The Vendia in Grenada 02/08/18)

UPDATED (02/08/2018)

Have updated all pictures and gallery

 

UPDATED (12/28/17)

After leaving Union Island, we sailed to Grenada and anchored at 3 different
ports (1 each night). The last port (Clark’s Court Bay Marina) was the one we ended up spending
our last few weeks in. We were all very excited to have a place to go and get a
warm shower, a good internet connection, and a “true” grocery store. That may all seem trivial to you but believe me, when you go without them for awhile, you start to appreciate the simplest things.

We continued to help on the boat (painting, varnishing, and the imfamous net under the bow sprit (the “marionette”). Here are a few pics of our accomplishments.

 

BTW… we figured there are over 800 knots in the marionette.

But we did take some time to visit the island. We took an all day tour with a very nice Grenadian named Joseph. He (like most Grenadians) is very proud of his country and showed us just about all of it. Places like…
–2 rum factories –
One was modernized and a very typical rum factory. The other (called River Rum) produced kerosene rum. It was done just like it was done 70 years ago. They started by cutting down and crushing the sugar cane, then using old furnaces that were fed by hand, they let the rum ferment naturally in 800 gallon cement tubes for 8 days. It was sooo interesting to see this process. Taking a drink of this rum is like drinking the moonshine from way back in the hills along the Mississippi. LOL (the look on Mike’s face was priceless).

–Leapers Hill
This is a beautiful place on a cliff that overlooks the North end of Grenada.
In 1651 the people of the Carribean had let the French stay on the island, but soon felt it was a mistake and started killing the French men. The last stand was on this spot. The French defeated the Caribbeans. Those from the island that survived leap off the cliff instead of surrendering.
A beautiful old, old Catholic church near Leapers Hill

–Grand Etang Forest
We saw a few monkeys and a “bottom less” lake. It is a volcano crater, they do not know how deep it is.

–Annandale Falls
Other places were things like, a chocolate factory, some small rum shacks, a spice shack, and some high spots on the island with spectacular view.

—Recognizant Mission –
The captains of the Vendia asked us to do a recognizant mission for them. They wanted us to go on a 1/2day sailing, snorkeling, and lobster lunch catamaran tour and report back on things like, what they served for snacks and drinks, how much we traveled under sail, music on board, etc.
So reluctantly we accepted the mission and made the best of it. Thanks again guys.
It was a fun 1/2 day. Those who know me know I don’t eat seafood. They had chicken kabobs waiting for me instead. We snorkeled at the Underwater Sculpture Park. This is a marine preserve where some cement sculptures where places about 30 feet underwater.

It was nice but we all ended up with crabs. That’s right, crabs. We swam through a school of crab lavae. We call started hosing off on the catamaran because they pinch. They were all over us including places you DO NOT want them (everyone nearly stripped right on deck – lol).

Despite these little gems of the sea, we had a very good time and brought back all the information and pictures we could, while still remaining incognito (acting like American tourists and all).

We also saw Bill Gates and Apples yachts that were in the same port.

Our Grenada sailboat adventure had come to an end. We heading out for Costa Rica at the end of November. Thank you Mark, Dave, and Sir Richard. We really enjoyed out last night out at Nimrod’s rum shack and you guys are “a bit of alright” to us. Cheers and thanks for the brilliant time, rum, tea, coffee (take care of that French Press), and stories (even if some where made up).
We hope to go back to Grenada and take a sail on the most popular and proper sailing vessel yet to hit Grenada – The Vendia!!!

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UPDATED (11/13/17)

We have been very busy the last few weeks.  We had to leave the country for duty free and other reasons.  So last weekend we sailed Vendia to Union Island St. Vincent.  Mark had to fill out entry papers for the whole crew (that’s right we are officially part of the crew – at least on all documents lol).   So Mike and I went into “town” while Mark went to customs.

We walked around, had some ice cream and headed back to Vendia.  There was an island bar right off shore made of conch shells that we would have liked to have stopped at but  we wanted to get to the keys (no not Florida keys – Union Keys).  It was a beautiful day and the wind was just right.

These keys are famous for crystal clear water and sea turtles.  We anchored for the night and saw over 4 dozen turtles and some beautiful birds.

