My new gadget

Yesterday (Saturday, November 10^th), I tried my water-proof miniature IPod while swimming/doing water exercises. I took up aqua-fitness routines after our traffic accident at the end of last summer in Turkey, when a vertebrate on my spine was cracked.  Last season on the boat, I did as much as I could on my own, but the exercises become tedious and boring without music. 

It occurred to me to check the internet when I was in Hamilton, Ontario visiting my daughter, to see if a water proof music recorder existed. It did; the creation of Apple of course, coupled with WaterFi ear-phones, also water tight. However, it can only be purchased from the US, through the web; none of the stores carry it in Canada, they do not even know about it.  So my daughter bought it on line for me, and got it sent to my son’s post office box in Ogdensburg, N.Y. He regularly buys things on line from US, and drives to the small town at the edge of the US border to pick them up. It is only an hour away from Ottawa, and one pays the GST tax at the customs. It is much easier than getting something delivered by post from US, since the cost doubles from brokerage fees, delivery fees etc. In summer three of us made the trip together to get my IPod. 

Unfortunately it only plays ITunes, fed by an Apple computer. Thankfully my daughter had bought a Mac, despite all Al’s protests, so she was able to record the rhythms and tunes I like for dancing. I was quite excited about the prospect of dancing in water, but was not sure that the small thing would work. I tell you, it is amazing, and staying in water for longer than an hour is no problem, if only Al can entertain himself with his smart phone (not IPhone mind you, a Samsung). Anyway, I love my gadget, and can’t think of anything more fun, since I love dancing, but can never find the kind of music I like at the establishments. They start late anyway; we have no energy left to dance at those hours anymore. Dancing in the sea suits me fine. I also like the privacy of the whole experience. Now I will think of my children every time I listen to it.

I also have to mention my other purchase back in Ottawa, which proved to be amazing. I was looking just for a pair of wet-shoes at the “Sail” store at Train Yards right before we started back, but they were sold out, since the season was over in Canada. The salesman showed me a pair of walking shoes made of a new material, a soft plastic, that looked like a thick mesh, with solid hard bottom, which he thought could be worn in water. I found it very comfortable and decided to buy it. They are black with pink and lime green stripes and ties. They look a bit odd for me to wear and I hate plastic shoes, it is always leather for me all the way when it comes to shoes. However, on the boat, all the deck shoes I tried proved to be uncomfortable or too hot to wear.  Anyway, first time I tried this pair was on the way to La Sagesse. I thought it would be practical not to carry a second pair of wet-shoes during the long walk. 

I found it incredible that plastic shoes, worn without socks, could be so comfortable for walking; no burning or pinched feet walking on dusty, uneven terrain! Equally amazing is the fact that they are also awesome on deck, exposed long hours to heat. Lastly, they are great in water as well. Kudos to materials engineers and scientists, who worked on its development! 

Life at St George’s

We are anchored at the mid-point between the Port Louis Marina located in the lagoon around the corner, and the Grande Anse beach, where all the expensive resorts are lined up. It is a very large and clean beach, a much protected tourist area. We had been there before and enjoyed swimming in the mostly shallow water. 

At the same time, the cruise terminal at the north end of the bay is in plain view, exciting for us, since watching the cruise boats is our major entertainment. We also can see the huge tankers and merchant ships coming into the base of the lagoon and docking. It is incredible how those big things maneuver in the confined space of the inlet and edge onto the side.  I have the utmost respect for their captains!

For us, all the bases are covered, water/gas/laundry at the marina, beach/bar at Grande Anse, minutes away by dinghy at either side and free WiFi at the Sea Port bar at the dinghy dock. 

We are set for the season, the only down side is that I cannot make Al walk anywhere. If we have to go downtown or to the shopping centres at Grande Anse at the opposite end, we can take the minibuses running in either direction steps away from the dinghy dock. This year, our exercise is to come from swimming and sailing. Since we do not have to go anywhere, sailing is going to be fun, whenever we feel like it; and not for very long distances. We really feel blessed, no stress, no rush, just fun! We are also expecting more guests this year, who will provide the entertainment for us.

