And just when it was all working....

I really miss hearing the old saying "If it's not broke don't fix it" and having it be true. At the moment on our little house it seems that pre-empting things that are going to break is the only way to save ourselves an awful lot of time and money.

More out of curiosity than any problem we checked to see how our trusty new Altenator was doing. It turns out that it's not the best being too hot to touch after a few minutes of it running. Further investigations have clocked that there is a small power leak coming from the regulator... even when all the power is off, hummm. So we have got a new blower fan, ducting and are on the look out for a new reulator to top it off.

We are taking no chances! Just because it's not broke YET, we are still going to fix it!

On a happy note we have a new boat of the marina (Bay). This beautiful old schooner from Hog Island which is currently competing in the Carriacou Regatta, fingers crossed for them.

Schooner @ Hog Island

We broke up our mass maintenence yesterday by going to our second Hash run up in St Andrews. A beautiful track and, smartly, we chose to do the walkers trail this time and jog that instead. This meant it only took us an hour and a half, we got to have fantastic chats with new, awesome people all the way round and were still exhauted by the end but at that happy point where you can still knock back the beers after!

Here are a few photos of the people we met and the great party last night!!

'Cyber-Flash' and his wife. Bidding for the International Hash in Brussells

Horst & Gabby from sv Fair Isle

Post Race happiness!

Party going on into the night. Carib! - The Reason we hash! :)

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out

The Kindness of Strangers

Don't Worry - be Happy!

Travelling around exploring new places all the time quite often leaves you at the mercy of others. Needing to know how to get somewhere, where is the best place to buy something or when a certain activity is on means that you are always in conversation with people you have never met and that you quite often base a lot of trust on what they have to say. 

Sometimes this can be quite un-nerving and sometime it can be exceptionally rewarding - one of those times for us was yesterday.

In need of doing a shop we were up bright and early and made our way down to the main intersection leaving the Marina. It's a pretty long walk to the supermarket from that point still and sadly 9 times out of 10 you do need to walk as the strip of road is not a main bus route. We started on our way only to be stopped buy a guy asking if we needed a taxi, the gut reaction kicked in. Taxi = Expensive, so 'No thanks' and we walked on. Yet the guy drove along side us and with a great smile on his face said: "Ah I'm only jokin' wid you - hop in, no charge. Where you heading?"

A stranger offering lift? Now that brings back all kinds lessons drummed into you as kid about strangers but it was a long walk and hey, if we ended up having to give the guy a few dollars it was no bother. We jumped in and so began our time with 'Sugar-Ray'.

Happy and friendly we chatted back and forth about what we were doing that day -shopping and finding a hairdresser- and then he enquired where we were from and proceeded to tell us how he had lived in London for 6 yrs to save up and buy his local business.. "I will show you" he says, and off we zoom, still a little uncomfortable, to Ray's Tyre shop. He shows us around, introduces us as his new friends and then he drives us over to the Shopping Centre. It's money time, or so we think but,  "I'll wait for you guys here if you like and then we can go to the Barber's - i know a great guy". 

Humm what to do - this guy has been nothing buy kind and helpful but yet all our instincts are telling us to break away somehow, that this will not end well. It's at that point where we both realised how un-trusting we are, how security and safty aware we had become doing this trip. With so much unknown and so many story of attacks, kidnappings etc we had let all the hype get to us and become so un-trusting of everyone. It sucked so after a quick shop and a new energy we jumped back in the car and it was onwards to the Barber. 

As we drove we all talked of live and love of travels and adventures and leant all about 'Sugar-Ray'. He had had some major accidents in his life (a car crash let to 12 broken bones, cracked skull and ruptured stomach), leaving him un-able to move his knee and heavily scarred; but to him that meant he was the luckiest person alive. So in turn he wanted to make other have the best life possible and, luckily for us, that meant showing a young travelling couple the 'real' Grenada. We met his local barber and his pastor before he then insisted on taking us back to his house to show us around and share a beer. We tried local blood sausage (sadly still gross), met his neighbours and chatted out on his balcony for ages until... "Mon i gotta go. I have work in an hour".

He still insited on dropping us all the way home and even invited us to dinner next week. On the way back we quickly stopped off at his girlfriends work as our last stop. Gorgeous and obviously in love with him but "Shhh" he says, "My wife would not like it". I guess even the kindest people have flaws.

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

Island Explorers

We have now been in Grenada for a week and a half and yesterday decided that it was time enough that we put on our explorer hats and found out all the beauty that the island had to offer.

