Day 454: Mayreau – 05/04/11

Maggie passes by the boat in the morning saying that if Bev and I want to help decorate the church and the restaurant we can go up after 11 am then Matt and Anna turn up a little later and say that they are going too.  In the end I don’t go and just end up having a lazy morning.

Bev and Moe don’t get back to the boat until after 1 pm and have to race around getting ready before we all traipse off together picking Anna up on the way.

The walk up the hill is a killer.  It was bad enough yesterday in the relative cool of the evening.  In the midday sun, it is purgatory and wearing a long dress, I don’t get the normal breezy effect I get when wearing a short one!

Photo:  Righteous, one of the bars on the way up the hill

As we slowly stagger, sweating, up the hill, WARC crews are emerging from bars on either side of the road, having enjoyed a cooling beer or two at the half way point.  As we are almost late, we have no such luxury and have to continue past Dennis’ (where we stopped yesterday to get Matt) and up to the church at the top of the hill.  The view behind the Church of the Immaculate Conception is magnificent, stretching over the Tobago Cays in hues of blue and turquoise and the Caribbean Sea.

Photo:  View of the Tobago Cays from Mayreau

The church itself is very pretty, built from stone with a pitched wooden roof and stained glass windows. 

Photo:  The Church of the Immaculate Conception

Rather than stand any longer in the sun, I manage to drag Mike inside to the shade and watch as the church starts to fill.  Background music is provided by Oisin and a local guy who suddenly turns up and starts randomly playing the drums but not to any particular beat and certainly not in rhythm with Oisin.

 Photos:  The wedding

Father Mark holds a wonderful ceremony and makes it very personal for Annie and Jim.  The church is filled with people smiling and there are quite a few tearful eyes.  Locals wandering in and out and children looking through the open windows, smiling and giggling all add to make this a very special and different occasion.  Afterwards we all go outside to witness the signing of the official certificates. 

Photo:  The wedding party

Photo:  Rice and bubbles shower the signing of the certificates

Photo:  Jutta and Jochem

We all have some champagne then Jim stands up and gives a lovely speech about finding Annie and their journey to today.

Photo:  Jim gives his speech to Annie

After that the champagne really flows and the photo taking begins in earnest.

Photo:  After the wedding

Once the photos are taken we all walk down the hill again which is much easier than going up it (although some people pause half way to go to a bar) and stop at Dennis’ Hideaway where the wedding reception is being held.  The drinks continue to flow and the nibbles are gorgeous.  Jim and Annie take the floor for the first dance and then there are speeches.  Dennis invites people to come up to say what they want on this occasion.  Matt gets everyone to hold hands in silence for a few minutes and Bev sings a song called ‘Stay with You’.  After thinking for it for a few minutes, I get up and take the microphone and talk about the joy of having found the love of my life 32 years ago, all the time looking at Mike.  Heartfelt stuff indeed.

Photo:  Bev sings for Annie and Jim

Photo:  Annie prepares to cut the cake

Mindful that there is another social engagement tonight, Jochem’s birthday barbecue, we go down the hill to the anchorage, stopping as we see another opportunity for a photo shoot on the way.

  Photos:  Glamour followed by the giggles

I get changed for the evening as I can’t flap about in a long dress getting in and out of dinghies in one in the dark.  Anna fancies a change too so I lend her a dress.

Photo:  Anna and I in matching dresses

It’s dark when we get back to shore and are faced with that bloody hill again but at least it’s cooler.  Dennis’ Hideaway is once again the venue for the party and Jutta and Jochem throw a great celebration.  The drinks are still flowing and the barbecue is delicious.  Not wearing a watch I have no idea of the passing of time just that it is a great occasion leading up to the end of the rally.  Mike gives up before me and head back to the boat and I follow about an hour later. 

What a lovely day it’s been.  I reflect a little on the day and think about the friendships I have forged, sad that some of them live so far away but amazed at what we have all gone through together.  Some people say that something like ‘this little adventure’ can change your life and I am yet to find out whether this has done it to me.  I guess I will find out when I go home and see people’s reaction to me now and my reaction to their lives which were once so similar to mine.  Will I want to scream and run for the open seas again wondering why I was ever homesick?  I’ll find out in just a few weeks. 

Day 453: Mayreau – 04/04/11

We all sleep or lie in late which is great and I am still unwashed and undressed when the bride-to-be and her female entourage arrive to get the dress shortened which makes me rush to the bathroom for a quick sloosh while they are all clambering aboard.  Anna spreads a sheet over the floor of the cockpit and ruches the dress up at the front so that Annie can be barefoot at the wedding.

