Monday afternoon stayed nice so we decided to take the day off and headed ashore to the beach at the Calabash resort.   Really pretty place – had a great time bobbing, sunbathing and generally chilling.   Whilst at the beach bar we were talking to the English chef – the Calabash has a Gary Rhodes restaurant – and we mentioned that we had been here many years ago and enjoyed a lovely afternoon at a small bar in Lower Woburn with some local guys, one of whom – Roger – worked as a chef here too.   It turns out, sadly, that at a very young age Roger died from a massive brain clot, but that LeslieAnn, the supervisor here in the bar, was his widow!   Small world…   So we enjoyed talking about this great chap and how he and his friends made us welcome all that time ago.  Poignant too especially when we realised that LeslieAnn had been left with twins who have limited recollection of their father as they were very young when he passed away and are now coming up for their sixth birthday……  

Looking back out to the anchorage it is time to go…so we said our farewells.  

Back on board we had a quick shower and headed into Prickly Bay marina for happy hour and pizza night.   Kill or cure after a few beers on the beach – so I ordered the small healthy option pizza with salad but ended up with some concoction with chips!   Weird…and not nice either…   Couldn’t be bothered to send it back because the waitress was absolutely rushed off her feet and we had already waited a long time.   Oh well….  at least they have a nice Christmas tree!

Tuesday we headed into the dinghy dock and took the long hot walk into town as we need to get some drinking vouchers from the bank and some provisions before we leave Prickly Bay.   By the time we got there Richard was hungry so we popped into a local eatery and he had his first chicken roti of the season – I’m still being cautious so just had soda water!    Went to the discount supermarket and loaded up with soft drinks and some rum rations along with a few other things – wow, really heavy, and a loooong walk back.  So we flagged down a local bus to help us with a little bit of the journey.  But we still managed to walk about three miles laden down like donkeys!   Phew!  Back on board and after another shower we got ready to welcome Peter and Sylvia on board for sundowners.   Had a really fun evening with them – followed by an early night….

Wednesday finishing up the current list of boat jobs – almost there – and have decided we are going to move around to Clarkes Court Bay on Thursday when the sea state has calmed down a bit and hopefully the rain has moved on….    Quiet day on board – didn’t even go ashore – and managed to tick off most things on our list. Thursday morning up really early, went into the marina for some bread for the freezer, and then waited for a rain shower to go away before we picked up anchor.   Heading out the seas were pretty flat and the sun was shining….  Nice.    Only moving five miles, straight into the wind and waves, so we decided to drag dink along behind us and motor.  

Oh hang on … there is a massive squall coming our way as we turn towards our destination.   So we head further out to avoid the breaking seas in the shallow water – then the squall hit – WHITEOUT and 38 knots of wind – and it went on for quite a while.  We were bouncing off the top of breaking waves, slamming down and burying our nose deep, and then spluttering back up for more trying to steer around them best we could.   It must have looked pretty dramatic to anyone watching – we were just hanging on!    Finally, as we neared the entrance channel to our destination according to our electronic charts, the gloom lifted enough for us to see the markers to guide us in.   Phew…. glad to get the protection of the reef as we came through.

Thursday night Sha Sha came on board for sundowners – and we had a really nice, if boozy, reunion.   Talked about plans for Christmas and, as they have been anchored in this area for a while, they have sussed out all the good stuff for us to do…..  

Friday morning and we were doing our hangover cure bit – jumping straight into the sea.  Lovely way to start a day!    What a great view from our galley port too while fixing breakfast.

After breakfast we headed out in dink for a tour around to see if we could book ourselves in for the festivities.    So went to Whisper Cove Marina to visit the butcher and got some great veal fillet as well as some lean bacon and fresh-baked bread.   We also booked ourselves in for their Italian buffet and live music night on Christmas Eve.     Had a couple of beers while he prepared the meat for us and we waited for the rain to pass – there was a huge iguana there too but he legged it the minute I got the camera out.   Typical!   From Whisper Cove we enjoyed watching Morphie sitting out in the bay on anchor all shiny with loads of swinging room around her.

