Grenada 7 February 2024
When in port there are various jobs that need doing and it is the obvious place to get on with them if you have time. We woke to a nice day but the music in the night had been quite loud and disturbing. Marinas are often in the centre of towns and bars and restaurants are often nearby. We made up for it with some bacon and eggs but did not have enough eggs left that we had bought in Barbados – in writing this, it seems such a long time ago. We did, however, have some left from the Canaries – but there were not good so we decided not to risk it.
The heads (toilet) next to the bunk room had been playing up as when we are in port or an area of beauty we use our header tanks. In other words instead of going straight out into the sea it goes into a tank which we then empty out at sea. The issue was that the pressure from the tank was backing up a bit. I decided that I needed to get someone to look at it and spoke to the marina office. I suspected the issue was the joker valve which is a non-return valve and I had some spares. I thought about doing it myself but I am glad I did not. A man called Patrick came and he took the heads and everything apart. The joker valve and a lot of bits were coked up with calcium. It was a horrible job and once cleaned and with the new valve all was working again. We rely on the heads so much and when they do not work well -its awful. It is probably the worst job on any sailboat if the heads go wrong especially if you have to repair whilst on passage. Patrick was an interesting guy who lives on a boat and he had scars on his chest and arms as if he had been in a knife fight. He told a story about how he escaped death in Venezuela. He also said that there are larger joker valves which you can put in the pipes from the tanks which will mean it will never back up. I thought it may be good to get that done for all three heads.
A man also came to look at the bow rollers for the anchor. Despite Peter’s best attempt to resolve this before it needed filing down and resolving and he took the roller away to do this and will return tomorrow. By the time we had cleared up after Patrick it was lunchtime. Stig, Cari and Simon had gone into town to look around and they had returned to the Knife & Fork restaurant/bar in the marina. It was Independence Day in Grenada and everyone was wearing the Grenadian colours of red, green and yellow. They had visited the Grenadian history museum, the chocolate museum and the Carenage area. They also went to the spice market where they said the smells were amazing. Grenada is known as the Island of Spice.
This sightseeing meant that Stig and Cari were too hot and so they went for a swim. Simon, David and I had a snack at the Knife & Fork. We were meeting up with Keith Watson (Ian’s brother) and his family in the evening so we relaxed in the afternoon and I read my book for the first time in weeks!.
We got ready early evening and met up with Carolyn and Joyce who had arranged a taxi to take us to the restaurant which was about 30 minutes in the south of the Island called La Sagesse. It was interesting seeing some of the Island with its pretty houses dotted around with lush green vegetation. The houses, and telegraph poles were decorated with the Grendian colours and they had painted the edge of the pavements or roadside edges in black and white – a bit like a racetrack. It was certainly very verdant and lush.
La Sagesse was a lovely setting on its own beach with palm trees and you literally sat looking almost at eye level of the waves crashing on to the sand. Then everyone arrived, Ian was there with his wife Hillary and it was good to meet her as we have heard a lot about her in the last month or so. Keith (Watson) was there with his wife Fiona and it was also good to meet her. Their two sons were there, one of whom had two children and their daughter was there with her fiancé – so we were quite a crowd. The 17 of us sat down and we had a great evening and a nice meal with lots of laughter and chat. Stormbird and my trip was the catalyst for this and as time goes on its brings a number of people together and meaning people are travelling to parts of the world where they have never been. That feels quite good.
We returned to Stormbird having had a good and satisfying day. Carolyn and Joyce join the boat tomorrow.
The blog will continue as we explore the Caribbean further and beyond.
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