The Wild Wild West

Lately, cruisers have rightfully given Venezuela a wide berth because of some incidents of piracy. Los Roques is an archipelago that is a territory of Venezuela. We went back and forth about visiting these islands. All recent reports suggested that despite being about 70 miles off the coast of Venezuela, Los Roques is gorgeous and safe, and doesn't even really consider itself to be Venezuela. However, we had all but ruled it out because at the official dollar/Bolivar exchange rate, it would cost about $900 to check in. As we would only be staying for a week or so, this was too rich for our blood.

 

Gran Roque

 

 

When we heard reports about the ease of getting a ten-fold better exchange rate through the healthy black market for American dollars ("lechuga verde"), we changed our minds and decided to visit the island chain. We were a bit nervous because we had had zero experience with black market anything. Then, just before we left another cruiser informed us (through second and third hand reports) that we were putting our lives at risk and exposing ourselves to rampant local corruption. As we had not heard this from any other sources, we decided to forge ahead.

 

As we made our way to Los Roques, we put our AIS transponder into "silent mode," to prevent anyone from tracking us. We left our mast lights off and only used our deck navigation lights. On my watches, Matt advised that I should wake him up if I saw any fishing boats headed towards us at high speed.

 

Having spent about a week in Los Roques, we are happy to say that we have found it very safe. The few other boats in the area seem to be mostly mega-rich Venezuelans and local fishermen just making a living. My guess is that pirates here would be tolerated about as much as pirates descending on Martha's Vineyard.

This bird was foundering in the water and let Matt pull him out.

Changing money and checking in was time-consuming but otherwise uneventful. Almost no English is spoken here. We have been the only boat in many of the anchorages. The terrain and water remind us of the Bahamas. The water is not as clear, probably because of the super-fine sand that is almost like flour, but the fish life is incredible. Everything is super-sized: sea stars, sea cucumbers, big parrotfish, school masters, grunts, huge  conch, and gargantuan sea biscuits. Spear-fishing is not allowed and the fish seem to be a lot less scared of snorkelers as a result. Cero mackerel and mullet jump out of the water all over the place and the place is swarming with turtles. Our only complaint is the many mosquitoes that descend at dusk.

 

The turtle research center was closed but was interesting.
The island (Dos Mosquises) is an archaeological dig site for
the founding natives.

The sailing is great. Lots of wind and relatively smooth water. We have mostly been able to sail between the islands, other than one almost windless day. We haven't seen any sharks but did pull up our trolling line one day to find the head of a tuna with the body chomped off.

Lobster anyone?

Matt caught a few crawfish with the lobster snare. It is basically a little lasso on a stick that you hook around the tail of the lobster. You have to hook them just so or they wiggle away. Fortunately, several lobsters let Matt get a third and fourth try after escaping initially. One side effect of not shooting the lobsters was that they stay a lot more active. Seeing the first lobster wriggling around apparently drove home the fact that it is a living creature and Conrad started crying and wailing uncontrollably and saying that he wanted to let it go (conveniently, Conrad doesn't like to eat lobster). He has never given a second thought to the many lobsters and fish we have captured and eaten over the last couple of years. After initially saying that he planned to stay in his room for 3 days in protest of the impending lobster slaughter, he apparently got over it and didn't have any issue with the subsequent catches.

Underway again

5 dorado and 1 barracuda. Fish is on the menu for the near future.

As we left Grenada to head to Los Roques, the forecasted light winds were MIA. Fearing that we would be motoring the entire 290 miles, we seriously considered turning around and waiting for better winds. We decided to keep going because the forecasts weren't showing anything better for the next week and you never can tell what will happen anyway.

Eventually the winds picked up enough to fly our asymmetrical spinnaker and it stayed up for almost the entire trip. Matt put it back in the sock as a precaution on the second night because of rain squalls in the area and then on the last morning again because of more rain. Despite the hard time I gave Matt about the purchase of the spinnaker and radar, I was happy to have them on this trip.

We averaged a respectable 5 plus knots (seeing 7-8 at times and under 2 at others). The easy downwind sail in relatively calm seas was just what we needed to get our sea legs back.

A hitchhiker.

The spinnaker effectively blocked our solar panels for much of the day as we headed west, so we had to run the generator a couple of times. A wire that connects the switches to the generator came loose again, causing the gen to die suddenly. Matt quickly figured out and repaired the issue. These types of hiccups used to bother us a lot more when we were first starting out.