Then we moved onto Taffys and managed to get booked in for their full three course Christmas day turkey dinner along with pigs in blankets etc!   Hurrah….    That’s Christmas sorted then – we even have a bottle of bubbly in the fridge so that we can toast friends and family on the day itself.   Back on board and a quiet afternoon of reading, sleeping and no drinking before bed….. at the outrageous time of 8pm!

Saturday and we are up before the sun – what a gorgeous sight as it rose into the sky.

Boat jobs take precedence again today – and Richard has fixed the lock on the heads.   We’ve also swapped out the nylon washer and greased up the gooseneck as it was squeaking overnight.   For our non-sailing friends this means taking the boom off from the mast.    We also re-commissioned both the watermaker and the generator and topped up our water tanks.  And we greased up the steering gear and checked all the through hulls – and Richard turned two little LED lights into navigation lights to hang on dink when we are out and about at night.  What a great job!

Saturday night after dinner on board we dinked round the headland to Le Phare Bleu for their Christmas concert.   What a treat – Tammy Baldeo was the lead artist – and she is absolutely amazing and I would love her to get discovered!   Thoroughly enjoyed ourselves and headed back to Morphie glowing in the dark with our new lights….  

Sunday morning up early, had a swim, and now chilling at Whisper Cove Marina doing laundry, blogging etc.    Love this life!

To our friends and family we wish you a very Happy Christmas and hope that you all enjoy the day with each other.  We will raise a glass to you all in the morning and remember those special people who are no longer with us.

Bye for now

Jan

Monday ended up being rained off – so we had a very lazy non-alcohol day on board sleeping, eating and reading.  

Tuesday and it was sunny with blue skies again.   Hurrah!    So we got to work early.   I topped up the varnish repairs with another coat and Richard got on with mechanical jobs.    Finally assistance turned up to help him get the impeller out – this had frozen solid and had broken in situ – and we just didn’t have the correct tools at our disposal which are needed because of the very small tight space we are working in.  Well mission accomplished – sigh of relief – and we now have the very expensive piece of kit that we needed in our possession, so future impeller changes should be a doddle.   The refrigeration guy also turned up and fixed the fridge which was a gas pressure issue.  Very happy about that – we can have cold drinks on board now!    But we also realised that the stuffing gland is leaking – not its customary two to three drips per minute which is acceptable – but one drip per second!   Not good… and we do not want to be on anchor with this issue unresolved, so decided to book into the marina for another couple of days.   Morphie does seem quite comfortable in her slip!

As we were now staying, we headed off to the pool for a few hours bobbing in the sun before an early dinner and evening on board.

Wednesday and Richard works on another issue we found – a leak into the forepeak from the anchor locker.   Another problem resolved.    Yea!!!    But Richard continues to struggle with the stuffing gland.  The locking nut should be ‘finger tight’ only but this is absolutely ceased solid.    It is down a really small hole which he can barely get his arms into as well as two wrenches – which he’s borrowed from Cutter Loose as we are still waiting on ours to arrive….   Well – he still can’t do it.   He comes up for a breather now and again and at one point we both end up laying on our stomachs with one wrench each on the offending nuts – but we just don’t have the brute strength or length of arms to do this job!    And we’ve tried penetrating oil too…   Grrrrrr……   

Eventually we give up and get ourselves ready for the evening as there is a concert in the restaurant tonight – our favourite Grenadian pan band, The Wizards, and Madison Violet are doing a set.    Lovely time had by all – good music, nice food and great company.   Enjoyed spending some time with Eric and Pat (Cutter Loose) although how they manage to look so cool in the heat is beyond me!

