Last night, as I was climbing down to the water to take my ocean bath, I noticed a ½” polypropylene line dangling up from the bottom beside the boat. Thinking that it could easily ruin our day after being wrapped into one of our saildrives, I went back up to the deck for a set of goggles. Under the boat, in only 16’ of water, was some kind of shipwreck. Today, after our hike and our lunch ashore, Dawn and I dove in with a camera. What we have is the remainder of a boat, but for the most part it is metal and concrete, with every piece of wood gone. It looks like somebody ballasted a heavy wooden schooner with wet concrete, which formed between the ribs of the boat to look like the ribs themselves. Lots of fish too. We have our own little reef, complete with loads of fish. We have not seen that many red squirrelfish even in the Tobago Keys. I quickly tied off the rope so it can’t reach most propellers. Sure glad our anchor is not anywhere near!
You can see the outline of a sunken boat. All wood is now gone, and concrete, metal, chain, and battery remain. 
The fish have taken advantage of the wreck directly under our boat. Love watching all the life under there!
We arrived here in Carriacou on Tuesday. We did an eight-hour sail from Bequia to Chatham Bay, Union Island, on Monday, then did a fast trip over from Chatham after lunch on Tuesday. Both were sweet sails. There was a lineup at Immigration, but Dawn had remembered that the Iguana Bar had Hurricane Reef IPA, so we welcomed the delay.
We take our IPA for granted back home, but down here, it’s a special treat when we are able to get a couple cold ones!
But it was from Rodney Bay we last wrote, back on February 28th. We had checked out of St. Lucia on Monday, March 6th, saying our departure would be next morning at 4 am or so. We had many people to say goodbye to, so we enjoyed a good lunch on the boardwalk with them. The days in the marina had been rather busy, with the arrival of the new sail, and the great help Steve Siguaw gave us in taking the old sail off, removing the battens, setting the battens in the new sail, connecting the batten cars and finally, stuffing the crisp new sail into the old sail bag. I was also up Aquarelle’s mast twice, working on the failure of a block that was used to hoist their dinghy off the foredeck.
 |
| Laurie whittling down the battens to fit in the existing batten boxes. |
 |
| Taking down the old, old worn out sail, purchased in 2004! |
 |
| Brand new sail, arrived all the way from South Africa! |
 |
| The new sail reefed down for strong winds. We haven’t used the full sail yet and might not ever because of the Caribbean wind, waves and squalls! |
We said our temporary goodbye to Steve and Maria as well. They now have traveled a significant distance north in one giant hop to entertain their son’s family in Antigua. Since they have decided to haul out in Grenada, we’ll be seeing them in only 4 weeks. Til then, we hike and party without them.
We got a good start on the trip to Bequia Monday afternoon, by sailing blissfully with the new main down to Anse Cochon – our first time there, and not our last. It promises sweet scenery and good snorkelling.
The trip to Bequia the next day was also great. We likely only averaged 6 knots or more, but there was almost no motoring, no squalls, and no drama. We immediately sought out Garry and Linda, planned some hikes and the related lunches. The visit was short, but lots of fun.
Since we arrived three days ago in Carriacou, we’ve had two good hikes and some time to read. All is good on Cat Tales.
 |
| Hike to Hope Bay with Garry and Linda in Bequia and the little piggies living in a shack. |
 |
| Along our hike yesterday, I guess not everyone hikes just for the exercise!! |
 |
| Quaint little boutique along the road. However, we’re full up with Caribbean trinkets. |
 |
| I didn’t see until later that there is a second dog in the doghouse! |
 |
| Hike to Hope Bay…someone collected decorative items from the beach. It’s very rare to find 2 of the same sandal…we’ve looked for that on many beaches! |
 |
| Add a little to this hike since I (Dawn) forgot to turn the tracker on. We started at the same spot that we ended. My iPhone said 17000 steps, so yes, we had lunch and a cold one when it we finished. |
Tyrell Bay has always intrigued me. It seems a backwater of the Caribbean sailing community, with a lot of older and stranger boats that seldom move. The catamarans in this collection, even the smaller ones, are seldom seen elsewhere. Here are some examples that I think would do us very well on the St. John River Valley:
An unknown design that would be small enough for home. 
This is a 2011 Maine Cat 30, an expensive boat with nice small-boat features. 
Another unknown small boat, with obvious standing room in the salon. 
A Prout Ranger 27, perfect for the River, but a bit cramped for a cruiser.
TECHNICAL
Putting old battens into a new sail can be a problem, and I compounded that by measuring the cross-section of only the top batten of the old sail. Yes, the others were larger, and the batten boxes at the luff were now too small. After self deprecation, some internal strife, and some good suggestions from Dawn and Steve, I attempted to make the front end of each batten smaller with a Dremel and a palm sander. It worked. (It would not have worked with Hobie battens – just sayin’). All battens except the top fit well. The top batten is in there, but it is too short to create tension, and the sail has a wrinkle at the top. I’ll be looking for a longer one, or a way to extend what I have.
On Monday, when we were about to leave Bequia, Dawn alerted me that the port engine was squealing. We shut down, checked the belts, and saw no cause. However, I did notice that the rubber terminal cap and the wire that connected to the negative terminal of the alternator were literally burned to a crisp. As this alternator is 80 amperes while the original was 55 amperes, and as this one has an insulated casing while the original one allowed some of the negative energy to travel to ground by the mounting hardware, I conclude that the negative wire is too small for 80 complete amperes. I replaced it with a smaller spare alternator, put a new ring connector on the wire, and will rewire the negative connection before I put a larger alternator back on. Our departure was delayed 40 minutes. Still working on what causes the squealing.
 |
| Note the negative terminal is rusty after the baking of the wire and rubber terminal cover. I suppose it could have been our end if fire broke out. |
