D DAY, NEGATIVE RESULTS AND FREEDOM 

On day 12 we received notice that on day 14 We were able  to go for our COVID-19 test, it felt like a bonus not having to wait for the full 14 days to pass.

The running order used was alphabetical so we were asked to present ourselves at 9 am on the Q dock, Dan and Nawal from Breakaweigh arrived behind us and boy it was great to see them and have a chat and to have little Zeuss around. 

We all agreed the 14 days had actually gone quite quickly but we were ready to get off the boats and we were all looking forward to walking on beaches and checking out our new country.

Timmies Run are further down the alphabet so not invited ashore until the next day.

We stood in line for an hour or so, in front of us were 3 white tents, one for the new boats still arriving, boats are coming in daily with entry dates available through to mid August.

The other 2 tents are for testing, we are having the pin prick blood test, it looks like a small pregnancy test stick, a drop of blood on it then wait 15 minutes, the nurse had to manually prick our finger, no short little jab machines to ease the pain.

“Zena Zena” I was called back into the tent, and the nurse, dressed in full pp gear showed me the stick, “look it’s negative” she says, I wanted to cry... not that I ever thought it would be positive is more the relief of knowing we are allowed to stay here.

Once Craig had his negative result we then had to go to the next booth to receive a health certificate, then another short walk to the marina offices, only one person was required to go and check in with passports and boat paperwork so off Craig went, first to the onsite ATM machine to get local currency as we have to pay for a cruising permit and the covid test. 

Nawal and I sat outside the Open air marina restaurant under the shade of a big tree, we had Zeuss with us, Craig and Dan went to the customs office.

The boys took ages and we couldn’t wait so we ordered a beer, it went down so well we had a second one, it was 11.30ish by this time.  When Craig and Dan returned we ordered pizza and enjoyed the freedom of sitting chatting, eating and drinking without face masks.  We had all just been tested, the staff were all wearing face masks but once we left the restaurant the masks went back on.  

Wearing a masks when outside and inside the car is law throughout the whole of Grenada.

Nawal and I chatted to a lovely gentleman who has sailed the Caribbean for many years he was full of useful information, prior to quarantine he and his wife had sailed in from the island of Antigua where they had been quarantined on their boat since late March, Nawal and I couldn’t get a word in he was so excited to have an audience.

Timmies had had a radio call letting them know the medics were running ahead of schedule and they were able to come in too.  Nath sat with us while Brian did the customs thing, they had been in the middle of defrosting their freezer when they got the call so once Brian was done they headed straight back to their boat, our beers had kicked in and Nawal was ready to go home for a nap.  

We needed a few things from the supermarket as we had completely run out of fruit and veg, so after agreeing how much fun we just had and how lucky we were to have had our friends there with us to celebrate, Craig and I jumped in the dingy and motored further into the harbour we could see a dingy dock to tie up to so that’s where we headed, turns out the Foodland supermarket was a bit further around but this dock is opposite the marine store and we had to buy a new padlock so we can lock our dingy up when we leave it unattended.

The last padlock was dropped in the water at Frederiksted pier, Craig went back to snorkel down to pick it up but it was already gone.  The pier was used all the time by the dive shops as it was pretty spectacular spot for diving.  

We had walked into and asked at the 3 dive shops to see if anyone had mentioned that they had found a brass padlock, one staff member remembered seeing it but she had left it there on the bottom, it was a solid brass 4 digit combination lock, and it was open so whoever picked it up has found themselves a really good padlock. 

I sat taking in the sights, guarding our dingy while Craig went to the marine store.  Our dingy is the equivalent of our car we can’t be too careful and we were downtown with lots of sketchy boats around.

I sat on a stone bench to wait but oh the heat was so intense the concrete was too hot to sit on so I stood under the shade of a palm tree.  

It’s so much fun taking in the sights smells and sounds of a new place.

The culture is influenced by its 80% African descendants.

As we walk around we hear reggae music being played from shops and car sound systems, we can’t wait to taste the street food. 

All the buildings are painted different colors, white with colored trim or colored with white trim or bright shades of pink or blue or pastel colors of yellow and aqua.  Every color combination is used, add that to the abundant bougainvilleas and palm trees growing every where and it makes for quite a tropical vibe.

It seems everyone drives or uses the bus system as there were very few pedestrians where I was,  opposite a wholesale warehouse, the marine store and further up a huge shop selling office furniture and office supplies. 

There are guys selling bags of mangos on every street corner, 

we couldn’t resist and bought two bags, they are small to medium and best eaten when slightly under ripe.  There were about 6 in the bag for $5 ec about $3 Australian. And they were juicy and sweet.

Craig also picked up the form that will allow us to be excluded from paying tax on the imported part for our watermaker that’s due here in a few days.

Back in the dingy and further around the harbour there was another dingy dock to tie up to just opposite the Foodland supermarket.

Apparently there is a large IGA supermarket that is much better than this one, I hope so.  The only fresh meat they had was chicken, all the rest was frozen, the fruit and veg were ok but seemed expensive, I was hoping there would be a wonderful selection of locally grown fruit and veg I think we will have to go to the open air market to find those. 

I was also looking for imported goods from the UK but I didn’t see any, we are hoping to find Golden Syrup to make Golden Syrup Dumplings.  

We picked up some beautiful deep brown colored local eggs, Argentinian garlic, a few potatoes, a bunch of  bananas a couple of apples and a small cabbage, we have plenty of carrots left onboard, coleslaw is a bit of a staple side dish atm.

We also caught up with an Australian couple Jana and Mick, Jana found out she was pregnant just as the corona virus started to affect traveling the world.  Jana has been desperately trying to return to Australia to have her baby but still has not been able to get a flight home even with consulate help, she is now in her 6th month and although still hopeful she realised her baby may be born here in Grenada.
We have been open to the idea that once we reached Grenada and could make Adriana secure for hurricane season we might be able to fly home but if a desperate pregnant Australian can’t make it happen it’s probably not going to happen.  If things were normal we might even have flown to the UK or had friends and family visit us here sadly there is very little travel around the world and no one knows when or if it will change.

St George’s is a huge big round harbour, down the back where the supermarket is it’s full of old derelict boats, local fishing boats, homemade shacks on the water, and some abandoned yachts.  I’d say the wall lining the harbour is a couple of hundred years old, the island was originally invaded by the  French in 1650 who enslaved or massacred the local indigenous people’s, then the English owned it, but the French, Spanish and Dutch have been involved too and as recently as 1983 the USA invaded the country, it is still part of the British Commonwealth but has its own government and manages it’s own affairs. 

The round natural harbour, sits in a volcanic crater, to give you an idea of the size of the harbour there is a yacht club and the Port Louis Marina inside it,  the Marina is relatively new and takes up a lot of space I did read that a few years ago yachts could anchor in this very protected harbour.  But nowadays all yachts have to anchor outside in a fairly sheltered area that is currently hosting all the quarantine boats.

