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.