We decided the best way would be to get a hire car and go for a day out in the north of the island. We picked up our car at Maitland Rentals in Grand Anse bay bright and early piled in our camping gear for the night and headed north. First stop on the agenda was the Dougleston Estate, an old spice plantation, to see how the famous Nutmeg and Mace are produced. However as you can see, it didn't appear to be in quite the working order that the tourist map would have you believe...

The old Mill Wheel @ Dougleton Estate

Yet with vines and rusty old machines to investigate we had a whale of a time and enjoyed being able to walk around all the old buildings with no one around. From here we hopped back in the car and headed east to drive through the island. At first it went all good; however then the roads became extremely steep and gravel based and then new 'roads' appeared out of nowhere that were not on the map and completely threw us off. Luckily for us it only took a moments stop and a puzzled look before someone would come to our rescue and point us back in the right direction. It has to be said; the people in Grenada are some of the nicest and friendliest in the world.

'Walking the coco' as it is called

Onwards to the Belmont Estate to check out the Chocolate Factory, num num, and a real working plantation. They grow such a variety of fruits, herbs and other products there as well as the abundance of coco, and we met a super happy local guy who told us all about the same original old fashioned process they use to make the Chocolate. They still sort and turn the coco beans on trays in the sun by walking through them and I even got to have a go.

A few bar of chocolate later and it was onwards to the Rivers Rum distillery. It was a big disappointment. Run down and badly managed. Although it was interesting to see a still working distillery the place was dirty and the rum was dripped in its bottles through an old grimy drainpipe. Unsurprisingly the rum tasted very unpleasant and made you do the *cringe* face. Not sure if the thought of the sewage around the plant was a factor in that? Hummm

Jarvis checking out the distiller

Grenville street market

We passed through the lovely harbour town of Grenville and had a great lunch with all the locals at a food kitchen watching the waves crash onto the rocks and then spent the afternoon around the huge volcanic crater of Lake Antoine before heading to the most northern tip of Bathway Beach to find a place to set up our tent for the night.

Now in theory the place was perfect and very sheltered, but the wind was gusting and getting our tent to stay pitched in the sand was a challenge. We got as far as the final peg before we saw a group of guys with huge machetes slowly pacing up and down the beach at about 10:00pm, spotting us and then heading our way. I don't think either of us have ever moved so fast, not since the hash anyways, and quickly grabbed everything, jumped in the card and zoomed off into the night before we had even shut the boot. I don't know that they were going to do anything more than say hi - but alone, at night, in the middle of nowhere and seeing men with knifes??? Well i don't think I'll take any chances.

Ironically we had the best drive back down to Clarks Court bay Marina, singing to music and trying to make the final litre of petrol we had in the car last  ~ there was an awful lot of coasting involved ~ and ended up safely tucked up in our beds by Midnight. Great adventures had all round.. the only sucky part was that one day to explore was not nearly enough.

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

Run (in the) Forest, Run!

Our first major group activity here in Grenada began on Saturday. Every week during the summer there is an organised 'Hash' run. For those of you who don't know what one is (I sure didn't when i heard about it), check out this Wikipedia description :-Hash House Harriers

In short, 'Hashing' is trail running that is big on the social scene but I personally think that makes it sound way too easy. We knew the background, we had read other accounts of it, seen a few photos and so decided that we had to give it a try.

At 2:15pm we hopped on an organised mini-bus that drove us up to Grand Etang forest in the centre of the Island. We arrived to a mass crowd of people from every age, culture and nationality huddling around a guy dressed in his 'Bastille day' colours starting to explain about the race.

He gave us a few things to note:-
1)Follow the paper, it marks the trail
2)There are false trails - be prepared!

3)There are ropes for some descents
4)Help each other it's all for fun!

So, in the blazing sunshine we signed up to the Hashing 'Virgins' list and on the GO horn, we were outta there.

Before the race.. looking happy and eager

Now luckily for us it hadn't rained that day but unlucky for us that didn't seem to make a difference to the mud. Piles of people sliding and wriggling their way down an epic mud bank started the trail and separated the pack.We managed to get out into the middle somewhere and proceeded to spend 2 hours jumping boulders, leaping across streams and swinging from branches.. oh and some running in there as well :)

Sliding/Climbing down the slopes

Halfway through we had an awesome surprise at finding ourselves in front of the Seven Sisters waterfall but sadly we had no time to stop and take the dip we were craving, it was onwards and (much to my disappointment) upwards. ALOT of upwards!

Seven Sisters Waterfall

Finally when the light started to fade and we had made our way around a large patch of Razor grass (it's EVIL and shredded my legs)  we hit the tarmac and ran up the final stretch to the finish line.

Utterly unimpressed at another hill!