We asked the guy selling mangos where we would go to buy fresh fruit and veg and he said the open air market in St George’s, we thought we were in St George’s but the main part is the old port where the road leads up to the fort and the two churches we can see high on the hill.   We are saving exploring this part of the town for another day.

The anchorage had been fairly rolly at the start of quarantine but it eased up a bit over the two weeks, but on our last night on anchor it was super rolly and rather uncomfortable so we were quite happy to move on.

We have to move anyway, once your Qtime is over you have to leave to make space for the next wave of boats, so after one days grace we took down the yellow Q flag, lifted the anchor and headed off, right into a windy rainy squall.  

It wasn’t too bad, gusts to 20 knots and rain.

We actually just sailed around the corner we had been heading to Prickly Bay one of the more popular anchorages that we heard about and it gets lots of reviews on Active Captain but on the way we spotted a very pretty little bay with a beautiful tree lined sandy beach and about 6 boats anchored in there.  

There was room for only a couple more so we headed in and dropped the anchor, quite far out the back as it gets very shallow closer to shore, the wind abated and it was nice and sheltered.  

We are looking at a Rotary park on one side a gorgeous beach in front of us with what looks like exclusive small hotels and resorts dotted up the hillside and spectacular steep cliffs on the other end.  We didn’t move very far at all.

The next morning we were up early, we were listening to the VHF  radio waiting to hear when Yellowbird and Gina Lee come in from USVI’s.  
They both arrived safely to start their 14 day quarantines,  Fruit Bat should be here by the end of  today.

I had wanted to stay in the Q harbour so we could cheer them in but we will head back there when it’s time to pick up the watermaker part we can do a sail by and give them a wave.

A short dingy ride brought us to the most beautiful beach, clear aquamarine water and golden sand, the beach is lined with large trees so there is plenty of mornings shade.  Some of the trees are almond trees so of course I collected a heap. Sitting on the sand shredding the pulp off the exterior of the almonds gave me something to do but it did turn my fingers yellow. I have since discovered that the pulpy flesh will split open when the almonds are ready usually around August - September.

We met a few of the other cruisers anchored in the bay they hail from all over the world, a couple from England, she’s a Scottish lass, a Swiss couple and a few South Africans, we realised we are now closer to South Africa than Canada, that sort of makes me sad.

Craig had something bite his eyelid, causing it to swell up and his whole eye and cheek went all puffy luckily we have some antihistamines onboard, he took a couple and slept all the next day.  So another nice lazy day for us.

There are winds bringing sand in from the Sahara Desert so Adriana is covered in a light film of pink dust, the sand also made for surreal sunsets and stunning rainbows.  Combine the sands with an intense tropical low and it gave us days of murky thick pink haze, low thick clouds, rolly sea state, wind squalls, intense humidity and intense uv when the sun did breakthrough. The temps range from 31-33c during the day and average low 24-26c.

After a few days at anchor we were running out of fresh food, Craig still wasn’t feeling 100% plus it was quite windy and he didn’t want to leave the boat, he had dived on the anchor when we first arrived and it looked like it was only dug in in one corner so not sitting as it should have been. 

I decided to walk to the shops, the dingy ride to shore was a bit splashy due to the choppy water stirred up by the wind.  I could see some steps on the far left hand side of the beach so I headed for those.  

The walk into the Spiceland Mall was up a hill, then down again, great for going not so good for the walk back carrying groceries. 

The road was rough and unsealed winding up through the foreign owned resorts all placed to look down over the sparkling bay.  The pale pink,cream, yellow and blue painted walls highlighting the profusion of colorful bougainvilleas growing everywhere.  Sadly the buildings are all quiet and empty, closed while the country is in covid lockdown, so many closed restaurants in this area, this seems to be the high exclusive end of the island.  

I next passed a section where new apartments and a resort are being constructed still at the wire and concrete stage messy and ugly, but coming out of that section I’m walking along a made road with a sidewalk full of tropical palms, manicured gardens more colorful bougainvillea high walled resorts with names like Cinnamon Hill Resort and Spice Island Beach Resort.  I can hear lots of unusual birds singing and twittering it all looks and sounds very tropical.  

There is a signposted path leading down to Grand Anste Beach the No.1 beautiful beach in Grenada, the beach we are anchored in front of is rated No 2.

As I come to the bottom of the hill the road is completely flooded and as I’m looking to see which side is going to be the easiest to cross a car is going past at the same time and the guy inside stops and says hop in so you don’t get your feet wet, Im like “no no it’s ok” but he insisted ... he ended dropping me off at the supermarket saving me the last half a km walk.  Because I didn’t want to offend him by declining him his offer I could have been in a lot of trouble taking a lift from a stranger in an unknown environment.  In my defense everything I have read and heard tells me Grenadians are especially friendly and helpful.

We love our new anchorage and after talking to the other cruisers anchored here with us, it seems this is one of the least rolly, cleanest water, with easy beach access, pettiest beaches, we decide we don’t want to leave here for a while. 
It does get uncomfortably rolly when the swell comes from the north.  A few nights Craig lay in bed sideways so he wouldn’t roll from side to side but was rocked head to toe.  Apparently all the anchorages on the South end of the Island have the same problem with the rolling swell. 
The water is crystal clear and great for making water, we heard that normally the coast guard only allows 2 or 3 boats to anchor here at one time, there are 11 of us at the moment, this is an exclusive destination and I guess just like in St Johns USVI they are worried about pollution/ discharge from the boats.   

We receive notification that our watermaker replacement motor had landed via FedEx and so began the day from hell... We decided to catch the local bus into town instead of lifting the anchor and moving the mother ship.  So no waving to our friends stuck in quarantine.

We walked the 2km up and downhill to Spiceland Mall (I must admit it gets easier each time) we caught the attention of a local bus that stopped and waited for us, meaning we had to run across a busy intersection in the 30 degree heat, we piled in to a 12 seater mini van, these guys hustle for fares, they will spot you half a km away and wait for you while you hitch your skirt and run, then they take off at breakneck speed, reggae music blaring hurtling along with the spotter hanging out the side door scouring the footpaths for the next passenger, this one sprayed our hands with alcohol solution they are allowed 8 passengers and everyone must wear masks.  

We get dropped off only a short walk to the Fed ex store, the parcel is there but we must have it cleared through customs and pay an import tax.  We take off walking almost a full circle of the harbour, the customs office is located at the Port Louie Marina which is directly opposite the Fed Ex building about 2km away, we can see it across the water.  
We stop in at the office supplies store and pick up ink for our printer we are learning to grab things when we find them because if you don’t you might not ever see what you need again. 

