Living the Dream!

Living the Dream!

Tuesday 4th - Thursday 6th June 2024

The haul out went well and Cotinga is safely parked in Clarkes Court Boatyard, Grenada. We completed the first half of our two year plan! She is  resting on her keel with an additional seven jack stands supporting her. We also chose to pay extra for a hurricane cradle, which is an additional rigid steel support with four arms that should keep Cotinga upright should there be storm conditions.  Finally there are four heavy duty tie down straps, each attached to a huge concrete block. The staff at the boatyard are highly professional and my only reservation about the situation is that we are only about 8 feet above water level in the event of a large storm surge.

On Tuesday afternoon we moved in to an air conditioned apartment for three nights, which happens to be right next to the boat. We have been sweating our brains out, working through a long list of projects in high temperatures (~86 oF / 30 oC) and high humidity, and it has been a blessing to be able to return to a cool room and shower. As well as preparing to leave the boat for five months, we have also been trying to ensure that everything is ready for when we return in November. Essentially we have crammed in all our off-season boat jobs into a few days. We have spent hours cleaning and tidying inside the boat, removing all perishable food, boxing or double bagging staples like rice or pasta that we hope will be okay. We have bleached and drained the water tanks; the diesel tanks are full and treated with biocide. The engine has been flushed with fresh water, the batteries have been charged to max capacity with our portable generator and the dinghy is strapped down on the foredeck under a tarpaulin. But the biggest and messiest job by far has been working on the undersides of the boat. 

Cotinga looked like she was growing a beard when she emerged from the water. A thorough power wash removed most of that growth, and on closer inspection most of the antifouling has held up well. The exceptions are the areas where the “electrolysis” caused the antifouling to burn off. Although there aren’t lots of barnacles, these areas are pretty rough. The latest theory is that inadequate priming around metal fittings in the hull (grounding plate, zinc attachment point, rudder skeg, prop-shaft housing and keel bulb) and direct contact with copper containing antifouling paint is the source of an electrochemical reaction that causes this “haloing”. What we have done is sand and wire brushed the areas immediately around the metal fittings to remove the antifouling, and then applied two coats of underwater primer (Primekot). We also wimped out and hired a local sub-contractor to machine sand the rough areas, lightly sand the rest, and apply fresh bottom paint. He will also clean and polish the topsides for us, all whilst we are away. We try and do as much work as we can ourselves, but this seems like money well spent. We did clean and service the Max-Prop propeller and that looks good.

By the time we finished yesterday evening we looked like a couple of bedraggled survivors rescued from an oil slick … soaking wet and absolutely filthy. Unfortunately, I didn’t get a photo. It was at this point that Gloria uttered the words “Living the Dream”. We do think that anybody who is contemplating a cruising lifestyle should spend a week working on a boat before they buy one … unless they are super rich and can hire others to do all the dirty work. But where is the fun in that! Our thoughts over the past week or two have been dominated by all the jobs we have been working on, so it’s a good time to reflect on the past 8 months and the experience as a whole.

I think we both feel that this has been a fantastic trip; more enjoyable than our 2017-8 journey to the Caribbean. Some of that is undoubtedly due to the impact of the loss Gloria’s parents in January of 2018, but we also think that the two-year plan has allowed us to travel more slowly and enjoy the places we have visited. We have been to some wonderful places, walked on pristine sandy beaches, swam with turtles, enjoyed some incredible snorkeling in crystal clear water and witnessed countless sunsets with cocktails on deck. The tropical rainforests and waterfalls, along with some of the hiking we have done on the islands, have been amazing. As ever, it has been great to have friends and family come and stay with us, and we have also met many wonderful people along the way. It’s also worth noting that we have done some really fine sailing since we have been down in the Caribbean, although our journey down was a bit lacking in wind for much of the time. Cotinga has mostly worked well - she truly is a fine boat and our confidence in her makes a difference. We did have a seam rip on the mainsail and I broke the oven, but other than that (and the dreaded electrolysis) everything has worked well. I am particularly happy with the combination of cell phone and Iridium Go satellite system for communications. That combined with the Predict Wind weather tools and forecasts from Chris Parker have provided us with excellent weather and routing information, albeit at a cost ($). We had a few bumpy passages and some uncomfortable, rolly anchorages, but overall I think we have been fortunate to have had great weather. In the past few weeks it has become a little too hot and humid for our taste, so it will be nice to take a break and enjoy the summer and autumn at home. 

