Our days out of the water had some fun times but it’s definitely not something we would want to do again too soon.
I wasn’t too sure about climbing the 4Mt ladder to get in and out of Adriana but the ladder was tied securely to the stern and after I worked out I could use a big shoulder bag with a plastic tub inside to carry things up and down I felt much better.
Once we started sanding the hull it was best not to use the kitchen taps as they would leak water over what we had just sanded and even more so after we had painted.
So doing the dishes meant lugging the tub w dishes, detergent, scourer etc up and down the ladder there was a big concrete sink we could use but everyone in the yard used it too, it was covered in paint splashes, grease etc.
I did a few loads of hand washing in it, lugging the wet washing back on board and hanging it off the boat rails. I did pay 30EC to have the bedsheets washed and dried, that’s about $17 AUS probably the most expensive wash yet.
The showers were nice and clean and I only had to share it with Khiara but I had to time it right as some days I was so hot it took ages to be able to stand under the trickle of cold water, there was no hot tap.
On certain days, depending on the wind direction the lovely sheltered yard turned into an oven.
The weather forecast would say a top of 30c - feels like 36c but it felt way hotter, and it was the same temperature inside the boat as out.
We had taken all the dodger covers off in preparation for the hurricane but quickly reinstated them once the danger had passed, Just to give us back some shade.
At one stage when we were back on the lifting machine we noticed it gave us some extra shade which was nice until we realised the machine was shading the solar panels, so much so that our batteries were not fully charging and apart from the fact it could ruin the batteries it also meant we couldn’t even have the bedside fans running overnight.
Then there were the ferocious mosquitoes and sand flys/no see ums, we had to spray ourselves from first light, burn citronella coils, and spray fly spray before we went to bed.
Luckily Adriana has sliding fly screens on most windows but they still managed to get in and munch on us all night. It was hard not to scratch the bites, I’d bought calamine lotion in the US, it did help to soothe the bites, thank goodness.
There were some really good parts to being out of the water, having a hurricane warning reminded us what preparations had to be done for any future scares, we did a complete practice run of dismantling the solar panel set up, removing the two front sails and stowing everything below deck.
We spent fun times with Adam and Khiara, one evening Craig made a Risotto and just as he was dishing it up he yelled over “hey guys we have too much, come and join us”, we shared a bottle of red, them some rum sitting in our cockpit in the moonlight.
Millennial Falcon made an episode while in the yard With us.
We befriended another boat in the slip “Kracken” (Don, Lisa and their 2 teenage kids Cam and Grace) hailing from the US, they had rented the cottage attached to the yard and Khiara and I spent a lovely day sitting in air conditioned comfort, actually Khiara had come out in a heat rash and wasn’t allowed to work on their boat so I dragged her off out of the heat for the day, the boys joined us when they had finished working, I felt a bit bad as I turned up there with only a tea bag this was just after lunch and we ended up sharing half a bottle of vodka and eating cheese and dips, so I think we owe them a night on Adriana.
Grace has rescued 2 cats in the 12 months they have been cruising, one from Dominican Republic and the other smaller one was found by a beach bar on one of the smaller islands in the Caribbean chain. The family had spotted it one day quietly playing by itself but a few days later it was still there all dirty and listless, the bar was closed and no one was feeding it.
Lisa felt she couldn’t leave it there so they picked it up, this little cat has blue eyes but they are crossed, it seems to be able to see perfectly well, it’s a funny little thing.
One of the reasons Adam and Khiara have stopped here in Carriacou is that they are planning to do a Millennial Falcon YouTube episode on Trevor Robertson an Australian single handed sailor with world circumnavigations under his belt, his location this year prior to Grenada was Greenland, he has spent 3 winters in arctic circles frozen into the worlds coldest climates, and he is such a charming character we felt privileged to spend time sharing a couple of meals and chatting with him over a few rums.
His boat Ironbark is for sale, we think it should be back in Australia in a museum it is such an iconic part of nautical history.
Trevor should be more recognized for all his amazing feats as well. He is over 70 and is currently refitting his new boat Ironbark 2 ready to do another trip around the globe, eventually bringing this one back to Australia.
While we were in the yard Craig watched him pull out the refrigerator, “don’t need those power hungry accessories” he says, we also helped him remove the hard dodger, he was giving it to a local guy as a shelter for his goat herd, I think he did say he would get a soft dodger, you have to have something to protect you from the elements.
