Back in Grenada - Again!!!

So, here we are. Just to finish off our trip to get back here - we had a very smooth time!! Planes were on time, departure gates were close to arrival gates (important since we stopped in Miami and San Juan before we got here), customs were great (didn't ask about the wifi antenna disguised as a fishing pole - well, not really but the package looked the same!!), the pick-up taxi was waiting and the accommodations people were there when we arrived at about 9:00 PM. A long day though, 4:00 AM to 9:00 PM so we just kind of collapsed when we got there.

Friday we went to get a few groceries (milk for my tea!!) - after taking a quick look at Mystic Journey of course. She looked good although bare, as we had pretty well stripped the cockpit down to bareness and we had also removed the foresail and staysail, wrapped the main and lowered the lazy jacks (look in old blogs for definitions if you HAVE to - you should all be old salts by now if you have been following the blogs!!), tied all the running rigging up on the mast, taken everything off the deck fore and aft and even put the life raft in the fore cabin. We had non-skid put on the coach roof and part of the cockpit, had our sails checked out and got some stitching done on the bimini so it was just easier to take it all down.

Of course that meant we had to put it all back up - a process that took up the whole weekend. We also had to track down a source for plexi-glass as I had cracked one of the windshield panels while disassembling the boat.

Eventually it was all done though, so on Tuesday (our splash day) we went and got a complete re-stock of groceries and put them on the boat before we went in the water. Of course a small glitch occurred - as they were moving the boat over to the launch site, the sky darkened, the winds came up and the heavens opened up. It was a strong wind and very strange in that it came directly from the south, which meant that it had the ocean south of Grenada to build up some swells that of course funneled into Prickly Bay and directly into the launch site. Not a biggie, however, because since we were the last to splash that day, it was okay to just stay in the sling overnight and launch in the morning - which we did. However, we did not have a place to sleep, having checked out of the apartment that morning. So we just climbed onto the boat and slept in our own bed for the first time since we went on the hard in August.

So now we have been back in the water for a week. We have stayed in Prickly Bay because Nick, from Nicktec, was making us a mount for our new wifi antenna and we also had lots to do to straighten out Mystic Journey. We replaced some running rigging (ropes) - the traveller line, the topping lift line, the prevent line we keep in place on the boom and the "swing lines" for the dinghy davits.

Mostly we have been readjusting, however, to being back on the boat and away from home again. I (Griff) found it much more difficult to adjust this time than I did when we originally came down. I didn't go home last year when Cheryl did so hadn't been back for about 18 months. It is different!!! More said maybe next blog.

We have also gotten off the boat to walk every day - as usual it seems we are "out in the noon day sun". We usually average about 3-4 hours for a walk so the exercise is good. Today we found somewhere we haven't been before by just turning a different way at a fork in a road. We ended up in an area of very expensive houses, most with really beautiful landscaping and apparently owned mostly be Grenadians who made their money off island and came back to retire here. As nice as the homes were though, they would not persuade us to leave Canada and live down here permanently, even if we could afford one of them.

Right now we are set to leave. We know where we are going - we just aren't sure what route we want to use to get there. We have decided to spend Christmas in BVI but also want to explore the Spanish Virgin Islands and the USVI. Although we were up in the BVI's and the USVI's when we first got Mystic Journey, it was more a matter of getting used to sailing and anchoring. We never really got off the boat and explored for any length of time so this time that is what we want to do. There are a lot of little islands in those areas that need to be "discovered" by the Cheryl and Griff Exploration Company.

So, how do we get there you ask??

There are really three options

1st - we can sail up island as far as St Marten and then sail West to the BVIs. Neither of us want to do that because we have been up there before and it doesn't appeal

2nd - we can sail west from here to the ABC's again and then around the end of November we can sail up to Culebra in the Spanish VI's and start exploring. Although our 7 day trip from the ABCs was rough in January this year, this time the direction and time of year (and thus the winds and seas) would be different and most likely much more pleasant and certainly shorter

3rd - we can sail partway up island and just stop at the places we really want to see again - Tobago Cays, Dominica etc and then cut over west to Culebra for about a 3-4 day open sea sail. Going in that direction the winds and the seas would likely be quite favourable and it would be a great sail.

What to do, what to do

Right now we are waiting for a big blow to go by tomorrow. Then what will we will likely do is make a spur of the moment decision and leave.

Stay tuned!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Cheryl here. Sorry for the lack of pictures. Like Griff says it's sort of like taking pictures when you have children. You take lots with the first child and fewer with each additional child. Well it is our third time in Grenada and we haven't taken many pictures so we will try to improve with subsequent blogs.