This voyage has been an incredible experience that we will never forget. We recognize that the blog is primarily for our own benefit, as it creates a diary of our travels that we can go back and revisit in the future, filling in our memories of what we did and how we felt at the time. Thanks for reading and sharing our adventures with us. We hope you have enjoyed what we have posted so far and if you have suggestions of what you would like cover in the future then please let us know. 

At this point we will sign off for a few months and resume our blog in the middle of November when we return for the second year of our big adventure. 

Launch date: 14 Nov 2024

Mike

Cotinga is raised out of the water using a huge travel lift. this is the only boatyard we have ever been to that puts a diver in the water to ensure the slings are in the correct place (and not for example wrapped around the propeller)

The travel lift lowers Cotinga and she is temporarily blocked up on stands for power washing

The diver does double duty power washing ... well he is already wet!

A separate tractor trailer picks up Cotinga and drives her to the space where she will be stored. The boats are packed incredibly tight and I had to go up a ladder and remove our davits before this process could be completed.

A view of the jack-stands (green) and the heavy duty hurricane cradle, which is T-shaped with supports at the front and stern. At Nanny Cay in Tortola in 2017 I saw rows of boats that had blown over like skittles and the jack-stands punched through the hull. The hurricane cradle should help to avoid that

Looking back towards the keel - you can see the structure of the hurricane cradle and the silver Primer paint on the bulb

A view from the bow with our dinghy tied down under a trap on the foredeck. Three boats are within 3 feet of Cotinga at the stern. The bow of one is just 6 inches away from the rail of Cotinga.

I love taking abstract photos around boatyards. I finally got a quiet hour this afternoon and had fun with my camera. This image was created as a panorama from 5 separate pictures, each of which generated using focus stacking of a separate set of images, all taken with a 105 mm micro lens and a tripod. 

This image is also a 3 - photo vertical panorama of a rudder assembly

This photo of the same vessel as above, was generated from a 30-photo focus stacked set, in order to generate a sharp image across a wide depth of field

A bow thruster (or as we like to refer to them - a "bow cheater") that allows you to push the bow of the boat sideways. It helps a lot with docking ... but we do not have one!

Hull lines

Penultimate Blog Post

Penultimate Blog Post

Sunday 2^nd and Monday 3^rd June, 2024

After coffee on Sunday, we set to work.  Taking advantage of the lighter morning winds, we unfurled the genoa and dropped it to the deck.  That portion went reasonably well, with only the last few feet binding up it the foil.  Once the sail was on deck, things got more interesting.  Our genoa is a pretty large sail and the foredeck area is not huge.  Somehow we managed to wrangle the sail into some kind of folds and then rolled it up.  The result didn’t exactly fit in the sail bag.  We had to find a large plastic bag to cover the end sticking out of the bag!  The plan was to flake it properly once we were on the dock.

As a reward, we went to Le Phare Bleu resort/marina for lunch.  The resort is located in a lovely spot with attractively landscaped grounds.  The restaurant was open air with a large covered patio.  We sat at table by the water.  Shade and breeze—wonderful.  After lunch we wanted to walk around the resort but the combination of sun and humidity was too overwhelming.  We took a dinghy ride over to Clarkes Court to scope out the dock situation.  As we set out back to Cotinga, we could see some dark clouds approaching.  The heavens opened before we reached the big boat.  By the time we were back aboard, we were totally soaked and the rain had stopped. Dry clothes were required.

Today there were more jobs to be accomplished.  First up was to run fresh water through the outboard.  To do this Mike removed the “dolphins” so the bottom of the engine (especially the water inlet) could fit into a bucket.  The engine was started and allowed to run until it ran out of the fuel in the carburetor.  Then came the tricky job of getting the outboard off the rail and below for storage.  We took down the bimini and the dodger and brought the genaker below.  The aft cabin has taken on the aspect of a storage locker. 

