2024-07-27 Trip to Carriacou - aftermath of hurricane Beryl

On Monday, we picked up Tracy, and motor-sailed up to Carriacou.  We got in early enough that we made a trip to her boat to see if there was anything left to salvage.  

There was not.  Tracy had left her boat securely tied in the mangroves, stripped of sails and such.  There were probably about 100 boats that had done the same, including our friends on Melelana, who had secured their boat in these mangroves before during storms.  The local fisherman also used the mangroves for secure storage of boats during storms.   

Tracy's boat Wanderlust flipped upside down, and landed in the mangroves and then caught fire and burned.  Another catamaran next to her also flipped upside down into the mangroves, but did not burn.  Our friends on Melelana flipped upside down, but landed in the water and partially sunk.  

We had to climb through the mangroves a bit to reach Wanderlust - or what remained of her.

Wanderlust is to the right of the upside down cat.  

You can see the bow arch, and trampolines, surprisingly not badly burnt.  Lagoon 45 upside down beside her not burnt at all, and friends boat Melelana upside down in lagoon, with black hull paint.

Tracy looking for any stuff

Some kitchen items survived, metal  and ceramic

The mast out in the mangroves.  You can see Dean navigating across the mangroves

Stern of boat, orangish color is rudderpost sticking up

All resin is gone, leaving fiberglass  fibers you can  just pick  up in strings

Melelana and another cat upside down in bay

The boats on land fared a little better, but not good.

We went back the next day, and picked up some metal items. A mast step, a block, and a cup holder, so at  least Tracy can  have a couple  mementos to take to her next boat.

Hung out for a couple days in Carriacou.  Tracy visited some friends who had a monohull ashore in the mangrove, but she was able to get her boat out - so good news there.

Thursday we had a very nice sail back to Grenada, and dropped the hook in Prickly Bay.  Prickly is not our favorite spot, as it is usually rolly, but it is super convenient to things, and Tracy has friends there as well. 

Couple of days on the boat just relaxing, and Kris working on finalizing our plans.   We are hot, and with Kris's phone dying, and then her computer dying we decided to fly back to the states early.  So flight changes, haul the boat earlier and insurance planning to be done.  

We have to get new insurance, and our previous insurance company is not renewing our policy, as they no longer offered our insurance plan and were changing it.  We have lithium batteries, and the new policy requires any boat with lithium to have purchased the batteries in the USA, which we did not, so they will no longer insure us.

We got several insurance quotes, but the one that works best for us, requires an new boat survey.  So we arranged to have the boat surveyed in Trinidad when we haul out, but this particular insurance company requires SAMS or NAMS certified surveyors, which our surveyor was not.  Although our surveyor was highly certified, but more by European standards, not US standards.  Hard to find insurance to insure you in the USA and abroad that is not USA based.

So we needed to find a new surveyor, and there is one, but in Grenada, so now we will haul the boat for 2 hours in Grenada for the survey, and then go to Trinidad and haul the boat again.

Long story short, Kris spent a lot of time on phone and emails and such to arrange all.

Tracy left this morning, to stay with the friends she was with before coming with us, as she is flying out soon, and wanted to consolidate all her belongings in one area and get sorted before leaving.

We will most likely change anchorages  now and  find somewhere less rolly for the next week until  we have  our survey on August 6th.

2024-07-21 Please stand by - we are experiencing technical difficulties

Another hot humid week here in Grenada.  Maybe that is what causing our technical difficulties.   

Kris's phone had been acting up a bit.  some weird line at the top of the screen an occasional  flickering.  Not all  the time, just once and a while, so she has been "babying" the phone.

On Sunday, she got a screen that would not work at all.   She tried many things, including cooling the phone in the freezer.  She got it working enough that by repeated freezer trips, and charging and turning off and on, that she got it backed up, but could not get all photos off.

Then on Monday morning, spent most the morning on the phone (Deans) transferring Kris's number to Deans phone and putting Deans phone on hold.  We use Kris's number for most all our communication so it made sense.

Had a nice needed break Monday night, going to dinner with our friend Tracy off Wanderlust, and Kim and David from Melelana.  Both boats were lost in the hurricane.  They are doing well, still sad, but working on a positive look forward attitude.

