The End of an Era – September 24, 2024, Walsenburg, Colorado, USA

Posted on September 24, 2024 by Sally

The End of an Era – September 24, 2024, Walsenburg, Colorado, USA

We stayed in Jekyll for two weeks and it was time to start heading west. We decided to start making our way across the southern route and to stop at one of Ron’s old friends who lives in Texas, Ricky. It was a fun couple of days where we played pool, drank a few beers, got to ride in their side by side, and enjoyed the company of old friends. After a few days of driving we are now in Colorado hoping to explore the area a bit and see how far north we can make it before the weather gets too cold. Hopefully we can get to northern California before having the venture south to warm up. Although we had kicked around the idea of skiing this winter any long term stay in the cold isn’t very appealing to either of us since we haven’t seen snow for nearly 4 years.

We have head from the insurance company about Mariposa and they have decided to make her a total loss. The price we could of bought her back was insanely high for what needed to be done to fix her so we decided to pass. It was a sad day to know that the boat with all our belongings and all the work we had put in was now gone. The only bright side is we could potentially buy a non-hurricane damaged boat in the future for close to what we will get from insurance. The process as a whole has been impossible and the insurer had made it as difficult and frustrating as possible. They decided not to total the dinghy. Instead they give us half of what is was insured for. Much like Mariposa getting g her fixed is next to impossible where she sits and once fixed worthless to us since we had no main vessel. So we have a dinghy and no boat, which essentially doesn’t help us at all. The payment from them had not arrived yet but thankfully we at least have the RV to distract us from the chaos. We are no longer yacht owners but at least we are still sailors.

While we stayed in Jekyll, Ron made a quick hop back to Grenada to retrieve the few sentimental items we could get into a couple of suitcases. Outside of the few things in the RV, it most of what we own. Once again, we are homeless and possessionless (?).

Currently, we are struggling with finding available campsites in Colorado. Luckily Ron made a couple of RV upgrades while in Jekyll which increased out solar and battery set up. This helps us since we will now have heat while boondocking! Yeah! BLM land in the west is available and we are hoping to test out this concept here soon. The Rocky Mountains are beautiful, and I am glad we are this far. Over the next few days, we will have the chance to see Zapata Falls and Great Sand Dunes National Park. Travelling and exploring again takes our minds off the boat insurance issues and the fact that it’s the end of an era we have enjoyed immensely.

Purgatory Hell – Jekyll Island, GA USA, September 4, 2024

Posted on September 6, 2024 by Sally

Purgatory Hell – Jekyll Island, GA USA, September 4, 2024

It has been over 8 weeks now and we just kinda heard from insurance. We are somehow supposed to exercise diplomacy and patience but man it is hard! As of now here is what we know…the insurer has one quote from a salvage company and is waiting on a second one (hopefully we will get one in the next day or so) and they will “tell us what our options are.” Let’s translate this. It means the insurer likely wants to total the boat and is trying to get the highest bid possible for the salvage boat. If we cannot match or beat the bid then…we have to make some tough choices. We need to decide if we even want to keep the boat, if so how much would we offer insurance to keep her and if we cannot come to an agreement, Ron has to go down again and retrieve the rest of our personal belongings and give the boat to the insurer to do with what they will. One decision we have made is that we are not done sailing. I am not sure the timing or what it would look like but more adventure to come and boy have we learned a lot through this entire process.

In the meantime, we have spent our time visiting out daughters in Ohio (daughter #1 was home from Spain so we took advantage of that). Now we are back visiting my parents preparing for Ron’s likely trip back to Grenada. We are also watching the weather as we are still in the peak time for additional hurricanes, which may impact Ron’s trip and frankly, the boat overall. My Mother has had some recent health concerns and my Dad needed help building a shed in his back yard. Those along with a few other projects seem to keep he and Ron busy. Note, we currently have the RV here in Georgia and if a hurricane is on track to hit here, we will need to move the RV inland. But it has been great to see family, Ron and I have started running here on the island which is beautiful, and depending on the decision from insurance, we may use this as a jumping off point to head west til Christmas…

As far as the people of Carriacou, they still have no power, aid relief workers and food is no longer arriving, and the looting has begun on the island bringing concern for what will be left even if we do decide to keep the boat. So far, the boat yard has cut all the rigging we had planned to save making a fix to her even more unlikely and it is certain we will need to have her moved to Clark’s Court Grenada in order to have any work done. With the keels damaged, no mast, and a laundry list of other issues, I am not certain the boat is seaworthy enough to “sail” her south to get all of the items done. Not to mention Clark’s Court doesn’t have room for us nor is any of the talent available til mid-November at the earliest cutting short any sailing season we may have. So many decisions, it will be an interesting few weeks from here.

