Leaving for Carriacou

We spend our last day in Grenada, enjoying a local Taxi to the Annandale Waterfall. The fee for the local taxi, filled to the brim with the eight of us squeezing in, was only 2,50 EC$ (about 50 Euro cents) per person, and a tour bus operator offered us the trip to the same waterfall for 25 Euro! 

Hardu

 It is a scenic waterfall with beautiful gardens, nicely groomed and labeled. 

Marco, Joe, Luhan, Minjone

Anriette

At the entrance a very happy man sang his song, and for the second time in the Caribbean, I think I received a compliment…he called me J Lo! I am sure I am getting brainwashed by our yacht, Catlyn with her voluptuous ‘derrierre! ’

The spice market and fruit market  was good to see, but the prices was no bargain! I think all the huge cruise ships loaded with all the tourists with their thick wallets spoil it for our yachties. It was my brothers turn to prepare lunch, so we ended the day in Subway.

We lifted the anchor and were heading for Carriacou, Tyrrel bay.  The anchorage was good and we were heading for the beach with the little ones.

The men had a beer at a bar on the beach, the little boys enjoyed the sand and the sea, and the girls enjoyed the sun under their wide sun hats! 

 It was a very quiet beach and we decided to stay another night.  The walk on the beach was lovely and we found beautiful shells, but the locals told us, that it is demon shells, called Michael Jackson demons! I didn`t ask why the poor beautiful shells were called that, but if you see all the heaps of shells discarded on the beach in every corner, the locals truly believe that. 

 After playing hop scotch on the beach, keeping the little ones busy, Hardu and Anriette took the canoes and rowed to the lagoon among the mangroves.

They said it was beautiful, but the mozzies chased them out of the mangroves too soon. Luhan, their little one took us back with our dinghy, after a beautiful peaceful sunset on the beach.

Family Fun!

They were in the dinghy! The first load arrived with Joe and the two beautiful blonde girls, Anriette and Minjone with a load of luggage. The second load arrived with Hardu, my brother and some more luggage! What a special load of love!

Joe went to fetch them at the airport, and they enjoyed the drive packed in the local taxi with no shock absorbers.  We spend the night with lots of laughter and stories, as if we haven`t been apart for years.
 

With a couple of ginger tablets each the next morning,  they soon were up and running.  We lifted  anchor and sailed to Grand Anse Bay.  We decided to spend a lazy day on the beach.

  I found a tree for the whole family with a lot of shade, and the men made sure the towels were occupied.  After building sand castles and chasing crabs on a very Easter Monday beach, we found the men very relaxed with a very suspicious smell hanging around them.  The group under the tree right behind them were smoking a bit, and the fumes were heading straight for our men, and while sleeping they didn`t realize how well they are actually sleeping. We succeeded getting them from  under the tree, but Johan continued his sleepiness on the dinghy…. 

Hardu tried to find some security in the first tree he could hang on to...

It was so wonderful to have the little feet running around on Catlyn!

Budget Marine, Grenada

Reality! We still needed a spare for our manual toilet, and the four of us, got into the taxi. A very full taxi, but when we said that we will wait for the next one they assured us that there is enough space for the four of us, because some of the people are getting out now! We stepped aside, to allow the` people’ to get out, but only one person got out!  We squeezed in, with our not so tiny pure bred South-African men! 

 De Big Fish Restaurant was our first destination, because we forgot our back pack on the jetty two nights before when Joe fetched the family. With all the excitement no one saw the blue bag left behind in the dark, with our E book reader and our hand held VHF. The girl at the reception kept our bag with our hand held, but our E Book disappeared. We were so grateful just for that, we decided to stay for a Carib beer.

 We didn`t find the spare part at Budget Marine, and took the taxi back to the Spice Mall with a lovely supermarket for fresh bread and milk. I found  long life milk for a reasonable price, and with our little ones emptying a two liter a day, I stocked up, and I knew that my brother was there to carry the heavy load all the way back to Catlyn!


 



Not used to carry shopping for a couple of kilometers along the beach, he complained all the way! To help him out of his misery, we stopped at every little beach bar for a cold beer!

That is where we met Ian. He is a local Granadian dressed in his smart suit pants, and after a while he entertained us with his company and his miracle oil!

Anriette and I got a compliment, I think!  He sat there, very smooth, telling us that we are a hundred percent NOT UGLY!  I am still not sure. Hardu bought the miracle oil, because he said, you do not have to believe in this oil, it works, even without faith! My brothers kind of oil!  Eventually the milk and the heavy shopping bags made it back to the yacht!

Grenada

Underwater sculptures.

The charter boats asked us to take up the white buoys around the corner.  We left the orange buoy for the charter boats.  The Park Rangers also came around for their fee, 10 US$  and If you are in Grenada, it is an absolute must to visit this sight!  The Park Rangers invited us to stay overnight, which we immediately decided to do. We snorkeled the whole day...little Minjone, only 3 years old the star of the day! What a moment in the world of the fish and the coral, thank you! 