The weather in Grenada is a little different than the other islands we had seen. It is always very humid and hot, but fickle, very unpredictable. All of a sudden it starts raining buckets for a few minutes, and then completely clears. The winds, although not very strong, blow from different directions at random times, and provide the much needed respite from the heat. The boats turn around and around, every time we look up, we face a different part of the coast line. Living on water is amazing, especially in this hot climate. 

We decided that living on land is harder, and we feel more at home on the boat than at our condo in Ottawa. We hope to continue this lifestyle as long as our health co-operates.

At Last, Sailing (actually motoring) Away

Friday morning rain or shine, we decided to take off. Early in the morning we got ready, studied the chart, and made the route. I wrote down all the bearings on the turns, and the mileage, which reduces my anxiety, and Al opened the sail bag and got the sails ready, and fired up the engines at 8:15 am. I tended to the ropes, and shortly thereafter we started. 

The bay is facing south and quite narrow because of high reefs at both sides, but the path is well marked. While Al was steering, I was busy coiling the lines and collecting the fenders. The wind was quite strong, and we started hitting the waves, which were almost perpendicular on our port side. Then something flew off and came crashing down the fore-deck, odd shaped aluminum shards and broken pieces of the plastic cylinder got strewn around. Al declared that it was one of the radar reflectors, tied above the spreader. I thought it was not a good omen to have a mishap at the very beginning of our trip, but hey, we moved on.

We had to go about a mile south in order to clear the many fingers of small hills reaching down into the ocean, creating deep bays along the southern coast, where most of the marinas are located. The points closer to the western edge are longer, so our route was slightly south-west. After turning towards west, we got the wind on our back, which significantly improved our comfort. But the waves were relentless, and the sky dark as can be during the day, with storm cells forming occasionally.  Al thought of setting the sails, but I was not up to it. We have six more months to try the new halyard.

I was concerned with the twin peaks of rocks just above the water level, a little south of Prickly point, which are called The Porpoises on our way, so our route came down to its south, and then turned north west towards Pointe Saline, the westernmost point, turning around the Glover Island to its south, rather than cutting through the channel.

Of course Al humours me when I make my ultra conservative routes, then sometimes cuts corners, relying on the two GPS equipment and his smart phone.  This time, when we approached the island, he suggested taking the channel, cautioning me that I should not get excited when I saw 12 feet of water under us. Since the weather was not co-operating, I did not want to lengthen the trip by insisting on the longer route, so we cut across, but went as far west as the way point given in the chart to clear the hazards for the entrance to Martin’s Bay at the mouth of the St George’s harbour.

After reaching the lee of the island, coming to the bay was a breeze. I prepared the anchor, and we set it at 19 ft., among 25-30 boats already there. I spotted some heads (swimmers!) in the water around the boats, a good sign about the quality of water. In all marinas, and some crowded bays, people do not swim close to the boats, since holding tanks are not heard of.  We are located at the west side of the island, close to the north end of  large bay with small protrusions at the south and north edges.  I hope this place will be protected from the Christmas winds in the dead of winter.

 Other than that, it is open sea as far away as eyes can see! Sun tumbles into water directly in front of us. My favorite sight. I prefer the calm of early evenings, and love to watch the sun-set, and the awesome colors it creates. One of these days I want to paint one such sight.

The Launch

Wednesday morning, Al told me that we were second to be launched, so I tidied up the kitchen to get ready to roll. When I heard the beeping of the winch, I was ready to jump out of the boat to take some pictures. I jumped on when Ruyam II was in water at last, but tied to the sides. After a short while, Al started the engines, and the guys let the lines go, which I coiled immediately. My biggest fear is the lines becoming tangled around the propeller, so I tend to them first.

