SERENITY NOW

  As the drama of an uncomfortable overnight crossing up from Trinidad slowly fades from the front of our minds, we ease ourselves back to the good life in Grenada. We’re back in Woburn Bay, anchored opposite Whisper Cove marina once more.. This means peaceful evenings listening to the cicadas, palm fringed surrounding hills, lambi boys waving as they whizz by on their way to work, and the friendly familiarity of the cruiser’s radio Net Being here also means no limit Texas hold ‘em on the shaded veranda of Whisper Cove Marina as the sun goes down on a Friday night. 21 players; All the usual suspects I’ve played before are there. There’s also a good smattering of assorted pirates, hillbillies and cowboys with whom I hadn’t previously had the pleasure. The first game back turned out to be a slow one with lots of chat at the table. Some wonderful hands came my way, and with a few lucky all-in calls, some hours later I come away with the win - splitting the cash with Steve the landlor...

  We’re anchored in Chaguaramas bay up on the NW corner of Trinidad. Our idyllic return to life back on the water was somewhat spoiled by the bilge pump going off shortly after we splashed back in. One bucket worth of salty water had appeared in the bilge an hour after we launched. I spent a frustrating afternoon lifting floorboards trying to track down the source. At time of writing (the next morning), happily with now drier bilges, I have a working theory that the water was not newly added, but had in fact been present during our long stay on land, but wasn’t visible due to our tilted position… time will tell. The good news: I don’t think we’re sinking just yet! Last night, for the first time in a long time, in pleasantly cooling temperatures, we were gently rocked to sleep. Small lapping waves kissing the hull, and we enjoyed a pleasing absence of any mosquitos. The only disturbance was around 2am when ‘DJ Steve’ in a thick Trinidadian accent, loudly and repeatedly asked if his ...

  After 58 hours of travel, and an absolute saga of a journey to get to ‘boat home’ from ‘Sydney home’, I’m now back on board Serenity Now. The boat, for now at least, remains up on stilts, on the hard in Peakes Marina in Chaguaramas, Trinidad. The hurricane season that we’ve been trying to avoid hasn’t followed the usual pattern at all this year. The only system (so far!) that came anywhere near (Hurricane Fiona) decided to track North, and didn’t make landfall until it was all the way up in Canada (edit: since starting this entry Hurricane Ian has decimated Florida and is now moving on towards the Carolinas) Since returning, I’m feeling a bit mixed up and torn; having said goodbye to my mum and family in the UK, and in turn, then tearfully leaving Charlie back in Sydney, I’ve had quite an emotional few weeks. This has translated into me sometimes shedding tears at the slightest thing, and sometimes acting like an absolute ass - Chez’s diary, if she kept one, could probably expand...

  Like prizing a particularly stubborn barnacle from the hull... we’re finally wrenching ourselves away from the welcoming bosom of Grenada. Our departure for Trinidad, weather permitting, now planned for next Monday - 3 days away as I write this. With haul out and a UK trip to follow shortly after, I’ve started to embrace the ‘I’ll do it tomorrow’ jobs which have been mounting up as we’ve happily lazed here in Woburn Bay. The first - and a good one to get your hands dirty - is the replacement of the hoses and fittings in the ‘Lady Head’. This job, taking priority after small (..and actually rather cute!) little crabs had begun to appear in the bowl and an accompanying smell of bad eggs had grown from just a hint to an overpowering stench. Happily, that job went swimmingly and needs no further explanation. Next on the list, clean the hull. I hadn’t scraped the boat’s bottom since the saga with the dropped Hydrovane rudder, now some weeks ago. This is long enough for whole complex e...

Still happily anchored in cruiser friendly Woburn Bay, Grenada.. our hop to Trinidad, for now, postponed. This delay is caused by a combination of concerning weather factors and really just loving where we are at the moment. More on the weather later no doubt. Well after a night of celebration (driving up and down and honking their horns) Grenada has a new prime minister: Dickon Mitchell. I was pleasantly surprised by his first order of business - nothing of the usual politicians waffle about inflation, crime, immigration etc. “Project number one” he said, “I want us to start planting the nutmeg plants, the cinnamon plants, because project number one is to replant all of the spices” He’ll no doubt be embroiled in scandals and corruption by next week, but a refreshing opening statement none the less. Having finished licking my wounds from last weeks poker losses and accompanying hangover, come Friday, I decide to give it another go. This time drinking orange juice all night and winning ...

  June 1st...Happy start of Hurricane season! Arrived at Prickly Bay, Grenada, a wide well populated anchorage, which hasn’t quite got the charm of the jungly North of the island - don’t get me wrong, it’s a far from ugly bay, but we’ll try elsewhere before the forecast blow comes up. Whilst there, we head off on a fairly long hike to the supermarket, this sweaty activity coincided with the local elections getting into full swing. We saw two groups of excited supporters - the red Tshirts and the green Tshirts. There’s lots of shouting, loud hailers and music and we passed one of the candidates - a confident looking Mr. Cox, doing a meet and greet. Back to the boat laden with shopping, upped anchor and headed the short 1hr ish journey around to another of the protected bays on the South of the island. After a wiggle through very visible reefs with their own little surf waves, we find a spot behind ‘Hog Island’ and drop. In the afternoon I take the tender for a Hog island explore - I...

  We arrived at our selected anchorage, the jungle rimmed bay at Chateubelair on the island of St. Vincent about an hour after dark. With no moon to help us we crawled our way in close to the few lights showing on the beach and dropped anchor. The engine wouldn’t allow us to reverse for some reason, so not an ideal anchor set, but good enough for the one forecast low wind night we plan to stay here for. I checked the propeller (all good), topped up the transmission fluid in the gearbox, and made sure it operated both forward and reverse - all seemed good. Both had an early night after the long day’s sail down from St. Lucia - it was a cracking sail that was really good for our confidence and enjoyed by both of us. I wake to the sound of coffee being made and a cheery ‘Happy Birthday’ from my lovely wife. I take my first look at the ‘town’ which we’d arrived in the previous night. It’s an overcast humid morning, and wafts of morning vapour are rising from the jungle that rises behin...