On Wednesday we walked a nice 5 mile round trip loop up to the IGA food store that is in the Spice Island Mall.   Mall was nice and cool.  Kris needed to see a doctor (nothing serious) so combined that trip

Spice Island Mall

Long tiring hot walk, but some pretty trees in full bloom along the way

This tree full of blooms

Calabash tree with ripe calabash

Have we mentioned the  hill?  There is a hill we walk over to get anywhere from our anchorage.  I know the photo does not do it justice, you only see 1/3 of it, but trust us, its a killer, especially coming back with a backpack  full of food.

The first third of the hill, after the turn, it gets a bit steeper and just as long.

Have we mentioned that it is hot and humid?  Those long walks are killers.  Your body and clothes are wet with sweat at the end of the trip.  Especially walking inland without a strong wind.

Thursday we took the dink over for a nice lunch out and to see how the area around Clarkes Court has changed in the last 10 years.  We were shocked.  The anchorage had at least 4 times as many boats in it, and the old restaurant was gone, as was the entire hill where we used to watch cricket matches.

You can see in the background behind all the hauled boats the hill has been removed to make flat land.

Lots of hauled boats, and nice size marine chandlery

Huge travel lift.

Clarkes Court Bay and restaurant in 2003

Clarkes Court 2024

Walking around the boatyard , we saw a lot of really big boats, and lots of large catamarans.   Made us feel small.  The  picture of Clarkes Court 2024 shows lots of open space, right now the entire area is covered with boats, 250 to 270 all hauled out.

We  did have a nice lunch, and luckily our friends on In Cahoots were lunching as well, so we were able to sit with them and have a nice visit.

Back to boat to relax.  Kris started up here computer to do some stuff, and our 2nd technical failure occurred.  Her computer screen went from doing normal to having fine black lines all over it.  Rest of her day spent on putting in service request as her computer still under warranty, but of course being in Grenada, not much  we can do with it here.  So now thinking of heading back to the states early, but have to figure that out a bit still.

We had thought we might go on a hash on Saturday.  A hash is a walk/run though an area of the island followed by a "party" and dinner.   It allows you to see parts of the island you normally would not see, and to have a nice social time afterward.  We realized we did not have enough cash on hand to pay for the bus and dinner, so another 3 mile sweat fest to the bank and back.

We have been lucky on  the  walks - no rain, but that doesn't mean it hasn't rained.   We have been catching water every day - haven't ran the watermaker all week, and have done 2 loads of laundry, and still at 3/4 tank of water.

Water catch up and ready most every day this week.

We will be leaving Monday to host Tracy and take her up  to  Carriacou where we will see what is going on and check on Wanderlust, and progress pulling flipped and ruined boats out of the mangroves.

So today, is back to the grocery store to stock up, as no supplies available in Carriacou as the recovery from hurricane Beryl still going on.

2024-07-14 Just hanging out doing small projects and living life

Very uneventful week for us.  Anchored at same spot, just doing some projects and living life.

We had noticed a small leak coming in from the outside in very heavy rain, so with a couple of sunny days in the forecast decided to take off the outside starboard louver to try and seal up any possible ingress points.

  

Small leak point, on inside by window

Starboard louvers off.

We decided while they were off to do some touch up paint.  And found that our sealant we were going to use had hardened up over the last 3 years of storage.  And we wanted new screws to re-install.  So needed to head to town.

So Monday we took the big walk - total of 5 miles.  We stopped at a couple of hardware stores and then the grocery store, and last stop Budget Marine store.  We got lucky and ran into some friends while at the marine store.  Tony from Skoolz Out and Tracy from Wanderlust.   We were a couple of tired sweaty people when we got back to the boat. But we did find the paint, sealant and screws we needed.

Dean worked hard doing touch up paint on the louvers.  Kris decided on Tuesday to head back to town on the shopping bus, as we were unable to find bananas on the walk, and she wanted to make some banana bread.   The shopping bus trip turned into a waste, as the store the bus goes to normally was closed for inventory, so she ended up at the same store as the previous day.    Dean made bread.

