I’m still flying my yellow Q-Flag and haven’t been ashore. Today I’ll take care of my clearance formalities in Grenada. I’m anchored in Hillsborough, and need to take a bus to Tyrell Bay in order to visit the C&I office at Carriacou Marine. They open at 09:00 and it is currently only 06:30, but I will try to get there on time. Mark on Sea Life had told me that he’d spent hours there. The automated arrival system, SailClear, hadn’t been working. Which meant filling in lots of forms by hand. I’ve done my notification but expect to fill out those 5 forms by hand.
The night was relatively calm, although somewhat rolly. I think I’ll re-anchor today and go to Sandy Island – I can see that from here. There is a nightly anchoring or mooring fee, but it should still be quite nice.
Tyrrel Bay
I left the boat around 8AM and went ashore. Clearing-in formalities in Grenada my only shoreside agenda item. Mark had warned me that the dinghy dock stairs were “rickety” but he’d not mentioned that the little floating dinghy dock along the pier had nowhere to tie (or lock) the dinghy. But I got a stanchion, set a stern anchor and got on land. A little shakily, I think, as I’d not been off the boat for several days. I found the bus station and got on a Nr. 10 bus to Tyrrel Bay. I keep on wanting to use Tyrell Corporation/Bay – but it is spelled differently.
Customs and Immigration
I arrived at the Customs office at 08:40 and since it wasn’t scheduled to open until 09:00 it was still closed. I was number 2 in line, after a Frenchman who’d also arrived from Martinique. He’d been in Tyrrel Bay for the storm and somebody dragged into him and he’d said the conditions there yesterday were miserable.
Sometime around 09:30 the first officer arrived and opened up the office. By then there were 6 people in line. Two of us fit into the same air-conditioned office so I was happily chilling down when I heard the captain ahead of me asked “When did you arrive”. He said, “Thursday afternoon”. Upon which the immigration officer asked “why did you knot come and clear in yesterday?”. The captain started into the story of the storm and squalls and getting hit and dragged into. He said that he’d been in contact with the coast guard and just went on and on.
He sounded like a maritime version of “Alice’s Restaurant” with his four-part-harmony and depiction of events. And when the officer asked the newly-arrived customs officer about it, the captain then went on a lengthy discourse about how often he’d been there before, how the boat was his home and he didn’t want to leave it in inclement weather… I was a bit worried now, as I’d arrived and after the storm had passed on Friday I chose not to go ashore, although I could have done so.
Finished
Then it was my turn, and when asked why I hadn’t cleared in on Friday I answered “I have no excuse, after the storm passed I was tired and slept, when I woke it was too late to clear in. Which is why I’m here first thing in the morning. “. I swear that the officer cracked a small smile at that, but he said nothing more. 30 seconds later my passport got a WHACK from an entry stamp good for 90 days and I was shuffled off to pay my entry fees at Customs. Five minutes later I was done, having paid around US$60. Formalities in Grenada are now completed and it is time to get back to Zanshin.
The chandlery didn’t have courtesy flags, so I walked along the beach the mile to Budget Marine’s store an
d found what I needed there. The beach is pretty and Tyrrel Bay is nice – but crowded with yachts. I’m glad I didn’t go in there to seek shelter from the storm. All along the beach I saw little green apples on the ground and familiar seeming trees. It wasn’t until I saw a warning sign that I realized they were all Manchineel trees. Even the shade used by everyone waiting for the bus was from one of these poisonous trees. The bus soon arrived and transported me back to Hillsborough. The formalities in Grenada are now complete and just a memory.
Sandy Island
I’ve been invited for dinner over on Sea Life and have just relocated to Sandy Island. It is much busier here than I’d seen this morning, and since it is a national park you need to anchor in sand and I’ve found one spot that is a bit close to a another boat. We are perhaps 50 feet from each other at our closest point; they are French so probably don’t even notice me…
Evening
I’ve been invited aboard Sea Life for dinner and it was yummy, although I fear I might have imbibed a bit too much red wine. I carefully navigated back to Zanshin but I think that my course might have been a bit wobbly.