In the early afternoon, it was time to motor over to Clarkes Court.  As we had some 200ft of scope out, getting the anchor up turned into a bigger than usual project.  Somehow, while bringing up the last bit of chain, I stepped on the wrong button for the windlass.  A large quantity of chain was spewed onto the deck.  When I tried to bring in that excess, the chain kinked and jammed the windlass.  Mike went forward while I took over steering.  There was a lot of cursing and racing back and forth for additional tools.  I felt mortified.  I have successfully hoisted the anchor dozens of times on this trip.  Why did I have to mess up so completely on nearly the last day?  Perhaps it was Murphy’s Law at work. *

The docking went super smoothly.  The dock master came to help us with lines. We were soon congratulating ourselves.  We scurried off the boat to take our washing to the laundry.  We walked around the marina and got hold of the shower codes. All too soon, though, we had to tackle the mainsail.  We managed to disconnect all the attachments and reefing lines.  By tying the sail up in a bundle, we were able to get it off the boat onto the finger pier.  The flaking of the sail was troublesome.  The trade winds were not doing us any favors.  Eventually, we managed to get the sail into the bag and below.  Then the genoa had to come off and be folded properly.  Luckily we got this completed before the squall blew in.  

I had a quick peak at the “better living” spreadsheet.  There’s plenty left to do over the next couple of days. We’ll face that tomorrow.  

Gloria  

* It was pretty bouncy up on the bow when Gloria was pulling in the anchor and it's easy to imagine how one might accidentally step on the deck button. It wasn’t too hard to free the anchor chain from the windlass. I just needed to use the windlass winch handle to loosen the top plate holding the “gypsy” down (that’s the drum with grove for the chain links) and the chain came free. It was quite satisfying to learn something new, just a bit stressful with the anchor hanging off the bow and a docking imminent!  

Mike

Lunch at Le Phare Blue 

My jerk chicken tacos - totally outstanding!

A water lily on the grounds of the resort / marina

A traveler palm - on eof my favorite plants

The sky on Sunday evening was spectacular

 

Stupidity Squared

Stupidity Squared

Friday 31st may - Saturday 1st June, 2024

Our “bridle” seems to be doing a remarkably good job of holding Cotinga into the swells. However, it wasn’t enough to stop me getting seasick whilst I was in the dinghy trying to clean the waterline of the copious seaweed that seems to be growing there. I’ve always found this job to be a bit nauseating, even when I’m swimming in the water beside the boat, but by the time I had finished the starboard side I was feeling distinctly crummy. I now plan to clean the port side whilst on land! We decided to go shore and have lunch, which was a really good idea. I had blackened marlin with rice / vegetables and a side salad, which was excellent. Gloria had a ham and cheese panini that was a little lacking. Anyway, feeling much better, we spent the afternoon walking to the point of land at the south east side of the harbor. It was fun, relaxing and barely qualified as one of “Mike’s hikes”.

We pulled up anchor after breakfast this morning (Saturday) and started the final section of our journey to Clarkes Court Bay, where we will haul out on Tuesday. Yesterday Tasha referred to this as our “final resting place” … let’s hope not! Once out of Prickly Bay it was only 2 miles until we turned north into the Bay, but it was rough going. We were met by steep, short period waves and it was very bumpy. Needless to say, we made it safely and dropped anchor in a beautiful location just to the south of Petit Calivigny Point. The water is deep (35-40 feet) and we are expecting squalls over the next day or two, so we wanted to put out a 5:1 scope. For the first time in our cruising lives we used all of our chain (we think 150 ft) and about 50 feet of the 5/8 inch line that is spliced directly onto the chain. We were keen to see how the windlass would handle the line and transition between chain and line, and it turned out to work just fine. We attached a snubber to the line using a rolling hitch, which allowed us to take the tension of the windlass and connect the main anchor line to a cleat. But before I get too cocky about how well this went, read on …

Once settled, we got stuck right in to boat jobs. Gloria cleaning the aft (guest) cabin, whilst I tackled an oil change on our Yanmar engine. I started out thinking we should just change the oil, but after reading the recommended maintenance periods in the manual, I decided to replace the oil filter as well … and then figured whilst I’m at it, I may as well also replace the diesel fuel filter and water separator. It seemed to go well and towards the end of this project I boasted to Gloria that I had become so much better at these tasks over the years; less mess, fewer problems. I was on the last step, tightening up the new fuel filter, when I noticed the label on it said “oil filter”. “Oh no … you have got to be f….ing kidding me”. I realized this meant I must have replaced the old oil filter with a fuel filter. I had previously retrieved one of each sort of filter from our engine supply stash, and had inadvertently mixed up the two. 

