Getting out of Hog!!

Picture: Prickley Bay Anchorage

We are trying to get RAFT ready to go for a sail. We have been anchored in the same spot since the middle of July, and feel it is time to see if we still remember how to sail. Plus we have heard that there is R12 in Carriacou and we would like to replenish our supply before we really need it.
So Friday Bev finished scraping the bottom of the boat. Over the past four months she has overcome the fear of diving under the boat, and feels comfortable doing most of the underwater work. The weight belts that Kathryn and Ron gave us help a lot. Ross raised and checked the sails and they seemed fine. Then we cleaned the anchor chain, a real messy job, the prop and shaft and the dinghy bottom. It took a screw driver to dislodge the big mussels going on the prop shaft.
We thought we would be ready to leave this morning, knowing we still had a lot of tidying up to do in the morning. But Ross had gotten interrupted the other day, and realized that he still had to polish the diesel fuel, to catch any sediment that may have settled out in the past few months. The last thing we want is the engine to fail as we try to leave the anchorage, we have to pass through a reef on the way out. We still remember when that happened at the Whale in the Bahamas, when the engine failed at a critical time due to dirty fuel. (quickly we became a sailboat). We delayed our departure for a couple of hours, as Ross pumps the fuel through the filters to make sure it is clean.
The previous night we were at Whisper Cove Marina for a Cuban hog roast, the pig was roasted over coals in a dug pit, with a Cuban hand turning the spit. The package included unlimited rum punches, plus the meal, and that is also another reason both of us a moving a little slower this morning, but we did have a good time. It was also a good opportunity to say hello to boats that are returning from Trinidad, that we haven't seen all summer, and say goodbye to boat friends which are starting their trips north.
We delayed our departure until Monday, getting an early start and motor sailed hard on the wind and waves to Carriacou, (an island about 30 miles north of St. George's) arriving in the mid afternoon, to a full anchorage. But many of the boats that are here are the ones that have escaped from Trinidad and are moving on to the Tabago Cays after just an overnight here. There is a regatta this weekend with many racing boats up from Trinidad, so we will stay here and watch the action before returning to Grenada.
We revisited our favourite haunts, Hillsborough, the bakery in L’estere, the local rum shop. We watched the larger racing yachts sailing in from Trinidad, and the smaller ones being towed up, like 3 ducks in a row, from Grenada. Although we had planned to stay for the whole weekend, the weather wind/wave report looked like Friday would be the best day to sail back to Grenada, so we left early and had a wonderful return.
We anchored in the Lagoon and spent a couple of days getting prepped for the next week. We had arranged to be hauled out on Wednesday at Spice Marina and then fly home on Friday. RAFT would be left in Grenada until we returned to her in January 2007.




Picture: RAFT on the hard