I arrived in Grenada in mid December
with a simple plan: have the bottom of the boat painted, launch the
boat, and move it from Grenada Marine to Prickly Bay before Natalia
and the kids flew in a week later. Everything went according to plan.
The work to be done in the yard took place as expected, the boat was
launched, the boat was moved – I even hoisted the jib and enjoyed a
nice downwind solo sail to Prickly. Amid the flurry of activity that
was that week, there was a constant absence in the back of my mind.
Two months earlier I had spent 2 weeks
in Grenada on my own with the sole purpose of working on the boat.
That time I mixed boat projects with plenty of social activities. I
stayed at Karin and Tomás's house most nights and enjoyed a few
delicious dinners in their patio. During the day I spent a lot of
time with the crew of Skylark, who were also on the hard. I had good
friends with whom I could enjoy my downtime.
But in December, most of our friends
were gone. I met a couple of other cruisers in the yard, but I mostly
worked and ate alone. I was busy, though, so I didn't have much of a
chance to feel lonely.
The work didn't stop when I got to
Prickly, and life slowly started to return to almost normal when
Natalia and the kids arrived in Grenada. We completed our
provisioning, finished cleaning up the boat, and started looking for
other cruising families to hang out with. We met a few boats and also
spent time with Pontea, whom we had met in the summer.
We all felt somewhat out of sorts.
Coming back to Grenada was like coming home (after all, Taia is
our home), but all our friends and neighbors weren't there. Yes, we
met people with whom we could easily establish a friendship, but they
all had different travel plans. We missed our friends and all 4 of us
were articulating it in different ways.
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| River tubing in Grenada on December 24th |
After
a quiet Christmas (talk about a silent night!), we started getting
ready to sail to Bequia. The weather forecast promised unicorns,
sirens, and care bears for the 28th
of December. We moved Taia to Saint George's the night before and
picked up anchor at 3 am on the 28th.
Not long after we left the lee of Grenada, the unicorns became angry
waves, the sirens made sure the wind backed to the north east (right
on our motherfucking nose), and the care bears made Natalia toss her
cookies repeatedly. Despite these fantastically unfriendly creatures,
we successfully anchored in Bequia that afternoon. Then we started
stalking people, desperately trying to make friends.
Bequia
continues to be one of our favorite islands in the Caribbean. And to
make it even more enticing, we met and befriended 4 other kid boats:
Amar Sem Fim (from Brazil), Penny Lane (from England), Nemetona
(from the US), and Shang Du (from Southafrica). Unfortunately Penny
Lane and Nemetona are on their way south to Grenada, but Amar Sem Fim
are on their way north and we will continue to run into them as we
point our bow to Cuba. Shang Du are also going north, but on a much
more relaxed schedule than ours.
New
Year's Eve in Bequia was another quiet affair for the crew of Taia.
We played games with the kids, watched a movie, and then watched a
surprisingly good fireworks display from deck.
As
has become a tradition in Bequia, I went diving. First with Shang Du
and the day after with Pete from Penny Lane. Both dives were
excellent. Another tradition for us on Bequia is a bonfire at the
beach. We had it and it was a lot of fun.
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| Wreck dive in Bequia |
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| Another successful bonfire at the beach in Bequia |
Once
again the weather forecast called for unicorns and sirens, so we
planned our 90-mile passage to Martinique for the 5th
of January. This time Poseidon and Aeolus were unfashionably
benevolent and gave us the most enjoyable passage we've had in a very
long time. We covered the 90 miles in a bit shy of 17 hours, 11 or 12
of those in the dark. It was a beautiful starry night, with a few
threatening clouds to the east, but the squalls took pity on us and
failed to make an appearance.
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| Most enjoyable passage to Martinique |
Now
we're anchored in Sainte-Anne, Martinique. We're enjoying the food
and the food is great and we will eat a lot of awesome tasting food.
Did I mention the food in Martinique has no equal? So yeah, we're
eating a lot and the refrigerator and freezer will be full to the
brim before we move north again.
We
still miss our friends and cry a little every time we see their blog
and facebook posts. But that's ok, we know they're safe and happy, as
are we. And we will make sure we meet again. Meanwhile, we're making
new friends and feel a little bit less lonely every day. There's
always room for new friends. Cruising is a very social lifestyle.
