IMPORTANT NOTE: We changed our mobile phone contracts before leaving the UK and are now no longer able to receive text messages (which was not something we realised). We are not ignoring you! Please use e-mail instead to contact us. Thanks.
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Monday morning and we are up very very early…. Had to leave the hire car in the car park and had a cab coming for us at 7.30 am. We have already reserved a marina slip – not a great one to be fair – but it will suit our purpose. So off we go quite nervously anticipating the launch day ahead.
When we arrived in the boat yard we were disappointed that no-one was around to finish off the anti-fouling. We still needed the hurricane cradle struts removed and new ones put in place so that they could prime and paint the spots that had been missed. Well – nothing happened – and we are now in a position where the paint will not have time to dry between coats and being launched. So we head off to the office and they say they will launch us later in the afternoon. Not happy with that – there is supposed to be eight hours between last coat and ‘splash’ for optimum ablative paint performance. So we have a bit of a debate and decide that it is probably in our own best interests to get them to finish the paint today and splash Tuesday morning instead. So we organise this with the boatyard, extend our hotel stay and reschedule our arrival into Le Phare Bleu marina too. Phew…. Oh hang on, we haven’t got any transport to get back either! Oh dear…
The ‘boys’ have now gone for lunch so we headed into the boatyard restaurant – Richard wisely went for the local special of beef stew but I madly went for the fish….which was absolutely disgusting. I am a bit particular about fish and it was just too strong for me – Richard tried a bit and wouldn’t have eaten it either. So decided best thing to do was to feed it to the boat dogs – had a particular favourite who came by every day, so enjoyed some cupboard love!
Anyway we decide to hang around for the rest of the day to check that all the paint is done and finished before we leave and then organise for Blendon the taxi driver to come back to collect us. Unfortunately it was late again by the time we left so we missed our final chance of seeing Pam and Glen before they flew home for Christmas. Shame….
On the way back to the hotel, Blendon could sense that we were tired, very very hot and a bit fed up with the whole thing, so suggested we visit a rum shop on the way back. Which was a great experience sitting by the side of the road watching the world go by enjoying a couple of very cold beers. A really welcome break! Arriving back at Le Phare Bleu we were both so shattered we just had showers and went to bed – would you believe by 8 pm!!!!
Tuesday morning up very very early again and Blendon was back for a 7.30 am pickup. Full of anticipation and a bit nervous about what was to come as we have never launched Morphie before and getting her out of the water was pretty stressful! Well…anyway….we got there in good time and then waited, and then the heavens opened, and we waited again. Did some useful stuff like checking all Y valves and fresh-water flushing the diesel engine to ensure it would run freely. Finally we heard the beepers of the travel lift coming towards us and we had to get off of Morphie for the last time on land – with both of us giving her a quick hug.
All mooring lines and fenders were ready and now we just had to stand around and watch her being got ready and lifted for splashing back into the sea. Sooooo nervous! Quite a spectacle….
Finally she is in – we climb back on board from her stern – and we throw the lines ashore. The line handlers calmly keep her in the middle of the slip, although we have fenders along both sides just in case, and then the travel lift throws off her shackles and reverses away. Morphie is finally back in the sea where she belongs and the engine starts like a dream and we motor away. Phew – mission accomplished!
Immediately we picked up a mooring ball out in the bay and started to hank on the main sail… Of course there were rain squalls while we did it but thankfully we managed before finally taking our last look at Grenada Marine.
We then headed off out and did the few miles around to Le Phare Bleu marina. And it was horrible – lumpy, big seas, swelly etc, the works – but you know what, we just didn’t care as we were back on board Morphie where we belong. Pulling into the channel at Le Phare Bleu and we were met by Stairon (the dockmaster) who told us where our berth was – and we were delighted to be allocated one tucked up right into the corner. Which, ironically, was the same berth we left from in August. Hurrah!
During the course of our trip we heard Troubadour on the radio from Mount Hartman Bay. Thought they had left Grenada already! Made contact but, unfortunately, they were leaving in the morning so no chance to get together with them either. But no doubt we will catch up with them up island later on.
We secured Morphie for the night and headed off back to our room. After cleaning ourselves up we enjoyed a couple of happy hour drinks watching the sun going down then – after checking on her again – we crashed for another early night.
Up early Wednesday and we were on board Morphie by 8 am to hank on the two head sails before the wind got up – hurrah, all done! Now back to the room to pack it all up – bringing down the food and fridge / freezer contents first – then back for the clothes, bags, spare parts and other important stuff like tea-bags! Finally we had everything on board – but not stowed – and the next thing was to clear a path to our cabin and make it habitable for the night. We also had to get dink off the coach roof, re-inflated, and the outboard reinstalled…. Finished by just before 5pm – what a full-on day – and had a couple of beers before headed off back for another early night. Becoming a bit of a habit!
Thursday – today – we awoke very early and we did jobs again. Richard was doing important stuff like reinstalling dorades, replacing gas struts, organising spares etc etc and I was doing things like laundry, collecting our cockpit cushions which had new closed cell foam installed, and polishing the stainless. We decided that we would call it a day at lunchtime today so headed off in dink and surprised Sha Sha with a visit round in Hog Island anchorage. Spent a very pleasurable few hours bobbing in their fancy chairs and then back on board for dinner and a relaxing evening…..
Bye for now
Jan