At the marina the customs officer asked for the invoice which is probably attached to the package, and we don’t have one in our hands !!  We email the watermaker company and request a copy of the invoice, Craig is dubious that our email will be answered straight away.  We start walking back to the office supply shop where we can have the invoice printed.  And yay the copy invoice came through.  On the way back to the marina printed invoice in hand we stopped and had a quick bite to eat we chose a chicken and a beef burger, it was only ok we should have gone with one of the local specials, we promise ourselves that next time we will.  We enjoyed a coca cola I reckon it’s the first bottle of soft drink I’ve bought in years it tasted perfect just what we needed.

Craig very kindly offered to walk back to the marina to get customs to stamp the paper while I waited in the open air restaurant, there was a slight breeze and I was sitting in the shade.

We picked up another bag of mangoes as we walked back to the Fed Ex store they are for sale on every corner and so delicious.

The Fed Ex building has a 4 person limit so I wait outside in the shade, it’s Monday and very busy.  Craig comes out, “we have to take this form to the post office and pay $13.60 duty and come back with the receipt”. So off we treck another 1km in the opposite direction, I found a covered bus shelter and sat in the shade while Craig walked the rest of the way, when we got back to Fed Ex I was unapologetic to the other customers, I don’t care, I’m waiting in the air conditioning.
Eventually  we collect our parcel it weighs about 12kg, luckily there is a bus stop close by, we jump aboard and are dropped off back at Spiceland Mall, Craig hasn’t been to this Supermarket yet so I sit outside with the heavy box and he goes in to have a look around, he comes out with 2 bottles of rum and a cantaloupe to add to our already heavy load, I can’t believe my eyes.  What is he thinking!!

That’s it we are getting a taxi back up that hill, at 25 EC (about $13) its worth it.

On our return we dropped our parcels off and returned to the beach for a swim and a catch up with the other cruisers anchored in the bay, already on the beach to celebrating a birthday. 

We had another day in at the shops we took the local bus to the marine store in Prickly Bay, the next bay going south.  We picked up a “Bad Boy” wifi booster.  This should help us pick up more WiFi signals, where we are anchored now the Rotary park has free public WiFi and we are hoping we can log on to it with our new Bad Boy booster. 
On the way back we were dropped off close to an insurance company that we had heard do a reasonable boat insurance.

We went in to see what they could offer us, it was so funny twice the lady popped her head in the door  “someone will be with you in a moment” “that’s ok there’s no rush” we reply giggling as we are sitting in a lovely cool air-conditioned office, using their free WiFi, eating their mints, as it turns out we need to submit the form online.

Yellowbird arrived as soon as they were out of quarantine they made a beeline to this beautiful beach, it was so lovely to see Jack and Kyra, we dinged to the beach and had a beer and a good old catch up in between cooling dips in the water, it’s so pretty sitting in the shade of the almond trees.  

Another perfect day and a get together on the beach for one of the other cruisers wedding anniversary, it’s nice to talk to other couples who are stranded miles from their home countries too, while we were on the beach the coastguard patrol boat called into the bay and a few of the men walked into the water to get close to the patrol boat to see if we were in trouble, there was no mention of us doing wrong by Lymin on the beach but they wanted us to vacate the bay tomorrow morning.  We think because it’s quite an exclusive area and it was looking pretty full with about 14 boats now, monohulls and catamarans. 

But we were not quite ready to leave we had planned to go to the supermarket close by.
The next morning along with Jack and Kyra we walked to the Spiceland Mall to provision ready for our next anchorage, the IGA here is supposed to be the best stocked supermarket in Grenada.  Again we bought way too many heavy things, a large container of olive oil set us back $50 AUS  that was the heaviest add that to a few cans some onions, eggs and a butternut pumpkin you get the picture.  

Our walk there had been quite adventurous, a huge squall went through and we were caught in pelting rain with wind gusts to 50 mph it didn’t last long but Jack ran back along the beach and back up the big hill to check that our boats hadn’t dragged their anchors.  

We were soaked through we couldn’t get any wetter, we were a bit worried that the shopping Centre would give us a chill so we walked a bit further and as the sun came out it helped us to dry off.  I was wringing the water out from the bottom of my skirt. 

We had a coffee and some cake and the local lunch special “doubles” a kind of roti with a mild chickpea curry wrapped up to form a parcel, there was a choice of what sounded like 20 sauces that we didn’t know but I’m sure they were just varying degrees of spiciness, I chose a cucumber salsa, just in case the chickpeas curry was hot. It was soft and yummy, spicy but not hot full of chickpeas and chicken.

By the time we were back inside the mall we were dry enough not to be uncomfortable.

That evening the 4 of us treated ourselves to a meal out, the first sit down meal in a nice restaurant since we hired the van in The Bahamas and had Lunch in the Flying Fish Marina, Long Island. 

We had walked past this particular restaurant for days but it had been closed due to the covid lockdown and this was its first weekend of being open now that restrictions were lifting.

It was a very simple menu, Vegetable Spring Rolls w Asian dipping sauce, Blowtorched snapper, Seared Tuna and Chocolate pots.

To our dismay they sold out of spring rolls and snapper before we had even ordered, but the waitress said someone had gone to get more snapper and they would do a chef’s special for us.  We ordered two of each dish. The food was delicious, but small portions and really reasonable only about $70 Australian per couple and that included 2 drinks each, I had 2 vodkas and Craig a local beer then a Negroni. They even had their own dingy dock so an easy trip home.

We felt we had been lucky to get in our shop and a meal out, so the next morning along with the last of the other boats we upped anchor and set of for Grand Mal a small bay on the other side of St. George’s.

We took Adriana out 3 miles offshore so we could empty our black water tanks, then motored into a busy little anchorage full of local fishing boats.  Dan and Nawal in Breakaweigh were already there and Dan snorkeled out to help us position the anchor.  The bottom is 90% coral with only small areas of sand patches, it took us about an hour, 3 try’s of dropping and lifting the anchor to get it to hold, even now we dive on it everyday to check it hasn’t moved, the sand patches can be deceptive just sand over a a hard impenetrable base.

Grand Mal is different to our previous anchorage, we are now anchored just off a local village it’s actually only a short drive/bus ride to downtown St George’s, it’s working class and close to the city.

Looking up the hill there are hundreds of colorfully painted little houses dotted throughout the luscious green foliage with palm trees lining the shoreline, the beach is tiny and not as pretty as the last anchorage but the water below us is crystal clear, we are anchored with less than 2 meters below our keel it’s fascinating to snorkel around the boat and see it almost sitting on the bottom but after the first tide switch we are happy it won’t get too low and we won’t actually ever sit on the bottom, it’s still rolly but bearable. 

