Officially it has been hurricane season since June 1st, when most boat insurance companies would like the boat to be secured out of the water or be below 12 degrees latitude (where hurricanes do not often go). Luckily we are insured for named storms as long as we follow our 'hurricane plan' which includes other options as well, such as being in a marina with an approved hurricane plan. Nevertheless, as the first week of July ended and we were still in St. Kitts/Nevis around 17 degrees, we knew we needed to keep moving. Each degree is about 60 miles so we still had over 300 miles to go. We prefer not to go 300 miles in a single sail, but we knew at this point we could if we had to in the event a storm formed and was headed to the central Caribbean. Thank goodness technology now reliably allows us access to weather reports and hurricane forecasts.
Over the next three weeks we hopped to Montseratt, Guadeloupe, Dominica, Martinique, St. Lucia, St. Vincent and finally Grenada, located right about 12 degrees latitude. Ken still has plans to write some posts about those sails and islands, but I wanted to get a quick post up to let everyone know where we are and what we are currently up to.
Montserrat volcano
Guadeloupe
Dominica
Rainbow from Martinique anchorage
St. Lucia
Arriving and checking into Grenada was very emotional for us. We could hardly believe we had reached our goal and traveled as far as we did over the past seven months. Now many, many sailors do this ALL the time and many go much further, but it was a big deal for us! One of the best parts was catching up with old friends we met along the way who had already reached Grenada. It felt like a homecoming.
This is another one of those places like Marathon in the Keys, and George Town in the Bahamas, where it feels like all the cruisers congregate. We have the morning VHF radio net where you get caught up on all the goings on about town on and off the water as well as weather, buy/sell items, charity events, musical events, just about anything you might be interested in doing. And even more exciting is twice a week there is an additional radio net just for kids! Kaylee was in heaven. There are kids everywhere and they pack up like dogs :-)
This is another one of those places like Marathon in the Keys, and George Town in the Bahamas, where it feels like all the cruisers congregate. We have the morning VHF radio net where you get caught up on all the goings on about town on and off the water as well as weather, buy/sell items, charity events, musical events, just about anything you might be interested in doing. And even more exciting is twice a week there is an additional radio net just for kids! Kaylee was in heaven. There are kids everywhere and they pack up like dogs :-)
As much as we were loving Grenada and hated to leave so quickly, there were things back in the States that we also wanted to get to. Kaylee had such mixed emotions, as did we all. She was having so much fun with all the boat kids but dying to get home to see friends and family.
We discussed, debated, hemmed, hawed and finally decided to leave the boat on the hard - out of the water. There are so many pros and cons to leaving the boat in or out of the water, but we came to the conclusion we would be the least stressed knowing it couldn't sink. So over the next 10 days we madly cleaned, packed and secured the boat so we could fly home. I'm just going to say for the record; preparing to leave the boat is the absolute worst part about boat life! Think moving houses, but worse because there is no where to put anything while you are doing it. Add to that the heat and the bugs (only because we were out of the water), it makes for a pretty miserable experience.
We discussed, debated, hemmed, hawed and finally decided to leave the boat on the hard - out of the water. There are so many pros and cons to leaving the boat in or out of the water, but we came to the conclusion we would be the least stressed knowing it couldn't sink. So over the next 10 days we madly cleaned, packed and secured the boat so we could fly home. I'm just going to say for the record; preparing to leave the boat is the absolute worst part about boat life! Think moving houses, but worse because there is no where to put anything while you are doing it. Add to that the heat and the bugs (only because we were out of the water), it makes for a pretty miserable experience.
Hauling out
We are now back in the States, but still traveling. As I write this, we are in Kentucky visiting Ken's parents. Soon we will be off to Charleston, back to Florida, west to Austin, up to the beach in North Carolina and hopefully some time in Tallahassee before going back to the boat in late November. Ken will make a trip back to the boat on his own in October to try to check as many things off the boat's to-do list as possible. Nothing major, but lots of little things including painting the bottom before she goes back in the water.
I know our blogging has been pretty hit and miss and as I read all our friends' blogs, I realize how much we leave out. For those interested in more about what we did, how we did it and what it's like living on the boat, please visit some of the links on this website's home page (especially Abby Singer, Symbiosis, Nightingale Tune, Pepper and Wandering Star) because they have done amazing jobs capturing the places and people we experienced.
I know our blogging has been pretty hit and miss and as I read all our friends' blogs, I realize how much we leave out. For those interested in more about what we did, how we did it and what it's like living on the boat, please visit some of the links on this website's home page (especially Abby Singer, Symbiosis, Nightingale Tune, Pepper and Wandering Star) because they have done amazing jobs capturing the places and people we experienced.
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