A Caribbean Holiday tale - afloat

[Baitrunner]

Day 5 -  Was a lazy start - you may see a theme here as the rest of the trip unfolds, but there wasn't much in the way of urgency amongst the crew.

 

Skippers 1 and 2 were sent ashore to go to the immigration office (if they had turned up) as we had to do the departure forms for leaving Grenada and Cariacou. They were also given orders for some extra rations that had been forgotten the day before and some fresh bread/fruit etc. 

 

After the previous days poor showing on the fishing front it was decided we need fresh bait to add to the lures - that little bit of spice for the fish.

 

The previous evening the boys had got the Chinamen out - now not what your thinking. Basically small lures like mackerel feathers, but with shiny stuff not feathers on them. Apparently the locals call them Chinamen because they are made in China - took a lot of thinking for that one.

 

As you can see the evenings bait session was a tad disappointing.

 

Whilst the shore party were away though my nephews girlfriend who had never held a rod before (easy boys) decided to she wanted to have a go. From this point on I have never seen anyone so obsessed with catching a fish and every opportunity going forward she had to get the rod out she was up for it. Good news was she did manage to catch a few fish that could be used for bait.  

 

Shore party returned, breakfast eaten and anchor upped and we were off to Union Island - our landing point for St Vincent and the Grenadines

 

Rods were set for the cruise across and then this happened...

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2015 by Baitrunner

[Baitrunner]

Day 5 (cont) - Yes the first fish of the trip. Not massive, but it would feed the 7 of us that night. It was a fine Bonito (small Tuna family).

 

Swiftly followed by a Barracuda, and then another Barracuda. All hats were taken of to our Bait Babe as we were sure the added fish attraction on the lures had made the difference.

 

Bonito was for dinner, Barracuda 1 for lunch (Ceviche) and Barracuda 2 for dinner tomorrow. All were prepared, marinated and stowed in the coolbox and fridge. We had a lot of happy skippers and crew now. 

 

We arrived in Union just before lunchtime and I went ashore with skippers 1 and 3 to do the immigration thing. Interesting bar on a sand bar in the harbour.

 

The harbour office was closed with no indication they would be back so we had to walk to the international airport - all half a mile away.

We had to see 3 people, but one guy had popped out for his lunch so that was another 30 mins waiting for his return.

While waiting we had a very interesting chat with a Canadian who had been sailing the Caribbean with his wife and 2 kids for 7 months!! Now that's a holiday.

Eventually we were sorted and headed back to the boat.

 

Upped the anchor and headed off to Chatham Bay for the evening. Ceviche shared around whilst en-route.

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2015 by Baitrunner

[Baitrunner]

Day 5 (cont) - We dropped the hook in Chatham bay and launched the dinghy so we could have a play and catch some more bait fish!!

 

Tonight would be the first night we had truely stayed in a remote location. The beach bars were shut by 10pm and the only lights were from the mast heads of the half a dozen boats in the Bay. Real dark skies with no light pollution.

 

After anchoring it was time for a snorkel and one thing we like to do is have a quick look at the anchor to make it is set properly. I was in and although it looked dug in I felt we needed a bit more chain as the wind was swinging us all over the place and likely to trip it. So skipper 2 without thinking started the engines and engaged reverse whilst skipper 3 let out more chain. More haste less speed.

The dinghy was tied to the stern cleat - it now wasn't. The painter had caught in the prop and the dinghy was now on it's way back to Grenada.

Some quick thinking by the girls and my wife and nephews girlfriend dived in to retrieve it and bring it back. 

We now had to try and remove several feet of rope from the drive shaft. The only knife that seemed to work was the bread knife and half an hour of hacking away at it we cleared the prop.

Fun over we needed a beer.

We watched the sun disappear and the birds (pelicans and boobies) on the fish traps, with a rather large bloody mary as our sundowner.

The night was quite spectacular as it cleared and then we were hit with some squalls and thunder and lightening. Didn't last long, but was quite enjoyable.