 

Along the way we saw some beautiful sailing vessels and one really nasty rain storm (check out the sky in the next pic – yuck).

 

It was near a full moon and it was calm and breathtaking from the boat.

In the morning we headed back to Carriacou, but only for 1 night.  The guys had a few things to finish.  After a very brief overnight stay we headed out the next morning for GRENADA.  You have to understand, Mark, Dave, and Richard have been working on Vendia for over a year and well lets just say you could not wipe the smile off their faces.  Carriacou is a small island with no crime and very friendly people, but it is small.  The grocery store have only a few things and you cook based on what is available.  Boat supplies are also limited so it was time to go.

We anchored off Prickly Bay the first night, but Richards boat is a 40′ motor boat and the water there was too rough for his boat (in other words, it rocked too much).  I should mention that Dave owes a sailboat called “Old Bob” that he will have to go back to Grenada and get.  But for now it is anchored off Carriacou.

Anyway the next morning we headed out for Clarks  Bay.  This is going to be the place we stay till Mike and I have to leave for Costa Rica in December.

This marina has a  marine store, bathrooms, showers, restaurant and laundry facilities.  Now that may not sound like much to you, but BELIEVE me it is to us.  You see we have been showering using a hose on the dock or one on the back of the boat, and had to drop our laundry off at a place that did the laundry for you (at a cost of course).   The restaurants on Carriacou were good but few and shopping very VERY basic.  The dust and noise from the marina was not ideal.  When you are anchored instead of docked it is much better.  One huge difference is the ability to get rid of bugs.  Mosquito don’t fly out to the boats and the cockroaches can now be dealt with since they can’t just walk on the boat when anchored.

Oh yeah, you read that right, cockroaches.  Now if you know anything about me you know I have a true problem with beetles and roaches.  The only thing I can tell you is, I have been very tolerant of them since they did not appear to be coming in the bedroom, UNTIL the other night.  Now these are very small roaches and do not fly, but OMG.  I slept in the wheel house on deck that night and the next day Dave and Richard bought some bombs and we bombed the hell out of the entire boat.  We will have to redo it again in a few weeks to ensure all “off spring” are also killed, but for now they are gone.

Here are a few pics of the galley and our bunk room.

Mikes bunkmy bunk

So we can now have a proper shower, do our laundry, and shop at an IGA (woo whooooo).

Well that is the traveling we have been doing.  So you may wonder what kind of work we are doing.

We do help with the sails, etc. but also do alot more.  If it is unpainted wood, we sand it and varnish it.  If it is painted we repaint it.  We have painted the whole hull (including on deck).  I will post pics of the work when we are done.

We were also tasked with putting the net up under the bow sprit (long piece of wood that hangs out in front of the boat).  It requires tying in excess of 400 knots and then we need to trim it all.  Now when we were docked  we could angle the boat so that we could tie it from land.

But we didn’t have time to finish it, so now have to work on it at anchor.  That means that I sit on bosom chair and hang off the bow sprit tied to the halyard.  It is not too bad really, except when you are out there in one of the many short heavy rain falls.

but there are some fringe benefits

Till next time…

Appreciate the small things in life.  You don’t know how important they are till you don’t have them.  LOL

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UPDATED (10/28/17)

So where are we now…

For the months of October and November, we are working  the Vendia.

When the repairs are complete, the Vendia will start earning her keep as a day cruise for tourist and/or weddings, etc.
Our hosts are from England (Dave, Mark, and Richard). Mark also stays on the ship, as well as a young man from Dominic named Brandon. Dave lives on his own sailboat nearby  (old bob)

and Rick lives on his motorboat, also near by.

Rick is the engineer and does all the mechanical work on board. Dave and Mark do all the hull repairs and rigging. Rick says Dave and Mark just play with rope and string (like knitting) and Dave and Mark say Rick just sits in the hole (engine room) out of the sun. Brandon helps everyone and works very hard.
We are glad to be here at this time because the guys have been working on getting the ship in sailing shape for 1 1/2 years. We came just at the right time. This past 2 weeks, they have reached many milestones (both in the hole and knitting). Just Friday (the 20th) they put up the sails for the first time. It was awesome. We are almost ready to take her out for trial runs and move her to Greneda in a few weeks.