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Diane's Diary7/9 Monday We pulled up the anchor from Tyrell Bay, Carricou at 7am & had the sails up by 7:15. Footloose also left at the same time. We got hit with a few rainsqualls & the sky looked very angry but luckily it didn't last long & the wind only got up to around 20 knots. Then, the sky cleared & we had a beautiful sail with small seas. We did hit a 2 knot current for awhile & it was pretty choppy in that area. We decided to go down the windward side of the island since it was faster & it was relatively calm. Mike on Footloose called to tell us he always catches fish on the windward side. Larry was not thrilled about putting out the fishing pole as he had to put it all together but I asked him too. So, he was a good sport & did it. Well, less than 1 hour later we caught a fish! It was so exciting. We had the full main up (the first time for the entire trip) & jib out so we need to slow the boat down. Then, I got the gaffe (Larry was so convinced we weren't going to catch any fish we hadn't gotten the gaffe, knife or alcohol out) & cheap rum to kill the fish with. We got the fish up & it was a 10 lb tuna. We killed him by putting rum down his mouth. It worked! We have a tray table of the stern on our boat & Larry bled him there. I put him in the refrigerator until we got into the anchorage. We were so thrilled we got a fish & I know Larry was shocked we did. We continued fishing until we got in but we didn't catch anymore. Less than an hour later after we had resumed sailing, I saw a "stick" in the water. My first thought was "what was an oyster stake doing out here". Well, it was a diver in the water holding a spear gun. We got a little closer & he said he had drifted far away from his boat due to the current & wanted a lift. He had a spear gun & we didn't. A friend of ours just had an incident in Trinidad involving a drug smuggling boat & this was in the back of our minds. So, I was reluctant to pick him up. He told us his boat was in the direction we had just come from but we did not see any other boat on the way down. We did see a small fishing boat ahead of us & we said we would tell them. We got closer to the other fishing boat but he told us we were approaching a reef. We tried to signal him to come over but he was busy fishing & didn't see us. I called the Coast Guard & gave them a pan, pan on the guy. We tried to go back & find him but didn't see him. I had gotten his coordinates from the GPS when we past him. We told the Coast Guard we were going back to find him & couldn't. We almost ran into a reef trying to help this diver. BTW, he had a snorkel, mask & fins on. Later, another cruiser told us they followed the conversation between another boat & the Coast Guard. The Coast Guard was supposedly looking for us & wanted to fine us for not helping the diver!!!! Well, that was the last time we will ever try to help someone by calling the Coast Guard. Next time we will do nothing. It's a shame it has to be that way. It really goes against everything we have been ingrained with not to help someone in distress but we almost ran into a reef & were almost fined trying to play Good Samaritan. The other boater told us we should just deny the whole incident happened if customs or the Coast Guard stops us. They said we should say there are other boats named Destiny out there or someone just used our boat name. Well, it certainly shook the two of us up. People later told us this spear divers go out there all the time, are used to the conditions & eventually we get back to shore. We got into Secret Harbor around 3 & saw some of our friends that were already there - Legacy, Gabrielle, & Cameron. Cameron stopped by, they were the boat that helped rescue us when we our boat dragged in Anse Mitan Martinque. We had not seen them since then. We had Footloose & Legacy over for cocktails. BTW, I got seasick on the passage again & the conditions were not all that rough. At first I had thought I was getting seasick on all the ocean passages due to nerves, but now I know it is definitely not nerves but just plain seasickness. I didn't take the Sturgeron this passage but when I took it on other ocean passages I did NOT get seasick. So, I guess I just need to take the Sturgeon whenever we are taking an ocean passage. I seem to be ok when we go down the leeward side of an island though. I found taking 2 Sturgeon 8 hours before we go & then just when we leave to be the most effective for me. I will take it from now on. Especially when we go to Trinidad, as this will be a 14hour sail. 7/10 Tuesday I didn't get a good night sleep as it rained off & on all night long & there was very little wind. We are truly seeing what the " dog days of summer" are like down here. When there is no wind, the heat is almost unbearable. In the morning, the wind got very gusty & all the boats were in different directions. Larry cleaned the fish this morning & I marinated it with a recipe Gabrielle gave me. We put the dinghy in the water & ran the water maker. I did an analysis of the expenses. I also researched all the information on Grenada so we could decide where we wanted to go on a tour. 7/11 Wednesday We took the 9am bus into St. George's- the capital of Grenada. This bus driver drives the cruisers everyday & picks us up for 5EC roundtrip. The only problem is he only comes back at 12 or 1 pm so you have to be willing to come back at that hour. That's ok with me as it usually gets to hot by then to do any more. We went to the internet café & Larry was on the computer for almost 2 hours. I walked around by myself for a little while. I went to the bank & supermarket. I didn't think Larry was going to be that long on the computer & it didn't give us much time to look around town. But it's so easy to come back into St. George's we can come any day. We had to go to Cable & Wireless so I could FAX our credit card information as a deposit to the marina we are going to stay at in Trinidad. We went to the Nutmeg restaurant for a nice roti lunch with a good view of the harbor. When we got back to the boat, we went over to the pool at Secret Harbor with Legacy. The water felt fantastic after the tremendous heat from walking around town. We had Cameron come over for cocktails. Kristali came to Grenada today although they are staying in Prickly Bay, the bay next to ours. It's about a 10minute walk from 1 bay to the next. Fortunately, only one steep hill but they are redoing the road so the road is all broken up. 7/12 Thursday I took the same bus into town today & went with "the gals" only into the Spiceland supermarket. This supermarket is only about one year old & has lots of US products. That's the good part. The bad part is that the prices are considerably higher than the US- two to three times as much! But it felt so good to be back in a "real" supermarket again & to be able to get our favorite American food. All of us were so excited to get our "own" products again. The supermarket staff said they get a shipment every two weeks from the US on a Thursday. That means you must get all the food you want for 2 weeks or they are sure to run out of what you want within those 2 weeks. Larry & Mike & Steve from Kristali went to Island Water World & walked over to the Nutmeg restaurant for lunch. We ladies ate in KFC & it was horrible- it gave me a stomach-ache. I will definitely not eat at KFC in the islands again! |