Dean is getting pretty proficient on making some pretty perfect bread loaves

Tuesday we got out our hookah, and Dean used that while Kris snorkeled and we scrubbed the boat bottom.  It was in need of cleaning lots of very small barnacles, and some grassy spots.   The water here is 86 degrees, so lots of growth and our bottom is almost 2 years since the last haul out - so it is due.

Wednesday was more painting, and re-install the louvers.  Rain is in the forecast, so hope we fixed the issue.

Wednesday was also the day Kris spent 4 hours working on her phone.  Her used Pixel 3 phone died.  Screen unresponsive off and on.  So we lost a few photos that we had taken earlier.  Will have to get a new phone when we head to the states in September.  Took all morning working with the cell service provider to transfer her service to Deans working phone.  Deans phone number will be paused for a couple months.

Went in and had a lunch at the local marina/restaurant.  We are using their dinghy dock and trash receptacles, so its only fair to spend some money with them.

Large and somewhat fancy restaurant at marina

Thursday was rain, so lazy day on boat.

Friday was another lazy day.  Kris made banana bread and had PIZZA for dinner.

Saturday we decided to take a walk, as Kris wanted to stretch her legs.  Only 2 miles, and part of it up a muddy path.  Stopped at the store and bought a Mountain Dew and Coke to take back for a treat.

Part of the road/trail we walked

View of our anchorage from the top of the hill

View of Prickly Bay marina from hill top.  Lots more boats in this spot

Hard to see in photo, but very steep hill and lots of stairs on this house perched on the hillside.

The weather here is warm and muggy, and it is the rainy season.  The forecast for the upcoming week looks a bit wet.

Our high temperature for the days are usually 85 to 88 degrees. But humidity runs pretty close to 76% all the time, so it feels warmer - like mid 90's to 100.    Lows are 80 degrees.   We usually have a breeze, but with so much rain, we can't keep the hatches open all the time, so we both have fans blowing on us most the time while inside.   

We had planned on heading back north to explore the Grenadines, where we can jump in clear water and do a little snorkeling.  Also better breezes as less land to block the wind - but the islands of the Grenadines were hit hard by hurricane Beryl, and are in "survival" mode still and will be for the few months.   We don't feel right visiting those islands for our personal enjoyment while the local residents are recovering, so we will hang out here for the next month or so - weather allowing.  

 We have volunteered to be a "hotel" for medical personnel working on the islands - but have not heard back yet, so don't know if that will happen.

2024-07-07 Trinidad - and back to Grenada - the destruction caused by hurricane Beryl

We rode out Hurricane Beryl in Trinidad on July 1st..  We had a good anchorage, and no issues, although it got pretty bouncy for a while with a 2' chop/swell rolling through anchorage for about 12 hours, but nothing unsafe, just a bit uncomfortable.  Hurricane Beryl was so much worse for so many more - so no complaining from us.  

Beautiful sunset that night as Beryl moved off to the west

Next day, seas were flatter so we headed to town with our friends on Matcha.  As we had been running from Beryl for several days, we were a bit low on groceries, so headed to town.  Trinidad is used to cruisers, but not where we were, but luckily a local boat was kind enough to let us use them to tie to to access shore.   

Trinidad is a large island, and somewhat "Americanized"    We had a short walk to a large mall.   First store as we came in was a Smoothie King, so that was our first stop.

Getting some goodies for breakfast/lunch

Quite the mall, Dean enjoying the fountain and the smoothie

We also had a nice lunch in the mall, a panini, then off to the grocery store for supplies, then back to the dinghy.   Dean climbed down in the dinghy, and then brought it over to a lower dock for us to load in the groceries.    Kris would have had a hard time getting the dink, as Deans legs were just long enough to make the climb.

Dean climbing into the dinghy

That evening the first reports started coming in from the damage of Hurricane Beryl on the islands north of us.  It did not look good.  Our friend Tracy on Wanderlust reported that her boat was a total loss, as were many others.  Our friends on Melelana also had bad news, their boat flipped.  The island had no water, no food, no communication and most buildings were destroyed.   