Thursday and we continue to persevere with the stuffing gland to no avail – we have asked the guys to come and help us but still not sure when they will fit us in.   Really wanted to leave today….   Anyway, we bumble around all day, chasing the shop down but in the end they admit they can’t fit us in until first thing Friday morning.    Oh well – what can you do?    We are going a little stir crazy here in the marina but need to get this sorted.    So we had another quiet non-alcohol evening on board.

Friday and the weather is starting to close in – there are big seas and strong winds forecast for Saturday and Sunday so need to get moving today.   Jason turned up – and he is a very very strong guy with long arms – just what we needed!   But it still took him quite a while.   Being optimistic I busy myself getting our water and electricity meter read, picking up the laundry, and generally get the boat ready to go to sea.   Hurrah – job done – we are on our way!    Marina slip paid for and we head out around lunchtime into Prickly Bay where we plan to anchor and sit out the weather. 

The five mile trek was pretty uncomfortable in building seas but we arrived in good time and found a spot – although the bay is pretty busy – and anchored easily.   Went ashore to the chandlery for more bits and pieces and we suddenly realised that it was Friday the 13^th December!   Glad we didn’t know that before we left Le Phare Bleu…    It was great to see Morphie back on the hook and she seemed pretty happy to us!    

Later on we headed into Prickly Bay Marina and enjoyed listening to New Dimensions – not as good as the Wizards though – and met some really nice people, particularly Sylvia and Peter from Tradewind of Lynher, who had just returned to Grenada having been cruising in Venezuela for many years (and who, amazingly, are in their 70s!)…

We were back on board relatively early for a light supper and settled down to our first night on anchor this season.  It was a little rolly – but nicely so and quite soothing.  Well, it was until about 3 am when I was taken really ill.    Not sure what started it as we have both eaten and drunk the same for the last few days….  

Saturday morning and I’m still feeling rough – we go ashore to get some provisions from the local shop – and Richard has breakfast ashore while I try some toast and tea.   On the way back we spot a couple of boats a bit too close together, especially with the wind getting up and 30 knots forecast for later today.   Then we realise that one of them has actually dragged into another and the guy on the front is trying desperately to stop his boat getting damaged.   Getting back on board and turning on the radio and we realise that this is not an isolated incident – the volunteer rescue service is being tested today!    We also see a large helicopter moving low over the sea followed by the Grenada Coast Guard zooming out of the anchorage….   Fingers crossed it doesn’t mean anything serious going on out there.

After all that excitement I’m still feeling really poorly so take to my bed for the rest of the day while Richard gets on with some really useful jobs like taking out the dimmable tungsten halogen overhead lights and converting them into LEDs.  This has taken down our lighting load from 160 watts to 24 watts which will be much better for our batteries.   He also cuts the hard wiring to all the other lights and fans and puts in connectors so that they can easily be removed for cleaning and repair in future.    And now the wind is really howling – so he did a last minute check around – and we settle down for the night.   Didn’t sleep much – the creaking and groaning combined with significant howling and heavy rain wasn’t conducive really!

Sunday and I’m still feeling rough – Richard carries on working on boat jobs and I settle into the cockpit for a cuppa.   The wind still howling and it’s very grey out there – with huge seas running – but at least the rain is intermittent now.   Then we noticed a bit of excitement when we realise a very large trimaran had run aground on the reef – and luckily Rescue One were out there helping them get free.  Hope the boat isn’t too badly damaged….   We had been invited out for dinner tonight but had to give it a swerve – I haven’t been able to eat anything substantial yet and, with the weather continuing to howl, we really didn’t want to leave Morphie.  So another quiet night on board.

This morning – Monday – and thankfully I’m feeling a bit better, the sun has come out, the wind has moderated a bit, and we have come ashore to take advantage of the internet.   Hoping to have a beach afternoon today if the weather holds.

Bye for now

Jan

We have now settled easily back into our routine – mornings are for boat jobs and afternoons are for having fun!

