SERENITY NOW

  I find myself in the frustrating situation of having written three days worth of diary, only to inadvertently delete it with a single mis-stroke of my finger. Well here’s the highlights of what you missed: - A typical Grenadian supermarket trip with three full paragraphs bemoaning the available food, and advising people crossing the Atlantic to stock up on provisions in Spain before they come. - Finally decided to buy a reliable outboard motor for the tender. - Finding and agreeing a good price on one from a nice South African cruiser called Chris. - A bus ride into St. George - …and getting my bank card gobbled up by an ATM whilst trying to withdraw the cash for the new outboard. There… we’re back up to date. I hope to be able to collect my bank card from the branch tomorrow morning after it’s cleared out of the machine overnight - fingers crossed. It’s tomorrow morning, or today as I now call it. I take another trip into town only to be told by a smiling apologetic bank clerk that

  We jumped in the tender and ventured ashore this morning. The outboard, for now at least, seems to be behaving itself. No real reason to hit land other than to get a change of scenery and stretch our legs, an activity that life on a boat severely restricts. We tied and locked the tender to the marina’s jetty and headed up the road. Strolled along until we came across a group doing yoga at the back of the beach. Skirting around the downward dogs we paddled along the sandy shore. It’s a clean, white, soft on the feet beach, in front of the grounds of a rather nice looking Hotel Calabash. Along the way we pass what we judge from their ripening rosy skin tones to be either day 1 or day 2 holiday makers happily lounging and tucking into the first few pages of their novels - lovely spot for them. From there, we followed the road along to a sign for the West Indies Brewery. It’s a hot day, and close to lunchtime, we pop in for a couple of craft beers - which are overly hoppy and not great.

As you may know from previous entries, the outboard on the dinghy is a little less than reliable. Having been dropped in the sea at one stage by a previous owner and not exactly lovingly cared for since, it’s hardly surprising. Our reliance on the dinghy and outboard forced us to drastic action: a visit to the local Mercury dealers workshop. This involves a slow tick over journey ashore, unbolting the outboard, tying it to a folding hand trolley at the floating dock and taking it the 2km walk along the grassy verge of a busy roadside to their workshop. Left it there to much umming and arring with a plan to return later in the day to hear the full diagnosis - and hopefully also the cure! Back at the dock in the restaurant overlooking the bay, I have an excellent breakfast of eggs Benedict - good enough to give any of the Sydney beachside cafes a run for their money. There’s free wifi there, so checking the emails, I get news from home: a hopefully delightful occurrence of a lodger (Oli)