We had been moored out in the waves and the wind since last report, working half-days, and going in to enjoy the odd restaurant meal with Steve and Maria. Every trip was used for the accumulation and transportation of ship’s stores and boat parts as well. The weather had been wet and overcast much of the time, but we got to squeak one afternoon in the Marina pool. The majority of the happy hours on Cat Tales had been precipitation free, however, and as magical as ever for the two of us. Bathing behind the boat was lovely, but swimming for exercise in the windy, wavy water was difficult.
A lot of our time ashore was reminiscent of our time in May. We visited about 8 different restaurants. Many had survived the Covid times by pivoting to a larger take-out business. We were happy for them as it obviously worked. However, two places here have had some reluctance in pivoting back to being primarily restaurants. One in particular, the St. George’s Yacht Club Restaurant, will take your order from the table, and an hour later, they’re bringing bag after bag of takeout to the waiting people at the cash, and your food is nowhere in sight. The food is good and the view of the harbour is fantastic, so we persevered, and became terrible nags to get our service. We also walked all the way to Umbrellas Restaurant at the far end of Grande Anse Beach. There and back was about 10 kilometres, so good on us. The payback was the most fantastic Thai Curry Lambi we’ve ever had. Sorry, no photos of the dinner plate because we’re busy eating!
On Saturday, we finally untied from the mooring and put up our sails. Going north was difficult with so much north in the wind direction, but intent on a sail, we did six long tacks. We arrived in a beautiful bay at Isle de Ronde near the tall island with two names: “Kick’em Jenny” and “Diamond Rock”. Both are problematic. The first is also the name to the dangerous underwater volcano nearby, and the second is also the name to a similar steep hunk of basalt up by Martinique. Isle de Ronde was nice and calm, and great for a good long swim. We stayed two nights, and Dawn served her famous pumpkin soup made in the pressure cooker…enough for three nights.
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| Photo taken during the sweet light just before sunset. |
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| Leaving Isle de Ronde |
Yesterday, we motored the last 10 nautical miles to Carriacou, but with north and west in the wind, and not much of that, we realized that Tyrell Bay would be a confused place to anchor, with boats floating in no way influenced by their anchor location. We sit instead in a seldom-used bay called Cassada, in 20 feet of water a quarter mile from any land, but in flat, calm water. Although a little unnerving to be the only boat, it is quite sweet. We put out a motion sensor and our night watchman “Gonzo”, and slept better.
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| Gonzo has been our night watch man sitting in the cockpit when we’re in bays where we might need a bit more security. |
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| Diamond Rock on our way to Carriacou |
We have this plan to get to Bequia before Christmas Day, and are watching the weather closely.
TECHNICAL
We have chased down most of the dirty rope and mouldy spaces, but some still wait. We’ve worked through just a few of the hatches, providing proper cleaning and servicing of the latches and hinges. That will be ongoing for a while.
A big chore for me was the changing out of an exhaust mixing elbow on the starboard engine. It split at the weld at the flange and was spewing water so bad that it tripped the bilge pump alarm. We found two in store at Palm Tree Marine, and bought them at the price of a “boat unit” (remember that B.O.A.T. stands for Break Out Another Thousand). I had the change-out done before 0900h on Tuesday, beating the day’s hottest hours. Cleaning the bilge was done again, over time, and after a good rinse, the engine got a new coating of anti-corrosion oil. Interestingly, I had actually stopped the leakage from the original elbow using JB Marine Weld. I am sincerely impressed. However, soaking the old elbow in a mixture of vinegar, water, and dish detergent to soften up the carbon deposits inside caused the JB Marine Weld to soften and fall off. Very curious. As for the new installation, a hardening of one of the pipes caused another leak, and once again the bilge alarm saved us. The part of the hose that was flattened by previous clamps had to be cut off, and the clamp moved to a more pliable part of the hose.
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| Who knew that JB weld would turn into a rubber like coating and fall off after soaking in dilute water and vinegar?? |
We have a bug in our electronics, specifically the Raymarine AIS system. We’ll try downloading new software for it.
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| This is a common sight onboard! First cut, then whip the new end…repeat for next rope! |
I’ve also woven a new bridle for the anchor chain. That took a full day. It works great, and the Admiral is pleased. All these chores are interrupted by smaller ones, cleaning, sorting out old stores, and trying to throw things away.
