The home stretch!

Our stop in Mount Hartman Bay (Grenada) has been great. We’ve met some cruisers who live full-time on their boats here in the harbour and others who leave their boats on a mooring ball for hurricane season while they go home. We’ve had an opportunity to walk around our end of the island and we also went on the weekly shopping bus that takes cruisers to all the good grocery stores plus marine parts and hardware stores.

The weather has been hot and rainy!! Monday April 6th was a stay on the boat day because of rain (and it was a holiday so most places were closed). Tuesday April 7th was our shopping day. We met up with about 12 other cruisers and boarded a large van that took us into town. It was a great adventure for Mark and I (and a weekly routine for all the other folks). First stop was the bank (so we could pay the driver!!) and then we went to the Spiceland Mall! Yes an actual mall!! It had some interesting shops but most importantly, it had a big IGA grocery store! We didn’t realize this trip included stops at 3 other grocery stories so we stocked up from the IGA. They had a good selection of fresh produce and the prices were high but not crazy. We looked around the other grocery stores at each stop so we know what’s available for next season when we head north. We were back at the boat a little after noon! That night (April 7th) we met up with our friend Matt (who had just returned from a short trip home to New Zealand). Mark and I walked over to Prickly Bay and we had drinks and dinner at the restaurant there. It was great to see Matt again – last time we saw him was in Puerto Rico last March. We had great fun chatting and the only negative was that our dinner order somehow got lost and we waited a long time for food. We got a free drink out of the long wait so that was ok!! We got back to the boat around 9pm!!

On Wednesday April 8th we spent most of the day working on our messed up black water system. Mark now thinks he may have reassembled the macerator pump incorrectly and that’s why it doesn’t pump out well. It was a long smelly day but at least we’re getting to the bottom of the situation!! We also had dinner with Matt again – this time at the restaurant near us. We had another great evening chit chatting and exchanging boat job stories! Always lots of those to share! We had an early evening and said our goodbyes to Matt on the dinghy dock and were back onboard by 7:30pm.

So here we are – it’s Thursday April 9th and we’re getting ready to cross to Trinidad. Mark has already walked over to Prickly Bay to clear us out of Grenada and he has submitted all our paperwork for Trinidad (they require a lot of documentation!!). I made chili yesterday for our crossing and today I’ve started getting the boat ready for our night passage. We always make up the main cabin as a sleeping area when we travel overnight – the table gets put up and the seating area gets rearranged into a bed. We will head over to the marina just behind us to get a bit of diesel and then we’ll be on our way. We’ll be leaving here around 2pm and hopefully getting into Chaguaramas Trinidad about 8 am Friday. The trip is about 85nm but there is a pretty strong westbound current that we’ll be working against so we’ll see how it goes!