Thursday, February 22, 2007

Feb. 21,2007

February 21, 2007
Splash down occurred today at noon. It feels so good to be floating again. After 6 months rest and 3 weeks of clean up and maintenance, Rhiannon is a sailboat again. Her crew is tired but excited and anxious to get sailing. We have not had the energy to update the blog since leaving home, so now is the time to get started.
Pat & I flew out of Saint John on Sunday January 28th. We met Pat’s brother Tom & his wife Jackie at Toronto Airport and then proceeded to my brother John and wife Anne’s home in Scarborough, where my sister Rosie was also waiting. We all went out for dinner and had an excellent meal and it was a great way to say goodbye. Then it was back to the airport for an overnight flight to Trinidad and an early connecting flight to Grenada, West Indies. By 11 am Monday we were reunited with Rhiannon in the boatyard at Spice Island Marine in Prickley Bay. She was really dusty and tired of being on the hard, but no worse for wear. Then the work began.
Have you heard the definition for Cruising?
- YACHT MAINTENANCE IN EXOTIC PLACES
and the definition of a Boat Dollar
- BREAK OUT ANOTHER THOUSAND
That was the story of our lives for the next 3 weeks, but now with many projects completed, like adding insulation to the refrigerator, varnishing the woodwork, moving batteries around so that we no longer list to port, and all the other “things that boats need doing” we are floating.
Tonight we are anchored in Prickly Bay. It is a little rolly but better than watching the cars go by from the cockpit while on the hard. (We lived on the boat while working on her, so that had its challenges as well).
The weather has been tropical, average temperature about 28 degrees (Celsius), rains everyday at least 5 or 6 times and then the sun comes out again. We call it the RAIN DANCE. Open the hatches, close the hatches, bring things outside, put them away again, hide under the boats for shade from the sun, hide under the boats to get out of the rain. I trust you get the picture. One of the benefits of the yard we were in is that it was next door to Budget Marine, a really good marine supply store very popular in the Caribbean, so when we ran out of paint, or silicone, or sandpaper, it was very easy to spend money.
Getting around the island is really easy by bus. They are 14 seater vans that drive around on specified routes. They will stop and pick you up anywhere and drop you off at your destination for $2.00 , that’s Eastern Caribbean Dollars, the equivalent of about 90 cents Canadian. These buses are everywhere and will drive you off the beaten route for $5.00 EC.
The people here are really wonderful. Grenada is definitely one of our favourite places. We would recommend it to anyone, but it is time to move on and explore more Islands. WE plan on heading North in the next few days. It will take some hard sailing as our plans are to meet our friends Syd & Liz in Antigua the first of March.
Until next time,
Fair Winds,
Miriam