There was this beautiful timber boat called “Free in St Barts” in the yard, a locally built timber sailboat about 30ft long, working on it was a young local,cool looking guy with beautiful dreadlocks.
The boat is painted white with a bright yellow stripe, and white sails with a yellow trim, it’s just gorgeous.
Karl, as we later learnt his name, had spent many hours restoring her including repainting her hull.
Karl played great music while he was in the yard and we really missed it when Free went back in the water, lots of modern reggae to bop along to while we were working, we were treated to Adele late in the day and a quieter curated playlist on Sunday afternoon.
Karl was so cool we would watch him pick up his snorkel and fins and head off to the reef, a short swim away and come back with his dinner.
One night Craig swapped him a couple of beers for a couple of fish, a trevally and a parrot fish, we cooked them on the bbq and handed the parrot fish over to Adam and Khiara as one fish was enough for us.
Karl would swim for his dinner most nights coming back with fish or sea snails or conch just enough for what he needed. We still refer to him as that really cool guy.
In chatting to him Craig found out the locals were having an unofficial round the island race and Free was entered “do you need crew?” Craig asked hopefully and of course Craig managed to get a spot on Free for the race.
Millennial Falcon have just uploaded the episode they made with footage of the locals race, Craig is all over this episode.
As part of the annual Carnival celebrations the locals have a race around the Island of Carriacou, taking about 4 hours to sail the 40 nm.
On the Saturday of race day Craig, Adam, Scott & Sam (Fruit Bat) went along too, they had to make their way, catching the local bus to the town of Windward by 9am.
Craig was very lucky to get a spot on Free the others only managed to get on the follow up motor boat.
They said they could see Craig and he was having the time of his life on the beautiful timber sailboat. After the race there was a bit of a party with oil down and beers for everyone. Khiara and I revelled in having a day without the boys, but we caught up in the late afternoon for a swim.
Craig was asked to sail on Free in the race on the Sunday but had to decline as we were wanting to get back in the water as quickly as possible and arrangements had been made to splash on the Tuesday and taking another day off would make us run behind schedule. Adam was in the same situation but Scott and Sam went back on the Sunday and had a great time sailing on the winning sailboat.
Friday 24th July we were hauled out and we were put back in the water on Tuesday 4th August a total of 10 days on the hard, I could say “we” did all this work but really I didn’t do much.
The initial prepping of the hull consisted of scraping all the dried barnacles and seaweed type growth off, I did help with that but I didn’t help with the sanding it was incredibly dirty work Craig being covered from head to toe in blue dust at the end of the day, he looked like a smurf, I managed to persuade him to wear coveralls on the second day, after he ended up being so blue the first day.
We sanded all the varnish off the prop and prop shaft, Craig replaced the internal grease and put in a new anode. We had purchased top of the range prop glide and painted the propeller it came out a beautiful gold colour.
We had so much leftover that Millennial Falcon, Kracken and Trevor managed to paint their propellers and share the cost with us too.
Next job was painting the new anti foul over the entire hull, a huge job on a 50ft boat. I did help with the painting, using a small roller we had to work very quickly as the very expensive paint was drying in the paint tray almost immediately. Painting the second coat was even harder as this paint was the same colour wet and dry so impossible to see where the second coat had been applied I was spared the ordeal of this job Craig nominating to do this part himself.
As the boat was held steady with 12 stands placed strategically around her there were 12 unpainted patches, plus the very bottom of the keel was sitting on blocks of timber so the lift machine was brought back over and we were hoisted even higher, we sat like that for a few days, the stands were moved a few inches to reveal the bare patches so we could finish painting and Craig had to lie on the ground right under to get the last bit done.
Craig touched up the gel coat where that wooden dingy had caused damage during Hurricane Dorian we were going to give the paintwork a good polish but decided it was too hard doing this out of the water it will be easier using the dingy as a platform to stand in, rather than mucking around with the wonky scaffolding supplied by the yard.
Right next door to the yard is a very nice restaurant called Slipway it is built over the original old boatyard and slipway, the machinery that was used to crank the winch used to pull big fishing boats out of the water plus the lathes and presses are still there blended into the fixtures and furniture of the restaurant.
A bit further along the dark sand beach (grey volcanic sand) is Crazy Beach Corner a small waterfront bar/restaurant owned by a Swiss lady who moved out here a couple of years ago, she had come to Carriacou on a tour and fell in love with the place, went home sold everything and returned to make a life for herself on this beautiful laid back island.
