We are still at anchor in Grenada but will be returning home at Easter so we are now planning the decommissioning of Spindrift – and starting to think about what we need to do when we get back. Chris has already emailed business contacts to start to look for work and has a few appointments set up for April. This enthusiasm for work is largely driven by the hope that this will delay the need for painting windows, digging ditches, and all the other jobs that will be needed at home (but I’m sure it won’t!).

To decommission Spindrift there quite a few jobs that need to be done so we are moving into a marina very close to our current anchorage for the last week before she is lifted out of the water for storage ashore for probably the next 9 months. This includes extensive cleaning (deck, hull, equipment, bilges), storage of equipment, clothes, bedding, toys, etc and engine servicing, watermaker decommissioning and some repairs. This all takes a quite a while and usually only one of us can work as one needs to attend to Oliver. The marina has a very nice swimming pool and a little beach so it will be easy to take him ashore and occupy him while one of us gets on with the work.

The lift out is April 2nd and then we will have a couple of days in a hotel before returning. This allows Chris to finish any work that needs to be done after the lift and examine everything below the waterline. It also means that Lynn and Oliver don’t have to live on a boat whose deck is about 4 metres above the ground with access via a shaky ladder in a dusty boatyard. There will then be a few jobs to be done by the boatyard before we return – including a longer term solution to the steering problem (it is still all held together with a cable tie!) and cleaning below the waterline which is totally infested with all sorts of growth including barnacles and weed.