Every day we jump in the water,  at least twice a day, to cool off, usually after the morning dunk I wash my face and underarms with soap and rinse off with fresh water, I’m getting used to only washing my hair about once a week.
The snorkeling is amazing, there are all these clusters of coral that look like fairy castles that are surrounded by tiny bright coloured yellow, blue striped and plain, tiny to hand sized fish swimming around and through the coral, I can now hang on to my rope with the snorkel mask on, observing all the activity Going on below our keel.

The nicest thing is hearing all the kids swimming on the beach.  We had a visit from 3 young boys they swam out to the boat their little black bodies glistening in the sun and the droplets of water sparkle like diamonds in their hair.
We gave the first 3 an icy pole from the freezer but when we saw another half a dozen kids swimming towards us we asked the kids already with us to tell them to turn back they can’t all visit us.  One young 13 almost 14 year old came aboard and stayed for a while, he was very chatty and full of information about where he lived and his family, his brothers and sisters,  Craig quizzed him about the local fishing spots, there is no school at the moment they do lessons over the phone, he said he was quite bored and wanted to go back to going to school. 

Breakaweigh and Timmies Run are here, Fruit Bat and Gina Lee have all just arrived out of Quarantine and join us, Yellowbird Stayed for a couple of days then headed to Carricou One of the smaller Grenadian islands.
Almost  all the Quaran-tilla back together again, only Imiloa are missing they stayed longer in USVI’s and are island hopping down towards Grenada as a few more islands are opening up on the way down.

There is a pink building in front of us with a large balcony looking out to sea, and on Monday 29th of June it was a holiday for all the fishermen. From early in the day there was loud music, we could see lots of people gathered on the deck, it turns out this is the local fishermen’s club and there was food and drinks being served all day.  

Nawal and Nath (Timmies Run) invited me to go shopping with them, leaving the boys at home and sure enough on our return they were all having a great time at the Fisherman’s party.

Us girls caught the local bus into St George’s about $1:70 aus each way.  Everyone is wearing face masks and a few shops sprayed hand sanitizer as we entered but really there was no social distancing the shops are tiny and crowded.  The shops are a bit like our $2 shops there is lots of made in china plastics, the clothes are cheaply made and there is such a mixture of products in each shop it was fun for the first few but then they all became the same.  They are also full of hair accessories, products and hair pieces, lots of braids to be sewn into existing hair like hair extensions. I have a running argument with Craig that not every head of beautiful black braids is real but he doesn’t believe me.  

We did stumble across a couple of shops with uk brand clothes that were of better quality closer to where the cruise ships usually tie up, most of the shops in this are were closed though.

After a few hours of climbing up and down the steep streets we were exhausted and started looking for a nice bar to sit down in and have a beer before we headed home but all we could find was a little hole in the wall that served cold beer - opposite the bus station !!  it was full of local men but they welcomed us in and found 3 stools for us to sit on.  And of course we were surrounded by people wanting to talk to us, it was a little bit intimidating but they were all really friendly most Grenadians seem to have been to the USA or the Uk.  We stayed for a second beer and as we were leaving one of the men who wanted to chat had bought us a third we had already walked outside before we realized and felt bad but it was time to go the locals were starting to get a bit too friendly.

There was no social distancing at the bus station it was crowded and noisy but a nice local helped us find the number 8 bus that we needed to catch to get back.

I handed over our $7.50 to the bus driver and said “that’s for the three whiteys” and the lady next to me laughed.  We were the only white people there, in fact I hadn’t seen another white person all day.  Checking with Wikipedia The vast majority of the population of Grenada are of African descent (89.4% at the 2001 census). There is also a significant mixed population (8.2%), along with a small European origin minority (0.4%), East Indians (1.6%), and there are small numbers of Lebanese/Syrians (0.04%) and Chinese (0.02%). 

Everyone was at the fisherman’s club, we got straight off the bus and into the bar, the boys and Yellowbird were already half cut, Kyra was rap dancing with the little kids, Craig is playing dominos with the locals, Brian and Dan are deep in conversations, it’s noisy and fun.  Down the side of the building someone starts playing bongo drums and the dancing starts, everyone is so friendly and welcoming, the others had all been treated to oildown the local dish.
Oil down is a stew of breadfruit, salted meat, chicken, dumplings, callaloo, and other vegetables, all stewed in coconut milk, herbs, and spices to make a hearty and flavorful one-pot meal. It is called oil down because the coconut milk simmers down and releases its rich flavored oil into the pot. 

and have  been handed so many free beers, then the moonshine was passed around it left everyone a bit spaced out with numb lips.

The curfew at the moment is 9pm so we made sure we said our goodbyes and thanks and jumped in our dingys before 9pm. 

What a fun night,  it was good to let our hair down and socialize with new people we just have to be careful we don’t flaunt our wealth and our privileged white skin, here we are in the minority and in the local people’s eyes wealthy beyond what they could ever have.

Oh no it’s Canada day tomorrow another boozy celebration.......

Day 11 of Quarantine 

Not because it’s day 11 and anything is different,  its just another day on the countdown, we are settling in to this very quiet, restricted, small space, 30 degree day - 26 degree night, sudden rain squalls, run out of eggs, not sure about the cleanliness of the water, lost another flag and a pair of sunglasses overboard, yelling “hello” to neighbors, drinks on the deck at sunset, watching movies, making bagels & cheesecake, run out of fruit already, sedate lifestyle.

Our time in quarantine is nearly over although I’m sure the last couple of days still to come will go very slowly.

It’s been nice to just stop, there is no pressure to make immediate plans, check weather predictions or make decisions, it’s been easy just to bob around on anchor,  but soon we will have to choose, once we get out of isolation we will have to choose where to go in Grenada for our first anchorage, there are plenty of choices, we are in no hurry to explore them all at once we will be here for the next 4-5 months while the hurricane season passes by.  

Grenada has been hit before, Hurricane  Ivan devastated the island in 2004 destroying 90% of the buildings on the island. And hurricane Emily further pummeled the island a year later. Because the island is located in the southernmost part of the Atlantic Hurricane basin, the chances for a hurricane to hit are less than the other Caribbean islands further north and west. 

But just like in the Magdalen Islands hurricanes can form, and veer off precedented paths but being here is better than further north and with weather prediction getting better and more accurate we feel we will have adequate warning and we will be able to move either to a more sheltered location or out of a hurricanes destructive path, that’s the plan anyway.

Staying active has been hard, space is restrictive, there’s not much room for walking although we do climb the stairs from cabin to cockpit a hundred times a day.  Nath from Timmies Run gifted me a laminated yoga sheet with the Sun Salutation and night time stretching poses this was helpful but hard to get into with nowhere really to do a good unrestricted stretch.  Plus my back is still hurting from my slip off the seat during passage, it’s slowly getting better so maybe I should try the sun salutations again.

