So far, it’s been a bust – Carricou, Grenada, October 24, 2023

We were excited to get here.  We made it here without much ado.  That is where the good news ended.  To say things have gone smoothly would be a severe understatement.  Allow me to expand on this thought if for no other reason than to use this post as a reminder not to do this ever again.  Let the elaboration start here…

What has gone wrong:

• The heat here is indescribable.  While it says ~88 degrees, with the humidity it feels like 102+ degrees everyday without change.  On top of that, we have a hurricane (Tammy) to the north which has taken all of the Tradewinds, so the breeze is 1 knot – no lie.  Remember in the cartoons where bugs bunny could cut a donut out of smoke?  It’s kinda like that.
• I have been spoiled being back in the states and Ron and I have gone out to eat nearly every night the last few months so to come here and there be one restaurant with anything vegetarian on the menu was a bit of a shock.  You can only have pizza so many times in a row.  The other restaurant with anything potential vegetarian is an Indian restaurant and Ron won’t eat there.  On top of it, not one of them actually has air-conditioning so you sweat just sitting there having a beer.
• Our Airbnb is right behind a bar (owned by the same bar owner who is very nice) and they play music till 5 in the morning 2 nights a week.  Ugh.
• The groceries are at least on par with the Bahamas if not more expensive and there is a very limited selection.  I expected the limited selection but the price was something I didn’t quite remember being so bad.  So, we are eating ramen noodles, peanut butter sandwiches, and bologna.  Not as glamourous as you thought right?
• Ron has spent the last week sanding and prepping the bottom of the boat which is a horrible and very toxic job. The bottom paint has copper in it and he comes home with not only heat stroke every day but he also looks like a Smurf (blue from bottom paint even though he is wearing a bunny suit and respirator), not to mention he got some on his face on day 1 which has burned nonstop ever since. It will be a miracle if he lives through this portion.
• We found out after sanding down to the gel cost that we now have to prime the bottom in addition to painting in order for the MicronCSC to stick.  They no longer make Micron66 so I guess we are switching.
• There was a French-Canadian lady 3 boats over who got all worked up because she got sanding dust on her boat.  It’s a boat yard!?!  After she finished bitching out the boat yard staff (yeah, they love her), she wanted us to pay to have her boat cleaned.  Seriously?  Fine – just go away!  Then we agreed to pay for her water so she could clean here boat herself (even though we offered to power wash it for her).  Then…we find out she has used ~1,000 gallons of water!  She had to have left it on or something but they are very frugal here with their water since the only source they have or rain catchment.  Can’t wait to get the bill for this deal.  To top it off, they are sanding the bottom of their boat too.  I kid you not!  The yard was overjoyed to launch her boat and frankly we were too!
• Our launch date has been moved back to November 3^rd since the yard has had difficulty with their folks not showing up to work and it is their busiest season.
• There is one hurricane north of us now and another “disturbance” brewing so even if we do launch, we can’t go north to get out of the heat.
• We had hoped to get launched and go south to the main island of Grenada to get some of our rigging replaced.  Our rigger is now 3 weeks out and can’t get to us until mid-November at the earliest.  Ron has already started on plan B with one of the other local companies to see if they can fit us in. 
•  

The upside:

• Our Airbnb is clean, has air conditioning, and hot water.  Surprisingly, hot water is not standard down here and the sea temperature is 86…bath water.  Sadly, though it has no insulation and doesn’t stay cool during the day but we freeze at night.  No idea how to fix that.
• They have cold beer.  There are small godsends.
• At least we were able to track down enough bottom paint to finish our bottom job since the first quote we got was “it’s going to take 3 weeks to get here.”
• The locals here are incredibly nice and have been very friendly and accommodating.  Not to mention this little town is very safe and we have not felt at risk at all.
• I have gotten the kitchen, our bedroom, and one other room completely cleaned and vinegared in and around Ron being able to sand so if we can launch early, we can function on the boat if needed.

