What We Did On Our Summer Vacation...

As it is mid-October, cold and raining, here in New Brunswick, we are thinking more and more about heading back to Cat Tales.  However, it makes sense to tell you what we've been up to.  This may take more than one entry.

The biggest thing in our summer has been the work to the cottage.  Last year,

Laurie (me)succumbed to the (ahem) requests, and began working on a small addition.  Indeed, the summer before, two years ago, I moved the shed to allow both planning and building.  Last year, I cast an engineered, thickened-edge slab as a foundation.

As it took so long and as I could not get the laminated beams for the addition required to match the existing cottage, I worked last fall on the landscaping, rounding up rocks to make a patio around the construction.

This year, the beams were ready, and I started cutting and pounding in earnest.  I did all the work myself, except for the roof, where I had assistance in getting the sheets of OSB up and hired a contractor to shingle it.  Of course, I also put the Cove crowd to work when it was time to lift the heavy windows.  For the exterior lumber work and much of the interior, Dawn worked hard staining and painting, and I could not have gotten the ceiling pine up without her.  Indeed, Dawn and I worked side-by-side for the weeks of late August and September on the siding, ceiling, and the floor. 

The floor is tongue-in-groove bamboo; very pretty.  We haven't finished the decorating inside yet and will do it over time as we find suitable items.

Check in again for more highlights from our summer:  travels, visitors, purchases for Cat Tales.

Trinidad, life on the 'hard'

 

Cat Tales being hauled out at Chaguaramas in Trinidad.

 Since we were hauled out on Monday, May 7th, lots has been done to get her ready for 6 months 'on the hard'.  Laurie has fogged the engines, replaced both exhaust elbows, changed oil, and filters.  He then cleaned and removed the propellers and changed the seals on both sail drives.  We have pickled the water maker, had the boat washed and waxed (wax to be left on for the season) and placed a 20 by 30 foot tarp over the boat.  This morning, we did most of the bottom paint, however because we ran out, we'll finish the job when we return in November.   Up in Antigua, we noticed a vibration in one of the rudders, so they were both removed when we came out of the water.  Laurie will replace the bearings when we return and they will go back on when they put us in the lift on our 'splash' date in the fall.  Yesterday, Laurie siphoned our fuel tank while scrubbing the bottom with a long handled paint brush with a couple of extensions.  Our friend Blugh from the boatyard ran and got us 4 carboys of diesel and as I type this, Laurie's outside filling it up to the top to prevent moisture in the tank.  He's got the outboard engine from the dinghy left to deal with.  When that's finished, he'll store it inside the boat along with the life raft.  Last year our life raft was stolen, but we managed to get it back, so no more chances with that!

I have done a couple loads of laundry and am packing all the tid bits that need to get home.  Last year I found that I had left my camera battery behind and was forced to use my underwater camera for the entire season at home.  We have software, batteries, chargers, phones etc. etc. to remember.  Lists, lists and more lists!

We have organized a canvas expert to come and replace our bimini.  We had the present one made in Canada before leaving in 2004, but its life is now spent and all the zippers need replacing, so we're getting a whole new one organized complete with a front wind screen, side panels and back shade panels.  Shaun from 'Superb Sail and Canvas' has given us a fair price and he has promised to come on Monday to get the job started by moving and changing the design around slightly.  Once we're happy with the piping and metal work, he'll do the job for us while we're away in Canada.  Getting our 50 percent deposit paid was tricky since he works only in cash and the bank machines have a tiny daily limit.  We tried too hard to get his money and ended up shutting down all our cards.  With a few phone calls, we were back in business, but we have had to make a trip to the Bank Machine every day for 3 days!

Last but not least, we're eating down the fridge.  It's hard work trying to use every last little bit of everything.  Each meal is a challenge.  Of course eating out in Trinidad along this long boat yard highway is amazingly great, so we don't want to eat every meal onboard.  Tonight it's a Bake and Shark at the Wheelhouse Pub for 40 TT, which is about 7 Canadian dollars.  The beers are also delightfully cold!  With temperatures in the mid 30's with 100 percent humidity, the beer had better be cold!

We fly direct from Trinidad to Toronto on Wednesday, May 16th.  Brian, our brother in law will pick us up at the airport late in the afternoon.  We'll hang around Toronto until midnight when my mother flies in.  We'll then head for London, Ontario to spend a week with my 2 sisters there and all the related families.  A week later, mom, Laurie and I will return by plane to Fredericton.

So, there you have it...it's a hard life living on the hard!

Hey, it's not ALL work!