Swimming off the back of the boat might sound idyllic,  it is cooling and feels nice to stretch out in the water and float, it’s really salty buoyant water but we are anchored with around another hundred boats and we have to trust they are all using their holding tanks for their black stuff and not allowing it to run out after each use.  Plus the smaller boats might not have big enough tanks to last 2 weeks on anchor !! Ours are starting to smell pretty bad already they are huge so won’t fill up and we will go offshore to empty them later.

One evening we set up a bright light at the back of the boat so we could see to use the bbq, looking in the water there were hundreds of tiny jellyfish all bright fluro green, so I shine the big high beam torch in the water for a while, the jellyfish disappeared but lots of little fish were drawn to the light, that’s nice you might think it must be healthy water with all that life but there were also hundreds of little worm/larvae squiggling around lots of tiny insects dashing back and forward and I’m hoping it was just that particular evening but there was a real scummy slime on top of the water, I haven’t been game enough to look again as swimming is our only form of exercise.  

The water can be super clear and you can see there are lots of schools of little fish swimming on the bottom but mostly the water has been cloudy with limited visibility, Craig saw a spotted ray under the bow and we have seen turtles swim past, we just read that turtles hold their breath for 4-7 hours depending on their activity level, that explains why we only see them on the odd occasion.  

I have one of those new fangled full face mask snorkels, I like it but I think it looks dicky, especially when I have a floating rope tied securely to Adriana so I don’t get sucked away by the current.  

The current is not that bad other people can do laps around their boats it’s just me who likes my security blanket, I’m getting better at letting myself float further away from the boat the more practice I get, but I’m not confident in my swimming abilities to ever let go.

When the water is cloudy it looks like lots of little particles floating around and there is the chance that they are the macerated particles from someone’s toilet but you try not to think about that !!

It’s hot all day and there is no where to go, luckily we have shade in our cockpit the dodger came with zip in covers and we use sarongs to add to the shade if the open sides are facing the sun too much.  We leave the very front cover completely open, somedays it’s a bit too breezy.

Keeping our bedroom and lounge hatches open lets in a breeze through the entire boat but on the really intense days we have to pull the  internal shades over to stop the sun beating in and that restricts the airflow, lots of boats have awnings that fit over their boom and give shade to a large proportion of the boat, we are thinking we might try to get one by either borrowing a sewing machine or having one custom made it’ll just depend on whether we can source the canvas.  We do have AC but the generator has to be running to use it, occasionally we do have to fire up the generator to top up the batteries, once we did run the AC it was so nice to cool the interior down but a bit of a waste of time, it only stayed cool for a short while then heated right back up again !

Our solar panels do a great job of supplying power into the 4 agm batteries, we bought one new one when we first purchased Adriana, the 3 older ones are starting to loose their holding abilities and new batteries are on our wish list, the last one cost $700 and was a nightmare to get delivered as it weighed 40kg we are hoping we might be able to buy them locally.

It rains every few days sometimes it’s a tropical downpour and really intense, when this happens we set out buckets and capture the rainwater - I use it for hand washing.  But most of the time they are just quick light showers no sooner have we ran and closed all the hatches to find it’s over and we have to go around and open them again ah well at least it’s some exercise.  

Craig and I sleep in separate bedrooms... Craig snores and I was finding myself awake ( a lot) lying there unable to turn on a light to read or move around to get comfy, all the time trying not to wake the captain.  It’s very frustrating being wide awake listening to someone blissfully snoring away.  

For a long time I was just getting up and moving to sleep on one of the couches but once the pandemic started and I was awake so much more  I decided to utilize the other bedroom, if I’m awake in the middle of the night I can read, even listen to music, move around as much as I like.  Some nights I can still hear Craig snoring but it’s not right in my ear and I’m comfortable in my own cocoon of pillows, sheets and books.

There is a little window that opens through the hull that lets in fresh air, there are also two other hatches that open into the cockpit that don’t do much for the airflow. 

It took a while to be installed but I now have a fan blowing air around the room, it has a timer so it’ll go off and not run all night lowering the batteries.  We are so acclimatized now that when a windy squall went through and the temperature dropped to around 25 during the day, it felt rather cool, it didn’t take long for the sun to re emerge.

In quarantine we have access to 3 supermarkets and a bakery, where we can call or email them, pay with credit card, no cash.  The orders will be delivered to Port Louise Marina, they will call us to let us know they are ready, we really only need eggs and fruit so I think we will hang out, we have tinned fruit if I’m desperate. Going to the supermarket will be a good excuse to go to land once we are free.

Craig used the last of the eggs to make a cheesecake and cinnamon buns (on the same day).  I’m reduced to eating some almonds for breakfast and trying to half the size of my meals so that I can share these treats, otherwise none of my clothes will fit.  

But that is his happy place so who am I to stop him creating, he even had a go at making bagels I’ve never understood their popularity until I had one straight out of the oven omg chewie deliciousness. It’s a pity all the cream cheese was used in the cheesecake.

We lost another flag overboard, our newish blue flag was attached to a beautiful wooden flag pole that came with the boat, when we lifted the dingy after using it to go and pick up the new SIM card when we first arrived, the dingy must have pushed the flag up and out of the holder, oops it’s floating off to Mexico now, we still have the tatty faded red one held up with cable ties, but it’ll do.  it’s really nice to fly your country of origin flag, it helps to make friends and find other Aussies. So many people we chat to have visited Australia or have relatives who live there and everyone who has been says they have heard of Phillip Island and our penguins, we have even met a few people who have visited our home island.

We had a drive by visit from an interesting couple he is from WA and she is from the Uk, it was their first day, they were just returning in their dingy from checking in, they stopped alongside us for a chat, we had a quick chat -  “where were we all from”, “where had we been” and “our plans for the next few months” - it was nice to chat but eventually we felt so uncomfortable we had to remind them we were in quarantine and explain that the coastguard patrol boats visit the anchorage regularly.  Eventually they got the message and took off towards their own boat and sure enough a little while later along comes two patrol boats and one of them did visit our new friends for a chat, apparently there are locals who live on the hills in front of us who watch down on us and one of the organizers of the committee that helped organized for us all to enter the country has a house overlooking the anchorage and he keeps an eye on all the boats.

After watching The Handmaids Tale we felt a bit spooked thinking we were being watched.  The fact is the locals are, and understandably so, very scared of us bringing the virus to their islands.  Also they too are in lockdown no socializing “no lymin” no visiting friends or families homes, so why should we be allowed to visit each other’s boats, even after quarantine we will be restricted, but for now those are the rules.  They are still under a 9pm to 5am curfew.  

We have been advised once we are out of quarantine to still not congregate on each other’s boats but to make arrangements to meet and go for walks on the beach or in the park, to go to the supermarket or catch a bus to the mall at the same time, all while wearing masks and practicing social distancing.  We really did have a lot of freedom in the USVI’s especially when they eased their restrictions. 

