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Larry's LogAs we passed a small island near the northeast coast of Grenada, I actually caught a fish. Diane had asked that I rig the gear and Mike on Footloose said he always catches something between Carriacou and Grenada. So I got out the reel, the pole and lure and set it up. I tied the pole to a stanchion, let out about 80 feet and figured I would just be reeling it in the same way as we got into harbor. Wrong! I caught a small tuna, about 10 pounds. Of course, getting him in the boat was interesting, with Diane holding the pole after I got him to the boat, and me trying to gaff him from a boat moving at about 4 knots. Right after he took the lure, I had slowed the boat down from about 7 knots by furling the jib and just sailing with the main. I also set the autopilot so I could bring him in and Diane could help. After he was in the boat and in a bucket so he couldn't just flop around, I poured some cheap rum down his throat to subdue him. We had heard of this trick from several books and it really worked - no clubbing and flying blood and scales. After quieting down, Diane took a picture of the mighty fisherman with his catch and then I proceeded to clean him. That was a mess but I have a small table attached to the stern rail that made it easier. We then put him in the refrigerator for filleting later. The trip was becoming pretty good. The weather had turned very nice since we got to the north shore of Grenada and we were sailing nicely with full main and jib. As we got to the southern end of Grenada, the coast turns gradually to the west and we started going more downwind and getting a strong push from the current. The wind had lightened to about 12 knots and although we were only going 4 knots through the water, we were making 5 knots over the ground, meaning we had a strong current with us. This was the main reason to go down the windward side of the island. If we had sailed down the leeward side, we probably would have had to motor due to lack of wind and then had to fight the wind and current once we rounded the southwest tip. We were about 3 miles from Mt. Hartman Bay when Diane noticed something in the water ahead of us and to starboard. As we got closer, we saw it was a man in the water waving what turned out to be a spear gun. From what we could piece together as we called to him, his boat was far upwind and he felt it was too far to swim. This posed a dilemma. Normally, I would have tried to pick him up but we had heard of several security problems, and although I didn't think this was a scam to get him onboard and steal the boat or worse, Diane was very nervous about it, so we called out that we would get help. We then saw another small boat further downwind so we furled the jib, turned on the engine and made for him. Unfortunately, he didn't understand us and when we got closer, he yelled that there was a reef we were headed! So we turned around and Diane called on the radio for the Grenada Coast Guard. She raised them after a Pan-Pan call, which means a serious problem has occurred. In the meantime, I had turned the boat upwind to try to find the guy in the water again. After Diane spoke to the authorities, they didn't seem too concerned, and we later learned that they really don't have the equipment (a boat) to go out and rescue anyone. Diane came up after talking to the Coast Guard and helped look. We then saw a small boat upwind that was probably the one the spear fisher was talking about. Unfortunately, we couldn't find the man again and we turned the boat around to go into port. Diane pointed out that he had a mask and fins and could swim back to his boat or at the worst, to shore. I suppose that was true, but I felt badly about the entire incident. Going into Mt. Hartman Bay was a little tricky because there are numerous reefs surrounding the entrance, but the light was still good and it was marked, although one was missing (we had heard about the one missing through one of the radio nets we hear in the morning). As we went in, we heard our friends call us. They had also heard the Pan-Pan call and asked about it. We also heard from Cameron, the boat who had helped rescue Destiny after she dragged in Anse Mitan. Hiya guys. They asked if we wanted to go to dinner but we had already invited Footloose over for drinks. We said definitely another time. As we came in, we saw lots of our friends - Legacy, Gabrielle, and others. Coming into the anchorage, we saw that the boats were swinging in all directions and Mike called on the radio to say that this was normal for this anchorage and that the boats would "straighten out" at night. As we passed Legacy, he said that they had done circles in the anchorage yesterday, so we picked a spot that had plenty of swinging room and dropped the hook. It was a very pretty spot, with green hills on all sides and a small marina tucked away on the east side with a small resort associated with it. Hello Grenada. |