We awoke Friday morning – still in Le Phare Bleu marina – to a beautifully stunning bright day with a flat calm sea as we looked out from the bow.   Wow!

Richard is still trying to work out where to store everything and is reorganising his tools and spare parts into a more logical order…   Along with essential things like changing impellers, fan belts, tightening stuffing glands etc.    I was definitely in the way so decided to get busy on the stainless steel again – and we were both pretty pleased with our efforts.   Suitably hot and bothered we took ourselves off to the pool and enjoyed a leisurely few hours until we returned to Morphie for a curry dinner on board.    Walking back we enjoyed the sights of the Vastra Banken lit up for Christmas.

Saturday morning up early and again Richard is doing essential mechanical maintenance things down below – and I’m off to the shop for some more ice.   It looks like our fridge is playing up unfortunately.   Oh well….things do break on boats.   Will give it another couple of days to see how it gets on before we call out someone to help.  We have done all the obvious trouble-shooting things…   Anyway, after I come back I start on the woodwork – there are a few spots on the rail where the varnish has started to peel – so I rubbed them down and did some patch repairs.   Pretty pleased with my efforts!

In the middle of all this, we were pleased to see Eric and Pat from Cutter Loose – another Island Packet – who had just pulled in having splashed from Grenada Marine.   Really nice to see them again.   After a few hours in the pool cooling off we came back, cleaned up, and headed into the restaurant for dinner…. and were joined by Eric and Pat and had a lovely evening catching up.   Oh yes, there was a polar bear in the restaurant too…. and Morphie was looking very festive with her new Christmas lights at the end of the dock.

Sunday morning and we declare it a day of rest.   So at noon we head off to Taffys in Lower Woburn for Sunday lunch with Sha Sha.  Roast pork and fresh veggies with the rare addition of a Yorkshire pudding – not very Caribbean I know, but couldn’t resist it!   Yum.

We enjoyed the dinghy ride there and back and the views from the restaurant across to Calvigny Island – a very exclusive island resort which has to be rented in its entirety and can take up to 50 guests for an unpublished price!

Headed back about 2.30 pm having said our farewells….    Bit rainy and we hoped that it would hold off as there is a dinghy concert this afternoon.   Back on the dock, quickly got ourselves ready, and then took the big rib over to the barge for the concert.   Today Madison Violet were playing – a singer songwriter duo from Toronto.

On the barge we enjoyed watching the dinghies coming in and had a bit of a giggle at the cruiser’s dog with sunglasses – just one of many sights to be seen!    The concert was great, the beer was cold and the company was fun.   I did feel for the group though – the barge they were performing on was really rolling and at one point they had to grab on to avoid falling over!   People fell over on our barge too – but this may have been excess alcohol???

They even sent Mike up the mast to take the video…..

Thankfully we didn’t get any serious downpours although there was a lovely rainbow at one point.

Monday morning and we were supposed to be on our way out to the anchorages.  But unfortunately the fridge is definitely playing up – and it’s pouring with rain – so we are staying put and have asked for a guy to come by to have a look.   So it looks like we will remain marina dwellers for a little while longer…..

We have an important announcement to make – there has been a crew change this season!    Bubo the owl decided that he didn’t like being parted from his mum and Hullbridge so he was returned to Elaine – who was pretty happy to get him back!    That left us with a vacancy and Jack donated Gervaise – the monkey – as a replacement.  Gervaise has been living on board Jack’s boat which was anchored in the Crouch and he wanted some sun.   So he is now on Morphie and is entertaining us with his magical dance moves and monkey noises.  You cannot fail to be happy when he gets going…so a welcome addition!