In my defense I would like to argue that they do look remarkably alike; but the prosecution would point out that they are in fact clearly labeled “fuel filter” or “oil filter”, and that the overwhelming evidence proves that I am actually an idiot. How stupid can you get? Well apparently, even more so! Obviously I needed to put the correct filters in their place. However, I figured I had to drain the oil again, before removing the incorrect oil filter, or oil would spill everywhere. So that’s what I did, only to realize that there was no oil in the incorrect filter because I never turned the engine on and all the oil was in the sump. I wasted one oil filter, one fuel filter and 1 gallon of oil. Stupidity squared. Anyway, thanks goodness I spotted the mistake - that could have become really ugly. On the positive side our fuel system is looking clean and dry, a stark contrast to our experience in 2017-8. And there’s that cockiness again …! 

Mike

12 00.065 N; 61 43.649 W

The rocky south coast of Grenada, looking west from the point of land off Prickly Bay

From the same point looking east

A beautiful Frangipani tree. We had one of these plants in our conservatory in England ... it never had any flowers and most of the time it had no leaves; it resembled a the wooden handle of a broom!

The oil filter (bottom left) and fuel filter (top right) after the replacement saga

The water separators (Racor filters) in the fuel lines. Note we have two in parallel and can switch from one to other by turning the lever. The manifold on the left has the selector switch for diesel - main or forward tank, as well as the selector for diesel return. Did you know that a typical diesel engine uses only ~10% of the fuel that is pumped into the engine and returns ~90% to the tank?

Prickly Bay

Prickly Bay

Wednesday 29^th and Thursday 30^th  May, 2024

Early on Wednesday, we motored round from True Blue Bay to Prickly Bay.  There are a lot of boats in this bay both anchored and moored.  It took us a while to find a spot to anchor.  It may be the case that some people stay on their boats through the hurricane season in these bays on the south coast of Grenada.  There is a marina and boatyard here, so maybe some folks are awaiting haul out.  

After spending some effort on cleaning and polishing (Stainless), we went ashore to Budget Marine.  Here we acquired the bottom paint for the boat and a few painting supplies.  Much to our surprise, there was a big sign indicating that the store would be closed for the next four days.  It seems that May 30^th is a holiday.  The next two days are stock-taking, followed by Sunday when it’s always closed.  It’s a very lucky thing that we didn’t delay going to shore!

Today we woke to rain and squalls.  The swell was rolling the boat substantially. I was starting to feel unwell.  Mike decided that we should try the swell bridle.  (More about that below.) Between the bridle and the seasick meds, I started to feel better.  None of this was helped by having to keep the boat mostly closed on account of the rain.  I found myself wondering why the conditions had to be so difficult in our last week.  Perhaps it was only to be expected with the increasing heat and humidity of hurricane season.

After lunch, we took a walk to the supermarket. The reason we went to the Ram’s supermarket was to evaluate the potential for re-provisioning in November.  It really was a pretty special market. While we don’t need much in the way of food, we did manage to buy quite a few things.  We got some fruit and fresh milk! It looks like muesli for breakfast tomorrow.     

Gloria 

11 59.942 N, 61 45.775 W

The swell bridle

The wind blows mostly from the east in theses part of the world (NE-E-SE) and Prickly Bay faces south, so we are well protected from the wind and wind-driven waves, but the ocean swells are diffracted around the point and roll into the Bay. So when anchored the boat points into the wind (~East) and the swells (~South) hit you from the side. The result is that the boat starts rolling, sometimes gently, but at other times quite violently. Picture a metronome … By attaching a line to the anchor chain and feeding it back to the stern, it’s possible to turn the boat to face the swells and be side on to the wind. This is a bridle (see picture below). In this configuration the swells are hardly noticeable and it is an order of magnitude more comfortable. 

