More from Grenada

Here we are again - True Blue, Grenada - or Spice Island Marina, Prickly Bay, depending on whether we are talking about the boat or about us. Weather is still Caribbean weather, although they say the rain is slow in coming this year. Temperatures are around 30-32 in the afternoons and while I am comfortable with that, Cheryl finds it a bit wearing at times. I must admit that it does slow me down somewhat also and by days end I look forward to the air conditioning. I meant to describe the apartment in the last blog but my first attempt was lost and I forgot on the finished product so here goes.

We are on the top floor of a 3 story apartment building that is fairly new. There have been a lot of apartments, including this one, built expecially for the University, which is just behind us, so everything works, although the water is somewhat like the boat, where you turn the tap, the water goes fast, then slows down until the pressure is low enough that the pump kicks in and then it is fast again. Much more pressure here though.

There is a walkway that allows access to all of the apartments on the floor and our apartment is bordered on three sides by this walkway. On one wall we have a balcony door to the walkway and two living room windows and on the second we have the main access door, a living room window and a bedroom window. the third wall is on the bathroom side. There is an a/c unit in the living room and one in the bedroom so we turn the bedroom one on about 2 hours before bed time. The other one we use sometimes and sometimes not. It depends on who has the control!!

So - that boring description is over.

As far as the boat is concerned it is coming along. The teak is all off the deck and the deck has had two coats of resin and two coats of primer put on. They are now using filler to get rid of all the little holes and indentations that the teak hid. When that is done, more sanding and primer. It was interesting to find that on the aft deck, just forward of the twin deck hatches, there was already some filler that had been put on to fill the cracks in a rectangular outline. It appears there used to be some kind of hatch or structure or something on that spot but we can only speculate what it was. The strongest possibility in my mind is there used to be smaller deck hatches there but with the same under-deck storage space. They might have decided that it was too awkward to reach under the deck to store things and so made the hatches bigger and put them slightly more aft. But it is only speculation.

On with the update - Cheryl and I finished taking the rest of the antifouling paint - or at least all we could without a sander - off the bottom. The guys then sanded the sides and bottom in preparation for the awlgrip. Awlgrip, by the way, is a type of surfacing, like paint but much more protective and also nicer looking. It will be applied on the deck in two different textures. The main part of the deck will have a rough texture, like the finishes you may have seen advertised to put on concrete or on decks/porches. It will provide the best footing when we have to work on a wet deck.

The other texture, which will be appliled to the topsides and to the deck part that gets least foot traffic, will end up looking like a car paint job where 7 or 8 coats have been applied and hand-rubbed. Should look nice. They will also be re-doing the waterline stripe, the decorative line and the name on our transom. Topsides, by the way, is the sides of the boat between the waterline and the deck.

Some of the other things we will be doing while the boat is up is (Cheryl and I will be doing most of this) sanding, re-staining and oiling the salon table, nav desk, companionway stairs, companionway ladder, companionway doors and the cover that closes over the companionway. We are also going to (finally) install (with Graham's help) the new SSB equipment we brought with us from Canada and we are having davits made that will allow us to bring the dinghy up out of the water, motor and all, and store it hanging from the back of the boat while we travel or when we are in an anchorage where there may be a chance of it going missing.

So, that is it for the boat and for us - except for the fact that I am really getting cabin fever here at the apartment and we have only been on land for a week and a bit. If my blogs start getting any stranger, you will know I have gone over the edge. Of course I am considered by many to be already past the point of no return so...............how do you tell!!

Before I close, a couple of more "island" things. I think we mentioned the buses here but I am not sure how much detail we supplied. It is actually a really neat system. I did note in the last blog that one of the uses of the horn was to let people know that a bus was coming and available. Well, this is how it happens.

You will be walking down the street and hear a horn. It may be behind you or ahead of you because they try to attract your attention from both directions. They will also - not exactly yell, but kind of a "hey mon" quite loud. This comes from either the driver or the "conductor" who hangs his head outside the van on the opposite side from the driver. These buses are actually 15 passenger right-hand drive vans with sliding doors. There is a small seat attached to the end of the second seat row that lets the "conductor" control people getting on and off. He (or she in one case) collects the money, opens and closes the door and also tries to attract people. Both the conductor and the driver also use one hand when they make their sounds and they point in the direction the van is going. People know the signals and the sounds and the whole thing works quite well. When I mentioned they do it from both directions, if they happen to be going in the opposite direction and you say yes or nod or indicate interest in any way, they will stop. If you cross the road and get in you will eventually get where you are going (there are paper signs on the front windows indicating destinations but make sure you also ask) but it may be after they have picked up as many people as they think they can - or they may just turn around and you're away! Incidentally, it costs less than $1.00 for a ride to just about anywhere you want to go.

Last thing is again the customs of the people. At times it almost seems like we are back walking Katie along the highway with everyone who passes waving hello. Here, when you walk down the street, be prepared to be friendly. 99% of the people you meet, whether they are walkers or workers or just people who happen to be there, will say good morning or good afternoon or sometimes just "Good?" (this means how are you today). It's a good feeling and it reinforces my belief that people are usually just people and further that maybe we could take some lessons in how unnecessary it really is to stress ourselves about "getting ahead" and "buying the toys" and that we have only today to live so make the most of it.