WORKING IN PARADISE

Captain Fatty Goodlander famously said

" Cruising is boat maintenance in exotic locations. "

Well I am anchored off Calivingy Island which is fairly exotic. The island rents for between $210k and 1/2 M per week. Each of the ten bedroom suites is furnished with a king size bed, lovely sitting area, wet bar, massive carved wooden wardrobes, small writing desks and dining tables. Unique in design, with a sunken Jacuzzi here or a loft- style bedroom gallery there, every guest suite is richly appointed, spacious, and comfortable with exquisitely appointed en suite bathrooms, private entrances and lovely views of the island and ocean beyond.

Outdoor living is a welcome delight on Calivigny Island, with a magnificent free form swimming pool complete with swim up bar, expansive decks with plush lounge chairs, an outdoor massage gazebo with breezy privacy curtains, plenty of al fresco dining areas, a giant retractable viewing screen with comfy seating for movie nights, and plenty of jogging or biking trails for guest enjoyment.

With a fully equipped fitness gym,unrestricted access to several watercraft including a 44 ft. Hinckly a 27 ft. Boston whaler a 38 ft. Munson Landing Craft and VideoRay RVO submarine, not to mention jet skis [ which are illegal in Grenada ] , bikes, quads and more, there is plenty to keep a guest busy when not lounging by the pool or gazing out over the crystal clear blue waters of the Caribbean. Guests at Calivigny Island can also enjot a number of optional activities, services and amenities available upon request, such as a 173 ft. Atmosphere Perini Navisailing Yacht, musicians and entertainers, fireworks displays, massage therapy services and more.

Boasting 6 private white sand beaches, two directly in front of the beach house, opportunity abounds for hidden pleasures, quiet solitude and good old fashioned beach fun on Calvigny Island.

Well it looks like it is rented this week and the guests and I enjoyed an early morning swim off the main beach. I was half tempted to swim ashore and sun myself on the beach which is NOT owned by the island but open to all but coffee called and I had a project on my mind.

Well it MIGHT have been simple but I could not get the cable to run where I wanted it to and ended up with part of the cabin roof down, a kitchen cabinet dismantled and another small locker removed entirely before I could drill the holes and run the cable.

Drill battery is flat now so while I wait for it to recharge it is blog time.

GORDON ISAAC AND TD10

I hate hurricane Gordon. For some reason it has got the chorus from the song Jilted John running through my head.

" GORDON IS A MORON GORDON IS A MORON "

But he is a long way North and East of Elephants Child and having blown by the Azores is decaying of Spain just now.

Isaac is tracking through Guadeloupe and while that is well north of us and Isaac is only got storm status just now he is a big mother so we are getting windshifts and rain.

So my little quiet corner of paradise is getting crowded again as the cautious flood in to shelter from the southerlies that are forecast.

TD 10 SHOULD be no problem for the islands.

REEFS and JUNKIES

The Grenada Cruisers rescue squad were busy on Thursday afternoon when a 50 ft yacht called Troubadour

following the chart plotter instead of using the mark one eyeball found herself hard aground on the reef outside the entrance to Hog island and Secret harbour. Her call for help was answered by the usual squadron of dinghies armed with ropes anchors and enthusiasm. She had gone aground near the top of the tide which maybe only a foot but when the yacht on the reef is a 50 footer and weighs maybe 20 tonnes every inch counts. She did come off but not before a large rib with 115 hp came around from the next bay and was able to heel her over just that little bit more and with the dinghy squadron revving their engines in unison pushing hard, she scraped her way off leaving most of her rudder behind.

Quotes from the skipper

“Scull and crossbones marks the spot - obviously not 5 fathoms there. Harrowing reminder on chartplotter reliance, and a caution to all who are using C-Map charts. Thanks to all who helped pull me off!”

And

“Several hours of delays resulted in us trying to enter with the sun in our eyes. Obviously a poor decision.”


SO MANY JUNKIES ON PARADE

A surprising thing hit me as I looked at the Mas parade this year,

There were a lot of addicts in the parade, junkies who were not able to be without a fix even for the three hours of the parade.

Now to me that is scary. They work on the costumes, practice their moves and this is the culmination of a years toil.

But they are so hooked on their mobile phones that they have to carry them along adding a jarring counterpoint to the perfection of the costumes.

Can I say nice colours though? Or is that not PC now?

WATER WATER WATER

One of the less welcome sounds on a boat is a dripping noise. I tracked it down and it was good news it was fresh water. So a hunt the leak campaign started, as the chief suspect was in an area that I would find difficult to get into I was reduced to taping a camera to a stick and using the delay option. Eventually I decided it was the accumulator and mugged a passing small boy with a promise of some ice cream and coke tokens to remove it.

A had my doubts as I could see the base and that was in good order, but got a replacement from the chandlers, keeping the receipt.

However once Jago got it out it was immediately obvious that it was rusted out and the new one was fitted. Normal water service was resumed.