Mike

p.s We are so happy this evening ... 34:0 ... you know what I'm saying!

Hopefully this drawing illustrates how the bridle turns the boat at anchor towards the swells, where they have much less impact.

There is a ton of moisture in the Caribbean at the minute, which is causing some heavy squalls. In this picture you can see Cotinga is pointed towards the Bay entrance (and the swells) whereas most of the other boats are pointing to the shore (and the wind)

We were hit by a squall with heavy rain and winds that briefly approached 30 knots. The smaller yacht in this photo dragged and came very close to the larger yacht. The latter was on a "bridle", facing ~ 90 degrees to the other vessel, and by releasing the stern line was able to swing out of the way and avoid contact. 

Better Living through Spreadsheets

Better Living through Spreadsheets

Monday 27th - Tuesday 28th May, 2024

As we enter the final week of our journey south, we have tried to get a handle on the jobs we need to complete before we haul out, and the two days we have on “the hard” before flying home. Being nerds by nature (and proud of it) we have naturally turned to a spreadsheet to help our planning. I’d like to say it was an Excel spreadsheet, which is the best, but sadly we are making do with the lame “numbers” spreadsheet that my Mac provides. The jobs that we have to do are many and varied, and range from routine engine maintenance, to laundry, to hurricane preparation. Having visited Clark’s Court in our hire car we know there is a laundry there, so we intend to wash not only our dirty clothes and bedding, but also the fleeces we use to cover our cabin cushions, and the quilted floor mats. Despite our best efforts everything is now salty. However, we couldn’t wait until next week for clean clothes so early on Monday morning we dropped a load of laundry off at the Port Louis Marina laundry, which like most laundries in the Caribbean is full-service facility. You get your clothes back washed, dried and folded neatly in your bag, and pay based on weight. Eureka: I never understood why anyone would wear thong underwear, but now I see the advantage … so much lighter and cheaper to wash! But I digress.

We are working our way through a lot of boat polishing and cleaning, but we did take time out on Monday evening to meet up with a couple of friends, Paul and Tracey on Magic Pelagic, for drinks and dinner at Sails restaurant. Paul and Tracey come from Merseyside (the area I grew up in) and are a lot of fun.

This morning we dropped the mooring in St George’s Bay and motored around the south west tip of Grenada and onto the south coast. This area has several inlets that are a popular destination for cruisers, particularly those hanging out through hurricane season. However, these bays are subject to swells that wrap around from the east / south-east and the anchorages are notorious for swell induced rolliing. We pulled into True Blue Bay with some trepidation and anchored in the south east corner, somewhat protected by a rocky outcrop. It’s a little bouncy but not too terrible so far. Once we arrived here our first job was to decommission the water maker. Our water tanks are full (120 gallons) and we have a couple of extra jerry cans as well. This would normally last us three weeks or so, but with all the cleaning we have to do we expect to increase our usage, but we figure we now have enough. The “pickling” process for the water maker involved replacing the salt water filter (so it’s fresh and ready to go in November), then pumping through about 5 gallons of fresh water and then circulating 1 gallon of storage solution (primarily sodium metabisulfite). It felt good to tick that off the list (actually now highlighted in blue on the spreadsheet … color coding is important!). In the meantime, Gloria has been cleaning out lockers and storage areas … a huge job. We also topped up our diesel tanks and added some extra stabilizer. Better to leave them full rather than empty. 

We managed to take a brief trip to shore and wandered around a little. It was nice to stretch our legs and see something of the local area. We were excited to find a store selling home-made ice cream, but honestly it was so sweet it was almost inedible. 

Over the next few days we plan to check out a number of the bays and anchorages as we make our way over to Clark’s Court Boatyard.

Mike

11 59.736 N; 61 46.107 W

I haven't taken any photos the last two days, but this is an image that I generated using three shots of a girl jumping into Annandale pool (taken in rapid succession), amalgamated in Photoshop

The magic of waterfalls

The magic of waterfalls

Saturday 25^th and Sunday 26^th May, 2024

On Saturday, our plan was to drive to Budget Marine in Prickly Bay, followed by a visit to the Grenada Dove sanctuary and finally a Palm Gardens.  We selected a bottom paint requiring little surface work and compatible with what is on the boat.  However, we didn’t purchase the paint because we needed to register the boat to avoid a 40% surcharge and we didn’t have all our boat documents with us.  The extra cost seemed totally unthinkable.