Bye for now

Jan

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

Thursday morning we head back bright and early to the boatyard…. full of expectations about the antifoul work starting today on Morphie’s bottom.  We have all the paint purchased – and wow it’s very expensive! – everything is ready to go, we just need the workers.  So we carry on unpacking and putting things in order….but still no-one shows up.  Oh dear – island time again!  This drives me bonkers and I’m not allowed to go to the office to make my displeasure known as it will only make things worse – so Richard tracks them down and with his smooth talking, soon a chap turns up to do the primer coat.  And we are now working against the clock as they knock off at 5pm and time is ticking!  Not confident at all at this point that we are going to meet our ‘splash’ date of Monday.  So I carry on down below and Richard supervises the work – and, wow, Morphie has been tangoed with yellow primer.  Eventually we head back to the hotel and were sorry to have missed Glen and Pam who popped in earlier for a drink… Had a nice dinner in the restaurant as a treat and then early to bed. It was a stressful day!

Friday we were up bright and early again and headed off to the boat yard in our trusty hire car.  Richard continues to hone his racing car skills.  He tells me that he isn’t going that fast and that I’m just a very nervous passenger.  Yes there is some truth in that but he’s not the one looking directly down into huge drop offs on my side of the road or very large deep water gullies whizzing alongside with what seems like inches to spare!  On the way to the marina we picked up some local delicacies from the bakery and I had a very funny encounter with six large rasta men who were getting their breakfast and couldn’t believe that a tourist was up that early!   I’m not sure whether they were on their way home from a party or going to work – but I think they remained under the influence of something or other….

Arriving at the boat yard and the guys turn up on time…  Hurrah!   I make myself busy unpacking, but we are pretty much there now and not a lot more to be done until we get into the water and hoist the sails on, re-inflate the dinghy etc.   So I head off to the laundry to make the most of the self-service machines – took ages – and all the time beating off the thousands of midges that live around the boatyard in all the standing water!   Finally finished the laundry and head back to Morphie and was delighted to see that they had finished one coat and were about to start the second.  I then spotted that they were about to splash another yacht – so followed along to see what happened. Glad I watched it – not sure that it has filled me with confidence as the line handlers were a bit casual!   Anyway…. back to Morphie and she is almost finished.  Just the areas to be done when the hurricane cradle ‘arms’ are removed.  And she is looking absolutely beautiful.

The minute the guys packed up for the weekend so did we!  We headed back to our room for a night in front of the telly after some food….  With the villa opened up and the beautiful scents from the lovely grounds it truly is a special spot.

Saturday we took a day off from the boat yard as the guys are not working – so headed off into town to do a big provisioning run while we have the benefit of a car.  Massive shop – and more stuff from the chandlery of course – and back to the villa to get all of it put away.  Had a leisurely afternoon chilling and then headed off to Little Woburn to meet Jim and Sharon from Sha Sha who were celebrating Jim’s birthday.

Well the taxi didn’t turn up – so we cadged a lift from the security guy – and Richard got to ride in the back of a pickup truck!  What fun….  Arrived at the restaurant and were a little put off by the huge crowds of people around in the square below and the loudest music ever.  Apparently there had been a naked car wash event earlier and this was the spin-off party, along with a ‘twerking’ competition.  Richard was a bit disappointed we had arrived too late for the main event!!!   Anyway – had our reunion with Jim and Sharon – and it was lovely to catch up with them and to meet other new faces.  Had a good time but, would you believe it, we left at 9pm as we had another busy day ahead of us.

Sunday up really early and we headed off to the boat yard to do what we could – as well as dropping some stuff off that we needed for Monday’s launch.  Spent a few hours there and then returned to the villa via a bit of a scenic route – and Richard picked up two hitchhikers again…   So spent about 15 minutes chatting to the young man who was all dressed up and was running late for church.    Followed by the rather stinky rasta man who got a bit panicky when the child locks wouldn’t let him out LOL.

It rained and rained and rained all day…. so we enjoyed a lazy afternoon in our villa.  At about 4ish it cleared up a bit but not enough to get in the pool so we just took up residence in some comfy chairs and enjoyed watching the weather – later we were joined by Jim and Sharon for happy hour sundowners – and then early to bed after a cheese on toast supper!   A big day beckons.