We had good luck trolling lures and scored a bunch of fish, ending our dry spell. Mark and Conrad handled the passage relatively well, although we were subjected to the phrase, "I'm bored" more times than any human being should have to. They were fascinated by the multitude of stars and even saw the fin and fluke of a large whale. Conrad thinks it might have been a sperm whale based on the shape of the fin.

Los Roques

I'll write more about Los Roques but so far it lives up to its reputation of rivaling the Bahamas for crystal clear water.

Last days in Grenada

Is this thing on?

Our last few days in Grenada were bittersweet. Although I had been itching to move on, I may have been the only one on our boat that feels that way. And I got a little teary about leaving the friends we have made. Conrad took it especially hard. It was small consolation that most of our friends will also be leaving soon.

 

We added the floating dinghy concert to the list of unique activities we have experienced. A floating barge hosts a musical concert, surrounded by dozens of dinghies and swimmers. Mark and Conrad spent most of the time in the water playing with their friends. There might have been some beer consumed.

 

 

 

Matt's volleyball team won bronze in the Secret Harbour tournament. I think they were really the best team, but I'm a little biased. It was a fun opportunity to play and watch some exciting games.

 

Watching the Lego movie on Del Max in St. George's
with Four Coconuts on our last night.



Scenes from Grenada

Robots made as part of school, along with the poem,
"My Robot’s Misbehaving"

We have been spending the last couple of weeks getting ready to leave Grenada. I guess we could have done a lot of these projects during the 3+ months that we've been here, but we have been busy with friends and all the activities that Grenada has to offer.

Unda de sink rum at "Patricks" restaurant where
we celebrated Mark on Amelie IV's birthday.

Matt fixed the freezer lid that had previously required a crowbar to open. So now I can actually open it. Although it is so deep that if I tried to touch the bottom, my feet would be sticking out of the top. It would be quite unladylike.

We sewed up some areas of the mainsail where the shrouds have been wearing away at the batten covers. Sewing with pliers is slow but we got it done. We also had been debating whether or not to buy a new inflatable dinghy. Ours is functional but probably on its last legs. And inflatables are relatively inexpensive here. However, dinghies seem to feature disproportionately in the theft, damage, and general loss categories. I am convinced that buying a new one would just be asking for trouble. So for now, Matt has put on some big patches and bought some crazy-expensive specialized paint to cover some of the worn spots.

In other news, I have been taking Spanish lessons offered by the Venezuelan embassy to help facilitate our planned time in South America. The classes are made up mostly of cruisers. They don't seem to mind that almost all of us will be leaving soon. Matt is playing in the volleyball tournament at Secret Harbour. If the weather forecasts hold, we will be planning to head out next week.

Hunting for the crabs that were thriving in the months of growth
that covered our boat until yesterday.

Great birthday bash for Helena (Matilda) and
 Arbel (Del Max) at L'Anse Aux Epines Cottages.

Daily life at Camp Grenada -or- Rescue at sea!

Book club kids "begging" for the leftover cookies that were the
educational Bingo prizes. What a bunch of hams.

Our friend Steph from Endless Pleasure calls this "Camp Grenada" because of all the activities available for cruisers. Many energetic cruisers and businesses have put time and effort into creating a true sense of community among the boaters and the local people.

Photo by Natalia Alvarez Garcia on Te Natura.

Of course, in addition to the yoga, volleyball, dominoes, Spanish lessons, and Happy Hour, among many other activities, we still have our day-to-day boat work and household chores, like laundry. Which leads us to our next story that highlights some of the perils of living on a boat...

Usually we do laundry in a bucket. But sheets are just too big, so we wash them in a washing machine and then hang them on the boat to dry. Today, we hauled a couple loads of dirty laundry into the dinghy and washed the clothes at a local marina. The water pressure was low because of usage at a nearby construction site, so it took awhile for the remaining trickle to fill the washing machine. After hauling the clean wet sheets back to the boat, I carefully hung them around the boat. They were drying quickly in the wind so I would pop outside to check them every now and then. On one of these rounds, I noticed that there was a blank space on the life lines where one of the sheets was hanging just moments before. I ran to the back of the boat and saw the sheet mostly submerged, with a corner of it still floating in the water but slowly moving away from the boat. Matt had taken the dinghy in to buy some produce so I couldn't just go pick up the sheet. I tried calling a neighbor on the VHF but she didn't respond. Just as I was trying to figure out whether I could get the paddleboard or kayak down fast enough to rescue the sheet, a dinghy went by and I was able to flag it down for assistance. Tony, from a neighboring boat, was able to retrieve the sheet for me. So after rinsing the sheet a few times, it was a happy ending. Needless to say, I did not again hang the sheet in the front of the boat, where the wind is strongest.