We do little jobs, clean out cupboards, tidy lockers and drawers, I gave the bathrooms a good scrub, Craig spliced a loop into an old rope so he could use it as a preventer on the boom. We still haven’t got around to polishing the rust marks off the stainless steel, that was on top of our too do list, we will probably do it on our last day in Q.

Nath from Timmies Run also gifted me a medative colouring in book that I’ve enjoyed creating colourful pictures with, I’ve used the pages to decorate and cover boxes, Craig even sat and filled in a page, I think he was really bored.  He did that while I watched a movie he had already seen.

I’ve just googled and the handmaids tale, all 3 series filled in 36 daylight hours.

Another pastime is watching the other boats leave as they finish their time and there is a constant stream of new arrivals.  Yellowbird, Fruit Bat & Gina Lee are all departing from USVI’s this week, on their way here.

Fruit bat had to take General Luperon, the kitten they rescued in Luperon in the Dominican Republic to the vet to get spayed and the last of his shots, he has grown so much and has developed his own huge personality, we all love him like he is our own, Sam dropped him off the day Alexi left, to keep me company and cheer me up, that was so sweet of her. We also spent time with him on the beach, onboard Fruit Bat and he would come to Aunty Zena to be babysat while Sam and Scott went shopping, I can’t wait to see how much the little fella has grown.

We also have Zeus on Breakaweigh to fuss over and cuddle, we can hear him barking across the anchorage and it always makes me smile, Breakaweigh and Timmies Run are close by but too far away to yell “hello” to or even see when they are outside in their cockpits, we each came into anchor and chose spots that suited our boats.

We are planning to catch up with them on the day we finish quarantine, the Australian couple on Yottie, (the boat we could yell to)on the day they finished, they spent the afternoon in Port Louie Marina having a few drinks and pizza so that’s our plan too.

Alexi made it safely home to the Maggies  it took him about 28 days at sea, he had a stop for 5 days in Bermuda waiting on weather, he single handidly sailed 1800 nautical miles as the crow flies but with adjustment for tacks and the actual course he had to take it was closer to 2000 nautical miles in his 31ft yacht with only that one stop.

That’s quite an achievement, and quite a daunting thought heading back up into the heavy North Atlantic Seas.  I must add he went from 30c degree days to temps as low as 3c degrees brrrr.

There was a big welcome party waiting for him at Havre Aubert.  That’s the yacht club/ Marina we were at when we first realised we were in the path of Hurricane Dorian, the one we left to go to the safer Etang Du Nord, the one that was badly hit by the hurricane. Alexi reported back that Bruno, who Craig had spent time with going over the weather and our options, did remembers us.

Every evening at sunset a huge cheer goes through the anchorage, another day down, conch horns are trumpeted as well, most cruisers are sitting on their decks watching the sun setting behind the boats, I’m still watching for that green flash !!

We have a couple of UK flagged boats in front of us and next to us, seriously these people do not come outside AT ALL everyone else is doing laps around their boats and watching the sunsets we do not see these people emerge from below “ever” 

I must admit though lots of people are swimming and doing yoga while we are having our drinks at sunset, they must be younger with much more energy than us !!

On Sunday evening we received our email advising us that we need to present ourselves to Q dock at Port Louie Marins on Tuesday 

>Come to the Q dock in your dinghy - all people on board your yacht should come. Bring all documentation with you. Bring masks to wear (children also have to wear masks) and be prepared to stand 6ft / 2m apart from the next boat group. 

>Remain at the dock until called forward by the health team. 

>The health team will take a drop of blood to use in the Rapid Test or a nasal swab from the back of your nose for the PCR test. Please be prepared to give samples.  

>The health team will first do the Rapid Test. The results will be available in 15 minutes. You can wait next to the tent for the results

>If the result is negative then you will then go to the next tent to receive the Ministry of Health certificate showing the negative results which you present to Customs & Immigration when you go to clear out.

We are almost there .... 

Things I wanted to google while on passage.

Do flying fish fly for fun or only when they are being chased ?

Are there whales in the Caribbean Sea ?

Rings around the moon, huge like the ring around Saturn and smaller brown tinged, does this predict weather?

Clouds that look like cotton wool balls what weather do they predict because they look like gorgeous big fluffy pillows?

What type of dolphin has slightly spotted underbelly and a white tip on his nose? 

Airfare prices to Australia, airfare prices to UK. ?

CHECKING IN INSTRUCTIONS FOR ENTERING GRENADA !!!

Does it rain much in Grenada ?

How do she wees work ?

You get so used to having the internet that it’s very frustrating when it’s not available, as we departed St Croix it was a mad scramble to send family and friends messages to let them know we were heading to Grenada and we would be out of contact for 4 days (we do have an iridium go that we use to get weather we can send emails to those who have downloaded the app but it’s incredibly slow)

I quickly edited and upload a new blog page just before the signal faded completely, as we sailed further offshore, I was happy to get this done before we land in a new country.

We hadn’t made a copy of the docking instructions for when we arrive, I know we have to fly the Q flag and proceed to marina but we are not sure if we need to radio our arrival to the marina staff or relevant authorities, and we don’t want to get it wrong and upset anyone, maybe our buddy boat Timmies Run will have the information.

We are doing the run to Grenada alongside Nath and Brian on Timmies Run it’s nice to have a buddy boat - as long as they are in our sights we can communicate via vhs radio, Brian called us a couple of times just to say hello, the 3rd time was on day 2, it was to let us know that the cloud formation ahead of us looked like it might produce a water spout, a mini whirlwind over the water, we kept a sharp lookout,  but that one didn’t develop into anything that we could see, yesterday we had had to change our course to avoid one that was forming directly in front of us on the horizon, they are common here at this time of year, one had been spotted just off the pier when we were anchored at Frederiksted, can they can get big enough to pick up a yacht ? - just another thing to stress about!!

Our departure morning was full on, we had gone out the night before for a few drinks with Fruit Bat, Gina Lee, Timmies Run and Breakaway it ended up being a big night so we were a bit fuzzy and slow off the mark. Bars and restaurants are finally opening up and we are leaving!! 

We had returned to “Fred” for a painkiller cocktail then on to a cool little bar that sold vegetarian food, cbd oils and weed paraphernalia, add a bit of reggae music some good friends and it’s party time.  Oh yes and don’t forget the KFC on the way home.

Craig not usually one for leaving things to the last minute (always) still had to scrape the barnacles and growth from the propeller and rudder it took him ages to muster the energy to don his wetsuit mask and flippers, it’s very pleasant in the water he just didn’t have the motivation.

