On the hard

Well, Dear Reader…

We said good bye to Eric and Pat from Cutter Loose, a beautiful Island Packet 460 as they helped us cast off for our 45 minute roller coaster ride from Le Phare Bleu Marina to Grenada Marine in St. Davids.  We really enjoyed getting to know them a little bit and we are looking forward to stalking them next year.

The fearless crews of Cutter Loose and Blue Pearl - connoisseurs of fine boats!

Without any canvas to protect us we were drenched in minutes as Blue Pearl plunged into the huge waves that smacked us in the face every 2 or 3 seconds.  Note to selves... maybe next year we will take the dodger down AFTER we get to Grenada Marine!!!

It was ONLY 45 minutes so not too bad and we hooked up to a mooring ball to await our haulout.  Got a few more odd jobs done and then quick as a wink we were out.  It wasn't pretty backing Blue Pearl into the haulout slip but like the pilots say, "Any landing you can walk away from was a good one".

Got the boat out and into slings and then, what do you know... time for a meeting of all the boatyard crew and then lunch.  So after 3 hours sitting in the slings we finally put Blue Pearl down into her new spot.

In the slip, waiting for the big guy

OK - we're ready!

Careful... don't drop us

OK, that's going to need some work

Nothing else to do while we are waiting for the meeting to end

Yesterday we moved off Blue Pearl and into the Gems Beach Resort in Morne Rouge Bay.  Not your top of the line 5 star resort but it will do us just fine.  We have a little living room, kitchen, boudoir and bathroom.  We will be here until some nasty hour of the morning on Monday when we leave to catch our 7:30 AM flight to Miami.

Is it still rocking?

Got an email from Chris on Troubadour that they would be in Secret Harbour Marina for fish and chips so we roared off in our rental car, careering around traffic circles, past stopped buses, up hills, around crazy corners and potholes and with Navigator Pam barking out orders, we arrived in minutes at the Marina.  We had a nice evening with Chris and Linda from Troubadour and Patrick and Lucy from Illusions but we were so tired that we made it an early evening.  Good news... the beds at Gems Beach Resort are very comfortable.

We got up this morning and drove to Grenada Marine… about 5 miles from here but the roads are crazy and it turns into a rally in the country… and about half an hour.

Pam did some final fridge cleanup, moved crap around so the marine surveyor can find his way around the engine, transmission and prop shaft.  She puttered around with cable ties so everything is neat and tidy and bundled.  Glen cleaned the propeller, put on a new zinc, stowed lines, fenders and fiddled around with the dingy davits.

We had lunch at the marina to give us a little time to ponder whether we were done.  Went back and emptied the water from our water tank… did a final walk-through and a final-walk about… and then we left.

Ahh, that looks better

So naked!

Bye... see you soon!

Next year Glen might get some of his disreputable friends to help put the boat in the water in late November.  Not sure how well that will work without Pam to supervise and second guess Glen’s bad decisions.  Pam will come down a little later.

When we retired we had ambitions of spending 6 months down here avoiding Vancouver’s crappy winter weather but we are finding that we need to spend more time at home with our little grandchildren.  Didn’t factor that into the dream retirement, did we?  Did not see that coming.

So maybe a shortened year next year?  Even 3 or 4 months cruising in the Caribbean is sublime.  And who knows, maybe Glen and his fearless crew of miscreants might get as far north as Antigua before Pam joins the ride.

It’s a mystery!!! Fun to think about.

Excuse me... will you be using that parking spot much longer?