Back in consumer hell

I'm on a layover in Dallas at the moment and the reverse culture shock is setting back in. I was ready to toss this annoying Italian family out of the plane that had utterly no respect for the other people around them as their two teenage daughters slapped each other and the little mutant of a boy they had ran up and down the aisle screaming his little dreadlocked head off. So far here in the airport I have walked past three Starbucks in one gate area, there is an ad on the wall that informs me I can go to a McDonalds at gates c6, c22, a13, a25, and b29, there is a vending machine near me that sells iPods, and everyone has cell phones plastered to their ears. Doesn't take long to know you are back in America, man it's good to be home...I think.

Flying home

Well I'm flying home tomorrow night and the last few days have been a little hectic, at least hectic by Caribbean standards. I ended up staying in Union Island a little longer than I planned and ended up leaving Clifton at midnight on Monday night. I arrived in Grenada at 7 AM the following morning. The sail down here was one of those perfect nights at sea. It was truly unreal how clear the sky was. The stars were out in force and the sea was flat calm. I had good wind and averaged over 7 knots of speed the whole time. No amount of writing or trying to explain this to someone could ever convey what it's like when the conditions are that good. I had a good time in Union, Saturday night I went out with my friends and ended up going to a couple of the local parties. We started at a place called Eagles Nest and ended at Stress Out, which is a local spot that is located on the second story of a private house. This place goes 24/7 with a full bar and live DJ. Union isn't a very big island and I am starting to get recognized everywhere I go so I ran into a bunch of the people I have met along the way. On Sunday I had lunch up at Seckie's house. He has a place right up on one of the hills and you have a commanding view of the Grenadine islands. Vanessa made up some local food for me and we chilled out on the balcony drinking some rum. I stopped by Happy Island at sunset to have a drink with Janti and ended up going out with him that night for dinner at a French place in Clifton. We closed out the night at Stress Out again and met some kids that were visiting from Miami. I ended up taking all of them over to the Tobago Cays the following day, Janti came along and brought a jug of his famous Rum Punch. We had a good time lounging around on the boat and swimming around with the turtles and rays. I went back to Clifton, dropped everyone off and took off that night at midnight. Last night we had a little party on Fabian's boat as it was one of our local buddies last day in Grenada. He flies to Martinique tomorrow morning to start University there. Today I am moving the boat over near Hog Island. It's a good hurricane hole and one of my buddies has his boat there so he can watch Rum Boogie while I'm in the States. It's way too hot right now to do much but I need to move the boat soon, it's tough to enter that area when the light is bad, the keel hungry reefs surround the place. I'm looking forward to seeing everyone soon. I also can't wait to take the longest and hottest shower in the history of the world.

MORE CHAIN!!!!

I just love charter boats. It always astounds me how some of these people even qualify to rent these boats. I'll get back to that in a minute. I'm in Clifton in Union Island at the moment. I had to run up here quickly because my friend Seckie managed to find me a really smoking deal on a good dinghy. The poor little red one is getting tired and I had to patch it up 3 times in the last month. I traded my bike recently for a little 7 foot inflatable dinghy as a temporary fix and I have been on the hunt for a good one with a fiberglass bottom. So Seckie found one in Union for me and I sent him money Western Union to lock it up for me. I left Grenada yesterday afternoon around 3 PM and anticipated arriving in Union around midnight. Well as usual the god of wind decided to F me up and the wind backed up to the North and was blowing hard all night, right where I needed to go. I was managing to make decent progress against the wind when I heard the first rip. The leading edge of my headsail blew some of the new reinforcement off. Then before I could get it furled up and put away there was a second rip just below the first. I just had the sail modified and evidently the stitching wasn't up to code. One more thing to take care of, yippee. So I was forced to revert to motor sailing. I was making decent progress this way until my starboard engine decided that he was too tired and was gonna call it a night early. It was a little bumpy last night and I got drilled with quite a few squalls so I didn't bother trying to fix the engine underway. I don't like taking too many chances when I'm sailing solo and climbing in and out of the engine room from the rear of the boat qualifies as hairy when the seas are up. So just the port engine, the mainsail and me stuck it out. The good news was that I was brutally low on diesel on the port side and spent a good 4 hours wondering if I was going to run out of fuel and be forced to sail the remainder of the way. In the end I chose to put into Tyrell Bay in Carriacou. I decided to wait the night out, let the seas lay down and in the morning set about fixing the motor and getting some fuel. I managed to get on the hook around 3 in the morning and got about 5 hours sleep. I dinghied into town and caught a taxi to the local Shell station and filled my 6 jerry jugs full of diesel. Diesel is going for 14 EC per gallon right now, a little over 5 U.S. a gallon, can't wait to fill up in Trinidad or Venezuela. Got back on the boat and got the motor going. Turned out the fuel was so low on that side that it was sucking up all the nasty sludge that has accumulated in the tank and completely clogged some of the fuel lines as well as the primary filter.