This particular incident is unlikely to happen on land but the helpfulness of the friendly neighbor is similar to what you would find in any community.



The boys enjoying a performance of "Frozen" put on by the girls.
Photo by Natalia Alvarez Garcia.

Belmont Chocolate Plantation. Photo
by Natalia Alvarez Garcia.

Chocolate tea. Photo by Natalia Alvarez Garcia.

International Flip-a-Rock Day. Photo by Natalia Alvarez Garcia.

Rainy Grenada

It's the rainy season in Grenada but you wouldn't have known it from the amount rain that was actually falling. There has been enough "liquid sunshine" to avoid getting water from shore (the last time we had to do that was late June, almost 3 months) but we were down to less than a quarter tank on one side. Matt had beefed up our water collection system and modified it to go directly into the tank. We just needed a good rain.

Just as we were getting ready to haul water from shore, the sky opened up. Since then, it has been rainy. Both of our 120 gallon water tanks are completely full. So the rain can stop now. We have had to run our generator for the last few days because of the lack of sunshine. And there has been a bit of lightning, which always makes sailors uncomfortable.

We have spent our time indoors doing school, playing board games, watching a movie or two, and planning out our travels beyond Grenada. There was enough of a break in the rain to play at the beach for a bit as well. Although it was a relief to get to Grenada and stay put for awhile after speeding down here, we're getting antsy to get moving.

Still in Grenada

Royal Mt. Carmel Waterfall

Our stay in Grenada has been the longest anywhere as live-aboard boaters. There is lots to do for the kids and we could be busy every minute of the day if we were so inclined. We have seen a lot of the mainland of Grenada, especially around St. George's and Prickly Bay. But getting the gumption to go anywhere else, other than on day trips, seems to take Herculean mental effort (move the boat?  gasp!). There is comfort in knowing a place and its people (both cruisers and land-based folks) but staying in one spot hasn't provided much inspiration for updating the blog.

Another shot of Mt. Carmel with Four Coconuts

Our days have been spent sweating, swimming, and socializing. It's really hot here. Luckily, we've somewhat acclimatized and most of the time there's a nice breeze at anchor. But sweltering in the blazing heat while walking or being sardine-stuffed into a local bus makes you long for air-conditioning and bathtubs of ice. But it hasn't reached the point of nostalgia for Chicago winters.  I'm not certain it could ever be hot enough for that.

Prickly Bay Marina arranged a boat safety seminar for cruising kids.

The Coast Guard boat went so fast that it caught air. It was a thrill
for the sailboat crowd, used to doing 6-8 knots rather than 35+.
Michelle and Noah from Jade

Mark and Conrad have been working on school and enjoying time with friends. They participate in book club every week and attend kid yoga, as well as spending a decent amount of time at the beach and pool. The kids (mostly the girls) even put on a stage version of Disney's Frozen. The Tikki Bar at Prickly Bay Marina is like a second home to all of us.

Cruising kids plugged in. So much for getting away from it all.
(It's actually rare to see this many kids on devices.)

We went to Magazine Beach for International Rock Flipping Day.
According to Conrad, it is the best beach ever.

Matt has been plugging away at projects on the list. The pool noodle rain collection system has worked pretty well but got blown down in the first big winds that hit and needed to be reinforced. He installed brighter galley lights. The difference is literally like night and day. He has braved biting sea lice and ear-burrowing mini-crabs as he keeps the algae growth under control on our props, chain, and hull.

Nothing big has broken lately [knock on wood] except for the controller box on our less than 2-year old freezer. The system has never performed correctly and we have had to replace the controller three times. Although it is still under warranty, the company has decided that it's the boat's fault. Right now, we have a working freezer but who knows how long that will last.

In the past, we have been asked, "What do you eat?" Well, lately the answer is "Lots of good stuff at a reasonable price."

Gilles, a former butcher, owns a local dive shop and also volunteered
 to visit the abattoir with Matt and cut some steaks for us.

We haven't tried the steak yet because of all the fish we bought.

Toutou from Four Coconuts helping us to eat some sushi.

Chikungunya has hit Grenada in epic proportions. Cruisers are dropping like flies around us and it seems like only a matter of time before we're hit. Fortunately, it's not usually life-threatening and kids seem to recover pretty quickly. As if that and regular dengue weren't enough to worry about, there seems to be a flu-like virus (or several) making the rounds as well. It's quite a change from the general good health that we and our fellow cruisers usually enjoy.