Photos:  The dress alterations taking place

Photo:  Finished

Mike and Moe choose this time to come out of their respective bedrooms although Mike quickly retreats back to the safety of the boat’s interior when he sees all the females in the cockpit.  Moe, being younger and stronger, takes his chances in the cockpit with us and I manage to cajole him into giving me a shoulder massage – his payment for passage.  At 10 minutes a day he is already 30 minutes behind with his rent so I get a fairly longish one today although he hasn’t fully settled his back rent yet!

We have a late lunch then an afternoon nap.  Well I try to nap but don’t manage it and go up stairs the cockpit to paint my toenails and read a trashy book.  In a moment of madness, I then paint my finger nails – something I haven’t done for absolutely years – and not a particularly brilliant idea now that my hands are still trying to transform themselves into boat hands (I am just about still winning the battle apart from the horrible short nails).  Actually it ends up looking OK, just really strange as I’m not used to it.

Bev and I have a few jobs organised for the wedding but in the end our help is not needed which gives us a bit longer to get ready for the beach bar barbecue where fresh lobster are being cooked for fourteen of us.

As we walk along the beach we bump into Maggie and Bob who have just been doing wedding jobs.  Although we are late (Moe takes longer to get ready than any girl I know) the others aren’t there yet, but a few minutes later we hear them noisily coming down the hill having visited one (or maybe more) of the bars further up the hill.  There is at least one dinner guest conspicuous by his absence – Matt – so Bev and I go to drag him back.

However there is a bloody great hill in the way!

We start off (foolishly) by running but come embarrassingly quickly to a walk and eventually arrive, somewhat short of breath (although Bev recovers more quickly than me) at Dennis’ Hideaway Bar.  Sure enough, Matt is there along with Anna, Richie, Sophia, Sean, Oisin and Eline.  We manage to drag Matt away and Anna promises to follow.  When we get back down the hill, the lobsters are just being placed on the table.  What a wonderful sight – and smell!

Photo:  Lobsters galore

Even the side dishes of curried vegetables, garlic jacket potatoes and rice are really good, and we all tuck in.  I totally adore lobster and these are the best and juiciest that I have tasted for some time. 

Photo:  Tucking in

Photo:  Demolished

It’s a great meal and a lovely evening (hopefully) for the bride and groom to set them up for tomorrow.

Photo:  Mike enjoying a cuddle from Anna

We don’t stay late as it’s a big day tomorrow and some people need a good rest.  When we go to pay, Jim tells us that he has settled the bill as a thank you to all of us for our support.  What a lovely thought – thanks, Jim!  Rather than go back to the bar, Bev and Moe come back to the boat with us and we sit outside for a nightcap, Mike on the dark and stormies and me, Bev and Moe (another convert) on Amarula.  The anchor doesn’t appear to have dragged at all and I hope that it doesn’t do so during the night although it’s unlikely as Moe has dived over it and it looked well set.

Day 452: Carriacou to Mayreau – 03/04/11

I turn over in bed in what I think is the middle of the night, and come awake enough to hear that the anchor alarm is sounding.  Oh, fantastic.  Mike gets up and goes to see what’s happening and hears Bev calling to him as she too has heard it.

I lie there trying to pretend nothing is happening but when I hear the anchor being taken up, I can’t ignore it any longer and drag myself out of bed, get dressed and prepare to help.  Luckily by the time I reach the cockpit, Moe is already there and after waiting for a few minutes I go back to bed.

Apparently the anchor had dragged a little bit which made the alarm go off but once Mike was up it dragged a lot, so it was a good job he and Moe were there to reset it.  It turns out that it’s just before 6 am so Mike makes a cup of tea for us both then comes back to bed to drink it.  I have mine then fall asleep again.

When I eventually come to (with the aid of another cup of tea), Crazy Horse have discovered that nothing has been caught around their propeller and Bill is down in the engine room tightening things up that may have been left loose by the boatyard staff.  We are to leave in an hour.

With free internet access in the bay, we all rush to do our computer stuff then pull the anchor up and follow Crazy Horse out for our short passage to Mayreau.

It’s a lovely day, breezy and for once the wind is coming from the right direction.  We get the main and genoa out and have a good sail, going past Union Island to Mayreau in around 20 knots of wind.  Although we still have over one knot of current against us we are doing over 8 knots.

Moe puts the fishing rod out and does hook a fish but it gets off before he can reel him in.  At least our lure stays on for a change. 