See below one of Joe's videos of our few days in Grenada - snorkelling etc.

Awaiting in Grenada!

Since we sailed away from our country, we haven`t seen family, except when we went to visit our son, Jaco in Florida for a couple of days. And now we are anchored in Prickley Bay, waiting for my little brother, not so little or young anymore, with his family! We left Prickley Bay, the other day with Margaretha, our South-African friend and sailed to Grand Anse Bay.  The only thing that is left is the memory of this lovely friend, and a photo of the rusks she made us!

We are taking an afternoon nap, because it is a very long time since we had two little ones in our lifes, never mind on our yacht! Marco is counting the hours, and whithin a couple we will be able to hug and kiss family! We left Grand Anse Bay this morning, and went to St George the day before.  We found the street market with fresh stuff, and at Budget Marine a couple of things we needed for Catlyn. At the counter, ready to pay, we were asked for our boat registration and customs papers, which of course we didn`t have with us. If you can`t produce those, you are charged with the custom duties of an extra 51%  Empty handed we went back to Catlyn until after Easter Monday. We have to handle our manual toilet with gentle care...it needs a seal or something!

Marco got dressed early this morning to impress the family....
Soon I will introduce you to my family and the fun we going to have! Memories for heaven!

Easter in Grenada!

Do you still believe in the Easter Bunny?  Marco does! He knows if you stop believing the magic just disappear....and the same counts for the Tooth Mouse from SA, and if we are elsewhere on the ocean, the Tooth fairy will do.  And in the meantime while Marco was waiting anxiously for the Bunny, I had a chat on Facebook with a little person, Natasha from Nauti-cat, an Admiral catamaran in Trinidad.

'Ah come on,' she said, 'My mom is the Easter Bunny. There is no such thing as a real bunny!' she cheaked me. And she carried on, quite upset with me, for ruining her grown up reasoning, but soon I had her going with what if you still believe in the magic, don`t you think he might still exist?  And why does he only come to little people and not to me?  She assured me that I was too tall and too big, and that he only comes to children 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8 years old and she is 9! I wondered if that excludes her, but I didn`t ask, I got her back into the Magic!  I asked her if Grenada has an Easter Bunny, because Marco is here? I asked her if the Bunny will come to Marco, he is 11? Very quickly she assured me, that there must be a Bunny, and Marco is not too big, only me!  She was rolling now, and a bit agitated with me,  as if I do not want to believe! ' My friend saw the Bunny, for real!' she said.

I asked her whether she know that the Bunny likes a clean room when he comes to visit with his Easter Eggs. (I like a clean room and would do a lot of tricks to get my kids to do that, so I thought of helping her mommy a bit)  But I didn`t expect the reply. She came back in despair. her room was a mess, and there is nothing she can do about it, her Dad turned her room upside down, working on something in the yacht, and there is just no way she will be able to get him out of there and to clean up the mess in time for the Bunny! My heart went out to this little girl, knowing how our boat looks like when the bedding is upside down and everything has to be moved....messy!

She went even further, and told me that she will not be in her bed tonight, and the Bunny won`t know where she is, because she might have to sleep with her mommy or on a cushion....!  Oh dear, what have I started. I prayed for more magic, and it came. 'Relax my dear, the Bunny knows all these things and he only wants you to be a happy and a loving little girl and put a smile on your face, think happy thoughts and go help your mommy with whatever she may need! "Relax!" she said. I relax!  And off she went....

The Bunny did come! The next morning her facebook was filled with joy about Easter eggs, 8 of them and a very big one in the fridge! Even Marco found a riddle. and he found his chocolate treat hidden on the anchor! And a glass full of a treat from his Dad! It seems like Grenada doesn`t have the custom to do the eggs thing!  They are no where to be seen here!  Thank you for the magic of life!

Maverick ?

Joe met an old man on his boat, and he asked Joe if he knows the meaning of 'maverick'? And he didn`t but it didn`t stop the man from sharing wisdom with an eager young man. Too wise he came back home with the same question for us...and we didn`t know. 'Just the name Rudi give his yachts he build in SA.' we thought.
But this old man got us guessing at first and then searching the technology dictionary.

We found Catlyn right there in the dictionary, and for the first time we understood her even better. Her free way of living, her wild spirit...how she coaxed us into a somewhat irregular private lifestyle...how she showed us to drop the chains, to look around, to look below and to look above in amazement at the Creation.  We realised that she was there for us, long before we met her, ready to free us from the rules and the humanly standards!

We found her in the Maverick! An unbranded range animal, especially a calf that has become seperated from its mother, traditionally considered the property of the first person who brands it. Another wise man, Maverick, never branded his calfs, and ended up a very rich man with all the stray calfs....and the word maverick was born. That was in the dictionary.