 

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2015 by Baitrunner

[ranworthbreeze]

Hi Mark,

Glad to hear that even the best crews have issues.

Enjoying the blog and the pictures especially the catch of the day

 

Regards

Alan

[Baitrunner]

Thanks Alan.

 

As you recount a trip you realise the pictures you have may not add meaning to the story. but I have a couple more good ones in the pot to share

 

Temporary picture fault though - as in I cant seem to upload any.

 

Once resolved will continue the saga - dont want you to get out of synch.

[BroadScot]

 

 

Once resolved will continue the saga - dont want you to get out of synch

No rush Mark,   the next ten minutes will do fine! 

 

 

 

Iain

[deebee29]

Great tale Mark, really enjoying reading it

Sounds and looks idylic

[Baitrunner]

Gonna have another go when I get home.

Have our top techy Jonzo on the case.

I reckon a rum when I get in might lubricate the computer a bit

[Baitrunner]

While I am still trying to get to the bottom of the photo upload problem, I want to point out another important fact.

 

You may think we drink a lot in my family, but this is for serious medical and survival reasons. these can be re-used anywhere in the world even in Norfolk.

 

Firstly, beer is 98% water. Water is essential for staying hydrated in the tropics.

Rum is made from sugar cane. Sugar is a good source of energy.

The rum is drunk with ice and water. Cools the body and helps with the re-hydration.

The rum is also drunk with lime. Lime or any citrus fruit is essential for preventing scurvy.

 

Scientifically, in recent tests of 7 people left alone on the high seas for 10 days and using the above supplements - no one was dehydrated, no one ran out of energy and no one had scurvy. If this isn't proof my new diet works I dont know what is.

 

Mind you none of the others could remember it      

[Baitrunner]

Sorry for the delays, but I have had problems with loading some of my pictures. After a chat with Jonzo it looks to be a problem on the current software and should be fixed when they do the upgrade.

 

Rather than complete the story with no pictures (would be boring), I am going to hold off on more updates until the problem is resolved.

 

Hope you can all wait?

 

Sorry folks  

[Baitrunner]

OK some of the smaller files are working still....

 

One of the problems in the tropics is bugs. And I found out that cockroaches can be a pain!!

 

One thing to remember is remove all cardboard from the boat ASAP. They love it. maybe not a problem on the Broads, but I can imagine it might in the Med.

 

We bought some wine in a supermarket and got it onboard and skipper 4 said get that cardboard off the boat!!! So we dumped it in the dinghy or face the wrath of the salad dressing fiend. Taking it ashore to put it in the bin we found about a dozen Roaches (and not talking small fish) in the bottom - glad it went in the bin!! Hate the damn things almost as much as wasps.

 

Well you never know if others have been so careful on a hire boat.

 

Last time we did this trip Skipper 4 had made a rather tasty salad dressing and it was left uncovered overnight - the result was in the morning it had a Roach in it. So lesson learned - no cardboard and don't leave anything uncovered.

 

This trip we had learnt and did the right thing and covered the dressing pot over when not being used.

 

However, with the help of pen and paper an amusing label was made for the pot of salad dressing, just to remind us of previous exploits.

 

We didn't have any glue or selotape to hold this on so used after sun lotion - it held for a week, so remember this next time you need some glue!!

 

 

 

Edited September 6, 2015 by Baitrunner

[BroadScot]

Dunno about the Med, Mark, but in Los Gigantes in Tenerife they are huge. Horrible things. Make me go all grrrrrrrr!

 

 

Iain

[Baitrunner]

Ok folks the show is back on the road.

Jonzo allowed me to edit my post and reapply all the pictures - well I think they are all there.

I shall now attempt to continue the story with pictures.

[Baitrunner]

or not - Grrrrr some seem to have disappeared again. back to the drawing board

[GeoffandWendy]

It was great reading about your holiday Mark, but couldn't get the photos to show up, when clicking on them. Must be some technical fault. I had trouble uploading a photo in one of my posts, before we went on holiday to Tenby. 

[BroadScot]

There are still a few bugs in this new system Geoff. 

 

Iain