When the final straggler had arrived the announcer called upon the 'Virgins' to come and get their certificate.

Please take some happiness in this little excerpt of it:-

Please let it be known that Antonia, having done it with all of us. At times rough, sometimes wet, sometimes hard, sometimes fast, grunting, groaning, completed this ordeal and is henceforth not to be considered a virgin in the Grenada Hash Harriers.

Our final hurrah on accepting our certificates was to be showered by all the 'experts' with bottles of beer and then to carry on with the party!

Celebrating with the crew from ZeroToCruising and Unicorn

 It was brutal and exhausting and exceptionally muddy, but will we be doing it next week? You betcha!

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

Finding a Balance

It's hot, it's beautiful and you are with the person that you love. Sometime with a combination like that it is hard to be motivated and plan activities, excursions or even hop on a bus going north and explore. When you have everything you could ask for on your doorstep it often happens that you become a bit complacent and only realise a week later you have done nothing more than read, snorkel and wander around together.

But hey, whats the problem with that right? Nothing! But we have to remind ourselves now and again that we don't have forever to sail around and we don't want to miss anything or regret anything and I think, for us, not doing much would mean a few regrets.

Although we originally though a year and half to do this all in sounded like such a long time i can tell you, it's not and so we are realising more and more that we need to strike a balance in what we do.

Getting our activities on! Kayaking in Mangroves in Carriacou

On the plus side, now that we have decided to stay put for a few weeks here in Grenada it will hopefully give us the perfect opportunity to find this balance. With such an active Sailing Community here there is the option to do something everyday of the week and meet people from all over. That in itself is a booster to get up and get seeing things on the island.

On the list so far of things we want to do here:-

• Waterfalls - LOTS of them 
• Sulphur Springs
• Old Run Distillery
• Walks and hikes in the Forest Reserve
• Camping
• Be part of the Carriacou Regatta

So many things to do and try; it's a great feeling.... now just need to see where the relaxing part comes in to make sure the balance doesn't tip the other way either :)

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

To Off- Season or not to Off-Season?

Sailing around in the Caribbean, Med or elsewhere is generally envisioned as idealistic weather, lots of drinking, spending raucous amounts of money on activities, getting a great tan and seeing all there is to see. Sound Perfect? Yup, sounds pretty good to me... but this is normally a two week thing. Can it really be a long term lifestyle? I personally think not and here in I think defines one of the key differences between 'sailing' and 'cruising'. The difference in fact between visiting and living somewhere, in it being a holiday or a lifestyle. When 'sailing' becomes long term there are a lot more options and factors to look at when choosing where to go and when to go there. For us there was no question about the 'where'. But the when? Now that was more difficult.

For anyone who has decided to vacation in 'off-Season', you will know there are at times large differences in this and at peak times. Sailing is no different. When you go somewhere in-season you will find the following :-

• The services at each spot to be open more frequently (or at all)
• The weather more pleasant and predictable
• A more active community of sailors to interact with
• Higher amount of events, festivals etc to see/do

There are always exceptions but generally this is what we have found to be the case. However you will also find the following when sailing in-season:-

• Higher Marina/Mooring prices
• Less friendly local people (after seeing a thousand and one tourists, you can understand)
• More densely packed anchorages – sometimes there is no space at the inn!
• Hiked up prices for activities and boat repairs
• People, LOTS of people which makes finding that desert island a lot harder

Clearly there are pros and cons for each option and I think in part this depends on what type of sailor you and and what kind of experience you want to get. For us we wanted to maximise seeing everything possible, experience places the way the locals do and to do all of this at as low a cost as we could. (Plus we didn't want to break our tradition of always sailing in the most *e-hem* exciting weather). Therefore it seemed to be a combination of these reasons that we in the end chose to leave when we did and go 'Off-peak'. Yes this got us to arrive in time for the start of hurricane season (probably the biggest reason not to sail at this time) but if you are smart and take the necessary precautions/back up plans etc, I see no reason why this should affect ones cruising experience.

So far we are happily loving our choice. Although a few mis-starts in getting to where we are – Yes we are talking about you Bay Of Biscay. But since we got far enough south that the butter started to melt everything has gone in our favour. We have been to so many places that we would have otherwise had to foregone in peak due to amount of anchorage space and with such fewer people we have met some amazing people happy to talk to us. The best bit though has been the chance to be able to do everything we have on the budget we have. In the end we are only just starting our in life in our 20's and yet have got to see this spectacular world. For us it's 'off-Season' all the way!!

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

It's the little things in life...

