Happy November

Blue Sky's Voyage
George & Michael
Thu 1 Nov 2007 20:32
Dear Friends                            "12:18.8N 61:35.3W"
 
Well, we don't have to much to report as October has been pretty quiet. But we're starting to get emails asking if we're OK, so here's a quick blog.
 
Haulout
 
We spent a comfortable week in Lance Epines Cottages (recommended for land side holiday) while the yacht was hauled out for a decent antifoul. We were right on the beach and this is the nearest tree to our cottage...
 
 
The yard, Spice Island Marine in Grenada, did what looks like a good job on a new antifoul and we were back in the water on schedule on 5 October with a nice clean bottom.
 
 
Jules
 
Our friend Jules arrived from Australia for a long weekend in mid October, stopping in Grenada en route between New York and London. This showed real dedication to sailing (and I guess catching up with us) but sadly Jules was rewarded with the wettest week of weather since we arrived in the Caribbean. It is the rainy season at the moment and it certainly was in mid October.
 
We took Jules up to Carriacou for the weekend and took a day trip to the Tobago Cays on the Sunday. We were determined to do the whole Cays thing, so we anchored for lunch and went snorkelling, but the water was a little on the rough side and the light was poor for snorkelling. En route we had some pretty vigorous sailing with squalls to 35 knots. Better luck next time Jules !
 
Jules very kindly procured an (Olympus 770) underwater camera whilst in New York so we were determined to test it out and the following weekend we went up to Ronde Island between Grenada and Carriacou. We anchored in Corn Store Bay, just near the undersea volcano, Kick em Jenny, which thankfully is quiet at present. The snorkelling was quite good though the light was again poor
 
Here is a pic of George heading towards a large brain coral with 'sergeant major' superimposed in top right and 'trunkfish' (a weird thing which blows seawater at the bottom to disturb food) in bottom left.
 
 
So you get the idea, but the light was not good and we hope to generate a lot more Oohs and Aahs in the future!
 
Cabin Boy
 
Our other idea was to take a crew with us for a while to help with chores and also be company and another pair of eyes on watch. We'd agreed to take James, 24 from North Carolina and he arrived last night........ sadly with a passport which looked like it had been stone washed a hundred times and was in tatters. The Grenadian immigration authorities were justifiably not impressed, so sadly he spent the night in their care and was headed back north at American Airlines expense first thing this morning. Moral of the story - this is the twenty first century, so look after your passport! So at the moment, we're free if anyone wants to be Cabin Boy for a while as we head north through the islands over the next few months.
 
November
 
Next week we welcome Andy (Summer 05 and Plymouth to Palma) to Grenada. He would make a great Cabin Boy but he's progressed far beyond that now, so we've introduced him to Sally our friend on a similar yacht and he's starting a new job as skipper in ten days time.
 
That's about it for now, hopefully we'll take some better fish and coral photos to entertain you with next time.
 
Best Wishes
 
George & Michael