I made it to Clifton around 2 this afternoon and intended on getting my new dinghy and setting sail to get back South. Seckie and Vanessa towed the dinghy out to Rum Boogie for me so now I look ridiculous. One dude on a boat, three dinghies. I gotta sell the other two now. I digress. I meant to leave right away but the weather had other plans for me. Whenever I anchor up, I have gotten used to putting WAY more chain out than I need. Typically down here you want more than 5 to 1, sometimes up to 10 to 1. Meaning, if it's 20 feet deep, minimum is 100' of chain, I prefer all 200'. So I have gotten my balls busted here and there about too much chain and blah blah. Well today I got to sit back and enjoy some chips and salsa while a heavy squall ripped through the anchorage and caused a bunch of boats to drag their anchors and end up on reefs and sandbars. Don't get me wrong, I felt bad for the people but there was nothing I could do. Seckie had just brought me the new dinghy and I hadn't even put it together. The winds were probably gusting over 40 but sustained around 30 knots for a good hour and a half. It was wild cause the wind kept shifting and it seemed that the storm was doing circles around us. I pulled up the image on the radar and the storm cell was 12 miles wide. Even the big ferry ship that runs between St Vincent and here ended up getting blown up onto a sandbar. Rum Boogie didn't budge. What up. I'm glad the fireman part of me always says "dude, just put out a lot of chain, you never know when that big blow is gonna kick up". Clifton is full of reefs and even the 44' sportfisher that was anchored behind me ended up bouncing on one of them. So my original statement about charter guests pertains to this. I dive my anchor, almost always. The only exception is when the water is nasty and murky in the industrial ports. I have rarely, if ever, seen any charter guest dive the anchor. When I swim by their boats I usually find an anchor lying sideways, maybe halfway dug in and maybe 50 feet of chain total let out. I always shake my head and just make sure I am not near these boneheads. Most of the time it works but when that big squall comes through you better hope you didn't anchor behind one of them. I'm not trying to sound like an elitist or anything, I'm sure someday I will be faced with some screwed up situation like that and by no means do I think I know everything. I just wonder if it has to do with ego or just plain laziness. Anyway, looks like I'm bunked up here for tonight. Weather sucks right now and I'm not going out in these squalls with a torn headsail. I'm gonna head in later to join Seckie and Vanessa for some local BBQ and then stop by a local reggae party. See ya for now and remember as the lunatic boat vendor known here in Union Island as The Germon screams at you when you are trying to anchor...MORE CHAIN!!!! MORE CHAIN!!!! MORE CHAIN!!!!

Pic 1. is of a charter catamaran getting the anchor reset after being towed off the reef.

Pic 2 is sunset in Prickly Bay, Grenada.

Pic 3 is colors in the sky at sunset.