Winds of Change are Swift – Columbus, Ohio USA, Tuesday July2, 2024

Posted on July 8, 2024 by Sally

Winds of Change are Swift – Columbus, Ohio USA, Tuesday July2, 2024

And just like that, our lives are changed by hurricane Beryl. It hit Carriacou Island, Grenada as the earliest and strongest hurricane ever. It was a strong Category 4 nearly a 5 with 150 MPH wind speeds and devastated the majority of the island. Our boat Mariposa, is in Tyrell Bay which sustained a direct hit. The few photos we have been able to find online show she has likely been de-masted at best and a complete loss at worst. My heart is broken.

First photo during the eye showed her in good shape! Yaaaaa

Second photo we found after the very passed did not look good. She is in that mess. Emotional low point.

Another photo showed hope maybe she is ok.

Then a fellow cruiser found her. She looks bruised up a bit but maybe we can salvage her.

We wandered around much of yesterday wondering “what if” and today as dawn starts to highlight the after affects of the storm it has turned into “now what?” The good news is the loss of life has been only a few people however the reality is 90% of the homes have been complete destroyed. We are very lucky in the grand view of everything. Mariposa is insured and not completely destroyed. We were also not on the island when the storm hit. We did not plan to go back to Grenada so soon but now we need to go down and work through the damage assessment, salvage what we can and deal with the many insurance hurdles likely to come.

Unbelievable devastation.

Mariposa RIP. The most amazing thing is the people there who just lost their house, their parents house, their businesses, everything still have a smile and are grateful to be alive. A lesson can be learned by all of us on this one.

So now as our plans change again, we are storing the RV in Ohio, then driving down to my parents in Jekyll Island, Georgia. I will visit with my parents, while Ron heads to Grenada to secure mariposa and take photos for insurance. We have been lucky, the cruiser community has been amazing. The boat next to us was also de-masted, except he only has liability insurance and isn’t sure if he can even fix his. Another boat who shot the video for us was a total loss and has no insurance at all. They have to start over with a yound family who had sold everything. Very sad stories we have heard but everyone was so willing to help any way they could and we are so lucky. It our turn to go down and help them.

Season 3 Comes to an End – Carricou, Grenada, April 12, 2024

Posted on April 30, 2024 by Sally

Season 3 Comes to an End – Carricou, Grenada, April 12, 2024

And just like that…it’s over. We were both more than a little sad this season is over. Since Christmas it seems like we have both really gotten in the groove and don’t want it to end. However, as all good things, we have a deadline to meet and have two daughters graduating from college. Therefore, we have a very special place to be here in early May. Today is haul out day and our lovely Mariposa was put in her special resting place today just as the first tropical depression rolls off the coast of Africa. Being a La Nina Year it is predicted to be a very dangerous year for hurricanes, so it is probably a good thing we are hauled out and tidied up.

We have been in Union Island the last week just hanging out, enjoying the weather, and snorkeling so I guess it’s time to do something more productive. This week we are cleaning the boat and putting everything away for another year so she is in good shape when we head back down in October.

We were fortunate enough that while we were in Carricou to see an incredible live band front row in a little café called Lambi Queen. They had guitar, drums, bongos, etc. and it was truly awesome. We have not seen live music in quite a while, so it was a great treat!

Tomorrow we hop on a plane to fly back to the states for the next step in our whirl wind adventure.

Bye, Bye Grenada! – Clifton Bay, Union Island, The Grenadines, November 25, 2023

Posted on November 28, 2023 by Sally

Bye, Bye Grenada! – Clifton Bay, Union Island, The Grenadines, November 25, 2023

And that’s all she wrote! We have officially left Grenada and have headed into the Grenadines. We had to hit Clifton Bay in order to get customs so we walked a bit around town.

And before you know it, we were parked at the Tipsy Turtle for a beer and met a huge group of British Guys on a charter boat for the next three weeks. They were pretty funny.

The next morning, we found ourselves the calmest anchorage we have had yet this season and decided to hang out for a few days and snorkel and Ron had his running list of boat projects. Sadly, on the way over to Union Island, our wind instrument started to go on the fritz and now only work about 50% of the time. This will require Ron to climb the mast (his least favorite task) in order to fix so for now…it’s on hold and he took to waxing the boat instead.

