Night
I haven’t closed the wonderful huge hatches in the master bedroom since coming aboard. Even in the heaviest rainstorms they don’t drip. But that is different once the bimini is gone. So I had to shut them in the rains overnight and it got sticky and humid. The heat and my nervousness about the impending haul out meant I didn’t sleep particularly well.
I awoke before the 06:00 alarm and made a coffee while looking at the weather. It is rainy and windy and it doesn’t look any better for the next couple of hours. My monthly Starlink subscription ends/starts today, so I placed my account on “hold” to prevent getting billed. I’d expected to be able to use it for the rest of the day but within 10 minutes service had been disconnected. That was OK, I could see the dark rainclouds and didn’t need weather radar to tell me any more. I weighed anchor at 07:00 and turned downwind just as the heavy rain and 30 knot winds arrived. Despite only being in idle forward I was doing 4 knots. I tried to keep my speed down so that I could arrive on time.
At 07:50 I was at the entrance channel to the haul out and very dark clouds were coming over the hills. I called on the VHF and asked if I could delay due to weather, but they said they had a busy day and I’d need to reschedule if I missed my timeslot. So I braved the entrance. Outside it was quite windy, but once in the inner harbour it was dead calm and reversing into the haul out pit (despite having no bow thruster) was easy-peasy.
Haul Out
I’m sitting here outside of the marina office now. I have a shady spot and WiFi access. The sound of the pressure-washer cleaning the hull is music to my ears. Soon they’ll move Zanshin to her spot in the yard and I can go aboard and finish the storage arrangements.
Noon
It was a mistake to wait until today to remove the dodger and do the other deck work. It has been raining on and off since this morning. More “on” than “off”. I had to spread out the pieces inside the boat to see if I can get them to dry out and I hope they don’t go mouldy on me!
My cleansing shower after finishing up the boat work didn’t keep me from sweating in the humidity and heat of the day. I took a bus to the Paradise Beach Club to have some lunch and wait for my flight to Grenada. Ostensibly there’s nothing to do at the airport and I preferred to wait in comfort and style.
At the airport I discovered that there really isn’t anything at all to do there. But the wait wasn’t long before we got ushered through security and into the air-conditioned waiting area. We had to wait a while so that we could board, and take off, between the passing thunderstorms. My seat had a view of the cockpit radar display and our pilots did an admirable job of jockeying us between the dark red areas of heavy rain.
Afternoon
I took a taxi to La Sagesse hotel, having neglected to remember that every coastal road I’ve ever taken in the Caribbean goes up and down numerous hills and that halves the average speed. This trip was even slower, exacerbated by heavy rains which had water gushing out of the storm drains.
The hotel was everything I could want in a Caribbean hotel. No TV and no phone. No A/C. Clean, spacious, 3 ceiling fans and a floor fan. No glass in the windows, but fly screens and wooden shutters. And the bar was open. The only downside was that only 2 rooms were in use and the people from the other room headed out for dinner.
After a nice curried beef meal I returned to the room and could hear the gentle surf only feet away. The gentle background chirping of the tree frogs gained volume overnight until they actually drowned out the surf; but it was so very relaxing to be in a bed where I had not chance of rolling out overnight.
2 thoughts on “2023-07-24 Haul out and travel”
I’m going to miss reading about your adventures in the Caribbean and look forward to your return. Safe travels!
Thanks for the kind words. Of late I’m getting lots of SPAMmers posting spurious comments so it is thrilling to get a real comment; and a positive one to boot! I’m about to head to the airport in Grenada and continue the lengthy return home.
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