Bye for now
Jan

Had an incredibly hectic week or so trying to say goodbye to everybody – had some great laughs, amazing generosity and kindness shown, as well as some sadness at parting again…..  Thank you all for making our few months at home so special.

Finally we were packed up and headed off to Heathrow with as much hand luggage as we could physically manage and bags for the hold on the limit in terms of weight! And I promise only about 20% was clothes related…..  We are travelling cattle class this time – no turning left for this girl now that we are cruisers.  Well, after a slowish run around the M25 through the miles of roadworks we arrived to be confronted by huge British Airways signs warning us about everything, but especially about heavy bags and over sized hand luggage!   Oh dear…  So we headed off to the “weigh and repackage area” – supplied just so that we take them seriously I guess??? – and made sure we only had one checked bag that would incur the extra £40 charge. Now at the drop bag desk and the BA woman was a bit concerned that we didn’t have ESTAs on file – and was very relieved to find that we had US visas… So much so that she forgot to charge us. Result!

After getting through security checks we ended up in the departure lounge admiring the very trendy Christmas trees that adorned the terminal. Eventually our gate was announced so off we go – full of strange feelings and a little nervousness – thinking of friends and family we are leaving behind at the same time as being excited about seeing Morphie again.

Was an OK flight – chicken or pasta meal choice as usual – please change the tune.  Oh yes, and if the chicken is in a mushroom sauce tell me. Yuck!!!   To make up for it there was a nice Pinot Grigio available so we settled down and enjoyed a couple of good movies. Filled in the US customs declaration and steeled myself for the usual two to three hour nightmare that is immigration in Miami – what!?!?!?   Through in less than an hour – a record for us – and, in fact, it took us longer to walk there from the plane than it did to get processed!   Feeling a little smug – we got a cab to the hotel and checked in. Richard usually likes to hit the bar for a night cap but he is shattered and wants to go straight to bed. Very unusual but feeling pretty tired myself so didn’t argue…

Up very early – that five hour time difference always does that to us – so had breakfast and headed out to Home Depot to purchase a 110V sander. Mission accomplished – but frustrated that our US bank account cards were rejected at the ATM. WTF??? So got back to our room and I called them – luckily it was a free call – to find out that they had not been activated on their system and could not be done retrospectively. Soooooo frustrating as we had done this in London in August. Oh well I guess that small pot of dollars is safe this trip!

Now it was time to go to the airport – usual Miami chaos resumed – and it took a while to get checked in.    We avoided the $100 excess baggage charge again because we offloaded 9lbs into our hand luggage because they didn’t care about the size. But am pretty fed up with repacking constantly!  Finally all done and we wandered through the terminal admiring the fish art on the way…..

Then we finally settled into our favourite bar which just happened to conveniently be opposite our gate.   Shared a lunch of fish and prawn with fries … along with a Corona. Life is good!

Onto the next flight – a few hours later and we are arriving into Grenada. Queued up in the red channel at customs and declared all our boat spares / tools, paid the duty, and was warmly welcomed by Martin the “yellow taxi man” that we had used last time. Quick road trip and we are checking into our lovely self-contained villa at Le Phare Bleu – and went off to the bar for our first ice cold Carib. Fantastic – and was warmly welcomed back by the staff who all remembered us. Lovely….and so to bed in the air conditioned bedroom after Richard had dutifully dispatched the very large cockroach who had taken up residence in the mosquito net over the four poster.

Awoke this morning to a hot day – what a difference from freezing London!    And I was puzzled by all the noises outside – had a peak and it was a huge flock of starling-like birds who had taken a shine to the tree outside our door. When they spotted me they all flew off – and resembled a Hitchcock scene!   Spooky… After an early breakfast – enjoying the lovely views from the restaurant – we took delivery of our hire car and headed off to Grenada Marine to see Morphie.