After a quiet couple of days, we headed over to Tobago Cay (my 2^nd favorite snorkeling place in the Caribbean). We swam at horseshoe reef with rays, turtles, starfish, and even the guy below! If it wasn’t for the boat boys trying to sell you a ticket to their barbeque or a t-shirt, it would have been perfect. But hey, I guess everyone is trying to make a living.

Cool little creatures

All in all, Ron and I had spent nearly 6 weeks in Grenada and here is what surprised me:

Even though they speak English, they are still very difficult to understand here.
- The poverty – Grenada is the poorest of the Caribbean Islands and it shows.
How awful the driving and road are. They are downright scary!
How bad the food is – from a vegetarian’s perspective there is always very little on the menu no matter where we go and lately, we have taken to eating on the boat instead.
How poor off most of the coral reef are. We snorkeled a bunch of the reef here and in Carriacou (which is supposed to be the best in Grenada) and all of the brain coral is dead and much of the other coral is currently undergoing a 90% bleaching event.
The heat is unlike anything Ron and I have experienced anywhere else before and also how warm the water is. It is truly like bath water.
We had our brush with fame with the Youtubers – SV NAHOA

But at the end of the day, we decided Grenada didn’t have too much to offer, other that a spot to haul the boat out, and I doubt we come back.

Off To Safer Pastures – St. George Bay, Grenada, November 19, 2023

Posted on November 19, 2023 by Sally

Off To Safer Pastures – St. George Bay, Grenada, November 19, 2023

After spending the last two weeks in a marina, we had an appointment to move down to Spice Island Marina to get some of our rigging replaced. Majority of it has been replaced in the last 2 years but we still had to redo our shrouds on the side. According to the riggers it was a good thing we did since even though they had updated and fixed pieces on the bottom, they never did the top and if it had broken on the bottom, it would likely break on the top. I am glad we are all set and we may have it tuned once we get to St. Martin since they guys here didn’t use any instrumentation to do the tuning just “by feel.” Good news is this only took us a couple of days. Ron also knocked off one of the last projects on the list and restrung the trampoline as long as we were stuck at the boatyard for the next couple of days.

The wind was expected to pick up so Sailing Hubby decided we needed to be on the other side of the island and we headed over to St. George Bay. Being in Le Phare Bleu was nice for a while since we had a chance to catch up with a few friends from last year but the swell was so bad it had actually ripped the cleat off the side of our boat. We were tied to one of their stationary docks and it was about a 3-5ft swell at times. This puts a ton of stress on the boat. Because of the stress we also decided to try out some snubbers for the lines and this made a huge difference but I am glad we were off and after an uneventful sail around we were hitched up to a mooring ball and plan to snorkel and relax the next several days.

We headed over to the Underwater Sculpture Park just north of our anchorage. Wow it was pretty cool but the visibility wasn’t that great. The park was created in 2006 and in all there are 75 statues scattered around the area. The sculptures were put in as an effort to help protect the reef since it was a national park and was protected but sadly some damage has already been done. One of the highlights we saw was “the vicissitudes” which is a circular set of statues – 26 children – holding hands. The meaning is debated and some say they represent slaved thrown off the ships years ago while other say it is a symbol of peace.

There were many others as well including “Christ of the Deep”, “Lady on the Park Bench”, “The Turtle”, and many more! Apparently, they are created on land by a British sculptor and transferred to the ocean site by crane. His message was if we don’t start to take care of the ocean, we should. He has many sculptures under the sea around the world and some of his other are off the coast of Spain.

We had such a successful day snorkeling the sculpture park we took the chance on Ron’s birthday to snorkel just north Flamingo Bay Reef which was some of the best we have seen since we have gotten to Grenada. Finally, we saw some fish, a fairly health reef, and even a lobster but since it a no take zone, we just let him rest. Happy Birthday Hubby 😊.

Today we are off to go to Sandy Island, just off Carriacou, where we can snorkel a day or two and then check out of customs before continuing our voyage north to the Grenadines. This brings me to say we have decided this year to head back north to Georgia for hurricane season and tick off the remaining projects on our list to get Mariposa in tip top shape. We both felt like we still have plenty to see and plan to hit some of the places we missed on the way down last year. Not only that, but after a month in Grenada (I can’t believe it has been that long but it has!) doing little else but boat work, we both feel like we need a reset. We have planned a trip back home the end of December to Ohio to see our daughter’s and are looking forward to the break and restart come January.

