|
Home Port Our Logs The Crew Calendar Favorite Links The Boat Photo Album Route and Charts Miscellaneous Stuff |
Larry's LogWe went to shore and walked around a bit and could see that it was a very pretty resort. Diane stopped to ask a staff person about getting permission to see the rest of the island. He said to ask in the office but that he was sure we would be able to get a tour and be driven around to see the windward side and a guest cottage. We thought we would just stop in tomorrow when we came back in but Diane saw another staff person and asked again about seeing the island. She worked in the office and also said it would be fine. Diane got her name and thanked her and we went back to the boat. Some people stopped by a little later from a boat near us, Texas Reb, to say hi since they had seen our SSCA burgee flying. Diane was just finishing her shower and was in a towel at the time so they were a bit embarrassed and didn't stay too long but they seemed nice and we thought we would go by their boat tomorrow and invite them over for drinks. The next morning, we stopped at Texas Reb and introduced ourselves and invited them over for drinks later. Don and Nancy said sure and after a little conversation about Petite Martinique, which was right across from PSV (but part of Grenada rather than SVG), we went into shore and up to the office of the Petit St. Vincent Resort. We explained our conversation of yesterday afternoon to the girl behind the desk and she said "no problem at all," and would get a driver for us shortly, so we waited outside in the shade and breeze and within 10 minutes, someone came out and brought us to a golf cart type vehicle and started to give us a tour of the island. He first brought us up to the highest point on the island, which had absolutely spectacular views of the reefs surrounding the beaches. The water's colors were great and I took some good pictures of the sea and the surrounding islands. The sky was clear except for some high clouds and a few trade wind cumulus (the little puffy things you see in color brochures) and the sea was a beautiful shade of deep blue fading into green and light green as the water got shallower. You could also see the tops of some of the cottages that had fantastic views of the Atlantic. We continued our tour and were really impressed by the place and the condition of the facilities. The cottages were very nice and up to almost any Stateside resort but the views from some met or beat anything we had ever seen in the USA. At the end of our tour we thanked the driver and went back to the boat. I checked the outboard for any more oil but didn't find any. We also bought 2 lobsters from some locals but Diane couldn't do a complete trade the way she did before. It cost us $20 (US) plus a can of the beef with noodles (I don't like it anyway) and a small can of tuna. Still not a bad deal. We decided to go over to Petite Martinique that afternoon. It was only about ¾ mile away by dinghy and had no problem getting there. It was a small island but they were "famous" for their good prices on rum, other spirits, fuel and such. In the "old days" the stuff was smuggled in but of course now that's all over. We bought a bottle of rum and vodka at very good prices and walked around a little. It was a sparsely populated place with not much going on. Of course, we didn't walk around very much so perhaps we missed the best parts. That evening, Don and Nancy came over and we had a party. As the name of the boat says, they're from Texas; we spent a few very enjoyable hours with them. We found out that we had several friends in common - Mima and Kristali. When I checked email that night, I found a message from the Yamaha dealer on Martinique. He said that the oil I found was most likely from incomplete combustion of the higher than normal oil/gas mixture I was still using for the break-in period. It occurred when this high oil content gas was not burned completely because of not running at full throttle occasionally. Well, I couldn't run the engine at full throttle because the dinghy would flip over! I tried to get a slightly higher RPM though on occasion after his message. His note did ease my mind tremendously, though. Thanks Jack. The next day decided to try snorkeling out by a little sandy island called Mopion. Now that we had a good, strong outboard, we could go much further (and faster) than before. We left to go the ½ mile or so and got there with no trouble but now we had to negotiate the reef that surrounds the island. We found the pass and got to the beach and looked around a bit. There is a small thatched hut built for shade but there was already a French family under it so we just dragged the dinghy up on the beach, took some pictures and went snorkeling. The reef was nice but not nearly as good as the Tobago Cays. We went back to the boat, rinsed off and waited until around 4:30 and went over to Texas Reb. They had invited us over there. We enjoyed their company very much and Don and I talked about the systems Don had installed in the boat. He had replaced just about every major system, including the refrigeration, watermaker, water tanks, wiring, instruments, etc. The boat was a Passport 40 and in very good shape. We stayed for a few hours and then went back to Destiny for a late dinner. On Friday, we went into shore again to take some pictures of the pretty beach surrounding PSV and then we went snorkeling on the other side of the island with Don and Nancy. They took their dinghy and we took ours and we stayed out a couple of hours. The snorkeling was OK but we did see some lobsters (Don had brought a push pole spear) but didn't get any since they were too small. They showed how it was done though and where to look for lobsters. They admitted that the first lobster they had caught was a small one and it had taken them 3 hours to get him! We also saw a large Spotted Moray and got some great (I hope) shots since Don would "tease" him out of his hole while I dove down to take his picture. The eel was a bit "pissed" though after we had finished. We said goodbye to Don and Nancy as we got back to our respective boats and hoped we would see them again in Venezuela. When we got aboard, we hoisted the engine, got the dinghy aboard and on top of the foredeck and generally got ready to leave in the morning. We wanted to start to get south again while the weather was good. Saturday we were up early, finished making preparations and left for Grenada at about 8am. The wind was about 15 knots from the Northeast but the seas were still a little large from the storm up north, with 6-8 foot swells coming through. We sailed down the windward side of Carriacou and Grenada since it was a shorter distance to Mt. Hartman Bay (about 41 miles). We had to motorsail since the wind was completely aft and our speed would have been reduced to about 4 knots. As it was, running the engine and using a single reefed main we made about 6 knots. We got there around 3pm and just relaxed the rest of the day. Sunday we intended to continue to Trinidad so I rigged the jack lines on deck for a night passage and double-checked the engine. Everything was OK except I noticed that the coolant level in the recovery tank was down. I checked all the hoses, the hot water heater, the bilge and the crankcase oil and couldn't find any leak or seepage. Perhaps the long run of the day before (with all the rolling) forced out the last of any air pockets that remained in the system. I'll be keeping an eye on it closely. Of course, during the check of the engine, I also saw that there was some rust around the weep holes on the raw water pump. I intended to remove that pump anyway in order to change the impeller once we got to Trinidad, so that was another reason to inspect it. Well, the best of intentions don't mean the weather will cooperate. Late in the morning the wind picked up and it got very cloudy and rained a few times. We looked out towards the sea and it was really blowing, about 25 knots according to someone we spoke to on the radio, so thought we might not leave tonight. We listened to the weather at 4:30 but it didn't really help. We finally decided that it just wasn't very favorable to leave so we made our decision to stay another day. We listened to the weather at 6:30 that night and found out that a trough that was supposed to dissipate had reorganized and caused unsettled weather around Trinidad and the southern Windward Islands. The forecaster (Eric, from Trinidad) did say that the wind would be light, but with all the squalls, we thought better of leaving. We would listen again tomorrow and see how it was. The next day was pretty good, as far as weather was concerned. It was mostly sunny although the wind was up also. We really just waited all day, although I did some small chores like fixing a wine glass (gluing the bottom to the stem (plastic), putting on our new US flag, and double checking the engine. Actually, I found a few drops of water under where the raw water pump was located and that confirmed that it was leaking a bit. I also found a few drops of oil from the remote oil filter housing on the engine. I would need to check that again but in general, the engine was OK. I tied down the dinghy, again, to the deck and got ready to go around 3pm. We finally raised the anchor and motored out of Mt. Hartman Bay around 5. The batteries were still low although I had run the engine earlier to charge them and run the watermaker again. By the time we actually left the bay, it was a little after 5 since it took some time to wash the mud off the chain and anchor as I brought them in. |