For the past few days we have happily been out of contact with the world in the Tobago Cays. Just us, our Croc Bones and the most beautiful backdrop. A set of 5 little sandy islands that give 'a little piece of paradise' a new meaning. No inhabitants and at this time of the year very few yachts milling about, just the unspoilt reefs and thriving wildlife. We had been looking forward to these islands for quite some time but were slightly worried after we had heard of a Yacht being boarded 2 days prior to our arrival. We were incredibly grateful for the warning and therefore took every precaution necessary and so managed to have some of the best moments of our trip to date. It's true what they say, it really is the little things...

Swimming with Sting rays...

Watching the most glorious Sunrise.. (Completely worth being up at 5:30am for)

Getting to have a desert islands to ourselves – AMAZING. We stayed there for 7 hours and not a soul in sight. Petit Tabac we re-name you Jarv-ia.....

Being surrounded by shoals of fish and Turtles...

and finding another boat of the marina (bay in this case), a gorgeous old yacht from Italy.

I will let the pictures speak for themselves in this case.. a with thousand words in each?? Well, it makes this our longest post to date! :)

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!

Education at Sea

Both Jarvis and I are firm believers in continually educating yourself and working out your brain and were determined that whilst having the time of our life away from work, stress, rules and regulations, this would not mean sitting on our laurels and letting our brains turn to mush. Of course everyday we are learning something new about sailing and life on the ocean and that is great, but there is so much more to life as well.

Our here it is so tempting to while away your time with a good novel, take in the adventures of the island or just swim and snorkel the day away and, I personally think, these things should be done at every opportunity. But how about challenging yourself to learning something new, something that is going to make your brain yell at you once you are done?

Perhaps a new language, which would be one hell of a bonus if you are sailing around – French and Spanish having being incredibly useful on our own travels so far. Or what about something totally different to what you know? Psychology, History of where you are from (or where you are going?) Or how about getting more technically Savvy! Anything that you are interested in, or could find an interest in – just work that brain!

The best bit?! Nowadays we have no excuse for not being able to get this information of whatever we desire even out in remote islands. If you can get internet, you can download a text book or watch a video on a subject or even order course material to be ready and waiting at your next stop. It so easy to find out... check out these brain stretchers:-

• 45 things you can learn for free
• How Stuff works
• The Teaching Company - Supported by Bill Gates and Co

In our case Jarvis is learning Spanish and Computer Networking and I am learning Adobe Indesign and Creative Writing. Granted it's not at a fast pace and sometimes when the world looks a bit too perfect not be out exploring, the last thing I want to do is pick up a work book. Yet the feeling of knowing more, surprising yourself at what you can do and putting into practice your new skill. Now that is feeling worth trying for.

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out

The Beauty of Bequai

Now in beautiful Bequai (pronounced Beck-way) we are finding life has happily fallen back into a relaxed slow pace. A morning swim, followed by breakfast over looking the bay. Then  a stroll through town or an exploration down some streets or jungle. Lunch with locals eating delicious fresh food and then an afternoon of reading, snorkeling and watching the sunset until it's round three of food and off to meet new people for a beer in the evening.

Without the worries of being boarded or blown away, and with the local people exceptionally helpful and friendly life couldn't be better.

Bequai is only a small island, although the largest of the Grenadines, and yet if we didn't need to continue making our way south we would happily stay here for longer. It is perfectly equipped for Cruisers in services and supplies and despite some of the basic provisions being very hiked up in price, as long as you are prepared for this (and hopefully like us stocked up before you left) it shouldn't be a problem.

Being so small it is completely possible to just take a stroll and wander to the other side of the island. The island boasts huge difference in its landscape at all 4 point of the island (more idealistic beaches in the south and east compared to the enclosed rocky bay we are in in the west) each place is more than worth a visit.

Yesterday we visited the Bequai Turtle Sanctuary and saw the passion of the local guys who run the centre as they talked us through the turtles they look after, rescue and rehabilitate. They even take in those who would not survive in the wild including an albino Hawksbill turtle and one who sadly cannot see. The care and dedication of those who work there and their joy at sharing this with visitors was wonderful to see.

Bubble Blowing Turtle!!! CUTE :)

Our evening was equally amazing. We went to a local BBQ night at Keegans bar in lower bay and met a wonderful eclectic bunch of people from all over the world talking into the next morning and pouring over the huge differences in backgrounds but the beautiful similarities that had all brought each of us to this place and point in life. The evening started slowly with a film playing and with everyone in their own respective little groups but after a massive downpour forcing everyone to bundle around the bar everyone was soon drinking and dancing the night away. The first time I have been very grateful for one of the squalls. Thank you rain, you rocked!

All up - life is great people! Happy Days!

Tia and Jarvis, Over and Out!