Sailing Season III Wrap Up – Columbus, Ohio, June 11, 2023 (Capt. View).

Posted on June 13, 2023 by Sally

Sailing Season III Wrap Up – Columbus, Ohio, June 11, 2023 (Capt. View).

The 2023 cruising season for Mariposa has come to an end. Saying it was a year of adventure is an understatement. We first endured a direct hit from hurricane Nicole as we sat on a morning ball at Vero Beach. We then quickly dashed over to the crystal clear water of the Bahamas to explore as much of that island as we could before heading south. When it was time to head south we bashed windward into the trade winds through what is called the thorny path until we reached our final destination – Carriacou a small Island in Grenada. The thorny path reputation lives up to its name. Basically, you wait for a cold front to blow off the southern US which in turn drops the intensity of the trade winds. The best weather windows seemed to come few and far between this year so when you got one you had to take it ready or not. As in most things in life we got some right and we got some wrong.

From our starring point of St. Augustine, Florida we traveled over 2700 nautical miles, used about 380 gallons of diesel and surprisingly, broke nothing major on Mariposa. During those times we visited 13 countries, where we tried our best to integrate into the history and culture of the incredible people we met along the way. Over this trip we did several multi day passages the longest of which was 415 miles taking a little over 76 hours. During this time we dodged numerous fish traps, cruise ships, squalls, and the random charter boats here and there. The highs where insanely high and the lows where equally as low. Thankfully the lows were few and far between. To supplement our learning we taught ourselves a few French curse words, which has become very handy.

It is funny our first year in the Bahamas we were told by several cruisers we were too new at this, should not attempt this passage, perhaps join a salty dog rally. Blah blah blah. Well, we are not really rally kinds of people and it takes away the independence sailing gives you. I am not even sure we are buddy boat kind of people for many of the same reasons.

With a bit of hard work, patience for weather, and a healthy dose of being able to fix most things on the boat it is all doable. We just have to believe in ourselves and not listen to the boats that never leave the dock. It has been an Incredible voyage and cannot wait to pick up where we left off in a few months.

Now onto a few fun facts from things we learned this season:

It is very easy it is to get a driver’s license abroad and Ron has two now
Ron had lost not only his phone(threw in the water) but also his wallet (which was later found)
I have lost 4 pairs of sunglasses in the ocean…you’d think I would learn
How incredibly prevalent sexual abuse against women is in the Caribbean
You cannot substitute flour for sugar when making cookies
Many of the islands are still recovering from IRMA and MARIA
Dolphins and whales are always an event on the boat
We have not seen any snow in the last 12 months
120v hair clippers don’t work in 220v outlets very long
There are more charter boats south of BVI than we ever thought possible
You should never anchor in the middle of a mooring field – it makes you a jerk
The French, French-Canadians, and French West Indies are all pretty rude and have little self-awareness
We have earned our first swallow tattoo for sailing 5000+ miles over the last 3 years
Buddy Boating is not a thing and if you are not 100% self-reliant, you shouldn’t be out here.
9 months of time away from the family is just too long and we have been out here enough to know. Next year we plan to be home for some time around Christmas. We started to feel the burn and somehow the islands started to blur in April. The “another bloody beach” syndrome is real.
We have no idea what we are doing and where we are going next year on the boat and have discussed several ideas on this with no decision yet. It’s nice not to have a plan…yet.

It’s nice to be home…at least for a while.

We made it! – Tyrell Bay, Carriacou, Grenada, June 2, 2023

Posted on June 2, 2023 by Sally

We made it! – Tyrell Bay, Carriacou, Grenada, June 2, 2023

After 2,700 miles, 13 countries, and more than 9 months we have made it from St. Augustine, Florida to Tyrell Bay, Grenada. We have seen some amazing things, met some great people, and to say it was an easy would not be correct. At least our final leg from Union Island to Tyrell Bay was fairly easy and it was a nice close short 10-mile motor for us to wrap it up. Our plan was to pull into the marina, hook up to air conditioning, and start putting the boat to bed for the off season in comfort. That is when the shitshow started and it did not end…

We got to the marina in Tyrell Bay and little did we know, there is an island wide power outage on Carriacou, which started with a massive fire at the main generator on April 28^th. Since then they have been running on their back up generator and now that has gone caput as well. It would be at least 2 more days before they get power back and our solar alone cannot support our AC (Note to self we hope to upgrade this by adding soft start switches for next year). Well, guess we aren’t sleeping in AC. This was when we found out that there were two holidays this week which was part of the wait.