We decided we would try to help so on the 3rd, we upped anchor early, and moved the boat 4 miles and re-anchored.   This spot had a good dinghy dock so we headed in to go to town to a bulk grocery store.   We were quite lucky, and a local guy stopped and asked if we wanted a ride - which we did.  Tony had lived in Trinidad his entire life, and was a very nice guy.  He dropped us off right in front of PriceSmart - a membership grocery like a Costco.  We filled up our cart, with just a couple items for us, and the rest for donation to the islands hit by Beryl.   Tony told us to call him, and he would give us a ride back, but we did not have cell service, so had to find it.   Luckily we saw a Starbucks nearby.

Inside PriceSmart

Kris standing a small spot of shade trying to get internet to call Tony for a pickup

We got ahold of Tony, and he told us it would be about 20 minutes, so we found better shade, and happened to have a nice restaurant right there as well.

Kris eating her lunch by our packages in the shade.

Lunch was yummy bowls

Tony arrived, and helped us load up the supplies and gave us a ride back to the dinghy dock.

Tony dropped us off, and we went back to the boat and upped anchor again, and headed into the main port of Chaguaramas, about 3 miles, and anchored again.  Dean stayed aboard, as the anchorage was tight and deep, and somewhat iffy holding.  Kris headed in to check out of Trinidad.   

Trinidad is keen on paperwork, and the check in and check out process is long and tedious.   It took Kris 2 hours of waiting and 20 minutes of actual time to check out.   By the time we were checked out, we received word that Tracy had found a ride back to Grenada, as they were running an evacuation boat and she was able to get off island.  We were going to pick up more donated supplies to transport, but after check out were too late to get more so we left Trinidad and headed back to Grenada with what we had.  Brisk overnight sail, with about 12 other boats with the same plan.

Arrived in Grenada to Prickly Bay at around 5 in the morning.  Dropped anchor and cleaned up.  Another boat pulled in, and we transferred our supplies to them, as they were continuing on to Carriacou after checking in.  Trying to minimize the number of boats heading into the islands, so we were happy to offload our stuff, as we knew we were not leaving for Carriacou right away, but our supplies could.

We had been in contact with our friend Tracy on Wanderlust, who had her boat on the island of Carriacou during Beryl.  Other friends on Melelana were there as well.  They secured their boats in a mangrove lined inlet, and spent the night ashore.  They were lucky, the house they stayed in did not collapse or lose the roof, so they had shelter.  Unfortunately, both their boats were lost.  Melelana flipped upside down, and although somewhat still floating, is damaged.  Tracy on Wanderlust no so - her boat - a Manta 38 catamaran flipped upside down, landed in the mangroves and caught fire and burned.  Tracy left with nothing.

Tracy was staying with another boat friend in Tyrell bay, so we checked in with her, then headed into town to check back into Grenada.  Had to take a taxi, as the local immigration office closed, as the immigration officer had relatives in Carriacou and had left to help.  Once back to boat, Tracy came over to use the computer and our internet to start filing out insurance forms.  The anchorage was rolly, so while she filled out forms, we moved the boat to another anchorage nearby which was calmer.  

With forms done, we headed to shore, and walked back over to where Tracy was staying with friends.  One friend had a boat that was beached during the hurricane, so stopped to see the progress pulling boats off the beach.

Several boats on the beach.

They got one boat off, but have to wait on high tide, so it is pretty much only one boat a day that gets pulled off.  Tracy's friend will have to wait until next Monday for his turn.

We headed to a local restaurant, had a nice dinner, and then Tracy headed back to her friends boat, and we headed back to Charm.     

There are a lot of relief efforts going on for the islands, and boats taking up supplies, but unfortunately lots of conflicting information.  We decided, based on Tracy's first hand reports that it would be better for us to help out from here as we can instead of taking the boat up.   

Friday the 5th, was our 33 wedding anniversary.  We just spent the day relaxing on the boat, which was great, as we have had a busy week, and a day of nothing was well spent.

Yesterday was boat projects.  We took one of our boat louvers off, as we suspected a small leak, so wanted to reseal around the windows.

Today, we will probably walk into town, see Tracy, and perhaps help load a van with fruit and veggies heading up to the islands that were destroyed by Beryl.


For those interested in how bad the hurricane damaged the islands, here is a link to a good video with drone footage showing the town, and mangrove inlet where our friends had their boats.     https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IhxOM6hp_6Q&t=286s