (photos to come) all the way to the back of the yard, head first facing a nice protective berm! I was thrilled with our placement and so impressed with the chalking process! Our insurance broker will be happy to see how protected we are!

The rest of the day was spent delivering food, donating items, doing 5 loads of laundry, and cleaning until my hands were raw. The boys had to suffer in the heat while they removed the very, heavy main (maybe our next one with be lighter, like Kevlar). We were all hot and took a break to eat some tasty ribs and fries then back to work. We met Gary and his wife on Sol Surfer and chatted them up about our sail bag and insurance broker. After a very long day, we headed to our hotel, La Sagesse.

The owner, Mike picked us up from the yard’s little bar, a nice free perk of the hotel, and brought us to this lovely little oasis on the next bay over. We were told we could walk through the bushes and over the hills but with the luggage and our lack of energy we opted for the ride. This hotel has 22 rooms, a manor with 12 and then two other buildings. It is incredibly lush, very tropical and on its own beach – less than 30 feet from every room. Yes a gorgeous, lean, sandy beach! It has gorgeous twisty palm trees, flowers and smells that delight all your senses. We showered, a nice long hot shower and headed to the restaurant. We could not be more pleased with the atmosphere, the open setting on to the beach, the amazing food, and helpful staff. We met a really nice cruising couple from Germany and shared lots of stories well into the night. Our room is called Ted’s room, named after Mike’s dad, and it has a loft overlooking the beach and great space. We will certainly come back here as it is a bit of paradise.

Thank goodness for great charts, our Garmen (well, Wayne’s) and the guidebook to tell us how to safely navigate to this bay, lots of reefs, Grenada is a rocky little island, with a lot of reefs, with not many sandy beaches that we’ve seen so far. We motored from our bay the previous night as the wind was on our nose and found St David’s bay. It is a nice rolly bay with a good breeze. At first glance my impression of our new yard was not all that. But they have a lift large enough to haul our baby out, which is hard to find and they come highly recommended for rigging work. We went ashore to walk around and were greeted by a lovely bar/restaurant right on the shore peppered with palm trees and friendly people. We ordered some beverages and I went off to find Raquel, the office manager to let her know we had arrived.

Today was just an short excursion ashore as we had a lot of work to do to decommission the boat. The boys removed the jib, cleaned out the anchor and line lockers and worked on the exterior as I worked on removing perishable foods and items to be donated. Packing started and sorting of laundry too. The cleaning then kicked into full gear with striping the beds, wiping down all of the interior walls, cabinets, and floors. Storing items in closets and cabinets and more cleaning – mostly salt water residue and my hair! We finished our day with the last of Charlie and again a yummy meal to conclude our productive day!