To say our comfort is getting in our would be a lie.  This is the only time I have heard Ron mutter something about selling the boat and never coming back to Grenada on account of the heat being unbearable.  We have one more week, a paint job to finish although the sanding is now done, and we can’t wait to get out of here.

We are nearly back! The first few days will be spent in Grenada proper since we padded our transition to ensure we (and all our boat parts) not only made it here but also made it through customs. The good news it went off without a hitch and I must say putting an air tag in that check bag was very comforting to track the fact that is made it on the plane. The ferry isn’t available to Tyrell Bay (where the boat is) until Monday so we are just enjoying Grenada we best we can til then. We have a nice, air-conditioned hotel, are checking out the provisioning prices at the local grocery and enjoying happy hour on the beach. It’s a rough life.

What I have noticed about coming back to the islands and transitioning back into this culture is yes, we need to be more patient and island time is real. The sidewalks have holes, and, in the tropics, drainage is a priority.

Also, just how nice everyone is here. I feel like after walking around here that Grenada is safe, clean, and everyone says hello. The last obvious thing, which we were expecting but underestimated, was just how truly hot it is. Boy, have we become unacclimatized! It is 84 degrees at 7:00am and feels like 96 degrees with 100% humidity. You can’t help but sweat anytime you are outside. Right now, we have planned to do all our boat work ourselves which includes a new bottom job, simply putting the boat back together, and Ron has some engine work. Once we get to the boat, we will see how a test sand goes and if we are truly able to stand the heat. Due to the nature of the bottom paint (and the fact that it is copper based), Sailing Hubby will need to wear a respirator and technically should wear a “bunny suit,” although with the heat and I am unsure this will be doable. There is no plan B yet and with luck we won’t need one.

Grand Anse Beach is two miles of uninterrupted which sand beach and crystal-clear blue water.  It is supposedly one of the top 5 beaches in the world.  We will enjoy our Carib’s tonight (beer is always on the lose weight diet) and the work will start tomorrow once we get off the ferry in Carricou.

We took a much-needed break this year from the last three years of constant travel and significant time away from family. We had originally planned on spending a month in Columbus to see our daughters but quickly learned, we needed to stay a bit longer, so we signed onto a 4 month a short-term apartment in Columbus living with daughter #2. She was on a travel nursing contract in Columbus working nights through the beginning of October. This gave us quite a bit of time not only with her but also my sister, daughters #3 & #4. We even had the treat of having daughter #1 come back from Spain (teaching English there) for a couple of weeks. We took the opportunity to get them all together for a very nice home cooked Thanksgiving Dinner over the Labor Day holiday. We also had a blast spending the summer hanging out with my sister but quickly learned, when it comes to not travelling, drinking beer becomes our pastime and that is not necessarily a good thing.

Other things we learned while being on land for a bit and back in the states is riding the motorcycle again was awesome, but we nearly got killed everyday since most people in the states drive with their iPhone in their face and cannot do two things at once. Secondly, beer is entirely too cheap and accessible and now we both have about 20 lbs. to lose. At least in the islands we must schlep our beer a mile and a half through 150 degree heat, so we automatically drink less and burn more calories doing so. Thirdly, we planned on having a third checked suitcase to take back filled with boat parts, however, with the accessibility of Amazon delivery, we ended up carrying back 10 times the weight in boat parts than clothing. And lastly, being in one place for 4 months was too long. Our upstairs neighbors in our apartment were very loud jerks and we had several altercations with them. Missing the boat was inevitable.

Our last day in Columbus was October 2^nd and we moved out of our apartment, rented a car, and took off to West Virginia to see Ron’s sister. After that we spend a few days in Jekyll Island with my parents helping them with random household chores like painting/ electrical what not and auto repair. It feels good traveling again and we are just that much closer to our final starting destination…Grenada which is where we land today once we get through the Miami connection. Here’s to the beautiful waters of the islands and smooth flights!