[killarney_sailor]

Ainia is back to being a sailboat after 10 months of sitting on the hard only costing us money. Not wildly impressed with Grenada Marine if anyone is coming this way. It seems fairly expensive and the customer service is not particularly good.

We spend close to a week working on the boat on the hard, mainly redoing the bottom paint for the first time since Australia a couple of years ago. Not happy with with my Whale Gusher bilge pump (one of the larger ones that sits on a bulkhead). the diaphragm failed so I brought one of those with me and now the motor does not work. I haven't given it a couple of hits with the hammer, that is next on the list - it is getting power. We have one of those very large Edson manual pumps - it is a wonderful piece of kit for moving water around. When we came back there was a lot of water in the bilge - so much for paying US$50 to get the boat checked every two weeks. i specifically said that the bilge would have to be pumped manually. I got an email after each report saying the bilge was fine and there was no mould and mildew - right!?!

For the $500 a month crowd - best to take Grenada off your list of places to go. When we were here in 2009, the food shopping and other things seemed noticeably cheaper than Canada. Now it is noticeably more expensive. Ignore things like strawberries that are more than $10 a pound, even buying local produce and chicken is very expensive. In spite of low oil prices the buses (minivans) have gone up dramatically. Don't know if this is local or whether other islands will be similar. We are hoping that the French islands might not be too bad since inflation in Europe has been almost non-existent since 2008.

By the way, Robin Knox-Johnston's Open 60 is in the yard here. He sailed down here by himself after the Route du Rhum race - not bad for a 75 year old. It is an incredible site out of the water. The bottom of the hull is above the top of the cabins of the 40 and 50 footers surrounding it. They dredged the travel lift slip and built special supports for the boat. Apparently it will be here until April when there is another race for it to go in.

 

[rockDAWG]

Thanks for the heads up. Your comments on the service of the Island is quite common. Last Summer in Jamaica, it cost the owner $150 USD for refilling with distalled water in 12 batteries

I was thinking to make landfall in Grenada from Teneife, may be I need to rethink this. But not sure if other island is better. We are flexible on the destination. I am flying over to Tenerife in the early part of Jan and spend a few days on the island before heading out. The boat is a Saga 40. Can't wait tho.

 

[capta]

I was thinking to make landfall in Grenada from Teneife, may be I need to rethink this. But not sure if other island is better. We are flexible on the destination. I am flying over to Tenerife in the early part of Jan and spend a few days on the island before heading out. The boat is a Saga 40. Can't wait tho.

Mr. Dawg, this is a joke, isn't it?
The last time you ventured beyond the sight of land (Mutiny at Dawn - Transpac Race 2013) things didn't seem to go awfully well. If I remember correctly, you panicked and tried to wrest control of the vessel from the owner/captain, called the US Navy for help and used the autopilot which disqualified the vessel from the race, among other things.
Perhaps one might be forgiven for thinking that long distance ocean sailing is not your forte.

 

[killarney_sailor]

The cruising world can be smaller than you think

We had a Christmas pot luck with crew from five points. There was another Canadian boat there and June said that she knew the boat. We talked to the couple and it turns out we met briefly in the Galapagos four years ago and then we both sailed to Easter island about a week apart. They turned left at Easter and went to Patagonia and came north up the Atlantic to the Caribbean. We turned right and crossed the Pacific and we end up meeting in the Caribbean. What are the chances?

 

[outbound]

Glad you are keel wet stick dry. What nets do you listen to? Maybe we can get together.

 

[killarney_sailor]

We are only listening to the local net in Grenada. We will be heading north in early February. Hope our paths do cross.

 

[christian.hess]

congrats...enjoy the sailing

 

[MarkofSeaLife]

Grenada is fun, but yo are right about the prices, they are not rock bottom... But cheaper than when yo head north.

Best buy at the Supermarket in St Martin the other day "Regular Low Prices" tag for tomatoes, 1 pound bag/ 480 grams for USD$38!!!!!!!!!!!

Sure there were normal price tomatoes too, but what the f could be so special to make these $38? Superyachts.

 

[aeventyr60]

We get a Kilogram of those for 48 CENTS. Must be something in the water over there.

 

[killarney_sailor]

Just an update, I am about to be a bachelor for a few weeks. The Admiral is off to Beijing and Shanghai for a book tour (and to visit her families). Some explanation - as I mentioned last year, it turned out that June is the first Chinese woman to sail around the world. As a result she had two publishers who wanted her to write a book about the experience. She picked one, and did write the book, which has just come out. She will be giving presentations, doing radio interviews, etc. If by some fluke this book catches on (unlikely since cruising is still a foreign concept there), she might make a bit of money out of it.

We had a funny experience today. She realized that she had forgotten all about getting a Chinese visa when we were in Canada. It costs $100 and takes 24 hours to get one. We were in a tizzy and thought she would have to delay her Toronto-Beijing flight to get the visa (Grenada-Toronto-Beijing was the cheapest flight). She thought she would contact the Chinese ambassador here to see if she could get the visa here (normally you can only get one in the country you live in). This was using a social networking site called Weibo, that is sort of like Facebook but with a lot more features. She sent a message to the ambassador, a very nice lady we met last year, and within 20 minutes the consular affairs officer was in contact with June to arrange for her to come in this morning to do the paperwork. The ambassador apologized for not being there to meet us since she had a meeting with the prime minister (we understand our place in the pecking order). We pick up the visa in the morning and it is even much cheaper than in Canada.

 

[killarney_sailor]

The admiral is on her way toward Miami (and New York and Toronto and in a couple of days to Beijing and Shanghai) as I type. We arranged a taxi for 7 am and it didn't show so we phoned and he was still in bed. Managed with Plan B.

June picked up her passport and Chinese visa yesterday morning. The visa guy said the ambassador wanted to say hello. Went upstairs to see Her Excellency and we got big hugs from her (guess I cross getting a hug from a Chinese ambassador off the bucket list). She also asked if I had put some weight on. We only met her twice 11 months ago - maybe you need a really good memory to be an ambassador.

 

[Faster]

........ She also asked if I had put some weight on. We only met her twice 11 months ago - maybe you need a really good memory to be an ambassador.

Actually, she probably reviewed the tape of your last meeting

(Kidding, I hope!)

 

[killarney_sailor]

The admiral's book is now available for those of you who read Chinese. At 23 yuan it is a bargain. The title roughly translated is 'Raise the Sails, Start the Adventure'. June is now in Beijing and will be doing various appearances (6 scheduled so far) in Beijing and Shanghai.

http://item.jd.com/11606512.html

That is our boat on the cover by the way.

 

[hogesinwa]

Hi,
Have you finished with the Blog? I've been checking it reasonably regularly for a while and nothing has been added since SA. Or maybe I don't know how to access it properly??? Not sure.


S/v Common Sense
currently in Licata Sicily for maybe another week, then off (after we fix some damage from last week's trip to Tunisia)

 

[killarney_sailor]

Sorry, I did not keep the blog up in the last part of the journey. I got into a major writing project - new textbook and after working on that I did not feel like doing the blog, I was written out. My wife kept a detailed blog, only problem is that it is in Chinese!