A Curtailed Season
- June 2017
In February, Rowena’s dear sister-in-law Louise died
suddenly and totally unexpectedly. We received the news in Bequia and sailed up
to Antigua to leave Galene in Jolly Harbour Marina while we flew back to the UK.
After a couple of months in England mainly with Rowena’s brother we returned to
Galene at the end of May.
It felt like we were visiting a holiday town out of season.
The marina was empty. Classics and Race week had been and gone, many of the
boats we knew were safely tucked away in the boatyard. Several of the bars and
restaurants were closed for the summer. There were just a few stragglers left.
This all added to our sense of desolation and we found it hard to get back into
normal cruising life.
Still the weather was pleasant, although we seem to have
plenty of rain. We had some work to do, repairing the boat and recommissioning
before we could head south for the ‘safe havens’ of Carriacou and Grenada.
 |
| A dolphin visited us early one morning, never saw it again though |
The first and most important job was to repair the engine
controls. The lever that controls the throttle and the gears was the first
project. It took a lot of effort to get the old stub off as many years of
corrosion was holding it in place. Eventually we had to cut it off the shaft.
Fortunately the splines were unharmed and the new lever installed.
Next on the list was the engine control panel. The original
panel had a ‘window’ with the warning lights behind it, the window no longer
was waterproof and water had got into the alarm module causing it to malfunction.
First we lost some of the lights then we lost the audible alarm. We were really
running blind with the engine.
Replacing this panel was not as difficult as had been
imagined as fortunately we have the engine wiring diagram so rewiring was a
fairly straightforward task. This time we have sealed around the panel so no
water should get in from the front to compromise the electrics behind. Still it
is not plain sailing just yet as we are not sure that the high temperature
alarm is working correctly (it doesn’t auto test). We have a new sensor but
fitting it is a little tricky. We will wait until we are down island and have
our tame engineer look at it for us.
The next big job was to get our wind speed indicator to work
again.
 |
| Skipper scratching his head while the crew decide what to do! |
It is at the top of the main mast! We decided Rowena would go up on the
Masta Clima and Richard would be on the winch with the safety line.
 |
| View towards the anchorage |
Great views
from up there so of course, I had to take some pictures.
 |
| Vuew from the top |
After spraying lots of
WD 40 it seemed to be going round again – hooray. I also took pictures of the
fittings in case it gives up again. The Richard will have to go up and remove
it and fit the new bearings.
 |
| Beautiful 'sausage tree' flowers on the way to the supermarket |
We spent a week unpacking and tidying things away. Putting
things back where they should be and generally getting ready to go sailing. We
deliberately left the boat empty of food and so every other day we were shopping
for something. There is now also a good Farmers Market at the marina on
Saturdays. I got nice little round squashes (a bit like Gem squashes ) and we
tried Cashew nut fruit – bit sour – but meant to be really good for you. I
think I will stick to the nuts.
 |
| So this is what Cashews look like! |
The local supermarket (Epicurean) sells Waitrose products
and we were recommended to try Waitrose own brand gin. Well we were very
pleasantly surprised. At less than EC$14 a litre (£4.30!) one could become a connoisseur!
They also sell Waitrose Portuguese rose wine at EC18 a bottle (£5.60) and local
rum at EC$26 a bottle, hum; we couldn’t work it out either! Suffice to say we
are stocked up on Gin and Rose wine!
 |
| Threatening sky with an empty anchorage |
Finally we got back
out to the anchorage. Much cooler than being in the marina, with a nice breeze
at night and no mosquitoes! 18 boats in the anchorage but many seemed
unoccupied. We had turtles to watch as well as the seabirds. Most interesting
was a Laughing Gull that visited us most nights. The lights from the cockpit
attract small fish which in turn are hunted by big Tarpon that come rushing up
from the bottom to catch them.
 |
| Laughing gull hunting at night |
The Gull was then swooping down and catching the
little fish from above – nowhere was safe for them! I have never seen a gull
fishing in the dark before.
In spite of our new ultrasonic antifoul there was quite a
lot of growth on the hull but we think less than we would have had without it.
 |
| The bottom after 8 weeks in the marina |
So we had an afternoon scraping and watching the little yellow tail snappers
and yellow fin tuna eating the tiny shrimps and other creatures we were
knocking off. When we got out we had hundreds of the little shrimps clinging to
us as well! Fortunately the fresh water in the shower gets them off quickly.
 |
| Providing linch for the yellow fin tuna |
We had two nice Wednesday afternoons at the Underdog Bar
where the Jolly Harbour Ukulele Band have a practice and jam session. Richard
had done a gig with them before he left.
 |
| De Underdog bar! |
It has been quite
windy so we are looking for the best day to cross to Guadeloupe. A good job we
waited as heading back to the boat from what was to be our last shopping trip the
dinghy just slowed down unexpectedly. We thought we had something around the
prop, nothing seemed amiss there, started up again plenty of engine revs but
the prop didn’t go any faster. We
puttered slowly back to the boat. It looks like we won’t be leaving until the
outboard is fixed now.
The outboard mechanic immediately diagnosed the problem; the
splines had worn out on the prop. It is a common occurrence. Fortunately Budget
marine are a Tohatsu agent and had a prop in stock. US$150 later we have a new
prop, Ivan the mechanic fitted it immediately for a modest EC$50. (US150 for a
prop you can see why we need the gin!)
 |
| Worn splines on the prop |
Still at least we are fully mobile
again.
At last we are ready to go. Guadeloupe here we come!
