But, before we begin, here's a word from our sponsors. You betcha, this is a self funded effort so I get to say a few words ... I asked Henry the other day what his reflections were from our first year and he said, "It's all been about the people we met and the new places we explored." I then asked him about hopes for the second year and he replied, "Meeting people (old friends and new) and exploring new places." So given that I'm in agreement, I guess that's what we're in for this year. Notice that neither of us said it was about the sailing and although we sail to get places and we enjoy the good sails, I don't think either of us is out here just for the joy of sailing. We sail to fulfil our goals.
Now, back to season two. What can you expect from this season? Well, firstly we have a wonderful family event to celebrate in St. Lucia in December. Caitlin and Jamie are getting married on the island and of course we will be there to celebrate with them. We are now making our tracks north to arrive in St. Lucia by the beginning of December.
After that we will try to get to Martinique for Christmas where there is a chance of meeting up with some other boats at St. Anne on the south shore. Following the festivities we are really open just to explore the islands and travel when we like the weather. Our goal is to make it to Antigua & Barbuda but how we get there is really subject to development as we go along. Once there we will turn around and make our way back down the islands for a return to Grenada for another hurricane season of fun and hi-jinx.
To get us started, on Thursday last we finally unhooked the shore power cord (and the Velcro) that had been holding us to the dock at Secret Harbour, said many sad good byes, and with friends Cathy & Marie sailed around to St. Georges for our first shakedown after two and a half months in Mt. Hartman Bay. We swam in the ocean and enjoyed the fresh breeze on the trampoline, sharing a beautiful sunny afternoon of what we all imagine cruising life should be. Too soon it was over and we bid adieu to our friends. Friday was a final shopping day and yesterday we lifted the anchor once again for a day sail north. So, here we sit, having made our way to Carriacou and are now ready to jump off to the St. Vincent side of the Grenadines tomorrow.
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| Cathy & Marie catching some sun and breeze where the view is the best. |
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| Henry enjoying the new helm shade - always gotta tweak those sails! |
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| A last view of the south shore of Grenada. |
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| Relaxing in the cockpit with arrival beers at St. George's. |
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| Nice little 2-hour cruise around Point Salines. |
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| End of a perfect day. |
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| A sliver of moon preparing to set too. |
Experienced cruisers have told us that now that we have a Grenada season under our belts, we will never be in an anchorage in the Eastern Caribbean again where we don't know or recognize another boat. We'll see how this plays out but so far, on day three, we are batting 100. We've been in two bays and known others in both places. It will be quite a different time compared to last year if this is the case.
Along with getting Mowzer prepped and underway, I feel that I have been prepping myself to get back to blogging. Why didn't I write so much in Grenada? Would you believe it was mostly lack of time? Hard to believe but even before we launched into the boat work over the last month, the round of activity that can consume your time at "Camp Grenada" is never ending. We happily partook of what was on offer be it fitness classes in the morning, cards, excursions or hiking during the day and concerts, pub outings and restaurant visits in the evening. But now it is time to regroup, perhaps even detox a bit and reconnect with the simpler life. Sitting here at anchor as the wind rushes past (it's a breezy morning), watching the birds dive for fish, and the early morning activity on the other boats inspires me to get creative again.
Let's see what this next season unfolds. Here we go!
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Here's a few selected photos from our time in Grenada - new and old friends, hellos and good byes, lots to look forward to next time.
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| Best jerk chicken ever! Enjoyed with Shannon & Ramy, Henry, Guillaume & Gwen. |
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| Shannon & Ramy embraced life in Grenada, including feeding stray dogs the last of her lunch. |
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| Another hash heading out onto the roads and trails, and sometimes unmarked trails of Grenada. |
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| Hot and sweaty, but still time to enjoy the beauty of a bamboo thicket. |
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| Nimrods makes amazing rum punch - if you can't get up the ladder to order another, you've obviously had too much. |
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| Alex, Sue & Mal enjoying those rum punch. |
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| A farewell lunch / birthday lunch for cruisers we won't be seeing again next season. These folks welcomed us in and showed us the ropes. |
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| Jeff & Izzy (Izzy R), Doug & Wendy (Nahani River), Gwen & Guillaume (Slow Waltz), Alex & Dave (Banyon), Sue & Mal (Kool Kat) and Henry & I (Mowzer). What a great bunch of people! |
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| Craft day with Gwen. |
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| Best memory of the season - Halloween and Alex had a plan for our group costume. I think we pulled it off beautifully. The only one missing from this photo was our witch doctor Gwen who kept putting a voodoo hex on Gilligan. |