After one of the best sails of the past few weeks we turn the corner into Saline Bay, Mayreau.  The turquoise waters of the Caribbean Sea greet us.  Bev and I prepare lunch again and we settle down to eat even though Freddy, he of the loud beach music, tries to persuade us to eat with him at his beach restaurant.

In the afternoon, Matt and Anna join us, followed by Maggie and Bob.  Bev makes a batch of her new cocktail – Margot on the rocks – a mix of the cheapest red wine possible, grapetizer and ice.  Actually it’s OK (well I go back for seconds so I think that qualifies).

Photo:  Bev, Maggie and me drinking Margots

Photo:  Matt, Anna, Bob and Mike

A boat arrives to take Mike and Bill to the airport to check us and the boats into the Grenadines and for Annie and Jim to pick up Diane, Jim’s secretary. 

Photo:  The taxi arrives to go to the airport

It’s hot as there’s hardly a cloud in the sky to cool it down.  Our boat becomes a swim platform with people diving off from every corner in an attempt to cool down.

Photos:  Bev and Bob take dives and flying leaps from Jeannius

Photo:  Matt, Moe and Bob

When the airport contingent eventually come back, the girls have decided that Annie’s hen party will be held on Jeannius, NOW, and the guys can just bugger off somewhere else which is exactly what happens.  Annie and Diane stay with me and the others go off, bringing back wine and nibbles and rounding up the rest of the females ie Jutta and Eline.  Then the party begins.

Photos:  Annie’s hen party

Given some of the antics when these women have been together on previous occasions, the night really isn’t too raucous and when Mike returns I am in the process of clearing up.  We still have the job of filling all the water bottles, a tedious process, but we are on the last bottle so we have to do it.  Unfortunately, Mike then realises that our new anchor has not settled properly and I have to take it up, put it down, then repeat the process all over again before it finally digs in tight.  Then, and only then, am I allowed to go off for my shower and flop into bed.

 

Our position is:  12 deg 38 min N, 61 deg 24 min W

Distance so far:  24614 nautical miles

Day 451: Grenada to Carriacou – 02/04/11

I wake up at 9 am after the best sleep for ages.  Well, when I say I wake up, I mean Mike wakes me to tell me that he is going to clear out at customs with Bill and Roland, and that I should think about getting myself up and out to do the provisioning with Bev.

I am still eating breakfast when he comes back having been a lot quicker than I thought he would be (check in took nearly 2 hours).  Bev and I then quickly get our act together and Matt ferries us across the marina to Foodland, the conveniently placed supermarket where we quickly throw together a trolley-load of food and dash back.

In the meantime, Mike and Moe have got the repaired main back up and everything seems to be hunky dory for leaving.  We had been going to stay for two nights but as the marina staff had not been authorised to give us the discounted WARC rate we decide to go to Carriacou today instead and get half of the journey to Mayreau over and done with – but not before Moe gives the cockpit a good clean.  Although it’s not quite to his satisfaction, I am more than happy with it especially as I haven’t had to have a hand in it!

I rush down to the bar to try to get the blog published but it won’t go as the signal is not strong enough.  On my way back to the boat the heavens open and I dive for cover, glad for once that I have an excuse not to get my hair wet (can’t get the computer wet, can I?).  When it stops I am wandering along the pontoon when a member of the marina staff in a golf buggy stops to give me a lift back to the boat.  He says he has been instructed to find me and take me back immediately.  Crazy Horse head out first but of course, as we head out of the marina a large container ship comes in blocking our way, just like last time.  We wait for a few minutes then are able to edge our way past them and get back into the Caribbean Sea.  We motor up the west side of the island for a mile or so and then get the main up.  For a while, once up, it makes the most awful groaning noises and I am terrified that something is about to break when Mike tells me that it is just all the new knots settling and tightening into place.  We then put the genoa out.

For a while we have a pleasant sail, gradually leaving the lovely Spice Island – Grenada – behind.  We still keep the motor on giving us a bit of extra speed and Bev and I put together lunch – self assembly sandwiches – which we can eat outside.

Later in the afternoon, the sea gets more and more confused, with waves hitting us from all sides and the boat plunging headfirst into others, it’s not long before it all becomes a bit miserable.  Not only that but the current against us starts to build up until in the end we have 2.5 knots that we are fighting and can only get to a speed of 3.5 knots over the ground even though by this time we have both engines on.  Crazy Horse calls us – they are struggling in exactly the same way but on top of that they have an ominous rumbling from the propeller and are afraid that they either have something wrapped around it or that something wasn’t tightened properly before they left.