Arrival in Trinidad

We left Prickly Bay, Grenada on Thursday morning at 1:30 am., to do the 80 nautical miles to Chaguaramas, Trinidad, where Cat Tales is slated to be hauled out for storage. We left so early so as to reach the Boca canal during daylight hours. The narrow, mile long Boca is quite doable in the dark, but with strong currents in many directions, standing waves, hidden rocks, rough edges and coral outcropings, and howling monkeys (okay, we can't hear the howlers, but we know they are there...), we'd much rather do it in the daylight with two perfectly working engines.

We had an uneventful passage during the dark hours of Thursday, except for the wind having a bit of south in it, and the current pushing us westward being rather strong. I steered until 5 a.m., while Dawn slept, then I caught an hour of sleep before taking back over at the helm. We knew we had picked the wrong day for the trip by 8 am., when the current and wind direction continued to be uncooperative. The day had some blustery parts to it as well, with the wind growing to 28 knots at times, in strong rain and mist. By noon, the wind had clocked around to directly south, and we were heading to Venezuela, with the Boca 30 miles straight upwind (30 miles at 5 knots is 6 hours). The Boca was not out of the question, but the extra tack would take us there by the dark hour of 9 pm.

However, something or somebody intervened, and the wind dropped to less than 6 knots, and we were able to motor directly into it, We did 3 knots of this for an hour, then our speed increased to 4 knots thanks to a favourable current. Then the wind shifted to the east, and we had a following sea. We arrived at the Boca just at sunset, but had to motor against a tough current in the standing waves. We got through the Boca and into sheltered Scotland Bay just in the last light of day, and put the sails away by moonlight.

I think the great Flying Spaghetti Monster (Check out this fantastic hardly known deity on the internet) fixed the day for us with his noodly appendage. We're now believers.

We had a nice nightcap, a little leftover pizza, and a good sleep, before moving to a bouy in Chaguaramas and clearing Customs and Immigration. At the buoy, an anchored boat was rather close to us, but he was aboard and it was his responsibility to stay clear of us. Well, I overestimated his feeling of responsibility, and before he moved, a ragged corner of his steel arch took a nice chunk of gelcoat out of Cat Tales. That represents 3-5 hours work for me. Kaka occurs!

We're presently slated for haulout at 9 am. on Monday. We have some small chores before then, and a birthday party for me Saturday night at Sails Restaurant, just a dinghy ride away.

Voyage of the s/v Doughnut

We don't usually put 2 blogs up in one day, but this is an exception.

Earlier this morning, I posted a blog with the picture of this doughnut apparatus that as a group of 8 won for 2 hours to use in Prickly Bay. We were at the Tiki Bar last night with good friends Arlene and Denis from the boat "Tiger Lily II" and Alex and John from the boat 'Free Spirit' when we met another couple from Belgium, Phillip and Dianna from the boat 'Miles Away'. After happy hour and pizzas, a Trivia contest broke out. We played the game as a group and made many mistakes, but clearly aced it on many others. At the end of it, we didn't win the 2 bottles of Clarke's Court Rum with intelligent answers, but instead our answer sheet was chosen randomly from the pile and we won a 2 hour trip on the "doughnut" complete with 3 pizzas, 24 beers and lots of ice. You can see how much fun we had from the pictures below!

After the tiki bar put lots of gas in the fuel tank he paused to take a picture of the group of us.

Free beers and ice all loaded and Arlene's bottle of Champagne from Martinique ready and waiting.

While in Grenada, we contacted Jules, a flag maker and had him make us up a few flags to show Denis from Tiger Lily our appreciation and that we're part of his group. The FOD flag stands for "Friends of Denis". Denis is available to us each morning on the Ham Radio at 7:45 to discuss weather. Many followers check in and appreciate all his wisdom. Afterall, it is all about weather as we move from island to island here in the big ocean and in our little boats. We have become very much friends with Denis and Arlene who have been sailing the Caribbean for more than 25 years.

We spotted another couple who had been at the Trivia night at the Tiki Bar last evening and invited them to join us aboard the s/v Donut for a drink. Of course they only gave us 24 beers so they had to bring their own!

Grenada HASH and Tivia Night winnings!