Her Sunday night specials were Vegetarian Pad Thai $25EC or Chicken Snitzel with Potato Salad$35 EC ($15 & $20 AUS) the food was delicious, the Pad Thai was authentic and the chicken schnitzel was crumbed and cooked to order, plus it was so nice to eat food that wasn’t a burger or bbq roast chicken.
We cottoned on to a local lady who would deliver roti to us at lunchtime to the yard, as we were so busy, then so hot and exhausted - she was a lifesaver, some days we munched down only half our roti saving the other half for dinner they were so big. Often the thought of cooking in the evening was overwhelming in the heat and biting insects we were too exhausted to get cleaned up and walk next door, so cheese and pickles on crackers was sometimes all we could manage plus a couple of beers for rehydration.
Craig still has a couple of cases of beer that we bought back in the US. It has lasted us so long, saving us so much money as we have traveled through the more expensive countries (Bahamas and US Virgin Islands)
The water opposite Crazy Beach Corner is lovely and clear with a debris, rock and turtle grass free bottom so a good spot for a refreshing swim, I didn’t start until the last three days in the yard where I took myself off for a cooling swim, Craig joining me the second afternoon and Adam and Khiara on the last day, but of course that one ended at the bar with burgers and Pad Thai for dinner.
Rubbing your hands and feet through the coarse beach sand is the best way to get the paint and grime out of your nails a natural manicure/pedicure.
Going back in the water is called splashing “what day are you splashing” was a favorite topic of conversation in the yard. We splashed first thing Tuesday morning, the Monday had been a public holiday, Emancipation Day
Emancipation Day is observed in many former European colonies in the Caribbean and areas of the United States on various dates to commemorate the emancipation of enslaved people of African descent.
As soon as we splashed we took off back to Rhonde Island, only a short sail just 10 nautical miles, Craig wanted to test the new bottom paint and we couldn’t think of anything worse than sitting back in Tyrell Bay harbour we needed to get away.
We did have to drop the anchor back in Tyrell bay for a half hour while we put the dodger windows back on and reattached a few of the rope lines but it didn’t take us long and we were ready to start sailing again.
Timmies Run, Gina-Lee and Breakaweigh were all anchored back at Ronde Island, it was lovely to see them but we had to decline a pizza night invitation we were pooped almost like we were shell shocked, we were so exhausted, it was so nice being at anchor again, to have a breeze and to be able to jump in and have a swim off the back off the boat AND there were no biting insects. Our batteries became fully charged and we could make water again.
At 6.30pm Carol and Tom from Gina Lee called over to pick us up to go to Timmies for pizza, we sent our apologies and I reckon I was in bed before 7pm.
We felt like new people after a good nights sleep, all the crew were heading to Tyrell Bay so we upped anchor at the same time and headed a little bit further up the coast to passing Tyrell and heading to the next bay, Sandy Island.
Before we hauled out Craig and I had headed off down the road to walk to Paradise Beach, it was approximately a three quarter of an hour walk out of town, it was nice to stretch our legs and take in the sights and smells.
Paradise Beach is stunning with Sandy Island directly opposite it makes it a very calm stretch of water it’s crystal clear with white sand. Walking from the road down past a few houses we came out at Paradise Beach Club which unfortunately was closed but meant we could use one of their outdoor settings to sit in the shade and leave our backpack and clothes while we had a swim.
The water was glorious, Luke warm the way I like it, there were hundreds of tiny clear fish swimming around us but they didn’t bite....we found out later that there were a couple of bars and an artist’s studio/ shop that were open just a little bit further up the beach but we hadn’t ventured any further.
So we had visited the beach opposite Sandy Island and we were excited to take a mooring ball and take in the beautiful vista of a deserted palm tree’d white sand island on one side and a long white sandy beach with colorful huts, bars and restaurants on the other.
Unfortunately the view from paradise beach didn’t take into account how the wind howled down the bay between the island and the mainland. It was kinda uncomfortable, we didn’t move around any more than normal it was just constantly windy out in the cockpit. The next morning the parks guys came around in their little motor boat and collected the $30EC for the use of the mooring ball. We were happy to pay but didn’t see the need to spend another night there. We had a dingy ashore and a walk around the small island, stopping to have a swim in the beautiful clear water and after lunch we let go of the ball and headed back to Tyrrel Bay. There is another yacht race and Craig is thinking about entering.
Well done you pair, what a lovely story of all your experiences together. Just finished reading all you Blogs again.Lots of Love Keep Safe. Mum and Dad.
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