Pic 4 is of Barracuda, the ferry from St Vincent to Union. It's the big black boat trying to reverse off the sandbar

VRNB's

Ok, I am pretty much fed up with the VHF Radio Nazi Broads in these anchorages. Pretty much all boats are equipped with a VHF radio and most have a few handhelds as well. In the world of the cruisers it's an easy and quick way to get in touch and have a BRIEF exchange. It's not a telephone. Every morning at 7:30 on Channel 68 there is a "cruiser net" which is very cool and it moderated by a guy who runs one of the local boat chandleries. He gives the weather forecast, any new pertinent info, etc. Then he opens it for any questions, inquiries, discussions, maybe you are selling something or looking to buy something, whatever. It's intended to get you in touch with someone else who can help you and then set a time to meet ashore or at one anothers boat. Now I hate to make a broad generalization (well I guess this is more a generalization about broads) but SHUT THE F UP ON THE RADIO ALREADY!!!!! Damn man, I mean everyday all day long I have to listen to these shrill voices come cackling over the speaker like freaking witches around the cauldron. They hail each other for the dumbest f ing reasons and then 20 minutes later, call the same person back. All day I hear these stupid boat names calling even stupider boat names, "Galloping Lady, Galloping Lady, Galloping Lady this is Windsong do you copy, over." They wait ten seconds and if they don't get a response they start yelping again. The thing that bugs me the most about the VRNB's is that when I actually need to use the VHF for something quick, they are tying up the available channels OR even better they have the audacity to lecture others about "proper radio etiquette" by cutting in on transmissions and insisting you switch channels or something. Man I'm telling you, there are a couple of boats on my list and if this one chick doesn't shut up I fear I'm gonna dinghy over to this guys boat and tell him to put a muzzle on the old lady. I guess this is what happens when pussy boys take girls that run the roost to sea and deprive them of a phone to call their sister ten times a day to talk shit on some other chick at work she hates. Whatever. PS...there are some bad ass sailor women that I have met and are not included in my hate list. I'm headed to Trinidad soon for some work to be done on the boat and last time I was there, they were actually worse than here because THEY run the cruiser net. Oh and you may be thinking, why don't you just turn it off, yeah well I usually do right after the net because if I leave it on my skin starts to crawl by 9 AM. I think Fabian and them gave up weeks ago trying to reach me on VHF cause they know I don't keep it on. The thing that sparked this rant this morning is that there is some wet flapping douche bag couple anchored up really close to me and this morning I think they installed concert quality speakers on the mast and had the VHF on full blast so I was cheerfully woken up at 7 AM to a symphony of jackjawing from their little cult as they made plans for the veggie market and doing some arts and crafts demo later.

Anyway, do me a favor if you are ever on a boat, don't get on the radio unless you have to, don't lecture other people on etiquette when your a tool and please don't use military jargon over the air, we aren't sailing off to war or planning another beach assault on Grenada, use simple language and just ask me what time we are meeting for drinks...then shut up and read a book.

Take My Money, Leave The IPOD

You may be wondering about the new music on the blog. If you scroll all the way to the bottom of the page you will find a playlist of songs that I added today. This list will no doubt grow as I remember more songs that I want. The reason for the sudden addition of this playlist is no laughing matter. I broke my fucking IPOD and I'm seriously considering entering myself into a mental health institute as a high risk for suicide. Seriously. Nothing worse could have happened. I was trying to plug the FM tuner into this 3 way splitter I found and while I was trying to get it connected the IPOD flew off the tuner and of course fell from the chart table area all the way to the floor in the rear cabin on the starboard side, about a 7 foot fall. Needless to say it jarred the hard drive loose and the fucker wouldn't play anything. This SUCKS. I have somewhere close to 9000 songs on that thing. So...today as a way to cope with my grief I started messing around and loading this playlist thing and the result is what you hear on the page now. Luckily my friend Sawyer was here and I sent the wounded soldier back with him. With any luck he can have it fixed and sent back to me soon. The IPOD has become my heroin and I simply cannot live without it. On the bright side it's unbelievably beautiful tonight. The moon was full last night and is still lighting up the bay brilliantly tonight. The only thing that would make this better is if I could scroll through and find some of my favorite music to listen to.