As he was getting ready he put the GoPro on his head and then promptly forgot about it so it wasn’t until we were putting things away getting ready to leave that he remember he hadn’t seen it when he was getting out of the water......so he had to jump back in and look for it, luckily he remembered and thank goodness he found it sitting on the sand under the boat.

So after he had scraped the hull, visited everyone,  dropped off borrowed books, picked up copies of departure forms that Timmies had very kindly printed off for us, we are out of ink and haven’t been able to source more, been to shore to drop off the last bag of rubbish, then tried to get money out of the atm but it seemed to be offline so we are arriving in Grenada with US$26 I guess we won’t need much for the first 14 days then we can go to an atm and get out EC (eastern Caribbean dollars) we can always use our credit card if we have to. After all that we were almost ready but just as we were about to lift the dingy we discovered the lock holding the motor on - had seized, out comes the grinder, talk about OHS,  I couldn’t watch as Craig held the grinder to the lock, there were sparks flying everywhere not to mention the boat bobbing and rocking making the task ten times harder, eventually the lock split open and we could prise it apart, then using a long rope we winched the engine aboard.  We take the engine off the dingy for the longer rougher passages it lessens the weight /pressure on the davits that hold the dingy out of the water at the back of Adriana. 

We finally managed to up the anchor and leave at 12:45pm instead of the planned midday, not too bad considering.  

We set our waypoints into the chartplotter, we are heading straight to Granada no stopping at any of the Windward islands, Anguilla, St Kitts & Nevis, Antigua, Montserrat, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique or St Lucia.

Their borders are all closed, if things had been as before covid 19 we probably would have island hopped all the way down spending time exploring a few of the islands but instead we are doing it in one shot 490 nautical miles, 800kms 4 days and nights at sea, our longest offshore passage so far, Nova Scotia to Gloucester was 3 days and 3 nights out in the North Atlantic at least this trip is warm, the water temperature is in the 30’s c it’s the Caribbean Sea and I only pulled out the blanket to hold off the dampness in the middle of the night, we were still in shorts and T-shirts.  This will be our 7th country we are excited to get moving again.

Overall we had a great sail, only using the engine when we were departing, then a couple of times to maneuver out of the way of squalls including avoiding a water spout, and once to outrun a strange fishing boat, then on arrival to get into the harbour and dock so we hardly used any diesel yay.

We had one breakdown - the first night we noticed the red navigation light wasn’t working so when it was nice and calm late in the afternoon on day two, Craig had a look, at first we thought the bulb had blown but no it wasn’t the bulb, there was still a dull glow, turns out someone had  done a dodgy quick fix and the wires were all rusty and deteriorated held together with black tape, once he knew what the problem was Craig was able to replace the wiring, enough to get us through the next two nights, we will add this to his quarantine project list.

While we were going slow and Craig was lying prostrate on the bow with his head in the chain locker fixing the navigation light we were visited by a pod of Pan Tropical Spotted Dolphins, it looked like there were around 30 of them, lots of little ones, they swished past so fast under the bow, jumping out the water to check us out, at one stage there were 4 of them rising out of the water in perfect unison.  It was a sight to behold they played around us for a good 20-30 minutes, I was enthralled, Craig was too but he had to keep working to get the light fixed before the sun went down.

Most of the time over the 3 days the boat was really heeled over, this makes preparing food difficult and dangerous especially if it’s hot food. 

We had tabouleh and falafels wraps, I’d grated carrots and prepped a heap of salad stuff, radishes, cucumber etc so our lunches were easy.  Craig had made a beef stew for our first night it was full of potatoes so only needed heating, we had a spaghetti bolognaise in the freezer that we ate for the 2nd and 3rd nights it was relatively easy to boil up some noodles we didn’t mind eating the same thing twice.

The seas are lumpy so the ride is bumpy and you really don’t feel that hungry we had lots fruit and some not so healthy snacks that we munched on especially during the night/early morning to help keep us awake.

By day 3 we were feeling a bit yuck and smelly, lucky us, we have an outdoor hand held shower at the back of the cockpit so we were able to take a refreshing shower, that certainly made us feel better but that feeling like your hungover is always there due to lack of sleep, we did well taking it in turns but poor Craig I always seem to have to wake him up.  The first time was on early morning on day 2 I could see a boat on the horizon we were heading towards it and it seemed to be coming towards us, it was not on AIS, it looked like a fishing boat with a white roof, I must add that Timmies Run is the only vessel we had seen out there at this point!! Anyway this fishing boat seemed to release a smaller outboard, we were at least 75 nautical miles offshore passing between Guadeloupe and the Dominica, the fishing boat looked so uncomfortable, they were rocking and rolling in the big seas, like it didn’t belong out there, I woke Craig up just in case they were pirates, we hadn’t heard of anyone being attacked but we were not taking any chances, we started the engine and did a right turn and sped away from them, I spent the next half hour watching the horizon through the binoculars checking they were not following us, we were further offshore than Timmies at the time. Who knows maybe it was just a fishing boat but we weren’t taking any chances.

If eventually we are able to get into Trinidad for the sail from Granada we will use a coastguard service that accompanies groups of boats offering protection from pirates. And in these strange times where jobs have dried up and men can’t feed their families there will be a lot of desperate people out there. 

The second time was the morning of day 3 he had been asleep for only about an hour when I noticed we were heading into a big black squall, so up he got, steering us towards a break in the clouds where the sky was a tiny bit clearer, we seemed to skirt the worst of it, we pulled in the foresail our mainsail was already reefed in (not out the full way) but we had it set ready to pull in further if the winds got too strong. Our optimum wind speed is 12-15 knots I watched as the instruments went up and up the highest I saw was 27 knots but we sped along with winds consistently at 24-26 for half an hour or so, then they abated back to 15-16 and the sun came out, not long after that the wind dropped down to around 10 knots and the seas flattened, that’s when we had our lovely showers.

Timmies radioed us to say Brian had caught a Mahi-mahi then he caught a second one, Craig was rather jealous as he wasn’t having much luck.  We do see hundreds of flying fish, at first they look like birds flapping their wings taking off from sitting on the water then you realize that they are actually silver fish, it seems the sea if full of them there are so many then you realize there has to be other fish they just don’t come to the surface.  

In Magens Bay we were entertained daily by schools of palm sized silver fish jumping out of the water, the water was super clear there and if they were close to the boat you could see the big ball of them all swimming and turning as one large entity, not just one type but some tiny ones with a streak of luminous blue were also schooling around the boat, it was beautiful to watch.

We had had our line out and Craig was so excited when we caught a huge big one, all was going well, he let out the angle of the main sail so we were not pointed so tight into the wind, that slowed us down, we were just smooching along at a couple of knots, Craig was reeling the mahi-mahi in very gently and much more calmly than previous fish, wind wind, rest, pull up, wind wind, rest, pull up, we could see him what a whopper, beautiful yellows flashing below the surface, when suddenly whizzz off he went the swivel holding the wire line to the fishing line gave way and off swam the mahi-mahi, steel line, lure and all.  Seriously it’d be cheaper just to buy fish when we want to eat it !!!