So, off to customs we went and when we got there after a very hot walk across the bay, they were closed for their 2-hour lunch break. After a beer or two and a nice 2 hour wait, we did get checked in, but they were not pleasant. We did stay on the boat for two nights but neither of us slept since it was so very hot! After working in the heat for several days and not sleeping (~90+ degrees) we finally found and got an Airbnb with AC after the island installed their new generator from Trinidad and flipped the main switch back on. Yeah AC! It’s within walking distance of the marina but boy there sure are a lot of goats here.

By this time Ron had the engine work wrapped up and I had gotten half of the boat cleaned and vinegared. The boat was a wreck! Nothing makes you want to own less stuff than having to clean, move, and cover everything you own with vinegar to inhibit mildew.

While I was working on this, Ron worked on fixing the small leak that had been going on with our water maker. He could of fixed this a while back but the gamble of breaking it was too high. So instead wait until the end of the season so if it does break we known what parts to get. Another project off the list.

This was about the time I was working on the other side of the boat where we sleep, and we found a nice leak under our bed. There was about two inches of standing water under our bed, where our spare inverter was sitting. Oooppps! Sailing hubby immediately got to work on this and detected a leak in the pex tubing connecting to our hot water heater. He was able to quickly fix this with new tubing, but this explains the faint smell of mold we had been smelling while we were asleep.

After 4 solid days of working to get it cleaned, repaired and closed up, it was haul out day. The marina did a very thorough job and our bottom job actually held up better than we expected. It is always a bit nerve racking, but Hubby was able to back her into the dock like a champ and the whole process was drama free. This was the only thing that was drama free. As ready as we were to see family and take a break, it is always a bit sad to see her come out of the water.

Cleaning off the rest of the bottom paint.

The drama continued when our Airbnb host told us she was not able to accept credit card payment and we would need to pay cash for our stay. Normally this would not be a problem except that the only ATM in Tyrell Bay was out of order. This required us to take the bus up to the next town Hamilton Bay to get cash out there. Hamilton Bay was not a very nice part of Carriacou and we were hassled by beggars and at first try the ATM there was out of service there too. Upon our second try we did finally manage to get out enough cash to pay our host – thank goodness!

Another two days of cleaning and fixing the boat and by this time we were both exhausted, but the boat was done! Whew! The heat and humidity here is intense and the boats can reach 140+ degrees inside. We did everything we could to try and keep the sun out, the moisture down, and keep her pest free. Let’s hope this works.

We managed to catch to 5:00am ferry to Grenada the next morning and now sit at the airport with our 3:00pm flight confirmed. It’s back to the US for a few months for a much-needed break and to see the sweet faces of family!

Swimming with the Turtles – Petit Bateau, Tobago Cays, May 24, 2023

Posted on May 27, 2023 by Sally

Swimming with the Turtles – Petit Bateau, Tobago Cays, May 24, 2023

We have spent the last 6 days in Bequia relaxing, snorkeling, and overall just enjoying ourselves. It was time to move on. We had decided to take the short 10-mile sail over to the Tobago Cay Marine Park. It is a protected area and supposedly very popular. It isn’t cheap to go to the park, so we only planned to stay for a couple days. We picked up a mooring ball right next to horseshoe reef but based on the abundance of current we decided to snorkel with our dinghy in tow.

We started with the swim area roped off for the turtles and we lost count at close to 30 turtles. It was like they knew they were protected here and could have cared less that we were there just hanging out with them. We also passed over a bed of nearly 40 giant starfish, half a dozen rays and one was even a spotted eagle ray. Our first one of the season. At one point we were swimming with 6 turtles and a ray. It was amazing and the reefs were in pretty decent shape too. We snorkeled again the next day and say more turtle, and a dozen cuddlefish. The water here is like the Exumas, clear blue and beautiful. I am very glad we came here and it will be a place we come back to early next season.

On our way out of Tobago Cays, we needed to stop at Union Island to check out of the Grenadines. We had originally thought we would stay there overnight but it was all a bit sketchy there and since we didn’t get a great vibe, we decided to simply high tail it down to Grenada. The island was VERY poor (as in Dominica poor).

Our next stop would be our last for the sailing season – Carriacou, Grenada where we plan to haul the boat out of the water and store it for hurricane season.

Cement Donkeys

Tag Archives: Grenada