Jago imported his dad as mentor and dad did have to apply a little brute force but Jago did nearly all the work.

However when the subject of ice cream tokens was mentioned he said what he really wanted was a go in my dinghy. It turns out that he was having a severe case of dinghy envy as his family dink was powered by a 5 hp and would only JUST plane one up.

My little pocket rocket planes easily 5 up with power in reserve.

Conditions cooperated with flat water in the anchorage and Jago was soon seen zipping around with siblings aboard and a BIG GRIN on his face. >br>

SUNSET Some nights I think the Lords of the Sunset say "STUFFIT LETS USE THE LOT"

Tonight was one of them



This was only part of the show.

HEADING TO TOWN

MONDAY I slept in and missed the morning radio net but that was no big deal, a quick check on the internet weather sites and I was ready to go to town to do some paperwork. Fortunately I checked the Grenada Cruisers Facebook page before I left. It is a local holiday, businesses are closed.

TUESDAY Missed the start of the net again! Maybe I need an alarm. Bit of argy bargy between some of the curmudgeons after the net so I switch the VHF off while I do some boat work then get ready to go to town. I am just about ready to drop the dink when this goes past, It is the boat that ferries the workers out to Calivigny Island. Strange I think to myself, it is mid day, why are they going home early.

Turn the VHF back to find it is all this mans fault.

Kirani James winning Grenada's first ever gold medal is worth ANOTHER holiday and businesses will again be SHUT!

When asked how it felt to win the Caribbean island nation's first medal, he said: "It's a very proud feeling, very proud, just proud of everybody, what we've been through. I am just happy.

"It's probably crazy at home right now. There's probably a huge road party right now in the streets so I don't think there's any words that can describe the celebration," he said.

YUP it is party time ashore.

I will have to try again on Wednesday, but no worries, I am on Island Time.

Pretty sunset.

BYE BYE EARNESTO and HULLO FLORENCE

Well Earnesto blew through well north of us closing the odd airport and a few ferries were cancelled but no real damage has been reported.

Florence will almost certainly be a fish storm and speaking of fish I did get a couple of good shots on my pre Earnesto snorkel on the southerly reef.

The flying gurnard posed very nicely for me as did this shoal of what I think were baby barracuda but the side markings are different from anything else I have seen so could be something else. Also I have not seen cuda shoal before.

Gotta get a better fish book!

The anchorage has settled down and the late arrivals that piled in at the last minute have sorted themselves out although not without a degree of dragging. The holding here is not good throughout the bay. However Stormvogel who anchored in front of me was in a spot that I thought was OK and dragged back towards me. It stopped though well before I got REALLY anxious.

But I was happy enough to go to the Mexican themed pot luck at Clarks Court Bay marina last night where I renewed old acquaintances and met some new people.

One thing that has been missing from the morning announcements is the AA 12 step plan meetings. When I was cruising out here in the 90s there were two or three competing meetings announced most weeks interspersed with the bars 2 for 1 happy hour spiels. Well there was one at last.

AA meeting at Secret Harbor Marina at 0900 Sunday morning. If you want to drink, that is your business. If you want to stop drinking, and need help, that is our business... It is an open meeting ALL ARE WELCOME

Good to know things are back to normal.

GOOD NEWS THURSDAY FOR GRENADA

The center of the approaching bad weather has moved two or three islands North of us. So all the people who had been taking it easy and watching the Chicken Littles run around headless have been saying " I told you so ".

It is still going to be pretty wet down here but the maximum winds are now only 20knts and from the SE which is basically direction of the prevailing wind so the normal anchorages will give their usual protection.

But the followers of Extra Careful Jones have moved in around me and second anchors are being checked out and readied for deployment.





Anyway I am off for a snorkel on the outside reef this afternoon as things will be stirred up for a few days and the viz will be poor.

SUNDAY - WEDNESDAY

I woke up on Sunday

to the sound of rain rattling on the decks and the bimini cracking in the wind. This was repeated every 20 minutes as short but intense squalls blew through. However as a by product we got great rainbows.

After the weather settled down I went for a tour around the area mostly being nosy about the boats tied up in the mangroves. Along with semi derelicts was this strange looking steel boat which has not moved as far as I know in the last 2 years.

Still I suppose it is a cheap place to store a boat.

One of the local marinas has become the music centre and the Whisper Cove Jam sessions are well attended. The guy in the narrow brim hat blowing the soprano sax was really good

but every body was having a ball.

WEDNESDAY

The first scare of the season is looking like it might be serious,

I am moving my readiness up a couple of notches as the big blob to the East is heading for Grenada. The various forecast tracks having it going South of us, right over the top of us and North of us. Currently the consensus is showing it blowing through to the North of Grenada with heavy rain and gusts to 35knots down here. There is lots of chatter on the VHF and boats in the more exposed anchorages are on the move to safer spots.

Yup it is filling up around me.