On Saturday, Laurie and I joined Alex and John from the boat Free Spirit for a Hash House Harriers run. We've been hearing about these events all over the islands, but have never joined in. The locals and visitors alike get out for some exercise and then party hearty after. What makes a HASH unique is that the trail must be through mountainous terrain, muddy areas and stream crossings so that most of the participants wear some of the trail back. The participants can join in any way they want. There are trails for serious runners, walkers, short trails and long. Alex, Laurie and I all did the 3.3 miles while John went a bit further. We're used to hiking along trails just like Saturday's event, however, we're not used to having hundreds join in and passing us on these narrow paths through the rain forest. We were forced to keep up the pace with people behind us yelling "on - on", which means get a move on! There was a terrible section of the trail which went straight up a hill that you had to practically go up using both your hands and your feet. Laurie and I were considered HASH virgins and of course we had to go through some of their rituals. Apparently just because we lost our virginity in Grenada, it doesn't mean we've lost it everywhere. If we do a HASH run in St. Lucia, we'll be subjected to the same foolishness! We'd do it all over in a heartbeat!

All the newbies (virgins) were gathered together at the end of the event to be talked to, congratulated and finally sprayed with tons of beer!

Last evening, we decided to join Alex and John from Free Spirit along with Denis and Arlene from Tiger Lily for Happy Hour and Trivia night at the Tiki Bar here in Prickly Bay, Grenada. At the dock, we met another couple, Phillip and Dianna from the boat Miles Ahead (from Belgium). After several beers, we joined in on the fun and filled out a page of answers to over 40 trivia questions. They gave out 2 prizes to the large group. One was for the winner for the most answers correct, and the second prize was just randomly picked from all the pages in the pile. WE WON the random draw!!! So this afternoon, the 8 of us get aboard this luxury yacht/contraption pictured below for 2 hours and we'll dine on 2 free pizzas, and 24 free beers on ice! We've been told not to venture out into the ocean in this and to stay in Prickly Bay. It will be a load of fun and I hope to have pics up this afternoon.

Underwater Park in Grenada

We left Tyrell Bay in Carricou in the company of John and Alex from the boat 'Free Spirit' and Arlene and Denis from 'Tiger Lily' and sailed south towards St. Georges in Grenada. Along the way, we decided to stop by the underwater sculpture park just an hour north of St. Georges. We had heard much about the park and wanted to go there to see it. The wind was light, and the water very very clear. This was our chance! We were met by a couple fellows in a marine patrol boat who directed us to mooring balls, took our park fee and passed along a receipt. The snorkel was very much worth the few dollars we spent. After the snorkel, we moved our boats to St. Georges and all got together on Denis and Arlene's boat to share the Sailfish they were given the night before. They were almost in bed the night before in Carricou when a fellow cruiser came by their boat and asked them to do him a favour and take a piece of this fish off his hands. He had a hacksaw in his dinghy and was sawing off pieces of fish as big as you wanted. We ate all we could and shared leftovers and will eat it again tomorrow!

John and Laurie relaxing on the park bench 15 or so feet down!

This is John from Free Spirit, NOT Laurie as many of you would have guessed. I was wondering why there was coral and growth all over these figures except for this place!

Arlene and the rest of us were exhausted after swimming for over an hour in this beautiful park.

Hopefully, this guy wasn't bullied.

Arrived in Grenada

We have spent the last several days in Chatham Bay (Union Island) with Kristen and Terry from 'Silk Pajamas'. The first couple of days were slow with the remnants of the stomach flu. After a full 5 days for me and 4 for Laurie, we were up and at 'em again! Kristen and I snorkeled all along the coral along the beach and saw many varieties of fish and in great numbers. We were pleased to see a couple of Queen Angel fish as well as a couple of French Angels. The 4 of us did a major uphill hike yesterday and ended up at Seikie and Vanessa's beach bar for their happy hour where you can get great rum punch for 5 EC (approx 2 CAD). We said our goodbyes to these dear friends and promised to come back to see them next season when we spend more time in the southern islands.

This morning we said goodbye to Kristen and Terry and left Chatham Bay and our way over to Clifton on the other side of the island where we checked out of customs and picked up a few groceries. The home made bread there is to die for! We had a short sail over to Grenada's little northern island of Carricou where Laurie is in Hillsbourough clearing in to Customs and Immigration. I'm sitting on the boat pulling a small wifi signal out of who knows where and decided to update you all!

When Laurie gets back, we'll up anchor and head for Sandy Island where we'll enjoy a bit of snorkeling this afternoon. Tomorrow, we'll head in to Paradise Beach to see our old friend Curtis from his beach bar restaurant called 'off da hook'. He'll cook us up a pizza and sell us frosty beers! It's the same place where we took our Christmas pictures a couple of years ago. Simply a beautiful beach with real wiggle your toes in the sand type of setting. Curtis takes forever to make the lunch, but we have the time!

We'll head for the southern part of Grenada in a couple of days where we'll watch the weather and head for Trinidad.

All for now,

Dawn