Rainforest and Annadale Falls pics...

Goodbye Tom

Not really sure what to write tonight. I'm back in Grenada, sailed back this afternoon from Union Island. I got some shocking news tonight from a local friend. One of the guys I have been hanging out with recently died in a freediving accident a few days ago in Antigua. I still haven't got all the details but from what we have heard it sounds like a classic case of shallow water blackout. His name was Tom and he was a cool English guy that was down here doing marine biology research on lobsters. He was an experienced diver and the guys spent most days in the water SCUBA and/or freediving. Recently while we were all having some rum on Rum Boogie, Tom and I spent several hours talking about freediving and how to push the depth of the dives. I just had beers with him on Grand Anse beach during the Wet and Wild Kickoff Party on Monday of last week and again we talked diving. I didn't get to spend a ton of time around him but what I did know of him I can tell you that he is the type of guy who will be missed by many. We talked a lot about getting together in the future for some hardcore freediving and spearfishing and it sucks that it won't happen. I don't even know what else to write at the moment, I don't think it has really sunk in yet. Fair winds and a following sea to you Tom.

Dinghy Days...

At the moment I'm anchored up in Clifton, on Union Island. My buddy has been here since last week and we have been really enjoying island hopping around here in the Grenadines. We've had great weather, loads of turtles to swim with and we have had a couple of real nice beach bbq's with my friends Seckie and Vanessa. Last night we stayed in Chatham Bay and they brought out a bunch of local dishes, roasted breadfruit, creole chicken, fresh banana bread (banana bread is allowed on the boat), it was great. We stayed up late drinking rum and telling them some of our crazy stories from the fire deparment. We laughed all night and they stayed on the boat with us. This afternoon we came back to Clifton to clear out of customs. I'm planning on setting sail tonight around 2 AM to head to Grenada. There is a tropical depression about 800 miles East of the Windward Islands and I want to get south before it arrives. It's definitely interesting living your life being governed by weather. Carnival is in full swing in Grenada so we want to get back for that as well.

The other day when we arrived in Clifton, I met up with one of the local boat vendors who had a dinghy for sale. Without going into all the specifics, the current dinghy is not the greatest and I have been keeping my eye out for a better one. So the vendor takes me into Clifton on his water taxi and we walk up the hill towards the little airport. When we get to the spot, he shows me the dinghy and it's not what I want. It is too small, soft bottom, blah blah. I tell him no thanks but he won't quit. So we start bartering for a good half hour. As we do, we walk over to some little outdoor shed that is called the Anchor Bar. Basically it's a bunch of rasta dudes drinking what is literally called Strong Rum. NASA could probably use it for shuttle fuel. Since this guy wouldn't take no for an answer, I ended up working out a trade with him. I bought a bike a few months ago but it has proved to be more of a pain in my ass than it's worth. So I traded straight across for it and now I have a little 7 foot inflatable dinghy to run around in. It's actually cool cause it will work out for now and when I find a good solid hard bottom dinghy, I can deflate this one and keep it in reserve. So after we strike our bargain, we had to drink a shot of the Strong Rum as his way of closing the deal. We toss the boat on a cart and wheel it down the hill to the dock so we can drag it out to Rum Boogie with is water taxi. About this time, one of the local guys yells something I can't make out to the guy I made the trade with, by the way he calls himself Boutique but spells it Booteek. So Booteek looks at me and asks if I have a red dinghy. I say yes. He says his brother just saved it from landing on one of the many reefs surrounding Clifton. Ok. So we get back and Sawyer starts to tell me what happened. Right before I left I told him he needed to tie the dinghy up better or it would probably break loose. He said no worries and I was off. So while he was in the bathroom and his girl was sleeping, the little red dinghy made a break for it and drifted off. The local boat vendors wait at the mouth of the harbor like a bunch of freaking barracuda waiting to pounce on every boat making entry into Clifton and one of them, Skipper, shot over and tied up the dinghy and drug it back to Rum Boogie. He wanted to charge Sawyer 200 EC dollars and Sawyer told him just to wait for me. When I got back, sure enough Skipper comes over demanding 200 EC. Yeah, F you. I thanked him for saving the boat and we went round and round for a bit. I gave him 40 EC for his trouble and 1 gallon of gas but I made him take 4 bags of trash as well. Kind of a bizarre scene but this is the kind of shit that seems to happen daily. Sawyer and I got a good laugh out of the whole thing but I was wiped out from all the negotiating that day. The Tobago Cays were a welcome respite that evening. I will write more and post pictures probably sometime this weekend.

