BUMPER BOATS BUILDING DRY HILLSIDE AND WHISPER COVE

There was a panic call on the VHF from a nearby bay.

"Help Help there is a mega yacht bashing into my boat"

Then a bit later there was another emergency call to say that the same mega yacht was bashing into another boat while attempting to leave the bay.



Initial reports suggest that the boats hit only suffered minor damage.

Someone with lots of money is building a new house on the hillside opposite my mooring. He has had to build a road first and is now building a dock as well as the house.

The sad thing is that the mangroves which used to fringe almost all of this bay are slowly bit by bit being destroyed. All that nursery area for baby fish is going.

One of the things I like about Whisper Cove is the way that they have kept as much of the mangroves as possible.

They do a great job of looking after the flora and fauna.

As well as providing exceedingly good lunches in a quiet setting with gentle jazz playing.

We need some rain

you can see from the picture just how dry the hillside is.

The mangroves are still green as they can deal with the salt.

Still we have had a little rain as the first tropical wave of the hurricane season blew through.

Shoulder Progress

It is getting better slowly as Jan said it would, she said think months not weeks.

Finally I had a bit of sad news one of my motorcycling friends from the Ducati days was killed in a collision with a car. By the sounds of the description of the accident it was a typical SMIDSY JOB

Sorry
Mate
I
Did
Not
See
You

CREAKY OLD SHOULDER and BAD NEWS FROM VENEZUELA ON GIANT OIL SPILL

Well I have had to put any immediate sailing plans on hold because my niggling shoulder problem which I have been ignoring on the ' keep it till it gets better ' principle got worse and had reached the point where it was difficult to sleep and I needed help getting my back pack on.

I went to see a local very experienced chiropractor who quickly diagnosed a rotator cuff issue, the drop arm test showed there was no complete tear and he thought that if there was any tear it was minimal. In fact he suggested that it was most likely to tendinitis and should respond to some manipulation and regular applications of ice [ or in my case 1/2 a kilo of frozen peas.

A US sailing friend called Jan [ AKA HAPPY FEET ]

who is a physical therapist by profession has given further reassurance but suggested that the rest period should be around two months.

Dizzy who has taken to waiting in full ' Kilroy woz here ' pose

Says WOT NO SAILING WHOOPPEE.


Well I have been following the regime doing the manipulation

applying the ice and it is working. I can sleep again and even find it possible to sleep on my left side.

I have been thinking about activities on board that I do regularly which might be causing the problem and came up with lifting the dinghy. I do this every night to protect it from theft and it involves putting my arms above my head and pulling down hard on the pulley rope to lift the stern.

So I have devised a simple workaround which allows me lift the stern with outboard using only my right arm and no overhead stuff at all just a little winch cranking.



VENEZUELA GIANT OIL SPILL

Large quantities of the heavy bunker fuel from the ruptured fuel oil storage tank at Petrotrin's Pointe-a-Pierre refinery has become lodged in the mangroves and on the beaches of Guiria, Venezuela.

There are reports that at least 3 fisherman have died when they ran into the areas where this thick oil was floating on the surface and there outboards conked out leaving them to drift and die.


Also oil-covered leather back turtles have washed up dead, claimed Fishermen and Friends of the Sea (FFOS) secretary Gary Aboud.

The dead turtles have also been confirmed by Papa Bois Conservation, an environmental group.

Displaying photographs of the dead turtles, Aboud said FFOS' sources in Venezuela have confirmed that over 50 large marine turtles have washed ashore dead since the heavy bunker fuel oil has contaminated Venezuela's coastal communities.

BACK IN CLARKS COURT BAY AND CATCHING UP WITH THE GOSSIP

The large catamaran we saw in Charlston harbor partially sunk and beached on the southern side turns out to have been a skippered charter boat which had taken a mooring possibly one laid for the Moorings boats. The mooring failed during the night and the boat drifted onto the reef. The story I hear has the female skipper turning off the drag alarm to avoid annoying the guests. The catamaran was worth 1.7 M US dollars, the wreck was sold for 1 $. The skipper is no longer with the charter company.

The Flying Buzzard is up in Canouan working on removing the wreck from the beach possibly by effecting temporary repairs to the hull[s], pumping it out and towing it south to Grenada. If not I guess a chain saw will be used. The mast sails furling gear winches and anchor windlass must be worth 50 k. or more.

DODGY MOORINGS

I am amazed at how many people use the moorings on offer in the Caribbean usually without any form of visual inspection or pull test in reverse.

Failed rope pennant

Failed chain

Shackle about to fail.

If you were to dive on some locally laid moorings this is what you would find at the bottom.








BOTTLE ART

DIZZY

KILROY WOZ HERE pose.







Grenada police carried out a surprise program stopping drivers of cars and motorcycles to check if they held valid Grenadian driving licenses and valid local insurance. Unlike most countries Grenada does not allow you to drive on you country of origin licence, you have to go to the police station and get a temporary Grenadian license. Apparently many students were caught without the correct documentation.

NOW WE ARE 6 WELL 69 with 70 LOOMING UP ON THE HORIZON

I must remember to get my licence renewed HO HUM.