..and finally Grenada

Blogger: John

So. We're here in Grenada - the final island of the year's journey and it feels like the end to me! Yesterday morning we sailed from Carriacou down the west coast of Grenada to Dragon Bay. Just 15 miles to go to our haulout base of Grenada Marine on 22nd June. [Sorry Les, it's Grenada for us, not Trinidad. Fingers crossed P survives the next few months].

When we left Kas in Turkey almost exactly a year ago we knew we were in for an adventure. But looking back over the last twelve months it's been just amazing. We've grown from one of the more adventurous boats in the eastern Med to newbies in the big league. Gibraltar was a real eye opener with sailors crossing over on amazing journeys in a collection of boats. Gradually we joined this group and with Jen and Marcus we had great crew on the Transatlantic crossing. It's not often you get to have a solid month with your 29 year old daughter (remember the Minkie whales Jen?). We were tired when we finally got across. Not just tired but weary to our bones and that took a while to wear off. Emma got the worst of it. Tired parents and windy and busy BVIs (sorry kid!) but we still had a great time especially in White Bay (where the big motor boat guests were paying 28,000 US dollars a week, the local resort charged 750 US for a night and our mooring buoy cost 20 US!). All told we've covered over 7,000 miles, met sailors from all over the world, learned to dive (sort of) and visited a string of islands that we only knew about from TV programmes. Who knew that Dominica is different from the Dominican Republic or that Kick Em Jenny is an underwater volcano that we sailed past yesterday? Who knew that the French islands are still departments(?) of France but that the UK just left it's former territories to their own devices? We learned you can reef sailing downwind, that we can anchor pretty well indefinitely with our low power consumption, that Turkish flour has weevils inside the sealing flaps of the paper bags and that West Indian rum tastes great but leaves me in a really bad mood next day.

Petronella has been a star. At 43 years old she's getting on a bit but apart from a bit of chaffing, a couple of broken blocks and a blocked diesel tank she's been less trouble than many of the newer boats we've met. No broken masts, no new engines or new propellers required. The generator and water maker have been fine because we don't have them. She does have a forest growing on her hull though and she must be a knot slower than when we left Turkey. But she got us here and when the wind and waves got up during that first week of the crossing we were glad to be in a heavy displacement boat who had seen it all before.

And then there's the friends we have made. Leaving Kas was a real wrench especially for Gill. Jeri and Curt, Zerrin and her other Turkish friends, all our marina friends and the marina staff. Many of them we may never see again. But we made new friends and reconnected with others all the way across. New friends from the Atlantic Crossing Group, several of whom are now crossing the Pacific. Pippy and Richard who ran the informal group of cruisers, mostly first time crossers each with their own set of concerns and of course Dilek the Turkish single hander. Jack and Fizzy, great friends on Carpe Diem, have been with us on and off since Turkey and since we arrived here in the Caribbean its been Dick and Mary on Alacazam, Rob and Carla on Moody Mistress and the circus troupe on Island Swift! And just yesterday Les and Gloria the previous owners of Petronella got back in touch with us again. [Apologies to all those I've left off the list].

Now we're off to the southern Grenada bays to prepare P for the hurricane months.

What an amazing year.