We looked at her, and every time we see her standing out in a crowd of beautiful yachts...is it the love in our eyes seeing what want to see? Or is she exactly what the dictionary explains- one that refuses to abide by the dictates of or resist adherence to a group, a dissenter.

Thank you, Maverick for setting us free!

Sailing to Grenada.

A friend of mine said a friend of her said….never ask a sailor the next two things at the same time!  A time and a location….we can only do one at a time! We were on our way to Grenada, and we planned to leave about five in the afternoon, with our South-African friend Margaretha joining us. The to do list kept us busy and all the good byes  took some time….and eventually we departed  just before eleven that night. We missed the Friday with an hour, thank goodness, otherwise me and my superstition of never starting a journey on a Friday was in jeopardy!

Catlyn was behaving like a jealous women!  Somewhere she heard about us sailing away with Andando to New-Zealand, leaving her on the hard.  With the wind up to 22 knots and the swells on the beam, she sailed us with female pride to speed up to 10 plus knots!  She was loaded with 1 000 liters of water, 840 liters of Diesel and I am sure another ton of food and good stuff… .but even with the main in a first reef, she couldn`t resist flirting with us.

Poor Margaretha suffered a bit and came out the next morning slightly pale, but luckily Grenada was on the horizon. 

When she heard the commotion of Joe battling the big Wahoo aboard she peeked out of her cabin.

The beautiful island was awaiting us. We dropped anchor in Prickley Bay, and after a cold drink took the dinghy to Customs and Immigration. It went smoothly with the friendly people on the other side of the table.

We slept so well with the gentle rocking of Catlyn and no noises or black soot like in Trinidad.  The boys enjoyed the warm water, and Marco bundled  us all into the dinghy after we sailed to Grand Anse, south of St Georges.

We were lazy after the margaritas with Margaretha, but it was good to walk the white beach and swam in the clear blue water.  Too soon it was time for Margaretha to fly back to Trinidad, but she will always be a part of us!

Maverick 400 gets out of the dry!

Since I`ve  entered the world of the Big Blue, so much have changed. I always tried to think that the changes were outside of me, but I only found them again inside...

We started our last morning on the hard at Peakes, with an unusual calm, and worked through the to do list step by step. During the last hour we rinsed Catlyn down with her last fresh water for a long time, getting rid of the naughty spots the birds are dropping on us, and I gave the teak a last layer of linseed oil and even they were glowing! We worked through the list of preparations, and everything was ready. Catlyn stood proudly waiting for the monstrous travelift to fetch her. Joe was keeping a careful eye on the last touch of anti- fouling for her tummy, and she was airborne!

Why is it that every time this happens, your breath just gets stuck in your throat? Ian and Lesley and the two girls(Jingles) were anxiously watching them trolleying Catlyn to the water.

I was so excited to set her free in the water where she belongs after six and a half months, but my emotions got the most of me, because I knew that soon the time will come to say good bye to this beloved boat of ours. How is it possible to love a boat so much? It is just a boat! But she`s so much more. Last night when I crawled into my cabin, nestling in her uterus, cradled by her love and falling asleep by her gentle rocking....I decided to make every moment mine for ever, to last me for the days when I will miss her so...

After a lovely dinner with Jingles crew at Zanzibar, we went home, to Catlyn!

Anti-fouling at Peakes!

I am sorry for neglecting you and the blog, but I had a very demanding lady on my case, and she demanded all our attention. We are almost ready to put her back into the water where she belongs, on Tuesday!  The big decision which anti-fouling to choose were done, and we used the Jotun range and decided to keep her elegantly black. The previous anti-fouling was still in quite a good condition, so she is defnitely going to last longer fighting off the barnacles and slime.

Yanmar stood by their product and the saildrive was replaced fully under guarentee. It is going to be awesome with two engines1

That was the two big things on the list, but all the little nigglies kept us busy the rest of the time. I painted all the lockers and cuboards and every hole begging for a clean strip of paint! Some silicone needed to be replaced, and we had time to wash all our lines. They are smelling so good after being in Stasoft for a whole day.

But me made time for fun! Marco, our party planner made sure of that! He enjoyed the company of the two girls on Jingles, the Knysna. Even Joe thrived on female company. Nauti-cat, whom we waved good bye in Saldanha, SA, sailed in here a week ago, and we loved sharing stories with John, Denise and little Natasha.  Martin, one of the leftover crew from Andando,  also popped in for South-African hospitality and good food.

Margaretha entertained us on an evening with the locals 'doubles' a folded dough with ghanna and pepper and a spicy filling, and drove us to the Punch stall with quick energy boosters. peanut punch in a huge polysterene cup mixed with condensed milk and more, and a delicious beetroot and carrot and paw paw punch disguised in more condensed milk! This is going to last me for tomorrows` work on Catlyn!