Very nervous now – would she be OK?  We know that recently some boats had been broken into – and, assuming in the absence of news we are unaffected – but still nervous!   And did we do it right?   Will we be bug infested or mould ridden?  Thankfully she was looking great waiting for her protective wax to be removed and no problems on any front. Phew – relief.  Felt great to be reunited….

Spent a busy (hot!) day unpacking some of her contents, airing stuff, and putting some canvas back on…. Called it a day at 4pm and came back for pool happy hour, followed by a quick noodle dinner and so to bed.

Bye for now
Jan

We have been home almost three months and I can’t believe how the time has flown… So heavily into preparation mode now.   Loads to do although it is a bit easier this year as finding insurers to meet our needs took me a lot of time last year – renewing policies is a much easier process…..  So insurances sorted for house, car, boat and ourselves….

Now just the rest of the administrative stuff to finish off like paying all the bills (groan…), working out what papers we need to take with us and remembering the stuff that caused us grief last year, like the paper versions of our driving licences.    Grenada – unlike all the other islands we travelled to – really did not like accepting our plastic driving licences to give us temporary driving permits….   Don’t fancy going through that at the police station again!   So check – they are ready to go….

Whilst I have been a lady that lunches and generally doing domestic goddess duties, Richard went back to work as he got an offer he couldn’t refuse.   He retired again last Friday so is now busy doing stuff that I couldn’t manage – like repairing the shed roof that decided to leak….    We’ve had a great time seeing loads of friends and family and the rest of the time we are in the UK is absolutely manic – with one very busy social week planned.   Those people we haven’t managed to catch up with – sorry – we’ll prioritise you for next year!

Although Richard has been working he has also been busy buying spare parts and tools for Morphie and I’ve been buying all the domestic stuff that we found we needed and couldn’t get on our travels – exciting stuff like plastic egg holders, a mosquito net, clothes pegs and a lovely new teapot!    There was some important stuff too like more paper charts, a Garmin chart plotter upgrade chip and prescription dive masks (for us both)…

This year we are travelling economy using our air miles so I can see us being laden with as much hand luggage as we can get away with to try and avoid the US $100 per checked bag excess luggage charge!  Not confident though as we’ve also been buying new clothes!   Oh well what will be will be….

The most exciting new item that will be coming with us is a brand new waterproof camera – something we have had our eye on for a while.  So imagine our surprise and absolute delight when we were given it as a gift!   Thank you so much Ron and Carolyn Smith – very very generous and greatly appreciated.   So watch out for all the more unusual photos we plan to take over the next nine months!

After a hectic social whirl we’ll be doing the final things like cleaning the house and winterising the car before we fly to Miami on Monday 25 November.   An overnight stop before we fly to Grenada on Tuesday afternoon means that Richard gets an opportunity to buy some more power tools that he needs and we can’t buy here either as we are looking for 110V stuff – the joys of owning an American-built boat!

So what do we have planned for next season?   Well the plan is pretty simple – run north back up the island chain, re-visiting favourites and ignoring those we are less keen on.   Catching up with some cruiser friends on the way and a reunion with Mum again planned for March in St Lucia.    So longer periods at sea probably with more overnights….   After running north – which will enable us to get a better sailing angle – we will be running south to the Dutch Antilles, Aruba, Bonaire and Curacao which are off the coast of Venezuela.   Will be a four day 400 mile run probably…   Very excited by this!    Love exploring new places and Bonaire is a dive mecca…. so have great expectations.   When will be doing this?   Not sure – but probably in June as the hurricane season starts and the Dutch Antilles are below the hurricane belt…..   We may leave Morphie there but we are also considering Columbia as our final destination – and I’ve been learning Spanish while I’ve been home just in case!     So plans are fluid at this stage and all depends…..  We’ll let you know when we know!   The only thing that is certain is that we’ll be home again at the end of August 2014.

So welcome back – and bye for now.

Jan