Tuesday, November 3, 2009

Goodbye Grenada, Hello Caribbean Sea

Anchored outside St. Georges Harbor, Grenada


Had a very successful 15nm sail this morning west along the south coast, and then up the west coast of the island. All systems are G. The weather looks good for my 4 to 5 day run to St Thomas. The wind is forecast to be light at only 10 to 14 knots at the most. So Christa and I could be setting the drifter and wallowing on an oily sea. A potential hurricane is forming in the SW Caribbean, but steering currents forecast does not hint at a easterly move. Plenty of breathing room with that system.

Today has been a busy one with the early morning move, checking out with Customs, provisioning and now taking care of last minute computer work. I predict a very deep sleep tonight followed by a few days of great sailing. Wish me luck!

Capt Chris

Monday, November 2, 2009

Splash Splash!

On a Mooring St Davids Grenada

 Christa splashed this afternoon with little fanfare, but much joy for the skipper. All seems well with the boat. It is always somewhat nerve wracking to skedaddle below to make sure nothing is leaking to badly when she first immerses. The shaft packing gland was leaking, but is to be expected and should soak up water and swell up before two long. I did quick turn around the anchorage to make sure the engine was running in tip top form, and it was. So I snatched up a mooring. I am really pleased with how nice the hull came out with the acid wash, compound and wax job. Coupled with the new lettering, she really looks nice. I am very happy to be out of the yard. The mosquitos are unbelievable. If anyone would like to know my experiences with Grenada Marine and how that aspect played out, please email me and we can take if from there. No reason to bore everyone with those details.



Tomorrow I hope to make the short sail over to St Georges and raise sail, test the Monitor Wind Vane gear, navigation systems and all the other systems. Then if all goes well and I can get my shopping done and check out with Customs, I'll strive to leave on Wedsday. But not sure if I can scrunch all that in in one day. In terms of a weather window, the next week looks to be light winds, but enough to keep Christa moving along. In fact we've had a long stretch of light winds and this bodes well for a calm sea. The only thing to keep a weather eye for is possible hurricane activity in the far SW Caribbean, near Panama. Things are heating up a bit down that way, but in any event it doesn't look as if any storm would form and then swing back toward the Virgin Island. Although any hurricane in my hemisphere makes me nervous!



Hope all hands are well back home! More as it comes.

Capt Chris

PS: Apparently I may have some color blindness. A number of people have corrected me that the background color is actually orange! Looks tan to me!