Anyway, we started to move away from the dock to maneuver back to the side dock, when I heard Devon, one of the dock attendants, shouting that no cooling water was coming out the engines. Al killed the engines right away, but we started to drift towards the rocks on the side of the bay. Al started one of the engines briefly to get a little bit of trust and slowly steered towards the side dock, where Devon was waiting to take the lines. 

Phew! It was such a scary moment. Thankfully we were quite close to the docks. Devon expressed anger towards the mechanic, who was supposed to be at the launch, to see how the engines he worked on were performing. Apparently the mechanic had closed the water intake valve while repairing the propeller, since he was using shore water to test the engine on land. He forgot to open them after the work was over. Thanks to Devon we were spared engine damage, which would have happened in a matter of minutes!

When Al discussed the issue with Jason, he shirked off responsibility, and pointed out that skipper was supposed to check the engine water before taking off. I guess everybody learned a lesson from this near miss, especially the young mechanic.

That was early in the morning. I demanded water to be connected, in order to start the much needed deck cleaning, while the riggers put the sails up and worked on the halyard, which took them all day. 

There was no way we could move from our spot, which was the first place on a three-boat dock. All the time we had been on dry, those new docks had been empty, however almost immediately after we got there another catamaran and a mono-hull got launched and tied next to us. Al had spoken with the office earlier to reserve two nights of dock space, in order to give us time to get ready to start our short trip to the west of the island. It appears that the office had not anticipated so much demand for the place when they agreed, and could not get back on their word. When marina personnel work on the boats, being tied there is free of charge, otherwise it costs 30.00 dollars per day. As all the mooring balls were taken, staying at the vicinity is a bit hard, since anchoring on the reef at the sides is tricky. 

Jason asked if we were ready to go around at 4:00 pm, but Al would not think of it at that late hour, as well, we were waiting for our gas bottle to be filled, probably at a gas station at the small town near-by.

Next morning we did vigorous clean up all day, then sat and watched the others. Late in the afternoon a huge catamaran got launched, and was going to set anchor, but turned around and came back to the launching dock, since the boat had stated taking in water from the part that the mechanics had worked on.

The owners of that boat was kind of interesting, a young man from US, with a young girl, who appeared to be more proficient and interested about the boat than himself. He was lugging a huge camera on a tri-pod, constantly taking pictures. Al claimed that he had even taken pictures of Ruyam II during its launch. On the other hand, he left his expensive equipment at the dock unattended for a length of time, at a good vantage point to take more shots later. I said, if he were earning his living off the camera, he would take care of it a little better, so my speculation is that he is a rich kid who did not care much about material things. Anyway, Al helped them when needed, but did not have a chance to talk to them.

Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday

Jason and his staff had several conferences with Al about the propellers, engine tune-up, rigging, sail-drive covers which were missing all along, all of which could theoretically be done in one day, if multiple crews came at the same time, starting early in the morning and worked non-stop. As it was, all the workers were busy on scores of boats waiting to be launched. 

On Monday, the young mechanic worked on the engine and the propeller all day. When Al was able to find the sail-makers after several attempts during the day, he got them return our main sail which they had been storing (for 50 EC /month) after making some minor repairs while we were away. The rigger Louis was of course very busy, but when Al asked him to change the halyard and add a pulley to the sail for easily raising it he made himself available. Louis made calculations and declared that the whole job would cost about US$1,500 dollars, including labour, which was a fraction of the cost of the expensive rope. I guess it is worth the expense, since both of us were having difficulty putting the sails up, especially in high winds. 

On Tuesday, one guy worked on cutting the sail-drive covers from a sheet of plexi-glass and moulding the rubber seal around it. Al thought that the guy who had been working on it stretched the work right until quitting time, so that he would not be called for something else. This busy time at the marina must be hard to bear for some of the workers, while others are taking their time and having fun. Nevertheless, I have to admit that they had been working constantly, and launching five – six boats a day, one of which takes at least an hour, until the boat leaves the launching pad.