Sorry for the radio silence over the last couple of months. Since leaving Carriacou and returning to Grenada life has been pretty unevetful. The hurricane season is upon us once again, so far there have been three named storms but none have been significant and nothing has passed close to us. This is also the start of the wet season and, boy, has it been raining a lot. Some days the downpours are almost continuous with rain so heavy feels like a cloud has burst above us. We fill our water tanks with rain collected from the awning, scampering around emptying jerry cans during the soggy pauses between showers. . . . joy!
We have been reviewing our action plans in the unlikely event that a hurricane heads this way. NOAA have pretty accurate forecasting techniques to identify disturbances with the potential to develop into hurricanes and to predict their strength and trajectory. With at least a week of advanced warning we have time to sail south to Trinidad or to stay in Grenada on a mooring or tied up to the mangroves in one of the sheltered coves. Either way we have been strengthening our “ground tackle”; checking our anchor chains, buying stronger mooring lines and bigger shackles, and splicing steel thimbles at the ends of anchor rodes.
We have also put in a mooring at Hog Island. Our friend Dominic, an experienced diver, advised us to use sand screws instead of a concrete block. Screwing three 10ft sand screws into the muddy seabed is tough, grueling work but Dom and his son Tyson had the job done in a couple of hours – amazing. We have had to let it settle in for a few weeks and will move on to our new mooring at the begining of next month.
Apart from boat jobs keeping us busy we have been filling our time with a bit of music. With Neil on keyboards and me singing, our repertoire is slowly growing and our sound improving – I hope! Each week there are several jamming or open-mic nights where people gather to play or listen. Neil has ordered a “snake”; the last piece of the puzzle that will enable him to record multiple tracks from the mixing desk to his Motu black box. He can then go down a rabbit hole of balancing and fine tuning, polishing and adjusting the sound to his hearts content.
I have been running a yoga session twice each week with an Argentinian friend of mine. She is an instructor but doesn’t speak much English so I’m helping translate for her: bend, stretch, ohmm! We use an area on the dock at Whisper Cove Marina which is sheltered from the rain and very peaceful with birds calling and fish jumping around us . . . except for last Monday when they started fogging for mosquitoes – very noisy but luckily the breeze kept most of the smoke away.
With all the rain the rivers on the island have been rising and a few weeks ago we joined a group to go tubing down the Balthasar River. It was not exactly a white-knuckle ride but the rapids were exciting and a few people tumbled out of their rings. Gently spinning around in the tranquil pools between the rocky bits was blissful, watching the tall stands of bamboo curving gently over to shade to dark water. It was so much fun we went down again!
We had our second Covid vaccination (AstraZeneca) last week with no adverse effects from either shot. The take up rate in Grenada is 13% which includes all the resident cruisers. Covid has been very well managed on the island with only around 160 cases and one death reported since the pandemic began. The toll has been small and many of the locals consider the side effects of the AZ vaccine to be a greater risk than catching the virus itself. I can see their point but we want to be able to travel once restrictions come down.
There’s not much else to say. Life here in Grenada is good: we will pass the hurricane season in good company with plenty of opportunity to exercise, play music and to wine, dine and be merry.
Suzy and Neil xx