We arrived at the Dove Sanctuary and were surprised to find the sign fallen over, no attendant, no map, etc. Let me first tell you that the Grenada Dove is the national bird, think Bald Eagle. Somehow I was expected a more serious attempt at preserving this species. According to some accounts on the web, there may only be 100 birds left.  We followed a trail wandering through some very dry forest.  No doves were spotted or heard.  We did see many mockingbirds and one mangrove cuckoo up close.  

As the dove reserve was near Clarkes Court, where we will haul out shortly, we drove over there.  It’s a large boat yard and marina, but the office was closed until Monday. We walked around, checked out the laundry and the chandlery, and went in search  of“hurricane crates”. We have signed up to have one installed around Cotinga and believe that they are a metal frame designed to stop the boat being blown over in storm force winds. However, “hurricane crates” seemed be as elusive as the Grenada doves. We didn’t see a single one and got completely overheated in the process.  We resorted to cool drinks at the restaurant.

Sadly, we never got to the Palm Gardens.  To our amazement, these botanical gardens closed at noon on Saturdays.  Instead, we set off in search of the Mount Carmel waterfall. Upon asking for the location of the falls, we were “adopted” by a guy who insisted on “guiding” us to the falls.  Sometimes there is no graceful away to get out of these situations!  There were a series of pools and several families with young children, enjoying the water.  Strangely enough, we had no trouble finding our way back, even though our guide had taken off once we paid him.  

We did get fairly overheated climbing back to the car. Rather than carry on north, we traveled along the south coast visiting a few peninsulas with fancy “gated communities”.  We were very hot and tired by the time we got back to Cotinga.  A cold shower in the cockpit helped a lot.

On Sundays most things are closed in Grenada.  So our plan was to visit more waterfalls.  Not only are they scenic, but you get to cool off as well.  First up was Annandale Falls.  This site was a lot more commercialized than many.  A concrete walkway led to the falls area.  Some steps took you to a rocky area where you could enjoy the “waterfall massage” standing right under the downpour.  It was like the ultimate power shower, minus the soap.

Many groups of people were here.  The fearless children were diving and jumping from all sorts of platforms.  We had fun watching the show!  

Our second stop was at Concord Falls.  The drive to the falls followed the Concord River and revealed lush vegetation.  It was really beautiful. A short staircase led to the pool at the base of the falls.  Once again there were many families with youngsters. Most kids seemed to be intent on out-doing the next guy.  It was fun to watch and the water refreshed us adequately.  The drive back was enlivened by a pair of hitchhikers. They were standing by the road and waved to stop us.  They were an eleven year old called Peter and a twenty-five year old named (??). we had seen them at  the waterfall and they needed a lift back to St George’s, so we took them south along the coast road and dropped them on a steep road near the sports stadium.  The adult admitted to not liking to watch cricket.  That seemed like a confession that could be a bit controversial here in the West Indies! 

Gloria

The waterfalls were lovely, but what made them particularly special was seeing all the kids and families having such a great time. So rather than show pictures of the waterfalls themselves, these photos have been selected primarily to highlight the people. Sorry there are so many ... I took a lot of photos today and am struggling to decide which to include / exclude.

Our guide for the walk down to Mt. Carmel Falls

The wonderful shower experience at Annandale Falls

Kids jumping into the pool at Annandale Falls

Two divers as a lady enjoys the shower behind

A girls summersaults into the pool 

A young girl lounging on the rocks below Annandale Falls

Mother and daughter

Mother and baby

A man makes a huge jump (maybe 50 ft) into the pool below Annandale Falls (The jumpers have a tips box to make money)

A local jumper at Concord Falls

A little girl near Concord Falls

Mother and daughter in the pool below Concord Falls

A young girl watches her family in Concord Falls

A young boy makes the leap into Concord Falls (almost a landscape !)