We had anticipated being able to make it to the anchorage at Hillsborough before dark, just over 30 miles away.  With our miserable speed it is now obvious that we won’t make it until much later and Mike makes the decision to head for Tyrrel Bay instead, a few miles closer.

Photo:  The sun setting between Grenada and Carriacou

The beautiful sky, with its setting sun partially hidden behind a lovely squall, does not make the entrance to Tyrrel Bay any easier.  Luckily a few WARC rally boats are in and John from Tzigane calls over the VHF to tell us about some unlit yachts that could be in our path.  As we pass one, a nice big, expensive looking thing with a blue hull, we can’t believe that no one has left a light on anywhere aboard.  With no moon, we could have ploughed straight into it, unable to stop until it was too late.  Stupidity indeed.

We put the anchor down but it doesn’t settle and I have to get it up again.  Moe is busy waving our spotlight over the unlit boat so that Crazy Horse, coming in behind us can avoid it too.  Eventually we get the anchor to set and Crazy Horse anchors behind us.  It is nearly 8 pm and it has taken us over six hours to do 30 very uncomfortable miles.  We settle down for a drink (me introducing Bev to the delights of Amarula which we managed to find – amazingly – in Foodland) and dinner, pasta bolognaise, which has been bubbling away on the stove for the last hour or so.

Mike and I head off to bed quite early.  We can still hear the wind howling although it is not as strong as it sounds.  We are in the sheltered bay (sheltered from the waves if not the wind).  I’m glad we didn’t continue to Hillsborough – it would have been very rolly.

 

Our position is:  12 deg 27 min N, 61 deg 29 min W

Distance so far:  24601 nautical miles

Day 450: Out of Grenada Marine – 01/04/11

We have to go to the boatyard early as Mike has to retrieve his wallet (which he managed to leave behind yesterday) in order to pay the hotel bill.  Amazingly when we arrive there is a little man underneath the boat painting already which means that there is a chance we could be out of here this afternoon.  The prop shaft oil seal is also finished and the propeller itself gets a paint job.  The only badly planned thing is that the paint used for this is supposed to have 12 hours drying time and we don’t have 12 hours to spare.

We still don’t have our main sail back as they have decided to stitch all the seams again just in case the old UV problem hits those too but they assure us we will get it back this afternoon.

The day ticks by slowly.  It’s hot, sweaty and there are zillions of mosquitoes, most of whom have heard of my arrival and have come to say hello and give me their little love bites.  It doesn’t seem to matter how many noxious chemicals I liberally apply to my body, they always find somewhere to bite me.  I watch as one bump appears before my very eyes although I am not quick enough to splatter the little bastard that’s responsible for it.

We nag at the project manager who is still adamant that we will be in the water this afternoon.  Then ‘this afternoon’ suddenly becomes ‘in the next half an hour’.  Yeah, right, I believe that one.  April Fool!  But it does – we suddenly hear the musical pip pip of the Travel Lift and it appears around the corner heading straight for us.

They get the straps on and lift us up – then everything stops.  We look around and they have stopped for a tea break.

  Photos:  They arrive, get going, stop, and eventually get going again

All you can do is wait until they are ready, which, in their own sweet time, they are and we follow the boat back down to the slip, clamber on board and get lowered into the water.

The guy who changed the prop shaft seal arrives to make sure that it is watertight – it is, but we still have no sail.  We wait and wait and suddenly Martin arrives with it folded up into the neatest little pile and he and Moe throw it on board.  Mike is not going to bother fitting it until we get to Port Louis.

We say goodbye to everyone.  Crazy Horse and due to be next back into the water but Basia are staying for another two weeks and will join the fleet in St Lucia, obviously without their yacht as the repairs are likely to take six months..

We head out and immediately are into crazy waves.  It’s a very lively sea although thankfully the wind is not against us so it’s not too uncomfortable.  It still takes a couple of hours to get round to St George but as we arrive there is the most glorious sunset, the sky changing from orange to red to purple.

Photos:  A beautiful changing sky

Photo:  Moe and Bev wait on deck to tie us up

We head out for dinner, Mike lured by the promise of pizza.  We can’t work out where Crazy Horse is as she was in the Travel Lift when we left but eventually, at around 9.30 pm, she arrives and we rush back from dinner to help the crew tie up.  I go for another drink with them (Mike goes to bed), then wander down to the beach with Matt, Bev and Moe for a while before going back to bed myself.

It’s good to have the boat back somewhere clean  although after 5 days in the dusty boatyard, Jeannius is anything but clean herself!  I’m sure Bev and Moe will see to that!!!