Idle Time

We enjoyed all the Independence Day celebrations!

After independence in 1974 Eric Gairy was the elected Prime Minister but he was overthrown in a (largely) bloodless coop in 1979 led by socialist leaning Maurice Bishop.  Lots of people liked Bishop and he led the country for 4 or 5 years while Gairy was in exile in the US.  Bishop accepted help from Cuba and Russia but tried not to align himself with them completely - probably not wanting to piss off others in the region.

Bishop's vice president was much more leftish and eventually overthrew Bishop's government in a very bloody coop in 1983.  Then Ronald Reagan and Clint Eastwood (Heartbreak Ridge) stormed in to rescue American medical students who were "being held hostage."  There were 3-way hostilities between the Grenadian troops, the Cuban troops and the US troops.

We all know how that ended and now Clint Eastwood is the Prime Minister of Grenada.  We might have a couple of things wrong in there but most of it is almost right.

Wave Knight of London - British presence at the ceremonies

the Navy

the Army

the Girl Guides

the Queens guard - all celebrating the 40th anniversary of Independence

Celebrating 2-for-1 Happy Hour

Cow Heel Soup - again!!!

Don and Pat spent their last evening in a room at the marina to avoid waking us up at 4 AM to catch their early flight out.  Very nice.  Pam and Glen had every intention of getting up and waving them off but that just didn't happen.

We've been on idle... sleeping, reading, chatting with folks and doing boat chores.

Fixed the pull cord on the generator!  Cleaned the guck out of the strainer that chokes off water for the main engine and more importantly, the air conditioning.  Changed the oil, even though it has only been 63 hours since the last change.  Thinking about doing some varnishing... that was really tiring.

When it was time to leave for a little holiday to Carriacou the engine was definitely unhappy and so after a 5 minute motor we anchored outside St. Georges so Glen could enjoy pretending to be a diesel mechanic.  We think we didn't get the strainer back together properly and changed the impeller for good measure.  Our impeller fins don't all point the same way.  Not sure what's going on there.  Need expert advice.  Glen did enjoy pulling off all the hoses from the strainer to the engine and blowing through them to make sure they were clear.

We had a great sail the length of Grenada but when we turned northeast to Carriacou we were pointing so close to the wind that it was motor sail or risk Pam calling our boat broker.  Diesel mechanic Glen appears to have fixed our problem because Yan Diesel performed wonderfully for 3 hours as we plowed up to Carriacou.

We are here for a few days and then will head back down to Grenada.  We are headed home for a couple of weeks.  Very excited about seeing our kids and grandkids.

Rum bottles come in handy when sewing

new cover

for new gas can

important conversations with Gary walking about Carriacou

pastoral scene on Carriacou

more important conversations

looking south from the ruins of an old French resort

see the Lion Fish by the chain from Gary's mooring?