Buying 2 sportaseats while we were in the USA was a bit of a game changer we now had decent padded seats to sit on and these seats are hinged so the back can stay upright giving good back support but as much as they are great and soft to sit on by halfway through day 2 my bum was sore, it felt like I was getting bedsores from sitting so much, I asked Craig and yes his bum was sore too, we can stand up but there’s not much your able to do when she’s heeled over on such an angle it’s dangerous to even change seats, maybe not life threatening dangerous but rib breaking, leg bruising, knee twisting dangerous.  Going downstairs to make food or even a cold drink or cup of tea is an ordeal, for me going to the toilet is a nightmare especially as I put it off for so long I’m usually climbing down the companionway using 2 hands and dancing around with my legs crossed. I wonder how those she wees work, maybe that’s what I need for the rough passages.

Craig ended up with a grazed bump on his forehead, he went forward at the same time as the boat wall came towards him, I bashed my cheek leaving me with a black eye under the same circumstances and I think I’ve got some bruised back ribs that are still painful a week later.  Adriana was heeled over, I was sitting on the high side using my foot to brace myself to keep on the seat, I was turned slightly to the side as my bum cheeks were aching, when suddenly my foot slipped I slid off the seat hitting my side (just above my waist) on the seat as I slid down, ouch it hurt. It’s not affecting my breathing so nothing is broken.

Eventually on the fourth morning just as dawn broke we could see land, we knew we were hours too early and planned to slow down but as we entered the lee of the land the wind dropped right down, we managed to keep going doing only a couple of knots we were hoping to stretch out our arrival time so we could go straight into the marina to check in but we were really way too early so on went the engine and we motored the last few miles dropping the anchor in the outer harbour and grabbing a few hours sleep before the marina opened at 8.30am.

The radio started up around 7am with other new arrivals asking for instructions about where to go and how to check in so we certainly were not alone.

After a quick shower we lifted the anchor and made our way into the inner harbour turning right through the red and green channel markers, as we approached the docks we could see there were men there ready to help us, we had been told to tie our fenders on the port side but the dock we were being ushered into was a starboard side tie up,  this always seems to happens to us, damn damn quick, we had to re do our fenders and lines Craig having to leave the wheel to come and help me.

Tying up was easy with the staffs help, we were instructed to fly our Grenada flag and our yellow Quarantine flag, it took Craig a second try to get the Grenada one the right way up, there is a tiny image of a nutmeg that has to be the right way up, Grenada is famous for supplying the world with cloves, nutmeg and ginger. 

They asked us if we required water and pointed out where to drop off our garbage, there were actually a couple of Australian flagged yachts tied up too, Craig managed a quick chat, it’s so good to hear Australian accents again.  We were not going to bother filling up with water but one of the other boats had their hose already hooked up and offered us to use it, we read the meter before we started so we knew how much to pay for our share, it ended up costing US$6.00 as that’s was all the change we had. 

Boat by boat we had to go ashore (wearing our face masks) and see the nurses stationed in a white tent, they welcomed us to Grenada, gave us a card to show the coastguard if we were approached, written information about the covid testing, a quarantine certificate and we had our temperatures taken.  We have to go back in 14 days to have a covid test the one where they swab your nose and the back of your throat, that’s when we will take our passports and boat papers to properly check in to Granada.

It slowly dawned on us that life after quarantine is still going to be limited, the island has a curfew 7pm to 5am, walking on the beach only between 8am and 11am.

No socializing on each other’s boats at all, locals are not allowed to go to each other’s houses yet and definitely no Lyming.....

We found out via the cruisers net the locals call any socializing, gathering, drinking, partying, hanging out, sitting on the beach “lyming” and they don’t pronounce the g on the end “Lymin” and it’s been banned.  Hopefully things will ease as the days progress, at the moment there are no current covid cases, yesterday we watched a cruise ship come into port everyone is like wtf but it turns out they were just dropping off repatriating  a few locals who had been stranded onboard. 

Things might still be quite severely restricted here but I’m quietly happy we have departed USVI’s where they had opened up to allowing tourists from the USA onto the islands.

We counted 120 boats anchored in the quarantine area, there are flags from all around the world, including a large number of Aussies but also British, Canadian, French, Italian, South African, not so many American flagged boats and more monohulls that catamarans. The big expensive (million dollar) boat next to us is German flagged the couple onboard don’t wear clothes much Craig is always looking perplexed when the lady is sitting with her saggy boobs looking our way.

I never thought I would see a man snorkel in the nude !! 

There is a cruisers net each morning at 7.30am, that keeps us informed of what’s happening around us, local boats zooming too fast through the anchorage is a big problem especially while people are swimming around their boats for exercise.  

There are trivia nights and bingo, to raise money for local charities. local businesses advertise their services, we can’t wait to get quarantine over with so we can go and explore and eat the local specialities.  We have to be here or Trinidad for 5 months to let the hurricane season pass, they are predicting a busy storm season as the oceans (again) have higher than usual water temperatures.

We are in day 6 of 14 we managed to get a local SIM card at the marina when we checked in but it only has 15 gigabytes for the month so we are limiting our usage to try and make it last the whole month.

We have a hard drive full of movies and tv shows, The Handmaidens Tale has got us through the first 6 days, but it’s a bit dark and depressing and knowing the locals are watching the harbour to ensure we don’t break the quarantine rules it’s a bit spooky.

The view to shore is of steep densely treed mountains, I’ve read there are tropical rainforests but not sure if that’s what we are looking at, but the clouds sit heavy over the peaks casting them grey and mysterious looking.  it’s peak fruit season mangos, melons, avocados, so we might place an order at the end of the week via the approved suppliers list, there are a large number of big houses looking down on us but it’s very pretty, we have picked up a local tv station but we are a bit too far away so it’s fuzzy and drops out all the time, a bit too hard to watch.

We swim every day for exercise and to cool our core body temperature down, it rains often with us doing a mad scramble to shut the hatches, every time but sometimes the showers pass so quickly they are over before we have finished.

We are a little too far away to chat to any of our neighbors which is frustrating the boat behind us is called “Yottie” it’s Australian flagged from Sydney and we’d love to hear the young couple onboards story, hopefully we will meet up with them somewhere around the islands.

There are 3 main islands in the territory Grenada, Carriacou & Little Martinique, once we are out of Quarantine we will be able to explore them all.  As I’m writing this they have modified the beach restrictions to all day use yay things are easing up, things are changing everyday. 

We just have to be patient and sit out our quarantine.......