Carriacou Race Pics

Old School Sailing

Things have been cruising right along in my world. I spent most of last week doing routine maintenance and cleaning the boat. Usually after I’m done I go grab a few beers with Fabian and the rest of the English/Frenchie crew, some of which are doing marine biology. They are done with their research and sailing back to the BVI’s on Thursday so our group is gonna shrink back down to Fabio, the Frenchies, and myself. Last Friday was the beginning of the regatta in Carriacou, the sister island of Grenada. So Jackie, one of the girls in the group, and myself sailed up to check out the race. We got in late Friday night and anchored up. After meeting up with another of our buddies in town, we were invited to join a couple of boats and help crew. Originally I had told another guy I would help on his race boat but I didn’t find him so I ended up joining another boat and I’m glad I did. I ended up sailing on a 120 year old gaff rigged schooner. It was amazing. This boat has been meticulously stripped down and rebuilt in the original way. There are no winches onboard, all the ropes are 3 strand and you use block and tackles for tensioning. All the fittings are brass including the furler. Just check out the pics to see how beautiful she is. It was the first time I have sailed on a monohull in a while so it was fun to get out and feel the boat heeling well over. I had a blast all day. In typical sailor fashion the beers started flowing right after the race and the party carried on well into the early hours of Sunday morning. Sunday was a race for the local sloops from Carriacou and Bequia. Jackie and I had to get back to Grenada so we weren’t able to race on Monday which was a bummer. We got back in to Mt. Hartman in Grenada around noon on Monday and I tied up to the marina so I could give Boogie a good bath, refill water, do all that fun boat stuff. Grenada is getting into full swing in preparation for Carnival which starts on Monday morning at 4 AM. In the days leading up to it there are events going on all over the island. Monday on Grand Anse beach there was a big wet and wild party and the beach was jam packed with people. I think Carnival is gonna be a wild one. I keep hearing how nuts it is so I can’t wait.

My good friend Sawyer and his girlfriend arrived on Tuesday morning and will be staying with me for 10 days. They got a proper intro to Caribbean life after we spent the day cruising around running errands. I think I FINALLY have the windlass fixed (fingers crossed). We’ll see. After we were done with our chores we took 3 dinghies and a bunch of us went over to Hog Island to have some sundowner beers at Roger Bar. That place is just a tiny shack on the beach with a few tables and Roger the bartender/owner. It’s the only thing currently on the tiny island and it’s one of our favorite spots complete with all the lunatic pirates that have been living on their boats for longer than I have been alive. You just drive the dinghy right up on the beach and walk barefoot into the bar, shirts are optional. It’s awesome. After that we headed up to one of the Frenchie’s villa. He has a bad ass little villa with a big balcony that we have been spending a lot of nights recently, drinking beer, rum or wine and just carrying on laughing and busting chops until all hours of the night. We got to bed around 1 AM and I got up at 7 this morning to get us underway. We are currently sailing to Union Island to spend the night in Clifton and see Janti at Happy Island and then tomorrow, off to the Tobago Cays where we will hook up with my pal Seckie. As usual things are good and I’m making good progress on the boat. With Sawyer in town and us sailing through the Cays and then back to Grenada for Carnival, I probably won’t get much done in the way of blogging but if I get a chance I will try and get a post together, maybe at least some Carnival pics. I’m sure glad Jaymie is gone, she would just hate the energy on the island right now.